Chapter 8.
"Asagi? Baka, baka, baka..." Kensei muttered, waving around her.
Once the compression point was in place, he took out his talkie and called his lieutenant:
Hisagi speaking."
"Hisagi! Send me a medical team, now!"
"H-Hai! Taicho where are you?"
"North sector, a shed with the roof collapsed. Quickly!"
"Hai, right away!"
Once the call was cut, he put the talkie down and focused on Asagi.
"It hurts" she huffed while reaching for her wound.
"I know" Kensei replied sharply.
She painfully opened her eyes and sought his gaze. "Sorry."
He made a big effort not to yell at her and tell her how stupid, unconscious and completely crazy she had been for doing something like that.
"Baka, don't speak. You're going to make your injury worse."
"Sorry."
He sighed. Exasperation? He didn't really know anymore. "The medical team won't be long, so hold on."
He saw her grit her teeth. She had obviously paled. The blood loss was weakening, but his haori was completely soaked now. She was breathing harder. He saw her hands twitch and her brow furrow.
He didn't know what to say to reassure her so he just put one of her locks back in place. Then he repeated the gesture over and over again. He ended up sliding the palm of his hand over her forehead and cheek. He couldn't feel her skin because of his mittens, but his gesture betrayed tenderness.
"Asagi" he breathed. "Don't die..."
Your students are going to need you... Not to mention that we both have a rendez-vous...
"Asagi?"
She had no reaction to his call. He took her pulse. It was weak but present.
What the fuck are they doing?!
He pressed the wound a little harder to limit the loss of blood. He suspected that she might have passed out from the pain and he blamed himself for causing her even more. He growled in frustration.
Damn… If I had known what you were up to, I would never have let you do it...
"Mugurama-Taicho?" a voice called.
"Finally! This way! Hurry up!"
Four shinigamis followed by Hisagi landed in front of him. They immediately took care of Asagi.
"Taicho, are you okay?"
Kensei had stood up. He just nodded without taking his eyes off Asagi.
"Once stabilized, we can bring her back to Soul Society" Hisagi said quietly.
"Hai" Kensei replied.
He did not take his eyes off the medical team. He was aware of putting pressure on them but he didn't care. He had managed to keep her alive so far so he had no doubt that they would manage to heal her. He was more worried about the future. Unable to help Asagi any more, he asked Hisagi what was the current situation.
"Mashiro secured a passage to Senkaimon for students deprived of reiatsu and their teacher. It's like escorting humans to Soul Society. The 12th Division is already looking for a way to unlock their reiatsu. They hope it's not permanent..."
"Good" Kensei replied.
"The 4th division is in the process of repatriating the bodies" the lieutenant added lower.
This time Kensei said nothing but shook his head.
"Muguruma-Taicho?" one of the fourth shinigami called. "We have stabilized her, with your permission we will bring her back to Soul Society directly to our district."
"Hai, I'll take care of opening a portal for you."
The medical team transferred Asagi's body to a stretcher and lifted her very carefully. One of them was holding an IV over the stretcher.
Seeing her as the team entered the portal, his heart sank. These were the kind of emotions he was able to contain in normal times, especially in the middle of a fight. But now that the pressure was off and all threats had been removed, he was blaming it.
Fuck ...
He picked up his haori, which dripped blood through his hands. His mittens had not been spared either. He took them off.
By his side, Hisagi waited patiently. This intervention in the real world and especially those circumstances did not bring back good memories to him... Moreover, to see his superior and model so "lost ?" did not raise his spirits. However, he had to keep his professionalism in all circumstances. His moods would wait.
"Taicho? We should go back to the extraction point, see if everything is in order before we return to Soul Society."
His intervention had the merit of bringing Kensei out of his thoughts.
"Hai. There's no point in staying here any longer anyway. Let's go."
They arrived on the roof with a few shunpo steps. Isamu Nobu was still there. He kept the gate open. Even with the growing darkness, Kensei saw that he had turned pale. He was livid now and when Kensei noticed the body bags on the side, he understood why. He rubbed the back of his head.
When Isamu noticed the captain's return, he called him. Kensei walked over to him.
"Muguruma-Taicho! You're back."
Not seeing his colleague, he was immediately alarmed.
"I can't see Asagi, is she..."
"No" he reassured him. "But I don't have any good news."
He paused to choose his words carefully.
"She was seriously injured. The medical team brought her back with them to the 4th."
Isamu ran a hand over his face.
"What a nightmare" he breathed while laying his eyes on the last body. "How am I going to announce this to the families?" he wondered to himself.
Kensei could only understand that... As captain he made a point of announce himself to the family the death of a member of his division. It was never pleasant, but he didn't want to someone else do it.
With a compassionate gesture, he put his hand on the teacher's shoulder and asked him to leave with the last body. He then went to see the members of his division for a debriefing. All the shinigami there looked grim.
Kensei asked them not to drag on too long in their search for clues about the appearance of the hollow. But not having found much convincing, they were relieved by a team of the 12th division. Kensei called in a new team from his division to supervise all these people, and it was only late in the evening that he returned to Soul Society.
Once he crossed the Senkaimon, he immediately headed for the 4th Division. There, he inquired about Asagi and the students from Lieutenant Kotetsu. She replied that their condition was still unstable without elaborating too much.
A not enough suitable answer for Kensei. The gravity of the situation added to the fatigue overcame the little patience he was normally capable of. He got carried away:
"I ask you how they are! If they're still alive and if they're going to stay that way. So spare me your indulgence and be direct!"
"Muguruma-Taicho! You are in a hospital so please stay calm. Getting angry is no use. Their condition is critical and I cannot tell you anything more."
"In this case I just have to go and see for myself!"
He began to force the passage, and the lieutenant of the 4th division, as best as she could, stopped him entering the wing dedicated to emergency treatment.
"Lieutenant Kotetsu, I swear to you that if you don't let me pass immediately I will..."
"What are you going to do Kensei?" a male voice cut him off.
Turning around, Kensei saw Shinji staring at him sternly.
"Kotetsu-Fukutaicho, you can go back to your patients. I'll take care of that idiot."
As the lieutenant watched, Shinji found himself against the wall, Kensei lifting him by the collar. She was going to intervene but Shinji dissuaded her so she slipped away.
"Shinji, it's not for you to..."
"That's enough Kensei. You prevent the 4th division from treating these students and their teacher. So unless Komorebi-san's life matters less to you than I thought..."
At the mention of Asagi, Kensei lost control.
"Damn I forbid you to..."
"So let the 4th division do its job!"
The remark and the tone in which it had been said took Kensei by surprise. Shinji dropped and readjusted the top of his uniform. Meanwhile the captain of the 9th had gone to sit in one of the chairs nearby. He was fuming but the pressure had gone down.
Shinji slumped down in the nearby armchair and crossed his legs. He waited for Kensei to start getting his mind off his chest. He had learned over time that his friend didn't like to be given big analyzes and that it was better to wait for him to initiate the conversation himself. Kensei was never speaking lightly, it had the merit of improving situations like this faster. Shinji knew how to recognize his friend's guilt and how to deal with it.
"Damn, I should have stopped her."
Shinji raised an eyebrow in his direction. He wanted more explanation.
"She got herself impaled by this hollow."
The captain of the 5th Division could not hide his astonishment.
"What a stupid idea..." he breathed looking at his hands.
He remembered too well his efforts to limit the bleeding. Besides, he still had not cleaned his hands and blood was still present. Asagi's blood... He began to rub them to remove the red marks.
Beside him, Shinji still hadn't said anything. He watched his friend trying to clean his hands, knowing all too well what those red spots meant. But after a while he stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"I doubt our presence here will be of much use at the moment, so we should get back to your division. I'll ask for you to be notified as soon as anything is new "Shinji said while standing up.
He saw Kensei scowl and expected another outburst of anger but nothing came. Kensei just nodded.
"Understood" he breathed resigned.
Before leaving they made a stop at the toilets where Kensei could wash his hands.
Once outside, the two captains walked side by side until the 9th. The cool air did Kensei a lot of good.
Not seeing what else they could have talked about, Shinji started the conversation.
"I heard it was an arrancar that attacked the students."
"An arrancar? No, it was only an adjuchas, but that bastard really gave us a hard time."
"So how did he manage to..."
Kensei didn't need him to finish his sentence to understand where he was going.
"He had blades for his arms. Not to mention his fucking power of hypnosis" Kensei snapped.
"Hypnosis? But no one has ever seen a hollow able to..."
"This bastard fed of shinigami's soul. This is how he acquired his powers. Damn I wonder how we could have missed something like this!"
Shinji was silent for a moment.
"Tomorrow I will go and ask the 6th and their investigation services if they have registered any recent disappearances. Especially a shinigami with an illusion-type zanpakuto, which could explain this power of hypnosis."
They walked in silence until Kensei stopped.
"Oï Shinji" he called. "How do you know her name?"
Shinji pretended not to understand.
"Her name? Who?"
"Asagi. Where do you know her from?"
Shinji hurried to find a good excuse, but nothing came.
"Well..."
When he saw Kensei cross his arms and his gaze getting dark, he knew he was screwed.
"Mashiro came to us saying that you had found yourself a girlfriend, so I nosed around a bit."
"Tss! This girl is too talkative for her own good" he mumbled. "I'm going to kill her."
"Humpf. You know very well that nothing can be hidden from her" Shinji reminded him.
"Yeah. But for once, I wish I had kept that to myself."
Shinji stared at him.
"Wow, is that this serious?" he breathed.
Kensei just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know himself. He just wanted to keep it private for a while.
They resumed their walk.
Shinji hesitated to reopen the conversation several times. He had researched this Komorebi and some things intrigued him, including her transfer. But telling Kensei about it might not have been a good idea given the circumstances. So he said nothing and walked his friend back to his division.
The night would be short for Kensei. But it wasn't a bad thing for the moment... The management of the reports and the making of his own may prevent him from thinking too much about Asagi's state in the quarters of the 4th. Not to mention that he had the paperwork from this afternoon to catch up... He was also going to have to find a good excuse for the Soutaicho for the fact that he had left before he had received the formal order, not to mention the fact that he had ruined his haori even though the Soutaicho gives an obsessive importance to it.
"Shitty day" he commented.
The door to his office opened. Hisagi entered.
"Taicho?"
He seemed surprised to see him in his own office...
"Hisagi. What are you doing here again at this hour?"
Kensei made it sound like a reproach. His lieutenant was working too hard. In Kensei's eyes, he really needed to slow down.
"Well... Since I thought you were in 4th Division, I wanted to save you from having too much to do when you got back."
He had said that with his head bowed like a kid blaming himself.
Kensei sighed. "Go home, Hisagi. That's all for today."
"But..."
"Hisagi, even if I wanted to, I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight, which leaves me plenty of time to take care of this paperwork."
He saw that Hisagi was going to protest again so he added. "I insist, take your evening. But don't stay up too late, I'm counting on you for tomorrow."
Kensei knew he would not be in top form the next day and he was counting on his lieutenant to ensure the day tomorrow...
A glance at Hisagi let Kensei know that the message had got through, no matter how subtle. After all, it was out of the question to admit that he might one day be overwhelmed by his duties.
"Ok Taicho. In that case, good night."
"Hai, see you tomorrow!"
And Hisagi walked out of the office, quietly closing the door.
Before tackling the paperwork, Kensei took the time to look through his office window towards 4th Division.
He knew Asagi would be okay. What he feared was the reaction she would have once hearing of the death of 6 other students...
"Fuck it" he breathed.
And it was with these fine words that he set to work.
N/A
So, here are 3 new chapters ! I'm sorry to take so much time to publish. I came back to the web site recently and I remembered that I have a few chapters ready. They're not flawless but here they are !
Hope you'll still enjoy the story