Everything belongs to the rightful owners. This is purely a fanfic starring my favourite characters, from one of my favourite manga-series. It is made for fun, and I hope people will enjoy reading it, as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Reviews with advice and constructive criticism are downright worshipped, seeing as this is one of my first fanfics, and I have a lot to learn. Oh well on with the story... By the way I prefer to use the Japanese terms for a lot of stuff, so if you have any questions about the text feel free to ask...
5 roars beneath the frozen heavens
Why the hell did it have to be so damn cold, Matsumoto cursed under her breath, while jumping from rooftop to rooftop along with some of her squad-members. She bit her lip in frustration... Go to the real world and perform soulburials... Exterminate all weak hollows you come across and request backup, if you encounter stronger ones... Yeah right... as if even hollows would move around in weather like this. The wind was biting her face making her cheeks burn, and the falling snow made her hair and kimono stiff. Despite the cold and her bad mood, she still concentrated on the task at hand. Her sky-blue eyes scanning the ground and her body itching to sense even the slightest bit of reiatsu.
After a while, they finally found a lonely soul, who had sought cover from the horrible weather in a trash bin. The soul was that of a short, balding man. He was holding a suitcase and wore an expression of horror, as he eyed the group of shinigami. Matsumoto pitied the poor guy, not sure whether he was shivering from cold or fear. She smiled at the soul, wanting him to be as comfortable as possible before sending him to the afterlife. "B-But I don't... Want t-to leave..." the soul stammered. "You will never be hungry or consumed by hollows, if you go to the Soul Society... And the weather never gets this cold," she added in her most cheery voice. The soul looked thoughtful for a moment before he said: "Okay... I guess i-it's time t-to go then..." Matsumoto drew Haineko from her sheath and carefully stamped the souls forehead, with her zanpakouto's hilt.
A warm, blue light emitted, as the soul seemed to fuse with the ground. The light grew stronger until it suddenly disappeared, leaving behind only a delicate, black butterfly fluttering its way towards the sky. The somewhat sad and symbolic beauty of the ritual never failed to surprise Matsumoto.
Even when the butterfly was no longer in sight, she kept staring at the never ending sky lost in thought. She was therefore completely startled, when a loud sound, almost like a roar erupted in the distance. After a moment 4 roars followed the first almost simultaneously. Then everything went silent. It remained like that for about half a minute. Matsumoto's heart then jumped to her throat, as an explosion of reiatsu hit her. She had never in her life felt so small and so cold. The wind had become a storm, the white sky had turned dark grey, thunder roaring in the distance, crushing, engulfing, terrifying... And yet magnificent.