Chapter 2: Entering the Soul Society
The lonely streets of the Soul Society were quiet. Seated officers could be seen calmly walking down a few of the streets, a couple of the seated officers panicked to reach their destination; walking incredibly fast. You can notice the diversity between the squads due to the way officers acted. The members of the 6th squad moved orderly and kept to themselves, while the members of the 11th squad were belligerent and focused on fighting to become stronger. Each squad was unique and carried different values, although each squad fought together to remain balance.
The skies seemed to always stay blue with few clouds with the bright sun beaming down on the large white buildings of the Soul Society. It was early spring and the cherry blossoms were budding with tiny bright pink flowers. The Soul Society was calm lately, not much to do. There have been only a few hollow attacks recently. The laid back officers thought it to be somewhat of a vacation, while others carried on with everyday work.
At the heart of the Soul Society, where the Gotei divisions are held, a meeting was in session. Every captain from all 13 of the Gotei squads were being held in the first squad barracks, where they had been summoned by the first squad captain, the Captain Commander of the entire Gotei. Within the walls of the first squad barracks was a long narrow meeting room. At the far back of the room was a large throne like chair, in the chair sat an elderly man. He wore glasses and a white harori, a captain's jacket. His harori had the number "1" on the back, meaning he was the 1st squad captain. He had a long white beard, white hair that centered around a bald spot on the top of his head, and pale white skin. He stood up, using a staff he held as support to keep him standing.
"Meeting in order!" The elderly Captain Commander shouted as 11 captains soon appeared wearing white haroris. Each had a different number on the back, representing their squad. When they appeared, they appeared in 2 rows going towards the front of the narrow room. The captains faced each other while the Captain Commander stood in the far middle.
In a long silence the Captain Commander looked around, noticing only 11 captains, 12 including him. Which was off since there is supposed to be 13 captains including him. His hand clenched up on his cane in an angered manner.
"Where is the 13th squad Captain Corbin?" His rusty voice echoed through the room. The captains stayed silent, causing the Captain Commander to raise his voice one last time.
"Well?"
A purple haired man turned toward the Commander. He was also a captain, the number 10 on the back of his harori. He appeared to be a young man, in his early twenties. A slight grin on his face made him seem amused by the situation.
"Kessler-Jii, you known Corbin, he probably fell asleep and forgot. No need to worry, we should continue." The captain of the 10th squad's calm posture and laid back tone settled down the up-tight atmosphere.
"Very well..." The elderly Captain Commander unclenched his hand and relaxed, loosening from his angered state. He remained standing, giving one last look at all the captains. The 10th squad captain returned to his place.
"I regret to tell you I believe this temporary break from the hollows is merely momentary so they can reform from their last defeat. It would seem they have grouped in about a gang of fifteen. That force in their numbers could cause devastation in the human world, considering they are creating a hoard."
"But…" a women speaks up at the end of the Captain Commanders sentence. She was a thin woman with very long light brown hair that reached the back of her legs. Her white harori concluded that she was one of the captains, but her hair covered the number of her squad. Though everyone knew her as the captain of the 4th squad: Sam Dyer. "Do you believe the hollows are capable of forming such a plan?"
"Not at all, the hollows are mindless creatures. Someone or something must be behind it." A shaggy blond haired captain responded to Sam's question. He wore a large smile and his eyes were covered by his hair.
The old Captain Commander gives a faint but noticeable growl to get the attention of the other captains after the 7th squad captain had spoken. "I agree, and believe what Kinchi said is true. That is why I will be sending two of you to the Human World to investigate this situation." He paused, the captains wait to hear who will be sent out by his request. The old man stomps his cane to the ground, causing a loud echo throughout the meeting hall.
"Captain CNP, of the 10th squad…" The purple haired captain, who spoke up earlier, steps forward in front of the Captain Commander. "…and captain Coltin, of the 3rd squad."
"Alright" A voice of a young man emerges. The young captain steps forward and stands beside the purple haired captain. Coltin was known as the youngest looking captain of the Gotei. He had light flippy brown hair and large green eyes.
The Captain Commander stares at the two with intense eyes. He hands CNP an envelope that has details of the task inside. "Leave soon, and quickly bring back information on this matter as soon as possible. Understood?" The Commander asks. The two captains respond in a nod, and return to their spots.
"With that I conclude this meeting." The Commander stomps his cane into the ground and raises his voice. "Dismissed!"
In a flash the captains disappeared from the meeting hall and vanished into the Soul Society. About 10 miles away from the captain meeting hall was another much smaller meeting place. This meeting place is where the lieutenants of the 13 squads would gather as their captains were in important meetings. They normally didn't have a topic and randomly guessed what they believed the captains meeting was about, eager to have some information on the leaders of their squads.
"They're probably discussing giving me a promotion or award for being so amazing." A cocky voice bursts out from the middle of the room. He had dark brown messy hair that came just above his shoulders and strange purple colored eyes. He stood on top of a table, the other lieutenants surrounded him.
"Ray get off of the table! There aren't even any higher rank spots open away." A loud strong voice echoes and causes the other voices to grow silent. The tall built man stands in the back of the room. He was bald and had an overall angry look to him. A man named Kisame, waved at Ray while pouring a glass of sake into a small cup for a busty woman who had short black hair with blue highlights. The older man then poured himself a glass and drank it quickly, pouring it down his throat. He had brown shoulder length hair and a scruffy beard.
"Just chill Ray, don't want Arch-y-poo to get upset." The woman with the blue highlights laughs and puts the cup of sake up to her lips, about to chug the drink down.
"You two will die from all that alcohol, ha ha!" A cheerful voice speaks to Naomi and Kisame. He was sitting backwards on a chair; his arms perched over the top. He had short spikey black hair and rectangle glasses.
"Shut the fuck up Pat, ya dumb bitch!" Naomi fires back, throwing her empty glass at him. The cup missed and crashed against the wall, shattering. Pat had a scared look on his face, but he wasn't surprised by Naomi's attitude, and it seemed no one else was surprised either. So the bickering carried on. Naomi chased Pat around the meeting room while arguments spread around the room like wildfire. A light-brown skinned lieutenant followed around Pat and Naomi. Her calm but worried voice tried to make Naomi relax, but nothing seemed to work. The meeting was in chaos.
One lieutenant sat in a corner, balled up. His head pressed against his knees so that his face was buried between them. He had dark red messy hair, almost similar to blood. He avoided the conflict that surrounded him, it was all too much. Yet the chaos worsened and the red headed teenager stood up. His soft red eyes fell to the ground and did not look up. He would slowly walk to the middle of the meeting room, side stepping and avoiding the thrown objects and running people. Upon reaching the middle of the room he stood there for a moment, not saying a word or making any eye contact. Suddenly the noise grew faint as the other lieutenants realized that Fate, the lieutenant of the 1st squad, was standing in the middle of the room.
"I cannot watch my fellow men bicker any longer, it's almost embarrassing. If our captains were here you would all fear to act in such a manner…" He paused and looked up with his red, cold eyes, starring at each lieutenant in the room. "… Meeting dismissed, the captains meeting has finished."
Fate walked out of the room, drawing his eyes back to the floor. With their heads hung in shame, the rest of the lieutenants returned to their squad barracks.