Chapter 65: 1,000 Yr. Blood War Arc: Tension

Minata's POV

As soon as the word 'Quincy' passed Akon's lips, I knew this meeting wouldn't be a happy one.

He and Kurotsuchi spent a full thirty minutes going over the Twelve's findings, half of it a recap of what happened earlier at Black Ridge. Once captain and third seat confirmed their findings to the rest of us, they gave us a moment to absorb the information, and it was quite a lot.

"Were you able to locate the Quincies' base of operations Captain Kurotsuchi?"

I should have figured that would be the Captain Commander's first question once the report was fully explained. Standing by his side was like standing next to one of those modern-day pressure cookers. The longer Kurotsuchi and Akon took to give their report, the more Captain Commander simmered, his anger boiling underneath the surface as they recounted the events of the attack.

For their sake, here's to hoping the 12th Division were successful in finding where those Quincies keep their base.

"Unfortunately, we have been unable to locate where the enemy currently keeps their headquarters." Kurotsuchi announces, much to the room's consternation.

So much for that hope.

"Hmm, they must have developed some kind of cloaking technology or technique to hide themselves." Shinji mumbles as he brought a hand to his chin.

"Or the 12th Division's technology has become so outdated it can't track shit anymore." Zaraki adds, mostly just to annoy Kurotsuchi, not to be helpful in anyway.

"Regardless of what exactly is going on to prevent the 12th from finding their precise location, the fact that the Quincy can seemingly go in and out of the Seireitei without anyone noticing till it's too late is troubling in itself," Hitsugaya mumbles, stopping the brewing argument between the 11th and 12th captains before it could even fully begin. "As the Captain Commander mentioned before, the Quincies gave us five days before they start their invasion. They gave us when, but not what time."

"Which means they have the big advantage of possibly attacking when we least expect it, even when we'll have our troops ready at high alert." Otoribashi mumbles as he brings a hand to his chest.

"Regardless of the timing of the Quincies' attack, I will not have the Soul Society caught unaware again! When this meeting is over, your main priority is to ready your respective divisions for battle. We must ensure that another Black Ridge doesn't happen again . . . Now then, Third Seat Akon, lieutenants, you are dismissed. You can wait for your captains in the other room in the meantime if you want. I still have some things to discuss with your superiors before I dismiss them as well."

We all nodded before making our exit. I ended up being the last one to leave the room, and after making sure that the door closed shut behind me, I turned around to see 11 sets of eyes staring straight at me, all with varying emotions on their faces.

Wait a minute . . . 11 sets of eyes?

"Guys, did Rangiku lea-?" Before I could even finish saying my question, a pair of hands slap themselves over my eyes. The feeling of my hair going slightly weightless was an obvious sign that I was being transported somewhere via shunpo, and it wasn't long before the hands were removed, revealing that I was now standing in the middle of the lieutenants' meeting room, standing right next to a very pleased 10th Division lieutenant.

"Rangiku, was covering my eyes and using shunpo to get us over here really necessary?" I couldn't help but ask as everyone else flash stepped into the room.

"Not really, but you have to admit it was a lot faster than simply walking over here!" she cheerily admitted as she started waving her arm around the room in a flourish. "Welcome to the lieutenants' meeting room! You're officially one of us now!"

"Um, you don't have to act like I haven't stepped into this room before, because I definitely have," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. "Including that one time where I had to clean up the mess y'all made a couple years back. . . Sheesh, all those sake bottles made me think that you all decided to have a drinking party. Ballsy, I must admit, but highly impractical considering the setting."

"Wait a minute. We did no such thing here, unless . . ." Nanao is quick to say, her accusing stare eventually landing on some of our guilty-looking counterparts. They were trying their hardest not to be noticed, but it just ended up making them stand out more.

The usual offenders - Matsumoto, Shuuhei, and Iba - at least had the audacity to look ashamed, but I was genuinely surprised that Abarai and Kira looked complicit as well. When Nanao finally turned her attention back to me, her face was completely impassive, but her eyes told the entire story, and it was not pretty. "I am so sorry that you had to clean up after these idiots."

"Well, I must say, it wasn't all that bad . . ." I say, my words surprising her a little, but before she could say anything, I had to continue. "If it weren't for them, I would have never realized that there was a special collection of sake hidden under the loose floorboards in the right corner."

"A special collection of sake? Now who do I know would go that far to keep such a thing under there?!" Nanao asks, now with a noticeable tick mark forming on the side of her forehead as Matsumoto tried to look away from her hard gaze. "Your division wasn't enough Rangiku?"

"My captain won't let me store them in the office anymore!" Rangiku bit back as she turned her head, pouting. "I had to find somewhere safe to put it all."

"Why didn't you just keep it all at your place!?" Abarai mumbles, having recovered from his embarrassment to glare at the strawberry blonde with a disbelieving look in his eyes.

"It's not as convenient." Her answer - though not surprising - still earns her glares from many in the room. It was well know that the Rangiku was an alcohol lover, but she really was too much sometimes. "Oh, don't look at me like that! it's not like I hid an entire cellar of sake under the floor! Last time I checked, I only put seven down there, tops!"

"That's still seven too many."

"If you say so Hisagi . . . By the way, Minata, what exactly did you do with all my sake?"

"Oh that? I moved them to the kitchens after I found them."

"So, they're still there!?" Rangiku eagerly asks me, clutching my shoulders in an almost vice like grip as she stared me down with her eyes full of hope.

"Oh no! They ended up being a great edition to the 16th Seat's birthday party three days later."

"How COULD YOU!?" she screeches, letting me go as she watched me with eyes so wide, you'd think I killed her favorite puppy. "I was saving those for a rainy day."

"Well, for starters, I didn't know it was yours at the time. I considered them free game at best." I say in my defense as she blindly fell into one of the seats. "Besides, you pretty much opened yourself up to this by storing it here in the first place."

"Fukudome does make a good point there." Iba mumbles, shrinking back at Matsumoto's cold stare. ". . . Well it's true."

"How about we all agree that Matsumoto was wrong for stashing her sake here and call it a day alright? It's obvious that she's suffering from this moment of bad judgement already." Kira mumbles, a hand already on his chin as he looked to the side.

"Okay, but is there something bothering you Kira?" Hinamori asks, slightly curious as the blonde turned to face the rest of us.

"There is . . . Something from the meeting that I still can't overlook," he mumbles. "The disappearances in the Rukongai . . . Akon mentioned that a number of the footsteps that the 11th Division found were made by people wearing shoes, right?"

"Yeah; primarily people wearing sandals . . ." Rukia answers as she raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask Kira?"

"To be blunt, Rukongai residents don't wear sandals, mainly because many aren't able to afford them, especially in the kind of areas like the one where the footprints were originally discovered," he explains. "The Quincies have never been known for wearing sandals to begin with, and the scans confirmed that there were no traces of their presence there to begin with. That leaves only one other possible option."

"Shinigami . . ." I say, the small nod of Kira's head confirming my suspicions.

"That's right, and last time I checked, prior to the 11th, the last division to be in the area where the footprints were found belong to the 12th." All eyes immediately went to the silent Kurotsuchi leaning against the back wall. "Care to explain to us what happened on that excursion Nemu?"


Byakuya's POV

I was slightly confused when the Captain Commander had asked everyone not named a captain to leave the room, but he made his intentions quite clear once the door was closed. His words, at best, could be considered as an angry pep talk, history lesson, and full-fledged warning all on one, a reiteration of who we would soon face and the damage they could do if we were not careful.

When we were eventually dismissed, no one was in the mood for talking as we filed out the room. Though no one spoke, it was not hard to see what the priority would be among the divisions in the coming days.

"Hm, usually before a major battle, there would be a calm before the storm," Kyoraku is the first to say as some of us lingered in front of the door, others quickly taking their leave. Within a minute, only Kyoraku, Ukitake, Hitsugaya, and myself remained in the hallway. "Not this time though . . ."

"What would you describe it as then Shinsui?" Ukitake asks, always willing to entertain his curiosity.

"The tension before the typhoon . . ." he states, his words actually serving as a better fit to the current mood we were all experiencing. "No matter how well you can hide it, no one is feeling calm in the Seireitei right now, not when we have such an enemy looming in the shadows, ready to take us out and cause mayhem throughout the entire landscape."

"Hmm, it sounds like you don't believe the Quinices will stick to the deadline they gave us." Ukitake mumbles, looking a little unsure.

"Why should they?" Hitsugaya mumbles, bringing a hand to his chin. "They're capable of appearing in and out when they see fit. Black Ridge can attest to that . . . We're practically sitting ducks at the moment, just waiting to be plucked. If the scanners continue to be useless in finding them, then the Quincies will have the tactical advantage from the very start . . . For all we know, they could even be listening in to the divisions as we speak."

"Now, now; there's no need to get too paranoid Captain Hitsugaya," Kyoraku says, trying to put the white-haired teen at ease. "Even if that is a possibility, if we keep thinking along those lines, we'll be so wrapped up in our heads we won't see the next attack till it is too late."

"That may be so," Hitsugaya concedes, not looking entirely convinced as he started walking away. "Still though, the Captain Commander does have the right of it. We have to prepare, or else this will be the end of us as we know it."

I decided to take my leave at that moment, exiting while the two older captains watched the younger one makes his exit. As I turn the corner, I overhear Ukitake mumble something about "somber thoughts for someone so young" and I couldn't help but think that the man was right.

Many of us were not alive when the Quincies last attacked the Soul Society, and there are so few shinigami still alive that lived through those battles today. We had all believed that the Quincies had been rendered down to a few souls, no longer capable of challenging the Seireitei like their ancestors did in the past.

We were wrong to put stock in such beliefs, and now we face our biggest challenge since Aizen.

A challenge where what we may already know on the Quincies likely won't apply now.

"Master? Shouldn't you be making your way back to the division?"

"I will be there soon Senbonzakura. I have to check on something first. . ."

"Something, or someone?"

"You know exactly what I mean. . . Make sure Abarai starts the men on the new training drills."

"Yes master . . ."

I bring myself back to the present once I spot Mina walking down the hall toward me, conversing with one of the lower-ranked members of her division. Spotting me, she ends her conversation with the woman before approaching me, her face looking unsure as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Coming to check on me I see?" she mumbles, her familiar smirk stretching across her face as she leaned herself against the wall.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay before I left. . ."

"Thank you, but you do know that you are risking the ire of the Captain Commander by being here when you should be readying your troops for battle," she reminds me as she looks off in the direction I previously arrived from. "You will not get out of here unscathed if he still feels your presence in these hallways."

"That is true, which is why I will keep my visit short." I say, very aware that I was putting my well being in danger by lingering this long. I wasn't a man that was usually rattled by fear, but I would have to be absolutely foolish to not think I would come out of this unharmed if Commander Yamamoto did manage to find me here. "So, you are alright?"

"Besides a quite eventful lieutenants' meeting, I've never been better." she tells me, pecking my lips before looking up at my eyes. "Now get moving. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"You are so caring for my well-being," I mumble, sneaking a kiss to her forehead once I was certain no one was around to witness it. "Sometimes I wonder how I manage to be lucky enough to have you in my life."

"Sometimes you don't need to wonder. You just have to let things happen," she advises as she looks behind me. "Also, Captain Commander has just left the meeting room and I can feel him heading this way."

"I'll be going now."

A/N: Leave a comment if you like!