Chapter 2: Reoccurrence of the Clouds

'This meeting will now commence!' the Head Captain of the Gotei 13, Yamamoto, banged his staff, silence falling over the two lines of waiting shinigami.

'I will begin, please,' Kurotsuchi Mayuri, Twelfth Division captain, spoke in his harsh voice, he gestured wildly, almost knocking Hitsugaya out, and then he continued, 'Does anyone remember the cloud disturbances that occurred over Karakura Town a while ago?'

Kanashimi nodded, along with almost all of the other captains. The day before, a jigokucho had somehow managed to enter the Shinigami Women's Association hideout and she'd been alerted of this meeting. When she'd left, Matsumoto and Momo had still been arguing, the younger Lieutenant going so far as to accuse the older woman of 'being unnecessarily harsh on Shiro-chan even though she was just a lazy slob who relied on him to do all her work'.

'Of course,' Unohana was smiling sweetly at Mayuri, and everyone could practically see the sparks flying between them, 'Please do continue,'

'Oh I will,' baring his golden teeth fiercely, the other captain turned back to address all of the gathered shinigami, 'Now, I worked out a few things about why the clouds were moving so quickly over the Town. Firstly,' he held up a finger, 'The creatures responsible aren't shinigami, Hollows, or humans,'

Toshiro had to interrupt at this point. It was uncharacteristic of him, most definitely, but he couldn't resist. Yuki was the only one who sensed the slight change in the white haired captain's reiatsu, and she glanced at him quickly.

'May I interrupt?' Toshiro's turquoise eyes flicked to the Head Captain, briefly meeting Kanashimi's on the way, 'When we were in the World of the Living, Urahara said that same thing,'

'What?' Kurotsuchi looked purple behind his black and white make up, 'That man-,' he was absolutely livid.

'Silence please,' Yamamoto's eyes opened slightly, 'Captain Kurotsuchi, please continue,'

'Right,' shaking in fury, Mayuri tried to control himself, 'As I was saying,' he held up a second finger, 'The second thing is that a there was an attack on the Town last night,' a third finger joined the others, 'And the final thing is this,'

Everyone's eyes turned to the tiny vial the captain fished from his pocket. A misty grey substance swirled around inside it.

'What is that?' Soifon sounded deeply disturbed. The presence the vial was emitting was unlike any other the captain had encountered before.

'Reiatsu,' the Twelfth Division captain smiled menacingly again, 'When I mentioned the attack before, I didn't say that only a few buildings were destroyed and no one was injured. This reiatsu was gathered at the scene of the attack. It is the only surviving sample as all of the others just faded from inside the bottle. It's the material that this one is made of,' he waved the vial again, 'That keeps the reiatsu inside,' he trailed off but when no one asked what the material was, he huffed and continued, 'Sekki-Sekki,'

'Oh?' once again Unohana was smiling with absolute sweetness, 'And how long did it take you to work all of that out? After all, that mission was a while ago. I wonder how much information Urahara has gathered by now,'

Toshiro truly believed that the vial was going to shatter in the other captain's vice like grip, but it didn't, to his immense surprise.

'Histugaya, Kanashimi,' Yamamoto's voice rose over the sudden chaos of shouts and mutters, 'You will take that team and return to the World of the Living tomorrow,'

Unohana suddenly looked concerned, 'The celebrations?'

'Are in four days,' Kyoraku spoke lazily, as usual, 'Don't worry, they'll be back by then,' his eyes flicked to the Head Captain, 'The party does start on the Monday coming, right?'

'That is correct,' the old man spoke in a tired way, 'Now this meeting is dismissed,'

'That's still not much information,' Toshiro sighed as he walked back towards the Tenth Division, 'The only useful bit is that there was an attack last night. But he didn't say where and the reiatsu would already be gone from the site,'

'And he didn't mention the clouds again, or at least, not directly,' Yuki sounded troubled, more so than, perhaps, she should have been at this point, 'So what would we be looking for this time?'

'Who knows,' the white haired captain sighed as the path split and headed in opposite directions, 'See you at the Senkaimon tomorrow,'

'Right,' lavender eyes, hidden by an untidy fringe, were dark and wide. As Yuki walked away, she could almost sense a similar grey presence, just like the reiatsu in the vial, but she knew that it was hidden. She thought that the Soul Society would be where the attacks were going to be directed if it ever came to that.

The clouds, she thought as her Division came into view, Pressure is moving the clouds. That pressure . . .

'We're going to the World of the Living?' Matsumoto was barely restraining herself from shouting and hugging her captain, 'Yay!'

'Matsumoto,' turquoise eyes were icy cold, and the young captain's tone matched perfectly, 'The mission won't be a holiday,' he rubbed his head, 'Not this time,'

'Aww,' ignoring him entirely, Rangiku had gone back to reading her magazine, kicking her legs up onto the couch and sipping her sake.

I'm glad she's coming, glancing at his Lieutenant, Toshiro sighed deeply, If I left her in charge her alone, then-, he paused, I don't even want to think about it.

'Hey Captain,' sitting up suddenly, the look on Matsumoto's face suggested she'd just remembered something.

'Yes?' hoping that it wasn't going to give him a headache, Toshiro sat down at his desk.

'I think Hinamori wants to see you sometime,' Rangiku smiled cheerily, 'You know, she's developing a kind of fierce personality that she seems to bring out when I'm around,'

Straightening, Toshiro fixed the woman with a reprimanding stare, or maybe it was a glare, 'What were you arguing about this time?'

Giggling, the Lieutenant flapped a hand in front of her, 'You!' bursting into proper laughter, she continued, 'I said that you were sleeping instead of working, and then she got all worked up!' trying not to double over in agony as more laughter racked her frame, Rangiku added, 'She's so cute!'

'Really?' trying to block the loud sounds out, Toshiro stared hard at the blank page before him, trying to work out what he'd been about to write. The paper itself wasn't revealing any secrets, so the white haired captain sighed and cast about for something that would help him remember.

A violent flinch, something that went entirely unnoticed by Matsumoto, shook Toshiro's frame and his eyes widened.

As he stared at the wood of his desk, he thought he could see blood splattered everywhere and hear short, ragged gasps of pain. The white page began to turn a deep crimson as the liquid seeped into it. Black characters began to form on the wet red, and the words were the ones that played in his head. Those words. That meaning they held. The blood suddenly swallowed up the black, leaving no trace of Toshiro's meaning, no trace of what made his life complete. Supposedly, anyway.

Shaking uncontrollably, the white haired captain stood and left his office wordlessly, completely ignorant of Matsumoto's cry of protest as the woman watched him leave.

'Don't get hurt,' Izuru knew he sounded way too protective, especially since this was his captain, but he'd become so close to her that worrying over her health and safety just became part of his daily life, 'Make sure you eat, sleep, rest,'

Unlike with Matsumoto, Yuki let the man fuss, knowing that it was pointless to try and stop him, because he'd just go and vent his concerns to an inanimate object and then, quite possibly, he'd fall in the eyes of the Division. The Lieutenant was an anxious person, but he could lead the shinigami under herself, and him, with great skill. Most of them respected him, to a certain degree, but it needed to stay that way.

'Thank you Kira,' keeping the sigh from her tone with easy dexterity, the captain glanced at the man who was sitting at his desk, off to one side of her office.

'And!' he declared the word loudly and rather abruptly, before continuing in his normal tone, 'Make sure you come back soon,' then he nodded matter of factly.

'Yes, Kira,' the faintest hint of a smile pulled at Yuki's mouth, 'You stay in good health too,'

'Oh, yes, of course, I will! I WILL!' after he spoke, the Lieutenant immediately regretted it and his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. He didn't need people to make him look bad, he could do that quite fine by himself.

Glancing guiltily, and self-consciously, at his captain, Izuru didn't miss the humour in her violet eyes, although it was obvious she was trying hard to hide it, probably in an attempt to help him salvage his remaining pride. Relaxing again, the whole even suddenly became very comical and, before he knew it, the usually despondent shinigami was laughing hard, tears streaming from his eyes. Being unaccustomed to such an action, it wasn't long before his stomach was aching, and he looked very unstable on his chair, having already knocked the desk away slightly, sending ink and paper spilling everywhere.

The Lieutenant really couldn't believe how hard he had to try sometimes, not to laugh while in the presence of his captain. Somehow the cool, serious, and sometimes even melancholy shinigami had the strangest, and very rare, ability to make him chuckle at odd times.

'S-sorry,' he could hardly breathe, and seeing Kanashimi's slightly concerned expression only set him off again.

Consequently, when Hitsugaya Toshiro landed on the roof of the Third Division offices, the first thing he heard was the uncharacteristic sound of Kira Izuru's breathless laughter.

Author's Note:

So, a follow up of the Karakura Town clouds . . . and Izuru, well . . .