The entire room was silent after the whole prank was over and done with.
Some of the people, like Matsumoto, Renji, and Omaeda found the joke to be very amusing and were struggling to contain their amusement.
Some people like Yachiru didn't even bother hiding it and laughed at the unfortunate victim. Amaterasu would have laughed too had she been able. Instead she merely grinned with her tongue hanging out the side.
The rest of them were simply embarrassed (Ukitake and Nanao), confused (Kira, Iba, and Momo), or enraged (Yamamoto and Soi Fon).
Yamamoto stamped his staff on the wet floors to silence the whispers. "Silence!" He looked around and everybody became quiet. "While I would normally send you all to hunt them down we have bigger problems. We have received information about Aizen." The mood darkened at once. The memory of his betrayal still clear in their mind. "He has arranged for the abduction of one of Ichigo Kurosaki's friends. He currently resides in Hueco Mundo."
Even Amaterasu dropped her grin and sat up.
"He has also planned for the destruction of Karakura Town. More information will be sent to you individually at a later time."
"Hey Yama -jii. You do realize that Kurosaki will no doubt go into Hueco Mundo right?" Suggested Shunsui. "That boy is loyal to a fault and he will go to the ends of the world for his friends."
"That has been accounted for, Captain Kuchiki. Once this meeting has ended you and your lieutenant are to go and bring the boy and his company here where they can be kept on a watch."
The nobleman nodded, those who knew him well could feel the dread radiating from him. The others who had encountered the abnormally powerful human could relate. Stopping him from going to his friends would be like stopping a waterfall.
Evidently Amaterasu agreed with the thought as she barked out in response. -I am fairly certain there are better if not more efficient ways to handle the situation.-
"What is it Captain wolf?" Asked her lieutenant. "You seem to be rather annoyed"
The wolf rolled her eyes and stared at the head captain. The old man really was like Mr. Orange. It seems he has his soul if not the memory anyway. He was used to being in charge and not being challenged hence his more unprofessional reactions to her activities. She found his dislike of oranges to be extremely amusing.
"Miss Wolf, do you have a problem with this plan?" asked Yamamoto in a dangerous voice. "I do not suffer fools lightly."
-Neither do I. Only fools would try to stop a river from rushing to the sea.-
Amaterasu simply rolled her eyes again and put her head back down. Mr. Orange was no doubt the most powerful soul reaper in soul society and talented he was Not one of the best tacticians. That title is awarded to Shunsui Kyoraku.
Yamamoto would normally ignore such responses, but when Komamura began looking between the wolf and him self he knew he had to rethink the strategy. The two wolf captains knew each other better then he knew either one of them. Komamura had mentioned before that his clan policy was usually along the lines of might makes right. It was one of the reasons for his loyalty even if it wasn't the biggest one. The fact that he was caught between the wolf woman's authority and himself meant that she had power levels equal or exceeding his own.
He was not accustomed to being challenged on a mental level. At least not directly, it had always been politicians from Central 46 continuously attempting to undermine his command over the gotei 13 through decade long plans and the like. Most of the time it was simply him getting caught in the cross fire between nobles. Sadly he was blind sided when the recent conspiracy came from within his own ranks.
He should've known better then to trust someone with a zanpakuto like that. Especially considering they reflect the nature of their wielders. How trouble some. There is a high chance of Kurosaki and his friends taking off regardless of what they are told.
"Very well. What you say is true enough. Nonetheless, we cannot risk Kurosaki being exposed to Aizen's shikai. It fools all five senses and he's the only captain class shinigami that is currently invulnerable." He replied. "I am fairly certain that Aizen is going to take advantage and ambush us anyway. Fortunately, we have some time to plan. The twelfth division received some evidence during the testing phase of some surveillance equipment."
Some pictures were then passed around. Most of them involved a variety of white animals or children causing undo amounts of chaos as children and animals tend to do with out supervision.
A particularly amusing one had showed some monkeys playing various musical instruments. Apparently their skills left much to be desired since a ragged looking Tousen could also be seen waving his zanpakuto in the background while being held back by Ichimaru. The scorch marks and damage to the walls of the compound showed that he had been after them for quite some time.
Even Ichimaru showed evidence of exhaustion. His hair was ratty and slightly burned off. His clothes were drenched. His unsettling grin was nowhere near as creepy as it was not as large and was visibly strained. Funny enough, he always avoided the white puppy.
The captains then began to debate weather someone should be sent along with Ichigo, what Aizen was planning, if they might be able to come up with a way to get around Kyouka Suigetsu, If the animals should be left there or someone should be sent to get them before Aizen. Perhaps they might be able to convince Urahara to help and the like when Keiko spoke up. "U-Um. What about...?"
The stutter surprised everyone in the room save for the wolf goddess. It seemed that Keiko was rather good at making people forget her presence, even when she was touching them. The girl seemed to shrink and cowered behind Soi Fon once she noticed that every body was looking at her.
"Girl. Do not start speaking then stop. It's a waste of time and a bad habit." Soi Fon forcibly stepped away from the girl and turned to her. "As much as I hate to admit it we are at a loss right now. You aren't stupid no matter how you might act. Now speak." Keiko had proven her intelligence when she managed to get into the poison lab with some paperclips and a banana. Even Soi Fon herself was completely stumped as to how it happened.
Keiko seemed to shrink even further in on herself as the stares went on. Nobody save for Soi Fon and Amaterasu had much of an idea why she was like this. Most children would be in awe of being in the same room as a number of captains, or at the very least, annoyed that they weren't noticed. Keiko was promptly reduced to nervous squeaking and curled up into a small ball even with Omaeda trying to coax her into talking.
"Head captain Yamamoto?" Began Momo. She was looking rather pale, having only been released from the fourth a few days ago. "I would like to say something. Um... Miss Wolf gave me something when Um... I was locked up." She was still shaken about the betrayal. Part of her still couldn't believe that her Captain Aizen would even consider doing this. On an intellectual level she knew but it hadn't sunk in completely. "I don't know what it was. But I... saw the true corpse... It was... It was..." She took a deep breath to steady herself. "It was an unseated officer. Kotaro Atsukashi." She stilled for a few moments before continuing onwards. "M-Maybe she can give us something like that again? Or if she won't maybe someone else can replicate it?"
The room stilled at the news. Everyone but Unohana, who had been present when Momo identified the corpse, wore expressions of shock at the news. There was a way to counter Kyoka Suigetsu that didn't involve obscene amounts of time. But they'd have to get it out of a wolf that the majority of the room could not understand. The same wolf that some people saw as a woman.
"Miss wolf? Care to assist us?" Asked Toshiro. "You know, with the man that is going try and take the throne form the spirit king?"
Amaterasu only twitched her ear. -I will see what I can do.- A few seconds later she sat up and yawned. -If you can find Yumigami.-
Komamura translated what she said since nobody but him and the head captain could understand her completely.
Of course, nobody was happy with that particular statement.
"Now then." Continued the old man. "We do not need a repeat of this event. Therefore I am ordering a report on all odd or exceptional faculty members from all who are present." Thinking upon some of the handwriting here he added. "Legibly please." He gave everyone else one final look. "Dismissed."
"Captain -sis? I can't pick my feet up from the floor." Whispered the girl after shifting for a bit. "It's all sticky."
"What?!" Soi Fon widened her eyes. She shifted her weight. It was true, the floor was now covered in a thick viscous substance. But where had it- Powder and water. The exploding decoys! It wasn't enough to insult her with bad dopplegangers they had to glue her to the floor too?!
Soi Fon was not the only one who was inconvinienced, though there was much less of the goo where she had stood compared to the other captains. She let out a stream of chinese profanity as she forcibly picked up her feet and stalked off with Keiko, loud pealing noises followed her all the way back to the barracks. She was careful not the let the goo get anywhere on her body, it would be extremely unprofessional if something were to stick to her after all.
Kenpachi started awake when Yachiru started giggling again. He looked around and saw the rest of the room and saw the chaos. It wasn't so much chaos as it was people walking like chickens. "The hell happened when I was out?"
"Oh the copies of Toothpick exploded and spread powder glue and water everywhere. So now the floors all sticky." Chirped Yachiru. "And Stripey -chan make the old man angry."
"Hn. 's the meeting over then?"
"Yup! I got a good look at Toothpick's girl. She's even tinier then me." She tipped her head in contemplation. "Do you think she can fight? I mean toothpick is pretty strong."
"Meh. She looks like a runt. If there isn't an'thing else here I'm going." He slowly sauntered out with out so much as a sign that he had even noticed the goo save for the loud pealing noises that followed him.
"I wanna go play with Teeny." A nickname already forming in Yachiru's mind. "She's really fast, and good at hide and seek."
Amaterasu and Kira were the last ones to leave the meeting room.
Kira got the feeling that his wolf captain had been laughing the whole time.
He became rather unnerved by how irritated the head captain was with the joke. He didn't see much problem with it himself. It was the sort of thing he, Renji and Momo would do to each other in the academy, only on a much larger scale. It was a little bit soon to be doing such things.
Ichimaru used to pull pranks like that, only his tended to be malicious and unpleasant rather then embarrassing. Once released a number of venomous snakes into all the barracks save for his own and division ten. It seemed he didn't enjoy having various animals snuck into his own dwelling very much. In none of the photos had any of the creatures showed signs of stress, fear, or injury so they were left there. The Head captain hoped that they would assist in insuring that Kuorsaki could be retrieved.
Kira had to wonder how the wolf captain knew about the whole thing. He could practically feel the excitement radiating from her when she dragged him here.
He didn't really agree with her staying quiet about the whole thing but the goo was washed out of the meeting room.
He was boggled as to how the room could possibly have water pouring from no discernible source. It was heavier then then the heaviest of rains, save for the storm that occurred a few days before the Seireitei invasion.
He had a nagging suspicion that Wolf captain had something to do with the natural events that have been driving Captain Kurotsuchi mad recently. That smug look of great amusement was rather hard to miss.
Author's note- School has started again for me. Blarg.
I realized when i wrote the last chapter that Keiko hadn't actually left. Passing the room with a bunch of strangers would be rather unnerving and intimidating for someone like her so she stays with someone she is familiar with. I was originally going to have her contribute to the meeting but i realized that wouldn't be realistic or in character for her, You know, with her fear of strangers and all.
Ammy is quite proud of her children. As far as she's concerned they're doing just find weakening the upstarts of nature.
Yes, I am trying to make the scale of power just a little more realistic. Honestly, Ichigo gets powerups like nobody's buisness. It makes the later development pretty redundant. Ichigo's broken strength was hopefully reduced a bit with the foundation of soukyoku hill beung weakened by divine rain.
Reviews and comments are welcome as always.