A/N: Since there is a lot of skipping around with times I decided to put the year in parentheses every time it changes, hopefully that makes this a bit easier to understand. Also, as I am sure a few of you have noticed, the way aging works in the Soul Society is quite inconsistent; for the sake of this story I am going to work with the idea that it takes about sixty-four years for a soul to reach the physical age of sixteen (So about four times slower than aging in the world of the living). After they reach sixteen the speed of aging is dependent on the soul, some souls might appear to be sixteen for a thousand years, while others might continue to age physically. The most important thing to know is that normal souls are able to die of old age, but Shinigami are not (This has no effect on Baraggan's power, his power will cause physical aging that Shinigami normally do not experience and thus will still cause them to rot and die)

To sum that up, a Shinigami's physical age will reflect their mental age most of the time with a few exceptions. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, if you do like the characters in this story I recommend you go check out my other stories too, as I am using the same OCs and their abilities will be mostly the same.

Disclaimer: I only own the boring kind of bleach…

Damaged Souls

Chapter 21

(1891)

Four-Hundred and Forty-Seven years after Rein had defeated Shi no Akuma he once again stood in the First Division Headquarters. Beside him was Head Captain Yamamoto and on his other side was the captain of the Fourth Division, Retsu Unohana. The three of them had just watched Kisuke Urahara take the Captain's Test and he had just sealed his Bankai after finishing the final section of the test.

"Very impressive Kisuke Urahara." The Head Captain stated "In accordance with Captain Yoruichi Shihoin, your former superior officer, you will be granted the position of Twelfth Division Captain. Your ceremony will be held here this evening, do not be late."

"Understood, thank you for your time." Urahara said with a bow before leaving the room.

Rein spoke to the Head Captain and Unohana "I am not sure about you two, but I am very eager to see what someone of his intellect will be able to bring to the Soul Society."

"I agree, he seems to be nearly at your level Rein." Yamamoto observed.

Rein scratched his head "As far as the more scientific side of intelligence goes he has me beaten by a lot, my strength is in tactical analysis and political manipulation."

"No need to be modest Rein, you are the captain of what is arguably the strongest squad in the Gotei Thirteen. You are a Captain, one of your third seats is captain class, and your lieutenant, second third seat, and fourth seat are all high lieutenant class. Not to mention your political power with having the heads of both the Masamune Clan and the Tsuin Clan in your division." Unohana commented.

"I really don't like to compare the strengths of the separate divisions, we share the same enemy. The only reason there are separate divisions to begin with is to make management easier." Rein replied, standing up "Just to check, what is the policy for who can attend the ceremony tonight?"

"For the actual ceremony only captains and lieutenants are allowed to attend. Any seated officer that is authorized by their Captain may attend the party afterwards." Yamamoto answered.

Rein nodded "Thank you. I am off to make some preparations." He walked out of the building and headed back to the Third Division Headquarters. When he walked inside he was promptly tackled to the ground by his wife and lieutenant, Senna.

"Hi Rein." She said cheerfully.

"Hi Senna." Rein replied, smirking.

He heard someone clear their voice from a bit further inside the building "Rein, when you are done could you help me out with some training? I feel like I am going to figure it out soon."

"Sure Tachikiru, call the entire squad up to the Sokyoku Hill, we can give them a bit of a show." Rein suggested, and Tachikiru ran off to do just that. Rein spoke to Senna "Believe me; I enjoy this just as much as you do, but we should probably head up there soon."

"Fine." Senna pouted, before breaking out into laughter, kissing Rein and then flipping herself upright, dragging Rein with her. The pair headed up to the Sokyoku Hill, arriving a minute or so before the rest of their squad.

Tachikiru walked to the center of the hill, with the rest of the squad forming a wide ring around them.

"You ready?" Rein asked. Seeing Tachikiru nod he drew his Zanpakuto from his back "Bankai, Mira-Ka Sasu Yona Danretsu." As his blade change shape his pure white Captain's Haori was dyed black with his liquid Reiatsu.

Tachikiru drew his knives from his wrists "Bankai, Ancheindo Tsuinzu." His knives lengthened into their Shikai form, but a pair of hooks also appeared at the end of each blade. At the bottom of each hilt was a ring that was connected to a length of chain with bladed edges; the total length of the chain was approximately twenty kilometers, but due to the chain being exceptionally thin, around four millimeters thick, all of the insane length was able to be coiled on the ground around Tachikiru easily.

Tachikiru started the fight by placing the hook on the end of each of his blades through the links of the chain and then used his vastly superior speed to appear behind Rein. Instead of attacking he unhooked one of his blades and let the chain touch the ground. When it did he snapped his fingers and a thin spike of black metal appeared through a link, pining it to the ground. Before Rein could even respond to his action Tachikiru had appeared in another area, placing another peg into the chain. He repeated this process over a hundred times in just fifteen seconds, soon leaving Rein in what looked like a massive spider-web of razor sharp black chains. Having ran out of length to play with Tachikiru pulled as hard as he could on both his blades, forcing each peg to vanish at the same time and sending the mass of chain at Rein from all directions.

The Captain responded by focusing his Reiatsu into his blade and swinging it at the air above him
"Misairu Hassha Hyo no Danretsu." He fired off a set of eight orbs, each of which arced off in a different direction and formed an octagon of explosions around Rein. Slowly black flames began spreading out from where they had impacted and Tachikiru was forced to draw all of his chain away from them lest he allow Rein and easy way to end the fight. Rein did not let up his assault; quickly bringing the flames together at his position and having them erupt upwards, taking him with them. Tachikiru hooked the ends of his blades through the chain very close to where it was attached to the hilt and swinging them at Rein's position, sending the chain whipping out at him. Rein smirked and grabbed hold of the chain "Hado number eleven, Tsuzuri Raiden Tenka no Danretsu." Tachikiru's eyes widened as the black and blue electricity arced along the chains toward his hands. He quickly materialized two pegs in the chain and sent it to the ground. When the electricity reached the pegs it flowed into the ground rather than his body. As the electricity flowed into the ground it began to cause the rock that the pegs were embedded in to disintegrate and blow away in the wind. Luckily for Tachikiru the flow of electricity ended before all of the rock around the pegs was gone. Unluckily for Tachikiru he had given Rein time to make his move, he had grabbed the 'X' shaped blade attached to a chain at the bottom of his main blade and began to swing the weapon around his head at a violent speed, creating a very strong updraft. He then released the blades and sent them flying at Tachikiru in a mass of swirling blades. They reached his position before he could react, the large blade embedding itself into the ground with the 'X' shape just a few millimeters away from his neck. Rein appeared atop the weapon and looked down at his subordinate "Looks like I win again."

"Guess so." Tachikiru replied, sealing his Bankai.

"Your only issue is that you tend to release all the pegs at once for one massive attack rather than individually for a series of attacks. This leaves you defenseless if your massive attack does not actually hit." Rein pulled his blade free from the ground and sealed his own Bankai, sheathing the nodachi on his back.

They once again headed back to the Third Division Headquarters, where Rein sat down at his desk and began finishing up the day's paperwork. After a few minutes a boy that looked only a bit younger than Rein walked into the room. He had shoulder length purple hair that was swept to the left and navy blue eyes. Sheathed at his waist was his Zanpakuto, which took the form of an ordinary katana but with no guard and purple hilt wrappings. Rein recognized the boy as his son, Anima. Anima had become his fourth seat about three-hundred years ago, since then he had matured into quite a fine man. He had inherited Rein's calm demeanor and his talent for politics, and had also proven himself to be on a level entirely his own when it came to his talent with a sword. Rein thought back to a moment around one-hundred years ago, when Anima had actually managed to come out on top in the Zanjutsu tournament that was held every two-hundred years for all Shinigami. To the surprise of all the spectators his son had managed to defeat the Kenpachi of the time in a head on battle. As if that were not enough, he had also beaten the Head Captain. Admittedly, the tournament was solely a test of Zanjutsu skill and had nothing to do with Reiatsu, but it was still quite a feat to best the Head Captain at anything.

Rein snapped out of his memories as his son began to talk "Father, I have completed the day's paperwork."

The Captain nodded "Ok, good work Anima." His son dropped the paperwork into a pile and headed out of the room.

That evening Rein and Senna were standing in the Captains Assembly Hall. There were a great deal of high-ranking Shinigami present. From the First Division, Head Captain Yamamoto and his lieutenant, Chojiro Sasakibe. From the Second Division, Captain Yoruichi Shihoin and her lieutenant, Ryuga. From the Third Division, Captain Rein Masamune and his lieutenant Senna Masamune. From the Fourth Division, Captain Retsu Unohana and her lieutenant Isane Kotetsu. From the Fifth Division, Captain Shinji Hirako and his lieutenant Sosuke Aizen. From the Sixth Division, Captain Ginrei Kuchiki and his lieutenant Sojun Kuchiki. From the Seventh Division, Captain Love Aikawa, who did not have a lieutenant. From the Eighth Division, Captain Shunsui Kyoraku and his lieutenant Lisa Yadomaru. From the Ninth Division, Kensei Muguruma and his lieutenant Mashiro Kuna. From the Tenth Division, Captain Isshin Shiba and his lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto. There was no one from the Eleventh Division in attendance due to the recent change in captain. From the Twelfth Division, Lieutenant Hyori Sarugaki. And finally, from the Thirteenth Division, Captain Jushiro Ukitake and his lieutenant Rojuro Otoribashi.

The Head Captain addressed them "Today we will welcome our newest captain to our ranks. I present the new captain of the Twelfth Division, Kisuke Urahara." The new captain walked through the doors to the Assembly Hall and stood before Yamamoto, who gave him his Captain's Haori. Yamamoto spoke again "Are there any special duties you would like to have assigned to the Twelfth Division?"

Urahara nodded "Yes, I would like to have my division placed in charge of an institute for the research and development of devices that will be used to aid Shinigami in their missions."

"It will be done, that concludes this Captains' meeting; as I am sure all of you are aware there will be a party to celebrate Captain Urahara's promotion." The Head Captain informed, dismissing them from the Captains' Assembly Hall.

Rein and Senna walked out of the room, meeting up with Anima, Tachikiru, and Amber outside. They all walked over to Urahara, who was currently being swarmed by the many seated officers that were present. Rein noted that his lieutenant did not seem to be happy with him and was glaring angrily in his direction from a corner. Deciding it would be best to hold off on congratulating him until he could actually breathe again he decided to find conversation with some other captains. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kyoraku, Ukitake, and Shinji speaking with each other and walked over to them, leaving Anima, Senna, Tachikiru, and Amber behind to continue the conversations they had already engaged in.

"Hey Rein." Kyoraku said cheerfully, seeing Rein coming their direction "We were just talking about how it has been a while since we needed to replace a captain."

"Yeah, other than the Kenpachis, who never manage to keep their position for long, I am the most recent captain." Rein commented.

A voice spoke from behind Shinji "What happened to the previous captain of the Twelfth Division? Did she retire?" Rein looked over and saw Shinji's lieutenant, Sosuke Aizen joining their conversation.

"No, she was promoted." Ukitake clarified.

"I didn't think it was possible for a captain to be promoted, did she join the Central Forty-Six?" Aizen asked curiously.

"No, she joined the Zero Division, the Royal Guard." Rein answered.

Aizen looked shocked and Kyoraku patted his shoulder "Not many people know about it, don't be too shocked."

Their conversation was interrupted by a commotion over by the new captain. It seemed as though Hyori had already developed a strong dislike for her captain as she had walked up to him kicked him, and stormed away, effectively crashing the party.

"I will go talk to him." Shinji sighed, walking over in Urahara's direction as the rest of the people at the party dispersed.

(1893)

Two years later, Rein was standing in the newly constructed building for the Shinigami Research and Development Institute.

"So Urahara, you called me here because you had an idea?" Rein asked curiously. Urahara shut the door to the room they were in, effectively sealing it from the outside.

"Yes, I want to share a theory of mine with you." He stated.

"Go ahead." Rein responded.

"You said that you only managed to seal half of Shi no Amuka's Reiryoku, one quarter went to the Jigokucho and another quarter into the Dangai. My theory is that the remaining half of its Reiryoku can be accessed." Urahara explained.

"I am sure you are aware that even speaking of Shi no Akuma is flirting with disaster, the kind of trouble you could get in for trying to access its power is ridiculous." Rein said calmly.

"I know that, but my point is that there is possibly a massive reserve of Reiryoku sealed somewhere, and we have no control over it." Urahara went on "Even if it is risky for me to try, I feel it would be better if that power were in our hands rather than the hands of our enemies."

"Point taken, you want to find a way to get that power before someone uses it to do something really bad." Rein said "Why did you need me?"

"I should think it is obvious, you are the one who sealed Shi no Akuma's Reiryoku, by all reasoning the power belongs to you." Urahara stated.

"No. I do not want or need that power. If I ever have need of that level of strength I can convince the Central Forty-Six to undo my seal." Rein replied.

"Fair point, but we still cannot afford to deal with a second Shi no Akuma. Something needs to be done about that Reiryoku that is hidden away and I am asking your permission to do so."

"Go ahead." Rein said with a sigh "As much as I hate to admit it you are right, that power absolutely cannot end up in the hands of someone hostile to the Soul Society."

"Thank you. I have another favor to ask." Urahara let out a sigh of relief.

"What is it?" Rein asked.

"If I do get in trouble for this I do not want you to become involved." Urahara replied.

"I have known you for over four-hundred years, if you think I will just abandon you when you need me than you are sorely mistaken." Rein said firmly.

"Rein, I feel like you have played your part. You have done more than enough for any one person and I believe it is unfair to expect you to do more. Please, do not get involved if things turn sour." Urahara stated.

Rein scratched his head "Stop it; you are making me feel like the Head Captain. I still have plenty of energy, power, and motivation; don't make me feel so old."

Urahara laughed "That was not my intention, I merely mean that the entirety of Soul Society is already indebted to you, there is no reason you should have to do anything else."

"Fine, I will not get involved if you fail in your plans, but please be careful, try not to tempt me too much." Rein said, beginning to leave.

"Thank you for understanding." Urahara bowed "Before you go I have one last question, would you mind allowing me to extract the traces of Shi no Akuma's Reiryoku from one of your Jigokucho, it would make it much easier to accomplish my goal."

"Go ahead." Rein stated, still walking away "I will have one go to you later today." With that he opened the door and left Urahara to his research.

(1894)

One year after Rein's discussion with Urahara, on October tenth, 1894, Senna bore their second child; a girl with nearly-black, dark grey hair and electric blue eyes with slitted pupils. Her pupils brought Rein quite a bit of worry, since he was nearly positive that they were due to the influence of his Inner Hollow. He had a feeling that it had something to do with the seal the Central Forty-Six had placed on him since Anima had never shown any signs of being affected.

(1901)

Another seven years later an emergency Captains' meeting was called in the middle of the night, Rein rushed to the Captains' Assembly Hall. When he arrived he saw that most of the other captains were already present. The Head Captain wasted no time in explaining the situation "As I am sure many of you are aware, for the past month souls have been completely vanishing from the Rukongai and we chose to send the Ninth Division to investigate. Disaster has struck; we have lost contact with them and fear the worst."

Rein looked at Urahara, who looked to be in a panic "Please, allow me to go. I sent my lieutenant ahead and I am worried about her safety."

"Absolutely not." The Head Captain said loudly "Have you no faith in your own subordinates?" Urahara looked down at his feet and the Head Captain continued "I do agree that we must send reinforcements, who would like to volunteer?"

Rein looked at Urahara's face again, he had a feeling he knew what had happened and opened his mouth to speak. He saw Urahara glare at him and he remembered what he had said before. Rein's thoughts turned to his wife, his son, and his daughter, who was still growing up. He could not afford to take any chances anymore; it was not just himself he was risking, but his entire family. He closed his mouth.

"I will go." Shinji Hirako said, clearly he was also worried about Hyori.

"As will I." Love Aikawa stated.

Just then one of the tiles on the ceiling fell down, and three people tumbled down after it. Rein recognized Lisa Yadomaru, Rojuro Otoribashi, and Saiden Yoshitan.

"What are you doing here!?" Ukitake and Kyoraku shouted in unison.

They ignored him and Lisa spoke "Please, allow us to go as well."

Yamamoto thought for a moment "Very well, the lieutenant of the Eighth Division, the third seat of the Eighth Division, and the lieutenant of the Thirteenth Division will also be assigned to this mission. In addition, the current third seat in the Kido Corps will also be going along with you, his name is Hachigen Ushoda and I request that you treat him with your utmost respect." A large man stepped out of a door behind the Head Captain, along with Kyokan, and another man that Rein recognized as the second in command of the Kido Corps, Tessai Tsukabishi. Yamamoto spoke one final time "Make haste, our response has already been delayed too long."

Saiden ran along the path as fast as he could along with Lisa, Hachi, Rose, Love, and Shinji. It was not long before they located Hyori, who was under attack from Mashiro. As they approached she turned her head and they were shocked to see a bug-like Hollow mask on her face. Without warning she vanished from sight, appearing next to Shinji and launching a kick at his side, forcing him to block it with his Zanpakuto, grabbing the dull edge near the point to take the full force of the attack.

Saiden raised his palm to face Mashiro "Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six. Bakudo number sixty-one, Rikujokoro." Six beams of light appeared around her and quickly bound her in place. She began to struggle against the spell and a small crack appeared despite Saiden making use of the incantation to greatly strengthen the spell. The spell shattered shortly after and the rest of his group ran over to Mashiro, attempting to pin her down physically.

While Mashiro was occupied Shinji walked over to Hyori "What is going on?"

She shook her head "I have no idea, I was heading to where the Ninth Division was when we lost contact with them and she appeared with that mask on her face and attacked me."

Before Shinji could question her further a massive pulse of Reiatsu caught all of their attention. They all turned to face the source, a Hollowfied Kensei. To make matters worse it seems that Kensei had also activated his Bankai prior to whatever had happened to him.

Saiden narrowed his eyes, drawing his Zanpakuto from his waist. He was no fool, despite their numbers the Reiatsu coming from Kensei told him that it would be a difficult fight even if Mashiro was not involved "Consume, Kage." Saiden dropped his Zanpakuto into his shadow, watching it dissolve into the ground. A surge of black flames erupted from below him, forming into a massive blade that was fused with his right arm.

"Saiden, you can handle Mashiro, right?" Love asked worriedly.

Saiden nodded "I think so."

Words: 3,663

A/N: So this chapter is slightly shorter, mostly because I couldn't fit everything I wanted to into this chapter so I had to cut a bit earlier than I wanted to. Leave me a review, let me know what you think.