Author's Note:

#TODO: Insert generic note about copyright laws and ownership here

This is my first fanfiction, though not the first story I've written; any feedback is welcome!

Chapter 1: Calm Before the Storm

When the first hell butterfly appeared, Nanao thought nothing of it. The dark-haired shinigami pushed her glasses up her nose, extended a finger for the butterfly to land on, and calmly took the message about a captain's meeting the next morning. It was unusually short notice, which meant she was unlikely to be able to convince Kyoraku Taicho to attend, but that was nothing new.

Then the second hell butterfly landed, barely fifteen minutes later. The captain's meeting was rescheduled to that evening, and it was marked as urgent. Nanao sighed, and reached out for her captain's reiatsu. Urgent meant that Shunsui actually needed to attend, though he'd probably sleep through most of it. Since it was in the evening, and he wouldn't have to wake up early, maybe he'd pay attention for more than five minutes. Not likely, Nanao thought cynically, but possible.

Judging by his reiatsu, Shunsui was dozing in the gardens of the 13th division. It was a far better place than many she'd found him in; often by late afternoon he'd be wandering the upper districts of Rukongai in search of a new bar. She signed one last piece of paperwork and put down her pen with a sigh. Of course, if she didn't go fetch him now, he would disappear into some bar or other, and she'd never get him to the meeting on time. "I'll be back shortly," she informed her third seat as she left the office. It was really the captain's office, but she'd commandeered it several decades ago, and Shunsui had never complained.

"Of course, Ise-san," the stocky shinigami responded politely.

She launched into shunpo as soon as she left the division headquarters. Shunsui's reiatsu still hadn't moved, and she sensed Juushiro's reiatsu near him. Hopefully the two captains were drinking or talking, meaning that Shunsui was unlikely to flee the moment he sensed her approach. Nanao had no desire to chase her errant captain all over the Seireitei. She landed at the gates of the 13th division, startling the shinigami on guard.

"Is Ukitake Taicho in?" she asked politely.

"Ah, yes he is, fukutaicho," the girl stammered. "Do you want me to tell him you're here?"

Nanao shook her head. "No need. I'm here for my captain, anyway."

With any luck, he'd actually be semi-awake. Nanao flashed back to the gardens, landing several feet away from her captain, who appeared to be asleep. Juushiro lay next to him, watching the clouds drift by with a serene expression. When she materialized, he sat up and smiled. "Nanao-san! Come to watch the clouds with us?"

"Actually, sir, I've come to make sure Kyoraku Taicho doesn't miss the meeting tonight. I'm sure you received the hell butterflies?"

Juushiro smiled at her. "No need to be so formal. Sit down, relax a little." He nudged Shunsui. "Your fukutaicho is here."

Shunsui lifted his hat off of his eyes and grinned. "So she is, and she's never looked more beautiful."

Nanao sighed. "Sir, there's a meeting tonight at eight pm. You'll be attending."

"Aww, Nanao-chan, do I have to?" he complained. Juushiro and Nanao exchanged exasperated glances.

"Yes, you do," Juushiro replied. "The Soutaicho specifically requested that all captains be present."

Shunsui let his hat fall back down over his face. "He says that every time. Old man Yama won't care if I miss this one."

"Actually, I think he will, sir," Nanao pointed out. "That's why it's an urgent meeting."

Shunsui sighed. "Alright, fine. But I'll only go if you stay here and enjoy the lovely spring weather for a while." Nanao glared at him.

Juushiro chuckled. "The paperwork can wait. Here, have some tea." He poured her a cup, and she huffed out a defeated breath. It would be rude to refuse his hospitality, and she did need to make sure Shunsui got to the meeting on time.

The third hell butterfly showed up moments later. "All captains and lieutenants are to report to the first division immediately. This is an emergency."

Shunsui bolted upright, looking concerned. Any trace of sleepiness vanished from his manner. "What's going on?"

Juushiro shook his head. "I don't know any more than you, I'm afraid." They exchanged a worried glance. The last time a captain's meeting had been called with such haste, it had been nearly a hundred years ago. And it had resulted in the loss of some of the finest captain-class soldiers the Gotei 13 had ever seen. Shunsui's heart still clenched when he thought about his former fukutaicho, though the sting of her loss was less now. Getting kicked in the head by a person you thought you'd never see again had the tendency to do that. He looked over at Nanao from under the brim of his hat, eyes dark. Even if he had to wrap her in kido chains to keep her safe, there was no way he was going to lose another lieutenant.

"It won't come to that," Juushiro promised gently. "Not this time." He knew exactly what his friend was thinking; how could he not? It was his fault Kaien Shiba died, after all. He shook his head, trying to dispel the disquieting thoughts.

Nanao laid a hand on his shoulder. "Ukitake-san? Is everything alright?" There were very few people she touched willingly, but she knew how much comfort Juushiro derived from such simple contact.

He rested a hand over hers, and reassured her, "Everything's fine. I'm just a little worried about the emergency, that's all."

Her glasses hid her thoughts as she replied sensibly, "Then we'd best get to the meeting as quickly as possible. No point in worrying before we have any idea what's happening."

Shunsui chuckled. "As quickly as possible? Does that mean I get to carry my sweet Nanao-chan?"

She rapped his knuckles with her fan as he reached for her. "I can keep up with your shunpo just fine on my own, sir," she admonished coolly. Before Shunsui could badger her about it, she darted off, feeling both captains follow her a split second later. If they exerted themselves, they could have outdistanced her fairly easily, but instead they paced her all the way to the 1st.

The trio landed in front of the doors a moment after Captain Hitsugaya and his lieutenant Rangiku touched down. Rangiku immediately hurried over to Nanao, her uniform exposing even more skin than usual. "Do you know what's going on?" she asked excitedly. "I've heard it's something to do with the living world! I hope we get to go there again; I've been dying for a proper shopping trip."

"If we are sent to the living world, there will be no time for shopping," Hitsugaya interjected icily.

"Oh, captain, you're just mad because you didn't like that scarf I bought you last time," Rangiku cooed. "Don't worry, I'll find you a better present next time!"

"There won't be a next time," Hitsugaya snapped irritably.

"He's been so grumpy lately," Rangiku confided to Nanao in a loud whisper. "I've tried everything to cheer him up, but nothing works."

Nanao rolled her eyes. "Have you tried doing paperwork for once?"

Rangiku giggled. "And give him a heart attack?" She grinned at the young captain fondly. "So I've tried all the fun stuff, how's that?"

"Are you two coming?" Hitsugaya growled. They entered the large hall and lined up side by side behind their respective captains, while Rangiku explained animatedly how she'd attempted to cheer up Hitsugaya. At his threatening glare, she lowered her voice somewhat, but she only subsided when the Soutaicho entered the room.

The old man leaned on the cane concealing his zanpakuto and surveyed the room sourly. "Where is Zaraki Taicho?" He glared at Ikkaku and Yumichika, who had taken the place of their absent captain and lieutenant. "You two are not acceptable substitutes."

Yumichika examined his fingernails idly. "Yachiru and Kenpachi are somewhere in the 50th districts, I believe. Yachiru wanted to go butterfly hunting. I'd much rather not be here, meetings are so unbeautiful, so we'd really be quite happy to leave." Ikkaku grunted in agreement, already looking bored.

The head captain sighed. "You will stay, and report back to Zaraki Taicho that sending his third and fifth seats in his place is completely inappropriate." He turned, and raised his brows at the sight of Shunsui standing calmly in line. "I see, Kyoraku Taicho, that it is in fact possible for you to arrive on time to meetings. I expect that this pattern will continue in the future."

"Anything you say, Yama-jii," Shunsui replied peaceably. He lowered his hat over his face, looking up at the head captain with his eyes shaded.

Yamamoto snorted and turned away. "So! Now that we are all assembled, Kurotsuchi Taicho has some information he'd like to share."

The painted captain nodded to Yamamoto and turned to the assembled captains, grinning humorlessly. "Early this morning, my division received several reports of unusual flares of spiritual pressure in the world of the living. These did not appear to be hollows; nor did they match the reiatsu of the substitute shinigami or his ryoka friends. While the flares did resemble those of newly-created arrancar, there were some disturbing difference." He licked his lips, staring off into the distance. "Quite intriguing really, I'd love to get my hands on whatever was creating them."

"So you don't know the source of these flares," Captain Kuchiki stated.

Kurotsuchi rolled his eyes. "Not yet, not yet. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," he directed a glare at Byakuya, "the reiatsu did not match any patterns stored in the databases. I sent a team to investigate, but they managed to collect very little usable data before they died. I could not even retrieve their bodies for further experimentation, as something appears to have eaten them whole."

Shunsui lifted his head, eyes narrowed. "You're saying there's an unknown monster stalking the world of the living that eats shinigami?"

"Not precisely," Kurotsuchi replied caustically. "I never said the monster still existed. I sent another team to retrieve the remains of the first group, and they found no trace of the odd spiritual pressure. They did, however, find a pile of dust and bone fragments." He waved a hand at Captain Unohana, long fingernails glinting. "I handed that over to the fourth division for analysis when my techs determined it was organic and contained little of interest."

The serene healer stepped forward, smiling tranquilly. Like always, her spiritual pressure felt like a deep pool of cool water, unruffled by the passing breezes. "The dust was indeed organic, and appeared to be the remains of a long-dead human. There were traces of hollow reiatsu within the bone shards, but it was strangely distorted. The distortion, though not identical to the changes created in an arrancar's reiatsu, was of the same magnitude. We also discovered remnants of shinigami reiatsu within the dust, which leads me to conclude that the twelfth division team was indeed consumed." She frowned slightly. "However, that does not explain where the dust came from, or why the reiatsu flare vanished suddenly."

Byakuya looked sharply at Kurotsuchi. "How long were you able to detect the strange reiatsu?"

"Approximately 3 minutes and 21 seconds," the other captain replied nonchalantly. "A second flare, appearing several hours ago, lasted 4 minutes and 1 second. Again, I sent a response team, but they met the same fate as the first. Really, they were remarkably weak. However, this time, they possessed more sophisticated instrumentation, embedded within their flesh. Before they died, they were able to transmit data that appears to show their spiritual energy being drained from their bodies."

"It was this report that prompted the emergency meeting," Yamamoto growled. He looked at the two eleventh division members. Ikkaku was drumming his fingers on the hilt of his zanpakuto, while Yumichika examined the hem of his shihakusho critically. "Since you two are here, you can go investigate. The twelfth will outfit you with devices that can detect these flares; observe and return. Do not attack unless provoked."

Ikkaku shrugged. "I'm in. Sounds like a challenging opponent," he said, completely disregarding Yamamoto's last instruction.

"It hardly sounds beautiful," Yumichika complained.

Yamamoto glared at him. "It was not a suggestion. Report to Kurotsuchi Taicho after the meeting."

"Do try to return alive," Kurotsuchi urged. "Really, I can't afford to lose much more of my equipment."

Yamamoto sighed wearily. "Your division will be reimbursed for any equipment lost in the line of duty." Kurotsuchi grinned gleefully, and the head captain shook his head. "Meeting dismissed."

As the captains filed out, Unohana stopped Ikkaku and Yumichika with a gesture. "You should both be careful," she warned. "Reiatsu exhaustion is not a simple injury, and a creature that can drain spirit energy is a formidable foe. Kurotsuchi Taicho neglected to inform you that his sixth seat was included in the first party."

Ikkaku looked like he was considering a snarky remark, but faltered under the weight of Unohana's calm gaze. "We'll be fine, Taicho," he replied weakly. She gave him a kind smile, and he hurried out of the room with Yumichika at his heels.

"So that's it," Shunsui grinned, a touch of relief in his tone as he watched the two men stride away. "Eleventh division will take care of it, and we can return to our picnic!" He turned to Nanao, grinning a bit too broadly. "Come, Nanao-chan, I think I need a drink!"

"You always think that, sir," she replied patiently. "Seeing as I don't need to ensure your presence anywhere, I'll be returning to the office. There is still a significant amount of paperwork that needs to be completed."

Shunsui slung an arm around Juushiro, trying to do the same to her. She dodged easily, and he pouted. "My Nanao-chan would rather spend her time in a dusty office than with her adoring captain."

"I would be perfectly happy to spend the time with you, provided you're in the office and doing your paperwork," she answered, knowing what his response would be.

He didn't disappoint her, though for a moment it almost looked like he was considering it. "It's already almost dinner time," he protested. "Surely there isn't that much more work you need to do!" Nanao just rolled her eyes, not dignifying that with a response. What did he expect, when she had double the normal number of forms to complete?

Juushiro twisted out from under Shunsui's arm and looked at her inquiringly. "You will be over for dinner tonight though, right?"

"Right, it is Wednesday, isn't it," she said, startled. "Of course I will." She'd completely forgotten about their weekly dinner, though she had no idea how it had slipped her mind. "I'll see you this evening," she promised. "But now I really do need to get back to work." They bid her an amiable goodbye, and she stepped into shunpo with a smile. Though she had a sneaking suspicion that Shunsui had come up with the idea of weekly dinners just to get her out of the office and make sure she ate, she truly enjoyed the time she spent with the two captains.