Fifteen Days after Aizen's Escape
Four captains in one place, Gin thought as he stared across the pale sand, an infinite sea of dunes, shining waves shadowed black, in the strange twilight of Hueco Mundo, a place where nothing lived except to die; it was a death trap, the perfect place for Aizen to reduce his enemies fighting power by a third. Gin sat on a lone stone and watched the dead world. Shinso was in his hand, already in shikai, ready for the fight he was sure would be his last.
But Aizen didn't come. Ukitake was here just for this; he would leave as soon as Kurotsuchi's shields were set. He held onto bankai, giving them almost a mile safe from the approach of any enemies, dissolving the small, mindless hollows that wondered close, while Kurotsuchi provided the shield that hid their reiatsu and kept them invisible from any watching eyes. Ukitake, always pale, was turning a sickly gray as he waited for Kurotsuchi to set a second shield. Lieutenant Kotetsu was standing behind him and kept her hand on his shoulder, doing her best to keep him from collapsing, but bankai twice in two days was clearly more than he could safely handle.
As soon as the second barrier was set he would leave. But Kurotsuchi's second barrier was vital. It was all that would protect his division scientists from any attacks that might come while they waited for the captains to return with a captive Arrancar. It should hold against any shikai at least for a few minutes, hopefully long enough for the shinigami to escape through the Garganta Kurotsuchi claimed he could build a gate to control.
The plan was too complicated for Gin's liking. He doubted anyone would escape no matter what they did, if their little camp was discovered by Aizen or any of the Espada. Even a fraccion would probably be too much, although Lieutenant Kotetsu was not completely useless. She might hold an Arrancar that small back long enough for a few to escape--if the gate actually worked as simply as Kurotsuchi claimed it would.
Gin sighed. They were doomed, and him doubly so. Kurotsuchi had talked Yamamoto into allowing him to implant a bomb next to his heart, just in case he decided to switch sides. The fact that he had managed to argue the trigger out of Kurotsuchi's hands, on the grounds that the scientist might decide he needed to test it out to see if such a bomb could really kill a captain, was no comfort. To be completely at Kuchiki's mercy was not much better. They had talked about a leash, but to Gin it felt more like a noose.
He was going to die here, and he knew it. He'd promised Ran he'd come back to her, and he'd even promised Shiro he'd be there for the final fight against Aizen, but he'd never been very good at keeping promises. There was nothing in this world that did not want him dead, and that included his supposed allies. It reminded him, unpleasantly, of his childhood, of the time before Rangiku. Everyone had wanted him dead then, too. He'd survived then just to spite them. He wished he could pull it off again. This time he had a reason to live.
He felt the shield go up and Ukitake's bankai end. He heard without really listening to the discussion that followed. He let the voices of the shinigami flow past him, not really caring. They had their duties and responsibilities, and he knew them all well enough to trust they'd carry them out. Not one of them would fail any duty without dying trying to complete it. Even Kurotsuchi would die for his science. Of course it made them more predictable of Aizen. What they really needed was someone Aizen couldn't predict, and, unfortunately, he was the best they had.
How to capture an Arrancar? Yes, he could probably get them into Las Noches undetected, if they hadn't already been noticed. There were underground routes through old construction, and he even knew which ones Szayel hadn't bothered to put camera on, the ancient paths hollows followed daily and Szayel found boring. They could get inside, but what then?
He'd done his best to remember the habits of the Arrancar he'd known, but he none had habits that were asking to be snatched, and were they really supposed to be able to catch one without it setting off any sort of alarm? How did you keep one from calling for help? Sure, killing one would be easy. He'd thought of any number of ways to kill off most of them. Some, like Grimjaw and Nnoitra and even Nell, he'd set against each other. There was a fairly good chance at least a couple would die, especially if Halibel got involved.
It really had sounded like fun once upon a time, but, now, what on earth was he going to do?
"Are you ready?" Kuchiki's cold voice asked for just a step behind him.
Gin sighed and sheathed Shinso before he stood up. Then he turned to Kuchiki and grinned. "Time to go hollow hunting?"
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The Eleventh was enjoying their best mission in years. Everywhere they went there were plenty of hollows for all. Even the newest unranked members got the chance to fight hollows while the ranked members teamed up to fight Gillians and Kenpachi and Ikkaku enjoyed themselves slaughtering pseudo-Arrancar.
Unfortunately, there were also plenty of dead, more innocents dead and buildings empty than any, even Kenpachi, had seen before. Bands of hollows had scoured the distant countryside, massacring every living thing in every far flung farm and village.
Each dead village they came upon had the new members sick with horror, some of them even vomiting at the overwhelming smell of death. After the fifth or sixth village it was even starting to bother Ikkaku.
"Damnit," he growled as they walked down a silent road through a village where at least a hundred people had once lived. "We can't get ahead of 'em."
Kenpachi only grunted in answer.
"Bet Yumichika's got them evacuating the all the northern villages and shit," Ikkaku added.
"That what you want to do?" Kenpachi asked, giving Ikkaku a skeptical look.
"Hell, no," Ikkaku answered quickly. Then he added, "But I guess we got messengers or something that could tell 'em to get outta the way till we get 'em all taken care of."
Kenpachi turned to Yachiru, who was eating a sweet bun while perched on his shoulder. "Hey, we got messengers?"
"Mm," she nodded, stuffing the rest of the dessert in her mouth before answering. "Yep, they're pretty fast. Yu-yu made 'em train shunpo everyday. They're pretty sneaky, too, 'cause he figured they'd have to get past enemies without fighting. How boring is that?"
"Go look at a map or something and figure out where people might still be alive and send 'em to warn 'em. Can't have everyone getting slaughtered before we can get to 'em."
Yachiru frowned. "Make Pachinko-head do it," she suggested.
"He can't read," Kenpachi answered.
"I--" Ikkaku cut off his angry protest just in time. He was not about to become the next Yumichika. Let the lieutenant do it. She hardly did anything most of the time anyway. "S'right," he agreed. "Fucking kanji, who needs it?"
Yachiru's eyes narrowed, but she hopped down. "You're going to learn when we get back, Pachinko-head," she growled as she went to find somebody with a map.