Hello guys, damn i'm sorry about the massive hiatus, but i'm afraid this is going to be the approximate release times for future chapters, if any at all. I seriously underestimated my workload for my Uni, I am having to work all kinds of stupid hours to get any work done, even writing this story was reduced to the odd few minutes on the odd day. Also, the story is going to sound kinda fragmented, i'm used to writing massive chunks in one day, not half a paragraph per day, so the story is going to seem a bit fragmented for a while, please bear with it until I can put up with my ABSOLUTLY STUPID amounts of work i've gotta do.
Anyhow, whinge and whine over, your hear to read a chapter, so a chapter is what you get, read on and enjoy!
Also, thanks to Ranna Rai for joining the fanclub and the nice review!
"So, you guys have any idea what this is about?"-Yoshirou quietly asked the two Captains flanking him. He had barely been able to recover for about an hour after his training session before he had discovered there had been yet another Captains assembly called. He had been surprised to find the two Captains interrupting his training down in the caverns, and even more surprised when he realised that whatever they had come for had spurred the Sou Taichou to end the training early. He was also grateful to them, if he had kept fighting much further, he would have probably ended up with several new injuries added to the frightful long list that he had accumulated over the weeks, Yamamoto having discovered that no matter how much he beat him, Yoshirou always turned up for the next session fully healed.
Gaining the ability to heal myself that fast has only caused me more nightmares than it helped Yoshirou whined internally at the thought. He was glad that his training was proceeding, but when he had to spend nearly every afternoon mending whichever bones Yamamoto had cracked or broken with his fists in their training, it sometimes seemed like it wasn't worth the amount of pain he kept having to go through. By god can that old guy fight, he's a monster, incomparable to anything I've faced before Yoshirou thought, thinking how the blows he had suffered at the hands of the Espada had paled in impact to the gnarled fists of the old man, strong enough to pulverise rocks to dust. Back in the hall, he was still confused as to why there had been a meeting called with the other Captains. "I think it's got something to do with Mayuri-chan over there."-Kyoraku joked quietly, Yoshirou barely managing to restrain his laughter at the name Kyoraku used.
If the Captain had heard the unusual nickname, he must have had nerves of steel to ignore it, either that or he was far too distracted in his thoughts, seeing as how Mayuri's face didn't change at all, noangry response to the slur at his name. If anything, Mayuri seemed to be in an over joyous mood, something that instantly put Yoshirou on alert, Mayuri happy never pended anything good. Nearby, Komamura arrived at the halls, silently walking in with barely a whisper of presence, an astounding feet for a giant anthropomorphic wolf. Yoshirou watched off hand as the giant captain took his place along the lines. Only a few more to go Yoshirou thought, wondering just how long it would take for Kenpachi to arrive this time, the bloodthirsty man who sucked at directions even worse than he did. While Yoshirou could understandably get lost in the maze of buildings, he was sure Kenpachi could get lost on a straight road.
As he looked back at the Captain, his heart jumped as he saw another figure. As amazingly quiet as Komamura had been at arriving, he couldn't compare to an Onmitskido member, Soi Fon having arrived without Yoshirou even seeing her enter the door, taking her place beside Komamura with complete silence. He disliked meeting her in official area's, the woman could all too easily swap between a normal posture and one that was ice cold and efficient, last time he had spoken to her in the street he had narrowly avoided taking a blow for not using the –Taichou suffix. She had made it explicitly clear after their first meeting in Soul Society that she wouldn't tolerate his presence in view of others, and while at first he thought it was cute, how he was the only person who could see her normal side, it was still frustrating to see an indifferent expression on her face when she saw him most times, and since his training had taken up practically all his spare time, he had been unable to talk to her for ages.
As he contemplated this, he saw another arrival as Unohana entered the chamber, at first looking as though she would apologise for being late, but upon seeing the distinct lack of other Captains, she simply walked over to stand beside him. He had expected her to try and strike up a conversation, but she didn't try, her expression seemingly showing that she was concerned with other matters. Yoshirou wondered what could be on her mind, but was distracted by noise from the hallway. "Oho, seems our last pair have arrived together."-Kyoraku noted quietly, a strange smile playing across his face.
Just as Kyoraku had guessed, it did seem Kenpachi and Byakuya had arrived together, although why, and just why it was they were arguing Yoshirou couldn't tell. Straining his ears, he picked up a few words. "Like hell….guided….pansy ass…." Was all he could pick up from Kenpachi's words, Byakuya's being too quiet for him to pick up. "I didn't….help….could have gotten here…help from you, stuck up ass!"-Kenpachi growled again, his words getting clearer as he approached the door. "Do you plan to keep whining all day, or will you have some modicum of respect and hold your tongue now we are here?"-Byakuya stated simply as he walked into the room. Kenpachi stomped in afterwards, nearly shouting-"Do you want me to kill you, Kuchiki-teme! I'd love the excuse to!" However, before Byakuya could reply, Kenpachi suddenly fell silent, his eye being caught by Yamamoto's furious gaze at his outburst. With an annoyed tch, and one final glare at Byakuya, he took his place in the lines.
With a quick glance at the Captains, the Sou Taichou cleared his throat before beginning-"Now that all the Captains are assembled, this meeting can begin. Now, there has been an incident in the real world, an unusual occurrence in light of the recent situation." With this, Yamamoto nodded to the nearby Mayuri. Smiling strangely, Mayuri began to continue-"Now, I shall endeavour to keep this simple for the more brutish among you…" He took a break to shoot a particularly venomous glance at Kenpachi, but he seemed more concerned with cracking his neck tendons than bothering to listen, something that seemed to annoy Mayuri further. However, with a slight chuckle, he instead said-"Well, with one less idiot listening, this may go faster, now…" With a quick click of his fingers, he summoned an aide that had been hiding near the corner of the room. The aide quickly wheeled a monitor into view, something that surprised Yoshirou, seeing as usually the Sou Taichou wouldn't even permit the presence of another individual during a Captains meet.
With a little smirk, Mayuri pulled something from an inner robe, the object extending with a series of clicks until it took the form of a pointer. With a grand flourish, he tapped the screen, the monitor lighting up as it made contact with whatever pointer he was using. "Now, as you can see, this depicts a certain problem within the human realm…" As he said this, he rapidly tapped the screen with the pointer, moving seemlesly through a series of images and technical display layouts with relative ease. With a large grin, he turned back to his audience as he said-"This, is what we might call in laymens terms, a Hollow nest."
Yoshirou raised an eyebrow at that, while the other captains might have been unused to the term, it was a rather common known term among his squad, since they were the main task that used to be delegated to the Kido Corps. However, a hollow nest, while rare, was a general low level occurance, the task of it's elimination rarely even given as a serious order. Even in the older times, it was rare that anything above a low level officer would go to do the work of destroying a hollow nest, it was a simple sweep, clean and burn operation, nothing that was necessary to bring to the attention of Captains. However, another evil chuckle from the science Captain caught his attention, as he realised Mayuri had actually been watching for his reaction.
"Just as I suspected, your not considering everything, little Kido Captain."-Mayuri laughed out with an amused air, causing Yoshirou to get pissed off straight away. "Well then, enlighten us, why decide to show us such a menial demonstration, Mayuri-san?"-Yoshirou retorted, emphasizing his tone. Mayuri's smile didn't falter though, if anything it grew further. "How naïve, you really think I would bring something so menial to this-"-Mayuri started to retort, but a low growl from the Sou taichou silenced him. With a rather rude tsk! at the Sou taichou, Mayuri stopped the argument, instead continuing with his presentation.
"Now then…"-Mayuri continued, tapping the screen again, a video now appearing. "…as you can see, the recon team went on a usual sweep, average performance, did what was necessary, unusually there was no blunders made, in a usual circumstances, their meagre performance would suffice. However…" As the video continued, he tapped the monitor, another screen appearing beside it, detailing Spiritual presence within the sector. After doing this he kept silent, smiling creepily at the Captains as they watched the display. Yoshirou had a gut feeling what was about to come next, there was no other reason why the second graph would be portrayed but for an ambush. What he was surprised by was the sheer scale, the shinigami on the display screaming as they were overwhelmed by a near tidal wave of Hollow, then the giant leering mask of the Menos Grande finished it off, the screen filling with red before returning to static.
"…How could this have happened?"-Ukitake asked quietly as Mayuri resumed his show, opening numerous other files while shutting off the recording. Without looking away from the interface, Mayuri said-"How indeed? How did so many hollow appear without prior notice and at that strength? It is a puzzling question, and an interesting challenge to answer!" Across the room, Soi Fon seemed to sniff with distaste, noting-"You seem to be enjoying this too much, Kurotsuchi." Yoshirou couldn't help but silently agree, the eager expression on the Captain had him worried just as much as the video itself. Turning back, Mayuri replied-"And why not? Our enemies have left us with a... interesting situation, why should I not enjoy finding the answer to their plans?" Yoshirou felt like saying something against this, but a loud *clack* silenced the Captains, recognising the noise from the Sou Taichou's cane tapping on the floor.
Clearing his throat, the Sou Taichou take over the discussion, saying-"This is a dangerous situation, not only do we have a threat in the real world, but this situation is more critical by the fact that they were unnoticed until they commenced their attack. The mission is simple, for a squad to determine the cause of this anomaly, and to eradicate all further potential threats in this situation. Now, usual protocol will have this case handed to the Kido Corps without notification, however due to the new arrangements within the Gotei 13, this is now a joint responsibility of the entire Gotei 13. Now, this mission will require the presence of at least a Vice Captain rank officer, will there be any volunteers?"
As the other Captains watched the others for the first move, Yoshirou thought about the situation. Considering everything that's happened, I would say 100% this is another trap by Aizen, theres no way it could be anything else. The target is easy to figure out, it's me again, but the reason is the problem, I bet Mayuri is stuck on the same problem, that's why he keeps talking about there being a challenge in this. Yoshirou closed his eyes as he concentrated, feeling the gaze of the Sou Taichou watching him as the other Captains started to talk among themselves. To kill me? I doubt it, he would have fielded forces that definitely require a Captains presence if killing me was the target, that would mean only I could go, as it is too many other people may be eligible for the mission. Capture me? Again, unlikely, and for what reason would he? It doesn't make sense.
As he continued to think, Komamura stepped forward, nominating that his Vice Captain should lead the operation. Just as Yoshirou thought, Yamamoto declined, he was waiting for Yoshirou's answer instead. Deciding not to keep the Sou Taichou waiting, Yoshirou stepped forward, saying-"Sou Taichou, with the utmost respect, as you said this mission type is normally suited for the Kido Corps, normal field officers don't have experience in these situations like my own unit do. I would like to request that the mission be undertaken by my own Squad as usual, while I will personally head the operation."
Yoshirou expected an affirmation immediately, he had known that this was a mere courtesy and that Yamamoto would expect this kind of situation to be handed to him, however his thoughts were interrupted as a different officer stepped forward. "With respect, I would not advise the deployment of the Kido Corps." Kyoraku omitted a curious-"Oh?" as he turned to see who had spoken, Yoshirou already watching the culprit in surprise. Yamamoto watched curiously, before asking-"On what grounds?" Soi Fon stood, arms crossed with a serious expression on her face as she said-"This is too obviously a trap move by Aizen. You said that this mission is normally given to the Kido Corps? Then that means that the trap was laid with the Kido Corps as its fundamental target to begin with, you would be walking into their hands by deploying that squad." Before Yoshirou could object, a second Captain stood forward, Komamura's expression unreadable as he looked down at Yoshirou, rumbling-"I am inclined to agree with this view."
"Nonsense, what other squad besides theirs and my own has the speciality and experience to deal with this? It would be useless to field a different squad, while it would make an interesting result to record the results from their deaths, it would still be pointless"-Mayuri said, shaking his head as if considering their opinions stupid. "So why doesn't your squad take the mission in their place?"-Soi Fon pointed out, but Mayuri shrugged disinterested, saying-"It would be tedious to deal with this situation, much more interesting to see how others deal with this trap." "You mean you're just interested in watching what would happen if their squad fell into the trap since you can't figure it out yourself."-Soi Fon accused back.
"Are ya all going to quit jabbering some time today? This is getting boring."-Kenpachi noted with a massive yawn. For the first time, Yoshirou was rather glad that Kenpachi was in the meeting, if Soi Fon kept up making an enemy out of Mayuri, there was no telling what would happen. Instead, Mayuri spun about before screeching-"Shut up, fool! You're too barbaric to have anything to add to this, so silence!" Yoshirou decided to step in now, saying-"The simple fact is, my squad is the best to deal with this situation, we have plenty of experience with routing Hollows from their nests, and since I am personally leading the operation, there is more than enough firepower to deal with any Hollow in the nest. My squad will also be the fastest to assemble for this task, since we are equipped for missions like this, we need this situation shut down before anything gets out of hand, and since the first response squad doesn't have the firepower for this, my squad will be able to respond the fastest." Yoshirou could almost see Kyoraku wince at the term he used, the first response team having formally been the 5th Squad, which had suffered the worst during the betrayal incident with Aizen, having lost it's Captain and it's Vice Captain removed from active duty.
With this, the Sou Taichou nodded his head. "It is decided, the Kido Corps will assemble a squad, headed by its Captain, to depart for the human realm effective one hour, that will give you sufficient time to brief your squad and assemble for the mission, dismissed." Yoshirou sighed as he bowed, feeling not only the other Captains gazes watching him, but one particular gaze literally burning into him from the ignored Captain. Before she could try stopping him, Yoshirou walked out faster than usual, following Kyoraku's long strides. Sucking his teeth as he saw the Captain walk up beside him, Kyoraku said-"You not going to apologize? You pretty much insulted your cute l'il girl's opinions in there." Sighing, Yoshirou said-"If I tried, I'll probably end up being late for my rendezvous." Kyoraku laughed at that, saying-"Yeah, Nanao-chan has a habit of scolding me for hours on end too; I know exactly what you mean! And you have a waaaaay more dangerous girl than I do!" Laughing along with him quietly as they exited the room, Yoshirou turned to take a different direction, but Kyoraku's hand suddenly shot out, grabbing his shoulder and instead pulling him back in his direction, surprising Yoshirou.
Kyoraku's grip didn't relent as he vanished, pulling Yoshirou along with him in one quick step. As the scenery blurred, Yoshirou found himself standing before his squad barracks, Kyoraku having literally given him a *lift* there. As he stumbled slightly, Kyoraku laughed saying-"Sorry, I keep forgetting that not everyone's used to that kinda distance!" He put a hand out to steady Yoshirou, before suddenly saying-"When you get back, I'd like it if you and I could have a talk, I got something we need to talk about." Yoshirou turned in surprise at the sudden change in tone, but Kyoraku didn't give him a chance to say anything, smiling brightly as he said-"Later then!", disappearing with a second shunpo step.
What on earth could he want to talk about? Yoshirou wondered in confusion as he watched the space Kyoraku had been standing, the dust still disturbed from his movement into little eddies about the ground.
He's probably interested in your progress with your training.
You really think so? Yoshirou thought, not sure whether this was the right reason or not as he turned to walk towards his barracks. Taiyou didn't respond, something that surprised Yoshirou since she usually had the right answer whenever he was confused. Shrugging to himself, he continued along the path towards the main building, planning for the mission that was to come inside his mind.
(20 minutes later)
"All right, boys and girls, here's the plan."-Yoshirou said loudly to his assembled group. It hadn't taken too long to get the main part of the squad's force together, although they had ended up waiting on certain members to finish their duties first. The assembled force was pretty simple; the top nine seated officers in his squad were all that was required. In reality, he probably could have wrapped it all up himself, but destroying the hive would require a coordinated effort due to it's size, he could destroy it himself, but he would end up levelling half of the nearby area if he did it himself. As such, he had decided on bringing the strongest men that he could from his group, while the top ten seated officers may have been overdoing it against mere hollows, he had seen how fast that initial squad had been butchered, and he was determined that his squad wouldn't enact a repeat of that.
"As I really hope, you guys can probably guess what the mission is, since it seems to be the only type we are ever summoned for."-Yoshirou continued, drawing a few chuckles from the assembled men. "However, that doesn't mean I'm going to tolerate slacking today, this particular job may prove more difficult than normal, hence why you guys are coming with me. Now, as usual the plan is simple, we cut our way through the nest until we can reach the key support points. Now normally this would only require a four man team, but this nest is a little bigger than usual, so there's going to be nine this time, you guys got that?" There was a resounding "Yes sir!" from the assembled men, although there were some voices that didn't speak, noticeably Kira, who instead asked-"Taichou, I thought there were ten of us assembled?"
"Glad someone noticed, that's because I'm not joining in with you guys, I get the more fun part of the mission."-Yoshirou announced. "While you guys are busy blowing this nest back to Hueco Mundo, I have to do a separate mission. Don't worry, you guys will probably get the smooth sailing part since I need to reach the heart of the nest, I'm going to have the most Hollows after me." Yoshirou thought he heard some dissent at that, one of the lower seats pulling a face at the idea, so he shrugged, saying-"Alright, I'll leave some behind so you guys can play too. Anyhow, you guys know the drill, kit up with the usual equipment and meet back at the central Senkaimon in 30 minutes time."
"Yes sir!"-the assembled shinigami saluted, before preparing to leave the room. Sighing, Yoshirou waited for them to leave, expecting there to be some particular stragglers. Just as he anticipated, his top three officers still remained, Kira's face showing some worry, Haneko and Tansho as emotionless as ever. Yoshirou suddenly remembered the reason why Kira was obviously disturbed, she had never been part of a major operation before, and certainly not a leading officer in such a situation. The twins were old hands so to say, the two of them having more combat and leadership experience than even he had as the Captain of their Corps. Nothing much I can do about that now, she's just going to have to learn on the run Yoshirou thought as he walked over to them. Kira looked for a second like she would try to say something, but seemingly gave up, quietly turning to walk out as he approached.
"Well Taichou, what bits haven't you told us?"-Haneko asked quietly as Kira walked out of the room, joining the hurried activity of the other squad members. Yoshirou shrugged as he said-"Does it matter too much whether you guys know what I'm up to?" "Yes." The twins bluntly said almost simultaneously, making Yoshirou cringe slightly at the condescending tone from the two older shinigami. With a quiet curse under his breath, Yoshirou said-"Alright, what do you guys want to know?" Haneko seemed to nod his approval at getting his way as Tansho said-"First off, why so many officers? We rarely put more than two officers on a mission, three if the mission is a big one, just enough to command the troops. However, not only is there ten officers, all of our best, but not a single unseated shinigami is being brought along? I don't intend to question your authority on this, it's not our place, but for what reasons are these measures required?"
Yoshirou sighed as he walked towards the wall. With a quick summoning of reiatsu, he drew some light to his finger tips as he started to move his hands before the wall, lines remaining where he traced his fingertips. As he worked, he explained-"This mission doesn't sit well for me personally, too many possibilities of what can go wrong, now…." As he continued his movements, quickly outlining a pattern that started to take shape before the assembled men. "…this nest is most likely bigger than we think, so we are going to need more and stronger men than usual to bring it down." Haneko raised an eyebrow as he realised what the massive pattern at the centre of the light display their Captain had made depicted. "What on earth could be in something that large?"-Tansho asked, Haneko answering just as soon with one word-"Gillian."
Nodding, Yoshirou said-"Got it in one, that's why I'm coming along with you guys, I know you two can handle them easily, but I don't intend to put the rest of our team at risk, so any major engagements are to be left down to me." As he turned back from the wall, his light display still hanging in the air before the wall, Yoshirou said-"Also, we have the more obvious problem." Haneko frowned as he said-"So there's a chance this might have been done by Aizen-tai…" "Aizen, correct?"-Tansho finished, covering up Haneko's slight mistake. "Yep, that's also why I'm going, out of all of us, I'm most likely to be able to adapt to any situation that may occur, anyhow I'll do another brief for the rest of the squad once we arrive in the real world, it's best if you guys keep this info all to yourself, just kit up and get ready to depart." The twins nodded curtly, with a simultaneous -"Yes sir, Taichou." As they turned to leave, Yoshirou sighed in relief. Well, I expected them to take it easily, it's going to be telling this to everyone else that's going to be troublesome Yoshirou thought as he snapped his fingers, the light display vanishing behind him as he disconnected the flow of reiatsu.
You still didn't tell them everything
They don't need to know all the details, if I did they would insist on stopping me or backing me up, either one will cause more problems.
Perhaps that's because your being too rash again, you want to do this yourself so that nobody else gets in danger, but your forgetting that you can't underestimate Aizen.
I'm not, but we don't exactly have any other choice do we? If we send more than just one squad, something else could happen. We can't involve the team stationed in the human realm at the moment, since this could also be a ploy to leave Karakura Town unguarded. My only option is to do it myself, I'll find out whatever Aizen has planned, and create havoc for the traitor while I'm at it.
(40 minutes later)
Yoshirou finally managed to get his squad to the main Senkaimon gate, barely on schedule. He had forgotten just how long it took to assemble a team for a mission, it had been almost a month since the last time he had to assemble for a mission. As he and the group with him arrived, he was surprised to see another person waiting at the gates, which were humming slowly as their power was charging. Oh crap, I should have known I wouldn't escape this Yoshirou realised as he walked towards the massive gate. Just as he had guessed, the person waiting was Soi Fon, her back turned to the arriving shinigami, obviously still annoyed at the results of the Captains meeting. Yoshirou made a quick glance over his shoulder, hoping that he could use one of his subordinates to perhaps distract her, but there was no such luck, his Vice Captain and the higher officers preparing themselves with some kind of plan further away.
Dreading what was about to come, Yoshirou walked forward, hoping that the Captain wouldn't try killing him today. As he approached, his footsteps heard by the woman, she turned her head and watched his approach. Yoshirou wondered whether it was possible now that he was more afraid of approaching this Captain than he was of taking on Aizen, but pushed the thought aside. Deciding it was best that he tried starting the conversation rather than waiting for the tirade to come, Yoshirou hesitantly said-"Well, you came to see us off then?" The Captain made a derisive sniff at his comment, replying-"Hardly, I'm here on standby instead." "Standby?"-Yoshirou asked, unsure as to what she meant.
With a quick glance at the nearby shinigami to see if they would overhear, Soi Fon said quietly-"You know that every time your left alone, you end up being nearly killed, so I requested that at least the 2nd squad were left on rapid response in case your mission takes a turn for the worse, which knowing you, it undoubtedly will." Yoshirou raised an eyebrow, asking-"Is it me or was that you being concerned?" Soi Fon glared at him in response, before saying-"You know this is a mistake, your walking straight into a trap and your acting like it doesn't matter!" Yoshirou shrugged, saying-"What other choice do I have? No other squad has experience fighting in those kind of places, all it will lead to is everyone getting butchered." Soi Fon continued to glare at him, but she didn't offer any argument against him either. "You know as well this is the only thing we can do, short of the Sou Taichou leading the squad I'm the best we have for this."-Yoshirou said finally, before turning to return to his team.
However, he stopped after he felt his arm pulled back. Surprised, he turned to Soi Fon again, and he was surprised to see her concern reflected in her eyes. He faltered slightly at seeing the expression on her face, not one that he was used to seeing at all. She looked like she was about to say something, but suddenly the Senkaimon blazed blue beside them, distracting the two Captains as it reached it's full charge. Across the way, the twin shinigami started to herd the rest of the group through the portal. With a sigh, Yoshirou said-"Look, if it relieves you in any way, I'll try to refrain from doing anything stupid while I'm on my little mission, okay?" Soi Fon hesitated for a second, before letting out a sigh, releasing his arm. Within seconds, she seemed to compose herself again, her usual smirk back on her face as she replied-"That's impossible, you were born stupid to begin with." Yoshirou laughed, feigning that he had been injured before turning to go to the portal. Soi Fon watched as he walked towards the portal, before noticing that he had suddenly stopped. As she watched, he suddenly turned, a strange, almost mischievous seeming smile on his face.
As far as the shinigami who ran the Senkaimon reported, there was a sudden intense flash of light about the Senkaimon as the Kido Corps Captain entered the Dangai world Precipice that lasted for a full five seconds, blinding everyone in the vicinity. As soon as the crew could see again, the portal had already closed, the Captain and his group having departed for the real world. At the same time, the visiting Captain, Soi Fon-taichou, went to leave the assembly area, however reports indicated that she seemed distracted and was reported be rather red in the face for completely unknown reasons.
Well here we are, effectivly my own story arc is about to begin. This is where I am going to be tested properly, most of my work was a copy off of Tite Kubo's work with my own twist to it, this story arc will be completely individualised, it features old villains we all know, as well as the odd new one that I am going to create, look forward to it!
SHINIGAMI GOLDEN CUP
Ikkaku yawned as he walked into the 11th division barracks, tired and drunk after a long day of sparring/drinking with Iba. He never understood why it felt so good to fight while drunk, but he had gotten over caring, just enjoying pummelling Iba without a care. As he walked through the main living area's, stretching his arms in front of him, he was distracted by a sight, his Vice Captain sitting strangely quiet at a table. "Fukutaichou, what are ya up ta?"-Ikkaku said suspiciously, unsure as to why the normally far too loud Vice Captain wasn't creating a mess of the place. When his question wasn't answered, he sidled over to get a look at whatever Yachiru was doing. As he loomed over the seated girl, he noticed that there was an amount of crayons spread at random points around the table, with a messy sheet of paper covered in doodles in front of the Vice Captain, her face showing intense concentration at the sheet of paper she had before her.
"Eh? What the hecks that?"-Ikkaku said as he tried to make sense of the scribbles and strange animals on the sheet of paper. However, he was suddenly surprised by a head butt to the chin, having not realised he was leaning over where she had been sitting, as she suddenly exploded from the seat, with a triumphant-"It's done!" He flew back, landing sprawled on the floor as Yachiru danced around in joy with her sheet of doodles, apparently having not noticed the critical blow she had laid her 3rd seat out with. As she continued laughing with joy, she suddenly stood on Ikkaku, suddenly stopping in confusion as she looked down at her feet. She stared down at the man on the floor as he got more and more angry, before suddenly asking-"Why are you on the floor, pachinko?"
With a roar, Ikkaku leapt up from the floor, Yachiru vanishing with a laugh as he tried to grab her. Ikkaku looked about in confusion for the girl, before suddenly having something slapped in his face. In confusion, he slowly realised he was looking at the sheet she had been messing with. "Well? Well? What do you think, Pachinko?"-Yachiru excitedly asked. Calming down a bit, Ikkaku grabbed the sheet of paper from his face, before trying to take a more clear look at it, Yachiru's eyes looking expectedly at him. He turned the sheet upside down and sideways, but no matter how he looked, he couldn't figure out what the scribbles were. He looked down at Yachiru as he asked-"What's it meant to be?" Yachiru frowned in annoyance as she shouted-"It's meant to be a sorry letter!"
Ikkaku tried reading the sheet again now he knew that, but still couldn't make any sense of it. Then what she said slowly dawned in him. Looking down at her, Ikkaku asked-"What on hell or earth did ya do that made ya guilty enough to write a sorry letter?" Yachiru looked up at the ceiling as she remembered yesterday's events.
FLASHBACK
"Yep we got him now!"-Yachiru said happily as she waived the camera at Kenpachi's head. Kenpachi grunted as he watched her out of his open eye, asking-"Ya got what ya wanted, ya happy now?" Yachiru beamed as she quickly went over the photo's she had in her head, before saying-"Yep, just got to get Wan-Wan and Byakushi and that's everyone!" Before the two of them, their target, Yoshirou, started to walk away, obviously thinking that their need for him was finished. However, Yachiru suddenly remembered what she overheard Nanao telling Kira, and she quickly cried out-"Oh no, Nana said they had to be revealing pictures!" Before the two of them, Yoshirou visibly flinched, quickly preparing to try and get away, however Kenpachi was faster, his hand reaching out to grab him before he could escape. He turned his good eye back to her again as he asked-"What do ya mean by revealing?"
Present situation
"And that's what happened!"-Yachiru finished explaining, before noticing the colour had almost drained from Ikkaku's face. "Y-Your telling me you and Taichou forcibly stripped another Captain in the middle of the street to get photo's of him? No bloody wonder your feeling guilty if ya did that!"-Ikkaku shouted back at her. Yachiru frowned as she said-"What do you mean by guilty?" Ikkaku started in surprise, before shaking his head as he explained-"When you feel bad that you did something." Yachiru remained silent for a second, before smiling as she said-"Nope, don't feel that at all!" Ikkaku just stared dumbfounded at the little girl, wondering whether she was the real devil in their midst, not their battle loving captain.
Yachiru's face changed to a sad expression as she said-"But he wont talk to me anymore now, and I like Yoshi-kun, he saved Icchi from dying after he gave Ken-chan that fun fight, I don't want him angry at me." Ikkaku looked at her with surprise at the sudden change, before shrugging, saying-"Well, you might want to try apologizing first, what ya forced him to just go through probably traumatized him, personally I'd rather die before something like that happened ta me." Yachiru nodded eagerly as she said-"That's why I wrote him that letter, so he wont be angry with me! I also got him a present!" Ikkaku raised an eyebrow as Yachiru suddenly vanished, running into a different room. Within seconds she had suddenly reappeared with an awful condition book. He took a double take as he looked at the book, realising it wasn't in awful condition from damage, it was just badly made, obviously something she had slapped together as well.
"Special photo book…."-Ikkaku read as he took the book from her hands, being careful with it for in case it fell apart. "….don't say this is all the images you just took…"-Ikkaku asked apprehensively as he watched the Vice Captain. "No, those aren't my photo's, their ones Nana-chan confiscated, so I took them!"-Yachiru said happily as Ikkaku opened the book, before his eyes nearly popped out of his eye sockets in surprise at the photo's he saw inside. He almost instantly snapped the book shut, his face blazing red from what he had just seen, before shouting-"HOW IN HELL DID YOU GET YOUR MITTS ON THESE!" Yachiru looked at him like he was stupid, before slowly repeating-"I-got-them-from-Nana-chan, stupid Pachinko" Ikkaku looked in almost fear at the book he held, wondering whether having seen the images inside had just spelt his death sentence.
Yachiru didn't notice his strange expression, instead beaming as she asked-"Well, do you think he'll like it?" Ikkaku continued to stare at the book cover for a few seconds before turning his eyes to the tiny Vice Captain. He silently handed the book back to her, causing her to look at him in confusion over his silence. After still not speaking for a few seconds, he said-"Like hell I'd know, just tell me when you plan to give it to him." Yachiru looked at him with confusion as he went to leave the room, asking-"Why?" Just before he left the room, Ikkaku said-"Cause I plan to be out of Soul Society when he see's that book."
And that's the end of this chapter, sorry but my computer is being an ass, and wont let me get rid of the italics unless i turn everything else italic so the last chunk of text is unfortunatly stuck in italics, sorry. Anyhow, seeya all whenever I managed to get the next chapter up (I wonder what the photo's are in the Golden Cup chapter...)