She leapt through the air, crossing two, three roofs a time. She wasn't here on a whim this time—watching her old friends making fools of themselves was interesting, especially with that Aizen business—this time she was here by a certain captain's invitation.
Of course, the Queen of Flash wouldn't just waltz in by the front gate and show the gatekeeper those papers the captain in question had meticulously prepared for her. She would waltz in through the front gate, not show the gatekeeper the said papers, and not be seen in the first place. Illegal entry completed, now, to complete the image, she just needed to learn the waltz.
Yoruichi slipped into the mansion. Byakuya had such a huge one. If not for her natural inborn curiosity and a perchance for illegal entry, she would not have such a good understanding of its layout. If not for her natural inborn curiosity, she would not have been caught wandering clueless in that mansion for maybe a dozen times.
It seemed like the mansion had changed since she last visited—was it a hundred years ago?—gotten bigger and more confusing. Byakuya found her wandering around somewhere vaguely resembling where the harem ladies would live in a typical mansion. It was the stables. The Kuchikis loved their horses, it seemed.
"What did you call me for?" Yoruichi asked while glancing sideways at the closed doors of the stables.
"A job." Yoruichi raised an eyebrow. "This job is for the Queen of Flash." She wondered what job would call on her, with her flashy flight from the Seireitei having made her a traitor of the Seireitei in all manner.
"You can name your payment, if you succeed." Now that was an interesting statement. She starkly remembered Kisuke offering a place in the superhero troupe he was creating, as Karakura Flash. The big stick, and the big carrot.
This was how, no more than three hours later, she found herself in this happy state, weaving through the still landscape with her most unexpected companions and a pack of Gillians behind them, intent on making them into dinner.
They sat around a fire beneath those crystal-like trees, three figures in that forest of pillars. Yoruichi nibbled on canned sardines as their tiny flame flickered, but a tiny seed of flame that hovered mere centimetres above the ground. Around them loomed the bare bark of trees, stripped of stray leaves and flowers, leaving only a mere skeleton of its former self. The ghost trees of faintly glimmering quartz felt oddly in place with the dead grey landscape of never ending silver pillars reaching into a fathomless dark sky.
"Who decided this assignment, anyways?" Yoruichi grumbled, sprawling out on the barren ground. The figure which sat in the shadow, away from the flame and away from the other two, gave a soft humph.
"Was it the Kuckiki?" Shinji Hirako wore his usual slit eyed frown upon his face. It seemed to be a permanent expression upon entering Hueco Mundo.
The figure in the shadows shrugged. Turquoise eyes narrowed towards Yoruichi. "Show a little modesty," he snapped. Yoruichi rolled over to lie on her stomach. "Please," the voice added, exasperated.
"Kids will always be kids," Yoruichi teased. The young captain gave her a glare, before standing.
"We'd better get going."
They had been sent to find a certain shinigami. There was just a little issue out of the ordinary in the mission. This shinigami lived in the depths of the Forest of Menos. After nearly a day of gallivanting through the hellhole of Menos, Yoruichi knew this was one place she never wished to come back to, much less live in.
"An outlaw, a Vizard, and a chibi captain, on the flee from Gillians." Yoruichi grinned at them. They were running. Again.
"You'll get used to it." Hitsugaya's strained voice showed plainly that he had yet to get used to running away from Gillians, but Yoruichi was positive there was at least twenty behind them.
"If you don't, you're always welcomed to drop dead," Shinji snapped.
Yoruichi laughed and dashed forward. She could hear the grating noises behind her as Hitsugaya struck his Zanpakuto against the trees, chipping away a scar on the shining bark of the trees.
"Are we still going straight?" Yoruichi turned to holler back. Go straight, Byakuya had said, and it will be the shortest route to her.
"Duck, or it will be the shortest route to death!" She ducked, eyes wide. Above her head, a crimson blast tore through the trees, quartz turning to dust, then disappearing, fading into the blinding red light.
"Wh—"The dense reiryoku had not made her aware of the new sources of immense power.
"Adjucha."
Yoruichi leapt upwards to avoid the next blow. The red blast tore through the trees like a rampaging beast, ripping through a Gillian. Crimson droplets flashed through the air. A sour, metallic smell tinged the air. Blood. Soft splashes echoed as bits of splattered flesh fell into the pool of bright red.
"That," Shinji mumbled, disturbed, "is a gruesome sight." The Gillians tore at the flesh at their feet. The blood looked like a puddle, compared to the skyscraper-like monsters tearing at it.
"And you'd better fight, before you become that." Shinji and Yoruichi cringed.
"Damn Aizen," Shinji scowled. Yoruichi fully agreed. If not for the explicit reminder, not be noticed by Aizen, a Bankai would have finished them all off.
"Damn Hollows," Hitsugaya cursed.
"Damn Byakuya," Yoruichi yelled as they broke apart, charging at the enemy, "for dragging me into this job!" She kicked a Gillian and sent it soaring, crashing into a tree. A snap sounded, the echoing sound of the Gillian's spine breaking. The others swarmed around it, devouring it like a rare delicacy.
They fought with the hollows, yet the more they killed, the more was attracted there. The hollows fought with them, with other hollows. There were more than three Adjuchas now. Yoruichi whipped around, sending a Gillian crashing backwards. She had lost sight of Hitsugaya some time ago amongst all the Gillians. If only all her companions were skyscrapers compared to the Gillians. She laughed at the thought. She leapt upwards, delivering a killing blow to the centre of the Gillian's mask.
There, amidst a couple of Adjuchas, was Shinji. His sword sought flesh and pierced the mask of the Adjucha in front of him. Yoruichi leapt towards him.
"Shō" A cold voice issuing a cold command. Yoruichi whipped around in time to see an insect-like Adjucha slam into a tree. Her golden eyes widened as the tree shattered, together with the hollow. A hand yanked at her top, dragging her to the ground.
"Hello, shinigami-san." A young girl garbed in a shinigami uniform, no more than 15 stared back at her with eyes as dark as a cloudless night sky. "Do you need a hand?"