Title: How Coyote Starrk became a Member of the Gotei 13 (On Accident)
Author: darkling59
Fandom: Bleach
Date: 6/28/2013
Disclaimer: Bleach and all associated characters, settings, concepts, etc within this story do not belong to me. Character spellings will attempt to follow those on the Bleach wiki.


Intrusion

Getting into Seireitei was surprisingly easy, all things considered. Starrk thought he'd be able to pull it off but expected some sort of opposition; guards, barriers, traps…something. Instead, he just picked one giant hole in the wall (out of several) and walked through. No one even noticed him. In all the commotion, he probably could have waltzed in wearing his espada uniform and been ignored.

He wandered aimlessly, watching frantic squads of black-clad shinigami race through the streets dodging rubble and shouting orders. Well, most of them were running; a few groups clustered in alleys and half-demolished buildings, huddling together. They were trying to put on brave faces, but their reiatsu smelled strongly of fear.

Starrk frowned and pressed onward. He might be an arrancar now, but he was still a hollow and fear draws hollows like sharks to fresh blood. It wouldn't be a good idea to become hungry around so many helpless souls.

Besides, they seemed to be just as clueless about 'the enemy' as he was so there was no point in lingering.

"S-sir!"

He ignored the voice in favor of plodding onwards, until a timid hand tapped him lightly on the shoulder. Startled, he turned to find four souls standing in a tight huddle behind him. Unlike most of the shinigami, these were dressed in unfamiliar uniforms of a white kosode with blue or red hakama. The one who hailed Starrk was a young man wearing blue. Physically, he was about twenty years old, but spiritually he couldn't be more than ten. Otherwise, he was pretty typical: average height, average build, brown hair, and blue eyes (currently wide with terror). His hands were locked around an unnamed zanpakuto so tightly that the knuckles were turning white.

Aside from being very young (the shoulder-tapper was the longest-dead of the lot) the other three looked similarly unremarkable and average. All of them smelled strongly of fear and stared at Starrk with wide, expectant eyes. Had they figured out his identity? Why weren't they reporting him?

…Did that one call him sir?

"…What?"

The shoulder-tapper (apparently their spokesman) straightened nervously, hands still clutching the nameless sword like some sort of teddy bear.

How did he plan to fight, if he didn't even have a shikai?

"S-sir!" His salute was crisp and quick but Starrk just blinked in response and the boy wilted in the face of his indifference. "W-we're from the Academy. We're here to help!"

"…Academy?"

"Yes, sir! I-I'm Hiku Yatara, second year student at the Spiritual Arts Academy! These are Miaka, Shuichi, and Greg." He indicated each of his companions in turn and they straightened, inching forward to salute. Starrk barely noticed, attention focused solely on Hiku.

"W-we heard the commotion and thought, maybe we could help? I mean, we're not soul reapers yet, but we've done well in training! I'm at the top of my kido class! We thought we shouldn't just sit back and watch. We have to be able to do something!"

All of them were now standing at attention, bright eyed and ready to act, despite their obvious tension and fear. One day, they'd make good shinigami…after they learned the names of their swords, and how to kill hollows. For now, they'd be a liability in battle against even the weakest of opponents.

Starrk grimaced slightly at that final thought and surveyed them again. Despite their interest in defending Seireitei, none of them were moving to attack him. Not that they'd be a threat, but why weren't they trying?

"Hn. Aren't you supposed to be with a teacher, or something?"

"Uh…"None of them would meet his eyes. This ought to be good. "We…actually, they returned to the squads, to help. We tried to follow Professor Ophella, but lost track of her in…in the commotion."

Lie. The kid's covert shuffling and refusal to make eye contact made him appallingly transparent. The others were even worse; they leant together to whisper and giggle, as if Starrk couldn't see or hear them.

"So…?"

"We were hoping, maybe, you could tell us what to do?" Hiku gazed at Starrk hopefully, but the arrancar had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. He masked his confusion behind his normal indifferent poker face.

At his lack of response, the student rushed on, almost desperately. "See, you obviously know where you're going and since you don't have a squad insignia, we thought maybe you were affiliated with the Academy?"

A shinigami. The little idiots think he's a legit shinigami, and they want him to give them orders. If Lilynette could hear this, she'd be laughing her head off.

"I'm not."

"…Oh." Hiku visibly deflated, looking to his pals for reassurance or direction. It was one of the girls (Miaka?) who managed to summon her nerves and step forward. She was a head and a half shorter than Starrk with dark eyes and black hair held in a high pony-tail. Her uniform was white and red, rather than white and blue. When she spoke, her stutter was not as pronounced as Hiku's but the words were much quieter.

"Could you please direct us to someone who can help us, then?"

"I'm not-."

"Because we're kind of lost." Hiku flushed and tried to deny it, but she stepped forward, keeping Starrk's attention. "We really want to help, but we don't know what to do!"

"You could ask one of the squads." Starrk indicated the numerous figures rushing back and forth in the chaos. The surreality of the situation was beginning to wear off, leaving just plain incredulity in its place (along with a bit of annoyance and amusement).

"We tried." Hiku grumbled. "You're the first one who stopped."

Oh.

"Is…I mean, could you give us directions, at least? You seem to know where you're going, and what's going on." Miaka was considerably more hopeful than her comrade, apparently.

Starrk sighed, put out by the interruption. He had no idea where he was going; his wandering has been completely aimless so far (he was hoping to stumble across someone with information) and the labyrinth of high-walled roads and walkways was enough to confound even his acute sense of direction. If he didn't have an enhanced sense of smell, he would be just as lost as these kids. But he still had a goal (figure out who the shinigami were fighting and if they were a threat to he and Lilynette), and this would definitely hinder his progress.

However, he didn't want to attract attention by chasing them off. It would be better for everyone if he sent them on their way none the wiser, directions or no. He scrubbed his right hand over his hair, considering and then nodded slightly. The kids brightened up and shuffled closer; the last two came forward, finally overcoming their nervousness (although the entire conversation seemed to have cured their fear of the destruction happening around them).

"Where are you trying to go?"

They immediately wilted again.

"…Is there somewhere we can report in? To help?"

Starrk frowned.

"Where are the other students?"

"They decided to stay back. Where it's safe." Hiku scowled. "We're shinigami. Someday, we're going to fight hollows…and they want to stay safe!"

Miaka elbowed him in the side and he shut up, but Starrk had heard enough.

"You're not supposed to be here." Their silence was enough of an affirmative. "Go back."

He turned away, dismissing them, and continued on his way.

Mistaken for a shinigami by a bunch of kids who must have a teaspoon of common sense between them…How were they even alive if they didn't know how to sense hollows? His stolen uniform wasn't that good of a disguise…

Five minutes and ten alleys later, Starrk stopped in the middle of a street and sighed deeply. He closed his eyes for a long moment, contemplating how he would surely regret this, then turned to direct a mild glare at the students following him. To their credit, the reactions ranged from sheepish to defiant rather than terrified, but they still didn't take the hint.

"I'm not going to give you orders. Go away."

"…We can't. We're supposed to be shinigami; we're not cowards!" Hiku was gaining confidence; his sword was only clasped in one hand now. The other gesticulated wildly as he spoke, nearly whacking Greg in the face.

"And, like I said, we're lost." Miaka chimed in. "We don't know the way back."

"Look, kids." They bristled, but Starrk ignored it. "I'm not headed wherever you need to go, and I don't have time to play babysitter. Find someone else."

"Then we'll go wherever you're going!" This time it was the other girl that spoke up; Starrk didn't remember her name. She was almost as tall as Hiku and about the same age, with scruffy brown hair and black eyes. Her voice was considerably higher, and Starrk nearly grimaced at the pitch.

"No."

They didn't move and Starrk could tell just by their expressions that he would not be able to chase them off easily. Maybe if he revealed his identity, or knocked them out with his reiatsu…but he was trying not to advertise his presence. He could threaten them with disciplinary action, but he didn't have any way to carry it out.

Damn.

"Alright, fine. But as soon as I find a shinigami willing to take you, you go with them."

At their enthusiastic agreement, Starrk turned back around and set off, this time aiming for an area that had the highest concentration of shinigami reiatsu signatures, which would be bad if he were on his own but the students would hopefully be able to find someone else to latch onto there. Unfortunately, none of the kids knew shunpo or how to stand in the air, so they had to walk the whole way.

Eventually, the former primera and his tag-a-longs emerged into an open area filled with activity. In front of them, shinigami of all ranks rushed back and forth, shouting orders and questions at each other, constantly entering and leaving the courtyard. It took a moment before Starrk pulled his attention away and looked up at the massive building that opened out onto the furor.

Its two tiers stood out above the maze walls (or perhaps there was another building behind the first) and teal roofing shingles set it apart from the surrounding reddish/orange coloration. In front of the main building, a peaked awning surrounded the doorway in the traditional Japanese Edo-style that most Soul Society architecture emulated. Front and center on the wooden surface beneath the peak and above the doorway was a giant sign, at least a meter across, of the kanji 'Four' enclosed in a diamond.

"The fourth division." Greg murmured, sounding awed. "I didn't think it would be so…big."

The others agreed quietly, moving closer together in intimidation and reverence. They had obviously never been in Seireitei proper before; it was possible they had never seen outside of the academy walls (excluding Rukongai).

More importantly, he made it past ten divisions without anyone realizing he wasn't a shinigami?

"Uh…what do we do now?" Hiku, this time.

Starrk sighed, mildly annoyed by their obvious inexperience.

"Find someone to take you back."

"But Sir…!"

Unfortunately, as the ex-primera turned to leave (dedicated to ignoring any and all protests), he ran head-long into a group of incoming shinigami.

"You there! What is your purpose?" An older soul reaper with a daffodil on his badge and a harried, hunted expression on his face blocked the path and stared up at the arrancar.

Starrk raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the smaller man but, cognizant of his false rank (or lack thereof) and the perilous position he'd be in if they guessed his identity, he answered succinctly.

"The kids want to help. " They nodded excitedly. "I brought them here so someone can take them back to the Academy." The nods turned to embarrassed scowls and foot shuffling.

"Are you insane? We don't have time for that! If you're with students, that means you're a teacher, right?"

"Actually-."

"Of course you are; that's the only reason you wouldn't have a division badge. But if you got this far, you must be more than that. Some sort of specialist? A member of the kido corp?"

"…Not exactly…"

"You must be powerful! Why are you fooling around with students? Are they prodigies or something?"

"…"

"It doesn't matter; we can use all the help we can get, especially with the captains and lieutenants occupied. Go talk to a seated officer of the Fourth; they'll give you something to do."

"Wait; I'm not-."

Too late; the stranger zipped off, ignoring Starrk's incredulous stare and the blatant confusion on the students' faces.

For a long moment, he just stood there, mentally debating what to do. However, his options boiled down to only one: move on. Continuing to interact with the shinigami could not end well, no matter if they thought they wanted his help or if they didn't recognize him. His responsibility towards the kids was over; they had plenty of experienced adults to turn to now and he wasn't actually bound by shinigami laws so-

"Sir?"

A quiet voice broke his train of thought and he stared with blank confusion at a lesser ranked shinigami holding out a clipboard to him. This one had a symbol of a snowdrop flower on his badge, beneath the kanji for thirteen.

"What?"

"W-well," He scratched at his neck nervously. "The eighth seat of the Sixth Division said that the fourth seat of the Tenth said you were a kido expert. I thought you were checking the structural stability of our repairs?"

"I'm not."

"Oh…"

Well, that was that. Now he could-.

"Could you…check for me anyway, please? There's no one else, and we're all…"

The former primera gave a deep sigh and accepted the blueprint, casting a casual glance over it, planning to give the shinigami a terse 'go ahead' and move on. However, a single look was enough to tell him the structure was seriously flawed. A deeper inspection made him frown deeply. He was no architect, but he had an affinity for spotting weaknesses and this diagram had plenty.

"This won't work."

"W-what? Why?"

"These supports are too close together in the center and too far from the edges; if enough force strikes the roof, especially off center, the weight won't be properly distributed and the entire ceiling will collapse. Also, the walls don't have enough reinforcement; with this blueprint, the entire building will fall down if any part is damaged."

The poor shinigami looked shell-shocked and blinked for a long moment. "Th-that's' not kido…"

"None of it will stand up to more than ten minutes of exposure to anything higher than a fracc-a lieutenant level of released reiatsu."

"Oh."

Internally grumbling over the delay, he returned the clipboard and turned to leave (AGAIN).

"B-but…the seventh division is already repairing buildings based on this…?"

"Then the buildings will fall down." He didn't bother to turn back as he snapped off the rejoinder a little more sharply than he'd intended. The soul reaper darted away immediately.

"How can we help?" Hiku. AGAIN.

"Go find a shinigami to ask." He managed to take two steps towards the edge of the courtyard, making sure to stay at the speed of an unseated shinigami, when the guy with the clipboard showed up again followed by a taller, older man who looked far more officious but just as harried.

"Sir! This is who I talked to about the blueprints." The weaker man directed towards his companion. His next comment was addressed to Starrk. "Sir, this is the fourth seat of the Seventh. He wants to talk to you about your comments."

The new arrival stood tall and looked him in the eye, apparently expecting something. When Starrk remained impassive with no sign of deference or intimidation, the shinigami's eyes narrowed.

"I have been told you have a problem with the current schematics."

Starrk actually groaned softly in exasperation. "I don't have a problem with anything. Your friend asked for my opinion, and I gave it. That's it."

"You are not very respectful, squad member." Starrk ignored the faint rise in reiatsu that came with the statement, assuming it was due to the other man's temper.

"If you don't want to listen, then don't. It's not my problem."

"I am the fourth seat of the Seventh Division. You can expect consequences for your lack of respect. What is your division, shinigami?"

Just about fed up with the whole debacle, Starrk responded with a flat stare and raised eyebrow.

There was another faint pulse of reiatsu, lower than even the base level of a Gillian but sufficiently annoying for Starrk to rebuff it with a touch of his own power. Not much, barely a pin-prick, but the shinigami reeled backwards, staring at him with wide eyes.

"…How…?" Breathless, terrified…dammit. Starrk had pushed it too far. Now he'd have to abandon his search for information, rip open a Garganta, and hope for the best. Maybe they would be too busy to-

"Sir, he's a member of the kido corp. I think he's also an instructor at the university." All but forgotten, the clip-board bearing seventh seat interjected.

"I see. Of course, that makes sense." The fourth seat hmphed, trying to regain his poise. Starrk would have rolled his eyes, if it was worth the effort. The shinigami turned towards him, pasting on an obviously fake smile. "Apologies, Instructor. I'm sure you understand we need to test the power levels of our members. Just in case of any imposters, of course."

Oh, the irony.

And those faint pulses were supposed to test his reiatsu levels? Was that paltry display really a show of power?

…How had the arrancar army lost to these people, again?

"Hn."

"Now." Power plays finally put aside, the shinigami pulled out the diagram Starrk had remarked on earlier. "What problems did you see with the schematics? I've been told you think the buildings will fall down if they aren't modified. With all due respect, Instructor, we have seen no-"

Unwilling to wait, Starrk interrupted with a short version of his earlier explanation." These beams are too far apart, those are too close together, and the walls need more support. Now if you could excuse me…"

The shinigami didn't move. "These schematics have been in use for the past thirty years and we have never needed to make such adjustments before. I personally have observed them stand up to power levels even greater than my own without suffering damage."

Starrk blinked. "What level of reiatsu?"

When the arrancar did not immediately bow to his (obviously superior) rebuttal, the fourth seat scowled but grudgingly answered. "A third seat tested them ten years ago. There was minimal damage."

On reflection, that actually made sense. All of Starrk's experience was with lieutenant and captain-class creatures (even standard Gillian, far below the level of the weakest arrancar, could easily kill lower-ranked shinigami). The only architecture he'd seen built to stand up to reiatsu in the past was Los Noches and it had been created with espada-level power in mind.

Maybe the shinigami weren't quite as inept as they appeared.

"What about captains?"

"Captains don't have time for things like that!" All of the surrounding shinigami looked downright appalled at the very thought.

With a disinterested shrug, Starrk gestured at the clipboard. "If you're building for third seat and lower, you're probably right. But it won't work for captain-class reiatsu."

The fourth seat scoffed. "You believe it will need to stand up to captains fighting? What possible reason would-"

Starrk raised an eyebrow and shot a significant glance at the battles in the distance, obviously between captains and captain-class opponents, and the shinigami's bluster ground to a halt.

"Well," Attempting to save face, the other man scrambled for another reason the uppity stranger could be wrong. "What would you know about captain-class reiatsu?"

"Kido expert, remember?" He might not know much about shinigami ranks and abilities (especially non-captain-class shinigami), but he knew what kido meant. Maybe all of these false titles they were ascribing to him could be useful…

By the look on his face, the shinigami had forgotten and could not think up a new excuse. After a long moment of silence as he tried to think of a reason to keep the old schematics and came up empty, he finally replied through gritted teeth. "…I see."

"Mhm." Starrk yawned and turned away, ignoring how the other man reddened at the blatant disrespect, and walked directly into another group of six clip-board wielding shinigami between him and the exit.

Dismayed, he tried to push forward anyway but one of them, a short woman with a marigold on her badge, managed to get her clipboard into his hands. "Sir, would you mind telling me the changes?"

"Why don't you just ask the guy from the seventh division?"

She shook her head and followed when Starrk tried to walk away. "He still needs to report to the higher seats of the Seventh and it could be a while before the third seat of my division manages to meet with-."

"I can help!" Hiku and his friends, forgotten amongst the seated shinigami, were apparently still at Starrk's side and Shuichi, the shrill-voiced girl, piped up nervously at the opportunity. She immediately faltered beneath the eyes of her superiors, sliding closer to her friends for support, and mumbled the rest of her offer. "I mean…uh…I saw the changes and I could write them out for you. If you'd like."

"Go ahead." Relieved to ditch the kids and the new shinigami, and to avoid the apparent politics involved in implementing his suggestions, he tried to slip away.

…Only to encounter the rest of the clipboard-wielding herd calling for his attention.

With a deep sigh, Starrk closed his eyes, rubbed at his brow, and scowled.


It quickly became evident that the shinigami weren't as incompetent as he'd initially assumed. Most of them asked intelligent questions, knew how to complete assigned tasks quickly and well, were not afraid to put themselves in harm's way to get the job done, and cared for and protected each other. Unfortunately, a defunct chain of command was keeping them from applying most of their training and abilities.

Oh sure, they had the clear ranking system of captain down to twentieth seat within each division… that was working fine. The problem was communication between divisions. Apparently, most shinigami rarely ventured beyond the comfort of their immediate comrades; the lieutenants were responsible for inter-division cooperation and coordination of orders. With all of them occupied fighting, the third and fourth seats of each division were doing their best to compensate, but they didn't know how to operate without orders, especially with a powerful enemy running loose in Seireitei (something that hadn't happened for at least a century, barring the events surrounding Aizen's defection).

As a result, squads from all divisions were running willy-nilly, more often than not getting into each other's way and trying to complete tasks that were already being addressed by their peers. In the tense battle-ready atmosphere, the clashes often gave way to shouting matches that escalated up the chain of command and once they reached the top, there was no resolution because technically the 'leaders' were the same rank and no one had the authority to re-allocate troops, even if there were five squads trying to do the same menial tasks (such as cleaning rubble) while major problems went unaddressed (such as the giant holes in the outer wall). The only exceptions were divisions that did not even attempt to coordinate with the others: the second and twelfth were naturally focused on their own specialties, the eleventh was far more interested in fighting than rebuilding, and the fourth was the only division who was not operating without a captain (Unohana had stayed behind to care for the wounded captains and lieutenants).

By directing the fourth seat, Starrk inadvertently proven himself of equal or greater authority than the current officers in charge. More importantly, he seemed willing to dispense orders to anyone, regardless of division or rank.

Whether he liked it or not, he'd just become the go-to man for every (currently non-fighting) shinigami looking for instructions.

It didn't take Starrk long to fathom the plight he'd inadvertently backed himself into, but getting out of it was another issue altogether. No matter which way he turned or how many weak shinigami he sent away, there was always another one (or ten) waiting to beg for instruction. And since ninety percent of them were either complaining or asking about the actions of OTHER divisions, he seemed to be stuck in a continuous train of directing the shinigami without physically going anywhere. When Hiku's little pack was done drawing up building schematics, he ordered them to pass orders between divisions to redirect at least some of the attention, but even that wasn't enough to give him an opportunity to slip away.


It was thirty minutes, three blueprint squabbles, fifteen jurisdictional disputes, eleven misplaced support squads, fifty-nine requests for paperwork, and over a hundred low-ranked shinigami later that Starrk finally got a chance to escape.

When a group of tenth division shinigami pressed past on their way to the fourth division, creating a temporary visual barrier between him and the courtyard, he took a chance and sonido'd stealthily into a side-alley. A few of the officers shivered and looked around when he passed, but he was so fast that most didn't even notice. They were not skilled or sensitive enough to detect his reiatsu.

He could sense the fights winding down in the distance and was not willing to stick around to learn the outcome. It didn't feel like they were completely over; the mysterious enemy who Starrk STILL didn't know the identity of showed no sign of leaving; but it seemed both sides were willing to back off and take a breather. And the first thing the captains would do upon being released from battle was almost definitely (a) check into the fourth division if they were wounded or (b) if they weren't wounded, check up on the status of their subordinates.

Starrk was under no illusion as to what would happen if one of them found an arrancar ordering their troops around.

Free at last, he fished the walkie-talkie out of his clothes and spoke quietly into the receiver.

"Lilynette?"

"Finally! I was beginning to think they'd eaten ya or something."

He scowled. "Not exactly."

"Did ya find out what's going on?"

"No." He glowered sullenly at the wall when she responded in her typically loud and obnoxious manner.

"WHAT? Isn't that why you're THERE?!"

"I encountered some…obstacles."

"Yeah? What?"

A low, aggravated sigh was his only answer.

"Starrk? Don't ignore me!"

Finally, he muttered. "…The weak shinigami needed my help."

"Your…help."

"…"

"…Shinigami…needed an arrancar's help?"

She sounded just as incredulous as he had originally. With another put-upon sigh, he gave a grudging answer.

"They think I'm a shinigami."

Her sudden, raucous laughter startled him into stepping backwards and pulling his finger off the 'Talk' button so the device went silent. The last thing he wanted was to draw someone's attention now that he was away from prying eyes and probably had a way out. If he could sonido a quarter mile or so away than no one would even notice a Garganta. Once outside, he and Lilynette could decide on a better way to find the information, one that didn't involve wading through hordes of needy, weak shinigami, Maybe they could break into whatever record-keeping-

A polite, feminine cough interrupted his train of thought and he instinctively turned around. There was a woman standing at the mouth of his alley. She was the picture of dignified beauty, with a mature, fine-featured face, calm blue eyes, and long black hair braided down her front.

…over a white captain's haori.

Of course.


Retsu Unohana did not like being kept from battle. She was aware of the necessity for her absence; as the most powerful and talented healer in the Gotei 13, she was the only person capable of treating many of the severe injuries coming into the Fourth Division. Also, the captains and lieutenants in her charge were far too powerful for many of her subordinates to handle; an accidental reflexive swat of captain-class reiatsu could easily kill someone without the power or ability to handle it. However, a good portion of her focus remained on the battles happening over Sogyoku Hill to sense whether any of her comrades were in critical condition and needed to be retrieved. Between dealing with the wounded and monitoring the fights, she had very little attention available for anything else. If something important came up, she trusted Isane to deal with it.

That was why, when a reiatsu signature that was alien but also somehow familiar (in species if not individually) made its way to the entrance of her division, she did not immediately investigate. No one was screaming, there was no reaction of hostility or fear from the weaker shinigami, no sense of threat from the newcomer…in fact, the presence was followed by a sense of radiating calm and the dispersal of most of the stress that had been hanging overhead since the invasion began.

She appreciated the serenity and nearly dismissed the stranger as simply a shinigami she had never met before, donating his services to help keep order. But when the battles ended and all of the injured high-risk shinigami no longer needed her services, she stopped for a moment to consider how best to command her subordinates. It was then that she felt a very familiar surge of power, something that was similar to and yet assuredly not a vizard. It was a reiatsu type she'd only felt during the Winter War, from Aizen's twisted creations.

With a mild frown, she made her way to the courtyard, ready to kill the intruding hollow, only to find nothing amiss. Normally, battle was met with chaos among the enlisted shinigami (they tried to be useful, but simply did not have the raw power to become involved), but this lot actually seemed organized and productive. It took moments to pinpoint the sonido (Longer than normal. The creature must have some talent for subterfuge.) and she followed it easily, relying on her status and intimidation to keep the younger shinigami from her path.

What she found at the end of the trail was entirely unexpected.


The two powerful beings stared at each other in uncomfortable silence for a long moment until Starrk yawned and glanced away, scratching at his head with apparent unconcern.

Unohana blinked and cocked her head slightly.

"Arrancar-san." He didn't look like an arrancar, but she trusted her senses. "Why have you come to visit?"

"Eh." He shrugged, eying her (frankly disturbing) smile cautiously, ready to fight or retreat. "Just trying to figure out what's going on."

"Oh?" Her smile widened and he took an uncertain step backwards. "You wish to join our enemies?"

"Ah, no. Just curious, that's all. I was actually just about to leave…"

"I do not think that would be wise, Arrancar-san." Turning to sonido (or open a Garganta. At this point he wasn't picky), he immediately froze at the tone of her voice.

"…Uh…"

"In fact, I believe it would be best if you remained here for the time being." Her voice didn't change inflection and there was nothing outwardly threatening about her manner, but he instinctively knew it would be suicide to reject her words.

"…Why?"

Instead of answering, she turning and glided out of the ally, then smiled serenely back over her shoulder. "Come with me please."

"…"

He automatically followed, steps jerky and not quite willing, but somehow unable to disobey.

Ten minutes later, seated slouched on the steps of the fourth division with squad members once again running to him for help and the female captain (Unohana of the fourth, it turned out) watching over all of them with a benign smile, he still couldn't bring himself to cut and run.

Something about her stance told him he wouldn't make it very far.


Author's Notes:

And this is the installment that started it all. Round about chapter twenty of Howling at the Moon, I wrote 'Starrk wanders into Seireitei' with the intent to keep it below 1.5K and post it to that fic as a one-shot. However, as I wrote, the idea took root in my mind and just kept growing, until…*Ta da!*…How Coyote Starrk… was created. I'm not happy about so many OCs, but in this case they were necessary; any named characters would have recognized Starrk.

I know, I know…the next logical question is: if I wrote this first, why did it take so long to get it up? The major answer is that I originally wrote it in an entirely different tense (first & third; present & future). I had to go back through and slightly alter 60-70 percent of the words and THAT took quite a while. Also, I added another 2-3K of material at the end.

(Did you ever notice how everything breaks really easily in Seireitei? I mean, supposedly they have building material that can stand up to even Kenpachi-level reiatsu and yet all of the walls (including the outer gates) are built of something that practically falls apart when someone bumps into it hard enough.)

The lack of recent updates (to all my stories) is due to RL events and my distaste in the current manga arc. I mentioned previously that I really didn't like the new direction, but the chapter that occurred after Isshin's flashback was the final straw for me. I've officially stopped following the manga and my interest in Bleach has decreased quite a lot so the scarcity of updates could continue.


Let me know what you think! Please REVIEW!

And a big 'Thank You' to those of you who reviewed last chapter! Alowl, Lman3, ThatOneFan, Jade Dragon, TheSneakyHobo, Kage Kurai, cerometralleta, Guest, and ennui deMorte; You guys are awesome!