Chapter 26

Whose Execution?

Alarms were howling in the Department of Research and Development. They had located an abnormality in the readings. From what Rin could tell, it was created by a dimensional gate—and not the Senkaimon.

They had also discovered foreign Reiatsu signatures which could indicate that something—or someone—had come through the gate. It was only 15 minutes since they had discovered it, but the gate had probably been opened at least an hour ago.

Everyone was working. The gate was completely gone, but they could still find traces of it. They had already sent out a team to see if there was something left of it they could use to take tests. It was unlikely, considering that the gate had been gone for almost an hour when they finally had been able to find out where exactly it had been.

Rin's team was still in the lab, working on locating whatever came out of the gate. It was an almost impossible task. If it was a person, which it most likely was, that person was very good at hiding her or his Reiatsu. They could find no trace of it.

"Why haven't anybody informed the captain!?" someone suddenly exclaimed. Rin recognized the voice as Third Seat Akon's.

"Rin!" the same voice shouted and Rin stood up. "Find Kurotsuchi-taichō or Nemu-fukutaichō and tell them about the situation! Get going!"

Rin left his work and ran towards Kurotsuchi-taichō's private lab. He opened the door. "Kurotsuchi-taichō!" he shouted. "We have a situation!"

"What?" he heard the captains voice say.

Rin explained the situation and the 12th Division's captain got up. "Why wasn't I informed earlier?!" he shouted. "Nemu!"

"Yes, Mayuri-sama," the lieutenant said and appeared beside him.

Rin followed his captain and lieutenant back to the lab, carefully keeping his distance. Rin had always considered his captain scary and didn't approach him if he didn't have to, but when Kurotsuchi-taichō was mad, he was terrifying.

"Was is all this about?" Kurotsuchi-taichō asked Akon when they arrived the lab. Rin hurried back to continue his work.

Akon gave the captain a more detailed explanation of what was going on.

"Nemu!" Kurotsuchi shouted when Akon finished.

"Yes, Mayuri-sama?"

"Send a Hell Butterfly to the Sōtaichō!" He didn't even give her the time to turn around before he shouted: "What are you waiting for?! Get going!"

"Yes, Mayuri-sama," Nemu said again and disappeared out the door. Kurotsuchi-taichō let out an annoyed sigh.

"What are you all looking at?" he said irritated when he discovered that the entire room was staring at him. "Get back to work!"

Yamamoto hit the floor with his cane. The sound echoed through the room and all of the captains went quiet. "We have intruders in Seireitei," he said. No one said a word.

He continued. "The Department of Research and Development have discovered a dimensional gate and everything indicates that someone came through. Kurotsuchi-taichō."

The captain of the 12th Division took a step forwards. "The gate opened right above the 13th Division's barracks, exactly 27,6 metres above the ground," he started. "That was around two and a half hours ago. We haven't found any traces of the intruder or intruders. It is probably a person with either extremely little Reiatsu or one who is very skilled in hiding it."

"Above the 13th Division's barracks?" Ukitake asked when Kurotsuchi finished. "I haven't heard anything."

"Perhaps you were sleeping?" Kyōraku suggested.

"Yes," Ukitake admitted. "That may be, but I still haven't heard anything about it. If any of my division members have seen or heard something suspicious, they would have told me."

"It is possible that no one neither saw nor heard anyone. Maybe this person know how to cover their tracks," Matsumoto said.

"Perhaps," Ukitake said and nodded.

"Could it have been a Shinigami?" Suí-Fēng asked. "That would explain why no one has seen anything suspicious and why we can't find any trace of whoever-it-is's Reiatsu."

"Yes, but why would a Shinigami use another gate than the Senkaimon?" Unohana said.

"Perhaps it is an exiled Shinigami?"

Yamamoto knocked the floor with his cane again and the room went quiet. "Inform the Divisions; standard procedure. We need to find that intruder," he said. "Dismissed."

Matsumoto came in to the office and Hitsugaya took a break from his work. "I assume you've heard about the Ryoka?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied.

Matsumoto nodded. "We should head out," she said. They left the office to joined their Division in the search.

"What did they say?" Hitsugaya asked, referring to the Captains' Meeting.

"There are different opinions, but most of us agree that the Ryoka has to be a skilled person to have managed to avoid being discovered," she said. "Some believe that it is Shinigami, and that's why no one has noticed."

Hitsugaya suddenly felt his throat tighten. It couldn't be…? No. It couldn't. Why would she come here? She had no reason to.

"Hey, Hitsugaya? Are you okay? Do you know something about this?" Matsumoto asked when she saw his expression.

"No," Hitsugaya replied and shook his head. "I was just thinking."

Matsumoto didn't seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary. None of them said anything more before they arrived outside.

The Division was a chaos. No one seemed to know what to do. They were running around, seemingly without any destination. Matsumoto stood up.

"Listen up everybody!" she shouted. "Team 2, 5-7 and 13 will stay here and patrol the barrack. Team 3, 8-10, 14 and 16-18 take the rest of the 10th Division's area. Hitsugaya-fukutaichō will be within this area. If you find anything or see something suspicious, report to him. The rest of you will follow me. Got it?"

"Yes, Taichō!" the 10th Division Shinigami shouted synchronously and teams disappeared each their direction. Only 20 or so Shinigami were left.

"Hitsugaya," Matsumoto said, this time only to him. "You stay here and see to that everyone do what they're supposed to do. I will take these three teams to the 13th Division and follow the Ryoka's trail from there."

"Yes, Taichō."

Matsumoto nodded. "Be careful, and see you later," she said before she left with the three teams.

'Dank', 'dank', 'dank'. "All Shinigami to their post; there is an intruder in Seireitei!" 'Dank', 'dank', 'dank'. "All Shinigami to their post; there is an intruder in Seireitei!"

The message was repeated over and over again along with something that sounded like a gongong.

When Karin first heard it, she had froze. There was only one thought in her head: I have been found out!

The alarm had stopped after a while. Shinigami were still running around, trying to get to their post. Karin, who was also running, blended in just fine. No one seemed to notice her.

"Hey you!" a voice suddenly called out.

Correction: No one has seemed to notice her, until now. Please, say it's not me, please, say it's not me! Karin begged inwardly.

A Shinigami appeared in front of her and stopped her. Damn it! Why does this always happen!

"Which Division are you in?" he asked.

"The tenth," she answered without hesitation.

The Shinigami still seemed suspicious. "Which team?" he asked.

"Team?" Karin said before thinking twice.

"Yeah, team," he repeated.

"Er, Team 4?" Karin said. Damn it, Karin! she said to herself. There's no way he'll believe you when you talk like that!

The Shinigami narrowed his eyes. "Team 4 went with Matsumoto-taichō half an hour ago," he said and grabbed the hilt of his Zanpakutō. "Who are you?"

"You don't wanna do this. Please, just let me through," Karin said calmly.

That just seemed to make it even worse and he drew his Zanpakutō. "Are you the Ryoka?" he asked angrily.

Karin drew her own Zanpakutō, and the Shinigami took it as a yes. He attacked her, but he didn't stand a chance. She blocked his attack, and before he managed to attack again, she knocked him unconscious with the flat side of her Zanpakutō.

The Shinigami fell to the ground and ceased moving. Karin cursed inwardly. Now they would know that she had been here. She left before other Shinigami would get the time to reach her.

She just managed to get away before a pair of Shinigami showed up. She was about to leave when something caught her attention.

"Look! It's Sixth Seat Higa!" one of them shouted, a boy. "We got to tell Hitsugaya-fukutaichō!"

Karin froze when she heard the name. Carefully not to be seen, she moved closer to the pair.

"Is he alive?" a girl's voice asked worried.

"Yeah! He's just unconscious."

"You take him to the 4th and I'll tell Hitsugaya-fukutaichō!"

The boy picked up the Shinigami she had knocked out and left. The girl went the other direction.

Karin remained at the spot, unsure what to think. Hitsugaya-fukutaichō? That had to be Tōshirō. It couldn't be anyone else. But wasn't he getting executed?

Se hadn't heard wrong. They had said his name twice; there was no way she could have missed it. Could it be that it wasn't Tōshirō's execution? Then whose was it?

A/N: Sorry I wasn't able to publish yesterday! I'm having a writer's block and the story just won't cooperate. I know what I want to happen, I just don't know how to make it happen or in which order.

Also, who do you think should fight? There will be some fights, but I haven't decided between who. I would love to hear you opinion!