A few days after the last gathering, the group of four met up again. This time, however, they were just going out for lunch, and not having sake—yet.
"All of this work is really becoming a drag," Rangiku said.
"It's not like you actually do anything!" Shuhei said in irritation.
"Don't blame the smart woman," Rangiku said with a smile.
"It's your own fault anyways," Renji offhandedly said.
"What do you mean?"
"I'll be right back, boys," Rangiku said with a wink, walking off.
"…God, Shuhei, I didn't think you were such an idiot," Renji pretty much ignored Rangiku, and continued talking to Renji.
"W-what?" Shuhei said in incredulity.
"Shuhei, why exactly do you think she asked you to join her division?" Kira gave an input innocently.
"For my charm and wit, of course!" Shuhei said with a blush across his face.
Renji and Kira burst into laughter at this, only confusing the poor Shuhei more.
Rangiku was walking back now. "Come on guys, stop trying to work me up. It isn't going to work," he said coolly, striking a 'cool' pose as Rangiku sat back down.
"What are we talking about boys?" Rangiku asked.
"Shuhei's idioc-," Renji was cut off by an elbow from the aforementioned idiot.
"We were talking about the Seireitei's problems." Shuhei lied.
"It is getting bad. I'm telling you, guys. Ever since that captain's meeting, I've had this really strange feeling. Like, my spiritual senses are picking something up, but I can't quite place what it is…." Renji orginally went to back Shuhei up (for some reason) but then got caught up in his own feelings.
"Like that one superhero person?" Rangiku asked.
"…Stop alluding to Human World crap," Renji gave a half glare at Rangiku, who shrugged.
"Renji, this IS getting old…," Kira said. Working with Renji, he'd been hearing about it for the last couple of days.
"I'm telling you! There's something going on!" Renji obviously deeply believed that there was something going on.
"I hate to burst your bubble, Renji, but there's a lot of stuff going on. It's just not something for lieutenants like us to be worried about," Rangiku said seriously.
"Well something's worrying the captains!"
"Captain Hitsugaya DID seem off…," Shuhei said thoughtfully.
"He did…?" Rangiku questioned.
"He seemed…more reserved. In thought," Shuhei explained.
"Oh," Rangiku started, "So that's why his yelling didn't wake me up…"
"My captain has been acting the same way!" Renji exclaimed, excited that someone was actually on the same page as him.
"…Isn't he always?" Shuhei asked dumbly.
"Yeah, yeah, but even more so recently. Normally after a captain's meeting, he's all like," At this point, Renji's voice changed, as if he was doing an impression of Byakuya. "Abarai. We need to have this report filled out by this time. We need to deliver these to this division. We have to order these objects." Renji's voice was now back to normal. "But he didn't do it this time!"
"…You're basing this whole thing on one observation?" Rangiku asked in slight disbelief.
"Two," Shuhei corrected, "He said he's been sensing something weird."
Rangiku waved a dismissive hand, "That's probably just withdrawal."
"It is not!" Renji burst out, "In fact, I'll BET you that something behind the scenes is going on! 7,000 kan, right now!" Renji was very sure of himself, to the point that he was already imagining buying his new pair of sunglasses with the money he won from the friend that took the bet.
"How about a round of drinking instead?" Shuhei suggested after a few moments of none of them taking the bet.
Renji thought about the offer. He wouldn't have enough for his glasses if he did it that way, but he had planned on going to ask the captains about the contents of the meeting, and the idea of doing it alone wasn't too appealing. "Will you come with me to talk to the captains?" He counter offered.
"It depends on which ones…," Shuhei said cautiously. Renji couldn't blame him.
"Well…." Renji had a problem. His brain didn't think that far ahead. "I don't know," He admitted.
"Just think a little, Renji," Rangiku teased with a smile, "Which ones aren't going to kill you if you ask?"
"Captain Ukitake?" Renji suggested.
"Rukia said he didn't attend the meeting."
"Oh yeah. Hmm… Let's try Captain Kyoraku."
"As carefree as he is, you never get any information out of him."
"Useful information, at least."
"We can get him drunk, and then he might reveal something."
"That would require out drinking him first."
Renji grimaced. "That's not going to work."
"No duh."
Renji contemplated for a few more minutes, before, "I guess the only choice is Captain Komamura."
"Okay," Shuhei said, considering. "I'm following you."
Arriving at Seventh Division, Shuhei and Renji ran into Tetsuzaemon, better known as Iba.
"Hey," Renji greeted, "Your captain let you off early too?"
"Yeah. Goin' off to spar with Ikkaku. Wanna come?"
"We're on a mission!" Shuhei said.
"I didn't hear about a mission."
"It's self-assigned," Shuhei said slyly.
"Stop trying to be manly, Hisagi."
"Er," Shuhei had nothing to say at the other lieutenant's scorn.
"We just want to talk to your captain," Renji got to the point.
"I dunno," Iba said, "He hasn't been really talkative lately."
With a smug grin, Renji shared a glance—glare, on the other's part—with Shuhei.
Iba raised an eyebrow. "Well, try if you want. I'm leaving." Sticking a cigarette in his mouth, Iba left.
"Come on," Renji egged Shuhei forward.
"Why are you making me go first?" Shuhei asked.
"Why not?"
"This is your wild idea!"
"Coward," Renji stated simply, moving ahead of Shuhei, and entering Komamura's office after a brief knock.
Komamura's head snapped up, "What can I do for you, lieutenants?"
"We're sorry to bother you," Shuhei decided to take charge, having the feeling Renji would ruin everything, "But we would like some information."
"Such as?"
"We noticed a lot of captains acting strange, and were wondering what happened at the captain's meeting."
Komamura said nothing, before saying, "I'm not supposed to speak of it. I'm very sorry."
"So there is something big going on?" Renji asked.
"…Yes. According to the Genryusai-dono, something big is about to happen." Komamura seemed unsure if he should reveal that or not.
"Ha." Renji crossed his arms.
Shuhei crossed his arms too, but for a totally different reason.
Two figured sat hidden on the Sokyoku hill, thanks to a kido spell from the smaller of the two.
"…They're not taking my warning seriously…are they?"
"They do not seem to be, Spirit King-sama."
"This isn't good. ...And stop calling me that!"
So, and Chapter four has left the gate. I wanna warn you now that OCs will be coming in soon. I am well aware of the threat of Mary Sues and whatever the name is for the male versions. As for power levels, of course they are going to be powerful, but due to the circumstances, they have to be. As for romance, there will be love among OCs, but not with canons, not major, anyways. There will be a few ones that will be stared mainly, and some of which are Canon-OCs, if you catch my drift.
As for the reviewers, I thank you for answering my question, and if it's not obvious, this story is not beta'd.
As for Ichigo, I'll be completely honest. Since this takes place many years in the future, and since he seems to be mostly human, I don't know how exactly I would place him into the story, except for brief mentions, and I have no plans to do so. Kubo hasn't exactly explained how aging would work for him, and this isn't an area of speculation I want to stumble into. Even more than this, I don't want to get into the mess of pairing him with someone and thinking of children. This applies to all of the humans. Urahara, Yoruichi, and Tessai are probably the only ones in that area that may show up, and even then, briefly. Probably none of the Arrancar or Vizards will show up either. And for the human world, there's also the problem of exactly how advanced our world would be at that time. I want this to be realistic, not science fiction. And I state this paragraph knowing that I may end up making myself a large hypocrite in the future.
My apologies for the mini-rant. Bleach does not belong to me. Thank you for your time.