Chapter Twenty-Two
"What... is going on here?"
Ryohime and Vance stood at the edge of Seireitei, a peculiar feeling crawling over them that had nothing to do with reiatsu.
The walls of Seireitei were nowhere to be seen.
"I don't sense anything out of the ordinary," Vance murmured, and Ryohime silently agreed with him. They couldn't sense anything unusual, either inside or outside of Seireitei. In fact, that was part of what made Ryohime so apprehensive. What about the war that was supposed to be going on? Had Caro pulled his forces back? But the missing wall was the strangest, most immediate problem. There was no rubble, no scorch marks, nothing to indicate it had been destroyed, yet it was completely gone. Vanished, without a trace.
"No point in just standing around," Ryohime finally said, a little apprehensively. "Ready to go?"
Vance nodded, though he put a hand on the hilt of his Zanpakuto. The two Shinigami Daikos walked over the now invisible line into Seireitei, wary of traps or alarms.
Nothing happened. Their presence seemed entirely unnoticed.
"I really don't like this," said Vance, looking around. "This doesn't look or feel like we're in the middle of a war... or even under threat of war. Do you see any lookouts at all?" Ryohime had given him the basic rundown of events on the way, though she had yet to reveal his place in them.
"No..."
"Neither do I." He hesitated. "It makes me nervous."
"You're not the only one," Ryohime whispered to herself, fingering her Zanpakuto's hilt. Under her breath so Vance couldn't hear, she called for Muramasa again. Even with Vance right there she felt alone and vulnerable, and longed for the comforting presence of her Zanpakuto Spirit.
Again, he didn't answer. Her Zanpakuto felt cold and dead beneath her fingers.
"Let go to the barracks," Vance said suddenly, jumping up onto a wall. "The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better."
Ryohime nodded, jumping up next to him. They took off, hopping roads and using the street walls and roofs of buildings as their highway.
They encountered their first Shinigami a minute in, running along below them with an urgent look on his face. Ryohime hailed him, hoping he could explain what was going on, but he ignored them completely and soon disappeared down a side road.
His hurry only made the two Shinigami Daikos more desperate to get to Ichigo's office, where they were certain answers awaited. Ryohime took the lead, adjusting their course a little to cut through the Fifth Division. She'd normally avoid going through the territory of another Division, but every second seemed to matter all of a sudden.
A burst of laughter up ahead startled her, and she nearly lost her step on a loose shingle. Vance grabbed her arm and she managed to steady herself against him.
A threesome of Shinigami were lounging against one wall further up the street, passing around a bottle of sake and chatting away amiably. It seemed completely out of place, but at the same time Ryohime found herself relieved. Things couldn't be too grim after all if there was time to laze around and drink sake with friends. She hopped down into the street, Vance following, and approached the three Fifth Division.
"Excuse me? What's the state of the battle with Caro?"
None of the three paid her any attention. Ryohime scowled, but it was Vance who stalked forward, eyes narrowed, ready to force them to pay attention to them.
"Hey! We're in the middle of an emergen-"
His hand, reaching out to grab the nearest Shinigami's shoulder, passed right through the man. Vance stumbled forward from the unexpected lack of resistance and fell right through the Shinigami as if he wasn't even there.
One of the three told a joke, and the others began laughing hysterically, taking no notice of Vance lying, stunned, in their midst.
"Vance!"
Ryohime eyed the Shinigami as she ran up, reaching down to help Vance up. He took her hand, looking completely nonplussed, and carefully got to his feet.
The Shinigami continued to ignore them. Vance, as soon as he was back on his feet, waved a hand in front of one's face.
"Hello?"
No reaction at all.
"Hel-lo, big-nose. Your haircut is really lame."
Ryohime took a breath.
"I don't think they can hear us, Vance," she said, raising her voice slightly over the laughing of the Shinigami. "Or see us... or anything."
"So it seems," he said thoughtfully, flicking at Big-nose's big nose. His finger passed right through. Vance turned on Ryohime, suspicious. "I know you've been keeping something from me... is this it? Are we ghosts?" He caught himself. "Well, more ghosts then we usually are... you know what I mean."
"Not... that I know of," she replied. "Though I suppose getting caught by the Mender in the Dangai could have done any number of terrible things to us. I've just never heard of becoming incorporeal as one of the side-effects."
"Yeah, that doesn't quite sound realistic," Vance agreed gloomily. "Man, now what?! If we can't ask your dad what's going on... can't ask anyone... we're going to be left out of all of the action!"
Ryohime smiled, her mood suddenly lifted despite the new problem raising its ghastly head. "Vance... I've missed you."
Vance's gloom shifted right along with her own. "You know, you're right. It could be way worse. If I have been turned into a ghostly-ghost, at least we're ghostly together. Though I don't get why..."
"I don't get that, either," Ryohime admitted, glaring around her with Kurosaki-intensity. "The lieutenant from Second said there was a declaration of war, and then Caro pulled his first skirmish in the World of the Living back because of 'complications' or some such with the battle in Seireitei." She gestured helplessly at the three drinking Shinigami. "This doesn't look like Seireitei is at war. At all. They're not even wearing their Zanpakutos, for goodness sake!"
"Come on, we've got to get to the bottom of this ourselves. Kind of unrelated question, but..." Vance hopped up onto the street wall again. "How come I can't go through this wall?"
"Good question. Not a clue."
Vance humphed. "Dumb rules of incorporeal logic. I wonder if the Twelfth Division have researched this sort of thing... sounds like the kind of random, useless research they would have hidden in records somewhere, just in case the issue ever came up."
"And in our case, that would be very handy now," Ryohime finished for him. "It'd be worth looking into, at least, but finding out what's been happening with Caro should be our priority for now. Come on, Fourteenth isn't that much further now..."
...
The Fourteenth Division was gone.
Not even gone – it didn't exist. Instead of the compound (offices, barracks, and training grounds all tucked neatly inside the walls, and the Fourteenth's seal over the gates), there was nothing. An unused warehouse, empty streets. The same as any other forgotten corner of Seireitei.
Vance and Ryohime spread out a bit, convinced at first they had gotten the location wrong. Usually they reached their Seireitei base of operations via Senkaimon, straight from Kitsune's basement to the backyard. Of course finding it from the streets would be harder.
But it wasn't anywhere.
Finally, they gave up. They sat side by side on a wall and stared at where their Division headquarters should be, but wasn't.
"Now what?" asked Vance, and Ryohime shook her head slowly.
"I... have no idea."
It was too much. All of it. She had thought, back when she had fled desperately through the Dangai, that things were bad. But now Muramasa wasn't talking to her, they were unable to interact with anyone, and now she had no idea how to find her father.
What else can possibly go wrong?! she thought in frustration, then hastily corrected herself. Vance was there. She had that. Vance was back, and he was one of the people she trusted most in the world.
"It's like we're secret agents," he said just then, leaning back on his hands to stare at the sky. "Sneaking about, unseen and unheard, in enemy territory..."
Ryohime snorted with tense laughter. "Really? Secret agents?"
"Well, either that or lost spirits, but there's nothing interesting in that angle. That's just life as usual. Secret agents are cool."
"I don't feel very cool," Ryohime sighed, but leaned back with him to stare at the sky. It was such a natural thing – they had done this so often together – she almost thought she could sense Herald beside them, napping nearby.
Vance hmmed at the clouds. "And these clouds aren't very cool, either. Just wispy-ness. Can't make anything interesting out of wisps."
He was trying to cheer her up, and probably himself as well, but Ryohime just couldn't relax fully.
"Really, what are we going to do, though?" she asked him, and he settled down with his arms behind his head with a thoughtful sigh.
"Find a captain," he suggested. "Any captain. Follow them around. If there is information guaranteed anywhere in Soul Society, it'll be with the captains."
...
The captain was easy to find, but he was no member of the Court Divisions that Ryohime or Vance had ever seen. He lounged on the roof of some building, his uniform torn at the edges and cut low so as to expose his admittedly very manly chest. His hair was spiked and he wore an eyepatch, creating an appearance that both of them would have recognized immediately. Vance whistled in awe at the sight of him.
"That guy's scary."
"But who is he...?"
Ryohime began ticking off captains on her fingers, completely bewildered by the notion they might have been missing a captain all this time.
"Kyoraku Taichou, Soi-fon Taichou... H-something..."
"Hisagi Taichou," Vance prompted, and Ryohime nodded.
"Right, right. I've only seen him at a distance, but I don't remember him looking anything like this... big."
"Fourth is Isane, of course," continued Vance, a note of guilt entering his voice. "Fifth doesn't have a captain, and then there's the Kuchikis," ticking off three fingers in quick succession, " Shihoin, Hitsugaya, and Madarame Taichous..."
"And Urahara Taichou, Ukitaki Taichou, and my dad," Ryohime finished. She counted again. "That's everyone, and unless someone decided to go for an entirely new style... this guy isn't any of them."
"Ken-chan!"
Ryohime jumped as a tiny pink-haired being appeared abruptly on the wall right next to her, then jumped off again to land squarely on the unknown captain's chest.
"Ken-chan, wake up! Quick!"
The captain opened one eye, looking largely unconcerned. "Eh? What's going on, Yachiru?"
"Baldy and Yun-Yun got drunk and started a fight with Eyebrows! Byakki turned up and started talking about arresting everyone on the spot, and now Soi-chan and the nin-nin are showing up!"
Vance and Ryohime looked at one another with trepidation. What was the little girl babbling about? Was it some secret code? The captain, however, leapt up, teeth bared in a horrifying smile.
"Finally! And Kuchiki is involved, eh...? I've wanted to get that stinking noble to fight me for ages. Lead the way!"
The pink-haired girl, Yachiru, climbed up onto the captain's shoulder, and he charged off, grinning madly. Ryohime and Vance hastily fell in behind him, unsure what was really going on but unwilling to ignore the chance to finally find out. Ryohime noted with surprise that the number on the captain's haori was Eleven... Eleventh Division.
"Do you think something happened to Madarame Taichou?" asked Vance quietly, and Ryohime shrugged.
"Not a clue. We didn't hear anything, but I suppose it is possible for there to have been a sudden captain take-over. But I'd have thought Ayasegawa Fukutaichou would have taken over after Madarame."
There was a sudden burst of reiatsu from behind them, and Ryohime looked over her shoulder. A burst of smoke and dust was rising from the other side of Seireitei.
The captain was looking over his shoulder too, then glanced at his little companion. "Are you sure this is the right direction?"
She pouted. "Hana-hana showed me this really great shortcut through the sewers! It's this way, I'm sure of it."
"Fine, fine, sewers."
"Sewers!" exclaimed Vance happily. "I've always wanted to go sneaking about in sewers. It'll be like the intro to Void."
"Eeeh..." Ryohime was not convinced. "I don't see how this shortcut could actually work to save time. Going the wrong way to head back in the correct direction underground, when one could just... run on roofs to the site?"
Vance shrugged. "Hey, who needs logic in Seireitei? Tell you what, let's make a race of it! I'll follow Captain Mysterious and use his shortcut, and you go the direct route. If I win, you have to come down and explore the sewers with me when all this is over!"
Ryohime smiled fondly. "Fine. And if I win?"
"Besides the laws of logic continuing to exist? Eh, make something up. Something fun." Vance shot her a quick salute and turned to catch up with the Eleventh Division Captain. Ryohime snorted, turning mid-stride to head for the site of the battle.
Despite taking her a quarter of an hour to reach the place, the fight was still raging when Ryohime arrived. A dozen shadowy figures were locked in combat, reiatsu clashing and throwing every speck of debris the fighting had created into air to create a thick dust-screen. Ryohime was surprised to find that she recognized several of the reiatsus. Renji and Byakuya were somewhere in that battle, and while she couldn't quite put names to them she recognized two or three others, and all were clearly Shinigami. Why were Byakuya and Renji, the co-brothers-in-law of the noble Kuchiki Clan, fighting against fellow Shinigami..?
Of course. Caro.
A flurry of metal slivers, twinkling in the light, flew past Ryohime's face, and she jerked backwards before realizing they'd probably just go through her, like everything else. She took a deep breath, fearing her new idea was a very, very bad one, and jumped into the fight storm.
Someone was yelling, almost complaining it sounded like, and Ryohime sought out that voice first. She landed on the blasted road, slightly below the worst of the flying dust and smoke, to find two people locked blade-to-blade, standing over a smashed table and shattered cubs.
"Do you ever go to police the Rukongai? NO! And at a time when we need all hands every day. You have no place, no place!, to be lecturing me about working too hard!"
Ryohime frowned, peering at the dark-haired fighter. She knew those arm-bands... Hisagi Taichou?
But he looked... different, somehow. It wasn't only that he wasn't wearing his haori, which made him look a bit smaller and less intimidating, but his entire feel was off. It was almost as if he was...
Then Renji smashed into the ground between them, and Ryohime started. "Renji-oji-" she began, then caught herself.
Renji was one of the relatively few people Ryohime had grown up thinking of as family. She thought she should be able to recognize him instantly, at any moment, in any state, but this... this wasn't Kuchiki Renji. Sure, he looked (in some ways) and felt like her honorary uncle, but his air, his aura, was almost thuggish. His hair, shorter then Ryohime had ever seen it, was tied up in a spiky, undignified high ponytail that looked like he hadn't brushed it in years, and he, too, was missing his captain's haori. And he, too, had that strange off feeling, that feeling Ryohime couldn't quite put her finger on...
When Ayasegawa Yumichika appeared, attacking Renji just as the latter was getting to his feet, Ryohime finally figured it out. Yumichika was always changing his look in new, bizarrely "beautiful" ways, and had switched in the last few months to a new one with elaborate feathered braids. Those long peacock feathers, though... Ryohime knew those from her childhood. This was a younger Yumichika's style.
Younger.
They all looked, and felt, years younger.
Vance and she had been hit by the Mender in the Dangai, and survived. But they had not, it seemed, escaped all repercussions.
"This is the past," she murmured, horror-struck. "We've been flung back in time."