"What do you mean she's going to be executed!?" "It's just as I've said. The Central 46 decided it, not me." Kuromi glared at her captain, who seemed so nonchalant about all this. She had heard that Rukia had finally come back after a lot wait. But then, because of her excursions, she was decided to be executed. Kuromi was sure this wasn't her fault, not at all! But no one was trying to stand up and give her a free trial, not even her own captain. "It's not fair, Toshiro! She needs a fair trial!" "KUROMI!" He slammed his hands on his desk as he stood up and returned her glare. "Do you really think ANY of us wanted her to get executed?! There is NOTHING we can do about it! The Central 46 already decided and she'll be executed in a week. If you have a problem with it, you can get yourself in prison, too!" He scolded and yelled at her thoroughly until her ears folded back in submission. She gripped her fist before growling and storming out of the office.
Her tail flicked every which way as she stormed through the halls, not even lesser seats would approach her to see what was wrong. They've never seen her this livid before. Although, one person did approach her. "Hey, Kuromi? What's up?" The fox eared girl looked at her friend, Suiren, as she carried some books towards Toshiro's office. She blinked once before sighing and looking away. "You know Rukia, right?" She asked at first. The girl thought before nodding. "Yeah, I've seen her around. What about her?" "Do you think it's fair to put her on execution...even if she didn't get a proper trial?" The girl stared at her for a little bit before sighing. "It isn't fair...she should get a trial...But...There's nothing we can do now, Kuromi. They've already decided her fate. I'm sorry." She put a hand on her shoulder, but Kuromi continued walking, her tail still flicking every which way. She had a feeling she would say that. The past few days, Kuromi had noticed the girl becoming more and more attached with Toshiro. As if he were the most perfect person. She was just following his example. She should have known she would have said that.
Kuromi headed outside to get some fresh air and maybe purposely run into Gin to see if he could calm her down from all this annoying crap. No matter any way she looked at this, this situation was unfair. She didn't care now if she wanted to be praised and follow orders like a trained poodle, she wanted what was fair for her friend. She didn't want to stand for this Central 46 crap and just let it happen. She was fed up with all this! Her ears twitched, though, and she looked over at the Rokungai before she could destroy anything near her. Her ears rotated slightly, having heard a crash somewhere. She tilted her head and started over towards the Rokungai. This was new. No one ever crashed anything near here. Heck, nothing crashed period. As she ran towards the sound, she immediately stepped back when she saw the gates coming down. She gulped and immediately went to hide behind a close by building. "What's going on, now?" She wondered and stared at the large white gate. No one had ever brought down the gate before, they simply knew better! She watched curiously to see if her ears could make anything out. She heard muffled talking. She wanted to get closer, but she was too afraid to see what would happen if she did. But, she could hear the guardian, Jidanbo, very clearly. He was a giant, literally. No one ever had gotten passed him, so she was sure that it wasn't anything but a misunderstanding.
She sighed, knowing there was nothing to be had here and went off to find some other fun. However...as she was a few feet from her previous standpoint, she suddenly started to hear wailing. It was no easy mistake to think it was anyone elses but Jidanbo's. His cry always sounded like a siren, even when she was little. She ran back over to see what had happened, but before she got too close, she noticed Gin walking over. She gulped again and hid behind a building. What the heck was going on and who could actually make the giant cry like that? No ordinary Rokungai villager would be able to do anything against him. These must be strong individuals. Her ears perked up in interest as she tried to hear everything she could. The gate's entrance began to open, letting her and Gin see just who these people were. Jidanbo of course, froze in his tracks as he saw the captain. Kuromi could make out a bright orange haired boy and a few others behind him. A girl and two other boys. She tilted her head curiously before noticing Gin starting to strike at them, leaving Jidanbo with only one arm and the orange headed one stepping in front of him. She gulped and ducked her head behind the building and waited for it to be over.
The gate soon crashed closed and Gin shook his head, rather disappointed with these intruders. Then again, he was a captain and they were not even as strong as he was. He looked at the building and grinned. "Kuromi, you can get out from behind there, I'm not going to hurt you." He called for her and she simply gulped again before moving herself out from behind the building. He waved her over so she could follow him back. She nodded and stood by him. "You know...that was really mean to do to Jidanbo. He really did try his best and it was only fair that he let them through. They did win the fight..." She told him as her ears folded. He chuckled and sighed. "A gatekeeper keeps Ryoka out, not let them in. Even if they win, he cannot let them inside the seireitei, you understand?" He looked down at her, but she sighed and nodded slightly. She didn't think it was all that fair, but these ryoka were strange. Why were they here in the first place? She wasn't too sure, but she kept wondering about it. He patted her head and continued walking with her back towards the barracks.
Her ears perked a bit as she was walking with him. "Hey, Gin-taichou...what do you think about Rukia's situation?" She asked curiously. If anything, she was hoping he'd have the same thoughts as her. But she doubted it. It wasn't all the time that anyone ever shared her thoughts. "Rukia-chan? Hm...Well, it most certainly is tragic with what's going on now. We could try doing something..." Her ears perked up as a small smile spread across her face. "But I don't think we should get ourselves hurt for her sake. You know the consequences, Kuromi. Those ryoka will do something about it, anyway." He nodded, still grinning like always. Her ears drooped and she sighed. She wasn't even sure if those ryoka would do anything to help. They were intruders, not captain level fighters. However, he hated to see her look so down about it. He had to think of something quick or she'd be sulking for the rest of the time here. "Why don't you come by for a persimmon? I just finished drying a new batch. You'll be the first to taste." He poked her nose and grinned down at her, seeing a smile come up on her face. She nodded, happy to get such a special treat from him and an attempt to just keep herself from getting too depressed about this all.
Suiren filed some papers in the cabinets as Toshiro filled out some more papers. She glanced at him before looking back at the papers. "Toshiro-Taichou-" "Hitsugaya-Taichou." He corrected her as he filled out a form. "Right...Uhm...Do you really think all this is fair? I mean...Kuromi was really upset." She asked and looked over at him again. He glanced at her before sighing. This was getting troublesome. Now that girl was infecting Suiren's mind with her own version of justice. "It's as fair as it can get. They've already decided about Rukia's fate. We can't do any more, so just forget about what Kuromi said." He told her, trying to keep her from saying anything further on the subject. He didn't need her to go against orders, too. She seemed to be the only one that stayed loyal through anything, minus her days off. He didn't need her to become a flake like the others had. The girl sighed a bit and finished filing away the papers. She would like to believe that this was fair and that everything was going just fine, but how her friend was acting was just unsettling. She was so upset and seemed to hate a lot of this. It was hard for anyone to not notice her feelings on this. Suiren was conflicting, though. She was very loyal to Toshiro already but her friend was so upset and angry about everything.
Toshiro seemed to notice she was having those thoughts and sighed once again. "What do you want me to do about it? I can't do anything, Suiren." He tried to talk to her calmly. All this arguing was getting to him. He was sure this would be getting to a lot more people rather than just him. She looked at him and nodded, knowing that they really couldn't do anything about the situation. Part of her wanted there to be a way, but her logical side knew better. "What should we do about Kuromi, then? She won't be letting this go." "I don't know...she'll calm down if she rests and realizes how silly she's being." He nodded after giving it some thought. Now that he thought of it, Kuromi definitely was a rebellious soul. Always fighting him on something more or less following Rangiku's example rather than his. Maybe that was why he liked Suiren far more than he liked the others.
It couldn't have been a few hours later from when Jidanbo was defeated by those Ryoka. Kuromi was enjoying a warm cup of black tea with a few dried persimmons to munch on while she relaxed herself in Squad Three's barracks. Gin was so kind to her sometimes, it was really a nice change of pace with him. He would normally just tease everyone and make a joke of things, but this time, he really did try to relax the poor girl from worrying too much about those Ryoka and Jidanbo. Even Izuru was surprised by his kind gesture to the girl. He could still remember just how mean he was to her in the Shin'o Academy. Why was he being so nice? "Thanks for all the snacks." He snapped out of it as the girl thanked him for making the tea and for Gin giving her a few of the sweet fruits. He smiled and nodded simply. "It's no problem. Just enjoy yourself." He nodded and went on with work. Gin just grinned and drank his tea.
She drank the rest of her tea, but suddenly, a voice yelled out, "All Taichou and their Fukutaichou, please report to Squad One's meeting hall!" They looked out the door before Kuromi sighed a bit, knowing they'd need to get going. She couldn't hang around a squad's barracks when everyone knew that there was a possible threat going on at the moment. Gin seemed just as disappointed, but no one could really tell with that grin on his face. "I'll head off. Izuru can finish up the work here. Kuromi, I suggest you get back to your barracks now." He nodded and headed out to the Squad One meeting hall. The girl waved as his Fukutaichou simply nodded and went quickly to work. "I wonder what it's all about now." He sighed as he wrote down a few things. She tilted her head before standing up and took one more dried persimmon. "Be careful, all right? Who knows what's going on." He voiced his concerns with a small smile and waved as she left. Kuromi could only imagine what was going on as well.
Kuromi walked back to her barracks like she was told, but on her way, she ran into Suiren again. She blinked before looking down as she walked by. She realized she acted a little brash before and didn't really consider what she was thinking when she asked her opinion on this situation. She felt bad and didn't want her friend to look at her. The silver haired woman looked at her and sighed a bit as she hung her head low. Kuromi could be very set on her ideals, she understood that, but not giving her a chance was a little rude. Either way, she didn't want the girl to be sad and patted her shoulder. "You're forgiven. You're lucky that Toshiro-taichou isn't here, though. He'd give you an ear full." She smiled at her, making the girl look up and tilt her head. She didn't think she'd get such a nice forgiveness from her. Then again, there were a lot of things that she didn't expect from her. She smiled a bit before tearing a piece from the dried fruit and handed it to her. "Hm? What's this?" She asked and looked at the piece. "It's a dried persimmon. It's really good, taste it." She urged her as her tail wagged behind her. Suiren blinked before giggling and decided to humor the girl. She ate the piece and blinked. "Well, this definitely is good. Where'd you get it?" "Gin-taichou gave it to me. He makes a lot of them." She nodded, grinning just by mentioning the man. The girl nodded before smiling.
"Come on, we have work to do. We can't sit around and play all day." The young woman said with a nod before leading Kuromi elsewhere. She blinked before her ears folded. "I don't wanna do work, though. Can't we just stay behind and sleep?" She asked and followed after her. "Toshiro-Taichou said we have to do something. Don't make him more mad than he already is." She scolded her, which was a first for the fox eared girl. They always had fun and did things together. Why now did she decide to be like this? Maybe it was the pressure of having a threat on the seireitei present? She wasn't sure, but it seemed to not sit well with Kuromi. She stopped and frowned all too clearly at her. She turned and looked at her with a disapproving look. "Kuromi, knock it off. You know better. Now come on!" She pointed to the ground next to her but the stubborn shinigami didn't budge. She growled and walked over to her. "I said, come on!" "Why is Toshiro influencing you so much!?" She suddenly burst and clenched her fist. Suiren was a little taken aback by the sudden question before sighing lightly and shaking her head. "Kuromi, you know that I-"
Before Suiren could finish, a loud 'kak kak kak' was heard and everyone in the surrounding area looked up at the sky. Kuromi's ears were the first to pick up on it and she looked at the large ball of light in the sky. Her eyes widened a bit and she stepped closer to the position of the lights. "What are those?" Suiren questioned, but had a feeling it was those Ryoka again. The same ones that tried breaking in before. The fox girl watched carefully before the entity smacked on the barrier, causing it to crack. Her eyes narrowed before she sped off to go confront them. "Kuromi, wait! Get back here!" The silver haired girl tried to stop her, but it was already too late. The fox eared girl was already gone, going to find those lights.
As the girl ran towards the light, a few other shinigami were shoved away. "Hey! You're in a hurry to get to nowhere." One said in a rather annoyed tone but she kept speeding off. "Leave her be, not like those guys'll get past the barrier. It's only cracked." How wrong they were. Kuromi's ears were the first to pick up on the complete shatter of the barrier before others noticed it begin to collapse. Their eyes widened a bit but something didn't seem right. The fox girl stopped and watched the lights stop when the barrier seemed to decide to pull them in via tornado. Before anyone could have guessed, the ryoka spread off in four separate ways. Kuromi's ears perked up and she looked around to see just where she should head to confront one. A plan was setting in her mind. She always had wanted praise and to be recognized, so if she caught one of those ryoka...then no doubt someone would finally notice her besides Suiren! She giggled before letting her ears rotate around to pick out the one with the strongest reiatsu. Her ears twitched a bit before she headed to her left. 'This one...this one for sure! Then everyone will notice me.' She grinned to herself as she ran off to confront one of those lights.