How to find Silver Chapter 2: Making Arrangements, a bleach fanfic

How to find Silver

Bleach and all its characters are the property of Tite Kubo. Other characters belong to me.

Unohana and Yoruichi set their plan into motion, what does this mean for Hanataro and Soifon?

Hanataro x Soifon as well as others

Chapter 2: Making Arrangements

The sun had just begun to rise in the Soul Society, and the many soul reaper squads were beginning to start their day. In Squad Four, however, the day starts long before the sun comes up. The Fourth Division not only functioned as a hospital for any soul reapers who were wounded in battle, but it's members also worked hard every day to make sure the Seireitei remained clean and running smoothly. Almost everyone would say that the Fourth was easily one of the hardest working Squads in the entire Soul Society, and they would be right, especially now.

There had been a huge number of hollow attacks on the Soul Society since Aizen's defeat by Ichigo Kurosaki, an event that the soul reapers had begun to refer to as the Shadow of Aizen. Even without the former captain's influence there seemed to be a never ending supply of powerful hollows as well as the even more dangerous arrancars to wreak havoc on the . In response, almost every squad of the Thirteen Court Guard had been in at least one major battle, some had been in several. There had been many injuries but no fatalities as of yet, fortunately, but no one expected that to last.

"That is where we, the Fourth Division, come in," Iemura, the Squad's Third Seat, explained. Iemura was not in the best of condition today, he and several others had spent the whole night trying to find Captain Soifon, only to discover she had been in the Fourth Squad infirmary the entire time. It was not something he liked to dwell on, so continued with his explanation, "Healing the wounded is our duty, it is what we're good at. We must not waver, for the fate of the Seireitei rests in our hands." He was so absorbed in his speech that he did not notice when someone came up behind him.

"Writing in your diary again, huh, Iemura?" Ogida said, leaning right up to his superior, looking over the taller man's shoulder. His sudden appearance was enough to cause Iemura start in surprise. Enjoying the results of his teasing, Ogida continued, "You know, diaries are a lot more effective at keeping secrets when you don't read them aloud as you write in them."

"Ogidaaaa," Iemura said threateningly, as he began to slide his sword from its sheath, "I was merely refreshing our situation in my mind, do you have a problem with that?"

Ogida started to back away, holding his hands up to try and placate the Third Seat, "Of course not, Sir. I was just trying to say… Uh, hey! Where's Hana? He's usually in by now, so what? Did he get lost again, or maybe kidnapped? He's gonna end up making a habit of that, believe me."

Neither man noticed Isane come up behind them and they both jumped visibly when she spoke, "Actually I wanted to talk to you about, Ogida." She paused as the two men, both shorter than she, saluted, and then she went on, "There was a small disturbance yesterday evening, and Hanataro was injured. Apparently he was taking over the evening clean-up shift in your place when it happened, so I was wondering if you could explain why he was there and not you." Her tone, however, told him that she knew exactly why he was not there last night.

So instead of answering her question, Ogida asked one of his own, "What kind of disturbance? I mean, who would cause in a hospital? There weren't any Squad Eleven people in here last night, so who else would cause trouble around here?"

He was a little surprised when she answered him, "Well…" she began.

Omeada was having a pretty good dream, there was a giant feast before him, with a huge lake of gravy and mountain sized bowls of rice, and a turkey the size of a Gillian. He was just about to dive in when something woke him quite suddenly. It was his captain, Soifon, tossing and turning in her sleep. She was mumbling something that the chubby lieutenant couldn't make out. It was pretty obvious to him, however, that whatever it was, it was not pleasant. Seeing his captain in trouble, Omeada rushed forward without thinking, not the brightest idea when dealing with a sleeping assassin. He leapt to her side and started to shake her gently, yelling loudly, "Captain! Wake up, wake u-wagh!"

Soifon's assassin training kicked in as soon as he had touched her, her hand shot out, slamming into the large man's chin with enough force to send him crashing backwards. She blinked a little surprised to see him there, but in a way she was grateful. Because of his antics, the dream she had just woken up from was almost completely cleared from her mind. That same dream that she had been having almost every night since she had had that battle with… she shook her head not daring to dwell on it. It was at this moment that she realized that she was not in her usual clothes, and in their place was only a simple gown. "Omeada, where is my uniform and my captain's cloak?" she asked in her usual no nonsense tone.

"Uh, a nurse came in last night, and she said that she would wash them for you. You must have been very tired, 'cause you didn't even twitch while she changed you into that gown."

At this Soifon eyes became sharp, and she turned her gaze directly on Omeada, "Are you saying you watched?" She asked calmly, too calmly.

"Oh, no, no, no!" he said starting to panic slightly. "I was standing outside the whole time, but the nurse told me you didn't seem to respond at all."

She looked at him a little longer, but decided to simply let it go, and let out a long sigh, "Fine. We have a lot of work to do today. Now go and find my clothes."

He nodded, "Yes, ma'am!" he said, and headed off to carry out her orders.

Hanataro had slept very well last night, and now he was ready to get back to work. He looked at a chart that Iemura had set up that showed what jobs everyone had, depending upon which of the various relief squads they were assigned to. Let's see… today, I'm supposed to help with the laundry. Well, off I go. He thought cheerfully. Last night had passed without incident. In fact, he had fallen asleep almost as soon as Isane had left him alone in the room. Now the dark haired man was full of energy and ready to go about his day. Hanataro set out, and while he noticed that there were already a large number of people coming into infirmary, mostly from Squad Eleven. Hanataro smiled slightly and shook his head, "The only time they get up early is when they know they can get a fight. This is pushing it even for them, though," Hanataro said to himself quietly. "Oh! I'd better hurry. I've already slept later than I usually do, so I'll have to work extra hard to make up for it." With that he hurried back on his way.

Hanataro arrived at the laundry area shortly after that. He began to wander around for a bit before calling out, "Hello? Is anyone here? I'll be working here today." It was hard to find his way around the place due to the huge piles of clothes littered all around the large room, taking care of all of the laundry in the Seireitei was yet another duty assigned directly to the Fourth Division. In the back of the room were a number of large white machines, which had been recently been created by Research and Development to help the Fourth with their large work load. The machines were called 'washing machines' and 'dryers.' They helped tremendously, but there were still more clothes than could be easily handled by them. With all the injured that had been coming in, it was even worse now. He was having trouble finding his way around, so he tried calling out again, "Hello? Is anyone out there?" Hanataro was beginning to feel a little nervous, being all alone in the big room. It was well lit, but with all those piles of clothes, who knew what could jump out at you.

Just then a middle aged soul reaper came out from behind a pile of clothes and greeted the nervous man, "Hello, Yamada, Sir. Is there anything I can do for you?" He watched with bemusement as Hanataro dived into another pile of clothes, "Something wrong, Sir"

Hanataro poked his head out of the dirty laundry, a pair of underwear sitting on his head, but he didn't seem to notice. He smiled timidly, a little embarrassed about his overreaction, "Um, no, nothing's wrong, I'm just a little nervous today," he said, laughing anxiously, scratching the back of his head, and finally noticing the underwear as he did so. Hanataro simply threw it aside as he crawled out of the jumble of clothes, "So what can I do?"

The man thought a moment, and then he walked over to a line of selves, where the clean clothes were kept until they could be delivered to the proper owners. He pulled a small basket of a shelf, then turned and offered it to Hanataro, "This goes to Captain Soifon in the infirmary. I was told to get these back to the captain as soon as possible, but I'm already really behind, so could you do it?"

Hanataro took the basket and nodded, "Okay, I'll get going right away," but before he could move the other man stopped him.

"And could you take these to the squad sleeping quarters? I've checked and it's on the way," he said as took a basket as large as Hanataro and placed it on the first. Hanataro nearly collapsed under the wait, but before he could say anything, the older man was already rushing him out the door, "The captain's room number is on the basket with her clothes on it. Now you hurry back, we've got a lot of work to do," Then the door shut and Hanataro was left alone with the baskets.

As Hanataro set out, he couldn't help but feel like this had happened before, oh well, no use dwelling on it, he's right I've got a lot of work to do today, he thought cheerfully as he started toward the sleeping quarters, still struggling under the weight.

Soifon stalked around the room impatiently, what is taking Omeada so long? That idiot probably got lost or forgot what he was doing or both, she thought a grimace on her face. She was getting impatient and to be honest she felt a little bored. So, she began to look around the room, and she was a little surprised when she found a spare set of robes in the closet. They weren't much but they would be enough so that she could find her uniform and captain's cloak. Then she could get back to work. She had to get back to work. If she didn't keep working… she stopped, realizing what she had been doing. She took a deep breath and tried to find her calm, just like Lady Yoruichi had taught her. An assassin must remain in control of their emotions at all times. This was one of their most fundamental rules. Soifon let the breath go and sighed, finally back in control.

Suddenly she sensed something and looked towards the window just as a jet black butterfly flew in. The hell butterfly flew up to her, danced around her head for a few seconds before it return to the window and was gone. "Hmm, a captain's meeting? It's probably just a routine meeting in order for us to reassess the situation, nothing too serious. But I had better hurry, anyway," she said as she shrugged her way out of the nightgown. Soifon had just started to put the robe on when she heard a voice outside and almost immediately the door slid open.

Hanataro had finally managed to deliver the clothes to the sleeping quarters used by the un-seated soul reapers and he had only fallen twice in doing so. He was quite pleased with himself about that. "Now I just have to deliver this to Captain Soifon." He said, hefting the small basket as he worked his way through the crowded infirmary. The Fourth Division was now in full swing, and just walking around without bumping into someone was a difficult thing to accomplish. The Seventh Seat was used to this, however, ducking through the crowd, only bumping into a few people. When he arrived at the room the captain was staying at he sighed in relief, and announced, "Captain Soifon, I have you clothes here, I'm coming in!"

To be fair he was already flustered and in a hurry. Plus he had heard about the slender captain's condition from the other healers, so he was not really expecting her to be awake already. Still he thought sagely, you should always knock when you enter someone's private quarters. Although he did admit that he should have realized that before barging in and seeing the captain in nothing but her underwear.

They stared at each other for a few moments, and then Soifon growled at him, "Get out!" Even as she said this she began to look around the room, no doubt trying to find her zanpakuto, obviously with the intent of using it.

This was all the warning Hanataro needed, backing up quickly as he babbled apologies rapidly, "I'm sorry Captain Soifon, I didn't mean to bra-ther, I mean bother you. It was just a nipple- little mistake!" He started to turn around but as he did so, someone suddenly slammed into him. It was probably a medic who was in a hurry to get to his or her next patient sending Hanataro spinning. Hanataro did not have time to ponder this, however, as he was stumbling around, desperately trying to regain his balance. He felt himself drifting forward and tried to lean back to compensate, but then he hit something. He let out a yell as the basket went flying from his hands and the clothes went flying everywhere. Then he fell… directly on top of a very upset Soifon.

Hanataro did then what most men would do in his position: stand up as fast as he could and ran out of there, screaming like a little girl.

Soifon briefly considered going after the boy, but decided against it. She had to get to that captains' meeting. She went around the room and picked up the clothes that had been scattered around the room. The dark haired woman started to get dressed. She had just tied her black and yellow sash around her waist when Captain Unohana entered. Soifon nodded her head in acknowledgement of the older woman, "Good morning, Captain Unohana. May I help you?"

"I was merely wondering, since you are here, If you would care to walk to the Captains' meeting with me?"

Soifon thought about it for a moment before nodding. Soifon had a great deal of respect for the older captain and she wouldn't mind spending time around her. Just being around Unohana made a person feel calm and safe, even Soifon could appreciate that. As the two women exited the room a familiar voice called out to them.

"Hey, Soifon, did you sleep well?"

"Lady Yoruichi!" Soifon said smiling as her old mentor approached them. "We were about to go to a captains' meeting, would you like to walk with us?" She asked hopefully, her bad temper from earlier completely forgotten upon seeing the beautiful dark skinned woman.

Yoruichi shook her head, "Sorry but I've got some things to do around here." upon seeing the younger woman's disappointment, Yoruichi relented, "Tell you what, when you two get back, why don't we have lunch together, just the two of us."

Soifon's face lit up, "Really!" she said excitedly, but immediately made herself calm down, "I would like that very much, Lady Yoruichi, I look forward to it," she said as she bowed deeply, then she turned and walked away. Unohana followed a short distance behind her, shaking her head in quiet amusement.

When they reached the front gate, they passed Renji Abarai, who stood at attention until the two lady captains had gone. He thought it a little strange that those two would be together but he shrugged and forgot the matter, he was here for another reason. Specifically, to see if he could find out what had happened to Kazuki Koga.

Koga groaned, and shook his head, "What happened?" He mumbled out loud. He had been preparing to fight that lady arrancar when she released her zanpakuto, but he didn't remember anything that happened after that. Now he was here, wherever 'here' was. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud voice.

"Hey, hey! Looks like Sleeping Beauty here is finally waking up!" The voice was loud and annoying, but Koga could not pinpoint where it came from. Wherever he was, it was dark.

Then a woman's, no, more a girl than a grown woman, voice cut in, "Sleeping Beauty? More like a gorilla! Not a very cute one either."

"Now, Young One, there's no need to be rude," another voice, a male this time, refined and mature.

Koga could hear the sound of heavy footsteps approaching him when a fourth voice came out of the darkness, deep and gravelly, "Is it edible? Don't really look like it."

"No, Gor, you are not allowed to eat him. Lady Ciel has special plans for him," there was yet another voice, this one as smooth as silk, just the sound of it made Koga nervous, though he couldn't say why.

"Enough, stop wasting time," this voice he recognized, it spoke with authority, clearly the voice of a leader, the voice that belonged to that female arrancar. "We have much to discus with our guest," she said, in that same emotionless voice she had used before.

The room was suddenly filled with light, nearly blinding Koga. As his eyes began to adjust, he was able to make out his surroundings. It was a large cave of some sort, and in the center of the cave he could see his captors. "Who are you people?" he asked, trying to get them talking in order to buy time, so he could plan his next move.

There were six of them, though he couldn't tell what they looked like yet. Four of them, including the silver haired woman from before, were arrancars. He could tell by the feel of their spiritual pressure, or reiatsu. The two that remained, however, were different. They stood towards the back of the room, away from the rest. As Koga focused on their reiatsu, he sensed something that shocked him. Are those two… but how?

His thoughts were interrupted by the female arrancar's voice, "You must have many questions, but they'll have to wait. It is about to begin."

Koga struggled to his feet, he suddenly felt dizzy, and something hurt in the pit of his stomach, "Who are you? What do you want with me? Talk, Worm-Bait!" he yelled as, the pain in his stomach threatened to overwhelm him.

She stared at him impassively before speaking, "My name is Ciel Ryna, and you are going to help me topple the Soul Society."

What! What does she mean by that? Before the large soul reaper could ask anything else, however, the pain in his stomach became a crushing force, pressing his mind into unconsciousness. When he awoke, he looked around himself in confusion. He was standing on what appeared to be the underside of a giant leaf, and all around him was the sound of music.

"What? He's not here either?" Renji asked Isane, who just shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Lt. Abarai, but I've already checked our records for today and yesterday, and there was no one by that name who has come in. We do have a few unidentified patients, but none of them match your description. Are you sure he's missing? He could just be playing hooky," Isane suggested, looking at her fellow lieutenant with concern.

Renji scratched the back of his head as he growled in frustration, "I don't know," he said with a sigh, "I guess. The thing is, the last anyone in the squad saw him was just before we ran into that arrancar. And just a few minutes after I realized he was gone, I felt her reiatsu flair up again. We went to check it out but she had disappeared again before we got there. All we found were signs of a struggle, so what else am I supposed to think?" The redheaded lieutenant shook his head, "He hadn't been in Squad Six for long, but that still means that he was my responsibility."

Isane looked at him for a moment then nodded, understanding how he felt, "I'll check again, and ask around if anyone has seen or heard anything," as she said this, Renji looked at her with a grateful smile.

"Is something the matter, Lieutenant Kotetsu?" The two lieutenants turned to see Iemura approaching them. The blond man stopped in front of them and saluted the two lieutenants, "Anything I can help with?"

Isane smiled at her Third Seat, "Maybe, have you heard anything about a soul reaper named Kazuki Koga? He's a member of the Sixth Division" As she said the name, Iemura's expression changed from its usual seriousness, to a strange mixture of sadness and something else she couldn't quite put a name to.

The blond man pushed his glasses up his nose before speaking, "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but I'm afraid that you won't find Mr. Koga here, regardless of the circumstances. I'm sorry again, but I have something else to attend to," with that, the man turned and left, leaving behind two very confused lieutenants.

"What was up with him?" Renji asked, scratching his head again.

Isane didn't know what to think about Iemura's strange reaction anymore then Renji did, "I'm not sure, I've never seen him like that," she paused thinking, "though I do know Iemura well enough to know he wouldn't say something like that lightly. I'll check around like I said, but…" she trailed off, and Renji nodded.

"Yeah, I get it. Either way, thanks for trying," Renji said as he started to walk away. "I'll check back at Sixth Division, maybe he's wondered back by now. If you do find something out, let me know," he said as he walked away.

Isane nodded, as she returned to work. As she did so, however, her mind once again went back to Iemura's strange reaction to the name 'Koga'. She just couldn't understand what would make him act that way.

Soifon looked around impatiently, wanting the meeting to be over so she could go see Lady Yoruichi. She was pulled out of her thoughts by Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi, as he explained some defensive measures he had prepared for the Rukongai.

The captain of the Twelfth Division and head of the Soul Society's Research and Development Division was most easily described as a unique individual, both in appearance and personality. Soifon often wondered which one she found more surreal, but before she could delve too far into this train of thought, she was dragged back to reality by the sound of Kurotsuchi's voice, "Our initial concern would be the sheer number of hollows that have been appearing in the Rukongai and the surrounding areas, in response to this, I have developed a series of obelisks which emits reishi at a special frequency that I have discovered through a number of very… interesting experiments," he paused, smiling at the memory of those particular experiments before continuing, "I have found that most hollows find being exposed to that frequency to be very unpleasant."

Captain Shunsui Kyoraku spoke up, "I get it, like using a high pitched whistle to scare wild animals away."

"What effect will this have on the people that live in the Rukongai, not to mention out own forces?" asked Jushiro Ukitake, the white haired captain of Squad Thirteen.

Mayuri smiled a rather disturbing sight to behold. He loved it when people asked how his projects worked, it helped show them how superior his intelligence was, "The reiatsu of soul reapers and normal souls are quite different from a hollow's, I assure you. Only the hollows will be affected."

"What about the arrancars, you have conveniently avoided mentioning them," Toushiro Hitsugaya asked, his voice hid an anger that he barely managed to contain.

Mayuri grimaced, he was not so happy when people questioned his projects' worth. Even Mayuri, however, knew enough not to push the young captain, especially after what had happened to him in the battle in the fake Karakura town. For that reason he simply answered the question, "No, arrancars are far enough removed from hollows that they will not be affected by the reishi wave. They won't be able to summon any additional hollows through a Garganta, however."

Byakuya Kuchiki chose this time to interject, "If that is the case, then I would suggest allowing guard stations to be set up throughout the Rukongai. This will greatly reduce the time it takes for our forces to respond in case of an attack, as well as reduce risk of casualties."

Head Captain Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni stared at the nine captains assembled before him. They had suffered through much in the war against Aizen, though not all of these were physical wounds. And yet, they still worked hard to fulfill their duties, even with this new threat, they did not forget their duty as captains. Yamamoto could not help but feel pride in his subordinates. He then tapped his staff sharply against the floor, "Very well, I expect the two of you to carry out these tasks quickly. We cannot afford to waste a moment," he said gruffly. He looked at his captains, making sure to catch each of their eyes before continuing, "Even now, we are haunted by Aizen's legacy. But we will not let it defeat us. We will conquer this as we have conquered all threats that have come before," he spoke powerfully and with conviction, his words settling deep in the hearts of his captains. He nodded his grizzled head and spoke again, "Is there any other business we need to discuss?" silence, "Very well, you are dismissed."

As the captain filed out of the room, Unohana approached Soifon. Soifon stopped and looked at the older woman, she was anxious to get out of here and go meet Lady Yoruichi, "Is there something I can help you with, Captain?" Soifon said shortly.

Unohana didn't seem to notice Soifon's rude behavior as she simply began talking, "I came to ask that you stop by the Fourth Division after your meal with Yoruichi," she paused when she noticed Soifon's hesitation, "please? It is important." The Younger woman sighed and relented. No one could really refuse Captain Unohana anything. Unohana smiled, "Thank you, I'll see then," she said before she went on her way.

Soifon chose to only worry about the meeting when it happened, as she hurried back to the Fourth Division.

Yoruichi looked around the Fourth Division as she waited for Soifon to get back from the captains' meeting so they could go eat lunch. Eat where though? Yoruichi wondered, and as she walked past the Fourth's mess hall, she got an idea. It's a nice warm day today, so what could be better than a picnic made for two? She entered the kitchen and asked if she could pack a couple of box lunches, and the cooks there readily obliged. As she worked on the lunches she went over the plan she and Unohana had come up with, or rather the plan the dark-skinned woman had wanted to use. Knock the two of 'em out and then trap them in a cave together for a few weeks, that'll get them together… or get Hanataro killed. No plan's perfect. However Unohana had said they would call that 'plan B'. Yoruichi did agree that the other woman's plan sounded safer, but Yoruichi still thought her plan would be more fun. I have to try it sometime. Hmm, maybe I could do it to Ichigo.

(Meanwhile in the world of the Living, Ichigo shivered violently.)

She got back to the main waiting area just in time to see Soifon return. As the younger woman approached Yoruichi held up the two box lunches and grinned, "Ready to go?" she asked.

Soifon nodded eagerly. The two of them were leaving just as Unohana returned and she nodded politely to them. Soifon took a breath, "I'll later today, Captain Unohana. After I finish lunch I have some work to catch up on." Unohana nodded that this was okay. Soifon turned to ask Yoruichi where they were headed only to find the older woman looking at her with a small frown.

"This is just lunch?" Yoruichi asked, pouting. "I thought that this was a date." She laughed as Soifon started stammering in embarrassment. "Alright, let's see how well you can keep up." She said as she vanished with a flash-step. Soifon quickly followed suit.

Unohana watched them leave before turning to an orderly, "Could you find Seventh Seat Yamada for me? I have something I need him to do for me."

Yoruichi stopped on the roof of a building near the Thirteenth Division. She smiled: she loved looking at Ukitake's garden. It was one of the most beautiful things in the Seireitei in her opinion. She then plopped herself down and put the box in front of her, Soifon did so as well.

As they ate they simply sat and talked about different things: old times, what life was like in the Living World, about Kisuke's trouble with force fields (Soifon had trouble hiding her smile at this.) The whole time they were both careful not to mention the war with Aizen, particularly Soifon's part in it. That is until Yoruichi saw the young woman struggle with a packet of soy sauce. Yoruichi reached out and took it and opened it. Before Soifon could voice her gratitude, however, her former captain spoke, "Not an easy thing to do with one arm is it?" She saw Soifon's look of shock and hurt and immediately felt guilty, but this was something she had to do.

Soifon turned away, not meeting her mentor's eyes. Yoruichi pressed on, "From what Retsu told me, between her and Mayuri, they can fix your arm. The only reason they haven't yet is because you won't sit still long enough to let them. If you worried about Mayuri putting something inside you that doesn't belong there, don't. Unohana wouldn't let that happen."

Soifon still couldn't look at the other woman, "No, it's not that."

Yoruichi slapped her hands down on the roof in front of her, "Then what? Are you that worried wasting time? You must be if you're willing to push yourself hard enough that you pass out."

"L-lady Yoruichi…" Soifon began.

Yoruichi cut her off, her voice growing louder as she spoke, "Fine, if time's an issue, than take one day off and go see Orihime in the Living World, or is one day still too much time? Or is it because you don't want anything to do with an outsider? Soifon, you can't go on like this, you'll get yourself killed if you d-,"

"Well, if I do, what business is it of yours?" Soifon snapped, when she realized what she had just done she immediately began apologizing, "Lady Yoruichi, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

Yoruichi leaned back, surprised. She had never expected Soifon to snap at her like that, "Soifon, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn't have been pushing you so hard." They were quite for a few minutes before Yoruichi spoke again, "Well, I've got to get going, and you said you had paper work to do, right?" Soifon nodded in response, "Okay, you should get to it. Now don't forget you promised Retsu you stop by later." when she saw her former subordinate hesitate she spoke again, "Look, I'll be there too, so you'll have nothing to worry about. Okay?"

Soifon smiled softly, "Thank you, Lady Yoruichi. I'll be there," she said the last with her usual confidence.

As she watched Soifon walk away Yoruichi began to wonder if she was doing the right thing. No, if I leave her alone, she'll burn herself out. I've seen it happen before. This is the only way I can help.

She tried to run but she couldn't escape the skull's horrible grin. She tried to run but the laughter followed her wherever she went. She tried to run but she couldn't escape that terrible darkness. The darkness had her, she couldn't move. As the darkness swallowed her she let out one last scream.

Soifon sat up suddenly, breathing heavily. She looked around herself, a little disoriented. She was sitting at her desk in her office, I must have fallen asleep while I was doing the paper work, she thought as she looked out the window, it's almost sunset… maybe I should just… no, I promised Lady Yoruichi.

With that she stood up and started on her way back to the Fourth Division.

Yoruichi let out a sigh of relief when she saw Soifon enter through the Fourth Division's front gates, "For a minute there I thought you weren't going to make it. I was just about ready to go hunt you down, tie you up like a hog, and bring you back here," she said, laughing.

Soifon didn't laugh. She knew that her old master meant every word. "Alright, Captain Unohana is waiting in her office, correct?" she asked, wanting to get this over as soon as possible.

Yoruichi nodded, "Yeah, c'mon. It's this way," she said as she led the way. The two were quite as they walked, neither quite over the incident from that afternoon. It wasn't until they had nearly reached Unohana's office that Yoruichi spoke again, "Unohana told me about the problem with your arm: it's not just that you lost it, but your shoulder is badly damaged as well. She says you need daily Kido treatments to fix that before they even try restoring the arm itself. But you've been making sure your way too busy for Unohana to do that, right?" Yoruichi winced, she hadn't meant to say that last part that harshly.

Soifon didn't respond for a moment and when she did, all she said was, "Yes, Lady Yoruichi," Soifon didn't say anything more, she didn't want to risk another fight.

When they got to the door Yoruichi knocked and then said to Soifon, "Look, Soifon, I know you're bothered by all this but it will all turn out okay. I promise," she stood there looking at the young woman, her eyes filled with worry.

Soifon hesitated and then nodded, Lady Yoruichi is right, I won't last if I keep going the way I have been, she thought as she walked into the office where Unohana was waiting for them, Isane by her side.

Unohana smiled warmly at them, "You made it, that's good," she waited until the other two women had sat down before continuing, "Ah, would you like some tea?" When they both declined she got down to business, "The biggest issue with your treatment is time. I need a certain amount of time, only about four to six days, to treat your shoulder. However, as a captain, you don't have four days to waste waiting in the infirmary, correct?" Soifon readily agreed with this statement.

Yoruichi shook her head with admiration, that's Retsu for you, she's a master of tact. Up till now I never really thought I needed it. But it's really impressive how Retsu can say pretty much the same thing I did without hurting Soifon, she thought, silently thanking her healer friend.

Unohana continued, "I believe I've found a solution that will work for everyone: I will assign you a personal medic who will remain with you for the next week, or however long is necessary for you to get back to one hundred percent. Of course, this will mean that you will have to find some way to lighten you workload for the next week or else the medic won't be able to do you any good."

Soifon stood up clearly upset, "A week! How do you expect me to get any work done with some Fourth Squad weakling following me around for a…" she trailed off as she felt Unohana's gaze grow sharper. Soifon realized that perhaps 'Fourth Squad weakling' was not the wisest word choice, considering who she was dealing with.

Unohana's voice did not change at all, and her expression did not appear any different either, and yet the atmosphere in the room was completely different. "So, you are saying you would prefer to spend the next week in the infirmary? Very well, I shall make the arrangements," she said it calmly, and while the words themselves did not sound threatening, all three of the other women began to sweat nervously.

Soifon quickly spoke up, "N-no, ma'am. On second thought the medic sounds fine," she said, her shoulders hanging in defeat.

Yoruichi and Isane couldn't blame the young captain. There are very few, if any, people who can turn Unohana down when she got into a mood like that.

Just as suddenly as it had begun, Unohana was back to her usual self, "Ah, good. Thank you for being so understanding, Captain," she said pleasantly, as if nothing had happened. Unohana looked at the clock on her desk, "That's odd… He should be here by now," she was just about to tell Isane to go find him when they heard a noise outside.

"Captain Unohana? You wanted to see me now?" Soifon blinked, that voice sounded familiar. Now, where had she heard that voice before?

Unohana nodded with satisfaction, "Good, he's here, now I hope the two of you can get along," she said to Soifon. Then she called to the person outside, "Ah, Yamada, you can come in now."

"Yes, Captain," the voice said as the door slid open.

Hanataro walked down the hallway, a little confused. Captain Unohana had summoned him earlier today, and told him she had a special assignment for him.

"Special assignment?" he asked, a little confused.

"Yes, I need you to act as the personal healer for a particular patient. You'll be spending the next week or so away from the Fourth Division, so you should go and pack everything you think you'll need," she said as she started to walk away.

"W-wait! Wouldn't Mr. Iemura or another officer be a better choice for this," he said panicking. To himself he thought that it didn't even need to be an officer seated above him and they would still do a better job than him.

His captain turned back to him and walked closer, "Yamada, do you really believe that I would assign this to you if I didn't have faith in your abilities?" She asked, as she put her hand on his shoulder, but she did not wait for an answer, "You are a gifted healer, Hanataro, one of my best. Not only that, but I truly believe that you are the only person I can trust this task to. Now, will you do it?" she asked one more time.

Hanataro stood there, stunned. He never suspected that the captain had such faith in him. Well, there was no way he would let her down, "Yes, Captain, leave it to me," he said, putting as much gusto into his words as he could manage. This still wasn't very much, however.

Unohana smiled affectionately at him, "Good, stop by my office once you finish with your packing, but be sure to finish your work first," she said, as she turned and walked away again.

"Yes, Captain, I will," he called, then something occurred to him, "Wait, who am I being assigned to?" he called, but she was already gone.

Hanataro shrugged and got back to work. He promised himself that he would fulfill his captain's expectations.

The rest of his day passed without incident, and he was able to get back to his quarters and start packing sooner than he had first expected. He couldn't decide what he should take with him, however, so he simply packed everything he owned. This was actually not very much, which bothered Hanataro a little, but he decided he had better hurry to the captain's office.

When he arrived, he set his medical kit, his travel bag and Hisagomaru, his zanpakuto, on the floor and knocked at the door and then called inside, "Captain Unohana, you wanted to see me now?" He had learned his lesson about knocking from that incident with Captain Soifon. He was still worried that she would show up at any moment. He shook these thoughts from his mind, no, it's okay. I'm going to be okay. I'm going to prove myself with this mission. I mean, what can possibly go wrong? He thought as he heard the captain call him in. "Yes, Captain," he said as he opened the door. That is when he froze.

"You!" Soifon growled, reaching for her zanpakuto.

"Eep!" was Hanataro's only, and very appropiate, response to this.

Yoruichi looked back and forth between the two of them, "Oh? You two have already met? Well, that makes things easier," she said, an evil grin splitting her face.

Preview

Orihime: Hey, Mr. Author when are we going to show up?

Chad: …Yeah.

Uryu: I'm ready at a moment's notice

Ichigo: Yeah, when's our big debut in this thing?

Author: Um, well, you see… Oh looks like we're out of time!

All (except Chad): Now, hold on just one second!

Fun Time Explanations with Captain Mayuri

Mayuri walks onstage in his normal attire: long white coat, black and white face paint, and golden helmet. Behind him is his lieutenant, Nemu, who is wearing a bright red clown's nose that, as she squeezes it, it makes a honking noise.

Mayuri turns to the camera and smiles, "Some of you have been wondering for a while now, why are the arrancars working with hollows? They've never done this before. Well, let Uncle Mayuri provide you with an explanation." His smile becomes wider, and somewhere you can hear a baby begin to cry, "Before, under Aizen, the arrancars had all the personnel they required," he paused, walking to the other side of the stage before continuing. "Now, however, they have lost all of their most powerful fighters, and therefore seek to rebuild their forces, with each surviving arrancar planning to put his- or her self at the top. To accomplish this, they need underlings, the more the better. This makes hollows ideal for their purposes, as hollows naturally follow whoever is strongest. And that is how our current situation has come about," Mayuri then turns his head until his chin is pointing almost straight up, "That's all the time we have for today, so long, kiddies."

As the screen goes dark, Nemu squeezes her nose and it honks.

Well, there's the second chapter. What do you think? I would like to say, first of all, that I am deeply sorry about those puns, you know, when Hanataro… meets Soifon. Really, I feel great shame about those two puns, on several levels.

There may be more mistakes in there than last time. I have a slight reading disability. If you see any mistakes let me know and I'll try and fix them. Also If anyone is willing to Beta for me, send me a PM, and I'll get back to you.

I would also like to take this time to thank all of you who reviewed.

To: Samantha 626, arguellovspryor, thatguy, Imperialguardsmen, FlyingMintBunny579, and a special thanks to my very first reviewer, whether I can trust them or not, Thomas the Betrayer. Your advice about the mega upload, and everything else was a big help. Thank you.

Now, feel free to give me advice if you see any way I can improve, and I'll get started on the next chapter.

Thanks and see you soon, sincerely,

Justagoodguy.