Obey Me, or Burn in Hell

A/N: I'm making this chapter much more Gotei 13 centric. Why? Because I can, and it's free.

Hitsugaya Toshiro was beginning to lose the little faith he still had in the Central 46. They had pitted him in a duel to the death with one of his closest, dearest friends, but after some time, he had passed this off as for the best. Two shinigami sharing one zanpakuto was unorthodox and possibly quite dangerous. However, he had never truly forgiven them for Kusaka's death. And now, this was just too much. This was simply ludicrous.

Invading and occupying an entire district, let alone Zaraki, the most violent one of them all, was idiotic. While certainly justified, the Rukongai residents weren't actually doing any damage to Seireitei. The Central 46 were punishing them for something that they might do. The humans in the real world were occupying some country south of China. It wasn't working very well, as far as Hitsugaya could tell. The 10th had been put in charge of the excess amount of souls in the area, and even Matsumoto had been so swamped with paperwork she was forced to actually work.

Even worse, they had sent him to lead the expedition. He had been born and raised in Rukongai, and had sympathy for its residents, even though he had shown up in the lower districts. Someone like Byakuya, a cold, heartless, noble, would be much better suited for the job. Or Kenpachi. After over fifty years of watching that man do his job, Hitsugaya was certain that the cruel bastard would welcome an opportunity to mindlessly kill and slaughter.

Hitsugaya massaged his temples. The worst of it was that he would be gone for a considerable amount of time, abandoning his division to Matsumoto. He shuddered at the amount of paperwork that would accumulate.

There was a knock on his door. "Come in!" he called out.

Juushiro and Shunsui entered the room. Shunsui was rather disappointed with the furnishings. That is, until he moved his eyes to the other half of the room. One part, which was obviously Hitsugaya's, was so office-like it made him cringe. The other half was much more to his taste. Silently thanking Matsumoto, he threw himself on the couch, picked up a sake bottle that was lying on a table next to it, and took a swig.

At least, he tried to. The cork blew up in his face, sending bottle shards ricocheting around the room.

"What the hell was that, Toshiro?"

Hitsugaya grunted, ignoring, again, the casual use of his name. "Kido cork. I had Hinamori make one for me."

"Eh?" Shunsui gasped. "Toshiro, isn't that a bit cruel?"

Hitsugaya sighed. "Don't worry, she'll just run over to Hinamori and beg and plead for her to remove it. It will work."

"Ah," Shunsui nodded. Juushiro cleared his throat. "Toshiro-kun, I don't think you should have told him that. Ise-fukutaicho frequently locks up his sake stashes, and he is always looking for alternate sources."

Hitsugaya cursed mentally, while saying "No, no, it's alright. Kyoraku-taicho may come and visit anytime." It was just what he needed. Two drunks lounging around his division.

Shunsui took a swig of sake. Wait. What? Hitsugaya snapped his head around. "How did you get that?"

"Wha?" he said, his speech already slurred. "Oh, I always have one of these babies handy."

Matsumoto came into the room. "Sake!" she squealed, and joined Shunsui on the couch.

Hitsugaya almost lost his temper. Almost. He remembered when he had met his soon-to-be lieutenant when he was being introduced to the members of the 10th.

Yamamoto brought him into the 10th's headquarters. "You will share this room with your vice captain, Matsumoto Rangiku."

"A woman," Hitsugaya thought. "Well, Kyoraku's vice captain seemed pretty efficient. And I am a pubescent heterosexual male… albeit not a perverted one…"

He walked into the room. "OH MY GOD!" he screamed. "YOU!"

Yamamto looked at Hitsugaya, confused. "Do you two know each other?"

"Eh?" Matsumoto said, looking up from her sake bottle. "Ah! You're that cute little kid from Rukongai!" Saying so, she ran up and gave Hitsugaya a hug. He was smothered instantly.

"GET OFF ME YOU LOON! I'M YOUR CAPTAIN NOW! YAMAMOTO-SOU-"

Yamamoto, being the wise old man that he is, had decided to evacuate the premises. He always left Captain-Lieutenant relationships to the parties involved. Kyoraku and Ise had taken their time to smooth things out, so would this new younger captain.

The experience still gave Hitsugaya nightmares. Shaking off the memories, he turned to Juushiro, the only person in the room, besides himself, who wasn't drunk.

"So, what did you come here for?" he asked. "If not to escort Kyoraku-taicho back home, so he doesn't get hurt."

"Ah," Juushiro said. "How do you feel about your mission?"

Hitsugaya frowned. "Isn't the mission a bit unnecessary?"

Juushiro shrugged. "Over time, you'll get to understand why the Central 46 does the things it does."

Hitsugaya gestured angrily. "But why this?"

Shunsui sat up. "Ze Sentra Fortay Si owaz warries bout da lider tings," he said.

Juushiro cleared his throat. "I think that Shunsui means to say that the Central 46 is very cautious. It is built on power, and anything that remotely threatens that power is dangerous to it. Consider Zaraki's condition. The gangs have allied themselves with each other and Demon is no longer doing any significant damage to them."

"But still!" Hitsugaya protested. "Why me?"

"We all have to prove ourselves in missions sometimes," Juushiro said gravely. "Kenpachi already has done some of the Central 46's more… distasteful disposal missions, so you're the only junior captain left."

Hitsugaya growled. "It's still very troublesome."

Matsumoto sat up. "Don't worry bout it too much, taichou," she said. Obviously, she could hold her sake better than Shunsui. "The first missions are always the worst."

"I wouldn't worry about it so much if I wasn't leaving you in charge here," Hitsugaya muttered.

Matsumoto pouted. "Taicho!" she protested. "Everything will be fine!" To emphasize her statement, she ran up and hugged Hitsugaya, suffocating him.

Breaking free of Matsumoto's breasts, Hitsugaya mentally swore. "I swear to god," he thought. "When I get my growth spurt…"

A hell butterfly flew into the room. Landing on Hitsugaya's finger, it relayed its message. Hitsugaya stood up.

"I have a meeting with Yamamoto-soutaichou," he announced. "Matsumoto, you probably will not obey this order, but I forbid you to drink any more sake for the rest of the day."

Shunsui was now considerably more sober. "A meeting with Yama-jii?" he asked. "It's gonna be about your mission."

The young captain wondered how Kyoraku Shunsui could be so disrespectful to the most powerful Shinigami and Seireitei and still live. Matsumoto took a defiant swig out of her bottle. Hitsugaya groaned. He would have to put in a lieutenant transfer request during his meeting with Yamamoto.

----

"You called me here, sir?" Hitsugaya said.

Yamamoto nodded. "The Central 46 has seen fit to send in more reinforcements to Zaraki. Soifon and the Onmitsukido will accompany your team."

"What?" Hitsugaya blurted. "That's-"

Hitsugaya stopped himself before he could get himself executed for disobeying the Central 46. "Yes, sir."

Yamamoto sighed. "While it is not in our place, as the Gotei 13, to question the Central 46's orders, I cannot help but be perplexed by this."

Hitsugaya bowed. "Sir, if I may," he said, as Yamamoto gestured for him to continue. "There have been rumors of a man with incredible strength residing in Zaraki. That could be a source for concern."

"Yes, that is true," Yamamoto mused, more to himself than to Hitsugaya. "But is it really necessary to send in Soifon as well? You are excused, Hitsugaya-taicho. Would you mind relaying the message to Soifon?"

"Yes, sir."

----

"What is it, Oomaeda?" Soifon snapped.

Soifon's incompetent lieutenant paused to munch on some chips. "Hitsugaya-taicho here to see you."

Soifon expressed a rare moment of surprise. "Let him in."

The diminutive captain walked in. "Soifon," he said, bowing respectfully. He had come to view most of the other captains as his seniors, because of the enormous age difference. "The Central 46 has deemed it appropriate for you to accompany me to Zaraki."

"What?" she asked, surprised. Hitsugaya handed her the paperwork. She scanned it over quickly, seeing that Hitsugaya was speaking the truth. "Fine," she snapped. Turning to her lieutenant, she ordered him to keep the division in check while she was gone. Hitsugaya pitied the woman. From what he had seen of him, her lieutenant was almost as lazy as Matsumoto.

From what he had observed of the woman, Soifon, despite her tough exterior, seemed very fragile on the inside. When he had become captain, after the mysterious disappearance of five captains, she looked like she was in a state of denial. Hitsugaya wondered how someone so emotionally unstable had become captain. Of course, he was the youngest captain ever to have the honor of taking the title. Considering the skill difference between him and the other captains at the time, he had to assume that the Gotei 13 were desperate to fill in the missing ranks. He had made it a point to train as much as possible to decrease said ability gap, and had succeeded. Many captains regarded him with a special kind of respect for improving so rapidly.

"We leave in three hours," Hitsugaya said. Turning around, he walked out of the room.

----

Every district up to the 76th was under the Zaraki Alliance's control. Leader had made it a point to prevent the other gangs from killing civilians. When they protested, he simply responded that it might provoke Demon's wrath. That shut them up.

A messenger ran into his command post. The other Alliance members were also in the tent. It was the same messenger who had given him the Kido weapon. Leader had discarded it when he realized that it was a three-time use only weapon. No doubt a prototype.

This time, instead of elation, the messenger's face expressed fear. Deep, primal, fear. Leader frowned. He would have to correct this later on.

"What is it?" he asked.

The messenger bowed. "Shinigami have been sighted at the 65th district, sir. They'll be on us in a matter of hours."

Leader nodded. This was to be expected. After their recent expansions into Rukongai, the Central 46 could hardly turn a blind eye. All the Alliance troops drilled in invasions from other mobs. This time it was the Shinigami. What was the difference?

"Sir-," the messenger said, hesitating. Drawing a deep breath, he continued. "There were two Shinigami with white haoris spotted among them. Captains."

This caused a noticeable amount of concern among the people assembled. Leader breathed a deep breath.

"Ready your men," he said to his fellow organization leaders. Then he turned to the messenger. "Inform Demon. Tell him it's time to party."

----

Zaraki looked up. "If you're fucking around with me I'll throw you through a wall. Then I'll do it again, and again, and again, until you fucking die."

The messenger gulped. Ikkaku spoke up. "You know, he will do that."

"I'm telling the truth!" the messenger exclaimed.

"When will they arrive?"

"I don't know."

Zaraki got up. "Well then," he said. "Why don't you?"

The messenger didn't even respond. He just ran. Zaraki sat back down, trying to calm himself. A puny little messenger wasn't worth it, he told himself.

"Hey, Ikkaku," he said. "You guys were once Shinigami, right?"

Ikkaku nodded. "So was Yachiru, right?"

"She quit to hunt someone down. What about you guys?"

Yumichika entered their tent. "Because it was fucking boring."

Ikkaku nodded in agreement. "We were in the 11th. It's supposed to be the most battle-loving division out there." Ikkaku put his face in his hands. "It was pathetic."

"Bunch of pussies who couldn't fight for beans," Yumichika put in. "Once, during sparring, we tried actually getting a little bit serious. Fucker ran away screaming. So ugly."

"So we got the hell out of there," Ikkaku said. "And decided to head for Zaraki. We made little pit-stops along the way. And then we met you."

The messenger ran back in the tent. "They're here."

The three men high fived.

----

Hitsugaya cursed the Central 46 in his mind over and over again. The idiot of an aide they had sent over with the attack group was annoying him about procedure again. The fool made him almost miss Matsumoto.

The journey to Rukongai had been relatively uneventful. When he was a child in the 1st District, he was stared at because of his cold glare and white hair. Now, he was stared at because he was a shinigami, disliked by most and hated by some. "I'm sorry!" he wanted to scream. "Not all Shinigami are like this!"

And it was true. He had met his fellow captains, and they weren't bad at all. Yes, Kuchiki was a stick up the ass and Kurotsuchi was a monster, but most of them were very affable people.

The aide had been sent in by the Central 46 to ensure that the Shingami did their job. A small, thin man with a very high voice, it was clear he would be useful for absolutely nothing but talking. Throughout the entire journey, he had constantly reminded Hitsugaya about how the entire mission was by the command of the Central 46, and, as their representative, he and Soifon would have to answer to him. Soifon, obviously not accustomed to being ordered around by a civilian, was shocked.

"But we're the captains in this mission," she said.

The aide chuckled. It was an extremely unpleasant sound. "You Shinigami are all the same," he mocked. "Thinking that you can do whatever you want. You're wrong. The Central 46 commands you, and nobody else."

Hitsugaya could see Soifon's fists clench. Obviously, she had had some unpleasant experiences with the chamber.

The aide had gone in to inform the Zaraki residents that they were going to be occupied, that any resistance would be immediately crushed, and that the district was from now on under the Central 46's command. Surprisingly, they had been met with Zaraki troops as far as the 76th district. Seeing them, the aide had gone in and demanded an audience with their leaders. The troops just complied. The aide had no idea what he had just gotten himself into.

----

Zaraki was upset. The aide, apparently, had demanded the Zaraki leader come to him, so they had to take a three hour long walk to the 76th. It was long and tedious, and it had better be worth it.

When they arrived, the aide had already set up a tent. Everyone filed in. Inside the tent, there was only one chair. It seemed that the aide wanted them all to stand.

Smiling, he explained their situation to them. They would surrender, and then the Central 46 would occupy and rule the higher districts until it was deemed that the situation had stabilized.

Leader just stared at him. "What?" he asked. The aide repeated himself.

This time it was Zaraki's turn. "What?"

The aide stood up. "I'm not going to waste my time with you dirty, thuggish, idiots," he snarled. "We will march in, and there is nothing you can do about it."

Leader cleared his throat. "The people of Zaraki have many differences and disputes with each other," he began eloquently. "We come from different backgrounds, we fight to the death over small swaths of land, and we are, rightfully so, regarded as a district full of rogues and thieves. If there is one thing we have in common, however, it is our love of fighting. What you want to do is-"

Zaraki cut him off with a wave of his hand. He didn't want to waste words or actions. He drew his sword. "Fuck you," he said.

The aide just laughed. "You're just a lowly beggar living in a hellhole. You're nobody. You don't even have a name, and you wouldn't dare lay a hand on me."

Zaraki stood up, towering over the aide. "You may be right," he said. He raised his sword. "But I have a sword." The aide began to back out of the tent. Zaraki grabbed him by the collar, stopping his movement.

"And you,"

"Fucking."

"Don't."

Steel flashed. The organization heads looked up at Demon, mildly amused. One of them spoke up.

"Did you really have to do that?"

Zaraki's face broke into a grin. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "This is war, isn't it?"

Review, Please

A/N: The ending was fun to write. Inspiration from 300.