Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.
Here's another story that has been crowding my brain. I'm actually really fond of this one and I hope you all enjoy it!
Silence.
That was all that could be heard as a lone figure walked briskly through the dense forest, his robes melting into the black of the forest. The darkness brushed over him as the light of the fading moon failed to penetrate the thick leaves. Nothing stirred in these woods; no owls hooted, no squirrels scurried about, nothing moved, nothing breathed. Except this one man who carried on, his destination and purpose known to him alone as he moved, unhindered and unconcerned about his eerie surroundings.
After some time, an outcropping of rock forcefully presented itself, the dark stone glinting in the almost dangerously. The man continued on, striding without hesitation into the black nothingness passed the mouth of the cave. Several moments later, faint, flickering light danced across the rough stone walls, shadows dancing eerily against the shining surface. Once the man got close to the light-candles laid about the edge of the rather large open area-he ceased walking and simply stood, waiting for only he knew what.
It only took a few minutes, but finally another figure walked into the room. He was an older man, his face wrinkled and hair grey. The two figures stared at each other for a moment, before the one that entered at last broke the tense silence. " You will do it then?"
" Yes. I was commanded to wait two years, time which has now passed. All that is left is to get the exact orders from him." The man's deep voice rumbled through the cave, determination burning in his hidden ruby eyes.
Silently, the older man walked towards the younger, putting a hand on his shoulder. " You do not have to do this. There is no one here to punish you for disobeying. Our master fell; there is nothing we can do any longer."
" This is not for him. This is for us. The Seireitei must pay for what they did to our family."
The old man quieted, looking into the younger's eyes. He sighed, " I see that you cannot be swayed from your decision."
" Will you assist me?"
" No." He old man let his hand fall as he closed his eyes and bowed his head. " I will neither help nor hinder you. This boy you are going after, he has done much good for all, not just the Seireitei. Remember this."
" I have made up my mind." The younger said, turning on his heel and walking back into the darkness. The old man watched him sadly, dread filling him at the thought of what was going to unfold. He knew, ever since that faithful day, the boy had been corrupted by hatred and a thirst for vengeance. Such emotions were not meant to be felt by one with a power such as his.
The old man slid to his knees as tears flowed down his cheeks. What had he just allowed to happen? He didn't know, but he sobbed in fear and sadness, begging for forgiveness.
It was unusually calm in the Seireitei. No recent hollow activity was reported, at least none that wasn't easily handled. There was no commotion amongst the different squads. Nor was there anywhere near the normal amount of paperwork to be done. A fact which the Captain of the Tenth division couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief over. He was utterly exhausted from spending so many late nights on paper work and having to fight and work with only a few hours of sleep a week. A feat which he had just pulled once again seeing as he had not slept in two days. It was simply wearing the young captain out.
This is the reason why the prodigy, and normal busy body, Captain was taking a rare yet well deserved, in his mind at least, break as he laid on the couch residing in his office with his eyes closed. A rare sense of peace engulfed him at the lack of commotion and urgency. Sure there was still paper work and training, but it could wait a hour or two. Most of it was done and the rest wasn't due for a few more days. A blissful sigh escaped his lips as he snuggled down into the couch, fully intent on taking a long nap.
That was, until a hesitant knock sounded through the silence of his office. He jumped slightly at the sudden noise before rushing to his desk and smoothing out his robes. " Come in." He said, his voice full of cold authority. One of the lower ranked shinigami of his squad walked in. He kept his eyes downcast or upon the forms he was carrying. " What are those?"
" Oh! Um they're for you to sign, Sir, from Twelve. Also, Lieutenant Kuchiki stopped by to inform you that there was a Captain's meeting in twenty minutes."
" Why did Kuchiki inform you of this?"
" She said it was because she knew Lieutenant Matsmoto would not be here to inform you due to Lieutenant Abarai's absence, Captain." At this, Toshiro scowled.
" Very well." He commented as the shinigami placed the forms down carefully on his desk. When the door slid shut the boy allowed himself to sink down in his chair with a sigh. He had really been looking forward to sleeping. Begrudgingly he reached for his pen before a yawn overtook him.
The door slid open roughly, Toshiro sending a half hearted glare to whoever was disturbing him now, and was only slightly surprised to see his lieutenant. " Captain! I'm sorry I'm so late!"
" Matsumoto, it's two o'clock. You're supposed to be here by eight. What could have possible made you this late besides a bar?" Toshiro asked dryly, sitting up in his chair and snatching one of the thick forms he had to read and sign. Of course it had to be Kurotshuchi to ruin his day.
" I actually have a good reason this time, though! You see I was-"
" I honestly don't care right now. I have a Captain's meeting to attend, a fact that Lieutenant Kuchiki had to stop by to inform me of because a certain lieutenant of mine was missing." He snapped.
" That's awful cold Captain." She pouted.
" How am I supposed to run the squad when my second in command acts like she has no responsibility and is always disappearing, never showing up, never doing her work, and always drinking?"
" You do a great job, Captain! Without you our squad would be a mess!" She tried to cheer him up, giving him one of her biggest grins.
" You simply don't understand." He sighed with a shake of his head, brushing passed her and shunpoing away. He hated the fact that everyone in the Soul Society knew of how lazy and unprofessional Rangiku acted. How could he run a whole squad if he couldn't control his lieutenant, the one that is supposed to be the responsible one under him? In the minds of the other Captains, he couldn't. But of course, he was a child after all. He knew that's what they thought and is why he strived to disprove them and Rangiku simply was not helping in any way.
The blonde woman stood silently, gazing at the closed door her Captain had walked out of. She didn't show it, but she knew what he meant. She knew how he felt. Guilt stabbed painfully at her heart as she gazed at the stacks of work. A large amount was finished, piled neatly beside Toshiro's desk. She knew a good sized portion of that was supposed to be hers. There had been dark circles under the boy's eyes again, something that did not go unnoticed by the busty lieutenant.
It was due to this that when the squad ten Captain returned nearly a hour later, she was seated at her desk diligently working on the last few forms of work, both hers and Toshiro's. The white haired teen stood in the door way, staring in surprise. It took several moments, but when the woman's blue-grey eyes rose after the last, swift stroke of her pen, she smiled happily. " Hello, Captain!" She said cheerfully, proud at the surprise on his face.
" What are you doing?" He asked skeptically.
"Paperwork, of course. What does it look like?" She shrugged with a smile, lifting her arms above her head as she stretched he stiff back and shoulders. " I noticed you looked tired, Captain, so I decided to help out."
A rare smile graced his lips, his expression openly grateful for a moment before seriousness regained dominance. " Thank you, Matsumoto, but we have an assignment. There is a rogue loose and we must track him down." She schooled her expression, sadly letting go of any hope of getting off early because all the work was done. A flare in reiatsu momentarily grabbed her attention and she heard Toshiro groan softly. " Of course Kurosaki chooses now to appear…" He mumbled, feeling the substitute Shinigami headed his way.
" Why's he coming here?" Rangiku knew that her captain and the strawberry were good friends, but normally he would always go to see Rukia or Renji first and stop by their barracks sometime afterward. It was odd for Ichigo to head straight for them.
" Lieutenant Kuchiki was assigned to this case as well."
" Is this intruder really that powerful?" A captain and two lieutenants was a little much for a simple rogue in her mind.
" His power is unknown but all that have come across him have fallen. The Head Captain wants to take no chances." Toshiro had been a bit amazed too when there was no hesitation to send such a powerful group after the rogue that had infiltrated the Seireitei. He had expected to be told to send someone from his squad to investigate since that's what his squad did but that had not been the case.
" Yo Toshiro." Ichigo said casually as he entered, Rukia looking annoyed as she followed him in.
" Hello, Captain Hitsugaya." She said formally, glaring at Ichigo who didn't seem to notice.
" So what's this about a rogue or something?"
" Since you're here I suppose there will be no getting rid of you will there?" He asked, already knowing the answer without Ichigo's affirmative "nope." Toshiro couldn't repress his sigh and closed his eyes for a moment, willing his frustration to lessen. After a moment he began to explain, ignoring the odd look he received from Rangiku and Ichigo for his sudden impatience. " Two days ago, a man dressed as a Shinigami infiltrated the Seireitei. Since then, three members of squad seven and two from squad six have been wounded and one from squad eleven killed."
" Were they ranked officers?" Rukia asked, moving to join Rangiku where she had moved to the couch.
Toshiro flipped through the folder in his hand that held all the case information gathered so far, moving over to his desk that was for once clear of paperwork. He had yet to read it but had been briefed about the situation itself. " Only the squad eleven member; she was ranked seventh. Very little has been gathered on the rogue except that it is a male and he has dark hair. One of the victims also reported that his eyes were red but that has yet to be confirmed by others." He reported, flipping a page in the report. He was vaguely aware of Ichigo standing over him trying to read also. " Motive is unknown… target unknown… goal unknown…" he muttered, ignoring everything as he skimmed over the information, rapidly absorbing it, obtaining all the necessary information off a page before Ichigo got to read the second paragraph.
" Then how are we supposed to find him?" The orange haired shinigami asked, giving up on trying to keep up with the insane pace Toshiro was reading at.
" The Stealth Force say they believe him to be hiding in the underground sewer system."
" I know that place." Ichigo commented, receiving a confused look from the small captain. " Hanaturo hid me there when I first came here after I fought Renji." He explained, Toshiro nodding in response. " So when do we head out? I'm ready when you guys are."
" We will begin tomorrow."
" What? Why wait?" Ichigo complained.
" Yeah, Captain, why don't we just get it over with?" Rangiku asked curiously.
" Before we go charging after some unknown enemy I want to gather more information."
" How are we going to do that?"
" Interviewing the victims?" Rukia asked, receiving a nod.
" You two will need to come. This rogue may have left traces of his reiatsu on his victims during their fights. If we can manage to sense it, we may be able to sense where he is instead of running blindly around the mazes underground."
" Sounds like a plan, Captain!" Rangiku jumped up, cheerfully moving over to the teen. She figured that once this was over he would retire to think of a strategy, probably over a steaming cup of tea somewhere quiet, and she'd be free to spend the rest of the evening drinking away at a bar.
With that, the small group left for Squad Four, Ichigo coming along even though his ability to sense reiatsu and track it was nothing sort of pitiful. It took nearly two hours, but a sample of the mysterious rogue's reiatsu was found lingering on the body of the slain member of squad eleven. Toshiro, Rangiku, and Rukia focused on it, committing it to their memory. With the agreement to meet outside Toshiro's barracks at ten the next morning, which was sternly said to Rangiku, they all parted ways; Rangiku to drink the night away, Ichigo and Rukia to go pester Renji, and Toshiro to spend it alone thinking and planning.
However, even the most farfetched plans for the unexpected that crossed the young Captain's mind could not prepare him for what was about to unfold.
Please review if you enjoyed, I love hearing all of your opinions and comments!