Chapter 7: The Unknowable Known

A/N: I know this chapter is shorter than most of my previous ones, but I couldn't think of a way to make it longer, but the next one will be, and Dumbledore won't be so happy. Heehee

The Unknown Captain: The Unknowable Known

It didn't take long for Arius to get his things packed and ready to leave. While he wasn't excited about returning, he couldn't say that there weren't some things he didn't miss.

The other members of Squad 11 were roaming about aimlessly because they didn't have anything to do. There hadn't been any major Hollow attacks and the daily spars were getting boring. But all of that was about to change.

Before he left, Arius decided to make use of his new authority and called every member of the Eleventh Division to a mandatory meeting.

When they were all in attendance, he stood before them with his arms behind his back and looked them in the eyes, "Hello, for those of you who know me, hi, and for those who don't, I am your new captain. I have called this meeting because I have noticed a certain lack of enthusiasm among the ranks and decided to do something about it." A murmur rose among the fighters. "For those of you who don't know, I am, or rather was, known as the Hero of Rukongai," eyes bulged at the admission, "Yes, I know, it's a big shock. Anyways, I have something that will be sure to cure your boredom. I have arranged a shift that will rotate every other week where each group will patrol the Rukon districts and make sure they are safe. There will be four groups, and by the end of the year, everyone will have patrolled each district at least once."

The men began to talk amongst themselves, asking each other if it was a good idea, and it obviously was sketchy, seeing as they had never done it before.

"Now, what some of you are probably thinking is that this is only to keep the citizens safe from Hollows, but that is only part of the issue, seeing as Shinigami have never had a problem dealing with them in the past (disregarding Aizen's experiments) and are unlikely to start now. What you will be doing is protecting the citizens from thugs, bandits and mercenaries who prey on the innocent for no reason other then for their own profit. I expect there to be a report filed at the end of each week without fail. And I will make sure that they make it to me once filed by use of Hell Butterflies. Be wary, however, as there is a chance that owls might attack them."

At the confused looks he hastened to explain, "Owls are used for communication in the Wizarding World and while we have more efficient means of communication, they do not and have refused to advance their own technologies beyond that of steam-powered machines. Or at least, the British WW does. Everywhere else has made advances that are far beyond that of Mundane's." He paused, "Mundanes are humans without magical powers. ("Ah," was the reply from the crowd). He went on to explain how they were to make sure that they always works in pairs since even though they were strong there was always the chance that they could get ambushed and he didn't want them going into a situation without backup.

With that out of the way, he grabbed his things and opened the Senkaimon and walked through the paper doors to the Living World, and to where his body was stored.

By the time the Shinigami already stationed on Earth arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast, Ikkaku and Ichigo were already raring to go, much to the annoyance of the others.

"I can't understand how anyone can be so energetic in the morning! It defies belief and frankly makes me sick to my stomach," Toshiro said in response to their singing in the morning, which was really off-key. "Will you two shut up!"

And so it was with a giant headache that Toshiro and the others entered the Hall and went to their respective tables, albeit they were given a wide berth.

Breakfast was a loud affair, with Ichigo and Renji arguing about techniques rather loudly although fortunately it was in Japanese and scarfing food down at the same time, so their chewing could be heard across the hall. Thanks in part to their status as Shinigami, they were able to understand the natural language of any dead soul that they crossed paths with, and this included English, so they had no trouble understanding them. This is important when you realize that the translation spell that had been cast previously had long-since worn off.

When they got their schedules, Professor Flitwick had eyed the white-haired captain dubiously, wondering if he was really old enough to be a Second Year. Little did he know that Toshiro was old enough to be his father's father.

As the group left the hall and went to their respective classes, Rukia was approached by a certain blond-haired blue-eyed Ravenclaw female who had a dreamy look about her.

"Hello Ms. Soul Reaper." She also had the ability to metagame, although how she does this in a story we will never know.

Rukia gaped at the girl before her before trying to find a way out of the mess. The result was her laughing extremely hard and tears appearing in her eyes at the forced laughter, "I don't know about you, but I don't look anything like a 'reaper'. I don't have a scythe for one thing."

Luna cocked her head to the side, "But you aren't alive."

This prompted Rukia to grab the blond and drag her into the nearest empty classroom.

Upon closing the door, she rounded on the 6th year and asked a single question, "How do you know?"

Luna smiled dreamily at the adopted Kuchiki, "You have a large amount of Harglesnarkles around you, of course."

Harglesnarkles? Shaking her head, she thought about how she would have to deal with this when the answer was given to her, quite literally in fact. "Daddy says that whenever a Harglesnarkle is around that we need to carry a dirigible plum to ward them away. He also says that they don't like it when attention is brought to them, so we need to not mention them."

Rukia blinked, unsure what to make of that statement. And the blond opened the door and walked away, leaving her alone in the room. A few minutes later, they were given a warning that classes would be starting soon, and Rukia rushed to get to her Ancient Runes class. Thankfully she had it in the morning and not Defense Against the Dark Arts or Potions, like the Gryffindors, seeing as Severus Snape had been returned to his Potions class and some guy named Lupin was in charge of it. She could only hope that Toshiro was keeping a low profile, seeing as she couldn't imagine him being able to keep his cool considering the likelihood of being called "young man".

Meanwhile in Transfiguration, Hitsugaya sneezed, disrupting his spell and turning the beetle into not a button, but a dress shirt, and quite a stylish one at that, with a color of icy-blue and a dragon pattern going down the side. Professor McGonagall was shocked beyond belief at the accomplishment and gave Ravenclaw 20 points and told him he could keep it.

Please tell me what you think. And for the record, Luna's creatures are so strange that I wouldn't be surprised if she did think a Harglesnarkle existed, seeing as I have no idea what they look like myself.

Thanks for reading! ^_^