Chapter 8: Prepare
Kurotsuchi's 'day after tomorrow' came around after some rather unpleasant weather, two drunken brawls, trouble in the Rukongai, a mishap with the jigokucho, a patient overload in the Fourth Division, an escaped specimen from the Twelfth Division, and headaches for all involved with the previous incidents. Except the weather, because unless it was through the release of an elemental zanpakutō, the shinigami rarely had much to do with the climate at all.
So, as everything had calmed to a manageable state, the Head Captain had decided to call the other Division leaders to a meeting. Although, due to the fact that at least half of the jigokucho were still on strike, the message delivery was rather delayed.
'The meeting will now commence,' Yamamoto spoke after around an hour of silence and, as expected, he banged his staff at the same time, 'Kurotsuchi, share your findings now,'
Looking at the Twelfth Division's possibly insane captain, Likara couldn't help but wonder what he was about to declare. The man, despite all of the colour on his face and the rest of his usual gaudy appearance, seemed all the more . . . illogical than he did normally. More like some unexplainable occurrence than you'd think when passing him in the street than usual. It wasn't such a heartening thing, considering that she still had a slight headache and a sore throat from trying to talk – shout – sense into the three guys who'd, after starting the first brawl, had gone off happily to start another. All in all, if this was what a shinigami captains did when not preparing for a possibly world fatal war, she was going to go as insane. Her irritated and restless mood didn't resolve itself, especially as the manically smiling man opened his mouth to speak.
'Recently I have discovered the existence of a dimension some distance from both the Soul Society, the Human World, and Hueco Mundo also. Although I believe it has been there for a considerable amount of time, and was originally created from a high reiatsu meeting with empty dimension,' once again, he didn't stop to explain what he meant by that, 'This dimension is called the Realm of Truth, and, after analysing as much as I can from such a place as this, I have concluded that it would be beneficial to send someone through to make first-hand observations,' Mayuri was smiling ferociously and gesturing in a way that threatened to knock someone out if they weren't careful to avoid his hands, possibly Hitsugaya because of the white haired captain's close proximity to the man, 'This is a captain level mission, mind you, so I believe I should be the one to go through because-,'
'I will select two captains to go to this dimension, Kurotsuchi,' Yamamoto sent the man what was possibly a withering look . . . it was hard to tell because of his limited amount of facial expression, and then he continued, 'Volunteers should inform me before the day is up, as tomorrow the selected will travel to the World of the Living. Urahara Kisuke will open a gateway the next day and then, the day after that, once sufficient time has been spent studying the dimension, they shall return,' eyes opening a little more, the old man continued, 'Kurotsuchi has informed me of the dangers that the selected may face in the case that they do not return after the designated day,' since the Twelfth Division captain's explanation of 'empty dimension' had been non-existent, both the first time and this time, the Head Captain simply rounded everything up to , 'So the selected must not linger or they may perish,'
Likara listened to everything and she concluded, although some things in the given information did confuse her slightly, that going to some new dimension sounded far better than waiting around for one of those idiots to start yet another bar fight. The conditions could potentially be terrible and she might get seriously injured, or, according to Yamamoto, she might even die . . . but taking a few risks while still maintaining the image of staying true to duty was probably the only way she was going to get to do anything remotely interesting.
Thinking along those lines, she decided that she'd speak to the Head Captain directly after the meeting concluded and then, hopefully, she'd be selected to go. She just had to be selected, or else the next people to start a bar fight would get to spar with her personally.
'Now, about the recent disruption in the Rukongai,' Yamamoto cast one matter aside and immediately started on another before any of the gathered captains could zone out at all. Even if it was only Komamura and Kenpachi who'd gone into the District to calm the situation – although Zaraki really hadn't been the best choice as he'd encouraged the fighting and then caused multiple casualties – the other Division leaders were still supposed to listen and contribute at appropriate times.
Watching them all standing quietly with their eyes closed didn't help to ease the old man's belief that they all just slept through all of the meetings he bothered to call . . .
'Hey Captain!' waltzing Izuru down the laneway towards her captain, who was clearly in deep thought, Matsumoto couldn't help but laugh lightly. She was feeling absolutely brilliant, better even than she had in the last couple of days, and now she was in the mood to harass the young leader of her Division. Bringing Izuru along had been an accident as she'd just picked him up somewhere on the way, possibly while he waited for his captain to return from the First Division Assembly Hall. Too bad that he didn't seem to enjoy dancing his way through the streets of the Seireitei where everyone could recognise him, or at lease see his badge.
'Whaddaya doin', sir?' releasing the blonde man as she spun around wildly, Rangiku didn't even notice when he slammed into one of the walls lining the street, head lolling worryingly.
'Nothing that concerns you,' snapping crossly, as having her disrupt his train of thought wasn't something he enjoyed at all, no matter how often it happened . . . or maybe because of how often it occurred, Tōshirō turned his icy glare on Kira, 'Get up and if need be, go to the Fourth Division. Lying there all day with a dazed and slightly pained look on your face isn't going to achieve anything,' rounding on Matsumoto, he continued his grumpy outburst, 'Right, since he's not going to budge through his own power – why I wouldn't have a clue . . . perhaps you seriously damaged the poor Lieutenant, Matsumoto – take him to the Fourth and then return to the office immediately!' he crossed his arms, 'Without delay!'
'Captain?' wondering if there was paperwork involved in the 'return to the office' part, Rangiku thought to call out after him, 'I'm not doing any document stuff by the way!'
'Whatever! Just take him and go,' not turning this time, Tōshirō continued to walk away, already turning his thoughts to the jigokucho lazily flying by in front of him. He knew the Sixth Division had them under control now, or at least half of them, but there were obviously still some that had gotten a . . . a butterfly in their bonnets about having annual holidays.
A jigokucho on strike . . . what is the world coming to?
Muttering in his head, the white haired captain hardly noticed when he walked straight past Kira's direct superior. And even if he did, it didn't bother him enough to have him stop and say something to the startled shinigami.
Likara glared at Hitsugaya's retreating form before sending out her senses, trying to locate Kira. He'd said he was going to be waiting outside of the Assembly Hall, but he hadn't been anywhere around there – she hadn't been able to see or sense him. Consequently, unless he'd gotten himself kidnapped, which was highly likely, then perhaps he was back at the Division trying to sort through the massive piles of documents that had been freshly delivered that morning. She didn't understand how so much paperwork could be generated just by daily life in the Seireitei. And, when working on all of it, she didn't get why they needed to know all of the things written on those sheets. If all of the Divisions received practically the same types of information, then she sincerely hoped that the characters had been typed onto the paper in some fashion rather than handwritten.
Changing her thought line, as that one was going in a roundabout direction, Likara recalled her brief conversation with the Head Captain. It hadn't been a detailed discussion, all that had been said was about the planned journey to this recently noticed dimension. 'Noticed' rather than discovered, because she had the odd feeling that Kurotsuchi wasn't the first to come across this place, like he'd been saying. Still, whatever the circumstances around this 'Realm of Truth' were, the fact was that she'd offered to go there to observe whatever could be observed. Surely it couldn't be as dull as things around here at the moment . . .
'Captain Kuroiyami!' the cheerful but nervous voice of . . . someone called out and Likara turned curiously, wondering who exactly would be trying to talk to her, 'Wait! Wait please!'
'Er . . .' looking at the rather unimaginative shinigami bowing before her, the young captain couldn't help but feel a little surprised, not to mention confused, 'Who exactly are you and what do you want?'
'Yamada Hanatarō,' said Yamada Hanatarō with another overly deep bow, one which almost caused him to lose his balance, 'I'm here to tell you that Lieutenant Kira has been admitted to the General Emergency Relief Station for stitches in the back of his head and treatment for some serious bruising, ah-,' blinking with his large and rather . . . vacant eyes, the shinigami continued, having clearly forgotten before, 'And a broken . . . broken,' he really had forgotten, because seconds later he fished a piece of paper from his pocket and began to scan the characters nervously, 'Toe!'
In the silence that followed, Likara just stared at him in expressionless but withering surprise, and Hanatarō shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying not to stare right back.
'You have bi-coloured hair, Captain,' after a longer period of noiselessness, the diminutive shinigami spoke once again . . . before everything lapsed back into uninterrupted quiet.
Finally, after much contemplation on issues completely separate to the one in question, the captain nodded slowly and dismissed Yamada, who she'd finally recognised as the Seventh Seat of the Fourth Division, 'Alright, thank you. I'll go there right now to see how he is,'
She had the strong suspicion that this had something to do with Matsumoto, a very, very strong suspicion. And what the hell? Her Lieutenant's toe was broken? Of all things . . .
'Yes sir,' bowing once again, Hanatarō looked up just in time to see the haori clad shinigami vanish in the direction of his Division, 'How am I going to get back? I can't use shunpo . . . and I often get lost . . . or bullied by those Eleventh Division members,'
After standing in the same spot for about ten minutes straight, shivering in nervous exhaustion, Yamada Hanatarō decided to get a move on and so he headed off in what he hoped was the right direction.
Rangiku watched as her captain wandered past her hiding spot for the sixth time since she'd realised he was out searching for her. If she knew Hitsugaya Tōshirō, and she knew Hitsugaya Tōshirō, although not as much as she sometimes thought she'd like to because often times helping was hard if you didn't have a clue what the original problem was and consequently, if you were her, you ran the high risk of making things all the more worse . . . anyway, she knew he must be seriously preoccupied not to sense her badly concealed reiatsu. Since she usually tried as hard as possible to go un-sensed and still he found out exactly where she was cowering, it must really be something big, no massive, that was troubling him. Still, no matter what the circumstances, she wasn't going to give up and return to desk work just because it looked like her captain was distracted. On the contrary, it was for that exact reason that she was now considering which bar to go to first.
Looking around, pale blue eyes scanned the area that the woman was currently in, and she assumed she was somewhere near the First Division. As such, the closest place where she'd be able to get a drink wasn't too far away. So, if she timed everything nicely and her captain didn't suddenly come back from looking while his mind floated up amongst the clouds, then she'd easily be able to escape towards that place.
Tensing as she heard a familiar tread, and certainly not for the first time, Matsumoto peered out from among the foliage of the rather nice bush she was huddled behind, and she once again surveyed Hitsugaya as he wandered by, still with that distracted look on his scowling face. Grinning wickedly, the Lieutenant waited until he had disappeared towards the First's offices again, and then she shot away, moving faster than she ever thought she had before. Without using shunpo, of course.
Arriving just a few streets from the bar, Rangiku briefly wondered how long it would take her captain to notice that he was no longer in even close proximity to her. And, despite feeling a little guilty, she didn't stop to look back as she continued hurrying towards the welcoming place where all her worries would be forgotten. At least for a while, until either someone found her and returned her to her Division, or she suddenly realised just how bad she felt after drinking oh so much. Still, until then, whenever 'then' might be, she was planning on having one hell of a time.
It was midnight when all of the captains in the Gotei 13 – whether they were asleep, still working, pondering things quietly, or just staring off into space – found a jigokucho fluttering noiselessly at their side. And, eyes opening, brushes lowering, sighs escaping dry lips, thoughts returning to the present, they all heard the message that the black butterflies delivered without delay.
Tomorrow the Selected will go to Karakura Town in the World of the Living. The day after, They shall travel through the gateway and into the Realm of Truth. And, after making Their observations, They will return.
Captain Kuroiyami Likara, Captain Hitsugaya Tōshirō . . . prepare.
Author's Note:
My apologies for a comparatively short chapter! Once again, this seemed to be a collection of relatively brief happenings, ending with what was possibly a predictable outcome. I can only imagine how cold Matsumoto and Kira are feeling in their respective barracks . . .
