THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN UPDATED AS OF 3/11/13


Shorter chapter this time but the action starts soon!

hello=English speaking

Disclaimer:I own nothing.


The week before the mission was spent in relative peace. At least, in shinigami terms it was normal.

After his meeting with head captain Yamamoto, he learned he would still be taking the essential classes at the academy, but only when he had time. He also received his new black Shihakusho, an official sign of his promotion. After that was lunch with Chojiro and the viewing some western comedy he had picked up on his last mission to the human world. It was called Monty Python and the holy grail. It was surprisingly funny.

Later that afternoon he moved the few objects he had into his new room in the 10th division barracks. It was a nice room with polished wooden floors and more space than his old room. Oddly enough, it came with a good sized bed, unlike other rooms which had the traditional futon. That night some others had decided to throw a 'room warming party' which pretty much meant drinking in his room and generally messing up the place. He managed to enjoy himself enough and get rid of all the sake before anyone noticed.

The rest of the week was filled with training, schooling, a few pranks, and scaling mount paperwork. The entire time he'd been filled with excitement. He would get to go to the human world in a gigai! The others often complained about their extra weight, but it seemed like it would be an interesting experience.

So there he found himself on the day of the mission, Staring at his new gigai.

"So what, I just walk into it?" He asked. The thing looked nothing like him. It's only similarity was the height. So far it had no face and hair; no defining features at all really. The clothes had already been picked out, much to his surprise.

The gigai wore a sleeveless midnight blue vest with dark brown faux-fur on the hood. Underneath was a long-sleeved black shirt with a stamp-like design in dark, rust red on the front. The slim gloves on it's hands were also dark red. Last were deep gray skinny jeans and blue and red hightops.

"That's the general idea, yes." Toshiro informed him, already in his gigai. In fact, All of the others had already donned their own.

The other shinigami going on the mission were Toshiro, Rangiku, and Renji. Rukia had gone ahead of them to take care of some business.

Robin looked at the fake body skeptically before stepping in.

It felt like he was walking into a second skin, as though someone had put plaster-wrap over his entire being, and it concealed him. The feeling passed though, and he felt mostly how he did outside of it. But he found he did fell heavier, like another ten or so pounds had been added to his mass. He opened his eyes and looked around. Everything seemed normal so far. He took a step forward and felt stiff. He stopped and stretched some; reaching his hands over his head and touching his toes. The unused muscles strained in protest, but he ignored them, trying to work out the kinks.

"It's a bit...stiff." He decided, stretching and twisting his back.

"That's pretty normal. Don't stress the body though. It's not used to moving." Renji replied, fixing his gray almost-trench coat.

"I totally couldn't tell." The boy scoffed.

"Eh, you'll get used to it." Rangiku promised, picking at the buttons on her dress so it showed more of her chest. "That's better."

"Oneesan...Is it completely necessary to have your dress that low?" He deadpanned.

"Of course it is! I'm a proud woman after all." She tutted. "Now- what do you think of your clothes? I picked them out of things I bought for captain Hitsugaya, but he wouldn't wear them." Said captain just scoffed and wrapped his teal scarf tighter.

"They're..pretty comfortable actually." He looked at himself. The clothes were soft and thick enough to keep him warm in the chilly town. "How do I look?"

"You're adorable of course!" She cooed. "And here." She handed him a plain looking, black eye-patch. Robin realized then that he was seeing them through both eyes instead of one. "It's the same as your other patch, but it looks more normal, 'cause a humans eye-patch can't stick to their face like yours." Robin nodded and set it to his left eye, tying it accordingly.

"Well, ya don't look like a complete train wreck, at least." Renji was immediately hit over the head.

"Don't insult my fashion sense!"

"Enough!" Hitsugaya fumed, "We're here to talk about the mission. Not gossip about clothes. Now shut up. All of you." They immediately complied.

"Now. About our assignment." He began, "There have been strange sightings in Karakura town."

"By Ichigo and his friends?" Rangiku asked. The captain shook his head.

"No. By humans. Normal humans. Sources tell us that the humans have been spotting odd, white monsters. The few who have gotten a clear glance said they saw holes in the monsters chests."

"You don't mean-"

"Hollows." They all stared.

"That's impossible!" Renji started.

"Yes. It should be. But people have been seeing them more and more often. We need to find out why and report back to the Seireitei."

"And just how are we supposed to research this?" The red-head asked.

"That's why we are using gigais. We need to ask around the town about any strange occurrences and sightings."

"That's awfully little information to go on." Rangiku stated. "Is there anything else?"

Hitsugaya looked at the file in his hands and frowned.

"...There has been a rather strange pattern of fog that appears every few days. But it's not much, so the soul society has mostly ignored it."

"It might somehow be connected." Robin spoke up, "We can't ignore anything that might be a clue. It's best to check out all possible leads, even if it's a dead end."

The others nodded, not at all surprised by Robins almost detective-like speak.

"If that's taken care of, We should head out." The captain said to them, heading to the door. The others followed suit and walked until they reached the Senkaimon.

Robin looked up at the gate, not nervous after having traversed it a few times already.

In a matter of minutes, they had passed through the gate and entered an alley in the human world. After exiting the alley, Robin smiled as they walked. He'd only been to the human world two other times, and he enjoyed how different it looked than his world. He wouldn't mind visiting like this again, even if the gigai was kind of annoying and heavier than what he actually was.

It was still around mid afternoon when they arrived, so there was plenty of light and people around. They walked into one of the shopping districts.

"The sightings usually start around evening, so we've got awhile before anything should happen. We'll be asking humans about it until that time. When it's seven O clock, We'll meet here." Hitsugaya told them, pointing at the cafe they stood in front of. The others nodded and took off in different directions.

After an hour of almost nothing, Robin sighed and sat down by a fountain. After just looking around for so time, he spotted Toshiro walking near the fountain.

"Captain!" He called, waving the other over. Hitsugaya walked up and looked down at him.

"Any luck?"

Robin sighed, "Not much. I guess people think it's strange for just one kid to be walking around and asking people about monsters. How about you?"

"I've run into the same problem."

"Well why don't we go together? Humans might think it's less weird if there are two kids."

"Robin. I am not-"

"I know, I knowwww. You not a kid. But you sure do look like one."

Hitsugaya scowled. "Speak for yourself."

"I can accept that I am in a situation like this. But whatever. What do you say?

"Fine." And with that they walked into the crowds of Karakura.

The first people they decided to ask were a couple grocery shopping. The woman was looking around nervously and asking her lover to hurry so they could go home.

"Excuse me ma'am?" Robin asked. She turned towards him and smiled.

"Oh. Hello there. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Well, I was wondering if you've seen anything strange around here lately?"

The woman tensed at this, looking at the man that was swiftly approaching them. "W-why do you ask?"

The man reached them and took the woman's hand. "Is there something wrong?" He asked, looking at them suspiciously. The two Shinigami may not have realized it, but their strange appearances made them stand out in a rather punkish way, causing some adults to distrust them immediately.

"They want to know if we've seen anything strange lately."

"Why would you want to know that?" He looked at them stonily.

"We-" Hitsugaya started, but was interrupted by the younger.

"We-my friend and I, we're freshmen from Karakura high school, and are trying to join the schools newspaper club," The school did have one of those, right? "But our senpai's told us we can't join unless we do a real story on the recent sightings."

The couple looked at them with skepticism, but the woman seemed as though she wanted to say something.

"And truth be told," Robin leaned a little closer, "I've seen them too. Glimpses of the big white monster. The one I saw almost looked like a skull!"

The woman gasped. "I-I saw the same! No one will believe me though! Even others who have seen it; They just refuse to believe it!" There was hope in her eyes now. Hope that she wasn't losing it.

"Could you please describe it to us? What happened, I mean. And don't worry, we won't use your name or anything. It's all anonymous."

"Well...alright...I suppose it can't hurt...I was walking home from work a few nights ago. It was foggy out-which is strange for this time of year. Especially at night. I was about to cross an intersection when I heard this faint noise. Almost like some one screaming. But it was so quiet, I wasn't sure. Then this...this thing appeared out of nowhere. I couldn't see it clearly for some reason, but what I did see was h-huge. I think it was white and the patches of head I could see were a skull with horns on it!" She shivered, "It still gives me nightmares."

Robin smiled at her. "Thanks a lot ma'am! That really helps us." The woman nodded and walked away with her husband.

He turned back to Hitsugaya now. "Sounds like a hollow."

The other nodded. "It does." Then he glared at Robin. "High school newspaper club?"

The boy shrugged. "It makes us seem less like a threat and more like curious children. Probably makes her feel better about talking. Besides, in the books and mangas you guys sometimes bring me, The adults always feel better when talking to kids."

"I'm not a kid." He sighed, "But I suppose it works."

They spent another hour walking around talking to people; some giving them information and others giving them the cold shoulder.

Hitsugaya looked at a clock in the town square. "It's almost seven." He said.

Robin stretched and grinned, "Then I suppose we should head over, huh?"

It took a couple minutes, navigating the thinning crowds, but they made it before the other two.

After waiting for 10 minutes, Hitsugaya growled. "They're late."

"No shit. Maybe they stopped by a bar." Just then, a pair of long arms wrapped around him and a large pair of...assets, rested almost on top of his head. Luckily, this was a common enough occurrence for Robin to be unaffected.

"How could you say that! You know I take my job very seriously!" A feminine voice whined.

"Oneechan, We all know how much you love drinking."

"Oh whatever." She sighed dramatically. They watched Renji approach them.

"You're late." The captain glared. "Both of you."

"Lost track of time." They said simultaneously.

"Of course you did." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "At least tell me you found something."

Renji glared at nothing in particular. "No one would talk to me." Both Robin and Rangiku let loose sputtering laughs at that.

"The big scary man!" She teased.

"Shut up." He growled.

"Anyway," She ignored him, " Before we talk about this, can we get some food? I'm starrrrvinnnggg!" She drew out the words in a way that she knew would annoy her captain.

"I'm kind of hungry myself..." Robin added. Renji seemed to agree. And knowing the three wouldn't want to do anything until they were fed, the captain pointed to the cafe behind them.

"Fine. Just, get in there and order something." Shinigami could be such kids sometimes. Robin and Rangiku cheered, running inside and picking a table at the front, by the glass walls of the shop. everyone quickly seated themselves and ordered. Three out of four had been thrilled to find out it was a dessert shop, while the fourth silently fumed and ordered nothing.

Robin smiled when their orders arrived. It wasn't often he got soda, and any sweets he got were usually brought by Ukitake after a mission. He had ordered two things, Strawberry cheesecake and a napoleon, which was layers of puff pastry filled with pastry cream with powered sugar and whipped cream on top. They looked absolutely delicious. He saw that his sister had gotten some type of rum cake and creme puff. Renji was enjoying chocolate cake and crème Brulee.

"Why didn't you get anything Toshiro?"

"That's captain Hitsugaya. And you know I don't like sweets." He looked mildly disgusted at what they had ordered. "That's a disturbing amount of sugar."

"Why can't anything just be turbing?" Robin muttered. The others were used to his odd wordplay though, and ignored it. "Come onnnn! Just try a little! It won't kill you."

"No."

"Come onnnn."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeaaassseeeeeeeeeeeeee?"

"If I say yes, will you be quiet?" Robin nodded yes. Hitsugaya sighed and took Robin's fork, getting a small piece of the cheesecake on it. He ate it and handed the fork back. It wasn't bad, not like the candies and things Ukitake would bring back, but he didn't really want anymore.

"Well? How was it?"

"Not bad."

"Want some more?"

"No." Now Robin just shrugged and decided to eat his own food. They sat in silence until the treats were almost gone. Then they talked for a couple minutes about their experiences on the streets, earning a few laughs at the stranger stories.

"Now, onto business." Rangiku stated, "Some of the people I talked to, said they had seen pieces of giant monsters walking around during the evening and night. They were obviously hollows. But what's really odd is that wherever a hollow appeared-"

"Fog showed up with it?" Robin asked.

"Yeah! Did they say the same to you?" The two shortest nodded.

"Maybe-" The captains cell phone went off, beeping four times. He opened it up and put it to his ear.

"Rukia." He acknowledged. There was silence for a moment as he listened to her speak. The others looked at each other or finished what little was left of their sweets. "Alright. We'll be there soon."

We heading out?" Robin guessed.

The other nodded. "Rukia says she's found something. Warehouse district." They stood and paid at the register, heading back to the streets. From there they merged into the crowd.

Robin grunted as he almost crashed into someone. "Oh, uh, sorry about that." He looked up at the other. He was surprised to see the person had orange hair. That was pretty rare here.

The other just stared at him though, something like surprise and confusion in his eyes. And maybe a little shock?

"Hello?" He waved a hand in the guys face, trying to get his attention. The man seemed to snap out of his daze, and jumped a little.

"H-hello, sorry..." Judging by his shaky hello, Japanese was not his first language. Luckily for him, Soul reapers could understand all languages, even if they could not speak it. Something about reading words off of their small amounts of reiatsu. Also luckily, Robin could speak English, which he hoped the man could speak.

"Are you alright?" He tried in English. The red-head looked at him in shock, before stuttering.

"Y-yeah. I'm f-fine. You speak English?" Robin nodded.

"Yeah. Sorry about bumping into you."

"Robin!" Rangiku called, standing a little ways away with the rest of their impatient group. "Come on! We have work to do!"

"Alright!" He answered, and turned back towards the stranger, he could now plainly see the shock and disbelief written all over his face.

"Y-you, you-" He started.

"Yes, I do know her." He said, annoyed. The guy was probably just gawking that he knew someone like Rangiku. It wouldn't be the first time. "Well, see ya." And with that, he ran back to his friends and disappeared into the crowd, leaving the green-eyed teenager to himself.

"Robin...?" He murmured.


Who can guess who the red-head is?

Thanks for the reviews and the poll, of course, is still up.

oh. And can anyone tell me what Momo is currently doing in the manga? I can't find out about her right now and i don't want to ignore the relationship she has with Hitsugaya in the canon.