Hi everyone!
Here's Chapter 14.
Ok, so that actually took eight days to get out, which the mathematically-inclined among you will note is not between three and five inclusive. However, the reason for the delay is a huge expansion to the chapter, because I technically had 90% of the intended chapter done four days ago, but then the remaining 10% turned into the second half of the chapter. The result is a nearly double-length installment. Enjoy! And maybe I'll have the next one out faster, although I'm done making promises. :P
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 14 – Looking for answers in all the wrong places
There are many times when a person's willpower can falter, and they will come to give up on a task. This is why keeping up morale is a big deal for armies and governments alike. An unhappy person or population will usually do whatever they think will help their situation, although duty and loyalty can make up for a lot.
And when a person suspects that their task is wrong or insignificant? That's the biggest morale breaker of all.
Karakura Town, Downtown - 1:44 p.m.
Ichigo emerged from flash-step on the roof of one of Karakura Town's tallest buildings. He looked out across the city, his hand shielding his eyes from the sun.
Rukia popped out of flash beside him. "Still searching for spiritual pressure with your eyeballs, huh?"
"Can it, midget." Ichigo growled. "Maybe I just wanted to enjoy the view." Nonetheless, he took his hand down.
"Maybe, but we need to stick to Lieutenant Kotetsu's plan."
"And why does she get to make the plans? Why is she in charge of the search?"
Rukia gave him an odd look. "Because she's a Lieutenant." Her tone of voice managed to convey the silent 'duh.'
Ichigo scratched his head. "Yeah, but aren't you royalty or something?"
Rukia waved her hand. "I am, but that only counts at parties – and maybe on my brother's real estate. For Soul Reaper business, I'm like an ant compared to her authority – as an unseated member of another squad, only Captain Ukitake's say-so would allow me to defy a lawful order from her, although if we had a lieutenant, he or she could also countermand her instructions to me. And you're a substitute, which is even lower on the rank ladder."
Maybe you should tell them that you're the King! The King of Substitutes!
Shut it.
Out loud, Ichigo pondered what she'd said – he'd already guessed most of it, though. The Soul Society had a fairly strict and simple chain of command. "Huh. Does that go for Renji, too?"
"Kind of, except that he's already used to following our lead, so he doesn't pull rank like he should."
"Funny that you've never gotten on to him about that." Ichigo raises his eyebrows.
"What's your point?" Rukia snapped, more challenge than actual ire in her voice. These arguments were too much fun to ruin by getting truly angry.
"Nothing." He smirked. "But you've never been big on rank and protocol. Heck, you tried to give me orders when you were a prisoner."
"I was trying to save your life. My brother was about to end you, and you were standing there with a hole in your gut and no clue what a Bankai was while telling me that you had it all under control!"
"I did have it under control!"
Rukia's eyebrow started twitching again. "Right… so my memory of Yoruichi leaping in to rescue you was a hallucination brought on by proximity to your sheer manliness… Good grief, you can be conceited, you know that?"
"It's weird that the conversation has moved from you being bossy to me being conceited. It would bother me a lot more, but all your opinions are still rejected." He turned away in mock haughtiness.
Rukia gaped for a moment. "Why you…"
Isane emerged from flash in front of them. "Did you find anything yet?"
Ichigo and Rukia gave a guilty start. "Uh, no, not yet. We're still looking." Isane nodded and disappeared again.
The short Soul Reaper and the substitute looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Ok, seriously, we need to get to work." Ichigo said.
Rukia nodded. "I've been searching while we were arguing. There's no trace here."
Ichigo grimaced. "This is going to be a long day."
Isane's plan was more or less a brute-force approach to finding a Soul Reaper in a large area – spiral out from a particular point and search for spiritual pressure. Normally, this would have a low chance of success, but Isane's group had an edge – they were looking for a Gigai that Isane had spent days in herself, and as such could use Isane's spiritual pressure for comparison and aid, sort of like a bloodhound finding a missing person after sniffing their socks. The three of them had also split into two groups – Isane was one and Ichigo and Rukia formed the other, since Ichigo still didn't have very good control over the finer points of sensing spiritual energy unless he was himself in a crisis situation. As a result, if Isane found the Mod-Soul first, she would contact the others via Kido message, and if not, then Ichigo could make a dash for Isane's position to retrieve her while Rukia stuck with Mod-Isane.
This elevated their odds of success from poor to somewhere around mediocre. Unfortunately, without knowing anything else about the Mod-Soul's plans, motives, and moods, it was the best plan they had.
The pair jumped back into flash step to their next checkpoint, emerging a few blocks away.
"You know, if I'd hit Byakuya hard enough and fast enough, I could have taken him on that bridge."
"Sure. Keep telling yourself that." Rukia mimicked her brother's deadpan expression. "Scatter, Senbonzakura." She pantomimed a large cloud condensing around a helpless target. "Bam! Diced Strawberry…"
Karakura Town, Downtown - 2:09 p.m.
Isane emerged at her next checkpoint, fairly close to where she and Renji had fought the Arrancar. She came to a stop and focused, searching for her own spiritual energy at an outside source.
Before she found it, though, she noticed something else. Hollow!
She dashed toward where she'd felt it, through a series of turns and out onto another street. She didn't have much trouble finding it. The giant, crablike thing was descending down the side of a building towards a plus: a little boy running for his life, figuratively speaking. Isane considered her options and settled on opening up with Kido and then closing in to begin fighting in earnest.
She set her stance. "Hado Fifty-Four! Haien!" A blast of violet energy shot from her hand as she made a swiping motion. She began her charge, trying to anticipate which way the Hollow would dodge.
She was ready for it to jump left, right, back, forward, or up. She was even prepared for it to burrow or somehow shield itself. What she hadn't anticipated was that it would take the blast full in the face, roll on the ground, and die.
She watched as the creature disintegrated – although since that was also the effect of the spell it was hard to tell whether it was vaporized by its own death throes or the Kido. She blinked at the spot the Hollow had occupied moments before, and it occurred to her that she might have a skewed perception of how tough run-of-the-mill Hollows were, since her fighting experience over the last few decades had been, in order, Ichigo Kurosaki, Renji's Bankai, Zarraga's ambush, Bastida, and a semi-copy of Soifon. She'd forgotten that there were creatures that just couldn't take a fifties-level Hado and survive – namely, most creatures.
With her senses on high alert, she was also able to detect the other Hollow – the one trying to sneak up on her. She whirled to face it…
…and bolted for cover as a hail of bluish-white arrows shot by, originating from a curious web-like structure of spiritual energy, which was itself held by a well-dressed young man with dark hair and glasses. The Hollow never had a chance.
She finished her roll behind a nearby car and crouched there. "Watch where you aim that thing!" She shouted angrily.
"I assure you that I'm watching very closely, Soul Reaper!" The young man shot back – again, figuratively. "I have it on good authority that you're an enemy of mine, and on the honor of the Quincy, it is my task to disrupt and disturb whatever it is that you're trying to do."
You have got to be kidding me. "Whose authority?"
"That is none of your business."
"It's my business if the Quincy are declaring war on the Soul Society! I remember you now, Ishida. What exactly do you think you're doing?"
"I just finished explaining that to you. Don't make me repeat myself."
Isane sighed. At least he seemed content to talk… for now. "Fine, then let me ask why you're antagonizing a Lieutenant from the Gotei Thirteen. It's generally not good for life expectancy. As a doctor, I urge you to reconsider your exercise regimen." Her tone crept toward the sarcastic at the end of that statement, but she didn't care – she was running on three hours of sleep and a giant pill, she hadn't fully recovered from her earlier injuries, and she'd just been fired on by someone who was theoretically a friendly – or at least a noncombatant. She figured the universe would forgive her if she stopped being polite for a moment.
Uryu paused. "Is it so hard to believe that I just want your war out of my town? If you would return to the Soul Society then there wouldn't be a need for all of this."
Isane frowned. "Lieutenants don't come to Karakura Town just to go shopping. Well, Rangiku does, but no one else. I'm on a mission, and I can't give up and go home just because you have a problem with it. I'd be surprised if you even know what my mission is." Especially since I still don't!
"What if you knew that the mission would be completed anyway?" Uryu answered quickly. "Would you back down then?"
"What would… Did the Mod-Soul put you up to this?" Isane slapped a hand to her face.
"She made some excellent points."
"She's crazy!"
"She's better equipped to deal with this than you are."
"My orders, Ishida, are to take down four targets, trash their work, and leave. Her orders are to help me with that. If she had been straight with me from the start, we probably could have finished the mission by now, but instead she decided to attack me and hijack my Gigai. She says that she's taken over my task, but for all I know she's halfway to Hueco Mundo right now to challenge Tousen to a staring contest!"
"She didn't seem all that unbalanced to me."
Isane's temper frayed further, but she clamped down on it – unlike with the Arrancar, there was still a chance to resolve this without violence. "That would be a matter of perception, right? I mean, she didn't attack you and steal your body, so I suppose she might have come across as merely a jerk rather than nuts." Isane stayed calm. "I assure you that she's acting far outside of her authority."
"That would assume that what you've just told me is true. If she's so much better than you that you would be holding her back, then that would make you the crazy one, wouldn't it?"
"Now you're just being silly. I'm not crazy and I'm not going home, so the question is, are you trying to get in my way because you actually believe in what a defective spiritual android told you, or are you just being a pain because you don't like Soul Reapers?" She began to edge out from around the car, but the impact of a warning shot on the ground nearby stopped her.
"I don't like Soul Reapers, but there's more to it than that. Last night, someone broke into my father's hospital."
Isane blinked at the change in topic. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"The only thing stolen was a large crate of tranquilizers, anesthetics, and the like. Couple that with the recent kidnappings and I figured there might be a connection."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because whoever robbed the place did so in under three minutes, and would have to have at least some medical expertise. I saw the Fourth Division emblem on your arm. That would be the medical division, correct?"
"Are you even listening to yourself? If I need to tranquilize someone, I have Kido for that. All other medical supplies are carried in my backpack. I have no need to rob a mortal hospital – and on top of that, 'late last night' I was up to my elbows in Lieutenant Abarai, who was injured fighting Arrancar while your precious 'better equipped' Mod-Soul did nothing to help! Are you sure you're on the right side here, Quincy?"
Uryu frowned – he was running out of the arguments, complaints, and duplicities that he was using to stall for time. He'd worked out the previous night that the Mod-Soul was either unstable or extremely narrow-minded, of course, and now he had proof that she wasn't telling the truth, either.
The problems all came from his end. He could understand Lieutenant Kotetsu's frustration, since she had no idea why he was being so obdurate (and, he supposed, stupid from her point of view) on this matter. He was stuck between his vow to avoid association with Soul Reapers and the only remaining question – insane or not, was the Mod-Soul the better contender for finishing the mission quickly? If so, the situation was much easier. All he would have to do was stall Kotetsu until the Mod-Soul finished its task, and the Soul Society didn't really have the time or manpower available to hunt him down for interfering – especially if it actually hastened the mission's completion!
On the other hand, if Kotetsu was the better operative, then things became much more complicated. He would have to find a way around his oath, track down the Mod-Soul, get the Mod-Soul out of the Gigai and out of action, and then get back to square one on the kidnappings – and all of this would preferably go on without Ryuken finding out about any of it.
Even worse, there was really only one way to find out if Kotetsu was better than her doppelganger…
Isane felt the gathering spiritual pressure behind her, and got ready to dash for the next bit of available cover, but before the attack came, she felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure bearing down on her location – it was approximately as subtle as a train crashing into a warehouse full of gongs.
Ishida apparently sensed it too. "Kurosaki! I'm not ready to talk to him… it seems we'll have to continue this conversation some other time."
Isane rolled out from behind the car. "Oh no you don't! Hainawa!" She managed to get the low level binding off with what was considered blinding speed for Kido, but unfortunately was too slow compared to Hirenkyaku. The fifteen year old Quincy zipped away with a swishing noise, leaving Isane to deal with the aftermath of Mod-Isane's work again.
Well, at least I'm not bleeding this time.
Ichigo and Rukia emerged from flash-step behind her. "What was that?" Ichigo asked.
"Your Quincy friend and I had a little chat. Apparently he thinks that he needs to support the Mod-Soul."
Ichigo frowned. "With what? He doesn't have his Quincy powers anymore. He had to give them up after his fight with Mayuri – at least, that's what he told me."
"Well, he had a bow and could move with flash-step, and he could shoot really, really fast. I'm guessing he got them back somehow."
Rukia walked over to examine the small divots in the concrete left by Uryu's arrows. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would he attack a Soul Reaper lieutenant? Especially one who wasn't bothering him…"
"Because he's convinced that the Mod-Soul would finish the mission quicker, and then everyone will go home." Isane grimaced. And I was kind of tempted to take him up on it.
"What if he's right?" Ichigo asked.
"Ichigo!"
He shook off Rukia's objection. "No, really! From what I've heard, this Mod-Soul is a complete badass. Why not let her finish the job?"
Isane sighed. "Because I have orders, Kurosaki - orders that say that I'm supposed to go and take care of four targets and stop what they're up to. If letting the Mod-Soul do it for me was an option, then they wouldn't have sent me in the first place."
"Unless it was some kind of mistake."
Isane nodded. "It could be a mistake, yes. It's rare, but they do happen. However, that's the sort of thing that gets sorted out after the task succeeds or fails. As it stands now, I don't get to unilaterally decide that Head Captain Yamamoto is wrong and start second-guessing what I'm supposed to do. That leads to anarchy."
"So even if you were never supposed to be here in the first place, you're going to finish your mission or die trying?"
"That's right."
Isane prepared for some sort of objection, but Ichigo surprised her. "I see. I guess we go back to searching, then."
"Ah… right! Although it will be harder now that I've used Kido around this area. We may want to pick a new focal point for our search."
The three of them dashed off to start over, eyes open for any more surprises…
8th Division, Vice-Captain's Office - 3:03 p.m.
Mitsu walked into Nanao's office and sat down. "Ah!" Nanao exclaimed. "I'd almost forgotten. How did whatever it was you were doing go?"
"Not so good. You may have noticed that Captain Hitsugaya threw away the pen we were using, so we have to ask you directly what this is about."
Nanao froze. "I… can't tell you."
Mitsu blinked, disbelief evident on her face. "I find that really hard to believe."
"Well, it's true. I'm sorry, but Captain Hitsugaya gave me a direct order not to talk about it, at least in the short term. It was the last thing he said to me in the severing world."
Mitsu shot up. "That's ridiculous! How top-secret can a freaking chunk of ice be?"
"It's not the ice, exactly, but the other end of the situation." Nanao looked up. "I'm sorry. I'm not going to ask you to help with our paperwork, since this didn't work out, but…"
Mitsu was already gone.
Outside, she met up with Unit Four. "Hitsugaya is more clever than we thought. He's got Lieutenant Ise in on it too."
"No way!"
"Yes. We'll have to start over at his end." Mitsu punched the wall. "Dammit. We were so close too…"
Severing World/Antioch (Seljuq Empire/Turkey) - 1098 A.D.
Retsu Unohana tried to remain calm. It wasn't easy – the severing world could be a noisy place, especially with a cleaner attempting to run her down.
Barely ahead of her, Kyoraku shouted out. "Hey! That's our exit – we're almost there!"
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, goody. How are you holding up, Jushiro?" Hacking and coughing answered her, but at least he was still running.
The three of them burst out into the dry, hot air and screeched to a halt, all of them a little short of breath – except for Ukitake, who was gasping and sputtering while wiping blood from his chin.
"Is it… just me, or… are those things… getting faster?" Ukitake choked out.
"Hate… this… job…" Unohana grated out.
Kyoraku straightened. "They why did you join?"
She considered how much she was willing to tell him. "Yamamoto was… persuasive."
Ukitake finally recovered enough for normal speech. "Well, give it a chance. You'll get used to it eventually – and we'll be best buds in no time!"
Unohana smirked nastily. "We haven't become 'best buds' in the last hundred years. What if I don't want to be friends with the Soul Society's official manzai comedy duo?"
Kyoraku and Ukitake looked at each other. "She's got us there." Kyoraku nodded.
Ukitake smacked him upside the head, knocking his hat off. "No she doesn't!"
Unohana frowned. "Are you two making fun of me?"
"Yes!" Kyoraku chimed.
"No." Ukitake corrected. They looked at each other. "Maybe." Ukitake added, before they both cracked up.
"Are you three done?" A new voice called down to them from a nearby rooftop – it was Tsunio Izumi, the man Yamamoto had recruited to lead the Eleventh and latest Division of the court guard squads, the man known as the Kenpachi. "We've got a bit of a situation."
"You don't say?" Unohana quipped.
"Yeah, precious, the siege ends tomorrow, or so I hear. There'll be a big battle, and then maybe a good old-fashioned slaughter of everyone on the losing side. That's bound to attract a ton of Hollows, so get it together!"
Kyoraku waved airily. "Relax! Four captains and half of your squad should be plenty."
"Overkill, more like." Unohana grumbled.
"'Captain' is just a fancy title. I haven't seen you fight yet, so I'm not making any assumptions about your abilities."
Ukitake grinned. "He hasn't seen us fight, he says."
Kyoraku grinned back. "Should be a shock, then."
The Kenpachi narrowed his eyes. "I'd heard that you were Yamamoto's star kids, and I really hope that that wasn't all hype." He paused for a moment. "Speaking of talk, you should have updates from the old man ready for me. Anything new that I should know? What about the chick in the back? Am I gonna have to babysit her?"
Unohana's head snapped up and she glared at him. "I can take care of myself, thank you very much."
"Heck, she can 'take care' of an army! She's one of the best, Izumi." Kyoraku added.
"Right… Please tell me that your zanpakuto isn't actually a nodachi. That's way too much sword for a woman your size."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You know that's an anti-cavalry weapon, right?"
Unohana already had moved into a stance where she could draw it. "It's an anti-everything weapon when I wield it, Izumi." Ukitake and Kyoraku had already noticed her rising tension and had backed away to a safe distance.
"Big words, doc."
"Speak for yourself, Kenpachi. I'm beginning to think that you're a bit insecure about your own combat abilities. Maybe you're not the warrior you want us to believe."
His eyes widened and, without even making a conscious decision, his zanpakuto was already in hand. "What was that?"
"You heard me! I think you're nothing but talk! Come on, mighty manly-man! Show the silly woman with the inappropriate sword who's boss, if you can!" He didn't need further provocation. With a roar, Izumi leaped down at her.
From the other side of the street (length-wise), Kyoraku turned to his friend. "I'll bet three bottles of sake on the silly woman with the inappropriate sword."
"What kind of bet is that?" Ukitake shook his head. "I'll bet that same amount that she takes him down in under five minutes."
"Humm… Izumi is a badass… yeah, you're on."
Karakura Town, Downtown - 12:04 a.m.
Isane, Rukia, and Ichigo convened at Mikito's Sunglasses Crater. "Did either of you sense anything?"
"I'm afraid not." Rukia stated apologetically.
"I've got nothing." Ichigo added. Rukia looked at him oddly. "What? I tried!"
Isane sighed. "Well, I guess we'll give it another go tomorrow. At this rate, though, we probably won't find her until she makes her own move."
"Yeah," Ichigo said, yawning. "Well, I'm going to bed. I guess I'll see you tomorrow – go ahead and use the doorbell, though – the window repair guys are starting to give us weird looks whenever they come by."
Isane started to object. "I tried to – " Ichigo had already flash-stepped, though.
Rukia frowned. "Go ahead and jump through the window, Lieutenant. Serves him right for bolting out mid-sentence like that."
"But – " Isane tried again, but Rukia had already flash-stepped away.
Isane sat down on the curb, not particularly ready to go back to her foodless apartment and whatever her messed-up subconscious had picked for her to dream about that night.
She leaned back against a street light and closed her eyes. It's all wrong. She thought. A few months ago everything was fine. Business as usual – there were meetings to attend, paperwork to do, and Aizen was just a nice guy with glasses who was in command of the Fifth Division. I healed people – day in and day out. Everyone else would whine about the monotony, but I was *happy.* I was good at my job – and I still am! She opened her eyes. But now I'm here, and my mission is at a complete standstill thanks to Mr. – freaking – Urahara forgetting to set my Gikon to "Not Psycho."
She thought about Ishida's offer. Would it be wrong? Would it be so horrible to just sit back and let the Mod-Soul finish the job? She'd argued passionately against it in front of Kurosaki, but she wondered if she actually believed her own arguments or if she just reflexively decided to support her superiors in the face of doubts from a subordinate – or ally. Strict adherence to the law. Obeying orders despite what it might cost me or those I care about – what did that get me before? A punch to the gut and a ride on Minazuki, that's all.
"Would disobeying orders have been better for you? From what I remember, your sister hesitated in the confusion and Soifon nearly killed her."
Isane looked up at the materialized form of her zanpakuto. "Itegumo!"
"Oh, so you do remember me." He sat down right in the street facing her. "I was wondering if you were ever going to talk to me again."
"I've been busy." It was a lame excuse, and Isane knew it.
"Too right you have. That's the best time to come talk. Besides, the weather is so nasty in your inner world right now. Even though the screeching stopped, everything is overcast, and nasty wet snow is piling up all over the place – that's why I showed up out here. So what's bothering you?"
"You have to ask?"
The youthful-looking spirit tilted his head to one side and smiled mischievously. "No, but it seemed like a good conversation-starter."
Isane sighed. "Well, you know my thoughts on the division lately. And on the mission."
"Right."
"So you know how bad it's going."
The smile faded. "Um… bad? Maybe I don't know your thoughts on what's going on."
"How could you possibly think things are going well right now?"
"You're halfway done, aren't you?"
"In theory. But I once again have no idea what to do from here. I lucked out finding the first two Arrancar – if you can call that luck. Now I also have to deal with Ishida and my own Gikon turning against me. I might even be worse off than when I started."
"Well, maybe. But on the other hand, you've picked up some pretty powerful help. I bet Kurosaki can bring down the Mod-Soul. It's not like she can stay hidden forever. And once she's taken care of, the Quincy won't have any reason to mess with you anymore."
"Which just leaves me and two presumably more powerful Arrancar. And their 'work,' whatever that is."
"Why more powerful? Maybe the remaining two are just the brains of the outfit."
"That's a nice thought, but I doubt it. Zarraga and Bastida had a Gamma and Delta tattoo on them. Now, I don't have the entire Greek alphabet memorized, but I know that Alpha and Beta come before Gamma and Delta. Since the highest Arrancar presumably get more powerful as the numbers decrease, I'm guessing that these new Arrancar work the same way."
"Even so, Kurosaki is more powerful than Renji, right? Plus you've got Rukia with him, and you know the rumors about her…"
"That she's actually seated officer or lieutenant level in skill, and that her brother is blocking her promotion? Yes, I've heard that. I don't know if there's any truth to it, though – the only thing confirmed was that she achieved Shikai."
"My point is that you have more firepower this time. You'll do fine."
"And what happens if I get them hurt, like Renji?"
"Then you'll heal them. It's what you do, Isane."
Isane smiled. "Well, I guess you have confidence for the both of us."
The spirit finally grinned again. "That I do, but that's not the only thing on your mind."
She looked away. "I don't really want to talk about that right now."
"Yes you do."
"Yes, I do." Isane sighed. I have got to work on my poker face. "You heard me fly off at Rukia."
Itegumo laughed. "Indeed! It was most amusing. Could you do your Kurotsuchi impression again?"
"Not unless I somehow end up severely intoxicated."
"Ah, too bad. What was it you were going to say about your speech?"
"Well, the truth of it is that it isn't the little problems that the other divisions bring to us that's causing the big problem. It's the nature of our job itself, and it's being thrown in our faces by the behavior of the other squads."
Itegumo fell silent for a moment. "I don't follow."
Isane shook her head. "I'm not explaining it very well. I read a journal about a bit of human medical research not too long ago that stated that there were three things that needed to be true for someone to enjoy their job. First, they had to like the work itself – that's in place for the Fourth Division already, since everyone there is there because they gravitate towards medical or logistical tasks."
Isane frowned. "But the person also has to see a tangible result to their work. That's a bit harder to pull off, due to the nature of the work – sure, we can heal someone, and see them healed, but we also lose patients and we know that even our most successful cases are going right back into combat. That dulls the glow of achievement somewhat, if you catch my meaning. Even so, we still get a feeling of satisfaction over a successful surgery or whenever a patient leaves in perfect health – at least, I do."
"And the third thing?"
"The third thing is that the person has to have some kind of reward for when they do their work exceptionally well. Normally in the Gotei Thirteen, that's promotion, or maybe a raise. But conditions have been stagnant in the Fourth Division for decades. This is the point that's being aggravated by the other Divisions – we don't get much praise for our work, and what praise we do get is only for truly miraculous and highly conditional feats of recovery, usually pulled off by the captain. So when the Fourth Divison performs really well, the only thing we hear about it is how we should have done it differently or better, if we hear about it at all. This comes in between being told how weak we are."
"Ah. Bad conditioning."
"Right. The thing is, knowing all of that doesn't seem to make it any easier."
"I can imagine."
"I suppose so. You must think I'm pretty childish complaining about something like this."
"Not at all. You're not asking for a party every time someone mops a floor – you'd just like a thank-you now and again for your effort. Everyone else gets recognized, why not your group?"
"Right. But I don't see any way out. We have to supply everyone and act as the medical team regardless of our opinions toward the other divisions." She gave a half laugh. "It's amusing, really – one time we had to care for a whole patrol group that had been injured in a drunken brawl – all of them boozed up on alcohol we'd sent to them the day before. I wanted to cut off their whole division from supplies, but I was told that we have to keep them fed at all times – not even a little shortage is permitted."
"Does it say that you have to supply them with everything at all times, or just keep them fed?"
"I'd have to double check, but I believe the wording was something like 'must keep each division supplied well enough to maintain a balanced diet and professional appearance until the next supply date.' Why do you bring that…" Isane's eyes widened. "No… that would never work…" Her mouth twitched. She thought she saw where this was going, but it was impossible. Or is it?
"Don't be so sure. Think about it." Itegumo flickered unsettlingly. "Uh oh. I don't think I can stay manifested like this much longer."
"Don't strain yourself. I feel much better now. Maybe next time I'll have some good news."
The spirit continued to fade. "Don't let the Quincy fool you, Isane. He doesn't want to fight you. I can sense it. He-" Itegumo vanished in a puff of snowflakes.
Isane got up, once again feeling that maybe the situation wasn't completely hopeless. She thanked whatever providence had landed her with an optimistic zanpakuto like Itegumo, and considered her mission freshly. Itegumo was right about Kurosaki – having him around was every bit as good, firepower-wise, as having a captain in her group, although she hated to have so much resting on him.
She began walking back to her apartment, deciding to skip dinner since it was already so late. She continued thinking about ways to get her Gigai back, trying, for the first time, to think very hard about Mod-Isane's motivations, abilities, and additional resources. Something the Mod-Soul had said – or maybe it was something someone said about the Mod-Soul – was bugging her, but she couldn't place it…
Antioch, 1098 A.D.
Unohana stood atop Minazuki's giant manta-ish form next to Ukitake, looking out over mankind's latest atrocity. "What a mess."
"Kyyyyrrr-HURP?" Minazuki intoned.
"No, it's not your fault."
"HURP-skyyaaa?"
"Fairly sure."
"KAAA-HUR…"
"Yes, some of them may end up in my division. I'll worry about that when they get there. Take me over to Shunsui, would you?"
"HORP-HORP!"
The pair of them sailed over the battleground, flying as low as Minazuki could without running into anything. The battle was nearly over had gone exceptionally well – for the Soul Reapers, if not the people of Antioch. There were few casualties and no deaths, the added organization of the Reapers giving them an edge that even the intelligent Hollows still seemed baffled by, even after just under a hundred years of use.
Which was not to say that the battle wasn't dangerous. They found Kyoraku on the roof of a Mosque, busily fighting with a pair of oversized Hollows sporting above-average power.
"Hahaha!" One of them gloated. "Your precious organization can't save you, Soul Reaper! Where are your allies now?"
Kyoraku was almost certainly capable of handling it on his own, but the line was too good for Unohana to pass up. One mid-level Hado later, the Hollow was on fire and screaming, allowing Ukitake to dispatch the other Hollow easily before Kyoraku finished off Unohana's victim. He jumped up onto Minazuki. "What brings you my way?"
"Things are nearly over with here, so we're thinking about packing up."
"And Izumi?"
"Izumi wants to see it through."
Ukitake grinned. "I thought he was going to propose after your fight yesterday." Unohana groaned. She'd beaten Izumi in four minutes and fifty-three seconds with a lucky and very spectacular flurry of attacks. Rather than being outraged, however, Izumi had completely reversed his opinion of the Fourth Division's captain – he'd showered praises on Unohana and had asked if she would come by his division later for a rematch and drinks. The one who was really upset by the victory was Kyoraku.
"I still don't see why he couldn't have lasted another few seconds. I swear you timed that attack just to get my hopes up before dashing them."
"I didn't even know about it until after the fight was over. It serves you right for betting against me, anyway." Unohana struck a haughty pose.
"It does indeed. Perhaps I could take you out for dinner, by way of apology?"
"Subtle." Ukitake said, with a completely innocent expression.
Kyoraku shrugged. "Whatever works."
Unohana smiled serenely. "I'm busy tonight, I'm afraid."
"Doing what?"
"Well, Ukitake is taking me out for dinner and drinks."
"He is?"
"I am?" Ukitake looked as confused as anyone else.
"Yes indeed. I figure you owe me at least some of all that lovely sake I won for you."
"Ah…" Ukitake scratched his head. "Well, I don't see why not."
Kyoraku gave a mock shiver. "You're a cold, heartless woman, Retsu Unohana."
"That will be for Ukitake to decide." Unohana nodded firmly as she sealed Minazuki and opened the Senkaimon.
Ukitake looked at Kyoraku. "She's got you there."
Kyoraku smacked him upside the head.
Unohana turned to say something smart to him, and then they heard the sounds of the cleaner approaching again…
4th Division, Captain's Quarters - 12:32 a.m.
Unohana woke up once again in her quarters, this time in the middle of the night. This is the third time I've had this kind of dream. What's going on? She resolved to talk to the only two people who were consistently showing up in them – She'd have to ask Ukitake and Kyoraku about it tomorrow.
Karakura Town, Unknown Location - 12:33 a.m.
Isane continued walking toward her apartment, but a voice stopped her. "Excuse me! Miss! Can you hear me?"
She looked around, finally seeing the Plus that the Hollow had attacked earlier. He ran over to her, the broken chain in his chest bouncing along. "Yes, I can hear you."
The boy broke down crying and attached himself to her leg. "Oh, thank you, miss. I've been wandering around, but no one could see me, and then those monsters came for me and you made them go away!"
She leaned over and picked him up. So small. "It's all right. The monsters aren't going to bother you again. Everything will be okay."
He looked up at her. "Really?"
"Really."
"What's your name?"
Isane blinked. "I'm Isane Kotetsu, Vice-Captain of… never mind." He wouldn't understand what the Gotei Thirteen was and wouldn't be able to talk to her again if he did.
"Oooh, a title! Is it important?"
She considered. "Yes, sort of."
"I'm dead, aren't I?" It sounded strange coming from him, but he seemed to calm down, and sniffed. Isane looked at him, and couldn't think of a way to sugarcoat it. "Yes. It's time for you to move on."
"To where?"
"The Soul Society. I can't promise that your family will be there, but there will be others like you that will take care of you." Do you have it in you to perform a Konso, Itegumo?
Always.
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah! I've been trying to find out what I'm supposed to do, but no one would tell me. I'm gonna find my family, and tell 'em that Vice-Captain Kotetsu saved me!"
"It wasn't a big deal." Isane looked away uncomfortably. "Good luck with finding your family," she said, and meant it.
She looked at him squarely. New or careless reapers frequently panicked plusses by drawing their zanpakuto without any warning or explanation. "Now, I have to draw my sword to send you to the Soul Society, but I'm not going to cut you, ok?"
He nodded nervously. "Okay… no, wait!"
She stopped mid-draw. "Yes…?"
He looked at her seriously. "What do I have to do to become like you?"
Isane straightened, taken aback. "Er… well… you would need to display some kind of spiritual power and demonstrate it to a Soul Reaper, then you would apply to the Academy." She could hear Itegumo laughing in her mind.
"Right! Ok. I'm ready!"
She nodded, and moments later he was on his way to the afterlife.
Itegumo's voice bounced through her mind again. Interesting boy.
Isane sheathed him again. Pretty spunky for a dead child.
You'll notice that at least one spirit appreciates what you do.
Isane brightened. It was true. Did you plan this, somehow? A morale boost and a thank-you?
Now how could I do that? I confess that I was hoping it would happen, but even still…
Do you think he has a chance of becoming a Reaper?
I did sense a little something, but it's hard to tell until they arrive. Some people are born for a certain division, though.
True enough… Isane's line of thought faltered. That's it! That's how we're going to snare the Mod-Soul! You're a genius, Itegumo!
Of course I am. Her zanpakuto hesitated. Um… what are we talking about, exactly?
Chapter End
Notes: By far the hardest parts of this chapter were Isane's talks with Uryu and the kid, and I'm still not completely satisfied with either, although they're way better than the first drafts.
Also, the main plot should start rolling along with the next chapter, along with a new installment of the Unohana plot and the Unit Four/Hitsugaya plot.
It also occurred to me that some might be confused about the timeline here, since I made an adjustment from the Bleach canon – in this story, the Arrancar arc extends out several months after Ichigo completes his Vizard training, extending into a sequence of minor skirmishes with the new Arrancar while everyone gears up for the Fake Karakura Town battle. This story takes place in that time.
So come back next chapter to find out what Rangiku's been up to, and whether or not Isane's new plan will work out better than her old one.
As always comments, criticisms, and anything resembling either are greatly appreciated. Please review!