Alright everybody. I know it's been a little while since I updated, but hope you like the next chapter.

Chapter 14-Obsession

Jin found himself spending more and more time in the archives, searching for an answer to Atsuya's plans. The Yami was not a censored subject, as he had expected, though it was highly difficult to access. One not only had to be of captain rank to see it, but they needed direct permission from Captain Yamamoto and Central 46. Jin looked through the archives for some sort of loophole, anything to avoid detection, but it seemed that the security was airtight. No one was going to find the information without telling somebody that they were searching for it...

Except maybe Captain Kurotsuchi. Jin knew that the strange, painted-faced Soul Reaper always kept secret knowledge hidden away in his labs, but asking him to see it was out of the question. Kurotsuchi would more than likely turn him away and keep a close watch on him afterwards. Jin would hate to think that the creepiest Soul Reaper in history was stalking him.

But harder to avoid that Kurotsuchi would've been Sajin, who seemed to have taken to him even better than Jin had expected. Several times over the next few weeks, Komamura would stop by the Ninth's barracks, inviting Jin to enjoy a leisurely walk through the Seireitei or the outlying hills of the Rukongai. Occasionally, when Jin would refuse, Komamura's sad face would convince him to take the offer, but as Jin became more and more obsessed with finding the Yami, he found himself refusing more often, sometimes even refusing to see Sajin completely. To top it off, Koji would stop by just as often, interested in assisting Jin in his work. Turning down the two of them was difficult, but Jin had to.

He needed to find the Yami.

Lieutenant Hisagi wasn't the first to notice his captain's strange behavior, but he was the first to comment on it.

"Sir, you seem a bit restless of late," Shuhei noted as he entered his captain's office.

Jin, who had been looking through old notes, looked up. He quickly set the notes aside, hiding them in a drawer of his desk. "Sorry, Shuhei. I've been really stressed recently."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

Jin found Shuhei's concern annoying, yet pleasant. Perhaps it had something to do with Kaname Tosen's defection. "It's nothing, friend. Just a bit of fatigue. Why don't you... bring me some tea? That would help tremendously."

Shuhei hesitated, but walked out to follow orders. Jin returned to the notes, written before he had even been a Soul Reaper by one Kisuke Urahara. He had copied them in his own handwriting from the archive, but incinerate the papers with a weak Kido when he decided that they were ultimately useless. They seemed to only indicate that the Yami existed, not what it was or where to find it.

The door opened again and Jin used another Kido to push the ashes off his desk before somebody entered. It wasn't Shuhei.

"Captain Narukami," Koji chimed as he entered. "How're you? Haven't seen you in a little while."

Jin's eyebrow cocked slightly. "What're you doing here, Koji? Doesn't the Seventh have a special training day?"

Koji rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, Father sent me to find you. He was wondering if the Ninth could do joint training with the Seventh."

"That's awful short notice," Jin stated. "I can't, I'm busy. I need to speak with Captain Yamamoto soon." He was running out of options; speaking with Yamamoto starting to look like the only solution.

"About what?"

"It's nothing."

"I know what you're looking for," rumbled a voice and the door flew open as Shuhei led Captain Komamura inside. "May I speak with you alone, Jin?"

Jin hesitated before nodding. "Shuhei, you're dismissed."

"Koji, returned to the barracks and wait for me to return," Komamura ordered.

The subordinates paused only briefly before leaving the room.

"I know you're searching for the Yami," Komamura continued, eyes focused intently on Jin. "That's why you've been acting so peculiar recently, isn't it?"

"I don't know what-"

"You don't have to lie, Jin," Komamura interrupted and Jin noted the hurt tone in his voice. "I know you're looking for it, and I understand that you're starting to become obsessed with it."

Jin scoffed. "How'd you find out?"

"You can't access the archives so many times and not be noticed. Jin, why are you searching for it?"

"You know what it is, don't you?"

This time, Komamura was hesitant. He sighed. "I know it's object of pure evil, worse than Hollows, Arrancar, and I would even wager that, in the wrong person's hands, it could be worse than Sosuke Aizen. It's power dwarfs the Hogyoku's, but nobody truly understands what it is or where that power comes from. You shouldn't want it."

"I don't."

"Then why are you looking for it?"

"Sajin, do you trust me?"

The question rang strangely in the air. "I want to, but you're hiding something. And as a Soul Reaper, I can't just let a threat to the Seireitei go unnoticed."

"It's not about me, but someone's looking for it and I want to stop them. Believe me, I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Somebody once told me something so similar to that, not long before they betrayed me," Komamura said.

"Sajin... I don't want to hurt anyone, and I'm not going to fight you."

"Then stop fighting."

"I'm not!"

"You are! You're fighting me now," Komamura insisted. "Just tell me why you're looking for it..."

Jin breathed deeply, eyes focused on Komamura before he finally looked away. "It's about my brother... Atsuya..."

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