"Captain Aizen!"

Several Shinigami had already begun to crowd the area. Captains couldn't believe what their eyes showed them. A young girl was on her knees with her head in her hands, bawling at what appeared in front of her. The fifth division captain had died and was now hung on a wall for all to see.

Gin was hiding from the group at a distance. He watched at all of the officers crowd around the illusion his previous captain had made. They were all hopelessly falling for the trap. As the scene rolled on before his eyes, he prepared himself for the role of the suspicious villain.

"No! This can't be real!" the young girl yelled. Gin almost laughed at the how true that statement was. If she were to further investigate Aizen's body, she could have tell that it was, in fact, was completely fake; a mirage. He would have like to have waited a little more and watch Aizen's lieutenant try to convince herself that the man in front of her wasn't dead. Everything about the child amused him. From her teasing behavior for the squad ten's captain to her her undying loyalty and almost unsettling love for her captain. But it was time for his role to take the lead.

"What's going on? Who is screaming so early in the morning?" He forced an eerie smile on his face. He walked with a little bounce to his step, almost looking like he was happy about the murder. He passed by Rangiku, careful not to make any eye contact with his classmate and walked closer to Hinamori. One mistake could make this whole scheme go diving into a hole with him and maybe a few others with him.

From the look of her eyes, Gin could tell that she had already suspected him to be the murderer of her captain. (No thanks to a certain captain, though Gin) The thought of Aizen's plan running this smoothly almost manage to make Gin frown and break his act. Everything was going to plan without a single mishap. It was becoming predictable and slightly boring as if it were all a twisted fairy tale.

"It was you!" she accused and charged forward, grasping the hilt of her sword. The third squad captain had to admit, Aizen must have been the greatest captain in the world to her for her to act like this. Gin didn't make a move for his sword. Hinamori was slow and he could have easily dodge the attack. But that wasn't his goal right now.

The attack was blocked by his own lieutenant. From what Gin had heard, his lieutenant, Kira, and Hinamori were supposedly very good friends during their academy days. It was interesting to watch them fight and listen to their arguments. Both were being loyal and defending their captains, and yet despite being old friends, were ready to kill each other without another thought about it.

It really became interesting when the fifth division lieutenant released her Shikai. Gin had to move away due to the explosion she caused.

The girl was angry. Really angry. The two of them were duking it out for what they believed was justice. All of it was just the sort of fun he missed from his past. Though, it was expected that his fun would end too soon.

"Don't move," Toshiro was always to serious for just a little kid. Hinamori just stared at him with a blank stare. Like all of her anger was just froze into calmness from seeing the child captain's cold stare.

"Restrain them... both of them," he ordered. Rangiku took the young girl while Hisagi took the blond lieutenant. "I will report this to the Captain Commander. Take them and lock them up!" Gin held his breath for a second. His lieutenant didn't take being in tight places, especially jails, very well.

"My apologies, Captain of the Tenth Division. My lieutenant seemed to have caused some trouble there," Gin apologized. The child didn't look back,

"Ichimaru, were you planning on killing Hinamori?" Gin didn't drop his act for a second. He was prepared for this question.

"Ah? What do you mean?" He didn't lie. He only danced around the bush.

"I'm warning you. If you let Hinamori shed even a drop of blood... I'll kill you." Gin looked at the child right in the eyes.

"My... my... my... What a terrifying thing to say! If you feel that way, you ought to be careful not to let the bad guys get close to her," Gin cautioned and walked away.

His part was over for now. All that was to do was to watch the rest of the plan go all accordingly until the next act. Once disappearing out of view, Gin looked up into the sky. Everything going to plan, which was convenient for them, but it was all terribly dull. He needed a complication; a problem just so he could watch the soon-to-be traitor try to think of a way to waltz out of it. The third division captain looked towards the west and his grin widen as he felt another fight go on.

Perhaps today wasn't going to be as bad as he thought it would.

One human, one unknown Shinigami, a cat, and the murderer of his brother made four people. And of all of those four people, he was paired up with the killer. Ganju could have killed himself at that moment, but it would mean that he would be breaking his promise to his big sister of not running away from the mission.

Rukia didn't seemed to have taken it any better. She wanted to just hide in a small corner and not be seen by anyone. But she also wanted to find Ichigo as soon a possible and that would let her be as far away from the Shiba clan as possible and she would never have to see them again. The raven haired Death God swallowed hard as she took a bold step and said, "We should hurry. Officers will be coming to investigate the crash and I'm not sure we'll be able to take all of them."

"Yeah. Let's go," Ganju agreed and took the role as leader. Rukia sighed quietly in relief and followed the younger brother and said nothing else even though she knew they were heading in the wrong direction. They spoke very little as they walked, but that was expected from them. But during that time, tension between them grew and it was something Ganju wasn't very comfortable with. He was conflicted on whether to ditch the young officer, or to talk it out. He thought about his sister and Ichigo's mother what their reaction would be if he was to ditch Rukia. He wisely chose that the latter was the smartest decision.

"Shinigami. If we talk quietly, do you think anyone will hear us?" Ganju asked, trying to keep his cool. Just talking to the girl made his blood boil.

"I-I don't think so," Rukia answered, unsure what the conversation was heading. The answer was acknowledge by Ganju.

The Shiba brother took a deep breath before asking, "Did my brother die happy?"

Rukia stopped walking. She tried to block the memory of the her mentor dying but failed to do so. She relived the memory of her sword being pierced into the lieutenant's chest and all of her emotions she felt at that time. Ganju looked back to see that the raven haired Shinigami was frozen in fear and her eyes slightly dulled, as if she was in a whole different world now. He didn't need to see anymore.

"Don't answer that. You're obviously too scared to tell me the truth. I'll just get Ichigo to tell me the full story out of you and then we'll settle the score. So until then, we're going to consider each other like allies, all right?" he asked. Rukia stared at the man with confusion, but nodded in agreement.

"Good. Now, where exactly are we?" Ganju asked, ignoring the fact that he had just forgiven the biggest sin Rukia committed.

"I-It looks like we're in the northern district. Ichigo is most likely being locked up in the Shrine of Penitence. We're going to have to reach the center to find him,"

"How about the others?"

"I can't sense them. We're going to have to go on without them," Rukia grimly stated, gradually gaining more courage to talk more comfortably to Ganju.

The Shiba clansman nodded and waited for further direction. It was clear who was the true leader in the pair, even if she did still looked like she was going to die from all the attention she was getting from him.

"R-Right. We should go. Captains will be out looking for since we're considered as traitors at this point," Rukia explained and walked away in the opposite direction they were heading preciously.

"Not so fast, Kuchiki," Rukia and Ganju turned around and saw two men behind them.

One looked as if he was competing in some kind of beauty pageant. He wore added accessories to his uniform and decorated his face with brightly colored feathers. The other was completely bald and wore red eyeshadow. Compared to his friend, he was a fashion disaster. But despite their looks, Rukia knew better than to pick fight with the infamous eleventh squad members.

"Your brother specifically ordered us to make sure we don't hurt a single hair on your noble head. But we, eleventh squad officers, don't take to orders very well. So we're going to give you till the count of three to give up and have the Forty-Six pass judgment on you soul."

"Nii-sama?" Rukia asked. She had almost forgotten about her brother in all the excitement. Now, not only did she had to explain the Kaien story, she would also have to explain to her brother what reason she had to go on such an adventure.

"Three!"

The bald man charged forward with his blade in hand. Ganju dodged with tears in his eyes while Rukia barely had enough time to react. The other man ran forward to meet with Ganju while the bald one stayed with Rukia.

"I thought you said we had until three?" Ganju cried.

"Rule number one of Soul Society: Never trust a eleventh squad officer to use correct math!"

"Ikkaku, do not disgrace our squad's name like that. You make it sound as if it is the ugliest squad in the Gotei."

"You should run, Yumichika. Looks like your prey is getting away," Ikkaku smirked. Yumichika turned to see that Ganju was running away, trying to gain distance from him and Rukia. The third seat turned to his opponent who had already released her Shikai.

"Che. If your brother wasn't the sixth squad captain, I would have probably killed you already. I'll go easy on you, but don't expect me to come at you with the intention to kill!"

The spiritual pressure the man emitted was so full of killing intent that Rukia was trembling in fear. The power was vast and showed that he could easily defeat an officer like herself. And it all faded away as Ikkaku began to dance.

"Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Luck! Luck! Luck! Luck! Lucky!" Rukia recalled a day from her past when Ichigo looked very tired. When she asked what was wrong, he said that he was forced to learn the "lucky dance" from someone. Back then, Rukia had no idea what her friend meant. Now that she saw it, she almost had pity for the strawberry teenager. Recovering from seeing the ridiculous dance, Rukia prepared for the fight.

"Second Dance, Hakuren!" Rukia punctured the ground using her pure white zanpaktou four times and took a battle stance with the blade above her head. Shards of ice began to appear and gather around her. By the time the third chair finished his dance, Rukia had already launched her attack.

Ikkaku attempted to dodge the attack, but was only semi-successful. The hand holding his actual zanpaktou was frozen. The snow zanpaktou wielder narrowed her eyes in annoyance, but waited for the next move to be made.

"Looks like the noble Kuchiki is actually someone to be scared of!" The bald man flexed his arm and little movement was showed. He smiled. "But not to be feared from!" One flex of the arm was all it took to break away from its frozen prison.

Rukia swallowed hard. This was something she was going to regret later.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"As sure as I know my own son's age!"

"And how old is he?"

"Eleven!"

Whack!

"He's fifteen now. Our daughters are eleven. Just admit it, we're lost,"

Masaki was unfortunately paired up with her now ecstatic husband Isshin. Though, at first, she thought she had the best of luck. Isshin was here before; he must have some knowledge of the roads of Seireitei. Wrong. Isshin had the worst memory and almost no sense of direction.

"Couples arguing. What are sweet form of the love~" a drunken voice was heard from above. Sudden rose petals were falling from the sky. "And an old face to greet me. What a wonderful day this is becoming."

From a roof, a figure jumped off. He landed gracefully. His straw hat covered his face. A pink lady's kimono was being used as a cape, and despite its feminineness, it gave the performance more elegance somehow. The man stood up and revealed his face.

"Captain Shunsui Kyouraku, pleasure to see you've brought your wife, Isshin," the man smiled.

"Captain?" Masaki almost began to think they would make anyone a captain these days.

"Please to meet you, Isshin's wife," Kyouraku greeted and began chuckling. More flower petals began dropping, despite his graceful entrance was already over. The captain looked up to meet eyes with a fairly young woman.

"Hey!~ Nanao!~ You can stop throwing petals now!" The woman was wearing glasses and the most solemn face Masaki had ever seen. Isshin had begun to chuckle now.

"Um, uh, Nanao! Can you hear me? Hey~! You can stop now! My sweet, cute, cute Nanao! L-O-V-E-L-Y Lovely Nanao!" The girl apparently had enough and threw the remaining petals over the captain. Somehow, the petals carried enough weight within themselves to cause the captain to fall over.

"Kyouraku, this is great seeing you, but we really have to get going," the husband smiled and began walking forward.

"Who said you could leave?" The drunkenness disappeared from the captain's voice and turned dead serious as he appeared out of the pile of petals.

"We're not exactly in the mood for your little games. And since we're not particularly enemies, I really wouldn't want to be fighting you,"

Kyouraku hid his face with his hat and said, "How problematic! Neither of us wants to fight, however, I cannot let you pass. Will you please turn your back now?"

The parents made no move to follow the order.

The somewhat drunken captain sighed. "I supposed it can't be helped. It is your son. That's why I will give you a ten second head start,"

Masaki brighten just a bit after hearing those words. Finally a captain that doesn't want to kill us! Or, at least wants to kill us immediately.

"After we drink! Just for a little bit. Maybe until they can find your son. Or maybe the other members of your group. The other officers must have at least encounter one of your group members. The battle will be over soon. So just drink like we did in back then, old friend." Isshin's friendly aura suddenly turned cold and told his wife to get away from him.

"A war isn't over until all of the battles are fought. Hold your sword, we're going to fight our way through you if we have to," the father said.

The man raised an eyebrow, but made no other movement.

Masaki stood back. For some odd reason, Isshin made it seem like only he could fight this battle and made sure she was excluded from the fight. She could only pray that he was making a wise decision.

"Ichigo, huh? That's a weird name,"

"Gin is too,"

"Touche. Welcome to the third division. We hope to make you feel welcome. Izuru will be coming soon to show you around. Just wait here,"

"Aren't you the captain?"

"I am,"

"Then why don't you show me around?"

"Such a strange kid, aren't ya? I'll stay around with ya' then. And then Izuru and I will both give you the tour,"

Ichigo smiled lightly and waited patiently for the lieutenant. Gin sat beside him, watching the kid curiously. He answered any question the child had with high tolerance. By the time the blond lieutenant came by, they held a strong bond with each other. Gin was the first friend Ichigo had in Soul Society. It was something he wasn't going to forget.

Ichigo woke up lazily. He didn't bother to stand up or to even struggle against the restraints someone had put on him while he was asleep. The orange haired captive stared at the note that was laid in front of him.

Ichigo. I hope you will make the correct decision.

He didn't need to read the signature to see who was the writer. Aizen was making his move already, and here he was trapped inside a room with no way to escape. Ichigo didn't even want to think about his family and friends all attempting to rescue him.

'Ichigo. Can you hear me?' The captive would have jumped if he could. The voice of his sword seemed to have more of an edge to it, like something bad might happen.

"Yeah old man. Any suggestions?" Ichigo asked openly, quickly recovering from the scare. No one was around to hear him, he didn't need to hide his thoughts.

'King. You know I can use your power, right?' The red head nodded, confused to why his Hollow was answering his question and not Zangetsu.

Thinking back, Ichigo did realize that Shiro could defeat Aizen with his powers. Hollows and Shinigami are natural enemies. But if one were to combine their abilities, they would face a being the could be powerful enough to destroy planets, or even universes. The one problem was, the Hollow was a result to the "training" Aizen had made Ichigo go through. And knowing how much planning the traitor

'Well, the opposite works too,' Ichigo noticed that Shiro didn't talk with the same sarcasm he usually held in his voice. It almost sounded that he was ashamed to say it.

"That's great. But, how's that going to save us?"

'The amount of reiatsu you will emit will be so powerful that it will overload the the restrainers. Shiro's abilities will also carry over and will give you instant regeneration, cero and other abilities,'

Ichigo could almost feel the discomfort the spirits held. Something wasn't being told.

'Thing is, we're going to have to fight. Victor steals all,' Shiro loves to fight. What was the problem?

"So, what's the problem?" The captive asked.

'Nothing. Just get in here and start the fight,' Shiro ordered. The Hollow sounded nervous, something Ichigo never heard from him. But Ichigo knew better than to keep bothering him for answers. The teenager entered his inner world after closing his eyes.

The blue city surrounded him and the Hollow who had his back to him. Zangetsu was no where in sight. Shiro seemed tense.

"Shiro?" Ichigo asked, wondering what was making him so twitchy. It was giving him the creeps. Something that could scare his Hollow obviously meant it was bad.

"It's nothing. Now come on. This is going to be like your bankai training. Defeat me, and you'll get complete access to my powers. Lose and, well, let's not think about that," the albino smiled insanely. The Hollow was getting back into his battle crazy mood, but the lieutenant couldn't shake off the feeling that something will go wrong if they continue the fight.

This was a fun chapter to write. But this is just going to be a warning. The next chapter will involve a Isshin vs. Kyouraku fight. Does anyone want a spoiler free fight? (Up to the chapter 405 to 406) Tell me in a review, or I might just have a poll.

See-ya on the next chapter! And reviews are always welcomed! (You guys all just rock!)