Beyond the Veil: Adventure One
All of the Third Division knew better than to disturb Kira Izuru when he was doing his paperwork. With no taicho, Kira was forced to do twice the workload he was supposed to, and although he was paid extra and had received many offers of help from the rest of his Division, Kira preferred to do the paperwork himself, so that he didn't have to listen to second-hand reports about what was getting signed.
Of course, that didn't mean it wasn't a stressful job, trying to complete each day's load of paperwork on time. Kira often felt sympathy for people like Hitsugaya-taicho and Ise-fukutaicho, who had to do just as much paperwork on a regular basis because their co-workers were too drunk most of the time to help.
So Kira was surprised, and not a little upset, when something dropped out of the sky and landed on a stack of neat, finished paperwork, its sharp claws digging holes into the paper, and glared at him. Kira's first reaction to seeing a large snowy owl perched on his desk was to find the prankster (probably Matsumoto) and calmly warn them not to disturb him when he was working.
Then Kira realised that Soul Society has hardly any animals, and that it was impossible for a snowy owl to be sitting in Kira's office.
Just as Kira was realising that, he noticed the large envelope in its beak. That was the last thing Kira saw for a few moments, as suddenly the owl jumped off the desk and began swooping around his head, smacking him with its claws.
"Ow! Knock it off!" Kira said, feeling silly for talking to an animal. He waved his hands in an attempt to shoo the creature away, but the owl just clawed his hands and kept flying.
Unfortunately, no one came to help the poor fukutaicho, as they assumed it was Matsumoto coming to prank the easy-to-tease Kira. No one wanted to get dragged into it.
"Dammit!" Kira swore, a little irritated that he, a fukutaicho of the Gotei 13, couldn't catch a stupid owl. Finally he managed to grab the owl's leg and pull it out of the air. It promptly spat the letter at him, causing him to lose his grip. The owl hopped back onto his desk, the picture of injured dignity.
Kira glared at the owl, which glared right back, before looking down at the letter he held in his hand. He was surprised to see that his name was written in the middle of the envelope, although the handwriting was unfamiliar.
Is this a new messaging system? Kira wondered as he opened the letter. There was a rough-feeling paper folded inside, and covered with strange writing. Kira couldn't make heads or tails of it, but he could barely make out the name at the bottom of the letter.
"Harry Potter?" Kira said in confusion. Is this a letter from him? It would explain why I can't understand it…because it would be written in English…but how on earth did he manage to send it to me? It shouldn't be possible!
Suddenly Kira remembered his translator from the Twelfth Division. He still had it in his desk, and if Kira remembered correctly, it had an extra application that did written translations as well. Kira pulled out the earpiece and opened up a magnifying-glass-type object. As he scanned the letter with it, the foreign words rearranged themselves into a language Kira understood.
"Kira Izuru," Kira read out loud.
"I hope this letter reaches Japan okay.
"I've seen some strange people here at Hogwarts that were similar to you. They wear white uniforms and all carry the same sort of sword. I've seen three of them so far. One has black hair, green eyes, and is very pale. One has pink hair, glasses, and is quite thin. One has blue hair, blue eyes, the number six tattooed on his back, and a large hole in his side. The black-haired one appears nearly every night, but the other two just appeared right before I sent this letter.
"Another strange thing is that they all have some sort of white, bone-like structure on them. Are they acquaintances of yours?
"Harry Potter
"P.S. The owl's Hedwig. Just give her an owl treat when you send your reply, and she'll find me."
Kira had a moment to glare at the owl, Hedwig, before the importance of the message hit him. He recognized those descriptions…and if Harry was really telling the truth, then Soul Society was in trouble. Grabbing the letter and translator, Kira raced out of the room, summoning a hell butterfly that called for an emergency taicho's meeting. He knew that he was breaking several rules by summoning an unauthorized hell butterfly, but right now the only thing that mattered was alerting Soul Society.
OoOoOoOoO
Unfortunately, Hedwig decided to tag along, and perched herself quite comfortably on Kira's head, so she was the first thing the soutaicho noticed.
"Kira-fukutaicho, I hope you have a very good reason for calling this emergency meeting…and for having an owl on your head," Yamamoto boomed, opening an eye to glare at Kira, who was currently standing just a few feet in front of him. Several other taicho were glaring at him, most particularly a certain tiny taicho, who was annoyed at getting called back again from his mission. Kira wasn't surprised to notice that Hinamori wasn't present.
By way of an answer, Kira gulped and read the letter. A thick silence fell over the room when he had finished.
"What is the meaning of this, Kira-fukutaicho?" Yamamoto said finally.
Trying to stand like the proud fukutaicho he was supposed to look like was hard when he had a great white bird perched on his head. Kira could hear Zaraki and Kyouraku openly snorting, and he was sure he could see a few others smirking. Taking a deep breath, Kira began to explain,
"Sir, when you sent me into the World of the Living, I met Harry Potter, Black Sirius's godson. Harry is also a wizard, which is why he could see me. I don't know how…but he sent this letter to me…"
Ukitake interrupted. "I remember reading that wizards specially train their owls to deliver messages to anyone on the earth, even if the exact address is not known. Although how it was possible that the owl could find its way to the Soul Society, I do not know."
Kira nodded gratefully, and continued. "As you heard, Harry gave the descriptions of at least two known Espada, which we discovered through Soi Fong-taicho's spy network." He paused to acknowledge the Second Division taicho, who coolly nodded. "I think…I think that Aizen may be planning something at this 'Hogwarts'."
"Do we have any records of Hogwarts?" Yamamoto asked. No one answered. No one had heard of it. "Very well. Kira-fukutaicho, I want you to go back to the World of the Living and find this 'Hogwarts'. Follow the owl, it should return to Harry Potter, and find out exactly what the boy saw. You will leave tomorrow morning. Take a Gigai with you, and use it before you enter the World of the Living. You must avoid Aizen's notice at all costs, so you must not leave your Gigai until you are back in the Soul Society in seven days. Understood?"
Kira nodded.
"While you are there, learn as much about Hogwarts as possible," Yamamoto continued. "We need to know why Aizen is so interested in it. Hitsugaya-taicho, I want you to double your patrol of Karakura town, and from now on, your limiters will be set to Code 4."
Hitsugaya nodded as well, internally grateful for the change. "Code 4" meant that the limiters would repress as little reiatsu as it was safely possible, and would be set to release with a spoken command. It was less of a hassle than trying to contact the Twelfth Division and ask for permission.
"To the rest, keep your Divisions battle-ready. We are to take this threat as though it were a plot to attack the Soul Society itself. Understood?"
"Yes, Yamamoto-soutaicho!"
"Sure thing, Yama-jii."
"Very well."
"Tch, we're always battle-ready. Don't know what's with the rest of you wusses."
The meeting was quickly ended, and the taicho dismissed. Kira immediately made his way over to the Twelfth Division for a Gigai.
He checked the fake body several times before actually taking it with him, out of Kurotsuchi-taicho's sight, of course. One could never be sure with the Twelfth Division. Then he hurried back to his Division to make preparations for his departure in the morning.
OoOoOoOoO
Late that night, two separate groups of people launched their plots of midnight adventures. Satoki was the first to move, appearing on Oszlár's windowsill and quietly tapping on the window. Silently Oszlár crawled out of his bed, grabbed his cloak, and slipped outside. Together they snuck across the grounds, intent on getting to the Sixth Division as quickly as possible.
As Sirius had actually fallen asleep waiting for Oszlár to fall asleep, Lefu had to creep into the unlocked room and gently shake him. Neither of them noticed that Oszlár's bed was empty as they silently left the room clad completely in black. Lefu was suppressing his reiatsu and wearing a mask to avoid being recognized or recorded in any way, while Sirius was padding ahead in his Animagus form, to better sniff out approaching shinigami. They were able to easily sneak out of the Academy, with Sirius distracting the lone guard, and were soon on their way to the Twelfth Division.
They had a few close calls, but otherwise made it to the gates of the Twelfth Division without mishap.
Then the real challenge began.
"Okay, White, I have absolutely no idea what kinds of traps and alarms Kurostuchi-taicho will have around his lab," Lefu muttered to the great black dog sitting next to him in the shadows of a doorway. "I also don't know where the materials I'm looking for are."
If Sirius had been able to speak, he would have swore loudly. Why the hell are we doing this if we don't even know what to do?
It will be interesting to see what you two do in this situation.
If you don't have any advice for us, then kindly shut the hell up.
You should be more polite to a lady.
Polite my ass…wait…you're a girl?
Of course, what did you think I was?
…
I am sorely tempted to drag you down here and kill you.
It's not my fault you sound like a guy. Besides, I assumed you'd be the same gender as me.
At that point, Karu no Riken decided to ignore Sirius.
"Ah, here, knew it would work," Lefu said suddenly, earning a glare from the black dog at his side. Sirius was quite sure Lefu was just bluffing his way through this, despite all their planning.
"Oh, don't give me that look, White, I know what I'm doing," Lefu said sourly, glaring back at Sirius before waving a small device in the dog's face. "I just ran a scan for any life forms that could register as shinigami…I won't go into the details now…and there are only two people inside the labs. Unfortunately, the reiatsu readings I'm getting could very easily be Kurotsuchi-taicho and Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho."
With those words, Sirius knew they were screwed. There was no way they could sneak in and avoid both the taicho and the fukutaicho.
"Shit!" Lefu swore and jumped, whirling around, the screen of his device flashing. "Sirius, change back, now!"
Sirius immediately assumed human form, just as someone appeared behind them. He spun around to face whoever had found them, a hand on the hilt of his Zanpakutou.
Standing in front of them, and watching with impassive eyes, was a woman. Instead of the usual shinigami uniform, she wore a very short skirt. The woman had no Zanpakutou that Sirius could see.
"Mayuri-sama requests that you follow me," the woman said in a monotone, and Sirius realised with a jolt that it was the voice of the woman who had saved him back on that black plain. Without waiting for them to answer, the woman grabbed them both by the arm and Shunpo'd into the lab, dragging the two men after her. Sirius saw his life, and most of his afterlife, flash before his eyes.
"Where the hell did you come from? My scanners only picked up one person loitering outside my labs," came an annoyed voice when Lefu and Sirius had been unceremoniously dumped on the ground. Sirius quickly looked around him, and wasn't surprised to see lab equipment and computers scattered across the room.
And standing right in front of him, scowling down at both shinigami students, was Kurotsuchi Mayuri, taicho of the Twelfth Division.
"Good evening, Kurotsuchi-taicho," Lefu said, immediately jumping to his feet with a wide smile on his face. "We were just –"
"Shut up, I'm not talking to you yet," Kurotsuchi snarled. Lefu's expression didn't change; he only clasped his hands behind his back and looked totally content to wait his turn. Only Sirius could notice the slight worry in Lefu's blue eyes.
Slowly, Sirius stood, saying, "I'm not sure what you mean, Kurotsuchi-taicho."
The painted man glared at Sirius and jabbed a long fingernail into his chest. "My scanners detected someone outside my labs, someone who had the audacity to try and scan me, yet my fukutaicho brings back two people."
"I Shunpo'd in just before Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho appeared," Sirius said, thinking of the first thing that came to mind.
Kurotsuchi stared at Sirius for a few moments, before suddenly his face split into a horrifying leer.
"Well, well, if it isn't our resident wizard," Kurotsuchi said. "Black Sirius. What exactly where you doing outside my Division this late at night?"
For once, Sirius was at a loss for words, but fortunately for him Kurotsuchi had already moved on. "Oh, I heard all about your little plan. I have the entire Soul Society bugged. Nothing can escape me. Ureftu Lefu…you're the one who tried to scan my Division for shinigami. Oh yes, I know all about you," Kurotsuchi added at Lefu's surprised look. Kurtotsuchi turned around and walked over to a computer and clicked a key. "Arrested ten years ago for his experiments, before being released seven years later to the Shinigami Academy."
Sirius gave Lefu a look of total shock, which the tall man pointedly ignored. What on earth could Lefu had done to get arrested? Sirius thought. Lefu seemed too lazy to get into that much trouble.
"I will admit, you have some talent," Kurotsuchi said, turning back to the two men. "Your scanner was nearly undetectable, despite the poor materials you used to make it."
Lefu simply smiled even wider, and bowed a little. "Such praise from a master scientist such as yourself, I am humbled that you think even a little of my meagre attempts."
Kurotsuchi sniffed, but Sirius thought he saw a little satisfaction in the painted man's eyes. "Don't get full of yourself, twit. You are nowhere near an acceptable level. Now, what the hell were you doing outside my labs?"
Instead of coming up with an excuse like Sirius expected Lefu to, (Sirius was dead certain that the man could lie his way into heaven, figuratively speaking of course), Lefu simply said, "We wanted to get some materials."
"Lefu!" Sirius hissed, but Lefu shrugged.
"Kurotsuchi-taicho would have known if I was lying. He has scanners monitoring our heart-rates."
If Kurotsuchi was surprised that Lefu had correctly deducted that he was indeed scanning them, he showed no sign. Instead, he scowled and was about to tell them that sadly, they would not be leaving his labs in one piece (if ever) when Lefu interrupted.
"Besides, it would be in his best interest if he lets us have the materials we need."
That got Kurotsuchi's attention, if only because Lefu was rash enough to assume anything about him. Nemu stepped forward slightly, recognizing the signs of her father's anger.
"Shall I restrain them, Mayuri-sama?" she asked, but Kurotsuchi waved her away.
"Just shut up and go stand out of the way," he said cruelly, his eyes glinting as he observed Lefu, who didn't flinch under the insane taicho's stare. "And why do you think it would be best for me to allow you to steal my valuable equipment?"
Lefu shrugged, as though he were simply talking to another Academy student, not one of the most powerful, and insane, people in all of Soul Society. "Because we can provide you with extra research you may not be able to get on your own. I intend to make a fake senkaimon, I could send you the details of how the Precipice World reacts to an unauthorized entry. I could even tell you what I find out about Black, as I'm sure you would jump at the chance to research a former wizard. And…we might even be able to find the black plain Black appeared in."
For the first time since meeting Lefu, Sirius actually felt a little afraid of his friend. Up until now, Sirius had only seen Lefu as a goofy, lazy pervert who enjoyed skipping classes and driving everyone around him up the wall. The other two had given Sirius plenty of reasons to fear them, if only because their wrath was something to behold when provoked, but now Sirius was seeing a darker side to the dark-skinned man.
I'm not so sure I want to allow Kurotsuchi to 'research' me, even if he's working through Lefu, Sirius thought. Is Lefu actually being…well, serious?
Rest assured that if he tries anything I will tear out his throat, Karu no Riken promised.
No…I don't think Lefu would actually do anything to hurt me, Sirius said. Despite not telling us about his getting arrested ten years ago, Lefu's my friend and I'm going to trust him in this.
My threat still holds.
Kurotsuchi appeared to be seriously considering Lefu's offer. Sirius just gulped and said nothing, hoping that Lefu knew what he was doing. Finally, the painted man spoke.
"An interesting offer, boy. You have a devious way of thinking. I will make you a counteroffer. You give me all the results of your research, and you will contact me once a week whether or not you find anything, but in addition, you will join my Division when you graduate the Shinigami Academy."
"Deal," Lefu said, although Sirius couldn't help but feel as though the taller man had just signed his death warrant.
Kurotsuchi laughed, leering evilly. "Now, what materials will you need?"
Lefu rattled off what he needed, and Kurotsuchi sent his fukutaicho away to gather the materials.
"A fascinating choice of materials, Ureftu," Kurotsuchi said. "Not what I myself would have picked, but interesting all the same. You had better not disappoint me, or I will have to take action."
The tall man simply bowed as he received the bag full of the mechanisms Lefu would need to make his copy gate. "I assure you, you will not be disappointed."
"Get out of my sight before I change my mind," Kurotsuchi said and turned away. Lefu and Sirius were quick to follow Nemu out of the labs. Both men were silent, racing as fast as they could back to the Academy, only pausing when a very large, very angry-feeling blast of reiatsu spiked and nearly flattened them.
Sirius finally stopped Lefu before they reached the Academy walls.
"What the hell was all of that about?"
Lefu sighed. "Yeah…sorry about that…I shouldn't have offered you up as research without telling you first."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I mean the bit about getting arrested ten years ago."
"Oh, that. Yeah…I was doing stuff in the Rukongai that was…a little illegal, and got arrested for it. It's…probably best I don't tell you what exactly I was doing."
The other eyebrow went up.
"I was supposed to be in jail for about 50 years, but they lessened the time if I agreed to become a shinigami. I figured it'd be better than wasting away in the Maggot's Nest. Sorry about not telling you, but it's not something I think about often, so I forgot."
Sirius nodded. "I understand. I was actually charged with murder, only to break out 13 years later to try and commit the crime that got me in there in the first place. Jail's not fun."
Lefu grinned. "Agreed. Now let's get back before someone else unsavoury finds us."
"And Kurotsuchi-taicho wasn't?"
Embee: Oho, now we find out a little more about Lefu. Who would have thought? Now here's another little extra: How did Hedwig get to the Soul Society?
How Hedwig Found the Soul Society
Hedwig was not a happy owl. She loved her master, Harry Potter, dearly, and enjoyed delivering his infrequent messages (something that had become even more infrequent since the black-dog-man-Sirius died), but sometimes she tired of searching for people who didn't want to be found.
This Kira Izuru, for instance.
Hedwig, like all magical creatures trained to carry messages, always knew where the receiver of the message was. Always. And Hedwig was more special than most messenger owls, as she had a unique knack for finding people who were hiding from the rest of the world, like the black-dog-man-Sirius.
But this Kira Izuru was nowhere to be found. And it was starting to irritate Hedwig. After all, she was a very punctual owl, and did not like the fact it had already been three months, and she still couldn't find Kira Izuru.
Finally, Hedwig felt something. A pull, Hedwig would have called it, if she cared to use words. Something was pulling her. So Hedwig obeyed her instincts and followed the pull. It led her to two no-fur-upwalkers wearing peculiar robe-magic-pelts and holding sharp-steel-wands. From the sound of their voices, they were arguing over something.
Hedwig was not concerned with what they were arguing about. The only thing she noticed was that the pull was coming from a large circular opening behind the no-fur-upwalkers. Hedwig flew right over their heads and through the opening, but the two no-fur-upwalkers never even noticed her. They kept on arguing, shouting at each other with very strange sounds (not that the sounds her master made were any less strange).
What lay behind the opening was a very strange world. And a very purple one. But Hedwig took no notice of any of this, not even when a large purple monster tried to eat her, and simply kept following the pull. Soon she found a little hole in one of the purple walls and soared through it.
The pull was much stronger on the other side, and now Hedwig knew exactly where to go. She flew above a large stone-forest-upwalker-nest-gathering full of no-fur-upwalkers that were like the two she had seen outside the opening. But among all the strange no-fur-upwalkers ws Kira Izuru, and he was the only one who mattered to Hedwig.
She found him sitting behind a block-groaning-wood that looked similar to what her master sat at and wrote on his rough-skins while groaning about his work. Kira Izuru had the same peculiar no-fur-upwalker expression that her master often had before giving his work to bush-fur-Hermione to do.
Hedwig thought Kira Izuru would like a break from his work to praise her for doing an excellent job on delivering the important message from her master.