Chapter 39: Reunion

It wasn't long after the two members of the tenth were healed when reiatsu of somebody stronger then any of them made itself known. A series of flashsteps could be heard as the head captain appeared with several others in tow. "Yamaji." Captain Kyoraku greeted the much older head captain.

Ichigo and Shiro both felt their nerves shake a bit in the presence of the older man. Sweat dripped from their heads down their backs from the intense heat from the head captains presence. So this was what Urahara meant when he said the old man's presence alone was intense enough to ignite the air around him. The old man had to be powerful, even more so than Kepachi; by tenfold.

"It would seem you've caught our intruders." The old man spoke, not even introducing himself.

"Actually they appeared just in time to assist us in discovering the truth about Captain Aizen." Unohana half lied. Knowing exactly how the head captain felt about Ryoka, Retsu was trying a subtle way of protecting them. "Right Captain Kenpachi?"

All attention went to the stronger captain. "Huh?" was his response as he looked at the infuriating captain of the fourth. "They told me about Aizen's traitorous actions." He stated as he tried to explain things when in reality all he really wanted was to hunt down and fight the bastard.

"We encountered Captain Tousen when he suddenly attacked us." Yumichika explained for his captain.

Picking up on what his companion was doing, Ikakku continued. "The battle was magnificent as our captain came out on top!"

"The weak ass traitor should've known he was no match for me." Kenpachi mumbled just as he heard another flashstep. Looking behind him, he grinned. "About time you showed up princess. " Behind the group stood Captain Kuchiki who was barely containing his anger. Renji and Rukia appearing in tandem next to each other. "Got yer ass handed to ya in a one-two punch and now yer lookin' all pissed." Gripping his sword he grinned. "Want another ass whoopin'?" Kenpachi laughed at the pure hate and anger that could be seen in the Kuchiki heir's eyes.

I'm not fighting him again. Shiro thought causing his zanpakuto to laugh. He's boring as hell. He tried explaining, only for more laughter to be heard from the pale skinned spirit.

The old head captain mentally groaned at Kenpachi's words. He could suddenly feel the reiatsu of Captain Komamura flare wildly. "Where is Tousen!" he snarled out.

Kenpachi looked at the masked captain of the seventh division. "I killed the traitor."

In a flash the masked captain flew at Kenpachi, only for the captain of the eleventh to be ready for him. Laughing, Kenpachi swiped his sword at the other captain. Dodging the attack, the basket made mask suddenly tell to pieces revealing a wolf-man beast. "Always did wonder what ugly face was under there!" Kenpachi laughed.

"Enough!" Genryusai Yamamoto had, had enough. His reiatsu flared warningly. Looking at the teens who had come through the barrier made by the sekkiseki stone wall. He was infuriated by them, but if what the captain of the fourth had stated was true, then that meant these kids had helped reveal a villain they hadn't known existed. "Unfortunately, even if those Ryoka did assist in revealing Aizen as a traitor-"

"I'd stop that train of thought old man." A familiar voice came from the nearby building causing the group to look up just as Isshin jumped down in front of his children.

"Isshin Shiba." Yamamoto glared at the other man for one, interrupting him and two, appearing to not be as dead as everyone thought him to be.

Matsumoto felt her eyes widen, tears threatening to begin to fall. "C-Captain Shiba!?"

Isshin scratched the back of his head. He's known revealing himself would get emotions going. Clearing his throat, he went all serious. "About twenty years ago I went to the living world after hearing rumors of large scale hollows attacking our people stationed there. Moments after arriving, I witnessed a soldier being killed by a large hollow that didn't have a hollow hole. It was a Vasto Lorde class hollow." This caused a few to gasp. This type of hollow was extremely powerful and hard to kill. This was where Isshin had to lie a bit. "I killed the hollow, but was severely injured. My powers began to fade and my reiatsu began to fade. I was dying." He crossed his arms over his chest as he continued. "Aizen appeared and would have finished me off when none other than Kisuke Urahara showed up. Aizen revealed that he had created that hollow as an experiment. Urahara fought him off and proceeded to focus on saving my life." He then pointed to the two boys. "Those two are my son's from the woman I married in the living world." He then grinned. "Before I left my post, I was the leader of the Shiba clan. So that makes them my heirs and therefore they and their friends are protected by the Shiba clan; which still recognizes me as apart of it."

"What does that all mean?" Ichigo asked Shiro, who have his brother a shrug. How was he suppose to know.

"It means you're protected from being reprimanded by the head captain." Rukia's voice sounded behind them. She suddenly grasped both of them by their ears. "But that doesn't mean I can't yell at you two!" The teens gave out a cry of pain. "How could either of you be so stupid!?" She proceeded to hit both of them with her fists. When suddenly Orihime grasped her from behind and hugged her.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Rukia!" Orihime yelled happily. Both boys rubbed their ears, but were smiling as Rukia focused her attention on the rest of the group by yelling at each of them. Reprimanding them for coming to Soul Society and doing things that weren't their duty to do and fighting captains of all things!

Renji felt his eyes widen as he watched how Rukia interacted with the human teenagers. She was acting like her old self. Joking and yelling loudly instead of being the quiet girl she had turned into. He felt his chest ache. She had returned to what she had been before he could even do anything to help her to do so. He had been so caught up in his anger at Kuchiki for taking her and being an arrogant prick that he hadn't noticed how much she had changed since she had returned, until now.

"Well," Kyoraku began, trying to get every attention back to the more pressing matter. "with one crisis averted, now we have to deal with Aizen and Gin Ichimaru's obvious traitorous activities."

Yamamoto gave a nod. "All captains are to find and apprehend Captain Aizen by any means necessary!" Slamming his staff down upon the ground, the captains and lieutenants all flashstepped away to find the newly revealed traitor.

M-Angel: Another chapter done! Was going to try posting on the first but I wasn't done with the chapter.

Bob19h - That's funny! I might use that somewhere. ^_^

Zeynel - I always liked her. She a lot smarter than she lets on, and scarier too!

Murder Leo - Hope this chapter was better for you.