Kodochi walked into Captain Kuchiki's office and was confronted by her captain and lieutenant.

"Is something wrong?"

"Kodochi, we were wondering if we could take your zanpaktou to the labs for squad twelve to run a few test on it. They won't hurt the zanpaktou, of course." Renji smiled at her but she could tell he was lying.

'Can you feel his pulse?'

'Hai. What should I do?'

'Go along for now, Kodochi. We will plan on the way there.'

"Of course. When do we go?" She smiled as best she could and was relieved with their slightly more relaxed expressions.

"We can go now. They aren't doing anything important this early." Byakuya led the way and Kodochi immediately followed. She grew weary when Renji flash-stepped away.

"Isn't Lieutenant Abarai coming?"

"He will meet us there."

"Captain, why do you want to examine my zanpaktou?"

He had been expecting the question sooner and didn't miss a beat once it was asked. "All of the captains are interested in how your zanpaktou held its form even after you were unconscious."

"Oh, that makes sense."

'Kodochi, they are too curious. We must move up our plans.'

'But I'm not strong enough, Toga. I can't…'

'You can, Kodochi.'

'No.'

There was a short pause before he spoke again. 'Hai, milady.'

Kodochi knew that there was no point in saying anything else. She tried not to order him around, but she was not comfortable with moving up their plans. There was too much at stake.

"Ah, Miss Nakamura, I'm so happy to see you." Kodochi looked up to see Captain Kurotsuchi smiling at her. "Have you reconsidered my offer?"

Before Kodochi could answer her captain stepped in. "Instead of using Miss Nakamura as your test subject you will simply have to settle with her zanpaktou for now."

Mayuri pouted for a moment and then returned to his usual smiling self. "Very well, Captain Kuchiki, I suppose that will suffice for now. Follow me."

They were led deep into the research department. There were no windows but behind every door screams, drilling, beeping, and other sounds were heard. Kodochi shuddered and instinctively moved toward her captain.

"Well, here we are." Mayuri pushed open two large doors at the end of the corridor. Kodochi grew nervous when she saw that Renji had in fact met them there. He had also brought a few friends. Soi Fon, Rose, Retsu, Shinji, Sajin, Shunsui, Kensei, Toshiro, Kenpachi, and Jushiro were all there. A few captains had brought their lieutenants-Izuru, Shuhei, Yachiru, and Rukia-and Kenpachi had also brought Ikkaku and Yumichika.

Kodochi decided that the only thing she could do was play innocent and allow them to run whatever tests they had in store. A few of the captains looked a bit wary about the situation. She looked around and saw the table that her zanpaktou was going to be examined on and removed it from her side. She watched and gauged the reactions of her superior officers. They were afraid of what would happen if she released her shikai; a couple of them even unconsciously moved for their own zanpaktou. She lay it down on the table and smiled at them.

"What kind of tests are we doing, Captain Kurotsuchi?" She watched in her peripheral vision as the other captains relaxed as she seemed to have no idea what was really going on.

'They think they are safe from fighting you because you are no longer holding me, Kodochi.'

'Well, lucky for us we know better… I'm sorry, Toga.'

'No, milady. We should not be hasty. If at all possible we will give them some form of comfort. If this gets out of our control we will have to leave. Are you all right with that?'

'Hai.'

The testing had already lasted for hours. First they had examined the basic shape of the sword. After that, Mayuri had placed it in a device that read the zanpaktou's spirit energy output. Then they all went to a more open area and had Kodochi release her shikai.

Kenpachi immediately challenged the dog to a duel and had to be subdued by the other captains. It did not help that Ikkaku, Yachiru, and Yumichika were all rooting him on. It got really bad when the mad scientist himself tried to draw blood from the dog with a rather large needle and was bitten.

Things really heated up when Kenpachi burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter and Mayuri swore vengeance on the dog; but said dog decided that he would just grow to the size of small building and chase the crazed man around while Kodochi followed and screamed for her zanpaktou not to bite the captain.

Now that things were nice and quiet they were all gathered and waiting for the test results. Kodochi was holding her zanpaktou close to her side in case the very angry head of research and development chose to try and destroy it.

Mayuri's computer finally dinged and started spitting out papers. He grabbed them and started analyzing the results. He did not look very happy, which gave Kodochi great hope. "These results show that the zanpaktou has no special qualities." He glanced at Kodochi and smiled evilly. "That means that you are the one who needs to be tested."

Kodochi jumped up and smiled. "I would love to, Captain Kurotsuchi, really I would; but I have a ton of work to do before the dinner bell and it just will not get done without me. If we're done here, Captain Kuchiki, may I go?"

She turned to Byakuya who nodded and she wasted no time escaping the twelfth division captain yet again.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, are you sure that there was nothing interesting on that paper of yours?" Shunsui looked at him accusingly.

"Oh, fine. I didn't want the girl to know it, but there is something rather interesting on my paper. It seems that the girl's zanpaktou has a spirit of its own."

"All zanpaktous have spirits, Kurotsuchi, that's what makes them zanpaktous." Kenpachi frowned at the other captain.

"Yes, you barbaric buffoon, each zanpaktou has a soul that the owner can converse with and has its own abilities; however, this zanpaktou has a soul. Not a soul that was created by her becoming a soul reaper but an actual soul. It's almost as if a person is trapped inside that blade, or has become that blade, but that's not really possible as far as I am aware. I will have to do more research on the matter."

"Can you imagine if a person were to become a zanpaktou?" Shunsui marveled at the idea.

"I don't understand how that could be. Perhaps we should leave Captain Kurotsuchi to his studies for now." Jushiro smiled at Mayuri. "You will inform us if you find anything, correct?"

Mayuri scowled. He felt as if Jushiro were actually daring him to try and hide something. As if Jushiro could ever catch him in a lie or do anything about it. "Of course I will, now all of you get out, I am very busy."

'I do not like how curious they are.'

'What should we do, Toga? I can't compromise everything we've worked for and everything we still need to accomplish.'

'Do not worry, child. We will continue to prepare. If they continue with their inquiries we will resort to our back-up plan.'

'I don't like our back-up plan, Toga.'

'I know, but if it is our only option…'

'Hai.'