Chapter 4: Supervision
"Captain?"
Byakuya snapped his gaze to Renji's brown eyes, a look of consternation visible in the redhead's face.
"Never mind, Abarai. It seems that I am fatigued," the noble informed after a moment of silence.
"We shall discuss this matter upon our return," he turned and began to walk back to their tent, avoiding further questioning from his lieutenant.
"Yes, sir..." the redhead muttered, repressing his confusion at his captain's strange behavior. He had this thing with the sleepwalking and the stranger in his dreams calling him out, and now his captain decided to act suspicious too.
Renji found himself snoozing the moment they settled in for the night—again. Besides him, the raven-haired captain was wide awake and staring at the ceiling of the tent, seemingly deep in thought.
Unable to resist his curiosity any longer, the captain finally turned his head to his lieutenant's side of the tent after making sure the redhead was asleep—from the sound of the short, even breathing and soft exhales that occasionally escaped his slightly ajar lips.
It was simply captivating to see.
At first, he thought it was merely a trick of the moonlight. How it seemed as if the light shone through the very being of the redhead, from the tips of his toes to the crown of his head. It glowed soft and dim, as pure white as the paintings of deities he encountered in holy shrines and majestic temples. What an ethereal picture the sleeping redhead made, Byakuya couldn't help but think. As if a divine entity bestowed upon the Earth, and Byakuya as a mere mortal, blessed by the gods to be gifted such creature so close to his reach.
He almost sneered at the imagery he concocted in his head—it was unlike him to be so sentimental.
Yet he couldn't tear his gaze from the slumbering figure of his lieutenant.
Byakuya didn't sleep for the rest of the night.
They returned to the Sixth Division just as the sun began to set. Byakuya noted that Renji's little new 'upgrade' was lost to everyone—including the redhead himself—except for Byakuya. A fact that made him questioned his state of mind on top of his insomnia.
It was the second and last day of training camp, the new recruits thoroughly trained and every bit of teaching, advice, and reprimand beaten thoroughly into their bones by both Lieutenant Abarai and—more so—Captain Kuchiki. They were just glad that the captain didn't supervise the whole training camp, they would've all been comatose by his fast-paced, impatient teaching and harsh reprimands.
Compared to him, Lieutenant Abarai was godsend—both friendly and patient, yet reasonably strict, he was willing to go over any parts of the training that the recruits weren't able to understand the first time, and he was an overall fun and easygoing person despite his 'gangster' red hair—which, to be fair, added to his charm. He was the one to break off any near-beating the captain was about to give to any of the recruits whenever they managed to vex him, which was quite often—as they surprisingly found that the captain had a terribly short fuse when it comes to... certain matters, usually involving his lieutenant.
Safe to say Rikichi stayed away from the redhead whenever Captain Kuchiki was around, given their previous 'encounter'.
Arriving at the barracks, the lieutenant opted to help out at the kitchens to at least give the new recruits some sort of 'reward' for finishing training camp instead of another bland feast, while his captain and other officers—who were ordered to stay at the barracks to manage the Division's duties while the two officers were gone—supervise the new recruits on the barracks compound. Truth be told, the captain was merely monitoring the recruits for errant behavior while the lower ranking officers brief the recruits their temporary sleeping arrangements and their schedule for the rest of the joint-training.
Not long after the assembly was dismissed from the compound, and then left to wait in the mess hall, dinner was served. Cooks entered the area carrying large pots and platters of food to the long tables arranged in the middle of the room. Others were carrying mounting stacks of bowls, dishes, and various cutleries. The rumbling stomachs of the new recruits were echoed by the senior officers as they lined up to get their portions. They all dug in as they settled to their chosen spots. Murmurs and colorful conversations echoed throughout the mess hall.
"Lieutenant Abarai cooked this?" one recruit exclaimed to his group of friends after a friendly senior officer told them of the fact.
"Man, you guys in the Sixth are lucky!" another shoveled down the delicious morsels intertwined with piping hot rice.
"He doesn't normally do this though," the senior officer reminded, sipping the savory miso soup from his bowl.
"Do you think they would accept transfer permission so soon after just joining?" a gangly First Division recruit wondered. His group of friends gasped at the 'brilliant' idea he just put into their heads.
"Captain Kuchiki is scary, though," one solemn recruit quipped, shuddering at the memory of the raven-haired captain unsheathing his infamous Senbonzakura because of a little slip up he made when he almost burnt Lieutenant Abarai's uniform during kido practice scant a few hours ago.
"Captain Yamamoto is a lot scarier, don't you think," they were idly chatting now, their plates and bowls polished clean from the food they gobbled down just moments ago. Some were going back for seconds.
"But he's like, an old man. He's not going to actively hunt you down you when you look at his lieutenant the 'wrong' way," one new recruit shrugged offhandedly, making air quotation marks with his fingers. His friends 'ooh's at his remark, some nodding vehemently as if recalling 'incidents'.
"Yeah, and there's that..." one of them trailed off, shivering as if a beast was preying on him. Turning around slowly from his seat, he gazed upon his impending doom.
They all let out a squeak and scrambled off the table they were lounging on when Kuchiki Byakuya's threatening glare zeroed in on them, as if he heard everything they just said.
"Is there something wrong, Captain?" Renji snapped Byakuya from his dark gaze to the table across the room, turning his head to see what his captain was frowning at.
"I spotted some flies," the Kuchiki Head simply noted as he went back to his bowl, cutting a dainty piece of salmon teriyaki from the platter in front of him. Those leering imbeciles better not be talking about what he thought they were.
"In here?" Renji furrowed his brows, "should I get someone to exterminate them?"
"Not to worry, lieutenant. They have flown away."
"No. That's completely wrong. When you're writing a report you must write down the location and the time..."
"Your signature should go here and your name written clearly so your supervising officer can..."
"Write it like this, see?"
"Yes, that one is good enough. But this part should—"
The redheaded lieutenant's instructions could be heard echoing through the quiet hall where all the new recruits were gathered to practice their knowledge of divisional administrative duties—paperwork, mostly—that they were taught some time ago by the very redhead himself, along with some other senior officers. He and some other officers were now going around the hall to inspect each of the recruits' progress on the little exercise they were given.
"This is unacceptable."
A timid recruit flinched at the sharp tone. A few of his friends sitting nearby winced and felt sorry for their friend's luck, or lack thereof.
"C-can you tell me which part to correct, Captain Kuchiki, Sir?" he requested with a gradually small voice, unable to look at the stark eyes that seemed to pierce into his soul. He wondered what did he do in his previous life to deserve such a fate. The captain had been going around 'harassing' his group of friends and now it was his turn. He knew the captain heard them at the mess hall last night!
"The fact that you did not listen to your instructor's guidance beforehand astounds me, cadet," voice heavy with unusual dark sarcasm, the terrifying Kuchiki loomed over the recruit's trembling form, a sneer threatening to break through his stoic façade.
He was enjoying this—if anyone looked closely enough, a glint of mirth was present in his eyes. While his behavior was borderline unprofessional, no one would dare to pull him away from his source of amusement, especially when it was to pick on insolent recruits who he knew was thinking inappropriate thoughts about his officer.
Oh, he didn't even bother dismissing his vile thoughts anymore, as he let them run their course through his mind. There must be an end to this phase somewhere, in time.
"Tell me," the raven drawled, eyes boring down the quivering recruit's form, "how did you manage to pass the First Division's recruitment test?" the poor young man almost cried until he blearily saw a hand grasping the captain's shoulder.
"Let me handle this, Captain," Renji grinned sheepishly, " I had someone prepared you a tea and some snacks by the front porch," he pointed at the open shoji leading up to the barracks' only garden. Since Byakuya was fond of the gardens in his residence, he had a reputable landscape architect to recreate a small traditional rock garden complete with a pond full of koi fish at the barracks.
Byakuya pondered his options momentarily—the redhead looked particularly angelic with the sunlight adding to his own glow—and assent to his lieutenant's silent request to not scare any more new recruits goddammit, with a low hum.
He stood and made his way to the exit to enjoy an afternoon break. All occupants in the room let out an almost simultaneous sighed of relief once he was out of hearing range and adoring gazes were thrown to the redhead. Renji almost snorted in amusement at that and shook his head, barking orders to focus on their assignments.
Byakuya felt his lips curled as he sipped his tea—his lieutenant did not brew this one, the leaves were left to brew a tad too long, leaving a bitter acidic aftertaste. He tested the senbei, nibbling on one edge, noting that it was made by the redhead; the saltiness and crisp skin was distinct and tailored to Byakuya's taste buds. He devoured the cracker in two bites and reached for another one as he sipped his tea.
He paused in the middle of biting the second cracker and found himself frowning at the implication that he was obsessively noting every little detail of his lieutenant to the level that he knew the difference of the tea and snacks that the redhead made compared with others.
His silent brooding was cut short when he saw an unwelcome visitor strolling through his garden. He disdainfully observed the nonchalant gait the orange-haired aberrant had as he came closer to where Byakuya was sitting.
"Yo, Byakuya," the substitute shinigami greeted insolently, his grin widened as he watched the raven's brow ticked.
"Kurosaki Ichigo," Byakuya acknowledged, "Your continued impudence irks me."
"So you've been saying," the other shinigami smirked as he plucked one senbei from the platter by Byakuya's side and proceeded to gobble the salty-sweet snack. The act did not fail to irritate the captain further.
"What is your purpose here," he demanded, no longer tolerating the substitute shinigami's behavior as he shifted the platter away from his reach as he stood up to loom over the other—his preferred method of intimidation, apparently. Unfortunately, the orange-haired man was impervious to the act, what with his track record of taunting and baiting people stronger than he was and getting away with it most of the time.
Ichigo sobered from his amusement and took a serious tone, "I came with Yoruichi-san to tell old man Yamamoto about some suspicious Hollow activities. These new Arrancars... they seem like they were searching for something. They were getting closer and closer to the edge of the forest in Karakura Town, which is weird since they fed off human souls..." he trailed off, frowning.
After the renewed alliance with Urahara and his acquaintances, the visoreds, along with the newfound ally they found in Kurosaki Ichigo and his group of spiritually gifted friends, Gotei 13 of Soul Society deemed it acceptable to leave day-to-day monitoring of the souls along with occasional Hollow exterminations to them. Certain conditions needed to be maintained to assure their continued cooperation, however; that they must report any and all suspicious activities to Gotei 13, and should not in any way act on their own lest they strain the fragile partnership. After all, Gotei 13's good words were the only reason these mismatched groups could coexist in the Material World without Central 46 interference.
"Have you given your report to the Captain-Commander?" Byakuya finally inquired. Indeed it was unusual for the Hollows to not flock over the human souls within the perimeter of the town. However, Byakuya was reminded that these Hollows, these... Arrancars, they were controlled by Aizen Sousuke. There must be something he was searching for tirelessly if he would risk gaining the suspicions of all the allies the Gotei 13 has in the Material World.
"We just did. He asked us to monitor their activities for now," Ichigo explained, rubbing the back of his neck, "what's bothering me is that it feels like... Aizen is onto something here."
Off the top of his head, Byakuya listed off spiritually reactive artifacts hidden all across Karakura Town that were once the possession of the many ancient nobilities of Soul Society. Kuchiki Koga* briefly lingered in his thoughts. But Byakuya personally saw to his demise by his own hands.
None of the other artifacts that he knew of were worthy of Aizen Sousuke's time, what with the divinely powerful Hogyoku in his possession. He silently concluded that, perhaps, even Aizen himself didn't know of what he was searching for, yet.
A flash of glowing red hair came to mind.
He immediately shook that thought from his head. He didn't know what it was all about yet, but he would be a fool to draw a hasty conclusion on the little information that he had. it must've been the more ancient artifacts that Aizen was searching for, something that escaped Byakuya's brain. He would make sure to search through the Kuchiki's older archives when he returned to his residence.
Even so, he couldn't help but feel the creeping anxiousness at the back of his mind.
"Ichigo! The hell are you doing here?"
"Oi, Renji," Ichigo was drawn from his thoughts as he turned to face his friend, "is that how you treat a friend visiting after all these months?" he teased, drawing the redhead to a one-armed hug.
"Check out my new look, man," Renji pulled back to point at the top of his head, his expression excited for approval.
Ichigo squinted as he checked his redheaded friends new 'look', "Woah, Ren... you look like an actual high schooler now!" he slapped the redhead's shoulder good-naturedly. Renji harshly pinched the substitute shinigami's cheeks, daring the orange-haired shinigami to tease him further.
Ren...? Byakuya seethed internally, also distracted from his thoughts, as he watched the overly friendly interaction between the two. Not only did the substitute gave his lieutenant a hug, but he also dared to give him an affectionate nickname?
"We're training some new recruits," Renji said when Ichigo asked what he was doing inside the hall before he came out, "hey, you can join us for dinner!" he exclaimed, Byakuya had to school his feature lest he let out an actual growl.
"But I already made plans to go back in a few," Ichigo shrugged sheepishly, also not wanting to push his luck, seeing the raven-haired captain was practically vibrating with barely contained rage next to the redhead, who remained ignorant to his surroundings.
"Aw, come on, Ichigo," the lieutenant groaned in disappointment, "it'll be a big send-off dinner for the First Division's recruits. I'm cooking," he added for good measure, wiggling his brows smugly.
"You?" Ichigo asked as if disbelieving, "...seriously?"
Seeing the affirmative nod, he threw caution out of the window. No way he was missing out on Renji's legendary cooking, especially since he didn't get to experience it as often as his friends who were actually living in Soul Society, the lucky bastards. Not that he wanted to be a permanent resident.
"Well, I guess I have to stay now," he relented, "just let me tell Yoruichi-san about it first, she's with the Second Division right now." teasing Soi Fon, I bet. Ichigo took out his soul pager and punched in Yoruichi's contact.
"Sure, tell her she can come too," Renji told him. Finally feeling the menacing aura next to him, he looked at his captain's dark expression.
"Or not...?" he wondered, tilting his head hesitantly at his captain to seek his approval. He knew how much the Kuchiki couldn't stand the black cat, after all.
Seeing Renji's earnest expression, Byakuya breathed in deeply, "...she may."
"Oh, Byakuya-bo, you didn't tell me your fierce little tiger here can cook so well!" an infuriating squeaky voice of a certain black cat grated his ears.
"Keep your mouth shut, Shihouin," the Kuchiki Head grunted as he picked a helping of wakame crab salad from the bowl in front of him.
"What's this? You're acting like a newlywed, it's so sweet, you're giving me cavities," the cat drawled teasingly. Yoruichi was present in her cat form, finding herself more comfortable in the small feline form. She was currently helping herself to the food that Renji and the Sixth kitchen staff prepared that night to send off the First Division new recruits.
The theme that night was seafood. Byakuya himself provided Renji with the financial means to purchase high-quality ingredients, which the redhead couldn't thank his captain more. Picking a piece of sashimi with her claws, Yoruichi continued teasing the increasingly irritated captain.
Hearing the borderline inappropriate words spewing out of the playful cat, Renji felt his face warmed up and bowed his head to concentrate on the bowl of rice in front of him. He couldn't exactly yell at her, she was a former captain, after all. But darn it if he didn't have a thing or two to say to that cat. He understood now why his captain hated to have her around. With her blatant teasing and baiting, he would have been mad, too.
"Don't mind her, Renji, she's a bit... wild," Ichigo consoled from next to him, only looking up from the food heaven he was in when he noticed the awkward atmosphere surrounding his friend.
"Uh-huh," Renji hummed disbelievingly, getting back to his food and trying his best to ignore the black cat's unnecessary commentary.
Ichigo shrugged almost in a guilty manner when Byakuya snapped his glare to him, as if blaming him for everything bad that happened to the world. He shifted slightly away from his close proximity to the redhead to humor the captain a tiny bit.
Geez, that guy, it's like something is going on with him and Renji, Ichigo thought suspiciously. Or maybe it's just him, he added to his musing, knowing the oblivious redhead, almost feeling sorry for the raven sitting across the large table. The buzzing noise from the celebrating recruits all across the mess hall drowned out his thoughts.
Much later that night as he returned from the Sixth's bathhouse, freshly cleansed after the First Division recruits' send-off dinner and couldn't wait to hit the hay, Renji spotted his captain with a conspicuous bundle in his hands.
"Captain, what are you doing with those?" the redhead asked as he went after his captain.
"I am to dispose of these sullied garments," Byakuya answered, looking at the soil-ridden clothes from the training camp in distaste while keeping his stride. It was below him to carry items in such condition, but he persisted that he could handle without his servants to cater to his whims—at the very least to prove to Rukia that he was capable and she was wrong.
"Wha—you mean you're going to throw them away?" Renji gaped in disbelief. From what he saw it was merely dirt and grimes, he could wash them off easy!
"They have been dirtied, therefore of no more use," the noble stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and shamed Renji for not understanding such simple logic.
"You can clean them, Captain!" the redhead exclaimed frantically, finally stopping his captain in his tracks by standing in front of him. The raven stood still and stared at Renji in barely concealed irritation.
"You mean you don't know that clothes are laundered?" Renji asked bluntly.
Almost clicking his tongue but stopped himself before committing such boorish behavior, the captain explained himself, "I am aware of that, Lieutenant. However, I am in no possession of the knowledge to do so, for I have never needed them before. Therefore the next most logical step is to dispose of these garments."
Renji seethed and almost wanted to bang his head to the noble's, in hopes of putting some common sense in there, this is just next level royalty bullcrap, he thought.
"Give me those, Captain," Renji held out his hands, gesturing for the raven snob to hand over the perfectly fine garments about to be disposed to god knows where. Incineration facility, perhaps.
Seeing that his captain made no move to hand over the bundle, he continued "I'm going to give them back to you when they're clean," he grounded out, looking pointedly at his captain and the clothes in his hands.
Byakuya silently handed over the bundle to the redhead who swiftly turned and sauntered away, sighing loudly in exasperation, leaving the raven to stare blankly at his lieutenant's glowing figure.
That white yukata nicely hugs the backsi—contain your thoughts, Kuchiki.
After sending the First Division on their way the next morning, Byakuya had the returning seventh and ninth seats to supervise the recruits and manage the rest of the paperwork as he and his lieutenant were deemed deserving of the rest of the weekend break. They would still have their hell butterfly and soul pagers active in case of emergencies, but mundane paperwork was off their hands for the rest of the weekend.
Renji whistled as he made his way to his apartment in Rukongai, thinking over the last few days. In the end, he didn't get to discuss his... incidents, with his captain, after all. While he couldn't blame the circumstances—they were terribly busy with handling the recruits, not to mention finishing off paperwork that couldn't be handed off to the other officers, finishing late at night and both too tired to think of theories of what happened.
The thought of the discussion was also out of his mind when he was given the rest of the weekend off, clearly not liking the notion of thinking about things other than how soft the bedding at his apartment was. Besides, he didn't have any more 'episodes' after that night by the cliffside. He was even sure that it was just a 'phase'. And he simply ran off after his captain had given the words, not giving the raven a chance to even mention anything of any sort of talking between the two of them.
Arriving at his apartment building, he climbed the stairs to his floor and opened the lock by his door. He went to his room to change to some more comfortable clothes, stretching his limbs along the way, when he noticed something. He frowned and look around the small bedroom.
Why was his room so bare?
Zooming out of his room frantically, he checked every corner of his house—every piece of furniture, drawer and rack that he had in his small apartment. He made his way around the house and ended up in his room again.
His furniture was all there, along with his kitchenware and ingredients. Everything was in place, neat as he left them—and clean. Surprisingly clean, despite him only coming home for the week.
But all his clothes, his memorabilia, his little knick-knacks and photographs. His expensive headgears.
Gone.
All of them.
The redhead felt his lower lip trembled as his eyes felt pin-pricks of moisture, mourning the tremendous loss of his invested money.
No. No no, you're kidding me... Why is—wait what's that?
A piece of paper was lying on his tatami flooring near his neatly folded futon. He crouched to pick it up. It was tri-folded, and sealed with wax. Renji tore it open and scanned the curt content of the message.
'Abarai Renji. Do not be alarmed by the state of your residence. Go to the Kuchiki Manor and all would be explained.'
It was signed with the Kuchiki Family seal. He turned the paper over and saw that the wax was also stamped with a similar seal. So it's the real thing. But why?
"Why would—goddammit," the redhead swung his hands above his head, growling in frustration. He just got back and wanted to at least rest his muscles from four days of work and training the recruits—and this had to happen. He shrugged back his black outer uniform and went out of his apartment in a dash—only to went back in to grab his almost forgotten Zabimaru. He set out to the long way to Kuchiki Manor.
He didn't know why his stuff was gone and why there was a note with the Kuchiki Family signature on it, but if he was going to get any headways he knew he needed to start at the most obvious place. Hopefully, someone in there would tell him what was going on. Did he got robbed? Did someone from the Kuchiki saw what happened so they want him to come to tell him about the situation? Did some rogue Kuchiki servant rob him so they called him in to tell him what happened and shut his mouth about it to avoid scandal? Did his captain knew about this, he just got back too?
Nearing the entrance of the humongous estate, he saw two family guards standing at the front—a fairly unusual sight since they would usually loiter around unseen in the shadows, ready to strike at the most opportune moment.
"Abarai Renji-dono, you are expected inside," one of the guards told him with a slightly muffled voice behind his mask.
"Uh, thanks," Renji muttered, going inside as the other guard opened the gate for him. As he stepped through, a man wearing an expensive-looking kimono greeted him with a bow. He bowed back awkwardly, not used to having people tending to him when he visits. Usually, he came with Rukia, and there was no one around to greet them as they stumbled through the compound. This was getting rather odd.
"This way, Abarai-dono," the strict looking man—he looked twice his Captain's age, maybe a bit older—gestured for Renji to follow. He followed the man into the estate, going to an area he never went to before—the place was huge, and he only ever visited the gardens when Rukia invited him for tea or drinking parties back before her older brother monitor her every behavior. He also noticed some of the guards slinking back and forth around the area. Something is definitely up, he thought, frowning.
The man—Renji was now convinced he was the head servant—stopped in front of a shoji door and kneeled down, gesturing Renji to do the same. This was it, behind the door was someone who may tell Renji the answers to his questions. He distractedly wondered if his captain was home, or if he knew about any of this. Do other family members even live here? I've only ever since Captain and Rukia around, he distractedly mused.
Opening the shoji, the man bowed to the person sitting inside, announced Renji's presence, and left the vicinity quietly.
Renji coughed into his fist to alleviate some of his nervousness, the person was sitting in front of a calligraphy table, brushes and ink set neatly to the side as the man's pale hand was brushing something on a high-quality scroll. His face was covered by dark hair that fell from his shoulder from his slightly bent head.
"Take a seat, Abarai," a familiar baritone reached him, the man finally turned to face the redhead by the door.
"Captain Kuchiki?" Renji almost yelled in surprise. He stood up and walked into the vast room, almost tripping on the shoji slider, and sat in front of his captain who finally put down his large brush to the side, careful not to let his grey yukata sleeve brush over the still drying ink on the paper.
"What's going on? My house had been ransacked and there's this note with your family seal on it..." Renji trailed off, slightly embarrassed by his loud voice as a young female servant announced her presence to offer some tea and light snacks for the two. Renji thanked her as Byakuya nodded, she promptly excused herself.
"As we had discussed by the cliffside but a day ago, it seems that someone has been monitoring you," Byakuya sipped his tea slowly, minding the heat of the fresh brew.
"Yes...? Wait, what does this have anything to do with—"
"I am not to be interrupted, Lieutenant," the raven said lowly, his voice taking a sharp edge of warning.
"Yes, Sir," Renji mumbled. You sure like to interrupt me though, he thought snidely.
"Due to the... unique circumstances," Byakuya continued, eyeing his lieutenant's still glowing form that only he could see," and the fact that it is not an entirely... clear matter that could be filed in as a common report to the Captain-Commander, I have concluded that this, these, incidents are to be kept outside of official notice, for now."
Renji slowly nodded. He agreed with his captain completely. No one would believe them without actual evidence, anyway. Due process and all that. Maybe except for Hisagi, the conspiracy theorist that he was.
"However, a form of constant supervision is needed if the matter was to be made clear for a more direct measure to be taken," his captain continued. Now, this was when the redhead paused for a moment to digest the words his captain spouted.
"Constant... 'supervision', Captain?" he asked, unsure if what he heard was right. On who? Him? Constantly? Wait a damn second—
"Indeed, Abarai. You may have noticed that your missing belongings and the note left in your residence were connected," Byakuya confirmed, an almost amused glint visible in his ever stoic eyes.
"You... You mean—"
"Nii-sama! Is Renji truly going to live with us?" an overexcited Kuchiki Rukia slammed her hand to the shoji as she skidded to a stop before the gaping redhead.
Byakuya sipped his tea.
An intimidating structure of pure white stood erect in the middle of an endless desert, bearing the powerful fortress that stretched across the horizon. A ceiling-high opening slit through one of its towering walls, a man standing before it to feast upon the fantastical sight.
"It will come to us, eventually," the man foretold, his voice deep in anticipation.
"How do we know?" another questioned, standing within the shadows, his light tenor heavily accented and laced with curious amusement.
The first man smiled, a strand of brown hair caressed by the gentle wind entering the imposing fortress he claimed his own, overlooking the moonless sky and white sand as far as the eyes can see.
"The Hogyoku wills it."
- to be continued -
Additional Notes:
Hogyoku: lit. crumbling sphere; hollow-fication property, bridging the gap between Shinigami and Hollows, creating the Arrancar; desire manifestation. It is thought to be sentient, but not conscious. There used to be two Hogyoku, one of Aizen and one of Urahara Kisuke. Aizen managed to get the Hogyoku that Urahara hid within Kuchiki Rukia, and combined it with his own to complete the orb's 'true' abilities.
Shoji: Japanese sliding door, window, or room divider, made of paper (usually washi paper) on a frame of wood.
Senbei: Japanese rice cracker that comes in different variety of sizes and flavors. A light snack that is usually paired with green tea.
Central 46: an authoritative body that mandates over the judiciary, legislation and governmental operations in Soul Society. Consists of forty wise individuals gathered across Soul Society and six judges.
Kuchiki Family guards: they have shinobi-like uniform and indeed, usually remains in the shadow like one.
*Kuchiki Koga is Kuchiki Byakuya's uncle, who betrayed Soul Society by vindictive massacre of the shinigami due to some officers framing him unjustly. He was later sealed by Ginrei and put in Karakura Town. His past is what acted on his zanpakuto, Muramasa, which started the zanpakuto-rebellion arc in Bleach (non- canon filler). He was later eliminated by Byakuya at the end of the arc.