The lieutenant of the 10th Division sighed heavily as she pulled off lieutenant's badge, setting it on the table beside her bed. She slipped her zanpakutou out of her sheath and set it aside, resting it on the stand next to her bed. It was dark in her private room in the officers' barracks, the windows closed with only a slight crack allowing moonlight to illuminate it.
They'd remained closed since the early morning when she'd dragged the division out of their bunks and given them their orders to dispatch them all across Soul Society under the command of her officers. She herself had led the 1st Squad to the largest retainer compound but before she could take a closer look, members of the Matsumura-ke had appeared and managed to force her out.
Normally, she wouldn't have been cowed so easily but for some reason, the man's presence had…scared her and seemingly as if he were there, she'd heard her captain's voice in her head telling her not to take any reckless risks like taking him on. As she'd led her people away, she'd heard a name; Tsuneo.
She stretched her arms out wide, yawning. Despite initial setbacks, she'd conducted the rest of her searches, most turning up nothing but a select few having trace amounts of reiatsu release that made her suspicious, noting them down for her captain. It had been long past the evening meal when all the squads returned, hers getting back last.
Grabbing a small bite to eat, she'd hurried back to her room, seeking the peace and quiet provided by it. Her shihakushou slipped off her shoulders, dropping to the floor and then kicking off her hakama. She fiddled with the light fabric of her underwear, letting it unravel and then moved across the room to find her sleeping jinbei. Running her hands along her bare skin, she glanced over her shoulder to the darkest corner of the room.
"If you were going to wait to speak up before I got completely nude…you left it a bit late, Captain."
"I kept my eyes closed the entire time, Mitsuki-chan." Shiro emerged from the shadows, unfolding his arms and sitting on the end of her bed. "Well okay…maybe that gesture, isn't so significant for me… But anyway…how did your mission today go?"
Mitsuki turned to look at him properly, resting her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised and with her jinbei clung lightly in her fist. "It went well, of course, Captain. I basically had some of the fastest runners in the Division break into each of the compounds and then sent in our people under the pretence of trying to arrest escaped fugitives. It gave us the perfect opportunity to turn the places inside out. This worked for the majority of the places, until we reached the Kurayama-ke's compound. As we were about to go in, some members from the Matsumura clan turned up."
"Your clan is really scary, Captain. I think I met your brother, Tsuneo, too. He led the Matsumura party that turned up to stop us." She paused, musing over something before continuing. "Something about the way he spoke just compelled me to back off, probably his reiatsu... Just standing near him was enough to make me sweat. If I'd have attacked him, I don't think it would have ended up well. Funnily enough, when I was considering doing so, I heard your voice in my head telling me not to."
Shiro grinned. "Well I must've told you so many times now not to take stupid risks that it's now been drilled into your brain. And this time around, it was a smart choice. If you'd have gone against Tsuneo, you'd have gotten yourself hurt. So I'm glad to see you're alright."
"I am and I got what you wanted." She pushed past him, bending down to reach into her discarded uniform and producing another piece of parchment from inside it. He took it, looking over it once. His list of 34 locations had been narrowed down to just 3. Much better… He folded it up and tucked it away in an inner pocket.
"You always have what I want." His lieutenant flushed slightly, looking away with a small contented smile on her face as Shiro stood up, easing the window open and resting on the ledge. "I'll leave you to put some clothes on now before you catch a cold. And get some sleep already. If you collapse from fatigue, I'm putting you on charge. But…this was a great help, Mitsuki-chan. Thank you."
He started to move off but caught a concerned look on her face that made him pause. "I wish I could do more. This isn't right. You shouldn't be doing this on your own. I became your lieutenant so I could help you in all situations. If you get…hurt, I'll have failed in my duties."
"Your duty right now is to the division, Mitsuki-chan, not me and I need you to look after it while I'm gone." He gave her his reassuring look. "Besides, I'm a grown-up. I can take care of myself and…I'll make sure I have backup. So don't worry. I'll be fine."
--
"You can just copy Kaoru's homework, you know, Rei-chan? "
Rei waved Yugito off as she picked up her brush again, dipping it into her black ink and scribbling a few more notes on her roll of parchment. Yugito gave a large yawn, ignoring the stares of the librarian and some of the other students. Kaoru had already headed off for bed though the other girl had stuck around, flicking scrap bits of paper across the desk and doodling on the few she didn't play with. Pushing back her chair, she stood up and slapped Rei on the back.
"Fine then, sensei's pet. I'll leave you to it. You just have fun here while I go sleep. Good night, Rei-chan."
She nodded, turning over another page in her heavy book, running a finger down a column of writing as she tried to comprehend what she was reading. Mifune-sensei had set several chapters to work from the textbook on the properties of reishi and its uses. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to her but she was determined of two things; that she'd force herself to understand everything taught to her at the Academy and that she'd do it on her own without having to hassle anyone else, not her sensei nor her classmates.
Sekkiseki stone…Spirit-reducing stone that negates the ability to manipulate reishi energy. This prevents the ability to use kidou, gather reishi under the feet to walk in the air or release zanpakutou… Rei scratched the back of her head, blowing her loose fringe out of her eyes. Well…she couldn't do any of those things so they weren't much threat to her. She noted it down anyway before throwing down her brush, leaning back and stretching wide. It was getting late and as much as she wanted to keep working, her body felt tired
For the past week, she'd been coming to the academy's vast library to study her theory to try and catch up on the work she'd missed, staying until late into the night. She didn't necessarily need to do well in her written work from what Misato had told her, since her practical sword skills, unarmed combat and kidou were good enough to qualify her to move up to the next year with her current progress.
But there was something about actually being good at things that didn't involve hurting people that appealed to her. Moreover, she'd been avoiding using her asauchi these days, or even carrying it, the flashes of her nightmare still raw in her mind. She didn't need to cut people down to advance in life when there were so many other channels of progress.
"Another late night then?"
Rei leapt slightly, looking up from her book to find another girl standing there, looking at her through rounded glasses. A heavy book rested in her hands, which she set onto the table alongside a long asauchi blade. Brushing aside her pigtails, she took a seat opposite Rei at the desk as the latter moved her books around to clear space for her.
"I'm sorry. I don't believe we've met before."
"Yadoumaru. Lisa Yadoumaru of Class 2. I usually come here every night but recently I've noticed you staying here late too." She offered a hand and Rei took it, shaking it. She leaned over, peering at the books. "Reishi theory and application… Mifune-sensei, huh? How's that going?"
"Slow…" Rei gave a tired smile. It was nice to meet a friendly face once in a while, when most were nobles who turned their nose up at the first sight of her. It seemed that Lisa was another former Rukongai inhabitant too though. "But I'm getting there. I figure if I put in the hours, the results will just come out eventually."
"Interesting philosophy. Is it working for you?"
"Well…I like to think it does." Rei closed her books, closing her eyes for a moment. "At one point in my life, I was heading down a bloody path that would've ended in my death very shortly. But someone saved me and gave me a second chance to do something worthwhile with my life."
She looked back over her shoulder, through the large windows behind through which the full moon shone, bathing a section of the library in pale light. "I figure the least I can do now is do my best and eventually make him proud that he put his faith in me, wherever the hell he is now."
--
"This is the last one, Shiro. You sure about this?"
"I can sense the suppressed reiatsu better than you." Shiro looked over at the shadow that followed him. Apart from the yellow eyes, the dark skin and black outfit of Shindo Shihouin made him almost invisible as the pair advanced under the cover of darkness. Now crouched on the ridge of the hill overlooking the central compound of the Kurayama-ke, Shiro outlined their plan for insertion.
"Alright, Shindo. Here's how this is going to work. We're going in to look for any signs or evidence that the Matsumura-ke are attempting to put together an illegal private army, primarily drawn from reiatsu-strong children they've captured. We just need enough to bring this to the attention of the Gotei 13 and the Central 46 so they can carry out their own investigation. We're going to split up once inside and meet up back here in exactly one hour. Everything else…you know the normal drill."
"Of course, Shiro. Sounds easy enough. I'll be seeing you later then." Shindo smirked behind his mask before flipping over the edge of the hill and then becoming swallowed up by the darkness. Shiro shook his head. Shindo wasn't his first choice for a partner but with his options limited and many of his old contacts too close to the Matsumura-ke to contact without raising suspicions. And so he'd had to branch out to one of his comrades from the civil war from the Shihouin-ke. Besides, when it came to sneaking and stealth, there was none more suited an ally.
He dropped down into the shadows too, moving swiftly and silently through the undergrowth, using his altered sight to find his way in the blackness. He could see the flow of reiatsu around him, far higher in this area than it should be for a settlement without shinigami and concentrated in the centre. And it was raw and wild…untrained. It was the kind of presence fresh recruits at the Academy gave off.
It was quiet, most of the inhabitants deep asleep in their beds as expected of a normal clan. There were the occasional few midnight wanderers but nothing that could bother him, slipping away into the shadows in time to avoid detection. He passed through the outer living quarters, passing into the inner ring of rooms and then stepping out onto the large training ground in the middle where the strongest reiatsu could be sensed…and there was nothing there.
Melting into the shadows, he frowned, trying to identify the reiatsu and its source. Could it just be the aftermath of people who had been here but left already? No…it was still too strong just to be residual energies left over. There were people still here…
Focusing hard, he tried to lock on to the tendrils of energy, catching at the wisps left behind and attempting to follow them back to their sources. It was difficult, the elusive nature of their presences trying to be hidden in the first place making this far harder. There... He grasped at one, following its path slowly as it wound here and there like a thin strand of thread. It twisted and turned, rising high before dropping straight down, into the ground...and then beyond it. Underground?
He placed his hand on the ground, pushing hard. It didn't budge. His hands traced over the surface of the training floor, brushing aside sand until his hand sank in deeper into it than before. A few inches more and his fist closed around a handle, twisting it and pulling to reveal a large trap door. Dropping down inside, he found himself in a lone stone passageway, lined with a number of locked doors with barred windows. There was deathly silence and as he stood there, he could feel something...wrong about the whole surroundings, like there was an oppressing mass weighing down on him.
Shiro shrugged it off, peering inside one of the cells and then another. The same seemed true for the other rooms. Each contained a teenage boy or girl, every one of them no stranger to combat and giving off powerful if raw auras of reiatsu. Blades rested alongside their beds and to Shiro's altered sight, he could identify them as some form of spirit blade, maybe asauchi. This seemed like evidence enough. He could return to the Captain-Commander and tell him about the hidden training facility, providing him with sufficient grounds to send in the Gotei 13.
Continuing down the corridor, Shiro found himself in a larger chamber, the walls lined with weapons and training statues. It seemed to be the main training hall where the young soldiers were taught how to fight. The blood staining the walls and floor stood testament to the furious nature of the fighting that had gone on there. The discarded bodies of a pair of teenagers sprawled at different parts of the room in pools of their own blood further emphasised this point.
A faint groan sounded from behind him and he whipped around, shifting into the darkness and staring in the direction of the sound. How could he have missed it so far? Something about this place was screwing with his senses, stopping him from picking out the figure of the room's other occupant. Staring through his altered sight, he made out the form of a girl chained up with arms spread wide on either side of her. She'd been heavily beaten, blood streaking her face and her dark blue shihakushou soaked red. A fringe of dark hair fell across her eyes as she looked at him through half-conscious eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out.
"Damn it..." It was against his better judgement to deal with anything other than his primary objective of investigating the Kurayama-ke but he felt compelled to help her. Maybe because she resembles Rei... Her breathing was ragged and slow, her pulse weak. She wasn't going to last long and she seemed to know it too, meeting his gaze with dead eyes. He reached for the chains to pull her free when another voice spoke up behind him, another figure appearing out of nowhere beyond his sight.
"Well this is a surprise, Oniisama. For someone so obsessed with duty, I wouldn't have expected you to go out of your way to help some stray girl like that, especially one that means nothing to you." Shiro whipped around to find Tsuneo standing at the entrance, arms folded across his chest, smirking at him. "And I wouldn't bother with that one anyway. She's already lost so you might's well leave her there to die. There's nothing you can do for her."
The chains came apart in Shiro's hands as he eased the girl down to the ground. Her eyes stayed on him, staring at him...past him. With a last shuddering breath, her body went limp in his arms and he felt her spirit disperse outwards from her body. Shit... Resting her down carefully, he ran a hand across her eyes to close them before standing to look at his brother, still leaning against the wall casually, regarding him with cold eyes. "Very touching, Oniisama. I'm sure she'll appreciate the sentiment."
"Tsuneo...you bastard." His fists clenched and unclenched. He wanted to reach across and crush the life out of his younger brother but resisted the urge. He needed to be focused and keep calm. More than that, he'd promised both himself and Natsuki that he would resolve this matter without further spilling of clan blood. As hard as that was to stick to, especially at this very moment, there was already enough blood on his hands. "What the hell do you think you're doing? What the hell are you…becoming to do something like this?"
His brother pushed off the way, walking closer and shrugging. "What am I becoming? I'm doing nothing more than following in your footsteps; forcing young children to fight for a cause other than their own. The Gotei 13 and the Central 46 have held on to their corrupt power for long enough thanks to people such as you who'd kill their own blood for the sake of Rukongai filth who think they rule themselves."
"Don't give me that shit. You don't care for such causes, do you, Tsuneo? You just want...revenge. Isn't that right?"
His brother's smirk widened slightly. "Of course. That's just the line to lure in supporters. Family is all that really matters. Clearly it was a lesson Otousama didn't teach you well enough. Blood can only be repaid by blood. And that's why when I was made aware that you would be coming here...I had to stop by. It's a shame Midori couldn't be here to share in this but I'm sure she'll get over it."
"You think...you can take me on...Tsuneo?" Shiro spoke confidently but the oppressing force that had been weighing down on him suddenly felt stronger. More than that, someone had told his brother that he was here. Mitsuba wouldn't have...but Hitoshi...? He took a step forward but he seemed to misjudge the distance, foot slipping slightly and having to catch himself. What the hell...? What is happening to me...?
"Having trouble there, Oniisama?" A blade glinted in the dark light of the underground chamber as Tsuneo walked closer, taking deliberately slow steps towards him. At first, he appeared to be advancing towards him but then changed direction to stand by the nearby wall. He tapped a finger against it. "You see this stuff? Sekkiseki stone which negates reiatsu and reishi energies. It's bad enough for someone with a strong spiritual pressure like us...but for someone who relies as heavily on it as you even to see...I imagine the effects are amplified even further. And another problem posed by such things would include..."
The wind surged behind him. Shiro half-turned before a foot was suddenly driven into the small of his back with crushing force. Blood exploded from his lips and he fell forward, crashing down hard on the ground. His breath came in sharp gasps, each one painful and causing him to cough up more blood. The world seemed to spin around him as he slapped down a hand and forced himself upright, fighting down the immobilising pain.
Another displacement of air and on instinct, he raised his forearms, taking a powerful kick across his guard and being propelled upwards, crashing back into the wall behind him. Tsuneo suddenly moved and Shiro just managed to shift his head aside in time to let a blade stab into the wall next to his head. It cut down, slicing into his shoulder but his own right arm swept up, pinning it there as he stabbed forward with his other fist, throwing his brother backwards.
Again, some invisible force came on. Shiro rolled across the wall, once then twice, letting a solid strike punch holes in the walls where his head had been momentarily. Another gust and a hand hammered into his chest, blasting him across the training chamber. He fell hard, rolling and coming up into a crouch. His hand clamped instinctively to his back where the original strike had come from. Internal injuries... shit... Invisible enemies now too…?
No…It was that damned Sekkiseki stone again. The unseen assailant must've coated himself the stone dust, making him invisible to me…But even with his presence shielded by the reiatsu-negating stone, he still displaced the air as he struck, making his moves still traceable…barely. But that was another hint as to the identity of his assailant. There were few people who could strike with that kind of speed and force and only one of them was close enough; Shindo Shihouin.
"Shindo…you traitor bastard…"
"So you worked that out then, Shiro." The voice came off from a few metres in front to the right. A rush and Shiro's arms swept in circular motions of a non-specific defence, parrying aside a pair of strikes, twisting aside and lashing out with a kick that cracked the wall behind. Before he could regain his stance, Tsuneo flashed forward, stabbing his sword through his thigh, pinning it to the wall.
He grit his teeth to fight down a scream of pain, punching upwards to stop the second sword cutting down, hitting his brother's wrist to make him release the weapon. It flashed in the air, spinning end over end but Tsuneo snatched it up again, cutting down and slashing a long line open down his forearm.
Shiro reached for the blade in his leg but it was suddenly wrenched free, slashing him across the face as he threw himself aside, leaving only a light scar across his cheek. Rolling over, he came to his feet once again. Blood ran from a series of cuts and from the edges of his mouth, which he wiped away furiously with the back of his hand. If this goes on…I'm in trouble…I'm going to have to try something else…end this before I lose too much blood.
There was no point trying to rely on sight. He'd have to rely on his other senses. In most cases, only relying on every other sense was suicide but he didn't have much choice as the next attack came flying in, ripping the air apart before him.
No sight…only the sound of the faintest ripple of clothing and a fist meeting resistance as it swept through the air, the smell of a warm body closing in, tinged with the scent given off by the Sekkiseki stone. Shiro's hands rose before him, waiting, feeling for the trace of the fist's movement and its impact on the environment around it. The timing had to be perfect. Too soon and the attack would just redirect around his guard. Too late and the attack would kill him, especially in his weakened state. It had to be just perfect… There…!
His left hand made a sweeping motion just at the last moment to parry aside a killing fist, just as his right stabbed forward, all his strength gathered behind a the single blow. From nowhere, a pair of yellow eyes widened in surprise just as Shiro's fist punched through the enemy's chest, ripping through his body and exploding out his back in a shower of blood. Pulling back, Shiro slumped against the wall again as the body of Shindo Shihouin dropped to the ground, bleeding freely out onto the stone floor, his blood now washing away the Sekkiseki dust he'd covered himself in.
"Well well… That was quite something, Oniisama…" Tsuneo stepped out right in front of him, stabbing him in the gut with his sword. Shiro let out a gasp as he slid down the back wall, one hand clamped to his side as the toll of his wounds and the effort put into his single strike made his legs give way. "Even blind, disorientated and half dead you still managed to defeat someone as able as Shindo… Consider it a high point to end your career and life on."
Shiro glared but couldn't spit out a reply, his throat too choked up with blood. Tsuneo regarded him for a moment before raising the stained sword high above his head, preparing for the execution stroke. There was no chance for last words, no hesitation. The blade slashed down with deathly finality. Blood splashed across the wall and a body dropped heavily to the floor.
A pair of hands gripped Shiro's collar and hauled him aside even as the thrown body of Shido crumpled to the ground, blood flying free again where Tsuneo's sword had cut it open. Shiro looked around to see a female clad in the outfit of an onmitsu holding on to him, taking a firmer hold and then leaping away with him in her arms. Tsuneo moved to stop her but another figure appeared in the doorway, clad in the same outfit, raising a repeating crossbow n her hands an unleashing a hail of iron quarrels at him.
Tsuneo leapt backwards, sword flashing to block the projectiles but the moment's hesitation was enough for the first woman to drag Shiro away down the corridor to the opening that led to the outside. With a bound, they escaped the range of the Sekkiseki-suppressing aura and in a flash, Shiro's vision exploded back into existence in a surge of sensory stimulation.
The second girl fired another burst of quarrels before leaping up next to them, kicking the trapdoor shut and raising her hands and gathering her reiatsu now it was no longer suppressed by the Sekkiseki chambers.
"Bakudou #37! Tsuriboshi!"
A web of reiatsu spread out wide from her hands, ends fastening into the ground in a ring around the trapdoor. A hard impact pushed at the door put the elastic web stretched before springing closed again. Tsuneo attempted to open it again but the same results occurred.
"Come on, Anu-ue! Bakudou #26! Kyakkou!"
The woman holding him called to the other as she threw up a hand, drawing her own reiatsu together to compress it into a sphere around them, bending the light rays of the surrounding lamps and the moon above around them both, causing them to become invisible from view just as guards of the Kurayama-ke burst out into the area with drawn weapons. Forcing himself to keep quiet, despite the pain of his internal injuries, he let the two women grab him under each arm and leap away across the rooftops, carrying him with them until they were outside the compound and several kilometres away.
"Let's stop here."
Shiro's vision swam as one of the women knelt by his side, pulling off her mask and leaning over him with concerned eyes, shoulder-length dark hair falling like a curtain around her gentle face.
"You…made it then, Yuuki…?"
"Don't talk, Shiro-san, you idiot. How could you go in there without us getting here first, especially with only that weasel Shindo as backup. You knew he was bad business yet you still trusted him." Yuuki Ukitake's lips moved in a low mutter, her hands starting to glow with white light as she placed them against Shiro's chest, the healing spell struggling to sustain him.
"That's not good, Yuuki. We have to get him back to the Seireitei now." Sayuri Ukitake, Yuuki's twin sister, appeared on the edges of his vision, looking down at him, her own worry etched on her face. "Hold on, Shiro-san."
His vision was rapidly fading to black as he bled out faster than Yuuki could heal his wounds. He was losing sensation throughout his body and it was getting cold, not the kind he was used to but chill brought on by nearing death. He felt Sayuri grab hold of the front of his clothes, shaking him, screaming for him tough her voice sounded so distant as he began to fade.
"Shiro-san! Shiro-san!"