Aw man, this is just tragic. I had a good excuse during my semester: I just didn't have the time to write with all th school stuff I had to do. Then again my teacher did warn us that those who didn't feel like they had their heads under water were doing something wrong. That was a great beginning of that semester. But turned out he was right. So I was drowning.

But now, well the only excuse I have now is that for the past two month I haven't had access to internet. That has to count, I think? But yeah, it's official now: I have absolutely no concept of time!

I cannot start to say how happy I am that there are so many reading this story, from my point of view that is. And I absolutely adores all you super folks that takes the time to read this, even if I apparently can't hold my promises. But I will finish this story, eventually. I have a sketch for it and after this, there should be seven more chapters.

I am so grateful for all the reviews and all that have taken the time to follow, favorite or read.

Disclaim: the original manga belongs to Tito Kubo.

Chapter 24: Explotion

That morning was starting of as a brilliant morning. It was sunny, no cloud in sight, not so much to do honestly, since he just came back, and well, it was a perfect morning. Nothing could ruin this morning. Everyone knows that saying that, even thinking that, was a bad omen. So why did he say that out loud? And here he was having such a great morning. After all, nothing beats the wellness you feel after sleeping in your own bed.

Ryuu was gone. Jepp, after all he had done for the brat, Ryuu was officially gone. Renji didn't even know if he should hit himself for believing the brat wouldn't try something like that. But he had such high hopes. Ryuu wasn't in the dorm, he wasn't in the kitchen. Renji had ran from one side of the squad to the other, even inspected every inch of the training ground.

He stopped in his track before going over every place he had already checked. Who would Ryuu want to see as fast as possible? Captain Hitsugaya. Or Matsumoto all depending on what the brat had to say. Needless to say, Ryuu was in the tenth. Probably.

"Captain Abarai," said the one guarding the door that morning when he crossed Renji in the hall.

"Hey, wait," yelled suddenly Renji after the man. "Do you know that Ryuu is strictly prohibited from leaving the squad." The man looked at him blankly. "Did you let him pass," the captain asked.

"Who's Ryuu?"

"Who's Ryuu?" exploded Renji. "Who's Ryuu?"

"Captain, I'm sorry, I'm not sure I know why you are irritated with me right now." Renji took a good look at the man. He had circles under his eyes and looked like Renji only needed to touch his shoulder for him to fall over.

"Go sleep," he said, maybe a tad bit pissed. Thinking about it, with a guard that could barely keep his eyes open, Ryuu could easily just have slipped past him. But even so tired, how could he not know who Ryuu was? They shared the same dorms. Or wait, maybe that was the other one. Running to the gate he stopped in front of the officer that should have been here if Ryuu went through today.

"Hey buddy," he said as the man straighten up in front of his superieur. "You wouldn't have seen Ryuu pass through here today, would you?"

"Captain, sir?"

"So," trailed Renji off, "have you seen him?"

"Sir?"
"Yes." By now Renji was starting to get rather annoyed by his underlines lack of motivation this morning. He may have been gone for two month, but he was still there captain. Nothing to do with the shame that followed would the head captain learn Ryuu manged to run away his first day back.

"Who exactly is this Ryuu?"

"What do you mean who is Ryuu?"

"Well, sir, I am rather new in this squad and I don't really know the names of everyone yet. Sir," he added at the view of Renji's darkening face.

"Has a kid passed by this morning?" He motioned with his hand the height said person should have.

"Not that I am aware of captain."

"What do you mean by that? It's your job to keep an eye on who comes in and goes out." The blank stare the man gave him didn't really help. Yes, Renji was a rather laid back guy, but somethings, like a certain child, was worth being preoccupied by. Not to mention the very serious lack of control in this place. "Okay you know what, just forget it."

He hadn't been gone that long, yet Renji felt like he was mixing things up. Wasn't the newcomer the one sharing a bunker with Ryuu? He was so certain of it. Then how come he doesn't know the kid?

"Karl." Renji made him stopp in the corridor. "You know who Ryuu is, right?"

"Captain, you're back," smilled the man with the blond hair and a stack of papers he was bringing to the office.

"Yes, indeed. I'm back. So, you know who Ryuu is, right? The child?" By know something was up, he was sure of it.

"Sir, are you alright?"

"Just answer the question buddy." Desperation must have be written on his face.

"Yes of course." Renji let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. "You mean the newbie from the academy, right. The one with the curly blue hair?"

"What? No! The kid from the world of the living."

"Sir?"

"Yes," he said desperate.

"Why would we even bring a child from the world of the living here?"

"Tell me this," the captain said with a new spark in his eyes, "why was I gone for two month?"

"Two month," Karl gave a little laugh. "I know you have a tendency of saying that the captain meetings are boring, but you have only been gone for a day."

Renji stood there with his mouth open. He couldn't get what the man had just say. Not only was Ryuu apparently erased from his mens heads, but so was also his tripp. So what exactly had been going on for two months. He left the man in hast and sprinted toward the first person he could find. Asking every time the same question: do you know Ryuu? The kid? And the answer would always be the same: No. As per now, he knew something was up. Either Ryuu was at the tenth or he had been abducted, could that even be possible?

Abarai rounded up all the squad members that were available and asked for all of them to come to the common room. As he stood there watching the folks coming through the door, he couldn't help wonder if this was a joke. A very ingenious joke indeed, but nevertheless, a joke. If it was indeed a playful joke, they were very good players and equally in a lot of trouble.

"Silence," said the captain over the murmures of the others. "You must all be wondering what in the world I am going on about. So just to clarify: you people are not running a joke, right? If I found out, even just for a second, that you are," he paused for a moment to think what would possibly terrify his squad enough to make them speak, "we are having training sessions with the 11th next week."

The silence in the room was palpable. So the 11th did terrify them. Good. Then again the 11th terrified him too. "No one?" The small shaking of head and frowns made him continue.

"Alright. Does anyone know about the kid we brought back from the world of the living?"

The room was filled with unsure nos and nahs and strange faces, until:

"Captain, you mean Ryuu right?" All the faces turned to the rather young soul in the back.

"Yes."

"Ah, youth." The blond brushed it of. Renji nearly ran over to him. Holding both his arms, he looked him deep in the eyes. "Euh, captain?" asked the boy.

"You know who Ryuu is?" He said, maybe a bit to sharply.

"Yeah, we share a dorm." Looking sideways at the older one beside him, the young man continued, "Right Brad?"

The older one on the contrary looked at the captain with a sour look. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I have no idea what either of you are talking about."

What was different between the two of them? Scratching the back of his neck, Renji made his way toward the front again.

"Okay, have any of you the feeling you are forgetting things? I don't know, anything really. Or maybe others around you are forgetting things that you know they should know."

Now the murmures became more forced and as he looked around, Renji could see confused faces, people arguing and trying to put together the missing pieces.

"I'm going to go for yes," he said blankly at the assembly. "So let me explain to you. Roughly 10 years now I think, something like that, soul society dragged a human soul to Seireitei because of his massive energy. Then they let the boy stay in the tenth before he moved here to the third. The last two month I have been gone to the world of the living with this brat. This brat is Ryuu. Yes, buddy?" He said, seeing the raised hand in the back of the assembly.

"Is Ryuu missing?"

"Yes, apparently."

"Well he was here at 6 when I was finished with my shift."

"So you believe he left voluntarily?"

"Possible, he didn't seem to be able to sleep. He probably went to the tenth."

"True," said the captain. Looking again at the boy he wondered. "What exactly did you do at six o'clock. The plan is to shift at six, then eat. You shouldn't have been back before seven." The youngster looked sideways before looking at his officers eyes.

"I might have dropped the food. I wasn't feeling so well and well I was dead tired." Looking at the rest of the people he asked.

"Did all you others eat?" The answer was mixed between yes and no. So that wasn't the reason.

His entire world shock at the energy burst. This was nothing like what he had felt before. Even if he did have the capacity of a captain, Renji could still feel weak and disoriented by the energy. He could clearly see his officers dropping to their knees. At the end, he too bends the knee and tried his best to protect his head.

When he opened his eyes again, he knew instinctively he had blacked out for a moment. The place was a wreak. As he managed to stand up again, still a bit dizzy, he could see more than one of his higher ranked officers clearly out of order. After making sure his third seat could manage the ones in the assembly room, Renji ran down the corridors in search of what could possibly have caused this. The doors were open and he had to look twice in different room just to make sure some of the underlings where still alive.

He went to his office first. It was in ruin but still traces of someone going though his stuff. This only amplified his belief that someone had broken in. Well with the bad capacity today of guarding, that wasn't difficult to believe.

As he tumbled through the rubbles on the floor, he wondered why the alarm about the explosion hadn't been triggered. Hadn't the rest of the seireitei felt that?

He could hear his underlings running in the corridors from one point to the other, probably trying to fix what was broken. Breathing deep, Renji took his zanpaktou and stormed out again. He made sure his different seated officers had something to be responsible for. Someone working through the rubble and making sure no one is trapped underneath anything, someone calling on the fourth, someone even checking if something is missing. But most of all, someone responsible to supervise all the perimeter and doubling guards and protection around the compound. As for him, Renji needed to understand who in the bloody world did this.

He made sure to try to warn the first by mean of butterfly but none of them seem to be able to fly. As if the entire place was just bathing in some protection. The communication didn't work.

Thing changed when a messenger landed right in front of him.

"Captain Abarai," said the man in the strange white attire.

"What?"
"You are being summoned to central 49."

"Why?" But the man was gone. "Hey wait, what is there at central. Arg, just forget it."

Breath, he thought, just breath. You've been in worst wars before. There couldn't possibly be anything worse than the thousand year war. Leaving everything to his underlings, he made his way toward the central.

The first thing he noticed when stepping outside of the third squads ground was the air. As if he could suddenly breathe again. Had the explosion really made that much rubble and dust?

The Central 49 was still and calm. No closed doors, no people and most definitely no panique. Had none of them felt that explosion? What could they possibly want with him? The man had said the message had been from the head captain, so maybe they hadn't talked together.

As he entered through the door he could see the nobles staring at him. True, they had a tendency to send nobels turn captains when they needed something and not the poorest people they could possibly find. Why had the head captain even told him to come here?

Renji tried talking to one of the men that was standing by the wall, but he just bluntly ignored him. True, Renji had been used to captain Kuchiki for a long time, but these snobs were the cream at the top.

Finally he managed to get one to acknowledge that he was an actual being and not some trach under their shoes. Telling the man why he was there, the older man just smiled and told him to follow him. As they walked in between corridors, through doors, Renji was lost. There was no way he would be able to find his way back.

"Wait here," said the man as they stopped in a rather small circular room. The walls were plain, no seats and only one door. Now, would you have asked Renji later how he managed the first big attack on the Seireitei as a captain, he would say excellent. Even if everyone there would tell you he should have seen it coming.

The man walked out and the world turned black.

….

Matsumoto couldn't believe how stupid she could be. Standing up again she had to hold on one side of her head, that's how much it hurt. It wasn't anything special really, just a small concussion probably, but it hurts. The streets around her were buzzing with officers. When she was thinking about it, the seireitei looked like a bee nest. One stick to bug it and everything just decomposes in front of you. Lucky her, they had been standing in an intersection so Ryuu could have ran down any of the streets.

"You", she yelled at the first officer that passed her. As he didn't stop, she grabbed his arm and made him halt.

"Ma'm I really need to get going."

"Don't Ma'm me," she replied angrily still holding on to the arm with all her forces. "What is going on?"

"We don't now. We have been informed that there are a lot of wounded officers at the third and that they are in need of our help." Turning the inside of his cloth she saw the mark of four division. Oh whatever.

Leaving the man, she jumped on the highest building that was still standing. As she looked out, it looks like the explosion had done some major damage. Buildings were in rubles and streets were impossible to see with all the stones in the path. She could see the crater that had probably caused the entire commotion. They couldn't blame this on Ryuu.

Remembering that Ryuu had a rather powerful and wild energy she tried to sense him. The commotion made it impossible. Even with all these not so powerful soul reaper, it was still so much dizzying. Not to mention, her head was still hurting. Whatever hit her couldn't have been the explosion alone. This was like a nasty hangover with a drop of fear. Still searching there was an energy she definitely knew that was coming her way.

"Matsumoto," screamed the orange headed strawberry. "Rangiku, are you alright." As she turned her head she nearly fell over again. Ichigo caught her before she fell down.

"owa, haven't been this drunk in a long time," she joked.

"Hey you alright," he asked again after making sure she was sitting near the wall down in the street.

"Yeah, yeah," she waved him off. "Just a headache. I think I hit my head during the explosion."

"Yes, what was that?" He stood up looking around them. "You' also headed to the third?" The light was hurting her eyes, really bad. Man what happened to her?

"Yeah."

"Ah, Ryuu and his helpers," he chuckled.

"Ryuu wasn't the cause..."

"Of course he was."

"...For either of them." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"You do realize there has been two explosions right? Better yet, do you know what is going on?" He looked around them again observing the commotion that was starting to calm down.

"Not sure. I felt Ryuu's explosion and I thought I might go talk to him and stuff." His arms were crossed, he's hiding something. Arg this head made her unable to concentrate. "You know anything?" he said back at her.

"Not really. I know that the captain went to the first. He seem to know what was going on. Well I'm not so sure as I was trailing a little boy at the time." Ichigo only grinned.

"It's adorable how much you take care of Ryuu. I never actually thanked you for that."

"Ryuu was with me when the first explosion happened. I was in the tenth." She looked as he finally understood what she was saying. "Again, Ryuu wasn't responsible."

"Wait, what? Then who is?"

"That is the question isn't it. So technically you know even less than I." She half teased. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember how things turned out. But every time she closed her eyes, the dizziness took over.

"And what about the second explosion and the third?" She looked up at that.

"The third? As far as I'm concerned, there has only been two."

"I was following Ryuu's energy. That's why I'm here in the first place."

"What? But Ryuu was with me all the time. Wait," she shouted as she stood up, only to stabilize herself on the wall. "Headache. Anyway, when was the third?"

"Just a little while back. It was nearly right after the second. The third was from here somewhere." Well that explained the reason why he was looking around.

"Ryuu bolted when I blacked out," she said. "I don't know where he is." Thinking about it: "why are you suddenly so interested in Ryuu? Not sure he can tell you anything about your sisters." He had a look of surprise when he looked back at her.

"Of course I am worried about my nephew." She was at lost for words.

"When did."

"I've told you this before."
"No," she blanckly said standing up straight, managing to walk a little without losing her footing.

"Of course, I told."

"Don't really care right now," she cut him of. "If the third was around here," she said walking around the patch where she had fainted and hit her head, "then how come I don't remember it?"
"You said yourself you blacked out. What made you black out?"

"That must have been it. The massive energies that was been flowing around must have disturbed Ryuu's internal energy and made him turn into a bomb."

"Anyway, you don't happened to know where Ryuu is now?" asked Ichigo.

"I wouldn't be standing here if I did. Best bet, he went straight to the third to check what is happening. Man, is it complicated to talk with you today."

"Lots on my mind."

They agreed in silence to go to the third with Rangiku passing first and Ichigo close behind in case she loses her footing again. She wasn't very stable still and small distractions could make her fall. They didn't make it as far as they wished thought before they got intersected by a distressful Hinamori in search of captain Kurosaki. With an already unstable Rangiku and a distressful Hinamori, they both ended up in a knot of limbs on the ground.

"Hey, there," said Ichigo as he came to a halt.

"As much as I adore you Hinamori, What are you doing?" whispered Rangiku rather annoyed. She had tried to keep her calm, but the surface was starting to crack. Where was Ryuu?

"I'm so sorry Rangiku, euh, lieutenant Matsumoto. Captain Kurosaki," she said swiftly turning toward the man, "you are called to go to the first immediately."

"The head captain send you to fetch me?" he asked surprised. The small woman looked sideways before answering.

"Well, not exactly."

"Then what," asked Matsumoto that had managed to stand up too..

"Well, the man from the central 49 called me and told me to get down here and get you."

"We're not exactly close to the eight right now, how come you found me," asked the captain instead of all the others thing, like maybe the: who was the man or why would they call for a meeting without the head captain?

"Well he told me that you probably would be around the place where the explosion happened. But then again I think he meant the third."

"I don't," said Matsumoto.

"So said Shiro-san."

"Toshiro," asked Ichigo. "Where did you meet him?"

"I met him not far from the explosion site. I told him the same thing as you, there is a captain meeting right now. Very important apparently and all captains should get there as fast as possible."

"What did the captain said," butted the red haired woman in.

"He said we shouldn't trust anyone we don't personally now. And not even then."

"So," trailed Rangiku on, looking toward Ichigo.

"Why are you both looking at me," he said exasperated. Stressed? This was indeed his first official attack when he was an officer and not someone butting in of their own will. This could be a major crisis.

"You are the captain, captain Kurosaki," answered Hinamori politely. The male scratched the back of his head before giving his answer.

"We should get to the third, maybe Renji can tell us what is happening and what did happened in the third during the first explosion."

So they did just that. They did gather from all their information that there was an intruder that the captain knew and probably wanted Ryuu for himself. There were probably helpers and the explosion could be a diversions.

The third was a mess. The entire squad was in rumbles and bits, people lying on the ground bleeding, others standing around searching for traces, or even some trying to save the ones hurt. Hinamori made a sprint to the wounded to see if she could help with anything but got turned down since the fourth was taking care of it. They intercepted one of the squad members.

"Hey, you," called Ichigo to the young man, "where is your captain?" The young man looked confused at him.

"He's in the world of the livning."

"Nonsense" screamed another behind them. This one looked like a rebel and probably someone Renji could identify with. "The captain got a message to go to the head captain or something."

Looking at the man, Rangiku noticed he was standing outside the squad's perimeter.

"Who are you?" she asked sceptical.

"10th seat, Agame."

"Then why are you standing outside the squad ground?"

"The captain asked me too, ma'm. You see there is something within that makes people forget. I remembered the brat so the captain told me to stay on the other side incase people came looking. Like you folks. But like I said, captain 's not here."

...

The streets were all the same, buildings upon buildings in rank and order. White walls and intersections, men and woman in black and white, sky blue and nothing made sense. Ryuu had been running, but why? A moment there he didn't even know why he was on his feet. His surrounding changed and he finally managed to stop. His body didn't really want to work with him. He fell to his knees.

The trees were green, the ground brown, the colors disturbed him. Where was he anyway? There was no buildings in the surrounding area and no sound. He remembered standing with aunt Rangiku at the intersection and the explosion. He remembers his head exploding by the energy and he remember the running. Which way did he end up running? It was all a blur. He could hold his head and try to remember, but that was all that came forth every time.

His head popped up. He heard something. He hadn't imagined that sound. It was a voice he had heard before but he couldn't place it. There it was again. A mumbling, a melody perhaps. Nothing concrete, nothing that made sense. He started walking in the general direction of the noise. He eventually ended up on a road, a dirt path more like it.

He met a woman on the road. She didn't pay him much mind, he one the contrary was mesmerized. She was walking along with a basket of clothes. Plain white and blue clothes. She was wearing a typical kimono and her hair was put up in a bun. She was smiling to herself as she passed him in the sun. Like she was out for a stroll on a simple day. She gave him a small nod as she passed him. She was so at peace and he ended up forgetting where he was headed. The voice brought him back to reality. He was no longer in Seireitei.

That begged the question as to when he passed the wall. Why was everything so blurry? Wasn't he supposed to follow the captain? Yes, that must have been it. The captain went to the third and he tried to follow. And yet, wasn't the captain standing on the roof in the tenth?

He eventually left the road and walked deeper into the forest. The branches sting and the sun was warm, but no matter the voice was still as distanced.

His path ended at the bottom of a cliff. The voice came from the inside. He was sure of it. He could feel the fibers in his body heating up. Something was melting him. The warmth spread from the heart and he couldn't stop the smile that eventually graced his lips. On the other side of this wall was something waiting for him, he just knew. And he wasn't scared. Why would he? It was so peaceful.

He tapped on the surface, there had to be an opening somewhere. The stone was cold and none gave the sound of a space. Moving toward the east he continued tapping on the surface. Then again, would tapping on stone help? Imagine his joy when he saw the opening in the mountain. A path leading into the deep. Without a second hesitation he ran inside. This was it.

It wasn't. The cavern he entered was empty?

I am truly sorry for the wait, but I hope you liked the chapter. It has been so long since I started the story that the original story line has changed a little.

I really can't thank you folks enough for taking the time to read. You have no idea how happy that makes me. I wish you all a wonderful weekend.