I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.
(Danny)
I sighed and ran a hand through my black hair while holding my eyes closed. I had officially become the Captain of Squad 5 the moment I stepped back into the Soul Society during the Bount incident. But I hadn't had the time to actually introduce myself to my squad. Frankly I think I would rather fight Head Captain Yamamoto again rather than step out there and tell them that they are now under my command.
"Don't worry Danny, you will do fine." Gen'ei my Zanpakuto spirit assured me. She was in her usual spot hanging onto my shoulder. A mixture of my spiritual energy and my ghost core's instinct to give energy a physical form resulted in my Zanpakuto spirit spending most of her time manifested outside of my inner world.
Gen'ei appeared to be a 10 year old girl who looked almost exactly like my cousin Danielle other than some minor color difference. She usually wore a two piece jumpsuit just like Dani's except for pure white. Her hair was snow white other then three black strips and she had it in a ponytail. Her mixed matched eyes were one green and one blue.
"She's right Danny. Besides running away won't help anything. We are right here with you." My Lieutenant, Momo Hinamori said in her usual 'we can do this' way while putting a hand on my other shoulder. I smiled a little. Momo was a caring person and pretty to, she wore her brown hair up in the back which was tied in place with a cloth like a bun. But she had her heart tested a lot recently.
She had loved the previous Captain, Aizen. But it turned out that the man she had idolized was nothing more than a lie. The truth was that Aizen had been planning on betraying the other Soul Reapers since long before Momo had met him. He had worked to position two other Soul Reapers, Gen Ichimaru and the man who I refer to as Captain Dreadlocks since I never bothered to get his real name, into two other Captain positions. I hated Dreadlocks myself because he attacked and permanently injured my dog, Cujo.
When the time came for Aizen to throw his plan into action he faked his own death and caused Momo a lot of pain and then tricked her into attacking her childhood friend Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. But even worse was before he left he called Momo to him showing that he had been alive, then stabbed her through the chest. Even after her life was no longer in danger she had to be hospitalized to make sure she hadn't hurt herself.
That is when I had first really met Momo. I had talked to her in the same way my sister Jazz had talked to me after an unfortunate incident that involved my own parents unknowingly dissecting me alive. I had managed to break through to her and gained her trust surprisingly quickly. It was later that same day that I had been informed that the Captains Counsel had decided to make me the next Captain of Squad 5.
I looked out the window into the courtyard where what remained of Squad 5 was waiting for me. In the beginning, because of the fake Aizen's charm Squad 5 had been one of the most popular Squads with over 700 members. But after he lead the betrayal of the entire Soul Society, the squad was almost halved in size. It now only had 415 members. I thought back to the short time I had spent at the Soul Reaper academy learning about what my job was going to be about. When the Recruitment Fair had come around no one wanted to join the disgraced squad. Some had even thrown insults at Momo and had brought her to tears. Of course we did end up starting a riot alongside Sam, Nemu, Yachiru, and even Captain Ukitake. So the night hadn't been all bad.
But it was still going to be hard to regain the past glory of this squad after everything that had happened. I shook my head, 'Worrying about this won't fix anything. The only way I will ever move forward is if I start walking.' I took a deep breath and walked out in front of my new Squad.
All their eyes were locked on me as I walked out. They all knew who I was. It was made abundantly obvious by the white Captains coat on my shoulders with the Squad Five sign on my back. "Good morning everyone!" I said trying to be cheerful as they looked at me like they wished I was gone. "As you all are probably aware I am going to be your new Captain. My name is Danny Phantom. But if you don't mind I would rather we all drop the formalities and have you all just called me Danny."
There was a moment of silence before the open hostility came. "What, this wimp is supposed to be our Captain!?" someone shouted. The complaints started coming. "Why should we listen to some we don't even know?" "I don't trust you! We don't need a Captain!" "Go back to the World of the Live, Human!" That one I found a little interesting. Human was not something I was used to being called. I was probably only around one forth human at this point.
My soul chain had been broken during my accident in the ghost portal that gave me my ghost powers, but the ghost energy replaced the chain keeping me alive by fusing my spiritual and living bodies and stopping me from becoming a Hollow. That is until I became a Substitute Soul Reaper. It gave the Hollow inside of me the Spirit energy it needed to form. So now I am a Human, Ghost, Soul Reaper, Hollow.
They all kept throwing insults at me, most about my low spiritual pressure. Not that I really minded the insults, I was use to them from when I was back in high school. And it was true that I had less spiritual pressure then most lieutenants. It was my adaptability with mixing ghost and spirit energies that gave me the power to become a Captain, even before I conquered my Hollowself.
"Please… everyone just give Danny a chance!" Momo said trying to calm the crowd.
"Why should we listen to you!? You're the pet of that traitor that called himself our Captain last time! This one is probably the same!" The mob turned on Momo and she shrank back hurt by their words.
This got me mad. "Enough!" I shouted letting some of my ghost energy into my voice. It had the desired effect. The entire crowd gave a shiver. "You feel betrayed by your previous Captain. I get that, but leave Lieutenant Hinamori out of it." I didn't have to yell because of the silence that had gripped the crowd. "If you don't trust me then fine. It would be pointless of me to demand something like that. Just watch me and you will see the kind of person that I am. If that isn't good enough for you, then there are more than 200 of you present. I invite anyone that thinks they can best me and take my Captain's position to give it their best shot. But please, come at me all at once. I don't feel like wasting the afternoon teaching you one at a time." It was common knowledge that a Soul Reaper could become Captain by defeating the previous Captain in a duel in front of 200 or more of his Squad members.
I waited a few seconds but no one made a move. They might be able to talk about my low spirit energy, but they had all heard the stories of what I had done. I had fought all three Captains that had betrayed the Seireitei at once and managed to best two of them, and that was after having fought the Head Captain and out smarting him. None of them were going to try their luck against me.
"So, no takers?" I said with a grin. "It been over a month since Aizen had betrayed the squad and left it disgraced. So you have all had plenty of time to request transfer into a new Squad. So I guess it is safe to assume that you are all the people that think that there is still hope, or are too gutless to request the transfer." I said with a shrug. "You decide which category you fall under."
They were all shifting around as if each of them was trying to decide which of those comments described them the best. "Listen right now. I have no intention of controlling this Squad. I don't have the experience necessary for that. So here is what we are going to do. You will divide yourselves up into teams of twenty and will elect one person from your group to be team leader. This will have nothing to do with power or rank. You will choose whoever you think will represent your group the best." I started to explain how I was going to run things. It was going to be based on a Republic. "The leaders of the groups will gather together and decide how they will divide up the work among the groups." They all looked around, this was a new idea. The Seireitei was Nobles and Military setups. The idea of voting was new to them.
"Each group will be in charge of doing their assigned jobs and group training. Beyond that everything that you do will be self motivated and you need only to report your activities to me if you think you will be stepping on someone noble family or other squad's toes otherwise just tell your group leader." I continued. "This means that if you don't feel like continuing after your assignment is done then you can just go out and do whatever you want. But people with initiative will be the ones promoted and even that matter will be decided by the group leads, with the exception of their own promotions. This system is a rather slow one so it will not be active in an emergence situation and we will go back to the ranked system in those times. But other than that it will be you who run the squad and I will just be your representative in the Captains Counsel. The group leaders will propose changes to this system as needed which I will either allow or reject. Now any questions?"
After a few questions about whether or not there will really be no negative repercussions to not electing the highest rank or the noble of the group we decided that the votes would be a blind ballet. This unfortunately meant that people could vote for themselves, but what are you going to do. Ties would be settled by seniority.
"Alright if there are no more questions they start making your groups!" I declared. People started to group up. Three people made it known that they wanted to transfer to another squad, but that they were waiting for themselves to have a Captain to make the process easier. So in the end we had twenty groups of twenty and one of twelve. "I guess we will be part of this group." I said as Momo and I joined the smallest group. Most of them were people that had only been in the squad of one to five years and lacked the others reputations or experience which stopped them from either being able to get into a different group, or be transferred into a new squad.
"Wait, that's not fair. If they get to have the Captain and Lieutenant in their squad it would make them more important than the rest of us!" Someone shouted.
"Not really." I replied. "By this system I am no more important outside of a time of emergence than any other member of the squad. If anything it is a disadvantage because we have to still do all the paperwork for the squad." I reasoned to them all. They accepted it with some misgivings. But they did agree that the youngest members of the squad should be grouped with the two strongest fights. "Alright now pick your group leaders. Remember that they are not necessarily permanent positions. If your group decides they want a new leader they can call for another vote if more than ten of them agree on that fact. This means you will have to try to keep your group happy with you."
The ballets were made and the Republic of Squad 5 was born. I was a little surprised that I received 13 votes to me made the leader of group 22. Even though there were only 21 groups no one wanted number 13. Strange considering it was the 13 Court Guard Squads but whatever. I was the only person that didn't vote for me. I had voted for Momo to be the group leader. Maybe I inspired them, maybe they were grateful to have me on the team, or maybe they were still stuck on the fact that I was Captain. Whatever the reason, I was group leader.
I gathered with the other group leaders as everyone else went on break. "So we have a list of all the weeks responsibilities with when they are and how many groups will be required to do them." I said bringing out the list. "So how are we going to divide them up?" I asked for suggestions. To no surprise, no one answered. "Come on now, any opinions?"
After a few moments the leader of group 8 spoke up. "Before we have always just done whatever the Captain said." He admitted more than a little embarrassment.
"And that is why I am not going to make any more decisions for the committee here. One of the main problems I see for this squad is that after Aizen left it just shut down. Even before his betrayal was made public, the squad did nothing the moment he was out of the picture." I said. "But that is to be expected. He wanted it that way after all." Everyone looked like this was a little bit of a shock to them. "But that is exactly why you need to take some control and responsibility for the squad, so nothing like that ever happens again."
After another few moments the leader of group 3 spoke up. "How about we all just take turns picking a duty." He suggested.
"But then who gets to pick first." Another said.
"How about it will go in order of group number and we will just ring back around after group 22. We will change which group chooses first every week." said the leader of group 20. This was agreed upon and we went about dividing up the jobs. After an hour of beating out the kinks in the system we finally had a schedule for the first week. For the most part each group got one job a day and groups one through eight had two on certainty days from the extra. But it was accepted that it was the down side of being the first to pick. We had arranged it though so that each group get one day a week off.
I went back to the barracks cafeteria and found Momo and the rest of group 22. "Hello everyone." I said with a smile sitting down next to Momo. "Our task for today is going to be inventorying the supplies and writing up the requests for new equipment for Squads 4 and 12." I said my eye give a slight twitch when I said the number 12.
The Captain of Squad 12 Kurotsuchi and I had a lot of bad blood between us. He had tried to kill me when I first became a Substitute Soul Reaper and I had come back and taken at least six of his regenerating limbs. Our relationship only went downhill from there as we disagreed on pretty much everything. He was obsessed with the destruction of all things decent in the name of science and I with the preservation of sentient of life at all costs. Our current status is that I am black mailing him with the fact that he was the one that got Uryū to let the Bounts into the Soul Society, in order to stop him from mistreating my squad. One of the most common things I was found myself saying during the Bount incident was 'fucking Kurotsuchi'.
My group and I went to the storage unit and began to organize and take count of our supplies. It was not good. I don't think anyone had done a proper check since Aizen had left. I know that Momo had done her best trying to keep the squad together, but I had no idea that thing were really this bad. From the door I could see the giant mountain of laundry that need to be done. I was wandering why Momo had suggested that three groups work together on that one for the first day. Two groups were on standby for hollow attacks and eight more were patrolling the Seireitei. I was a little surprised that only three had to patrol the Rukongai District. Wasn't the Rukongai District larger and more populated than the Seireitei? Two of the other groups were on guard duty and one was cleaning the barracks and the last was handling meals for the day.
In the end it took four hours to get the inventory done. Most of that time was spent writing up the requests. It had been decent bonding time and Momo and I soon had the group laughing with us. Gen'ei had become pretty popular. She didn't do much work but she was like a group mascot. "You all head out to training area. Gen'ei and I will deliver the requests and met you there. It will be faster that way." I had instructed the group. "Remember, after two hours of mandatory training you are free for the rest of the day." I reminded them, Gen'ei took the requests from Squad 4 and I grabbed the ones for Squad 12. In a flash we were running out of the barracks.
With Flash Step I had managed to cover the distance in no time at all. I had then lowered my spiritual pressure as much as I could causing my Soul Reaper uniform to dissolve into a black mist before I walked into the Squad 12 barracks. After a few moments I sensed who I was looking for. Nemu, the Lieutenant of Squad 12, unlike her father was a very calm individual. We managed to get along well enough despite her Captain and she was good friends with Dani. "Good afternoon Nemu." I said when I had got to her.
She turned to me and there was a hint of a smile on her face. "Mr. Phantom, it is good to see you. Why is it that you are hiding your spiritual pressure?" She asked me in her usual monotone voice.
"I just by to deliver so supply requests. And it would probably be for the best if I avoid any unnecessary confrontations with your father." I replied with a smile handing her to forms.
"That would be for the best. You are not Master's favorite person." Nemu said taking the forms. "Thank you, I will make sure that they are processed, but you do know that you do not have to deliver them yourself."
"I'm going to be doing the Squad work along with my squad. Only nature really." I then gave her a breath explanation about how my squad was going to be run. "Anyways, I really should be off. I am supposed to be training with my group right now. Remember that you are always welcome to transfer over to my squad if you get sick of your old man." I said waving to her as I ran off. As soon as I was out of the area I let my spiritual pressure rise again and the black mist returned along with my uniform. With a burst of speed I went into the sky looking at the whole Seireitei stretching out blow me. I then kicked off of an invisible platform and began to rush towards the training ground. That was one of my favorite things about the Soul Reaper powers I had gained. I was able to fly before with my ghost powers but it never gave me the same burst of speed. Sure just teleporting there is faster, but you don't feel the wind blowing through you.
Moments later I was directly over the training ground I shot myself like a bullet towards the ground using my spirit energy to cushion the impact with the ground and reinforcing my body with ghost energy. So even though I hit the ground at over three hundred miles per hour I hardly felt it. But I still struck up a dust storm.
"Danny!" I heard Momo shout. I just blew the dust way with a whip of spiritual pressure. I stood there with a smile as if nothing had happened. I saw Momo standing there with one hand over her chest looking a little worried. Then she threw her arms to her sides and seemed more frustrated than worried. "Jeez Captain, do you always have to be so showy. You know one of these days you're going to land on something even more hard headed then you are." She said turned her back to me and crossing her arms. It was cute the way she puffed out her cheeks like a five year old child.
"Uh, do you have to call me Captain? You never call Hitsugaya Captain no matter how much he tells you to." I gave a fake whine letting my shoulder sag.
"Lil' Shiro and I have history." She said opening one eye and peeking over her shoulder at me. Then we both burst out laughing. It was a few seconds before we realized that the rest of the group had been watching our little episode. "Oh well, come on Danny we are practicing spirit control." She said moving back to the group. We were training by making platforms out of our spiritual energy and sitting still on them. I quickly realized that these training sections would be more of me and Momo teaching the new guys control. Most of the new guys were having difficulty making the platform, let alone maintaining it.
Like all Ghosts controlling energy comes to me almost as naturally as breathing if not more so. It gives me a step up over people like Ichigo, who have unreasonable amounts of spiritual energy, but have no control. It is also the thing that makes me a master of Kido. Even if my Kido lacks the raw power of some of the other Captains, I can use most of them without incantation without loss of power or accuracy.
Of course I am also working with ghost energy to. I have practiced mixing the two types together in order to revamp my Kidōs to make up for my lack of spiritual pressure. It is made even more effective by the fact that ghost energy is completely unaffected by spiritual pressure. So even if my opponent makes a barrier out of spiritual pressure to try and stop the attack they will still get hit full force.
Gen'ei never came back from Squad 4. She told me through the shared mental link through my inner world that she was staying to help out. My Zanpakuto had a rare healing ability in its released form. Lady Unohana asked us to help out every once and a while with certain cases that couldn't be solved through just providing the Reiatsu needed to closes the wounds and replace lost energy.
So I spent an hour and a half practically retraining the fresh academy boys how to control their spiritual energy properly. It was strange how none of them felt too embarrassed about being trained by someone younger than them. After all, they all looked like they were in there mid twenties to early thirties though with Souls it's hard to tell, they could be nearing their hundreds.
After the training was over they were all exhausted. Only Momo and I were still standing. "I guess we will call it a day. It is six o-clock, so do whatever you want for the rest of the day. Because of the gathering and sorting things out this morning we couldn't start till noon, but if we start morning and have a two or three hour job then we will probably have a lot more free time. So start thinking of what you want to do with it." I told them and then they all started crawling back to the barracks.
"So what do you want to do, Danny?" Momo asked curiously.
I smile and rubbed the back of my neck. "Oh, well when I first came to the Soul Society I ended up in the West Rukongai District. It was a nice enough place but some things there got me thinking. I think I am going to volunteer my time to helping them out."
Momo's eyes widened. "Really, the Rukongai District?" She said as if she did believe what she was hearing. "You're not going to win any points with the Nobility doing that."
"Wha? I don't know what you mean by that." I said in confusion.
"Most of the nobles believe that the 13 court guards exist for them and them alone." Momo said with a sad shrug. "It is unfortunately the case that in the end we do more or less work for them."
I frowned, "That explains why there are so few people patrolling the Rukongai District. But that doesn't matter, I think it would be a good thing to do, you know, to help people. One of the problems I see is that the only way out of the Rukongai District is to have spiritual power. That isn't fair, everyone deserves the chance to be happy and make a future for themselves." I said looking off to where the wall that separated us from the Rukongai District stood. "Everything starts with the first step. So I better start moving." I smiled.
Momo looked at me as I walked off. "Want some help?" She asked.
I looked back a smiled. "Not today, I am first going to have to ask for permission from the elder of West Rukongai and then work with Kukaku to start getting the raw materials together. Maybe tomorrow, you go and get something to eat." She looked a little disappointed but she nodded.
I Flash Stepped away again and covered the miles between me and the Hakuda Gate. "Jidanbō, long time no see!" I said as I approached the gates giant of a guard.
"Cap… Captain Phantom, it is an honor sir." He said awkwardly.
"Oh come on Jidanbō were friends, just call me Danny or black spiky head like you use to." I said with a laugh. "This Captain thing will probably not last very long. It is only a matter of time till they chase me out of town like they did with Kukaku Shiba because of her houses."
"I could never be so disrespectful Captain." Jidanbō said defensively.
"Fine, then how about just dropping the Captain and just calling me Phantom?" I asked.
He thought about it for a second and then nodded a little. "Alright Mr. Phantom."
I sighed. "Well it is an improvement at least. So can you please open the gate for me? I got business I wish to do with the elder of West Rukongai." I asked nicely. He obliged and opened the gate.
I walked out into the Rukongai District and received three types of reactions; those who ran to hide, those who stared and whispered, and some that began to throw rocks at me. I just held my head with dignity and let the rocks hit me. I had over a hundred ways of stopping the rocks but those would be a show of power that might leave further hard feelings. One thing was clear; Soul Reapers are not liked in the Rukongai District. I had expected as much, which was the real reason I didn't want Momo to come today.
I walked to the house that I knew from passed events to belong to the elder. "Leave the Elder alone you Soul Reaper bastard." I heard from behind. I chose not to move as a metal tea pot was smashed against my head. I stumbled a little but straighten up and didn't react any further. The man that had struck me staggered back himself.
I knocked on the door and called out. "Excuse me, Elder, are you home? I would like to speak with you!" The door slide open and there stood the Elder. He went through a mixture of feeling based on what his face showed; confuse because he didn't recognize me, shock when he saw my Captain's coat, and then horror as he realized that everyone was throwing things at me.
"Stop this at once, are you trying to bring down the wraith of the Court Guards on all of us?" He shouted at the people in the fear.
"We won't let him take you Elder!" the man with the pot said.
"Better me then all of us. Please sir, forgive the poor Souls they don't know what they are doing." The Elder said throwing himself at my feet.
"Um… I just wanted to talk. I meet you two months ago. I was one of the Ryoka that was with Lady Yoruichi." I explained trying to help him back to his feet.
"But… then what are you doing in a Captain's coat you fool. It is forbidden to impersonate a Captain. You'll be killed." The Elder was still going through a lot of confusion.
"I was kind of made Captain of Squad 5… A lot has happened. Please can we discuss this inside? We're making a scene." I asked guiding the elderly man back into his house. Trying not to laugh at his 'deer in the head lights' look. Despite my intention to make this matter private until thing were properly discussed the residence refused to leave the door way, and they didn't want to come inside.
I told the elder the events that lead up to the Captain's Counsel deciding to appoint me the new Captain of Squad 5. Whispers could be heard from the doorway about the matter. I then got to why I was there. "I want to start doing some volunteer work helping to reform the Rukongai District." I announced to him. The Elder just sat there and looked confused, sounds of shock and suspicion could be heard from the door. "I was thinking of starting with an orphanage, or a school. Something that would give us name rosters for all the children so we can try and find their real parents or at least there relatives."
"And… the Seireitei is going to help with this?" the Elder asked skeptically.
"Well… no. Not yet at least. I am going to be working with Kukaku Shiba and using her family's specialized Kido for gathering the materials that we will need and my construction crew is just going to be me, my Lieutenant, my friend, and maybe Ganju and his group. I am hoping to lead by example. I know that right now it isn't much but everything starts with the first step." I tried to convince him. "I just want your permission to start here. With any luck the Central 46 will back us if we can show positive results." I bowed my head to him. "If it doesn't work then you will have lost nothing. Just let me try."
The Elder scratched him chin. "There is a new clearing do to the trees that the Bounts cut down. If you promise that none of my people will be brought to harm by your activities… then you my use it." I was surprised to hear approval from some of the people in audience.
"Thank you sir. I will go and tell Kukaku that you have approved." I said with a smile getting off the floor. I walked out the door and turned to the group. "I'm off, and thanks again." I said before I Flash Stepped away, leaving them more than a little startled.
My arrival at the Shiba house was expected. I like the Shiba house it reminded me a lot of my home back at Fenton Works. It was just that ridicules, in front of the house were two giant arms that declared that it was indeed the home of Kukaku Shiba. Since Sam started living with them she had added her own touch by tattooing the arms with spiders and changing the banner to look like a web. If they didn't expect you then you would be met at the door with by large men shouting at you. Out of the top of the house was a giant fireworks launcher. And the front door immediately went down into an underground structure the size of a mansion.
Sam had come to the Soul Society shortly after I had. After she developed powers do to the spiritual energy that I had been fusing with my ghost energy seeking out the ice crystal I gave her after the Undergrowth incident like a beacon. She had gained the power to convert spirit energy into ghost energy through the crystal and used it to form different items. Her favorites were a bow and an eagle, but she had used it to make a crystal sword before.
"Well I managed to get permission from the elder. He even was kind enough to give us the forest area that had been cleared by the Bounts activities. Though something tell me that's probably because I mentioned that you were involved." I said as I entered the room. They probably didn't want any building that Kukaku Shiba helped build anywhere near the town.
"That's great Danny." Sam said. "We have planted the Firefly Creeper Vines and they will be ready to be moved in six days. How's the gathering of the bricks and support beams going?" She asked Kukaku. Sam and Kukaku were pretty good friends. They were both outgoing, strong, charismatic environmentalist women, who happened to be extremely and unnecessarily brutal if provoked or just annoyed. Sam had been taken on as Kukaku's apprentice in all things during our time in the Soul Reaper Academy when she had gone to Kukaku to get help with Kido. Kukaku had even started teaching her the advance Kido that was kept in the Shiba clan.
"You kidding me, I could do this in my sleep." Kukaku laughed swinging a jar of sake around. It was amazing how Kukaku managed to make her entire house over and over again with just a four man team. Not to mention her family's Kidōs that can turn any solid rock into sand and the more advanced ones that can turn sand into bricks, glass, cloth, steel, and pretty much everything we are going to need. Kukaku's help was going to be invaluable to the job. But she was not allowed to build in towns anymore because of how her structures always look. It was funny though how even her fireworks were environmentally friendly to make and launch. So she coined the phrase 'Green Destruction'.
"Then I will teleport as much of the material to the building sight as I can and we will begin work on the above ground structure tomorrow." I flapped. "Is the plan still to have the living quarters for the teachers and the kids waiting to be taken in by foster family as the above ground structure and use the underground area for the school?" I asked looking at the girls. I had barely noticed an unconscious Ganju in the corner of the room.
We spent the next few hours marking up and planning how the structure was going to look. After that, I teleported most of the materials to the sight and began to work on putting up the foundation. I work through the night and was joined by Gen'ei sometime during it. As a half ghost I didn't need much sleep I usually got away with eight or so hours a week. I only needed to eat regularly when I was in the human world and I was using too much spiritual energy. My ghost energy was more or less self replenishing and I could get spirit energy by recycling what was in the air. By the time the sun peaked out on the horizon I had managed to lay down the foundation for a building half the size of the town itself and placed half of the support beams into the ground. 'I think we might have over done it.' I thought to Gen'ei. I had done everything to Kukaku's instructions to the letter, but the truth is it didn't look this big when it was all on paper.
'We are going to be housing thousands of kids. I think it will do.' Gen'ei replied. Now that I think of it. The Rukongai district was divided into 80 sub-districts. The entire population of everyone that died divided by eighty. This might be a big project then I had thought.
I teleported back to the Squad 5 barracks to help with my groups job of helping in the kitchens. I was still pretty early. No one was going to be awake for another hour. Even the people in my group that were suppose to help with making breakfast. I started to get to work gathering the wood needed for the stove since they for some reason didn't have any electricity or gas. I am under the impression that Kurotsuchi hogs all the tech in this world for himself. But I had gone out and found everything that was needed to make pancakes and make enough for my entire group to get them going before they had to work.
"Danny you are already here?" Momo asked with a yawn as she walked in.
"Yeah, I just got back from putting down the foundation for our building in west Rukongai. I got permission from the Elder there to use the land that the Bounts had cleared to build a school slash orphanage." I said with a smile passing her a plate. "Pancakes?"
"Danny, don't you ever… you know sleep?" She asked excepting the plate with a chuckle.
"Sleep… sleep… sleep… nope never heard of it. Is it a type of exercises? It sounds hard to do." I joked causing her to giggle. "I sleep once or twice a week. Don't worry I have been doing it for over a year now. It won't kill me." I explained what we were doing and showed her the blueprints.
"You're telling me that you did this much in just one night?" She said in surprise.
"No, Kukaku did most of the designing. But I had to draw it because she was a little hammered. We have enough materials for the above ground structure already, and we are planning on having that part fully built by the end of three days." I said.
"Can you really do all that?" She asked is amazement. "This thing looks like it is as big as Squad 5 barracks."
"It's bigger, but we can do it. Kukaku is use to building her house from scratch with just a four man team in under a week. Plus my family is known for their ability to work fast as well." I said letting my chest puff out a little. It was true that my parents were not the best of parents or people for that matter, but I always took pride in the things that they managed to build in an afternoon. "But it will take a good deal more time and effort to get the place furnished and have the ventilation installed."
"Well I don't know how much help I could be but… count me in." She said with a determined smile.
We cut our conversation once the other group members came in. Preparing breakfast was pretty easy; it was just sausages, toast and hard boiled eggs. It wasn't rocket science. Once we were finished gathering up the dishes and washing all the pots I turned to my group. "Alright, it is seven thirty now so let's break until ten and then do lunch. We can do today's training after that and then make dinner. Is that alright with everyone?" I asked my group. There were a few nods all around. "Good, if you need me I will be in the Captain's Quarters doing the paperwork for yesterday's assignments." I said and the group broke up.
I don't know what I would have done without Momo. I had no idea what I was doing with the paper work and my reading skills in Japanese need work. Time table verifications, protocol notices and complaints… from Kurotsuchi… I have had the job for one day. What could he possibly have to complain about? 'Memos, memos, notices… what even is this one.' "Momo, what is this one?" I asked holding up a red envelope with a weird seal on it.
Momo came and took a look. She blushed before tearing it up and throwing it away. "That was a marriage proposal from a noble family." She said not looking at me.
"Why would that end up on my desk? Who was it for anyways?" I didn't understand why it was any of my business who was marrying who.
"It was supposed to be for you, Danny." Momo said and then tried to stifle her laughter at my reaction.
"Wha… who… why?" I finally decided on the appropriate question.
Momo managed to regain some self control and just simply said. "You're a young single Captain. You have rank and power. There are a lot of noble families that will send you such things. Lil' Shiro gets them all the time." Momo informed me a look of contempt on her face. "Not that I approve at all."
"Why would they want me? They don't even know me and they throw their children at me. That is just messed up." I didn't like the sound of it.
"That's Nobles for you." Momo said with a little distaste. "They're own children are just political bargaining chips. Especially the girls."
"Oh god, Sam would throw a metal cow if she heard about this." I said miserably.
"A metal cow?" Momo asked a little confused.
"Throwing a real one would be animal abuse." I shrugged gaining a few more laughs. We joked around a bit to lighten the mood after the depressing topic of arranged marriages before returning to work.
It wasn't easy but we managed to get through the paper work before it had become time for us to start preparing lunch for the Squad. "Why is it that I can stay up all night setting up ground work for an orphanage without getting tired but two hours of paperwork wipes me out?" I complained.
"You'll get use to it. You're just new to the whole military organization thing." Momo said patting me on the back.
"Hi Danny." Gen'ei said cheerfully jumping onto my back.
"Oh Gen'ei, where have you been all day?" I asked the Zanpakuto girl.
"I was playing with Pinky over with Doll." Gen'ei told me. Pinky was Yachiru, the Lieutenant of Squad 11's nickname with Gen'ei. Doll was her name for Nemu.
"That explains the complaint letters from Kurotsuchi I didn't read." I mumbled.
"I didn't know that the purple stuff was explosive. Purple in not a very explosive color." Gen'ei said in her defense. "Oh, Kenny said he would like to play. What do you want me to tell him?" She asked me. Momo and the rest of the Squad who here her shifted uncomfortable at the mention of Captain Zaraki.
I scratched my head. "It would be nice to have something to wake me up after all that stupid paperwork. Tell him my group is doing its training exercises in two hours and if he is available lead him to the sight." I said. My group visibly paled. "Don't worry, you won't be fighting him. It is just a friendly one on one match where one of us could very well die." I said in a way I thought was assuring.
We cleaned the dishes and went out to the training field. Surprisingly Kenpachi Zaraki was already waiting there with his Lieutenant Yachiru and my Zanpakuto spirit Gen'ei. This is surprising because both Gen'ei and Yachiru have extremely bad sense of directions. "About time you got here, Phantom." Zaraki said giving me one of his trade mark grins.
I like Kenpachi Zaraki, I don't know why people find that so hard to believe. Out of all the other Captains, he is the one that I relate to the most. His single minded obsession with fighting is just like my single minded obsession with protecting lives. I guess that might make us seem like opposites but we both agree on what is truly important. Life is all that really matters in the end. As Zaraki says, 'You can't fight if you're died'.
"Sorry I didn't think you would show up early." I said back giving a much more pleasant smile than his. "So I have two hours until I got places to be. How about you?"
"Hour and a half." He replied. "Enough time to get a good work out and get out all the stress from the day."
"I hear ya, I just got through my first day of paperwork. Clockwork, how do you stand doing that stuff, Kenpachi?" I asked him starting to stretch a bit.
Zaraki drew his sword. "I don't. I find that the only thing they do if I don't do the paper work is do it for me and then send me strongly word letters of complaint. I don't even read them anymore except for when I want the occasional giggle." He laughed like a maniac. "You would be amazed what they write when they assume you aren't going to read it."
"I'll keep that in mind. Hey is it true that all the Captains receive marriage proposals from people they don't know?" I asked drawing my Zanpakuto and taking up a battle stance. I looked over to my group. "You all probably should move back to a safe distance. Don't want you passing out from his spiritual pressure. Keep an eye on them Momo." She nodded to me. Her hands were over her chest and she looked a little worried, but she didn't need to be. I had fought against Zaraki before and came away alive each time.
"Yeah I get those from time to time. I hate it. Why do they all think I would be interested in their infant daughters?" Kenpachi said shaking his head. Yachiru jumped off his shoulder and her and Gen'ei joined the group to watch the fight. "Whenever you're ready!" He shouted at me.
"Bakudō 21 Red Smoke Escape!" I shouted letting the red smoke screen blast from one of my palms and obscure his vision of me. Kenpachi Zaraki was not well known for his ability to sense spiritual pressure but it was next to impossible to miss his. "Hadō 4 pale lightning!" I began to take punk shot at him from within the smoke cloud.
Zaraki was still able to dodge the lightning like Kido spells one after another and closed the distance between us. His plan was going to be to blow away the cloud using his spiritual pressure. The moment he reached the point where he would be close enough to pull it off I Flash Stepped behind him. His sword came down and the spiritual pressure was incredible. Not only was the smoke blown ways but there was a fissure left by the strike.
Even with his eye patch on holding back most of his strength there was no way I would be able to even stand in his presence if it weren't for my ghost powers. My spiritual pressure was not even that of a lieutenant's and some lieutenants freeze up in the presence of this. But by using my ghost energy to take over all of my motor skills, so I avoid freezing up. Even if his eye patch is removed I can still stand my ground.
I went to take advantage of my position behind him by aiming a strike for his right shoulder. Even if it connected it wouldn't be lethal, I doubt it would even stop him from continuing to fight. But it would make it much more difficult for him to wield his sword in his good arm.
He must have heard me coming because as I swung my blade his shifted his body forward to avoid the attack. He then back handed his sword at me. I could dodge it normal if I wished but instead I left an after image using the Utsusemi technique to make it look like I had taken the hit. I heard a few shouts of distress from the side line but didn't give it much thought. I came from Zaraki's left grabbing his shoulder and swinging myself in a kick to his head, pouring a good deal of ghost and spirit energy into it.
I have kicked an armored truck before, and I will tell you that Kenpachi Zaraki's head is a lot harder than any armored truck. He stumbled only about three feet before his sword came down on me. I hadn't been expecting such a small reaction and only barely got my own Zanpakuto in the way in time to block the attack. The impact sent me flying through the air and smashing into the ground where I bounced a few times before coming to a stop. Not a moment went by before I had rolled back to my feet and dashed away.
I surveyed the damage done. I had a broken right arm and my left leg had a torn muscle. "I guess I need to start taking this seriously if I don't want to die." I said placing my left hand on my hilt. "Hold onto life, Gen'ei!" Both my hilt and sword itself began to glow and shape around my hands. My Zanpakuto took on its released form, a pair of metal plated gloves.
Using the healing affects of my Zanpakuto I mended my injured arm and leg in a matter of seconds. Broken arms and legs and disconnected muscles were easy to deal with. It was broken ribs that were hard and cut nerves took forever to get working again. "You're still not doing this for real?" Zaraki said looking at me with slight disapproval.
"Take of the eye patch and maybe I will." I replied with a cocky grin. He grinned back and reached up to his eye patch with one hand. I let the bluish white ring form around my waist. His spiritual pressure exploded as his eye patch was removed. His golden spiritual energy started to form itself into the skull like shape behind him. It was always scary as hell. The blue ring passed over my body turning my blue eyes green and my black hair went white. It was still not enough, I visualized the black moon with the symbol of power in its center, the source of my hollow powers in my inner world. A bit of the black energy seeped into me. I didn't form the mask but my white hair began to dance as if turned to flames. "Now it starts for real."
The differences were amazing. My speed had more than doubled from the transformations. I ran full speed and the Captain. He swung his Zanpakuto at me, the sword glowing bright from his spiritual energy. I maneuvered around it and aimed a punch for in stomach. The punch connected and it felt like I had broken one of his ribs, but before I could do anymore damage Zaraki's sword struck the ground and the wind from the blow blasted me away.
An hour went by as we exchanged blows. I was not always able to dodge and a glancing blow was capable of serious damage. I was always able to recover though and keep up the fight not even slowing down. Captain Zaraki couldn't repair his injuries, but he was able to keep fighting even though I had broken two of his ribs, cracked his left arm, and busted his jaw.
The fact that we were having the time of our lives probably is a bad sign about our mental health, but I can't help it. I hadn't fought a single ghost since I had first come to the Soul Society and as strong as some of the Soul Reapers are they are nothing compared to a strong ghost's adaptability and diversity. Not that I get to fight Soul Reapers very much anymore. So Kenpachi, as focused on head on fighting as he was, made a good substitute for a ten on one fight against ghosts.
But all things had to come to an end sometime. 'Danny, you need to stop so that you can heal up Kenny's injuries before he has to go.' I heard Gen'ei saying in the back of my mind as Zaraki had broken through yet another one of my Bakudōs.
"Kenpachi, I think it is time to call it quits!" I called out to the man. A look of announce crossed his face but he just put his sword over his shoulder and dug out another eye patch.
"We will pick this up next week got it!" he shouted back. I resealed the hollow energy and let my hair return to its normal, if still white, state. It was at this time that I had noticed that we had attracted an audience.
They were easy to overlook since they had to stay at a safe distance to keep for been flattened by Zaraki's spiritual pressure or roasted by a stray Kido. I don't even know why I bother with Kido against Zaraki. He is built like a tank. Heck tanks wished they were as hard as him. All of my Kido shots only slow him down a little not leaving even a mark on him. And that is only when they hit.
By the looks of it the entirety of Squads 5 and 11 as well as a good deal of 4 and some of the others squads had come to watch our match. I receive several 'Captain that was amazing's and moved off through the crowd to my group.
"Danny, you really shouldn't do things like this." Momo said looking a little angry with me.
"Sorry but it was a nice break after all that paperwork." I saw rubbing my shoulders and testing the joints. I looked at my group. "So what have we learned today?"
They said some things about dedication and tactics. I just shook my head. "No the lesson is, don't get into a fight with a man that is too much stronger than you to beat. If I couldn't mend my broken bones he would have killed me a long time ago." I said simply. I laughed at their stunned looks.
I heard laughter behind me and turned to see Captain Kyōraku of Squad 8 standing behind me. "You are going pretty far to not overestimate yourself there aren't you." He said with a smile. He tipped his straw hat back and looked at me. "Remember to take off your Captain's Coat before you try that again. Haven't been a Captain for two days and you already have it soaked in your own blood."
"I wouldn't say soaked." I said defensively looking at the coat.
"Don't worry about it. We got a special type of bleach that gets the blood right out of whites without taking the ink off." He assured me. "Zaraki has a truck load of it back at Squad 11 barracks." He then looked at me. "I hear you placed management of your Squad in their own hands. That's new. Hope you don't get chewed out for doing it without asking for permission."
"You know what they say 'easier to ask for forgiveness than permission'. Besides, this way if they fire me my squad will keep functioning when I am gone." I reasoned. "I didn't ask if I was allowed to use my free time to build orphanages and schools in the Rukongai District either. You will find that permission takes a lot of time to get. And if I don't need your help why would I need your permission?"
"I hear you but I am still pretty sure we are going to have to listen to Kurotsuchi complaining during the next Captains' Meeting." Kyōraku said shaking his head. "I wish that man would shut up."
"Even if he does complain, so what. My squad is working and doing their jobs again. And nothing I do outside of my duties as a Soul Reaper is any of his business. There isn't any law against helping people from the Rukongai district is there?" I said crossing my arms.
"Well… there is. But that is only in helping them get into the Seireitei or letting them into a noble house. But no one enforces them anyways." Kyōraku said scratching his beard.
"There are actually laws against it… I can't even feel shocked." I said shaking my head. "Does the Central 46 make it their business to alienate every sentient thing in existence? The Ghosts, Bounts, Humans, even other Souls. How ironic that they were killed by one of the few people they didn't try to have murdered." I said shaking my head. Everyone looked at me in shock. "What?"
"Danny… you just don't say things like that. The Central 46 are the people in charge of the Seireitei." Momo said uncomfortable.
"And the Observant were the people in charge of the Ghost Zone. That didn't stop me from yelling at them when they let a dangerous criminal bent on flooding the world loss because they couldn't bother to check and make sure that the guard was really a guard. It's called ID people, really!" I was ranting but I didn't really care. "Besides in the world of the living, people are allowed to criticize their leaders. It is what makes sure that they make the right decisions."
"… You might have a point. But you should still keep in mind that the Seireitei is different than the world of the live." Kyōraku said. "We will have to see how things play out at the next Captains' Meeting. Good luck with your Squad, Danny." Kyōraku as then dragged away by the ear by his Lieutenant who wanted him to get back to work.
"Well what is everyone standing around for? We got thirty more minutes until me break for barracks!" I shouted and my group got back to work. Not that they really did the full days training, but I won't blame them for wanting to watch.
A few hours later after making the stew for dinner. Momo and I teleported out to the construction grounds. Where we were immediately yelled at. "About time you slackers showed up. Momo help Sam with brick laying. Danny you're a mess but set out the flooring." We jumped at the sound of Kukaku Shiba's shouts but knew better then to hesitate. Momo ran over to help Sam and I grabbed the floor boards.
Ganju was clearing and restructuring the underground will his sister, Kukaku, used the sand that was removed from the hole to create building materials and spent her own time designing a playground for the kids.
I had to look up now and again to stare at Koganehiko and his brother Shiroganehiko. The two of them were amazing. They almost put even my dad to shame with the speed and accuracy that they worked. They had finished putting up the support beams, put in the pips for water, and laying the ground work for the flooring before I had even got there. They were moving onto the second story when I had arrived.
I had to struggle just to keep up with them. Gen'ei showed up and started helping Sam and Momo but the three of them were not even close to catching up. But then something happened. People had been gathering around to watch the work and had just been quietly observing. All together there were about a hundred of them. Noticing that the girls were falling behind one of the more elderly men walked up and started trying to help.
Everyone was shocked at first. The people didn't trust our intentions and were there on the pretense of suspicion. But after that first man started to help everything changed. "You're not doing it right!" A woman had shouted and then grabbed the man's wrist and started to show him how to do it properly. Then one after another the people came up to help.
It was even more of a shock when some of my group members from squad 5 showed up and started helping out to. It was awkward the two groups working together, but it was a good first step. By the time the sun was going down we had almost completed the first two stories of the above ground structure. Children had even come to play on the playscape that Kukaku had just made. The girls and I kept trying to joke around to get everyone to loosen up, but we only succeeded with the children. Every step counts.
By the time everyone was ready to go home we had completed the first two stories of what was going to be a three story building plus attic within the course of one whole day. We realized that we were probably going to finish construction on the above ground complex tomorrow. Everyone involved was told to make plans for lay outs for the rooms, even the children who were all very excited about the new building were invited to join in, and we would make a contest to see how could do the best job.
We had to convince Kukaku that she couldn't be both a judge and participant so we were using a contest to dodge the decoration bullet. But since we decided that all the judges would be children, since the building was for children, who knows, Kukaku's interesting style might just win.
Kukaku handed out a list of all the materials that could be used and we all went home to start planning. We would have until the building was finished to plan and they each of us would be allowed the following two days to work on it. There were no limits placed on group sizes.
I went with Momo and the other Soul Reapers back to the Seireitei. Only stopping to talk to Jidanbō at the gate. Jidanbō had been born and raised in the Rukongai District and was grateful that we were helping them. The Soul Reapers seemed to be rather excited about the whole affair. They were all being swept up in the winds of change. I bid them all go night and headed back to my Captain's quarts. If I wasn't going to sleep I would just do as much of the paper work so that the load of it all would be lighter tomorrow. But as I worked the things that Kyōraku had said kept coming back to me.
If people were going to question me on doing this then I had to be prepared. So I went to the archives to get started. 'If they won't listen to their hearts and help these people, then I will just have to make it personal to them. It is just like any ghost hunt. Know your prey.' I thought with a smile writing the requests for the documents I would need.