Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any other recognizable characters and settings, so help me God Usopp. :)

A/N: A thousand apologies for the long wait. In truth, my own laziness played the biggest part, but the Anc. Greek and Algebra exams today are also to blame.

Reply to anonymous reviewer

me: True, but when I think 'Yachiru', an image of Kenpachi comes to mind. I don't think he'd ever let anyone take her away… After all, they planned for Toushirou to get caught.

The Road to Home

Chapter Three

Playing Pretend

The news came as no surprise to most. The kid captain had defended his pride by committing seppuku before the Vandenreich killed him one way or another. Some were surprised, others didn't care, and there were those who were disappointed they would not get the chance to mess around with him.

Out of all the children, there were some who possessed some level of reiryoku, though they were so few they could be counted on the fingers of two hands. They also tended to stick together, and they could not be satisfied with the water provided by the quincy on duty. Among them were Yuuichi, Kenji and Yoko, as well as their new friend called Kei who they met after they were taken. He fit in well with them, but clashed with Yuuichi on the subject of the shinigami, claiming that his whole village population was slaughtered by them. His account did fit with what Kenji had said, but Yuuichi still was not swayed from his belief that they had the world's best interests in mind.

Curiously, the Stern Ritter 'H', who they had learned was called Bazz-B, had been in charge of them for the past week. Of course, it wasn't such a complicated job. He would take food to the few who were hungry, and leave jugs of water around, enough for a certain number. His favourite job, however, was to break up fights that continuously broke out over sleeping places or water, shouting at and glaring the children into fearful silence.

Although, admittedly, the sight of his slack-jawed flabbergasted expression, along with Cang Du's I-just-ate-a-lemon grimace when the two passed through to report the small captain's actions did not, in fact, help the whole 'intimidation' thing. Too bad that aloof anger swiftly replaced the giggle-inducing faces.

"I heard the room was full of ice when they found him," Kenji said. His red-brown hair was damp due to an accident with the water jugs (don't ask), and his dark blue eyes wide with awe. He looked about eleven.

"Yeah, isn't he supposed to have had ice powers?" Yuuichi asked. He seemed to be around the age of ten, with light brown hair and brown eyes.

"That's right!" Yoko looked eight, and she was the youngest of the group. Her dark red hair reached her shoulder, and her grey eyes were red from crying, but she seemed to have calmed down for the moment.

"Well, I heard that they cannot thaw out the ice," Kei said excitedly. "It supposedly withstood attacks from many Stern Ritter, and they're still trying to get it out. I wish I could join them…" he trailed off, wistfully.

"Why would you want to do that? They took us away, and they killed many shinigami. I saw them! They might kill us too," Yuuichi said quietly, so as not to scare Yoko.

"I had nothing anyway," Kei shrugged. "And the shinigami are to blame for that. I want… I need," he stumbled through the sentence, "revenge." His eyes lit up with thirst for blood, to avenge the death of his family. "The shinigami took my nee-san away from me! For that they have to pay!" He grinned wildly, insanely, and for a moment his three friends felt a sting of apprehension.

Behind them they heard a low chuckle. All four of them jumped, not realising someone had been listening in on their conversation. Turning around, they found themselves face to face with their caretaker. The man was smirking profusely at Kei, who looked back with challenge in his eyes. The two had a stare-down for a few seconds, until Kei gave up and lowered his gaze. Bazz-B's smirk widened.

"So," he drawled, the epitome of lazy superiority, "what do we have here?" Kei just looked down at his dark lilac yukata, his expression clearly one of anger. "Your story is interesting, kid. You think you have the guts to join us, huh?" Kei didn't say anything, but he glared up at the Quincy defiantly. "Ya know, I betcha I could get that pushover golden boy to take a look at you. Maybe he'd put in a good word for you to our emperor, ne? And then, well who knows, you might even get to have your revenge! After that wench esc- left, you could say we need some help…" He eyed the little boy, pleased when he shrank back a little. "Heh, but I guess you don't have what it takes, so I'm just wasting my time…" He turned to leave, scoffing.

"I'll do whatever it takes to avenge nee-san!" Kei protested hotly at the Stern Ritter's retreating back. "The shinigami are going to pay for what they did to my family!" He shot to his feet, ignoring his frozen friends. Bazz-B smirked, unseen, and paused.

"Then, I guess I might really tell them about you. If you can find others like you, I'll be sure to mention something…" Without so much as a backwards glance, he was gone. And so was Kei's fire. He collapsed at his spot on the floor, all feelings draining from his face. Kenji only waited for a moment, immediately pouncing on the other.

"Please, take me with you! He said he'd tell about us if we were many enough, and I can help you! I know some kids I was playing with when they came for our village, and I'm sure they feel like I do!"

Yuuichi motioned to a crying Yoko wordlessly. "Of course, we should not pit girls against the shinigami," Kei admonished, his serious gaze directed at Kenji. "Would you ever expose Yoko to such danger?" He nodded furiously in agreement. For a moment, everything was silent, until Kenji started pestering Kei again about other kids who would love to join them.

So that was the problem. Tier Harribel had escaped, and the Quincy lost many good, expendable soldiers. That was why they'd abducted the children, to make them into soldiers. Perfect soldiers who would never question their authority after a period of brainwashing, and who would give their lives without a second thought to bring the shinigami down. And after that, the whole of Soul Society would face its end.

Of course, no kid could stand up to the afterlife's fighting force. At least, not without extensive training, something that was not applicable in that situation. So maybe they just wanted to throw the shinigami off their game, forcing them in a battle against innocent children. That would create unbelievable chaos, leading to their defeat.

He kept back an expression of disgust at how far they had fallen, to resort to using kids to do their dirty work.

Kurosaki Ichigo would be furious.

He smirked. Should he learn of that, he was sure the human would storm the Quincy's headquarters and raze it to the ground. Having two little sisters, protecting the younger had been ingrained into his character.

Just then, he was forced out of his musings by the arrival of none other than the kids' caretaker. Looks like the game would resume.

Bazz-B looked around in the enormous room. There was no furniture (the futons were in the next hallway), and the carpet-covered floor was filled with children. He looked again, trying to find the kid he had talked with before. Damn, they all looked the same!

He did not need to find Kei, however. Seconds later, he was approached by a team of around a hundred kids, following a black haired runt in a dark lilac yukata. Bingo, he was the one. He was surprised to see so many in such little time. Oh this was going to be so easy… There was always time for many to join, and they inevitably would. It's not like they were going anywhere, he smirked at his own joke.

"Wow, kid, I didn't know you had it in you…" He assessed their catch. The kids were all boys, which was to be expected, all seemingly between the ages of ten and fifteen. Ah, the excitement and recklessness of youth…

"Whatever it takes," Kei said through gritted teeth, glaring at the man, challenging him to go back on his offer.

"Relax, kid, I already ran this through our emperor. Everyone who wants to join us against the shinigami will have to go through a test, to see if they are strong," he announced to the room as a whole. "After that, they will be trained at the use of a weapon over the course of nine weeks and then, the shinigami will die!" Cheers came from the children in front of him, and he could see others, slightly hesitantly, mirror the action. An expendable army coming right up.

The kids followed him out of the room, through several staircases and into a training area. Like the other parts of the headquarters, it was mostly made of ice. It had targets and dummies for practice, along with a whole wall covered with a wide assortment of weapons, from regular katana to Western double-edged swords, javelins to bows and arrows, from shuriken to guns. The children all held their breath at the sight. Their revenge-hungry eyes, so out of place in their childlike faces, jumped from one to the other, eager to take in all the arsenal of deadly equipment. So focused most of them were, that they never saw the figure standing patiently in the middle of the training area until he cleared his throat.

"Thank you, Bazz-B. I'll take them off your hands now." Bazz-B threw a sneer at the white clothed figure and turned to leave, sparing a last glance at the children.

The new face was young, so young he could still be called a boy. Kei judged his age to be around seventeen. He had dark blue hair, his face was framed by glasses, and at first glance he looked like a pretty boy with his white, spotless uniform and delicate features.

"I am Ishida Uryuu, and I will determine whether you are good enough to be trained to fight." A guy snickered something about getting his uniform dirty. The vague impression of guilt left the Quincy's face as his glasses flashed. Before any of them had realised, a curious contraption resembling a bow had appeared in his hand, and the offender found himself stuck to the wall behind them, three reiatsu arrows pinning his clothes to the ice. "I assure you I am more than capable of assessing your skill, or lack thereof."

He called each of them to the centre of the room and told them to choose a weapon and attack him. Of course, it all went downhill from there, as he took everyone out within seconds. In the end, and with only one left to go, he declared that their overall skill and endurance was adequate. Running around the afterlife endlessly chasing each other, playing indefinitely or trying to survive had to amount to something, didn't it?

Kenji did very well when it was his turn, choosing a katana as his weapon and fending the Quincy off for a good thirty seconds, which was definitely the best score among them. Of course, Ishida was going easy on them, not even using his weapon, but it was still a very good result.

In the end came Kei's turn, and he eyed the offered weapons thoughtfully. Ishida's eyes were scrutinising him from behind, and he suppressed a shiver at the unnerving feeling. He picked a katana off the wall. It was beautiful and elegant. The tsuka was wrapped in dark lilac and the tsuba featured a silver Chinese dragon with amethyst eyes. Turning, he faced the Quincy.

Ishida for a moment just stared. The next moment found him attacking, ridiculously slowly as with every kid thus far. He avoided a sloppy slash, and many others who followed it. Finally, just after the thirty-five second mark, he landed a blow on the side of the child's head that left him dazed.

"That was very good," he commented. Kei just looked at him expectantly. "You all will follow Bazz-B tomorrow morning. He will take you to your training course," he said reluctantly. "Except you," he looked at Kei. "You have intrigued me, and I wish to train you personally. But we'll see about that tomorrow." Kei felt a cold feeling blossom in his chest, and Ishida looked over them, at a new arrival. "Dismissed."

They followed the soldier excitedly, whispering among themselves, some throwing jealous or pitying glances at Kei, who glared at everyone except Kenji. That night, his sleep was restless.

He thought over a conversation he had overheard during the day. Two soldiers were discussing the fact that for some reason no one could pass to the Seireitei, and so they would have to wait to make their final attack. In nine weeks, they would be able to bypass the obstacle.

Nine weeks. The shinigami and Kurosaki Ichigo, along with the hollows if Tier Harribel chose to join them, had nine weeks to prepare for the final battle. Almost without a doubt the delay had been caused by Kurotsuchi, but the number nine did not sit well with him. Why nine again? All that business with the emperor had nine all over it, and here is another nine. Like fate had really planned for everything.

He scowled. As if.

He'd never believed in fate. Everyone makes their own destiny was his opinion, and it was not easily swayed. Those weeks were the ideal opportunity for Soul Society to heal and begin working anew, everyone honing their skills to defeat the attackers. They would not go down without a fight.

This fighting chance is what he would gladly lay his life down for.

The next day, Bazz-B guided Kei to the same training room as before, alone. Ishida was waiting for him.

"I'm afraid I do not know your name?" He looked at him searchingly.

"Kei," he glared.

"Just Kei?" Ishida raised an eyebrow. Kei looked away.

"Fuyutsuki Tatsukei."