Chapter 14: Midnight

Standing outside the assembly hall of Division 1, I realised that Kenpachi was looking at me with a slightly worried look on his face. I had come to a complete standstill and was staring at the doors; a memory had suddenly flashed in front of me of the day I was sentenced to imprisonment.

"This…this is…" I stammered but a sharp pain awoke me as Zaraki grabbed my arm and stared into my eyes.

"Get a hold of yourself, we'll be late soon. Remember, not a word of yourself to anybody and be polite." He whispered quickly as the giant doors opened, granting us access. Captain of 8th Division Shunsui Kyôraku and Assistant Captain Nanao Ise stood next to Zaraki and walked in first; Kenpachi followed and I came in last as the doors shut loudly. All Assistant Captain's stood next to their Captain's and anybody else who came along was to kneel at the side in an orderly group. I walked over to join the group kneeling and I saw most of the Captains staring at me. I began to feel slightly nervous as I knew nobody here and most were staring at my rather brash bright blue hair. Most of the other Soul Reapers I was waiting with had rather subtle colours apart from one boy, whose hair was a brilliant shade of green. He caught my eye and I blushed and looked away.

The doors once again opened and in walked the Captain-General (his Assistant Captain was already in line); Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the Captain of 1st Division…and my father. Many of the Soul Reapers I was with weren't strong enough to withstand it and a few had to support themselves on the floor. I was fine of course – our spiritual pressures were more or less the same, however this worried me as this is one way I could be found out that I'm his daughter and also I unintentionally seem to make people more scared of me than they should be. I glanced back at the boy with green hair and saw that he was forcing himself to withstand it and his yellow/green reflected his determination. I felt drawn in to him for some reason but I quickly looked forwards as Captain-General Yamamoto sat down and began.

"Welcome to Division 1." He started and his voice sent shivers down everyone's spines. "This meeting has been called to discuss the serious matters regarding the incidents that have been happening in the past few days and the activities in the past year." As he carried on, I wondered what had been happening that was so serious in the past year as I was in prison. "We'll begin with Assistant Captain of Squad 1 to give us the eyewitness accounts." Assistant Captain Sasakibe stepped forward and read out several names from a list. The people whose names had been called stood up and stepped forward to speak.

Two hours later, we were still in the meeting. All the people who had spoken and given their accounts had gone except the Captains and Assistant Captains. The boy with the green hair had also gone since he was in 6th Division. At last, Division 11's witnesses were called up…and it was just me and Zaraki. My palms became clammy and my legs shook as I stared at my father properly in 36 years. There was no way I was going to make a fool of myself I decided; I'm in the running for the position of Assistant Captain of Division 6. I showed no emotion on my face and listened to everybody.

"State your name." my father commanded.

"Zooi Y…" I stopped myself as his eyes flashed at me. "…Zooi Tamyaomo, sir."

"What were you doing when you met one of the intruders?"

"I was with Zaraki, fighting off the Hollows that had managed to sneak into that area, sir." The two men that were sitting at tables were scribbling vigorously at every word we said.

"What happened when the intruder turned up?" he asked, and as I retold the story (not missing a single detail) I could see some of the Captains looking at me suspiciously.

Once finished, the Captain-General stared at me.

"And, you found out what their group is called, didn't you?"

"Yes sir, she told me they were called the…" he cut me off before I had a chance to finish.

"…The Vamps Clan. They're one of the oldest 'religious' spiritual clans in existence. Thank you, that will be all…oh, hold on. What was the name of the girl you saw?"

"Miyako. Miyako of the Hayashida Family…um, I saw another one, when she was taken away. I only saw him for a brief moment though."

"Thank you, that will be all." I bowed and turned to leave as Zaraki whispered in my ear.

"Go back to your room, I should be with you soon." I nodded and left, stepping out into the cold night. The moon was high in sky and as I gazed at it, I could sense something moving in the shadows to the right of me. I ignored it and bounded onto the rooftops and leapt away.

I arrived back at my room quickly and sat on the veranda looking out at the night sky. After meeting my father like that and seeing the majority of the other Captains whispering about me, I felt physically sick of myself. What had I done that had offended them so badly? Most of them don't even know me, and I don't even know them! Jeez, I can't even remember what I was put in prison for anymore. It's as if I never did anything wrong.

I awoke an hour later, still on the veranda as the sky grew lighter; it was soon to be dawn. I stood up and stretched as I wondered where Zaraki and Yachiru were. Were they not back from the meeting yet? Just as I walked into the kitchen, Zaraki turned up with Yachiru on his shoulder and they both sat down looking rather tired and grave. Yachiru fell asleep immediately while Zaraki stared out of the door.

"Zaraki? Is anything okay?" I asked, worried.

"Hm? Yeah, everything's…fine."

"Sooo, how'd the meeting go?"

"I'll talk to you about it later. You've got training to go to with Miss Unohana in a different place since you knew collapsed the last place and is too dangerous to use now. Meet her outside Division 4 headquarters." Zaraki stood up and went to his room. I heard a lot of crashing and shouts but didn't go in; he was clearly upset about something and I thought it would be wrong to disturb him. I looked at Yachiru who was already fast asleep and snoring gently and picked her up and carried her to her room. She really was a little child, it was so funny! I picked up Taura and left quickly, bounding over the buildings as I went.

Kenpachi Zaraki

Dammit! Why did this have to happen now, why?! These new 'visitors', the Vamps seem to be a right pain in the bum. What's worse, is that they clearly have something to do with Zooi. Jeez, that girl is like a magnet for trouble…no, that's wrong, I shouldn't say that. She needs to be helped along, and kept safe. In some ways she reminds me of me and Yachiru – we're outcasts and not particularly liked by everyone. I hope Zooi gets the Assistant Captain position – although why it had to be for that aristocratic snob, I'll never know. I'd much rather she was in my own Company, but her power's at least that of an Assistant Captain and I can't demote Yachiru. I so badly want to fight her and I want to see become powerful, it's not fair. I kicked the table that had my zanpaku-tō on and it cracked. Dammit, dammit, dammit! I needed to get away before I broke something else; I leapt out of the window and ran to a secluded spot in the forest…the same clearing to be precise where Zooi encountered the Vamp….this was also the clearing where Zooi's mother died and I thought it was definitely time to pay my respects.