Renraku-gakari.
A sense of unease fills the room as the three inwardly shift through the implications until the soutaichou speaks first. "Sasakibe, inform our sanseki to find Shihouin and have her speak with me at the earliest convenience."
"...Am i to do something else?" His fukutaichou asks after appearing out of nowhere.
"Indeed; but that will be carried out later." Yamamoto tells him, and looks to the door. "Ukitake taichou, since you seem to have nothing else to do, search the daireishokairou for any signs of unauthorized access." He says as the rest turn to see the mentioned person enter. "And make sure you do so empty handed."
"You're not going to let me hear the end of it now, i see." Ukitake says as the scene temporarily changes to shows the lower part of someone in a dark purple robe with gold trim standing infront of the soukyoku.
"Regardless of the intention, you brats still damaged kidoshu property!" Yamamoto shouts, opting to let him find out the hard way that it would be coming out of his and Kyoraku's paychecks.
"Aw, it'll only take a century for it to regenerate." The latter comments.
"I could care less about that." Yamamoto replies as the unnamed department head is shown with his face white as a sheet at the sight of the broken execution stand and the hole directly under it. "There is also the matter of what the ryoka leader did back there."
"Which may prove all the more concerning." Naaji adds as he looks Ukitake in the eye. "According to what we both read, Aizen used a single finger to stop the fully released blade that stopped the kikouou at only half strength." He says as he turns to Yamamoto, who had both eyes open. "This is unthinkable! How are we to deal with such might?!"
"Which brings me to two questions... this ryoka boy. He's Shiba Isshin's son, isn't he, Ukitake-san?" Captain Pendleton wonders, causing him to sigh.
"I admit, Buford-kun; when i first saw Kurosaki Ichigo at the senzaikyu... it was as though i was seeing both him and Kaien in the same instant."
Pendleton had few encounters with either of the men being mentioned, but had long since noted their absence earlier. He mumbles to himself and changes the subject. "Aside from that, there is one last thing i wish to know. The fukutaichou of Kiganjou's successor... is she really a shinigami?"
"What makes you ask that, Capt. Pendleton?" Yamamoto asks him.
"You heard her, right; "hane hane"? How does someone who's never met me before use that word?" Pendleton asks in response.
"And that she was undetectable to us until she spoke is disconcerting." Naaji adds.
"The one you speak of is named Kusajishi Yachiru; and to be honest, very little can be said. She and Zaraki taichou simply appeared one day from their namesake districts. Which shinigami he stole his zanpakuto from is unknown, but his fukutaichou received hers just as everyone else did*." Yamamoto informs the pair, to which Kyoraku nods.
"I don't think I'll ever get why dai-senpai was so interested in taking the day off back then." The latter mentions, causing Pendleton and Naaji to look nervous.
The alkabtin speaks first. "W-with that taken care of, i believe i have enough to give to my superior... you as well, Pendleton?"
"Yes, i do too; but i have some unfinished business to tend to before that, farewell." He says as his companion departs for his realm only to see another unexpected person at the door.
"I did not send for you, Kurotsuchi taichou." Yamamoto said, but the new arrival waved it off.
"Be that as it may, there is something, or rather someone, i need to speak with you about... alone."
At the same time that Ukitake was being discovered, Ichigo's group arrives at the sogo kyugo tsumesho, they all take a look around nervously. "So, uh, this is where you work, Hanatarou?"
"It sure is, hope the activity you caused doesn't bother any of you." He replies as he leads them in further.
"...Don't worry 'bout me, my old man works in this field."/"If you've seen one hospital, you've seen them all." Ichigo and Uryu both say before glaring at each other, which gets directed at Hanatarou when he steps inbetween and stumbles back.
"There a problem, Danchou?" A shinigami about Chado's size asks while helping him up.
"Danchou?!"
"Uh-huh, I'm incharge of the fourteenth advanced response team, which makes Aoga-san here one of my subordinates**." Hanatarou explains, which all but Orihime looks unconvinced of.
"Is he for real?" Ichigo asks Rukia, who nods.
"I do seem to recall him mentioning that while i was being held at Nii-sama's compound." She tells him before they hear a commotion behind them.
"That's one size too small! Go back to supply right now, you idiot!" A person with blond hair and glasses shouts as he pushes someone out of a room.
"Seems our "noble effort" is rearing it's ugly head." Uryu quips.
"I wonder which of us put that person in there?" Orihime asks, causing Hanatarou to say none of them did.
"That particular patient is Hinamori Momo of the... the goban-tai." He answered with a scowl reminding Ichigo of one his dad had the first time he was suspended from school.
"Goban... you mean?" Ichigo says before running to the room.
What he saw made him grip the paneling of the doorway.
"You're over-exerting." Yoruichi say while grabbing his wrist and pointing to Ishida and a number of shinigami who are struggling to withstand Ichigo's reiatsu. "Anyway, as difficult to see as this is, it's far from the worst thing Aizen has to answer for."
"If so, t'would be best to speak of this elsewhere, Shihouin Yoruichi." They all hear from behind them to see an older person with a black streak in his otherwise grey hair.
"Who's he?" Ichigo asks as he reaches for zangetsu, only to remember he handed it over when they entered.
"Okikiba-sanseki, another of the old codgers from Ichiban-tai." Yoruichi explains while the person balks.
"I haven't lived this long just to take that from-"/"Right, right, i get it... is it just me Yamamoto wanted?"
"Yes; it is not my place to speculate, but i imagine you will not agree unless he goes with. Correct?" Okikiba asks her while looking at Ichigo.
"You got it... better keep your schedule empty, Ichigo, cause we're gonna be busy for a while." She tells him as she reaches for his wrist again.
"Hey, why do i hav-" He tried to say before she dragged him off.
After the three are out of sight, Orihime looks back to the room for a moment. "Is that poor girl in there a friend of yours, Kuchiki-san?"
"Hinamori-san? I'd have to say not quite. I have seen her before, but Renji knows her better since they were academy classmates." Rukia explained as she gave a glance in the same direction.
"That would make sense considering which posting he has." Uryu said aloud, briefly thinking back to when he saw the six symbol on the back of the redhead's commander. "If they are in the fifth and sixth, respectively, which of the thirteen are you part of?"
Rukia then grins and reaches for her book again. "In a way, you already answered that. You know how i mentioned classmates; well, there's a place here called the shinoreijutsuin, which all who wish to be shinigami go to... except for Zaraki taichou, but that's not important." She says as she goes through the pages. "After six years, those who pass are granted an asauchi, aka, an unborn zanpakuto, given a choice of one of the goteijusantai, the onmitsukido, or you can skip the sword part and enter the kidoshu."
Once they all get past the words and the childish drawings, Uryu repeats his question. "That's certainly... impressive, but that eliminates five of these taichous for you to serve under." He says as he counts on his fingers. "You don't serve under the three that ran away, with your adopted brother, or Zaraki."
"True. After graduating early, i was assigned to the thirteenth, which the taller white haired man, Ukitake Jushiro, leads." She admitted before putting the book away. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to visit Renji before i head back to my compound."
Meanwhile, Pendleton is walking away from the ichiban-tai with the other two who are telling him about the time Isshin interrupted one of Yamamoto's tea ceremonies. "-ust burst in with Shirogane-fukutaichou's daughter under his arm, begging Genryuusai-sensei to make her his official little sister."
"And he survived that?" Pendleton asked before they sensed three people arriving, and made for a corner to watch Okikiba, Ichigo, and Yoruichi show up at the staircase. The latter hesitating before running up.
"What do you think?" Ukitake asks aloud after Ichigo also headed up.
"Hmm... the orange shirt is a bit much, but Yoruichi-chan's just as-" Kyoraku says with a big stupid expression on his face before getting more serious when the two both look annoyed at him. "Spoilsports. It's easy to guess that no amount of preparation on her part'll be enough."
Ukitake glanced at the upper floor before looking back. "Will it be as bad as when sensei finds out you and the Omaeda clan payed off the kidoushu to exclude her from the senkaimon's sealing?***"
Upstairs, Ichigo, Yoruichi, and Okikiba step past as Kurotsuchi stomps past while complaining about shriveled-up short-sighted old men as Ichigo noted that the heaviness he felt at the foot of the stairs seemed to be getting as much as when he saw the old shinigami before his second fight with Byakuya. Once he entered, he was greeted with an open balcony-like space with only three chairs and a desk in it. "Is this really an office?" Ichigo asks himself as he rushes over to the other side, only to collide with an unseen surface.
"Do you not think i would leave such a vulnerability in this place." Yamamoto says as Yoruichi runs a hand down her face. "Between each of the pillars is a kido barrier that i personally maintain against fools who think me an easy target and fools who think they can see their house from here." He adds before motioning to Sasakibe. "Kurosaki Ichigo, you will accompany my fukutaichou while Shihouin and i discuss other matters."
After noting the second person seemed familiar, Ichigo asked why. "I would think that obvious; while you and your companions did battle with many of my forces, you have not truly met them. I intend to correct that. You will start here with Sasakibe Chojiro, whom you previously escaped back at the soukyoku." Yamamoto tells him while the second man protests.
Ichigo blinks a couple times before replying. "Escaped? But i knocked him down with one hit."
"That was merely his willpower at work; as far as Zaraki-taichou will go to restrain himself, he has yet to be as driven as Sasakibe is." Yamamoto tells him.
"Eijisai-dono, could you please say no more?!" Sasakibe pleads, only to be ignored as Yamamoto points to his head.
"Long ago, it took all he had to leave this vertical scar on me."
Ichigo unconsciously gulped at the implication. "So-so, you want me to fight him?"
"A mere sparring match." Yamamoto told him. "From what i was told by those who fought with you, your zanjutsu will need refining. But that can wait."
"It can... what else is there?" Ichigo asks, not noticing Yoruichi smirking behind him as Yamamoto explains that...
1. He is to learn the full history of the goteijusantai.
2. He is to have his swordsmanship tested and improved where needed.
3. He is to be given a more formal introduction to the remaining taichous and the highest ranking uninjured shinigami.
"I suppose that sound reasonable, how long should this take?"
"24 hours to start with." He replies, making Ichigo raise a brow.
"All day? How much "history" are we talking about here?"
"Two thousand years." He, Yoruichi, and Sasakibe all replied, making Ichigo give off a metallic pinging sound before the latter escorted him out. "Shihouin Yourichi, be seated." He ordered, and opened both eyes. "I will not simply assume you'll willingly reveal the whereabouts of Urahara Kisuke, Tsukabishi Tessai, and the missing eight. Divulging all you know of Aizen Sousuke will suffice."
Elsewhere, Pendleton has just arrived at the yonban-tai to see the ryoka lounging around. "Oh, look. It's the... what was that word again, Ishida-kun?" Orihime asks.
"Nephilim, it's a word in Latin." Uryu tells her before looking at him. "Though where's that associate of yours?"
"Alkabtin Naaji left for his Soul Society, young quincy." Pendleton replies.
"You know about us?" Chado asks next, only for Pendleton to glance at him like he did with Ichigo.
"...¿Tu nombre por favor?" Pendleton asks in Spanish.
"Es Sado Yasutora; Only one of my parents was from Mexico." He replied. "How many people from there are you incharge of?" He then asked. After nodding, Pendleton tells him that he has 31 of Hispanic descent. "I see. Would... would one of them be named Oscar Joaquin de la Rosa; please, if your Soul Society is for westerners, then maybe he, my abuelo, is there?"
The captain pauses to think before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, i have a few men with that first name under my command, but "de la Rosa" doesn't ring a bell. I can ask one of the other ten that i work with, however."
"Ok. It was a long shot, anyway." Chado replies before sitting down again.
"Aside from that, you said "his Soul Society", didn't you, Pendleton-san?" Orihime asks next.
"Very good question. There are two more than the one we're in now, which is B for Buddhist. I come from Soul Society C, while Naaji is from I."
"Which would explain how that woman with the two braids is able to be a shinigami despite not having a Japanese name." Uryu says in reply.
"Exactly; though while the letter suffixes imply religion, each Society is only populated by souls from the three main territories in the living world."
"Well either way it must be great in the one you come from, Pendleton-san." Orihime says cheerfully. "I mean, you get to go around chasing yarn after fighting those nasty hollows all day." She continues, causing Pendleton and a few nearby shinigami to stare at her again.
"Inoue-san, i don't think they all turn into cats like Shihouin-san does." Uryu tells her before turning back to him. "Anyway, there's still the question of how a Nephilim can have a zanpakutou."
At this, Pendleton sighs before answering. "Honestly, i wasn't intended to. As opposed to becoming a substitute like your orange haired friend, i was konso'd by a certain shinigami before a nephilim could arrive."
"A certain shinigami... who would that have been?" Uryu asked.
"Tousen Kaname, back when he was only the kyuban-tai goseki."
Chapter two.
*No proof that Yachiru went to the academy.
**No proof that these two characters have that connection.
***Made up.
Shinigami zukan.
After Ichigo's departure, the rest of the group is led around some more until they reach Unohana's office. "Feel free to look around, but-" Hanatarou tells them, stopping as he sees Orihime glance at a slightly out of place tatami mat and steps toward it when another foot lands on it.
"Please refrain from touching anything in here." Unohana said as they all step back at her sudden appearance. After Hanatarou apologized on the ryoka's behalf, he escorted them out as the scene panned under the floor to reveal a large space filled with weapons of all different shapes and sizes.