hey-oo, everybody.

longest chapter yet, although... it's kinda boring. Well, it was boring to write, anyway. What's "filler" to me is probably less boring for you, but anyway. Also, on an unrelated note, the end of this chapter marks the point where this story became twice as long as anything else I've ever written. Lucky you, eh? If I don't give up, this will become the first long story I've ever finished.

Sadly, I've managed to fall behind in writing; I'm only four chapters ahead of you... I hate the Christmas season. So stressful.

but anyway, enough whining. You came for a story, so here's chapter 11!

X-X-X

The Striking Snake

Ch11

Invasion!

X-X-X

How long had she been sitting, rigidly, looking at a tiny patch of sky through the high, barred window? Too long. Since sunup, anyway, as the sky had been almost black when she had started.

There was hardly anything else to do. She had considered meditating - her reiryoku was returning, though what had once been a lake of power was as yet barely more than a rain puddle. But even that had proved fruitless; though she could summon enough reiatsu for weak Kido spells, Sode no Shirayuki was still no more than an almost-heard ghost of a whisper in the back of her head.

So, with no one to talk to and nothing to occupy her mind, she stared out the window.

She wondered briefly how Gin was doing, now that he was a normal human once more...

There was a murmur of voices, then the scraping click of a bolt being pulled back. Rukia did not turn.

Footsteps. Very controlled, very precise footsteps.

"Rukia."

And that voice, warm as the winter wind, with the vibrance and vitality of a graveyard at midnight...

"Nii-sama," Rukia acknowledged. She stood up slowly, turning to face the man standing on the other side of the bars.

The sixth captain's icy grey eyes met the amethyst orbs of his adopted sister.

There was a second of silence. It was so short that anyone else, even most iterative high-ranking nobles, would not have noticed - but Rukia had lived with her brother a long time, and was very familiar with how precise his timing was.

Byakuya had hesitated, and Byakuya never hesitated.

"The central 46 have made a decision on your case. You have been sentenced to ceremonial execution by the Sokyõku Blade."

Rukia's teeth clenched, although she knew better than to give any outward sign of distress. "I understand, Nii-sama," she said carefully. It was a lie, but she could hardly say anything else.

"Tomorrow, you will be escorted to the Senzaikyû tower. This will be the last time we speak."

Rukia could only blink as her brother, still cold and impassive as ever, turned and strode from the room.

The death sentence alone had been enough to shock her - unseated deserters were usually just given a decade or two in their division's barracks prison, stripped of their powers and tossed out into Rukongai to live as a normal soul. She was less familiar with the rest of her 'crimes,' and she had expected a long sentence - perhaps even a century or two in the Onmitsukidõ high-security prisons - but, the death sentence? For doing what she had to, to stay alive and complete her mission? Of course, the central 46 were known to be arbitrary and merciless, but why had her case been important enough to come before them in the first place?

And the Sokyõku blade... there was no way that could make sense. The Sokyõku was the most ultimate punishment that the Gotei Juusan-Tai could bring to bear; its was the darkest and most evil act that could be undertaken. The Sokyõku was unquestionably a weapon of pure death, and worse: oblivion.

The Sokyõku did not merely strike down a soul's reishi body. Its hellish heat evaporated their very being, stripping away reishi, reiryoku, and the soul itself until there was nothing left to reincarnate. Complete death, removal from Samsara, gilgul - death of the only part of a person that was assumed truly immortal.

Because of its utter annihilation, the Sokyõku was used only to execute criminals so powerful and so dangerous that even death and rebirth, wiping their souls clean of both the sins and memory of their past life, was too risky - souls so evil that their basic nature, the core of their being, was itself so corrupt that even with no connection to the being they once were, that dark power would still manifest.

It was impossible to conceive that what she had done merited such a drastic measure. The last time the Sokyõku had been used was... eleven hundred years ago? Fifteen hundred? And the man it had executed had been a monster. Most of his actions were not well recorded, as he left few witnesses, but it was known that he exterminated entire soul cities before his final clash with Captain-Commander Yamamoto - who had been lord Yamamoto at the time, before the Seireitei was built. One writer of the time had called the man 'inhuman in all but body.'

There was no way Rukia could compare to power, or evil, of such magnitude. Had the central 46 lost their minds? The Sokyõku was kept heavily sealed for a reason - its destructive power was effectively impossible to measure. Unsealing it was not something to be done lightly; an enemy of the Seireitei could cause untold carnage with it.

And yet it was being unsealed to execute Rukia? All she had done was broken a law to stay alive! True, desertion and illegal forfeiture of reiryoku was a serious charge, but there was no way it compared with the villains of the feudal era who would slaughter thousands of innocents in their quests for power.

No wonder Byakuya had hesitated when telling her. Byakuya was utterly dedicated to following laws and customs, but an irregularity of this magnitude might have been enough to make even him question his orders.

It certainly couldn't have been any kind of affection.

X-X-X

Byakuya had never really paid attention to the fact that the roofs of the barracks buildings extended over the second-story balconies. Today, he was glad of it. He was not in the mood to enjoy the sun.

"Ayo! Byakuya!"

Of course, neither was he in the mood to deal with the two vulgar and almost amusingly poorly-restrained reiatsu signatures that had just appeared. But one could not, as it were, have everything.

One was Kenpachi Zaraki, the brutish, bloodthirsty captain of the eleventh division - a man that Byakuya had a particularly intense dislike of. The other, a close friend of the eleventh captain, was quite possibly the only person in the Seireitei that Byakuya liked even less.

Byakuya halted his somewhat aimless wandering and turned to face the interlopers. "That's Captain Kuchiki to you."

"I heard about your cute little sister," said the shorter figure, brazenly ignoring Byakuya's request. "Sucks to be you today, eh, Byakuya? But I guess something as trivial as her execution isn't enough to get to you, no sir-ee. Gotta keep that cold composure, right?"

Beneath his impassive mask, Byakuya gritted his teeth. He was good at keeping calm under all kinds of duress. Very good. But there was something about the third division captain that got under his skin and grated on his nerves like a bucket of sharpened sand.

Perhaps it was the man's - no, the boy's - utter lack of respect for any authority, even the captain-commander's. Perhaps it was his lack of any kind of manners, tact, or even hygiene, judging by the dirt on his sleeveless and slightly ragged haori. Perhaps it was his incredible, unfairly strong reiatsu, which he had acquired apparently effortlessly after a single year in the academy.

"Ahh, you're an inspiration to us all. Such a model Shinigami you are, Rokubantai-taicho," he smirked. "No fear, no emotion, even when your dear little sister's head is on the block and your clan elders are whispering behind your back about adopting someone who became a first class criminal. Truly, Yama-jii was right to make you a captain."

Perhaps it was just his god-damned, perpetually messy, flaming orange hair.

Byakuya was impassive and distant towards many people, but if you asked him to name someone he outright hated, the first words out of his mouth would be: Kurosaki Ichigo.

Byakuya counted to ten, silently. "You two have come here without your lieutenants," he observed. "What do you want from me?"

"Aha!" Ichigo pushed himself up, sitting carelessly on the railing of the balcony. "So formal! Ain't one captain allowed to visit another? Or... could it be that you're secretly very sad and depressed over this whole mess?"

"This has nothing to do with the third or eleventh divisions." Byakuya's eyes narrowed, very slightly.

"Tch. How can he not be depressed?" The massive eleventh captain said, picking his nose in a spectacular display of 80th district manners. "He's a stuck-up noble, and those types can't stand the thought of a condemned criminal in their house."

"Oh?" Byakuya's cold gaze met Kenpachi's.

Byakuya had decades, centuries of experience in being formal and professional - but today, he had been informed that he would be forced to break the oath he swore to Hisana on her deathbed, and he simply could not bring himself to care. "I wasn't aware that low-born peasants like you could understand the feelings of nobles," he almost spat.

"Nah, not really." A slightly crazy grin spread across Kenpachi's face. "But I wasn't wrong, was I?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hey, how about this, Kuchiki?" Kenpachi's grin intensified. "Tying down your enemy and using that hell-blade on them is a coward's way to kill. If you want someone dead, better to take 'em sword to sword and kill 'em in an honest fight."

Byakuya's eyes narrowed. "What are you suggesting, Zaraki?" He said coldly.

"I'm sayin', how about I save your precious honor, and kill that girl myself? Nobody'd think it strange that I'd want to have a go at someone labeled a first class criminal. I'd get a fight, you'd be saved a public execution, and she gets to die like a warrior should. All good, right?"

Underneath his disdainful mask, Byakuya was seething. How dare that troll of a man suggest that Byakuya would let him within a mile of Rukia! "Oh?" He replied, his voice dripping with condescension. "I wasn't aware people of your level were strong enough to actually kill another Shinigami."

Kenpachi's single eye widened with excitement and barely-restrained insanity. "Wanna test that yourself, Kuchiki?" He challenged. "I've been hoping for a chance to fight you ever since you became a captain. Want to go? Right here, right now?"

The faintest of smiles flickered across Byakuya's mouth. "If you really wish to taste the strength of a Kuchiki lord, perhaps I should take you up on that offer."

Kenpachi's hand went to his sword -

And there was a brief but intense pulse of malevolent black reiatsu, momentarily darkening the entire balcony.

Then it cleared, and the two figures were gone.

Byakuya quickly turned his head, seeing Ichigo land on the roof of the barracks building across the road - dragging a struggling Kenpachi behind him. The godlike eleventh captain had apparently been tied up with cloth strips; an impressive feat, even for the wildly powerful Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Oh, sorry about this, Rokubantai-taicho!" He called. "As amusing as it would be to watch you two go to it, Yama-jii's always looking for an excuse to yell at me, and if word gets out that I was nearby when the sixth and eleventh captains started an illegal duel... well, he might jump to conclusions. Oh, and say hi to your cute lil' sister for me, would you? Thanks!"

Byakuya allowed himself a scowl as the two men vanished in the blur of flash-step.

X-X-X

Five days had passed. Five days of nothing but eating, sleeping and training.

Gin had become pretty lethal, if he said so himself.

On the sixth day, he woke up at dawn and headed down to the test hall - to find the sparse training gear piled away, with Kisuke setting up a large device in the center of the massive room. It looked like a large archway, carved with various occult symbols.

Gin raised an eyebrow. "So this is it, then?"

Kisuke nodded. "In theory, as a full-fledged Shinigami, you could use your own zanpakutõ to create a senkai gate. In practice, however, doing so would show up on division 12's scanners like a beacon, and you'd have a small army waiting for you on the other side." He twirled his cane. "This gate isn't so refined, and cuts though the precipice world without making a stable passage. Still detectable, but they won't be able to pinpoint where it will come out, which will give you time to escape their welcome mat at least."

Gin's grin was making friends with his ears. "Well, thanks for the training," he said. "Fire it up, I guess."

"My, my. You would go alone?"

Gin's right eyebrow arched.

"Ichimaru-san, I have trained you as well as I can in five days." The shopkeeper pulled out his fan. "You're a regular prodigy, in fact. You've grown amazingly fast and strong in such a short time. Your reiatsu is now ahead of many seated officers. Your zanjutsu has become so good it's positively frightening, especially given your limited prior experience. Your zanpakutõ is a nasty piece of work and you're a dead aim with her shikai. You can flash-step on the go better than many Onmitsukidõ ninjas, and I understand your unarmed combat skills were well-honed long before you became a death god. All very impressive, but... Ichimaru-san... five days is still a very short time."

Gin's grin faded slightly.

"Training is a poor substitute for centuries of battle experience. Were you to face a fifth seat officer, you would not come away unharmed. A fourth seat, you'd be lucky to walk away under your own steam. A third seat... you'd most likely not walk away at all."

Gin's grin returned. "I thought did the lieutenant pretty nicely the last time I fought one."

"If by 'did him pretty nicely' you mean, you stabbed him in the back after he was sure you were dead... because he'd just rearranged your intestines... yes, you did." Kisuke snapped his fan open. "Ichimaru-san, you won that by pure luck. Shinigami lieutenants are titans. They aren't the second highest authority in the Gotei Juusan-Tai for nothing; in open battle, one could probably grind you into a red stain on the flagstones with the force of their reiatsu alone. And there are thirteen of them. There are thirteen captains, thirteen lieutenants, and perhaps ten third seats who could crush you without a shadow of a doubt. Add that to the four or five thousand other Shinigami wandering around the Seireitei at any given time - each of whom is a real threat, even if not unbeatable? Going in alone is suicide, and I won't allow it."

Gin looked perplexed, although his eyes didn't open. "Then what've you been training me for?"

Kisuke rolled his eyes. "You may be quite clever, Ichimaru-san, but you really do not listen to people very well. I said going alone was something I will not allow." He clapped his hands twice.

From behind one of the large rock formations, several figures stepped into the open. Gin's eyebrows catapulted again as he saw Chad, Orihime, Uryuu, Tatsuki, and even Chizuru.

Stranger still, there was a small black cat walking in front of them.

Kisuke batted his eyelashes behind his fan. "Oh yes, Ichimaru-san. Despite my lack of effective training, your friends were quite adamant that they were coming on your crazy escapade." He chuckled slightly. "However, our efforts were clearly not completely in vain. Although intensive training was out of the question, between Uryuu and Yoruichi they seem to have at least reached the point where their powers are not a danger to themselves."

Gin's eyes fell on the black cat. It seemed unlikely, but then who was he to talk? "Yoruichi, I presume?"

The cat licked its paw. "Well done, boy," it said in a creaky and old-sounding voice. "Not many get it that quickly. Yes, I am Yoruichi, and if you think I don't look like much - well, let's just say you wouldn't be the first to underestimate me."

"Quite." Kisuke twirled his cane. "Yes, Ichimaru-san. I would not allow you to go alone, but the full seven of you - considering your various different talents - should be a diverse enough unit to deal with anything you might come across. As long as you don't run into a captain. But with Yoruichi's skill in play, that shouldn't happen anyway; the chance is not zero, but it is slim."

"Yes, yes." The cat flicked its ear. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Kisuke. Shall we?"

"Indeed. Arisawa-san?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Gin' s oldest friend pulled a green soul candy from her pocket and swallowed it. Her soul form stepped from her body, complete with a shihakusõ, the black sheath and grey-wrapped hilt of a zanpakutõ in place at her right hip. "Ready whenever, Urahara-san," she said.

"Not bad, Tatsuki," said Gin. "What's that one do?"

"This zanpakutõ? I could ask the same of yours," She replied, smirking. "I'll show you later. Right now, we need to get going."

"Indeed." Kisuke waved his fan in what he probably thought was an artistic manner. "This senkai gate has a little extra to it. Unlike Yoruichi, Ichimaru, and Arisawa-san - Sado-san, Inoue-san, Ishida-san and Honshõ-san are fully mortal humans, with spirit powers as an extension rather than intrinsic part of their soul. Since you four are mortal, you cannot leave your bodies without being bound by a soul chain - but, since atomic matter cannot enter the precipice world or the soul society, this gate's enchantment will convert your mortal bodies into reishi that can exist in soul society. I'm intrigued by what the full effects will be, but I predict a slight stinging sensation - "

"Cut it out with the science, Kisuke," said the cat, flatly. "I doubt anyone's interested. Time's a-wasting."

"Ah! And, so kindly, Yoruichi has brought up my final, most important point!" Gin would have sworn Kisuke was about to giggle. "Time! Yes, time is a bit of a stickler, here... you see, a senkaimon can only remain open for about four minutes. With normal ones that doesn't matter, but in this case, that's only four minutes to race through the precipice world and get out the other side. If you're too slow, you'll be trapped. Oh... and don't get caught by the cleaner surges, as they're called. If you so much as touch one, you're as good as dead. You'll know them when you see them."

Yoruichi turned to face the six teenagers. "I won't lie to you," the feline intoned. "Even the precipice world is dangerous. Right from the get-go, there are a thousand and one ways for you to die painfully and pointlessly. This is the point of no return: are you ready?"

Gin chuckled slightly.

Orihime put on a determined expression, or at least, as close to one as she could manage. "Of course we're ready!" She huffed. "It doesn't matter how risky it is, we can't just let Kuchiki-san die!"

Gin cocked his head. "Ya heard the lady. I think we're all pretty much ready, Neko-san."

Yoruichi managed a rather curious sight - a smirk with the face of a cat. "Say that again once we break into the Seireitei, silver boy."

"Alright! Get ready - you'll need to sprint for all you're worth the moment the door flashes blue!" Kisuke put both his hands on one pillar of the arch, with Tessai adopting a similar stance on the other side.

The two men, who were both masters of the Kido arts, began chanting. The air under the arch took on a strange shimmer.

Mist swirled in the archway, glowing brighter and brighter -

And abruptly, a bright flash of blue burst through the mist.

"GO!" Yelled Yoruichi, far louder than a cat really should be able to.

Without hesitating, the seven invaders charged headlong into the gateway.

X-X-X

Tessai had already gone back up to the shop to make sure Jinta wasn't goofing off again. Kisuke, however, lingered in the test hall, regarding the now closed senkaimon.

"What do you think?" He said softly.

"Actually, I think they have a chance," came the reply. "They are stronger than they look."

"I don't disagree, but that strong?" Kisuke sighed. "I can't shake the feeling I've sent them to their deaths."

"Maybe you have, but I think they will accomplish their mission, even if it costs them their lives." The other giggled, a high-pitched and harsh sound. "You know as well as I do who planned this execution. Whatever transpires, the execution will not happen as planned. This incursion is certain to force the hand of our enemy."

Kisuke raised an eyebrow. "I have no doubt they will cause chaos, but do you really think the disturbance will be enough to flush him out? They'd have to... jeez, they'd probably have to compromise a captain, at the least, to make him tip his hand. He's nothing if not patient."

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?"

"Don't take me for a fool, Benihime. I know exactly how dangerous he - "

"No, not him," she replied dismissively. "The ones you trained. True, they aren't even close to captain-class, but that may not even matter. Do you have any idea of what their powers are like? I got a taste of the skinny one's zanpakutõ when we were fighting. Despite herself, she's so adorably young and naive - she didn't even know how to hide herself from my scrutiny."

Kisuke's eyes widened, and he almost slapped his forehead. "Of course she didn't! I should have asked you earlier... and I was even speculating what kind of a weapon would carry the name God Spear, too..."

"Shinsõ's not like the rest, Kisuke," purred Benihime. "I can't place her rank without seeing her Bankai, but she's... something else. That blade that boy carries is not meant for open battle - she's not so much a sword as she is a sharpened shadow. All innocent and innocuous, until she's biting the flesh between your shoulderblades. She's not a weapon, she's a plain killer."

Kisuke smirked, knowing what she expected him to respond with. "I thought that was what weapons were for?"

"No, not at all. A weapon is a threat given weight; a manifest declaration of war. The symbol of having a weapon is itself almost more important than the power of the blade." He could hear her grinning. "Shinsõ is not a weapon in that sense. There is no symbolism or declaration when she is used, because there is no battle: either you are dead, or she failed."

Kisuke grinned. "What a nasty little zanpakutõ." He adjusted his hat. "Yeah, I see it. Given how good at misdirection that boy is, I can see him bringing down a lieutenant if he plays his cards right. All it would take is getting their eyes off his blade for just a second..."

"You think she's nasty?" Benihime giggled again. "You weren't the one crossed with her. Let me put it this way: give her five or six centuries, and she'll put me to shame."

X-X-X

The heavy wooden staff banged on the floor of the first division meeting hall. The whispers silenced abruptly.

Thirteen Shinigami stood in the hall, each wearing a large white haori over their black hakamas. Six on one side, six across from them. The last, and coincidentally the owner of the aforementioned staff, stood at the head of the room.

"Captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri," the old man said. "You called for this meeting. Report."

The strangest member of the thirteen nodded, turning his elaborately-painted face to address the room. "The Rukongai sensors picked up an irregular senkaimon near the western gate."

"And this merited a captain's assembly how?" A gigantic man with a closed metal helmet responded. "Senkai gates open and close all the time. It was most likely a new recruit coming back from patrol who couldn't get back to his division's permanent senkaimon. Irregular, but a hell butterfly would have been sufficient - "

"Oh, but I wasn't finished, Captain Komamura." The painted man's voice dripped with condescension. "This wasn't a stable senkaimon, like the permanent gates or the temporary ones a Shinigami creates with a zanpakutõ and hell butterfly. No, this one seemed more like it was forced open. Whoever came out must have had quite a dash through the precipice world - the gate collapsed after only four minutes."

"Some strong hollows, maybe?" A tall, thin man with long white hair this time. "They have been known to attack the outer districts..."

"No, it can't be. Or at least it's very unlikely." The shortest captain, a boy with a shock of white hair and gleaming emerald eyes, spoke up. "Hollows have only ever been known to travel by Descorrer. I'm not the authority on the subject, but I don't think it's even possible for a senkaimon to reach Hueco Mundo."

"Captain Kurotsuchi did say it was unstable and forced, though," the taller man persisted. "Could it be that the hollows figured out some method of emulating the senkaimon?"

"All due respect, Ukitake, but why would a hollow want to go to the effort of replicating a senkaimon when they can create a Descorrer at will?"

"Tch. Calm down, you two." Mayuri rolled his eyes. "The preliminary data suggests that the gate was forced open by a complex Kido. If this is correct, it could not have been a hollow, as even the most intelligent of hollows studied have never demonstrated any ability to use Kido. However, since only Shinigami can use Kido, one would ask themselves: why would a Shinigami use such a messy and dangerous senkaimon when they could create a normal one far more easily?"

"Because they had a reason to avoid detection," came the soft voice of the taller of the two women in the room. "They didn't want to go through the system."

"Exactly." Mayuri snapped his fingers. "The unstable gate cannot be tracked with even close to the same precision as a normal gate. This was a Shinigami that didn't want to be found."

The other, shorter woman spoke up. "In that case, there are only two possibilities. The first is that they were on a top-secret mission in the living world - but I can tell you that this wasn't the case; as commander of the Onmitsukidõ, I would have had to authorize such a mission, and I did no such thing." She looked around, meeting each captain's eyes in turn. "The other explanation is that they're rogues."

There was a moment of silence.

"I recommend putting the Seireitei into yellow alert," said an African-looking man with long dreadlocks and an opaque metallic visor over his eyes. "At the very least, establish a curfew for all Shinigami below lieutenant rank, and double the Seireitei patrols."

"Che!" Captain Zaraki, a massive man with long, meticulously spiked hair, rolled his eyes. "All that for one senkaimon, Tõsen? How much damage can one senkaimon's worth of rogues do?"

"Considering some of the names on the list of living rogue Shinigami that are AWOL or have escaped the death penalty?"

There was another moment of silence as the assembled captains considered the power behind some of those names.

"While I can only extrapolate, the Kido used to open the gate must have been complex and powerful," suggested Mayuri. "I would not expect it of less than a fourth seat, or possibly a member of the Kido Corps, alone."

"So it shall be." The old man spoke. "The Seireitei is hereby on yellow alert. Captains, inform your divisions of the change in routine. Captain Kurosaki!"

"Yes, sir?" The smaller of the two infamous 'brute captains' spoke up.

"The rogues emerged close to the west gate, which means your division grounds are the first area they're likely to come across if they break into the Seireitei. Don't be caught unaware."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Yama-jii."

The old man looked around the room once more. "You have your orders. Dismissed!"

The hiss of flash-step filled the room as the twelve figures hurried away.

X-X-X