Greetings again!

Here's Chapter 12, which is another one that took a while to write, mostly due to real life concerns. That said, the story will go on. :)

Special thanks to apathyninja, Slothman30, Mileryn, perfect beauty, shaggy-bear, Mungetsu, stormcrowley, and RangerH for the encouragement and reviews so far.

I do not own Bleach, or any part of it.


DOCTOR'S ORDERS

Chapter 12 – That familiar sinking sensation

History is a convoluted – and yes, dynamic – subject. Trying to track the movements and decisions of hundreds of thousands of powerful yet irrational human beings, each convinced that their way of doing things is logical and correct, is a daunting task full of mysteries since so many of their choices make no sense to us today. In some cases this is because we lack information, in others it is because values have changed between one culture and time and another, and in still others it is because those we study were completely insane.

Tom Clancy, perhaps, said it best – "The difference between fiction and nonfiction is that fiction has to make sense."


Karakura Town, Kurosaki Home - 8:48 a.m.

Isane stopped at the door to the Kurosaki household. She remembered what Rangiku had said about coming in through the ceiling, but decided to summarily ignore it, given that Matsumoto's last piece of advice had been "Sure, we can put the swimming pool in Captain Kuchiki's yard. He'll never find it there." As a result, Isane decided to do something crazy to enter Kurosaki's house, something no Soul Reaper had ever tried before. She was rather proud of herself for thinking of it.

She reached out and rang the doorbell.

The padding of feet could be heard momentarily. It opened to reveal a small, light-haired girl. She looked out for a moment, squinting.

Isane smiled. "Hello, my name is Isane Kotetsu. May I have a word with Ichigo Kurosaki?"

The girl shut the door in her face. Isane blinked a couple of times.

"Who was it?" Another girl's voice called.

"There's nobody out there."

Oh, right. They couldn't see or hear her – another thing to thank Mod-Isane for.

Isane decided that maybe the other Soul Reapers had it right. She looked around the house, trying to decide where the substitute Soul Reaper was likely to be. She finally picked a room that seemed fairly masculine to her, jumping up and through the open window, and came down on a very springy bed. Isane bounced off the bed and hit her head on the ceiling, finally landing unceremoniously on her rear in the center of the room.

"All hail, the mighty Soul Reaper has arrived." She said dryly, to no one in particular. I'm glad no one was able to see that. She rubbed her head and got up. The room was dark and empty, and she supposed that Kurosaki must be out. She'd have to wait for him, then.

"Hey there." The words nearly gave Isane a heart attack. She looked around wildly, and finally saw a what the source of the noise was – a tiny stuffed lion – or maybe it was a bear, it was hard to tell – on Ichigo's desk was moving. And talking. To her.

"H… hi?" What is that? Some kind of mortal toy? They say that computers are in everything these days.

"It sure is nice to meet you. I'm Kon! The light switch is over there, by the way." Isane located the switch, although the room wasn't that dark with the window open. She flipped the switch and turned back to the curious creature. She eyed it cautiously. "How is it that you can see me?"

"I can see you perfectly." He – it? – he said, his eyes sparkling. Is he staring at my chest?

"I'd like to give you a BIG WELCOMING HUG!" Kon shouted, launching himself at her.

Isane, startled by the unexpected burst of movement, shrieked and lashed out in reflex. Her backhand solidly connected with the stuffed toy, producing a squeak and launching it through the window – unfortunately, she'd hit him through the part of the window that didn't move, shattering it.

Isane froze. Less than a minute into her stay in Kurosaki's house, she'd managed to break something, and for all she knew she'd killed his… whatever that was. You're on a roll, Isane! You might as well set his bed on fire or something, just to make sure he won't help you.

She wondered if she should just leave before Kurosaki returned. A small, extremely nasty voice whispered to her that she could return later and blame the broken window on Renji. She dismissed that idea, though, and before she could think any further on it, the door to Kurosaki's room opened. She turned, and then looked down. Standing there was Rukia Kuchiki, still in a Gigai herself. Rukia stepped back, a combination of delight and alarm on her face. "Lieutenant Kotetsu!" Then her eyes drifted right. "The window!"

Despite her rank, Isane bowed in apology. "I'm so sorry, there was this little thing that jumped at me, and-"

Rukia's face cleared. "Ah, Kon. Well, I hope you hit him hard enough to put him out of commission for a while. He's been more annoying than usual lately."

Isane straightened up, confused. That wasn't the reaction she'd been expecting.

Rukia walked across the room and bounced up onto the bed to get to the window. From somewhere in the distance, a faint nasal voice wafted over. "Ow…"

Rukia nodded, satisfied. "Good enough." She turned around and sat on the bed, her legs swinging. "So, what brings you here, lieutenant? I didn't get any messages saying that you'd be arriving."

"It wasn't exactly planned. I'm actually here looking for Kurosaki. I need his help."

"Ah. I'm sure he'll be happy to help." Isane raised an eyebrow. Rukia saw her expression and clarified, "Well, he's helped the others that have come through."

"Others?" Isane didn't know that there were Soul Reapers in regular contact with Ichigo. I need to get out more.

"Sure. One of the duties of a substitute Soul Reaper is to help other Reapers get accustomed to the mortal world, teaching them how to use the more complicated mortal tools, like microwaves, vending machines, the internet, juice boxes… that kind of thing."

Isane shook her head. Renji showed me most of that. "What I need to ask him for is something a bit more dangerous."

Just then, the door opened again. Ichigo walked in and took a look at the Soul Reaper in his bedroom. He frowned. "Don't any of you ever use the doorbell?" Before Isane could respond, though, he saw the window. "My window!"

Isane took a deep breath and started to repeat her apology, but the first person Ichigo looked at was Rukia. "Kon?"

"Kon." She nodded. "Ichigo, this is Lieutenant Isane Kotetsu of the Fourth Division."

Isane gave a small bow of greeting. That was relatively painless. Ichigo nodded and looked at her. "Have we met?"

Isane remembered a flash of orange, black, and tan, followed by the sensation of her solar plexus trying to transfer to the Eleventh Division without her. "Yes. Briefly."

Ichigo's eyes glazed, as though he were trying to think back. A moment later he shrugged, giving up. "Well, ok. What do you need?"

Isane took a deep breath. No backing down now!

Why not? Is your dignity really worth getting your head bitten off?

Oh, we are *not* having this conversation again…


10th Division, Captain's Office - 9:30 a.m.

Captain Hitsugaya was having a fantastic day.

His lack of piled-up paperwork over the past few days was allowing him to do all of the things that he actually enjoyed about being one of the highest-ranked members of the Gotei Thirteen. He'd visited his injured squad members at the Fourth Division (all recovering), he'd gone to visit the new recruits and had even led one of their trainings sessions, he'd managed to find time to spar with most of his officers, and catch up on the latest news from around the Seireitei. He'd checked up on Momo – something he'd put off for far too long – and while it wasn't exactly a happy event, he was glad that he'd done it. To top it off, Matsumoto would spend the first few hours of this shift out of his hair and off of his couch – the latest Soul Reaper Women's Association meeting was this morning.

And now, he was sitting in his office, ready for a curious meeting scheduled by Lieutenant Ise – made all the more curious because he'd figured Ise would want to be at that same meeting. He had no idea what she wanted to talk about, but he had the utmost respect for the only officer in the Soul Society who had what he considered a harder job than his own – managing Captain Kyoraku. She's what I would be if Rangiku were *my* captain, instead of the other way around. The mental image alone was enough to give him nightmares. Matsumoto would break me in half an hour.

She was also punctual. At exactly nine-thirty, a knock came at his door. Hitsugaya looked up. "Come in."

Lieutenant Ise took a step inside and bowed briefly in greeting. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Captain Hitsugaya."

"It's no problem. What can I do for you?"

Nanao fiddled with the pen in her hand. "Well, sir, I have a somewhat odd question to ask you, but I'm doing a favor for a friend and wondered if you could help me…"

The Stealth Forces agents of Unit Four crouched at various locations around the Tenth Division's compound. "Is everyone receiving?" Mitsu whispered. She got five quiet acknowledgements. "Maintain position."

This is it. We're finally going to figure this out. It seemed as though their deal with Lieutenant Ise was finally going to pay off. They'd given her the pen, and Ise had followed all of the instructions they'd given her – now her conversation with the captain was being broadcast to every earpiece in the unit.

Nanao took a deep breath. Might as well be direct. "My friend is curious about why you would send a huge block of ice to Captain Soifon."

Hitsugaya sat there for a moment. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Nanao was ready for that. "I'm sure it might have slipped your mind, but a rather large column of ice created by your Zanpakuto was delivered to Captain Soifon's quarters some days ago."

"Did she fill out a request for it?"

Nanao shook her head. "She did not."

The tiny captain gave her a searching look. "Is this really what you came to talk to me about?"

"Please, sir. It means a great deal to my friend."

Hitsugaya sighed, placed his elbows on his desk and rubbed his temples, thinking back. He had a very good memory, one of the blessings and curses of being way ahead of his age in mental development. He sorted through a number of memories before settling on a shortcut – remembering the last time he'd used Hyorinmaru in the Seireitei.

It was the evening I got back from Russia… I was coming back to a big pile of paperwork, but Matsumoto had done a bunch of it. He began to feel a sinking sensation. I left Matsumoto alone with that huge pile of documentation. What did she do with it?

There was an ice request… a rather unusual one, since it had secret confirmation orders to… oh, you have *got* to be kidding me.

Hitsugaya slammed his hands down on the desk, making Nanao jump. "But if the ice went to Soifon…" He shot up out of his chair. "MATSUMOTO!"

Nanao leaned away from him warily. "Sir, I… I don't think she's within shouting distance."

He took a deep breath and let it out. "I know, screaming it like that when she screws up just makes me feel better." He gave her a piercing look. "I need to get to the Women's Association meeting. This is a matter of Seireitei security."

Nanao nodded. Any thoughts of protesting about the meeting's secret location died before making it to her mouth. She turned to leave, but Hitsugaya stopped her. "Hang on, could I borrow that pen? I need to leave some instructions for my Third Seat.

Nanao nodded and handed him the pen. He scratched at the paper, but no ink came out. He frowned. "Empty?" He tossed it aside and dug around in his desk for another one. "I'll get that refilled and get it back to you."

He scribbled out his note, and then Nanao took off, Hitsugaya close behind.


Mitsu thumped her earpiece with one hand while gripping the edge of the rooftop hard enough to crack it with the other. "Yeeeah." She said. "That was *our* pen he decided to leave in his office."

Ryo's voice buzzed in her ear. "That didn't tell us much. Is there a plan F?"

Mitsu thought through her frustration. "Yes. The pen was insurance – we can ask Ise what happened later. In the mean time, go retrieve our pen from his office – I don't want to see his reaction when he tries to get it refilled and discovers what it really is. Once we've got that, everyone stand down."


Karakura Town, Kurosaki Home - 9:36 a.m.

Ichigo sipped at his soda as the Lieutenant started wrapping up her story. Why do all the crazy ones come to me?

Maybe she's attracted to your dark brooding and your grumpy attitude. I hear chicks dig that.

Ichigo froze on hearing his inner hollow's voice. Ever since the Vizards had helped him subdue it, the hollow had gone from "creepy, psychotic, soul-consuming stalker" to something more like "annoying younger brother," but he wasn't fooled – he knew the hollow was just biding his time, waiting for a moment of weakness.

The thought made him smile inwardly. That hollow was going to be waiting a long time.

In the meantime, though, the vulgar little monster took whatever opportunities he could to taunt Ichigo about less important but increasingly awkward things.

I just met her!

So? You've been hanging around with two lovely ladies for months now, and that hasn't made much of a difference. Plus you'll probably never see this one again, so no regrets! Carpe Corpus, and all that.

Is your mind always in the gutter?

No, my mind is always in your inner world. You have no gutters here. Just an endless expanse of FRICKIN' BORING sideways skyscrapers. You should put in a bar or something, I mean, seriously…

You're in a rare mood today. You haven't threatened me once.

Aw, don't be like that. We established just a couple of weeks ago that you'd be the King. I'm just trying to do *my* job!

Ichigo knew he'd regret asking. Which is?

Court Jester!

Oh *hell* no.

Oh come on. Every good king needs a court jester!

Every good king needs people to throw in his imaginary skyscraper dungeon, too.

His hollow sighed. Fine, what about Grand Vizier?

I already know that you're plotting to overthrow me. I'm not going to endorse it.

Dark Prince?

Same problem.

Evening Entertainment?

No. Just… no.

The hollow pouted. Well, I'm not going to be your queen.

Oh my God, just shut up.

To his surprise, the hollow did. That Vizard training really paid off. It was almost worth getting slapped in the face and called a dickhead five hundred times by Hiyori. He could feel the mental presence of the thing subsiding for now. It would be back, of course, but Ichigo was no longer terrified of it, as he had been before Shinji had made his offer.

He focused back on the real world, tuning back in to what Rukia was saying as he took another drink.

"…and then we'll all get back here just in time to set Ichigo up on his date with Yoruichi."

Fizzy drink shot from Ichigo's nose while the two Reaper women laughed. "What?" He managed to get out in between coughing and wiping at his face.

"That's what you get for spacing out on us for so long," Rukia declared, as though punishing an errant child. "How much of that did you actually listen to?"

"The important stuff." Ichigo considered. "There's a crazy Mod-Soul running loose in your Gigai, and it's got most of Captain Soifon's abilities, but not her zanpakuto, right?"

Isane nodded. "That's right. She's too fast to catch, even for most of the captains, and is an extremely proficient fighter. The good news is that we don't have to defeat her – we just have to touch her with Urahara's cane or something like it." Isane looked nervously between Rukia and Ichigo. "Will… will you help?"

"Of course we will." Rukia looked over at Ichigo. He nodded. "Yeah, we'll help you out. Your mission sounds like it could be pretty important – I'm looking into the disappearing humans myself, since about half of them are my classmates."

"There sure are a lot of them. Even the local plusses say that they're getting lonely." Rukia mused. "I didn't think of the virus angle, although kidnapping seems more likely."

Isane leaned back. "I'm starting to think that way too. If it were a virus, my tracers would have picked something up by now."

Ichigo stood up. "So where does that leave us?"

Rukia looked at him, surprised. "Looking for the Mod-Soul, of course. The three of us will plan out a search pattern and a strategy under Lieutenant Kotetsu's direction, and then we'll hit the streets."


Seireitei, Kuchiki Manor - 9:56 a.m.

Captain Hitsugaya was having a terrible day.

He had no idea how Matsumoto had screwed this up so badly – no, check that, he knew exactly how Matsumoto had probably botched this – and now he was wondering how cataclysmic the fallout would really be. His current theory was pretty bleak, and his tactically-oriented mind was working through scenarios in an effort to figure out how to explain this to Captain Unohana and survive.

Good day, Captain. Yes, I'm fine, thank you. Actually, I wanted to ask you something. On a scale from one to ten, how angry would you be if I accidentally sent your Lieutenant into an active covert ops zone? Fifteen? Ok, well, I have some bad news…

He shook his head. On the one hand, Unohana was regarded as the most caring and nurturing Soul Reaper in the Seireitei – on the other hand, her ire was legendary, as was her protectiveness of her subordinates.

As he saw it, it would be best for everyone if he could get Kotetsu back into the Seireitei before he had to report that. It was a selfish decision, he knew, but he really, really didn't want to see why the entire Eleventh Division was terrified of Unohana. Surely I can get her to return before anything bad happens, right?


Kiyone Kotetsu paid close attention, always eager for gossip – this wasn't the usual juicy relationship stuff, but then again, trying to talk about relationships with Captain Soifon was like trying to get blood out of a stone. "And this isn't classified?"

Soifon nodded. "Correct. As a matter of fact, we want this to spread, just to see if any prominent Soul Reapers – officers and the like – change their behavioral patterns."

Kiyone straightened up, worried. "Officers like me?"

The commander of the Stealth Forces eyed her warily. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Ehehe… no sir." Kiyone leaned forward again, curiosity getting the better of her. "So what are you doing with him?"

"Experimental interrogation, of course. We locked him in a small, soundproof room, and we've been playing "It's a small world" over its speakers constantly for days now. I think we're close to cracking him – he's been shouting something about a secret meeting called the "Geneva Convention" all morning."

The door opened to reveal Nanao, and more surprisingly, Hitsugaya. "Captain!" Rangiku called from across the room. "How nice of you to drop by! Are you going to join us?"

The twin glares from the doorway finally got through to her. "Outside. Now." Hitsugaya grated out. Rangiku popped up and followed him.

Everyone else in the room returned to their conversations. Soifon turned back to Kiyone. "If this doesn't work, I have some ideas involving Yachiru, several bottles of Saki, and an extremely large gong. Not to mention the improvised uses for everyday items…"


Seireitei/Severing World/Karakura Town (Altitude 20,000 ft.) - 10:12 a.m.

Rangiku was in a state of shock as she was hustled along by her captain and Lieutenant Ise. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Hitsugaya snapped. "I swear, you've done some boneheaded things before, but honestly, I'm considering disowning you for this one."

"It was an honest mistake!"

"Good, because if it was deliberate, it would technically qualify as treason!"

She hadn't paid much attention to where they were going, but finally realized that they were approaching the third major Senkaimon pathway. Her captain summoned a trio of hell butterflies, and they began taking her through the passage the same way that they'd been moving before.

"How do I know where she'll be?"

"You don't. You'll have to use your head or search for her the hard way. And no slacking this time, Matsumoto! This is a recovery mission, not a shopping trip!"

They reached the 785th exit gate, and watched as it opened into Karakura Town's sky. "So what do you expect me to do if there's a problem bringing her back?"

"FIX IT!" Hitsugaya and Nanao shouted in unison as they threw her through the door. Hitsugaya almost followed her, but the process for getting approval for a trip to the world of the living was much longer for captains than lieutenants unless one of his squad was directly in danger. He could only watch his lieutenant plumment toward the ground - she'd stop screaming and remember that she could fly any minute now - and hope that Matsumoto would get her head out of the clouds and carry out her mission. He turned to Nanao. "As a favor to me, would you mind not mentioning this to anyone until Lieutenant Kotetsu makes it back? I don't want to start a panic."

Nanao nodded. "Yes, sir."

Hitsugaya nodded, satisfied. Then had a sickening realization – he'd have to let Captain Soifon know about this somehow as well. Worse and worse. I don't want to lose Matsumoto, despite what I just told her, but Soifon will probably want her head for interfering with her mission. He emerged back into the Seireitei. I suppose it was too good to last. He was already trying to sort through both ends of the problem. He'd breezed through the Academy and was hailed as a genius. There had to be a solution that would achieve the desired effects of not getting Kotetsu killed, not letting the mission fail, and not letting Unohana find out too soon. He jumped into flash-step, heading back to his office to begin his planning.


Karakura Town, Kuchiki Manor

Kiyone was a little green. "I… had no idea that rice cakes could be used like that. If you'll excuse me… I need to run to the restroom." She dashed out of the room with one hand to her mouth.

Soifon looked up as a much-more-composed looking Nanao Ise walked in. She didn't know what that had been about, but Rangiku's latest antics almost certainly didn't concern her, so she pushed it from her mind and sat down at the meeting table.


Chapter End

Well, that was fun to write, if a little disjointed. A bunch of stuff happens on this day of the story, and this is the first time we get Ichigo's POV. In fact, this chapter kind of drifted away from Isane and Unohana, but we'll be back to them very soon.

As always, your comments, criticisms, questions, and observations are appreciated. Please review!