Okay this comes from a few requests for people who wanted a fic about Kensei/Mashiro around the time Ichigo starts training with them. So I decided to bring ALL the Vizards in!! From Shinji's comment "good, its a small town" it makes it seem like the Vizard's haven't been in Karakura in a while, same with Yoruichi. So I figured for safety they'd have scattered.

So this takes place a bit before Shinji shows up at school. Right now I'm planning it for to be under 10 chapters but I'm willing to extend that.

The couples are going to be (obviously) Kensei/Mashiro and Shinji/Hiyori.

But the rest are all there!

Obviously this goes in line with Jai Ho, Moonshine, Crash Into Me and Magnets. Not really with All the Same but you might enjoy that none the less.

Enjoy!

The betrayal you see is trivial. What is truly fearsome s the betrayal you don't see, Captain Hirako

"Good," Shinji murmured looking down, "its a small town."

It was better than expressing his true opinion which was that the small town laid out in front of him was the single last place he ever wanted to be. The fact that it was a small town with nothing to aide in him finding a way to get out of what was sure to be the most awkward encounter of his very long life was only adding insult to injury. Forcing the desire to run in the opposite direction as far down as he could Shinji jumped down the pole and began to move towards the warehouse. Urahara had mailed him the slip of paper with the address on it. there was no request, nothing on it to tell him what he was supposed to do with the paper but, then again, Urahara never said anything clearly so words would probably have been useless anyway. He walked down the moonlit streets, wondering why it was always the unobtrusive places, the so-called 'normal' people that always winded up being the source of an ungodly amount of trouble.

The sound of a guitar playing in the night was the first thing he heard, the first indication that he was headed in the right place. He rounded the corner to see the warehouse. On the fire escape outside, sitting on one of the steps was none other than Rose Otoribashi, former Captain of the Third Division and, it would seem, former talentless guitar player. Now his fingers seemed to move with a life of their own across the fingerboard of the instrument. There were no words, no vocal part, no missing piece to the solitary melody that flowed from the guitar but, then again, Rose would not have played anything else. Head bowed with his blond hair half-obscuring his features as he continued to strum the instrument. He was still wearing frilly shirts, the black suite reminiscent of the garb they had worn as Captains. His black shoes though were different. Shinji had his own feet in a pair of loafers but even he knew that the adjustment to shoes was a weird one. Rose's even had laces on them. He stood there and waited as the song reached its end.

"Though you'd be playing inside," he said walking over to where Rose was sitting.

"The acoustics in there are awful," he said, "I play in streets more anyway," he fixed Shinji with his grey stare, "I though you would have grown your hair out by now."

"Eh," Shinji shrugged, "got used to it like this," he looked at the warehouse, "are the others here yet?"

"Well one more is," he said strumming quickly in a faux entrance music.

"You two look like shit," a cold voice snapped behind them.

In spite of his foul mood Shinji felt himself smile as he turned around to see Lisa Yadomaru standing there, one foot pressed onto a dark green duffle bag. She wore a school girl uniform that, on anyone else, could have given a semi wholesome appearance but given the fact that it was Lisa--and that the bag her foot was on was probably chock full of porn--the so-called innocence only made her seem far more slutty. Like Shinji she had changed her hair and stuck with it, two braids becoming a single one. She had not traded her glasses for contact lenses, though the style of her frames had changed. Still she glared at them with the same cold, haughty gaze she had before they left, no outward sign of weakness or caring in her appearance.

"Not all of us can look as stunning as you do," Shinji said turning to face her fully, "i don't think they even make that schoolgirl uniform in my--"

"Shut up," Lisa snapped, her shorter-than-usual temper revealing that she was actually nervous or, at the very least, apprehensive about seeing everyone again, "where are the others?"

"Not here yet," Shinji said.

"Maybe they're not coming," she said.

"Oh they're coming," he said looking at Karakura Town, "they wouldn't miss this."

"Training some brat?" Lisa gave a snort of disgust, "hardly inspirational no matter how 'special' he is--and he better be the good kind of special, not the other kind."

"Then why are you here?" Rose asked.

"Because that means I get to beat the shit out of Tousen or Gin," she crossed her arms, "I don't care who it is, just as long as I can hit one of them.

"Kensei called Tousen," Rose said.

"That was years ago, he's probably forgotten all about it."

As he walked onto the platform and into the main part of the Karakura train station, Kensei Muguruma certainly had not forgotten that he was the one who got to murder Kaname Tousen. He had spent years plotting just how he was going to do it. Tachikaze had wanted a piece of the action but Kensei knew he was going to do it with his bare hands. Glaring he shouldered the bag containing a few possessions and his Zanpakto before he walked towards the door that would put him squarely on the other side of the doors and one step closer to dealing with the shitstorm he had just agreed to be a part of.

He was going to have to face everyone.

Everyone who had been stabbed and maimed and had their lives ruined by his stupidity. At least they weren't dead, the rest of his Division hadn't been that lucky. He spent days going over every interaction, every even leading up to the betrayal and there ad been no signs, nothing to show what was about to happen. That had only infuriated him more. There should have been something, he should have seen something. But he couldn't imagine anything, so much had been going on that his mind had never been solely on Tousen. Perhaps if it had none of this would have happened. He was there for a petty reason, sure, but killing Tousen was definitely something he wanted to do.

"Kensei."

Kensei turned his head to see Hiyori Sarugaki standing there. She was dressed in a red sweatsuit, looking every inch a tomboy teenager despite the fact she was way older. Her pigtails were shorter but tied with bright red hair ties. Sandals adorned her feet. The knowledge of what she woul do to him with those sandals was what kept Kensei from telling her she looked like a candy cane with all the red and white she was wearing. Instead he turned and gave a curt nod of greeting, waiting for her to catch up all the way to him. Over her shoulder she had a backpack, just long enough that she could have stuck her Zanpakto into its confines.

"Think the others are there?" he asked gruffly.

"Well I know one of them isn't," she said stopping dead, one eyebrow raising, "did anyone tell Mashiro this was a costume party?"

Kensei almost gave himself whiplash turning his head. But there she was, obviously having come from a different place. Well unless she had come from a costume party there was absolutely no excuse for what she was wearing. A tight white bodysuite outlined the contours of her body perfectly. Violet swipes of orange decorated her chest, hands and calves. Her glasses had been traded for goggles nestled in her bright green bob. Looped around her neck was an equally bright orange scarf that Kensei recognized instantly. He had shoved it at her when he was leaving, a silent, gruff apology for ruining her pink one. True to form she had pitched the bright orange gloves that decorated his hands at his head as he was walking away. Slung across her back was a long narrow bag that obviously held her Zanpakto.

Despite being obviously airheaded, Mashiro had her observant moments and this was one of them. The moment she looked in their direction she saw them. Her eyes lit up as she raced over, pushing through the crowd before stopping short and looking at the two of them for a moment before she grabbed them both in a tight hug. Hiyori choked indigently and Kensei winced but the two both knew better than to push the green haired woman away. She'd probably just tackle them. Mashiro squealed happily, as if they had not spent the past hundred or so years separated--or maybe like they had and the thing that brought them back together was a good thing.

"Getoff!" Hiyori shouted finally shoving her way free.

"You look weird," Mashiro said leaning forward until their faces were close together. Hiyori's eyes widened as she moved backwards, "did you get a haircut?"

"You're standing there in a bodysuite and telling me that I look weird?" the ex Lieutenant demanded.

"Yep," Mashiro grinned, "the boys like my bodysui--"

"We're going!" Kensei broke in, "now! We're late as it is."

"You can't boss me around!" Mashiro pouted looking at him.

"The hell I can't! Go!" he ordered throwing a hand at the door. Mashiro huffed but walked out. Hiyori stood there for a second making it clear that she was leaving when she wanted too before walking out herself. Kensei slapped his hand into his face before following them out, "oo look how tiny it is!" Mashiro cried running ahead.

"This place is disgusting," Hiyori muttered. Kensei nodded as they walked down the street, Mashiro bouncing ahead. It was a good thing it was dark out or the group of them, "ugh. Figures we'd have to come back here."

Kensei nodded, hating it just as much as she did. The three of them made their way to the warehouse where the others were waiting. Lisa, Shinji and Rose were already there. At the sight of the ex Fifth Division Captain Hiyori's feet slowed fractionally. The bastard had cut his hair--she had sliced a good chunk off when she dealt that wound to him. At the sound of their approach he turned around. Hiyori stared. He looked so weird. Of course he would be in that retro-cool style she had seen a bunch of guys in the bigger cities wearing. In this place though he just looked weird. Even so she felt her stomach tighten at the sight of his familiar features, even if he did look horrible wight that haircut.

Shinji couldn't help but be surprised by Hiyori's appearance, though in hindsight he wouldn't be able to figure out why. Of course she would be in something comfy and completely un-sexual. Her hair was shorter too but it was still tied with those strips of bright, neon red. She seemed to have added a handful of almost girlish bobbypins to her hair. Mashiro looked crazy, Kensei looked pissed off, Rose looked like a pirate while Lisa looked like a skank. He knew he was fashionable so it made sense that out of all of them the only thing Hiyori looked at the moment was murderous. He glanced down at her feet and gave an inward shudder. Removable shoes, that couldn't be good for his face.

"Where's Hachi and Love?" Kensei questioned.

"Love's flight gets in early tomorrow," Rose said, "I imagine we'll have advanced warning for Hachi."

"Yay!! Hachi!" Mashiro cried running into the warehouse.

With a sigh Lisa picked up her duffle and shuffled after the enthusiastic girl. Grumbling things about 'dead' and 'not sleeping' Kensei went inside as well. Rose took one look at the two blonds and slipped inside as well. The two of them looked at each other. Hiyori felt guilt and nervousness churn in her stomach. She knew that under that violently colored shirt of his was the scar she had given him with that horn of her mask. Shinji sighed and reached up, angrily running a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated at what they were being forced to do. Hiyori could sympathize. She did not want to be here anymore than he did. Karakura Town held nothing but bad memories, that was why they had left it behind. It made sense that they would eventually come back to this place but that did not make it any easier to stomach.

"I'm going inside," she snapped turning and walking into the warehouse.

Angrily Shinji sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He knew she was guilty over what happened that night. He knew she blamed herself for the fact that he was one of the three that was closest to death when they were dragged to the transient world. Even though she had woken up well after him between the taxing fight with her Hollow and the fact that she had been cut down very precisely by Tousen's blade, the guilt she had when she saw his scar was something he would never have wished to see. The only thing he wanted to see in Gin, Tousen and Aizen's eyes was the fucking light fading as they died. But Hiyori had blamed herself for his injuries with the same amount of guilt that he and Kensei had felt for the rest of them being in such a position.

They all knew, somewhere in their rational mind, that the blame for what happened lay elsewhere. Unfortunately Shinji and Kensei were the two oldest Captains, they had been in positions of authority longer than any of them. Not to mention the traitors had been their subordinates. They should have known something of this magnitude was coming but while they had felt offput by the three who would ruin everything the fact was that they had not known. Everything in their bodies screamed that they should have seen the betrayal coming but they had not. Each had felt that this was their fault. When Yoruichi had suggested they scatter for their protection they had been the first to agree, both wanting nothing more than to see something other than the people they had hurt with their foolishness. If their turn as protectors had gotten them into this mess then surely people going off on their own would be a better alternative. It was not as though as individuals they could possibly do a worse job of protecting themselves.

Apparently that had been the right way to go. Everyone seemed to have remained hidden, become moderately well adjusted and, far more importantly, remained alive. Now they were all back together but Shinji could not help but think that this was going to end in disaster. Considering how the last person he had trained and allowed close enough to fight had ended up, he had no desire to do the same thing over again. Heroes were people foolish enough to put others above themselves. He was through with such nonsense. Shinji turned his head to the sky, looking up at the bright stars. This was a mistake and yet he was here. When was he ever going to learn to mind his own damn business?

"Shinji!" Rose stuck his head out, "get in here so we can figure out sleeping arrangements. You're not going to believe the shit hole Urahara stuck us with. Apparently your either brilliant or practical, guess what he still is."

"I'm guessing brilliant," Shinji muttered turning and following him into the place, "oh Christ," he groaned looking up, "figures no one fixed a single thing in this dump."

They looked up through the gaping hole in the floors at their new home.

"I vote we all go home," Lisa said coldly looking at the dump, "right now."

From the look in their eyes, they were inclined to agree.

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