A/N: Yeah, sorry to keep everyone waiting I know this took forever, but now that it's finally done ENJOY!
Special thanks to my beta-reader: MyNameIsARickRoll!
The sky began to rumble, like the sound of a jet engine just as it was about to shoot an air craft off the ground.
Yori looked back at Toshiro, his black hair rustling in the soft breeze.
"I strongly suggest you hand those two over, if not I can assure you we will meet again."
The two of them shot up into the sky and for a second their bodies were being stretched up towards the sun, then they vanished.
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"The hell?" Braxis yelled, gazing into the sky.
Rangiku leaped towards him, Braxis dodged, jumping to the right.
"Hold up!" Braxis snapped.
Rangiku ignored him, launching herself towards him again, barely missing his left arm with an uppercut. Braxis groaned then whipped his sword aside, tossing her to the right. Rangiku was able to land on her feet, but was now on the ground.
Braxis' eyes remained focused on the same spot as he pondered.
Rangiku hurdled towards Braxis, there blades colliding as they struggled to overpower one-another.
"Quit it, look the fighting is over." Braxis said, slightly annoyed.
"Really?" Rangiku asked staring in the direction of the battle.
"Yori's Reiatsu is gone." Braxis said raising an eyebrow, then chuckling, "Yori must be chicken shit, either that, or that toddler kicked his ass!"
"What did you just call me? A toddler?" Both of them spun around, surprised by Toshiro's outburst.
Toshiro was standing on the grass field below them a furious look on his face, the others had all followed.
"How about you give me a heads-up next time you try to escape." Katsuo looked up at Braxis, who dropped down to the ground.
"No big deal, just got into a little scuffle." He said chuckling, holding up his battered hand which was now drenched in blood.
Rangiku also dropped to the ground, clutching the gash in her stomach.
"Rangiku are you hurt?" Toshiro asked pouncing to her side.
"No need to worry about me captain." She said.
"Don't get all panicky, it's just a flesh wound, nothing serious." Braxis piped up.
"We're even this time, but I was under orders to immobilizeyou, not kill you." Rangiku stated with a grin.
"I expected you were holding back, that makes two of us, I had no intention of killing you, me with my heart of gold." He replied chuckling.
"Where the heck is Urahara and Yoruichi shouldn't they have showed up?" Ichigo questioned as he approached the others standing in a loosely connected group.
"Ichigo's right I'd be surprised if Urahara didn't already know about the attack, so why didn't he intervene?" Rukia proclaimed, in deep thought.
"There's more of you?" Katsuo said looking a bit surprised.
Braxis let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, we hit a shinigami gold mine." He then paused. "Hey I don't think I caught any of yournames." He pointed at the small group with Uryu Chad Orihime Renji and Ichigo. "We'll start with you, the wimpy looking kid with the orange hair."
"Wimpy? Coming from the guy who tried to runaway like a little baby!" Ichigo screamed with anger.
"Are we talking about a toddler or a baby here, because I don't think most babies are even capable of walking…"
"Come here I'll-
Toshiro strolled in between them.
"Quit it, both of you!" He ordered.
Toshiro stood silently for a minute pondering and planning out his next move.
"Braxis, you have attacked a member of the Soul Society, a major offense, but since you aren't the realthreat here I think we can make an exception in exchange for information about Lotus." Toshiro's words were followed by silence.
"You have to be willing to make me a better bargain than that, because quite frankly, I don't think the Soul Society is really much better." Braxis replied with seriousness.
"Are you crazy? You can't even compare the two!" Katsuo exclaimed.
"I don't think you understand, I'm offering you a chance to avoid being severely punished." The captain retorted.
"No, I don't think you understand, I'm dealing the cards, even if you were to kill both of us right now, you'd lose valuable Intel, you've got one opportunity, and I'd suggest trying to put more effort into convincing me." Braxis explained chuckling.
Toshiro gazed at him in silence for a few seconds, his expression blank.
"I can't just hand out pardons, it's not my call."
"Excuse me captain, but are you implying that you would let these guys get away if it was your choice?" Renji objected, trying to be respectful at the same time.
"They didcome here with the intention of killing Rukia." Uryu agreed.
Braxis turned to Rukia, approached her until they were about 2 feet from each other, Braxis paused awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.
"Well I guess I'm sorry for the… inconvenience."
Ichigo's face turned from dumbfounded to red with anger.
"What kind of apology is that you little-
"Apology accepted." Everyone did a double take of Rukia's response, even Braxis looked astounded.
"Are you serious?" Renji and Ichigo yelled in unison.
"The people that attacked us were clearly a lot more of a threat than Braxis or Katsuo, besides I will take into account that they weren't really doing this on their own accord." She explained.
"I agree with Rukia, everyone deserves a second chance, oh I'm Orihime by the way." Orihime suddenly stated a joyful expression splattered across her face.
"Pleasure to meet you as well, seems like there is only a couple of people in this bunch who have proper manners." Braxis said haughtily, snickering.
"My offer still stands, you come to the soul society and give us information in exchange for a partial sentence." Toshiro explained.
"Agreed," Katsuo quickly replied, Braxis made a noise, as if he was about to speak, but Katsuo cut him off. "If you're going to be an idiot about this then I'll be the sensible one, it's a deal."
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"I don't want information we already have, tell us something useful, and we will hold up our end of the bargain." The captain stated. Toshiro and the Head Captain stood in front of Braxis and Katsuo, who were both equip with reiatsu-binding rings, fastened to their right forearms, over their clothing. Another captain with long black hair stood along with them.
The five stood in Head Captain Yamamoto's office a slight tension about them all.
"This is pointless, they obviously have no knowledge of any value to us." Bakuya claimed sternly.
"They carry zanpakuto, each squad consists of-
The Captain Commander raised his hand to stop Katsuo.
"This information does not help us, these are simple facts they don't give us any edge over the opposition, you'll be sentenced to-
"Kujira," Braxis spoke out, looking up towards the aged man in front of him. "The identity of their leader, only known by the seven Gicho, of course I'm an exception." He paused again. "Daitaro Kujira."
Katsuo gave Braxis a look of utter amazement.
"Even if what you're saying is true, how does that give us an advantage?" Byakuya enquired coldly.
"Lotus is almost solely based on it's structure, for example, if one of the captains was ever to be blown to bits, someone would step in to replace him immediately. Tare off the arm off an octopus and it will grow back; the solution is to chop off the head." Braxis explained, chuckling.
"Kill the leader? But wouldn't one of the Gicho just take his place?" Toshiro asked, suddenly jumping into the conversation.
"There is always a successor chosen by the current ruler, but more than one rightful heir exists this time, there will be a struggle for power. That would be a good time for the soul society to take action." Katsuo added. 1
"We don't even know if they are true enemies yet, speculating a plan of attack this early is preposterous." Captain Yamamoto retorted.
"Captain, forgive me, but these men have given us useful information, should a conflict occur, I believe they've fulfilled their end of the arrangement." Toshiro objected.
He stood silently, like a statue, completely void of any emotion. "Until we can decide a proper punishment for your crimes, you will remain in Seireitei, a shinigami will be assigned to watch over you at all times, your Zanpakuto will remain locked away as well, you're dismissed."
Toshiro bowed to the head captain then joined Braxis and Katsuo and led them to the giant doors behind them, after strolling through a series of corridors they made their way into the sunlight once again, each of their eyes taking a few seconds to adjust as they enter the rays of light shooting down at Seireictei.
They only made it a few steps until they were stopped by two other shinigami, a short girl with jet black hair which had been put neatly put into a bun, and a lean-built man with a scarred face.
The girl bowed. "Good morning Captain Hitsuguya, I've been assigned with the task of supervising one of the ryoka."
The other shinigami walked over to them, also bowing to Toshiro. "Captain Hitsuguya, I've been given the same task."
Toshiro scanned over the four of them.
Katsuo, you're with Momo, Braxis, join Shuuhei." Toshiro ordered, Katsuo took a place beside Momo.
Braxis paused, observing the very kind looking cute girl to his left, and then the battered, remotely intimidating man to his right.
"Are those the finalpairings, because I'd really prefer-
"Yes." The captain quickly shot down Braxis' about-to-be objection.
The captain trekked off and the remaining four split up and made their ways to their specific barracks'.
Katsuo and Momo marched through the spiralling and seemingly never ending, streets of Seretei, in silence, below the cool breeze which danced past them.
"I'm Katsuo Ishimura, by the way." He said, breaking the silence of the aging walk.
"Oh… right." Momo said looking back at him nervously.
There was a brief pause between the two.
"Toshiro Hitsuguya must like you." Katsuo stated as they continued forward.
"What makes you say that?" She looked back at him, evidently blushing.
"I don't mean to sound arrogant, but he did pair you up with me, he didn't put you in charge of Braxis, so he must like you a bit." Katsuo responded.
"Well… I wouldn't know."
"Let's just say he's a lot like a child."
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"That's interesting, you said they had Zanpakuto?" Yoruichi pondered.
Ichigo, Rukia, Yoruichi, Renji and Urahara all sat in a square in the shop as they discussed the strange visitors that attacked the high school earlier.
"They must've been Zanpakuto, the one fighting Toshiro even used Bankai!" Ichigo claimed.
"They said they were from some kind of organisation called Lotus." Rukia explained, at which Urahara's face seemed to light up.
"Ah, I suspected as much, Lotus is a covert group that runs somewhat parallel to the soul society, every decade or so a patrol will come across a few of them, but the soul society has never had an actual conflict with them before." Urahara paused momentarily than continued. "The soul society has barely any information on Lotus, so if they do turn out to be enemies we will have little to no idea what we're up against. Hopefully the two fugitives will be a good source of information."
"Well maybe you would've been a lot more help if you were there." Ichigo retorted.
"I was off on… an important errand." Urahara said, smiling nervously.
"Yeah right." Renji exclaimed, rolling his eyes.
"Ichigo, you should go to the soul society and pay your new friends a visit, see if you can get some data yourself." Yoruichi suggested, Urahara, nodding in agreement.
"And how do you expect me to do that, it's not like they're actually my friends?"
"I'm sure you can get creative."
A/N: FINALLY FINISHED A NEW CHAPTER! WOOO!
Story is in progress again! So for anyone who is reading this at a later date, its not discontinued :P