Hello! This chapter took a bit of work to get done, the deeper into the story we go, the more I need to carefully plan out the chapters. Would,nt want to accidently slip up and spoil the mystery ^_^ Thankyou again to all my reviewers, cant believe I'm at 80 reviews :D I have the next few chapters mapped out and hopefully I should still be able to update regularly. Happy Reading!
Someone To Lean On Chapter 21
The next day around noon Ukitake was making his way towards the Eighth division along with Hitsugaya and Matsumoto who were walking a little ahead of him hand in hand. Ukitake was walking at a slightly slower pace mindful of his aching chest. When he had woken up that morning his chest felt tight and he felt a little light headed. He recognized the symptoms well and as long as he didn't over exert himself and took it easy, his illness shouldn't flare up too bad.
The plan for today was to collect Shunsui and Nanao then all head over to the central library together. They had collected quite a bit of evidence between them, now it was time to lay it all out before them and try to make sense of it. He could hear the hell butterfly Rangiku had found on top of his bookcase rattling around inside the tin in his haori pocket, trying to find freedom. He didn't have chance to look at it before Shunsui had put it in the tin, but from what he told him it was a different type of butterfly then the standard issued one. The fact that it was planted in his office made it suspicious.
He stopped walking when he felt a twinge in his chest but managed to stifle any cough that may have tried to escape. Carrying on with the walk he rounded the corner of the walkway that led to the Eighths main office and nearly bumped into Hitsugaya and Matsumoto who had stopped when they saw he was no longer behind them.
"Ukitake are you OK?" Hitsugaya questioned.
"I'm fine thank you Toushiro" he smiled at Hitsugaya hoping that his face wasn't looking pale and giving him away. The young Captain gave him a long look before turning on his heel to walk the last few steps to the office.
When he had moved ahead a bit Matsumoto linked her arm through Ukitake's and walked the rest of the way with him, humming happily. Hitsugaya had reached the open office door and was stood at the threshold frozen, his white hair a stark contrast to his ears and neck that had turned crimson.
Ukitake shared a look with Matsumoto both arching an eyebrow, before coming up behind Hitsugaya and peeping in the open doorway. The source of Hitsugaya's embarrassment was quickly apparent. Shunsui had perched Nanao on the edge of her desk, he was leaning heavily into her and her arms were wrapped around his neck and shoulders in a tight embrace. One of Shunsui's arms was wrapped around Nanao's waist pulling her closer to him. His fingers from his spare hand intertwined in her hair which had come loose from the hair clip she always wore. Ukitake felt the heat rise to his face seeing Shunsui and Nanao sharing such a passionate kiss and felt guilty at interrupting them, however certain matters required their attention.
So with a quick and well practised clearing of his throat he gained the pairs attention, they both froze when they heard him and snapped their heads in his direction. Shunsui looked annoyed at being interrupted, while Nanao looked like a deer caught in headlights, blushing furiously. She quickly recovered and dropped her hands from Shunsui's shoulders and placed them against his chest. With one big push, she shoved him away from her and he fell with a thump to the wooden floor.
"So mean my lovely Nanao-chan" Kyouraku pouted from the floor "Juu why did you have to interrupt like that? It was getting to the good part!"
Right on cue a thick, heavy book that was sat on Nanao's desk flew across the room hitting Kyouraku squarely in his face "This is exactly why I wont allow our private life into the office Captain!" Nanao slid off the edge of the desk glaring at Kyouraku her eyes flashing in anger.
"My lovely Nanao-chan, you didn't complain so much yesterday" Kyouraku countered with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Ukitake interrupted them before the argument he saw brewing before his eyes could kick off "Shunsui we,ll meet you at the library OK."
With that said Ukitake beat a hasty retreat with an embarrassed Hitsugaya and a grinning Matsumoto in tow.
An hour later Hitsugaya was following Kyouraku, who was leading them all through an unfamiliar section of the central library. The library housed the entire history and knowledge of the Seireitei. Any type of information that ever existed could be found somewhere in here preserved perfectly. Whether it was a book or a data file on the computer system it would be stored here somewhere amongst the many, many shelves and bookcases.
"I still think its a bad idea to be discussing the investigation in a public place like this" Hitsugaya huffed.
Kyouraku looked over his shoulder at him and grinned "Don't worry kiddo, Juu and myself have decided to let you and Rangiku in on one of our oldest secrets."
Hitsugaya arched an eyebrow, curiosity plastered across his features.
Ukitake who had been walking behind Hitsugaya rested his hand on Hitsugaya's shoulder "You,ll see soon enough, its just around this next corner."
They rounded the corner and walked down a narrow walkway with tall bookcases lining the sides. Hitsugaya could tell this section of the library rarely had visitors, the shelves on either side of him were covered with a thick coating of dust, and the air here was musty and stale. A few of the lamps mounted on the walls were not working, throwing sections into long dark shadows. It felt claustrophobic and abandoned, like time itself had forgotten about this place. Hitsugaya was wondering why no one had chosen to come down here for so long, and what type of books were housed in this part of the library.
Hitsugaya walked into Kyouraku's back when the tall man decided to stop abruptly with out warning, causing him to rebound off him and loose his footing. He bumped into a bookcase, which sent a thick cloud of dust into the air. Ukitake who had been behind him this whole time clamped his hand over his mouth as the dust he breathed in triggered a violent coughing fit.
"Juu are you OK buddy?" Kyouraku asked.
When the coughing fit died down Ukitake took a few deep breaths "I'm fine" he waved their concerns away not wanting to worry any of them.
"Why did you stop like that?" Hitsugaya sighed.
"Because Hitsugaya-kun, we have arrived" Kyouraku grinned down at him.
"A dead end?" Hitsugaya stepped around Kyouraku to have a look, and was surprised to see that the bookcase marking the end of the walkway was the only one in this abandoned part of the library that wasn't thick with dust.
Curious he stepped forward and ran a hand over the spines of the books all neatly stored together, he selected a book at random and pulled it out, his eyes widened when he realised what it was "These are children's books. Who would have thought something like this would actually be stored in this library" he flipped the book over to look at the front cover.
"Yare Hitsugaya-kun, last time I checked not a single Shinigami has a kid in the Seireitei" Kyouraku answered.
"Take a closer look Toushiro" Ukitake prompted smiling at him.
Hitsugaya looked at the book and blinked. No way. He pulled another book out at random. This one two? He pulled each book out in turn looking at the name of the author. When he had seen every book on the case he looked up to see Ukitake beaming at him. Matsumoto was looking confused while Kyouraku and Nanao both seemed to be in the know already.
"Ukitake, you wrote all of these children's stories?" he finally asked in disbelief. Matsumoto came up behind him looking over his shoulder.
"Yes Toushiro I did, many years ago now" Ukitake was standing beside them now.
"Its a shame there are no children to read these" Rangiku pondered aloud.
"Maybe one day that will change and I will be an uncle" Ukitake glanced momentarily towards Shunsui and Nanao "Or maybe a grandfather" Matsumoto's eyes lit up when she realised what Ukitake was hinting at.
"Anyway" Kyouraku said moving forward halting that particular topic before Nanao and Rangiku could get any ideas "There is more to this bookcase then Juu's collection" he pulled his Zanpakuto from his waist and placed the butt of the hilt against the bookcase, in a small indentation that Hitsugaya only just noticed was there.
The outline of Kyouraku's sword glowed pink, and in the blink of an eye the bookcase vanished revealing a thick steel door that had been concealed using a special type of kido "Once either Juu or myself invite you in here, you will always be welcome to return here kiddo, your sword is the key to unlock the room" he motioned for them to enter and followed them in closing the door behind him.
"This has been our secret for centuries Toushiro" Ukitake pressed a button and lights began to flick on around the room, revealing what could only be described as a considerably smaller version of the Daireishokairo that was found deep in the lower levels of the central 46 "Shunsui and myself are the sole guardians of this highly classified location. If central 46 even caught wind that it existed" Ukitake trailed off he didn't even need to say what would happen if anyone caught wind of this place.
"Other then us five here, only old man Yamamoto knows of its existence. If that freak Kurotsuchi knew of this place he would have a heart attack, his database has nothing on ours, as far as top secret data goes" Kyouraku was guiding them over to a corner where a few comfy chairs had been placed around a low table "So tell me Toushiro, is this still too public for you?" he asked winking at him.
Once the five of them were seated around the low table Kyouraku wasted no time and went straight to business "Toushiro can you tell us everything that happened to you that night."
Ukitake who had been watching Hitsugaya closely saw the same brief flash of emotion cross his face just like the previous night, before the young Captain quickly schooled his features into his calm mask. It seemed nobody else noticed it.
After a long moment of silence Hitsugaya spoke up "I'm still trying to get my head around what happened, but I can tell you it was one of Kurotsuchi's experiments" his eyes went oddly unfocused Ukitake noticed as he fell into silence again, he was about to prompt him for more information when Hitsugaya turned to Kyouraku "You mentioned that you found some evidence?"
"We sure did" Kyouraku got to his feet and went over to the far wall. He placed his hand over it and a panel slid away revealing a hidden storage cupboard, he grabbed the bag which the items were stored in, and brought it over to the table.
"Firstly this is the mask Juu recovered from your office" he pulled the mask out of the bag and placed it down on the table "And this is the one that you trapped inside the ice column" He held up two pieces of the mask, it had been split down the middle "As you can see, they are both identical" he then placed the two halves next to the first mask.
"Secondly, Ran-chan found your soul phone" he placed the smashed up remains on the table too "We found this little device with the mask, its so tiny we could have easily missed it" the small device was barely the size of his little finger nail.
"And finally" Kyouraku was digging down to the bottom of the bag "This" he produced a tiny see through orb and placed it down on the table with the rest of the stuff "And lets not forget the hell butterfly from your office Juu."
Ukitake pulled the tin out of his pocket and handed it to Kyouraku who opened it carefully and pulled out the hell butterfly to examine it closer. He had only been looking at it for a few seconds before he dropped it to the floor and stamped on it.
Kyouraku looked up when he heard both Matsumoto and Nanao gasp and saw the shocked expression on their faces "Relax, it wasn't a real hell butterfly" he bent down and picked up the pieces and placed them on the table "See, it was artificial and if I'm not mistaken this is a Special Ops hell butterfly."
"How are Special Ops butterflies different from regular ones?" Nanao asked curious.
"Well, as you can see they are artificially made, other then that I couldn't say. Captain Soifon has always kept the Stealth Force and their workings secret" Kyouraku replied.
Silence fell in the room, Matsumoto was looking at the broken mask putting the two pieces together frowning. Suddenly her eyes lit up and she lunged forward reaching over the table for the small device, drawing everyone's gaze to her.
"Ha! It fits" she declared after a few more minutes of fiddling with the mask.
"What have you got there Ran" Hitsugaya asked leaning over to her.
"That little device fits perfectly into this little indentation near the D" she held it up so everyone else could see.
Ukitake straightened up in his seat and grabbed the other mask. He ran his finger over the letter D and found where the indentation was "This one is the same, its a lens of some sort. See?" he turned it around to show them "I noticed it before back in the office."
Kyouraku sorted through the parts of the butterfly he crushed and fished out another similar device. Although he was looking at it his eyes were far away and distant, lost in thought.
"Shunsui, think back to that meeting when we learned of the stolen experiments" Ukitake had risen to his feet pacing "Didn't Soifon mention that a crate of Special Ops butterflies had been misplaced?"
"Yes she did" Kyouraku replied absent mindedly "And your thinking the same thing as me Juu. They don't seem so 'misplaced' now."
"Which leads to more questions" Ukitake sighed "Were the masks created with the lens already inbuilt, or is it a recent modification by the person who stole the experiments."
"If its the latter then its safe to assume they stole the entire crate of butterflies too, which creates an even bigger problem just what do these things do, and how else are they being used?" Kyouraku rubbed his chin absent-mindedly while thinking "We found this in your office, is someone trying to spy on you? I cant see it being an accident."
The two older Captains fell silent both lost in their own thoughts, Matsumoto was reclining back in her chair with her eyes closed, while Nanao disappeared into another room to make tea. Hitsugaya was sat running the glass orb through his fingers trying to make sense of the strange object.
"What do you suppose this thing is for?" Hitsugaya spoke up, the glass orb cradled in his hands.
Ukitake was sat down slouching into his chair, his elbow propped up on the arm rest leaning his cheek on his hand. He was only half listening to the flow of conversation around him. It was very easy to lose track of time when ever they entered this place, by his estimate they had been here close to five hours already. He was feeling the need to get out of this stuffy chamber, his chest was feeling noticeably tighter and every now and then a wave of dizziness washed over him, making his vision blur.
They all decided long ago that it would be for the best if Shunsui went to the twelfth to see if he could squeeze more information out of Kurotsuchi regarding the experiments. Shunsui said he had a hunch that the insane Captain knew more about what was happening then he originally let on.
At the moment Shunsui and Toushiro were discussing the hell butterflies again. He closed his eyes briefly as he felt the room sway, he heard Shunsui call his name and as he opened his eyes, he felt the familiar hitch in his chest as a cough tried to escape. He tried to hold in a little air to suppress the coughing, which would work for now. He patted the top of his chest, which was feeling tighter than before.
Both Shunsui and Toushiro were gazing at him, so he forced his warmest smile to his face, hoping they would be non the wiser. Thankfully the light in the room was dim enough to help mask his paling face.
"Juu, Hitsugaya-kun has suggested making enquiries at the second, see if we can find out exactly what the butterflies do and what this device is."
"Sounds like a plan" he replied. There was an irritation in his throat that made him cough lightly. He was suddenly aware of the heat in the room, it felt stifling "Any ideas on what that orb may be?"
"Nothing concrete, but Nanao ventured a guess that its some kind of object you pour spirit energy into, or maybe its used to hold a store of kido" Shunsui was staring intently at him now "She thinks she may have read about something similar before."
He tried to reply, but something caught in his chest, the cough he tried to suppress earlier forced its way out. He coughed harshly into his right hand, his lungs straining under pressure in his aching chest.
"Juu!" Shunsui crouched down in front of his chair "Are you feeling OK?"
"Maybe its time we called it a day, we have been in here awhile, the air is kinda stuffy in here" Toushiro said frowning.
He held up a hand "I'm fine, really" he cleared his throat "Toushiro's right, I'm just ready for some fresher air."
Twenty minutes later they stepped out of the Central library and each headed off to their separate destinations. Kyouraku and Nanao headed for the twelfth while Hitsugaya and Matsumoto set off for the second division promising to stop by the thirteenth once they had finished gathering information. Ukitake started his slow stroll back to his own division, breathing slow and steadily trying to ignore the chill running over his skin.
Outside the main entrance to the twelfth division, Kyouraku halted before entering and turned to Nanao "Can you do me a favour Nanao-chan?"
Nanao quirked an eyebrow annoyed at the nickname "Captain?"
"I don't expect for one minute that Kurotsuchi will cooperate with me, therefore while I'm busy trying to get information out of him, he will be distracted. Can you try and find anything out you can from his subordinates, do a bit of digging around if you can" Kyouraku requested, not wanting it to sound like an order.
"I will try Captain" Nanao adjusted her glasses then walked through the main entrance at a brisk pace, a woman on a mission. Kyouraku couldn't help smiling to himself.
It didn't take him long to navigate his way to Kurotsuchi's private research lab that served as his office. He slid the metal door aside and swept his gaze around the room which appeared deserted "Hello is anyone home?"
He could feel Kurotsuchi's presence nearby on the other side of the room, seems the clown faced Captain was ignoring him in the hopes that he would go away. Yes Kyouraku sighed inwardly Kurotsuchi was going to play difficult. Never mind though, two can play that game.
"Looks like no-ones here" he said aloud while stepping into the room. Walking past a few bookshelves that lined the walls, he approached a control panel that sat opposite to the door. He made to touch the control panel "Well if that's the case then, I will just..."
"I don't recall inviting you to come in" the rusty voice of Kurotsuchi spoke up from somewhere in the gloom.
Kyouraku grumbled to himself, that got his attention. Peering over his shoulder he saw Kurotsuchi swivel around in his chair, his arms folded across his chest glaring at him.
"I'm surprised to find Captain Kyouraku creeping around acting like a common criminal" Kurotsuchi said gold eyes narrowed in annoyance.
Kyouraku turned around fully to face him "I thought I was acting like an exceptional thief" he raised his right hand to rest it on the brim of his straw hat.
"Why don't you tell me exactly what it is that you want" Kurotsuchi's face lacked any emotion, however his eyes held a deep hatred for Kyouraku "I may not look like it, but I'm very busy right now."
"I've been doing a bit of investigating and I was hoping you could provide me with a bit of additional data" he replied stepping forward a few steps.
"Really... What sort of data?" Kurotsuchi snapped back.
"Data regarding your stolen experiments, surely you must have some information stored away concerning them" Kyouraku replied with a neutral face and an even voice.
"Of course I do" Kurotsuchi screeched "However it wont help you out. All the information I have stored on them, you already know about."
"Well then, since its data I already know about, then it shouldn't be a problem to let me access it. Right?"
"I decide what is a problem and what isn't" Kurotsuchi replied dryly "Seems to me as a Captain of another squad, your overstepping your authority to even be here in the first place."
Kyouraku grumbled under his breath, looks like he was going to have to appeal to Kurotsuchi's ego "But that's the very reason why I came to see you" he replied in his easy manner "Who better to come to then the Captain of the department of research and development, as well as the greatest mind in the Seireitei. Am I right?"
"If you want to access our data, I'm afraid you will have to go through the proper channels like everyone else" Kurotsuchi replied stubbornly.
Kyouraku sighed he was getting nowhere "If I did that it could take a good three months" he kept his gaze levelled on Kurotsuchi. He could feel a faint pressure hovering just outside the door in the hallway, the person had been there sometime now. He was fairly sure he knew who it was listening in. He did a quick scan and picked out Nanao's pressure somewhere near the main work area some floors below.
"That's true" Kurotsuchi continued on with his screeching voice that reminded Shunsui of rusty hinges "I know data such as this may seem trivial, but you must understand. If everyone neglected to go through the proper channels, my position would lose all meaning and authority" he finished with a cold look on his face.
"So... I take it your not giving me the data?" Kyouraku said nonplussed.
"I'm afraid not" Kurotsuchi replied adamant.
Kyouraku lowered his hat, hiding his eyes muttering under his breath "I hope you burn" He noticed that the pressure which had been hovering outside the door had moved away and was heading down the hallway.
"Huh? Did you say something?" Kurotsuchi snapped irritated.
"No! Nothing at all!" he replied breezily, turning to leave. He had only taken a few steps when he paused and looked back over his shoulder "Oh by the way. I made up that nonsense about you having the greatest mind."
"Hmm?" Kurotsuchi narrowed his eyes.
"There are some nasty rumours about you though, but I guess if you want to find out more about them. I'm afraid you,ll have to go through the proper channels" he replied patronizingly before turning away and walking out the door.
He could hear Kurotsuchi's tirade as he walked down the hallway, he could pick out individual words like 'rude' and 'arrogant' causing the smirk on his face to grow into a large grin. Although he didn't get the information he needed, it did help him confirm his suspicions that Kurotsuchi was hiding something. The fact that he managed to wind him up in the process was an added bonus.
Some minutes later he was back on the ground floor, he could feel Nanao's pressure close by. He swept around the corner and saw her peeping into a doorway, with her back to him. He clamped down tightly on his own pressure and padded lightly over to her not making a sound. He stopped when he was right behind her and leant forward to whisper in her ear "What are you looking at Nanao-chan?"
He was delighted when she jumped violently and heard a small yelp escape her lips. She spun around flustered, eyes wide open and cheeks reddening "Captain!" she glared at him.
"Was my naughty little Nanao-chan doing something she shouldn't be doing?" he asked grinning. He reached behind her and closed the door to, then wrapped his arm around her shoulders and started guiding her down the hallway towards the exit "So did you manage to dig anything up?"
"No Captain, They either didn't know anything, or they would inform me that they didn't have the authority to answer my questions. How about you, any luck?"
"I got nothing, Kurotsuchi was being the usual stubborn bastard that he is. However it proves to me that he's hiding something."
Nanao was about to reply but held her tongue when a doorway they just passed by opened. She paused in her tracks when she felt someone grab her wrist. Kyouraku stopped walking when he felt her resistance and turned to see Nemu in the open doorway. Nemu looked both ways down the hallway then beckoned them both to enter the room.
"Captain Kyouraku" she greeted in an emotionless voice.
"Lieutenant" he acknowledge tipping his hat to her "I assume that presence I felt outside of Kurotsuchi's lab was you. Am I correct?"
"That would be correct Sir" she replied bowing "I really shouldn't be doing this, if Mayuri-sama finds out he will be furious."
"Doing what?" Kyouraku questioned.
She turned away from them and picked up a medium sized square box and placed it in Kyouraku's arms, then extracted a disk from inside her robes and handed it to Nanao "Mayuri-sama has kept it very quiet, but in the last few weeks several other items have been stolen. There is a full list on that disk of what's gone missing, also I downloaded the data regarding the Dummy Arrancars that my Captain was reluctant to give to you. The data is quite extensive and goes into great detail on how to pilot and control the Dummy Arrancars."
"Thank you Lieutenant this will be a great help indeed" Kyouraku replied gratefully "Can you tell me what the deal is with this box?"
"Its a Dummy Hollow that we supply the academy with, it works on similar grounds to the Dummy Arrancars . It should help you understand better" she bowed to them again "Now I must insist that you leave immediately, I need to get back to the lab."
After thanking Nemu again they departed from the twelfth, after a quick scan showed that Hitsugaya and Matsumoto had finished with their business at the second and was already back with Ukitake, they too headed in the direction of the thirteenth.