~Chapter 25~
The Hall of Records, Seireitei
The Hall of Records was quiet as usual. The candles gave off a warm glow and provided the Hall a comfortable feel while the lone occupant moved between the shelves. The days within the Hall had a strange effect of seeming to drag on forever and yet speed by in a blink of an eye. How many days had she been in the Hall; trying to find the location of Johannes' Lab? She had lost count; not even counting the meals that seem to appear at her workstation helped, especially since she tended to forget to eat in lieu of continuing to search for the Lab's location.
She let out a heavy sigh as she returned to her workstation with another set of ancient maps. It was not common knowledge, but Soul Society and the Seireitei were not always as they were known today. It grew and shrank and shifted. No one knew how or why. And since none of them knew where Johannes' Lab was in relations to current memory, Kisuke speculated that the Lab must be in an older and forgotten region of Soul Society. Ryuuken was doubtful of Kisuke's theory, but truthfully, any clue was better than none.
Placing the fragile tomes on the desk, her golden orbs casually glanced at an open book to her left. The book itself was nothing special; at least to no one other than her. The book contained the names of the living and their history, but more importantly, the book told her where those names were located. And she had the book open to one specific page; the page which bore the names of the family of her heart, the Kurosaki.
Although troubled by the fact that her dear friend's eldest child was still listed at Johannes' Lab, the dark-skinned warrior took solace that the young man was still alive. Of course, the book also revealed another name along-side the eldest Kurosaki child, but she did not place too much thought in the other name; Shirosaki Loki. Call her cruel and heartless, but she would be first to admit that no one mattered more to her than the three Kurosaki children. They were after all Isshin's children.
But when glancing at the open book, something caught her eye. She turned to the open page and read. Blood drained from her dark complexion as her eyes grew wide in horror… the girls…
Their names were in the records, twice. One set of the girls' names indicated that they were in Hueco Mundo. How and why; did not register in the warrior's mind. No; what struck a painful cord in her was that the second set of the girls' names indicated that they were in… Johannes' Lab.
Yuroichi immediately dropped everything and ran out of the Hall of Records; not caring of what or who she knocked down on the way out. Her only concern was to get to the Human World as quickly as possible.
The Kuchiki Compound, Seireitei
Renji paused in the middle of his report when he became distracted by the servants crying out in surprise. The Lieutenant looked at his Captain, whose only expression of concern was a slight downward twitch of his lips. Byakuya slowly rose to his feet. Opening a sliding door which overlooked a courtyard, the Head of the Kuchiki Clan blinked in surprise at seeing a familiar blur race by.
"Eh…" Renji uttered as he too recognized the racing blur.
"Follow her." The Captain of the Sixth Squad ordered.
Knowing he would never be able to catch up to her, Renji at least knew where the former Captain of the Second Squad was most likely running to and decided to just meet her there.
Byakuya turned away from the running pair and headed toward his family's Butterfly House. Prior to the First Captain's ascension to power, every noble House and Clan had a Butterfly House for the Hell Butterflies to be used as messenger butterflies, but the practice died out when Yamamoto became the Head of the entire Shinigami Corps. Especially when he had decreed that as Head of the Shinigami Corps, his family would donate their Hell Butterflies as messengers. The other noble Houses and Clans had praised Yamamoto for his generosity and began using only Yamamoto's Hell Butterflies. Eventually, with time the other noble Houses and Clans forgot that they once had their own Hell Butterflies.
The Kuchiki Clan was no different; they conformed to only use the First Captain's Hell Butterflies. The Clan, however, kept their Butterfly House and continued to breed and nurture their own Hell Butterflies; mostly for aesthetics because say what you will about the Clan, it was a known fact that the Kuchiki Clan was known for appreciating beauty in all things, and a Kuchiki Hell Butterfly was like a living gemstone – a beauty beyond compare.
Under normal circumstances, Byakuya would never take a risk in using his Clan's Hell Butterflies as messengers. Especially since he did not know if it was still possible, but he had to inform Shiba that something had happened. And judging from Yuroichi's mad run, Byakuya feared it was grave news.
The Shiba Compound, Seireitei
Kukaku looked at the stunning Hell Butterfly with a mix of surprise and worry. The small, delicate creature had just relayed a broken message from the Kuchiki Head. Not as verbose as one of the official Hell Butterflies, but the Shiba Clan Leader got the general gist of the message.
Something bad had happened to her long-lost cousin in the Human World.
Something bad enough to make the high and mighty nobleman to use his family Hell Butterfly as a messenger, and whatever it was, Kukaku was absolutely certain that the Sixth Captain would send his Lieutenant to investigate. Well, not without backup…
"Gunju!" She roared. She only had to wait for a few minutes before she heard her little brother bumble to her.
"Yeah…" He hesitantly answered.
"You're going to the Human World."
Karakura Town, the Human World
Gunju had barely managed to reach the Gates to the Human World before it had closed behind the pineapple redhead. The Shinigami had barely given him a glance before grabbing him the arm and took off at a neck-breaking speed. Gunju had desperately wanted to ask what was going on, but he had kept his questions to himself mostly for fear of accidently biting his own tongue off. Gunju had never traveled to the Human World, and under any other circumstances, he knew he would have been enthralled by the experience. Unfortunately, this was not any other circumstances.
The experience was also over quickly. Gunju did not know if that was normal or because pineapple-head had been running so fast.
As the pair exited out of the Gates, Gunju found himself blinded for a moment. Slowly, his vision returned and what he saw stunned him. He did not remember his mortal life; most in Soul Society did not. However, sometimes he would get a fleeting impression that he once knew this or that, and right now, standing in the middle of what appeared to be a road, Gunju can honestly say he had no impression of this… this strange and alien world.
"C'mon." The Shinigami urged, "This way."
Gunju could only follow as he took in the Human World.
The pair soon came upon a building where they can hear shouting. Gunju stood back; hesitant to follow the pineapple-head inside. After a moment or two, the young Shiba walked into the building while trying to remain in the background to the chaos unfolding before him.
Yuroichi tore through the clinic; frantically looking for the girls.
"Where are they?!" She begged as she looked around.
Kisuke and Isshin looked stunned and worried by her behavior while Ryuuken, who looked a little worse for wear, looked ready to scold her for forgetting her manners. Well, she did not give a damn. She had to find the girls. She had to know that they were safe.
"Okay, Yuroichi, calm down." Isshin approached; holding her firmly by the arms before she could flash-step and destroy his home.
"Where are they?! Are they safe?!" She begged again.
"Who?"
"The GIRLS!" The former Second Captain stressed.
The room's silence was broken by a sharp gasp. The former 10th Captain looked up to see Arabai, staring at them with wide eyes. The redhead knew of Isshin's daughters; so, he understood as to whom Yuroichi was talking about. However, there was another figure in the background, hiding in the shadows but watching nonetheless. It took Isshin less than a second to realize who the other being was. There was no denying the Shiba presence, the wild and untamable fire that every Shiba seem to have an affinity toward, which surrounded the visitor in the shadows.
"ISSHIN!" Yuroichi hissed.
"They're safe." Isshin replied.
The dark-skinned woman's body relaxed as she collapsed against her friend, who effortlessly caught her in his arms. Isshin carried her to a nearby seat, looking after her worriedly. In all his long existence, he had never seen her in such a state of panic; not even when Kisuke was exiled to the Human World or when they had thought Sosuke had betrayed their friendship or when Masaki was killed protecting Ichigo. So, to see her like this, truly worried Isshin.
"Yuroichi?" Kisuke approached with a steaming cup of tea.
"They're with Sousou, right? Tell me, they're with him!" She asked and pleaded.
"They are, but -"
"The Hall of the Records." Yuroichi interrupted Isshin, "It had their names listed twice!"
"What?!"
"How's that possible?" Isshin and Kisuke spoke over each other.
"I don't know." Yuroichi shook her head, "One set of names said they're with Sousou and the other… the other…"
"The same place where Ichigo is being held." Ryuuken's voice cut in.
Yuroichi nodded her head; her hands trembled around the warm cup of tea.
"And where's that?" The other vistor asked, drawing everyone's attention to him.
The Quincy narrowed his eyes on the stranger. Immediately, he knew that the other was not a Shinigami, but other than that, the stranger was an unknown and with everything that has happened so far… Ryuuken did not like surprises; he had the tendency to 'shot first and ask questions later', especially when it came to protecting his family.
"Who are you?" The silvery-haired man demanded.
"The name's Gunju, Whitey." The stranger answered defensively, "Who are you?"
"The man who's going to kill you." Ryuuken replied as he called forth his Qunicy Arrow.
"SHIT!" Gunju yelped as he tried to hide behind the Shinigami.
"ENOUGH!" Isshin bellowed, releasing a sliver of his aura. "We don't have the time for this! We have to figure out why my daughters' names were recorded twice, and how is it possible that they're at this Johannes' Lab when we all know that they are in Hueco Mundo?!"
"WHOW! Dude! I'm not hearin' this!" Renji suddenly shouted, placing his hands over his ears and began humming loudly.
Gunju stared at the Shinigami as the pineapple-head walked away while the others just plain ignored him. Ryuuken dis-spelled his Quincy Arrow, but his hard glare did not waver from the stranger. Although now that the silver-haired Quincy truly looked at the newcomer, he could not help but get a vague sense of familiarity about him; not a physical familiarity but more like a sense, a presence.
"I might have an idea…" Kisuke mumbled; his expression was a mix of thoughtfulness and concern. An expression that those who knew the exiled 12th Captain well, knew to be on guard and wary. "… The girls in Johannes' Lab are doppelgängers."
"What? As in gigai?" Isshin asked.
"But that shouldn't be possible." Yuroichi commented, "Gigais never registered in the Hall of Records before."
Kisuke suddenly shuffled a bit, drawing everyone's attention to the suddenly nervous blonde; even Renji's attention was drawn to the exiled Shinigami.
"What did you do?" The redhead accused.
"I may or may not have discovered a way for a gigai to be registered as a mortal within the Hall of Records…"
"Say what?!" Renji gasped.
"Enough!" Isshin ordered as second time, "The 'how' doesn't matter. It is the 'why' I'm worried about."
"To control Ichigo…" A weak voice interjected.
Everyone turned around and saw the younger Quincy, who was bracing himself against a desk. His pale complexion was even paler with droplets of sweat forming on his brow. It was obvious that just standing was taxing on the younger man.
Ryuuken immediately came to his son's side and helped him to a seat.
You shouldn't be out of bed. Ryuuken scolded in German.
I heard voices. Ishida weakly explained himself, I wanted to make sure everything was alright.
Ryuuken took a deep breathe. Masaki and his wife were like that as well. When they should be taking better care of themselves, they instead went out of their way to ensure everyone and everything was fine.
Papa… Ishida weakly whispered, wondering if he had angered his father.
"You were saying something about controlling Ichigo?" Ryuuken questioned.
"Uhm… yes…" The younger Quincy trailed off a bit, "His enemies already know what lengths Ichigo will go to, to help a friend. I mean, we did invade Soul Society to rescue Rukia… just imagine what he would do for his sisters."
"Shit…" Renji muttered what everyone just realized.
"And the girls' injuries were only bruises and scratches." Kisuke quietly inputted, "Whoever is behind this just needed a few drops of the girls' blood to create a gigai."
"A gigai good enough that it can be registered in the Hall of Records would be convincing enough for Ichigo-kun to believe that these bastards really have Karin and Yuzu." Yuroichi growled.
"Ichigo will do anything to keep his sisters safe." Isshin solemnly whispered, "We're going to have to move his friends to safe location."
"Hunh?" Renji blinked at the former 10th Captain.