Chapter 21 - The Seventh Espada

Byakuya's POV

Mina was right . . . It did not take long for us to start our counteroffensive against Aizen after all.

Once it was officially confirmed that my lieutenant and my sister were missing from the Seireitei, Captain Commander Yamamoto called for another meeting with all the captains and lieutenants.

No one remained silent during the thirty-minute meeting, but it was Yamamoto that had the final word, splitting those present into two combat units. One would follow the Captain Commander into battle against Aizen and whoever he brought along into the fight. The other would be tasked in taking out whoever remained within his base in Hueco Mundo.

I was assigned to the latter, and though I would not have minded having a personal hand in Aizen's eventual downfall, I was content with my position on the Hueco Mundo strike team.

"Only because you get to see how well your sister and your lieutenant have been faring with your own eyes rather than through word of mouth."

"Senbonzakura, did I ask for your input?"

"No, you did not, but am I wrong?" He asks in return, speaking in that snarky tone that I knew I used a lot when I was younger and much more prone to showing my irritation. "Rukia and Renji are the only reasons that you're not completely against your placement on this team, even after you found out that Kurotsuchi and Zaraki would be a part of this team as well."

"It is not like I can argue against the Captain Commander's direct orders. You must have a death wish to get to that point."

"Okay, fair point."

"As for the captains you just mentioned, I dislike them both in equal measure, but I am willing to put aside my personal feelings for the sake of the mission."

". . . Well, until one of them annoys you too much."

"Senbon. . ."

"WHAT!? We both know it's gonna happen."

Ignoring my zanpakuto for the moment, I come out of my thoughts to find not much has changed since I arrived at the meeting point about an hour earlier. I arrived at the main Senkaimon just after Captain Unohana, her lieutenant, and her seventh seat did, all three carrying the medical supplies they would need for the mission, though the latter appeared noticeably nervous compared to his superiors.

Then again, this was likely Yamada's first ever mission of such scale, so I could see why his reaction was warranted.

Minata's arrival fifteen minutes later came as an unexpected surprise, but it was not an unwelcome one.

It was only when she announced why she had come that my mood began to sour.

"Considering the . . . differing personalities within this team, the Captain Commander saw it as prudent that an extra set of eyes join the squad, simply to ensure that everything went smoothly and provide assistance when needed."

"The Captain Commander assigned you to this team to . . . basically babysit the rest of us?"

Senbonzakura had slipped out of my consciousness just to say that blunt question, and it had the desired effect of making Unohana's subordinates look scandalized at the implication. Unlike me, who remained stubbornly silent in the face of my spirit's callous question, Unohana took the news better, smiling slightly as she tucked her hands into her sleeves.

"Oh, he's not worried about Captain Unohana or her subordinates, however, he is quite aware of the . . . issues between your master, Zaraki, and Kurotsuchi. Considering the high stakes of this mission, he does not want any possible differences to appear and hamper this team's overall effectiveness."

"Though we do appreciate Captain Commander Yamamoto's concern and your presence is welcome Third Seat Fukudome, I'm sure this team will be successful in operating to the best of its ability. . . Isn't that right Captain Kuchiki?"

Though her tone was sweet, her expression - the familiar unsettling smile that struck fear to everyone that did not know better - told a different, yet similar story.

Namely, that if we failed to cooperate with each other, the Captain Commander would not be the only person we would have to worry about afterward.

I had no plans for things to lead to that possibility.

Captain Kurotsuchi and his lieutenant soon made their presence known, though it was the large cart they were pushing that signaled their arrival before either their reiatsu signatures could. Neither had any interest in making conversation with the rest of us - a sentiment that was fine by me - choosing to stay off to the side as we awaited the last to join our party.

He likely got himself lost on the way.

Typical Zaraki.

"Leave it to Zaraki's constant lack of direction to delay the start of a pivotal mission."

"At this point, whose sense of direction is worse: Captain Zaraki's or his lieutenant's?"

Looking to my left, I found Mina standing a few feet away, staring at the large senkaimon that was already activated, just waiting for us to pass through it. Instead of being annoyed, she looked more wistful, as if she was slightly amused by our current predicament.

"If only this was not a constant habit of theirs, then maybe I would find the same amusement in it that you seem to have found," I say as Kurotsuchi continues to tinker with that large cart of his.

"It's better than stewing on the negative side of things all the time," She counters, smirking slightly as she looks towards our right. ". . . If it helps, Captain Zaraki shouldn't be long now. I can feel his spiritual pressure lumbering closer as we speak."

"So that pea-brained idiot hasn't been drinking it up back at his barracks all this time then? What a surprise. . ."

If Kurotsuchi had not meant for us to hear his words, he was doing a poor job of hiding it.

"We should have just left him," He goes on to say as Ashizoji Jizo and Lieutenant Kurotsuchi both looked on with matching vacant looks on their faces. ". . . Would serve him right for being so late in the first place."

"WELL, AREN'T YOU RUDE?!"

"And thus, the barbarian presents himself . . ." I whisper to myself as the eyepatch wearing cretin finally approaches, appearing from behind a nearby pillar.

"Am I really rude if I tell the truth?!" Kurotsuchi demands as we all look over at the taller man. "You are chronically late, simple as that."

"I got lost along the way!"

"And whose fault is that? You've resided in the Seireitei long enough to know where everything is located by now."

"He has a point, Kenny!" Kusajishi was willing to say as she suddenly appeared, making her presence known on top of his right shoulder.

"Oi, whose side are you on!" Zaraki exclaims, looking at his young charge with mild annoyance rather than anger.

"Yours of course, but you have to admit that Clown Face has a point."

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME CLOWN FACE YOU WRETCHED CHILD!"

"Now do you see why the Captain Commander has some concerns?"

"Do not rub it in Mina," I say in return, trying hard not to sound like I was conceding to the Captain Commander's point. ". . . Are you two going to bicker for this entire mission? We have more pressing matters to get to."

"Captain Kuchiki is right."

Captain Unohana's words were enough to quiet the two bickering men before they could fully turn their ire to me, their eyes turning to find her infamous smile already in place, ready to nip any other opposition in the bud before it could start up again.

"We have an important mission to complete, and the longer that you three take to argue like little children, the more you waste our time. Your energy is better spent in Hueco Mundo, don't you think?" She asks, her reiatsu taking an ominous turn as Minazuki slowly appears behind her like an intimidating apparition. "After all, I'm sure you can't wait to stake your claim on some of the enemy for the sake of your experiments, hmm Captain Kurotsuchi?"

The scientist could only narrow his eyes at the woman, but he did not speak against her claim.

"And you, Captain Zaraki . . . Well, I'm sure you are eager to see what kind of opponents we'll face in that desert wasteland that Aizen has now made his home, right?" She asks as she looks up at the man, who dared to look down at her with a smirk in return. "I'm sure you are eager to see if any of the Hollows under Aizen's employ can actually sate your thirst for a good fight for once."

Unlike Kurotsuchi, Zaraki answered with an almost predatory grin, one that showcased all his teeth as he looked down at the smaller woman.

"Well, I can't argue with that, now, can I?" He concedes, his eyes turning to the woman on my left. "Ah, I almost didn't notice you there Fukudome . . . What are you doing here? Checking in on the princess before we leave?"

"She's the Captain Commander's eyes and ears on this mission. . ." Kurotsuchi called out to him as he moved toward the Senkaimon, leaving his lieutenant to push his cart. "Now that we have that cleared up, let's go, shall we? The longer we wait, the less likely are my chances to collect valuable samples."

"Your valuable samples?!" Zaraki calls out to him as he follows after the shorter man, leaving the rest of us to follow in their wake. "What about my chances for a good fight?!"

"Oh, those two. . ." Unohana whispers, sounding like an exasperated mother dealing with disobedient children as she and her subordinates start to follow them.

"This could be a long mission. . ." I hear Mina say, glancing to the side to find her shaking her head slightly, likely due to what we both just witnessed.

"Maybe we will be in luck and it ends up being shorter than we expected." I say, completely agreeing with her sentiments as I move toward the senkaimon, leaving her to follow close behind me.

The trip through the gate was not a long one, but the end result was quite unexpected. Instead of being greeted by the pitch-black night sky and a pale moon that was never full, we stepped into a world of pale blue sky and sunlight.

The lack of clouds was the only familiar part of the atmosphere.

"This is strange . . . Hueco Mundo has never been known for its sunlight."

"And it will continue to do so for all eternity," We hear Kurotsuchi mutter, actually acknowledging Lieutenant Kotetsu's words. "We're currently within Las Noches. . . It originally served as a gathering place for the vasto lordes of the past, but after detecting some heavy activity emerging here in recent weeks, I suspected that this was likely where Aizen decided to make his base, so I programmed the senkaimon to transport us here. . . Looks like my theory was correct."

"This place used to be a ruin," Unohana adds, looking more interested in our surroundings than I expected. "It seems Aizen had time to refurbish the place. . . The blue sky and sunlight are definitely new."

"Who cares about a fake sky?! Where are the battles?"

Zaraki sounds almost petulant as he hikes his unsheathed blade over his shoulder, looking around in disgust. "Besides the pillars and all the sand, this place doesn't look too lively."

"If any battles did happen, they must have been minimal," Unohana adds. "Or they simply didn't happen out in the open."

"Or they were contained in the pillars themselves."

"The pillars?" I ask as everyone turns their attention to Mina.

"It's faint, but I can sense the spiritual pressure of a few individuals coming from within those pillars north of us. . . One of them feels like Kurosaki."

"Good to know, and those stupid things are actually buildings?!" The shock wasn't hard to miss as he pointed to said pillars with his blade. "Sheesh, Aizen seriously needs to fire his architect!"

Without any prompting, the Eleventh Division brute started running north, his lieutenant cheering him on with each step as she maintained her position on his shoulder.

"So impatient for a fight. . . The same could be said for Kurotsuchi when it comes to his future test subjects. Even though this mission is a joint effort, they can't help but focus on their own goals."

"It only shows how single minded they both can be," I could not help but say as we watched the mad scientist, his lieutenant, and their cart get further and further away from us, heading east rather than north.

"Single minded they may be, but things tend to work out, even with their differing levels of involvement," The older woman admits, sounding resigned as she turns to her lieutenant. "Third Seat Fukudome, are the northern pillars the only ones that are occupied?"

"No, the direction Captain Zaraki is heading has the most hostile presence of the lot, well, as long as he keeps to the path he's following, that is. . ."

"Well, that dig was certainly not subtle. . ."

"But Senbonzakura, is she wrong though?"

"Fair enough. . ."

"Captain Kurotsuchi is heading toward where Abarai and that Quincy ally of Kurosaki's is located. There's a third presence with them, but I cannot get a lock on how strong it actually is," Mina goes on to explain as her head swivels west. "Rukia is in that direction, further away but I can still feel her. . . We're too far away for me to know her actual condition though."

"I see . . . Well then, I would ask which direction you want to take, but it would be a bit redundant now would it, Captain Kuchiki?"

"And why do you believe that, Captain Unohana?"

"Well, no matter how much we try to stick to our work, family has a way of influencing the choices we make."

"Speaking from experience?" I ask, her words making me curious. It's not every day we get a hint to any details of her mysterious past after all.

"Personal, no . . . More like an outsider looking in, to be perfectly honest with you," She cryptically admits, her tone soft, yet firm as she turns to her seventh seat. "Yamada, Isane and I will follow Zaraki. You stay with Captain Kuchiki and Third Seat Fukudome. Listen to their orders as if they were my own."

"Understood Captain." His answer was not the strong reply expected from a seated officer, but that was likely due to how timid Yamada naturally was as a person, well, from what I've seen.

"Third Seat Fukudome," I say once Unohana and her lieutenant disappear in a burst of shunpo. "Do you still feel Rukia's reiatsu west of us?"

"It's still there, but whatever these pillars are made from, it is not making it easy to pinpoint her exact position," she says, looking toward the cluster of pillars that stood west of us.

"Very well. . . Let's move."

Miles of sandy terrain was covered in mere seconds as Mina and I pulled to a stop at the base of one of the shorter towers.

"Oh, we forgot Yamada," Mina says, not sounding too shocked as she looked off in the direction we just came from, the seventh seat nowhere to be found.

"Does he not know shunpo?" Senbonzakura asks as he and Mizukiri appear at our sides, almost at the same time.

"Last time I heard, he's not fully proficient in it yet," Mizukiri answers, shaking her head. "Asking him to match his speed with our masters' own was simply asking too much from him."

"And yet, for a seated officer, his lack of skill in shunpo is quite telling."

"Fair enough . . . So, how exactly do we get inside?"

"There is a patio jutting out from the middle of the structure. We can enter through there," Mina suggests, pointing to the structure that jutted out just to the left of us. "And we must be quick. . . I can feel Rukia's reiatsu wavering. Mizukiri, can you go back and get Yamada?"

"On it!" I didn't bother to watch her leave, not when I knew my sister was in danger. Moving to the porch, I stretched out my senses to find Rukia's spiritual pressure, finding the faint signature leading somewhere down the hall from the open doorway.

It wasn't the only one. A second signature was near her, and it was hostile.

"I would ask if you would need assistance, but I don't think you'll need it."

"The hostile presence is not a strong one then?" I ask, not even bothering to look as I felt her presence next to me.

"If I had to compare it to the ones that appeared in the Human World, it's somewhere in the middle," She admitted as I walked forward. ". . . You still can't take it lightly though."

"I had no plans to," I say, a hand already on the handle of my blade. "Secure the rest of this tower. Once done, find me."

"Understood Captain Kuchiki!" I hear her say, her voice growing fainter the further I walked into the darkened hallway.

The corridor was silent as the grave, holding no discernible markings until I saw a light at its very end. The light led into a large room, already half frozen in ice that was undoubtedly a result of Rukia's shikai.

Standing in the middle of it all was a dark-skinned man dressed in white robes holding a sword high above his head, ready to strike down the already down shinigami that laid at his feet.

Unfortunately for him, the shinigami he planned to slay was my sister, and I was not going to let that happen.

After what I almost put her through, I was not going to let the same mistake happen again.

"Oh, I see I have a guest," The man's deep baritone was cold, not the least bit disturbed by the fact that I appeared next to him and halted his swing with my own blade. He then slowly turned, almost puppet-like with his movements as he faced me with vacant eyes. "Greetings shinigami. . ."

I remained silent, keeping the grip I had on my blade steady as his gaze went down to my captain's robe. "I see . . . You are one of those captains Lord Aizen has talked about, though he has failed to mention any of you by name."

"Why am I not surprised?"

Leave it to Aizen to not bother with telling his minions details like the enemy's name. He must have thought us to be too trivial to be bothered with.

His ego really has grown unnecessarily high throughout his years of deception and schadenfreude.

The fall from the great heights he sought for himself will be quite messy indeed.

"Tell me, do you have a name, shinigami captain?"

I remained silent, letting my cold stare do the speaking for me. Though his face remained impassive, the slight twitch of his right eye proved that he did not appreciate my lack of response.

"Hmm, you refuse to give your name then. Quite arrogant of you to do so . . . Lord Aizen has made your kind's penchant for arrogance quite apparent to the rest of us. To see it in action simply adds to his truth."

"This is one talkative hollow. . ."

"Indeed, he is Senbonzakura, but if he is willing to speak so freely, why not seek the answers we want?"

"Were you the one that hurt this shinigami?"

My words made the arrancar pause, though his body does not slack as we come to a stalemate. His eyes widened slightly, as if contemplating an actual answer to my question, and when he did speak, it was not an answer that I liked.

"No, I did not hurt the girl, but I will be the one to finish the job."

"Is that so?" I ask, my tone cold as I felt my grip tighten on Senbonzakura.

"Indeed, and I will not let you interfere with my work."

He pushes his weight against his blade, using his bigger stature to try to attain the upper hand, but with a quick burst of shunpo, I stood a few feet away, the strike meant for my chest slicing through air instead.

"Hmm, your speed is decent, but it will not be enough to defeat me."

"Well, you certainly do not lack confidence," I say, barely stopping myself from raising an eyebrow. "Why do you say that? Do you really believe that your speed is enough to defeat me?"

"It will," he says, standing to his full height. "My use of Sonido is the fastest among the Espada, to the point that I can leave after images in my wake."

"It is ridiculous to reveal your ability so quickly," I say in return before I could stop myself. "You try to call me out for my perceived arrogance, and yet here you are, speaking words so carelessly . . . Are you sure you are not just reflecting-?"

His sudden shift in position stopped me from finishing my question, disappearing to only reappear near my right side. I swung my blade, cutting him down in one strike, but it was all a ruse.

A distraction for the three clones that appeared from three other directions. The first was merely a ruse for the rest to attack, and by the time I realized what happened, there were three versions of the same sword sticking out of different parts of my torso.

Or so I let him think.

"It looks like your pride has led you to your downfall, nameless shinigami." The clone behind me bleats, expressionless as a stone column.

"Are you sure about that?" I ask, standing a couple feet away from him as my own after image disappeared, my haori now the only thing that remained of myself at my original position.

"I see. Maybe I did speak too soon . . . How were you able to pull off such a trick?"

"It's not a simple trick. It's Utsusemi (Cicada)," I say, inwardly wondering why I would even deign to explain myself to him as two of his clones disappeared, leaving the real one to stand on his own. "By moving at great speed, I can leave an after-image in my wake to take damage from my opponent, as you have just now witnessed."

"Interesting, but it will no longer help you . . . You said earlier that it was ridiculous of me to reveal my abilities so quickly, and yet you just explained one of your techniques, just like that."

"Eh, he does have you there master. . ."

Ignoring Senbonzakura's input, my eyes narrowed slightly as the Espada pointed his blade in my direction, his subtle bloodlust starting to hit my senses.

"Are all you shinigami as hypocritical as you are arrogant?! I could think of numerous strategies to counter the one you just used. . . It will not work on me again!"

"You could say that about the technique, but can you say the same about the rest of my arsenal? Will you be able to think of counters for those?"

"Well, with the arrogance you possess, it will please me greatly when I finally cut you down."

"We'll see about that." I say as I ready my blade.

"Yes," The Espada agrees, his own reiatsu spiking as his bloodlust increases. "We shall see."

A/N: Leave a comment if you like!