TWO

PERSPECTIVE

"News?"

He bowed to his leader, sitting on his throne, looking at him in a bored way. "Two casualties, five with major injures and a few more with minor ones," he said.

"Casualties?"

"Naoru and Hirai."

"Hmm. Why am I not surprised?"

He straightened, his leader's words tweaking a little anger inside him. He controlled it and said, "What now?"

His leader looked at him. "Kurosaki, how many did you kill?"

"One."

The man on his throne raised an eyebrow at him. "That's it?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I fought four. Three of them retreated, the other one was bold enough to fight to her death."

"I expected more from you, Moon-Slayer." The last word was said mockingly.

"Forgive me."

"Tch, just like that, huh? Fine. You're excused this once. The next time this happens, that 'Deputy' position of yours will be gone, you hear?"

He nodded stiffly.

"Hmph. Go."

Kurosaki left the room.

~~~ xxx ~~~

"What happened in there, dude?"

Abarai Renji sauntered up to him, looking questioningly at him.

"Nothing," he said through gritted teeth.

Renji punched his arm. "Don't be shy! Everyone knows that face of yours right now means something bad. Might as well spill it."

He glanced at his friend. "Tch. Demotion threat."

Renji mocked gasped in horror. "Oh, that's so scary, Ichigo-sama! If you get demoted, then we'll all fall!"

"Shut up." He shoved Renji as the red-haired man laughed. They had reached the sleeping quarters for the ranked men, a part of the huge warehouse that only the top men were allowed in.

"But I feel you." Renji dropped down onto a chair nearby and Ichigo followed suit, sitting in the chair next to him. "If I were you, I'd feel pretty pissed off." The man looked at him. "What did you do?"

"I only killed one."

Renji raised one of his tattooed eyebrows. "Okay. That was unexpected. You'd usually get more. But that's not really worth getting demoted for." He stretched back in his chair.

"I did fight a few more. They just retreated."

"You didn't give chase, huh?"

"You think?"

Renji flapped his hand up and down. "Yeah, yeah."

Ichigo was quiet for a while. "My last fight was quite interesting though," he began.

"Really?" Renji said, sounding uninterested.

"She's a really good fighter. Her speed is incredible, like I told her, 'inhuman'."

"That good, huh?"

"She said she was one of the higher-ups."

"Uhuh."

Ichigo frowned at Renji. "You don't believe me?"

"No, no, I believe you," the man said flippantly.

He shoved the man off of his chair.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL?" Renji glared at him. "What's wrong with you?"

He got off his own chair and made his way to his blankets. He settled down, ignoring Renji screaming obscenities at him. "Good night!" he called out, lying down and covering his eyes with his arms.

"HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

Ichigo blanked out as soon as Renji started another wave of swearing.

~~~ xxx ~~~

"Meeting. We'd better hurry."

Nanao quickly picked up her notebook and left, leaving her alone in the room. She sighed, slinging her sword over her shoulder by its strap, letting it rest against her back. Rangiku passed the room and looked through the open door. Seeing her, the woman gestured for her to hurry. She walked out.

"What's wrong?" she asked the blonde woman.

"Don't know. Taichou wants an immediate gathering." Rangiku shrugged.

"Hope it's nothing too bad..."

The pair walked through hallways and arrived at the slightly open door of the meeting room. They entered and eyes turned to look at them.

"Rangiku, Rukia, glad you could join us," Soi Fon hissed. They glared back at the woman and took their seats.

"Where's Nemu?" Rangiku asked, looking around.

"Not here yet," their leader, Yoruichi, said. The exotically dark-skinned woman sat down at the head of the long table, her striking yellow eyes settling on each of her subordinates. When she looked up, the door opened and Nemu entered. She bowed apologetically and sat down.

"Right, now that we're all here, let us start." Yoruichi grinned slightly at them. "I hope you're all well." Nods passed around the table. Yoruichi leaned back in her chair and stretched. "Right, first off: gang affairs. We're a little short on food supplies and artilleries. Tomorrow, I'm sending one group for food and another for weapons."

Soi Fon immediately raised her arm. "I volunteer for – "

"Oh, great! Soi Fon, you lead some of the girls to get our food!" Yoruichi announced.

Soi Fon's face fell slightly. It was plain as day that she wanted to get weapons instead provisions. But she bowed her head, afraid to object. "Yes, Yoruichi-sama."

"Hmm...let's see. Rangiku! Round up a couple of girls and get the weapons."

Rangiku shrugged. "Okay. At the usual?"

Yoruichi grinned at her. "Of course! Where else can we get the best?" The woman folded her arms on the table and turned to Nanao. "Chief of Affairs, what's on the list?"

Nanao flipped through her notebook, quickly reading her notes. "Ammunition supplies are low, we lost six swords and four guns. Some of the shotguns are faulty, so we need them to be sent over to them to be checked. And we need more knives.

"For food supplies, our main concern is water. The river by headquarters is slightly contaminated by the looks of it. I suggest nobody goes there for water. We also need more bread and meat." Nanao rechecked her list. "That is all."

"Right. You all heard her. Nobody goes to the river for water. Tell the others. Soi Fon, Rangiku, check back with Nanao later for what you need to get. You leave early tomorrow." Soi Fon and Rangiku nodded.

"Naa, Yoruichi," Shiba Kûkaku said from beside their leader. "I might need to go into town tomorrow."

Yoruichi didn't question her. She only nodded. "You may go." She turned to the others. "Anyone else?"

When nobody answered, she started, "Now, to our main agenda: the battle. Good news. Our casualties are far less than last time, only two. I applaud you for your leaderships."

Soi Fon, sitting the nearest to their leader, nodded enthusiastically, eyes lighting up at the praise. Yoruichi barely glanced at her.

"The injured are few too, so we should be nicely healed up when the next war comes along."

The members in the room nodded.

"Did anyone encounter any of their leaders?"

Nobody said a word and Soi Fon straightened up. "Yoruichi-sama, I fought with Madarame Ikkaku."

Yoruichi raised an eyebrow. "Oh! He's ranked fourth, isn't he, from their leader?" Soi Fon nodded. "That's good, that's good. And how did it go?"

"He depends more on brute force, but his speed is good. He has a unique weapon, a spear of some sort."

"Yes, it's in our records. Madarame has a spear weapon," Nanao said.

"Outcome, Soi Fon?"

"I retreated when I got the message from Nemu."

Yoruichi leaned back. "Okay. Anyone else got a chance to fight their leaders?"

"Me," Rukia voiced out. Everyone turned to look at her. Yoruichi tilted her head to her side. "Who?"

Rukia grinned slightly. "The Black Moon-Slayer."

There was a collective intake of breath from everyone in the room. Kûkaku leaned against the table, face turned to look at her. "You sure, Kuchiki?"

"He pretty much confirmed it."

Yoruichi grinned. "Deputy Kurosaki, huh?" Soi Fon glared at Rukia and she smirked back.

"How was the fight?"

"He has plenty of skill. Really worth a fight."

"Did he mention anything?"

"Nothing useful."

Yoruichi clapped quietly. "Good job, Kuchiki. Tell us exactly how he does things."

Rukia suddenly felt a little selfish. She was surprised at herself. Why shouldn't she say anything? It would benefit the whole group knowing how their enemy's deputy fought!

Everyone was staring at her, waiting for her to say something. She finally managed, "Nothing much to say. His skills well match mine. You'd all know how that would look like."

The rest looked dubiously at her. She looked back at them, her mind quickly trying to find an excuse for her lame answer.

She was saved when Yoruichi yawned. "Fine. Just keep that in mind, everyone. Be wary around that orange-haired man." She laughed at her own words. "What is up with that hair?" she added quietly.

"Right! If this is done, I'm off!" Kûkaku stood up. "See ya!" She was out the door in the span of a heartbeat or two.

"Yes, we're done." Yoruichi seemed to not mind Kûkaku's casual behavior. They had grown up together after all, and Yoruichi was a pretty laid-back person. "Dismissed."

Everyone got up and left.

~~~ xxx ~~~

A/N: I know.. It's a pretty dull chapter. I'm sorry, you guys'll have to bear with it 'cause I have to show you how it works in the gangs. This'll go on for the next few chapters or so. (Again, SORRY!) But I'm happy 'cause I've got some of the plot figured out!

Also, MANY THANKS TO ALL THE REVIEWERS! I feel happier 'cause I've never gotten this much reviews for one chapter! I want to mention everyone here: May, DeviantHollow23, Miku Alli, clover123ie, Luvbleach and unknownkyitty! I hope I didn't miss anyone.. Also to those who added this fic to their alerts and faves. THANK YOU! :D

Hope you guys stick with this till the end :)