Okay, so from now on I'm going to try and release a new chapter every Friday.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

Chapter 2: Little secrets

At the edge of the forest on the outskirts of North Rukongai, standing a top a wooden building concealed in the trees, Rin Imada awaited the arrival of her captain. The stern look in her face was accentuated by her blonde spiky hair hanging slightly over her amber eyes. She was wearing a knee length black robe, tied at the waist by a red belt, over her shihakusho. A strong gust of wind blew through, blowing back her hair and causing her robe to billow wildly but the expression on her face never changed. She stood, cross-armed and serious.

"You've been up here quite a while now Rin" said a very large bearded man, climbing up to the roof to join her.

"What do you want Daiki?" said Rin, who didn't look back at the man once.

"It's almost sunset, are you sure you don't want to come down and eat some dinner" asked Daiki, a slight hint of fear in his voice.

"The only reason I've been up here so long is because that bastards late" she replied, a more obvious hint of annoyance in her voice.

"He's always late, he's never been organised so you shouldn't have expected anything different this time. Just come down and relax a little. I mean, the guy they're after is a fifth seat, the captains hardly gonna have any trouble with someone like that"

"That's not what I'm worried about," interrupted Rin, "you know how unstable Kyoshi is and how bad he can get in pressure situations." She turned to face him, looking up to make eye contact.

"But we've been in that situation before and Captain Takeshi has always been able to handle it" replied Daiki, trying his best to reassure his lieutenant, although she'd probably stab him for suggesting that she needed reassurance.

"But what if this time …" she was cut off by a very fast moving man crashing into her from out of nowhere. "Takeshi, what the hell are you doing!" she yelled, punching him off of her.

"Sorry, I misjudged the distance; I was sure I was gonna land right between you two and look really awesome. And hey, refer to me as Captain!" said Takeshi, getting up and rubbing the lump on his head.

"Captains aren't 3 hours late and they don't crash into their subordinates. Honestly, Daiki would make a better captain then you"

"That's a little harsh, don't you think" said Takeshi taking off his hood. He was a reasonably tall man, although not quite as tall as Daiki, with mid length brown hair which was spiked forwards. However his most intriguing features were his aggressive, crimson eyes.

"So where's Kyoshi?" asked Rin. "He should be here any second now" replied Takeshi, taking off his coat. As he said this, Kyoshi appeared, he didn't stop or speak to any one, he just walked off into the hideout without even looking at anyone.

"How did the mission go?" inquired Rin, looking at Kyoshi even though she was asking Takeshi. "Meet me in my office after dinner; we'll talk about it then. For now let's get something to eat, I'm starving!"

1 hour later.

Takeshi and Rin entered Takeshi's office, a dimly lit room which was filled with training apparatus, most of which was broken from overuse. Takeshi walked over to the back of the room and sat at his desk. Rin followed him but stayed standing.

"So, how did the mission go?" she repeated,

"Pretty smoothly" came the reply, "the target was eliminated without any fuss and I'll have someone collect the money tomorrow."

"You know that's not what I meant, were there any complications?" said Rin, who was getting increasingly annoyed at her captain.

"Okay then, he didn't snap or anything like that," came the reply from Takeshi, leaning forward in his chair, "but he was a bit sloppy and I had to intervene. Kasumi's death really affected him and ever since then his mind has been off. We just need to ease him back into it." He leaned back in his chair again, "satisfied?" he asked, a slight smirk forming in his face. "I guess" replied Rin as a knock came on the door.

"Captain" shouted a voice on the other side of the door. "What is it?" shouted Takeshi. "We have some visitors who wish to speak with you" said the man behind the door. Takeshi rolled his eyes and Rin shouted back, even louder than the two men, "Get someone else to do it, we're busy".

"I'm sorry Lieutenant Imada, but the leader of the group, it was very adamant that they speak to Captain Takeshi." Rin raised an eyebrow in confusion,

"It?" she asked turning to see what Takeshi was going to do. He just sighed, got up and grabbed a black haori which he put on over his shihakusho. "Let's go see what it wants" he said as he walked towards the door.

The visitors we're waiting in the main hall of the hideout. Kyoshi was also in the room waiting for Takeshi to arrive, his floppy black hair hanging over his eyes. "Why the hell are we even here Yoruichi?" yelled a young, orange haired soul reaper.

"You really never listen do you Ichigo?" said a small black cat with a surprisingly deep voice, "I've already told you that we have far too few people to rescue Rukia on our own. So I'm going to try and enlist the help of an old friend. I mean honestly, what was your plan, to charge in and just randomly get stronger as you went along?"

"Ummm, yeah that was it, pretty much. I mean, I already survived a fight with that creepy eyed Captain with the tiny sword. Also that kid in the corner keeps staring at me."

"The Captain you fought particularly likes toying with his opponents and probably let you live for his own amusement. At your current level you wouldn't stand a chance in a real fight with a captain" said Yoruichi, jumping onto Ichigo's head to annoy him.

Just then the door to the main hall opened and Takeshi entered the room, followed by Rin. "All right, just who are these important visitors that so desperately need me?" he said as he turned to face the group of people.

The black cat stepped to the front of the group, "Long time no see Takeshi, allow me to introduce …" she was cut off by a loud yell from Takeshi.

"WHO THE FUCK LET THE CAT IN?" he shouted, backing away, with what could only be described as a mixture of anger and sheer terror on his face. "There's a rule against black cats for a reason and that particular black cat is the reason!" he said pointing his finger accusingly at Yoruichi.

"That rule is serious?" said Kyoshi walking from the corner of the room to where Takeshi was cowering behind Rin.

"What did you think it was?" said Takeshi still looking anxiously over at Yoruichi. "I just thought it was some sort of terrible joke" replied Kyoshi bluntly.

"Now come on Takeshi, we had lots of fun all those years ago" said Yoruichi, who was inching closer and closer, to tease Takeshi.

"Fun for you maybe!" yelled Takeshi, "now get out cat monster …" he was cut off by a sharp punch in the stomach from Rin.

"Would just stop whining like a bitch for a couple minutes and get over it" she said, quite clearly annoyed at her captains antics.

"Fine" said Takeshi, who was holding his stomach and wincing, "Yoruichi, come with me to my office and we'll discuss this."

"Hey, why don't we get a say in this!" yelled Ichigo, who was frustrated by the fact that they were getting help from someone who coward in fear at the site of a cat, "No Ichigo, your presence will not be necessary" said Yoruichi, walking towards the door to Takeshi's office.

"Kyoshi, you stay here and make sure they don't break anything, Rin you come with me, I want to make sure the cat demon doesn't try and play any games" said Takeshi, turning to join Yoruichi in his office.

"Captain, do I have permission to kill the orange haired boy?" asked Kyoshi, out loud and completely seriously.

"I don't know, why?" replied Takeshi.

"There's something about him, something I can't quite put my finger on, but he just infuriates me" he replied, once again out loud and serious, while squinting at Ichigo, trying to figure out what was wrong with the boy.

Takeshi turned towards Yoruichi, "Well, can he?" he asked, "No I'm sorry but this whole operation was Ichigo's idea so I think he'd be annoyed if he died here."

Takeshi, Rin and Yoruichi all turned and walked through the doorway, "As if this kid could kill me" muttered Ichigo under his breath,

"Believe me Ichigo, if you were to fight Kyoshi right now, you would die" said Yoruichi from inside the other room. This just made Ichigo even more annoyed about the situation.

Inside his office, Takeshi once again sat down at his desk, "Okay, what do you need our help with?" he said.

Yoruichi jumped up onto his desk and replied, "We are planning to infiltrate the Seireitei and rescue a comrade, Rukia Kuchiki, who has been arrested and sentenced to death."

"A Kuchiki arrested? Byakuya won't be happy with that" said Takeshi, smirking again.

"He's the one who arrested her" said Yoruichi.

"So you're planning a full scale rescue mission with just one shinigami, a quincy and two humans, I assume that's where we come in" said Takeshi dismissively.

"Yes, we need you to help by creating more distractions and confusion for the shinigami to deal with" said Yoruichi.

"That's a suicide mission, there's no way …" Takeshi gestured for Rin to stop, "How much do you intend on paying us?"

"Well I'm afraid that we have no money, this is a simple request from an old friend" replied the cat.

"Then I refuse, this mission is dangerous enough but I can't risk my men's lives for nothing" said Takeshi standing up and walking towards the door.

"It's not your men's lives I'm asking you to risk" said Yoruichi, "it's your life I'm asking you to risk."

"I need the best, only people who can take on Captains, otherwise there's no point" said the cat turning to face Takeshi.

"It's still not worth it" he said.

"Think about it, with all the confusion you might be able to find her with no one noticing". Takeshi's eyes widened for a second and he turned to face Yoruichi.

"I will discuss it tonight with Rin and Kyoshi, you will have your answer tomorrow morning" he said. His sudden change of heart surprised Rin. "Very well then" said Yoruichi, who jumped off the table and made her way to the door.

As the three of them exited the room and entered the main hall Yoruichi said "When you decide to accept my offer, meet us at Kukaku Shiba's house by tomorrow"

"Very well then" replied Takeshi, his mood significantly altered by what had happened in the office.

"Come on guys, we've got to find Kukaku Shiba by sunrise" said Yoruichi as the group of humans left the building. Even after they left, Ichigo could still be heard complaining about "the creepy emo kid".

Takeshi turned left and walked down a hallway, "I'm going to travel to the Sikara Vana to meditate on this, tell the men that no one is to try and bother me for the night" he said in a commanding tone of voice. He was being very serious about this matter.

"Understood, Captain"