Disclaimer: look up 'Bleach' on wikipedia, it'll tell you who the owner is and it isn't me (last time I checked, at least). However, please do not replicate, alter, duplicate, etc. any original content without my prior consent.

Wow. I was really motivated this time, probably because of the one additional person who signed up for alerts, so thank you Frawg360, for your patronage.

BTW, I was planning on making this chapter longer, but I wanted to get it out today (also it's already longer than any other chapter).

Enjoy (please!)

Chapter 11: Forest Breeze

A traditional Japanese-style room with wooden walls and tatami-covered floor. The rectangular room has large sliding doors on both of the shorter sides and several beds lined up along the walls. The feet of the beds face the aisle created by the doors and sparse amounts of medical equipment are positioned next to some of the beds. In this lonely setting, only one person is present: an orange-haired man slumbering heavily in a bed next to the door.

The sun shines low through the several windows, indicating the dawn of a new day. As the birds start chirping, the man slowly wakes up and yawns. 'What a weird dream... I was in Hueco Mundo and...'

Ichigo's eyes snapped open as he felt the reality of the wounds he had incurred. His entire body was wrapped in dressings. He groaned as he stiffly tried to sit up. His head was swimming, but even through the pain he could swear he heard someone outside.

The clamouring worsened and worsened until he felt his head was going to explode, and then the door burst open. He saw a blurred silhouette standing in the light. Pausing for a moment, the eerie figure starting running toward him.

Time stopped for Ichigo. His newly-frozen veins pulsed as he stared at his impending doom. Surely this menacing figure was going to finish him off while he was incapacitated. Unable to do anything but wait for death, he closed his eyes and braced himself.

He groaned loudly as the wind was knocked out of him, as he slowly regained his composure, he noticed that nothing else was happening. Puzzled he opened his eyes and saw something small clinging to his torso.

"I don't know who you are, but you have 3 seconds to get off of me midget."

The black mass on his chest, that he now saw was human hair, reared itself back, revealing nostalgic, but furious, eyes. The next second he was groaning again, this time on the floor next to his bed, having been knocked off his bed by the furious girl.

"Baka Ichigo," the voice yelled. It was stern but he could still hear sniffling behind the words, as if the person had recently stopped crying. "And here I was, worrying myself sick for nothing."

He looked up and saw a very familiar person, her head turned and her arms folded as if she was angry, rather than just sulking.

"Rukia?"

He looked beyond the small shinigami and saw the others who had come with her upon his waking: a relieved Chad, an aloof Ishida, a scowling Renji, and a strange woman wearing white robes whom he had never met before. He looked over them again and realized what was bothering him about the situation.

"Where's Inoue? She's safe too right. I just finished saving her, so you guys –"

"Shut up already Ichigo, let us explain before you start screamin' at us," advised Renji.

"First of all, you haven't just saved her. We left Hueco Mundo about 4 days ago. We were all better after only 2 days rest," Ishida gestured to himself and Renji, "and we had our spleens and livers shredded to pieces."

"Yeah, where does your lazy ass get off sleeping for 4 straight days, when we-"

"Oh yeah, Renji, well I-"

The orange- and red-haired men were now engaged in a full-scale shouting match. A vein throbbed in Rukia's forehead, but neither one noticed until it was too late. Now sporting large bumps on their heads, they sat quietly as the small girl admonished them.

"Honestly, arguing like that. First of all, you," she gestured towards Ichigo, "should still be resting, and you," now pointing accusingly at a fearful Renji, "ought to know better and behave yourself in front of your superior."

"Superior?" the tattooed man queried, eyebrow raised.

The girl sighed, "Well, I know you've been brooding for the last 2 days, but it wouldn't have killed you to pay attention to this nice woman who has been overseeing our recovery and graciously explaining the current situation to us."

Renji looked away sheepishly, and Ichigo now focused his attention to the unfamiliar woman standing next to his friends. "Umm, who are you?" Ichigo asked of the stranger.

Rukia forgot about Renji and rounded on Ichigo again, "It wouldn't kill you to be polite either." She took a large breath, "This is Captain Hikifune of the Gotei 13."

Before anyone could question the existence of a Captain they had never heard of, the newly introduced Captain hastily amended the young shinigami's statement.

"Ex-Captain. Of the twelfth division. I don't make much contact with the real world or Soul Society anymore, but I understand there have been quick successions of 2 new captains in my old division since I was inducted into the Zero Division over a hundred years ago.

The high-school student looked even more confused than before, if possible. "Zero Division. What's that?" The two females sighed simultaneously this time.

"It appears you're as ill-informed as this brash young Vice-Captain. Allow me to explain this again..."

The Zero Division. Aptly named for its vast difference in purpose than the other so-called divisions of the Gotei 13. The Zero division is only loosely associated with the 13 protection squads, and communicates solely through the administrative division, the first.

The main difference is that rather than dealing with the internal affairs of Soul Society, namely the regulation of souls passing on from Earth, the Zero division acts as the office that maintains contact with both the organizations similar to Soul Society that are responsible for different areas of Earth, and the governing bodies that oversee affairs within these institutions, of which Soul Society is predominant. Specifically, the elite of Soul Society have always reported directly to the Spirit King, an individual chosen by an even greater authority, who ensures all affairs are squared away in Soul Society, usually for his entire life, although there are some exceptions.

The situation with Earth may be more familiar, in which the pre-eminent leaders of a nation are chosen as ambassadors. Similarly, the Zero division, the ambassadors of Soul Society, are chosen from the elite of Soul Society. Captains are the primary candidates within the Gotei 13, although there have been cases in which Vice-Captains or even some of the higher ranking seated officers in the squads have been selected. Similarly, leaders of the other two military institutions, the Covert Ops and the Demon Arts divisions, are equally considered. There are also quite a few appointments outside the military, for example, the governing body of the Central 46, the civil judicial courts, and the higher noble houses all act as pools from which candidates may be selected. Additionally, anyone who has the express nomination of the Spirit King may join regardless of their position.

Similar to Soul Society, the premises of the Zero division are a finite-area dimension. Simply speaking, as opposed to your world, in which you can gaze into space and see stars stretching endlessly, if you walk far enough in Soul Society or the Zero Court, you will eventually hit a wall. Mind you, this wall is dangerously unstable and well-regulated, so that few ordinary people would ever see it in Soul Society. The principle behind creating walls to segregate dimensional space is that a less nebulous boundary means greater security against trans-dimensional invasion. For example, a hollow's garganta can reach Soul Society, but not here. This entire complex known as the Zero Court occupies about 1 square mile of land, at the boundary of which is a wall, beyond which there is nothing. This well-defined boundary creates security that few can penetrate.

As I mentioned earlier, the boundary is square. The interior consists of concentric nested square walls. Interspersed between them are residences and offices, constructed in the traditional Japanese style, as well as parks and other public areas for relaxation, as contact with the outside world, even as close as Soul Society, is infrequent for most among the members of the Zero division. At the center of the Zero Court is the structure known as the King's Gate, which connects to the Spirit King's castle. The castle is not located here for two fundamental reasons: one, the castle is located in an even more secure area; and two, as each Spirit King is normally selected from nobility of various origins, they usually have their own castle which they prefer to adapt and connect to us via a World Gate. Additionally, it is infeasible for most of them to shirk their existing responsibilities and move here full-time.

Usually a council of members selected from within the Zero division by its own members, is periodically elected to run the affairs of the Zero Court and our duties within Soul Society. However, in times of war, the Spirit King, who is typically the commander-in-chief of the Gotei 13, may decide to intervene and convey messages to Soul Society personally, such as the recent invasion of Hueco Mundo several days ago.

"...so I hope that clears things up as to where you are," concluded Hikifune.

Renji had once again stopped paying attention early on in the speech, but Ichigo was looking at her with rapt attention, absorbing as much information as possible, and anxiously waiting to ask the question still preying on his mind.

"Alright, I kinda get it now. But you still haven't answered my question: where's Inoue? Why isn't she here?"

"Well, I know she insisted on doing some emergency treatment on each of you before they took her away. She was very worried, even though you had been soaking in the miraculous healing fluids in the belly of Captain Unohana's zanpakuto. After about 15 minutes, the Spirit King became impatient with her and insisted she come away immediately to rest, since she had already been suffering from debilitating exhaustion for quite some time, not to mention her stamina had weakened due to her confinement in Las Noches for several weeks. He took her away through the King's Gate, and I don't know any more than that, since I was in charge of your care and have been here almost continuously for the past couple of days."

Ichigo starting lifting his torso off the bed, on which he had long since repositioned himself, when Rukia started to push him back down.

"Where do you think you're going?" inquired the still angry Rukia.

"Where do you think? I want to go see that Inoue is safe with my own eyes."

He attempted to get up again, but this time Hikifune was the one to place her hand on his shoulder. "Ichigo, I know you're worried, but you have to rest. Also, you're not allowed to leave this building without clearance from the Spirit King himself, so you'll just have to wait."

He began opening his mouth, as if to protest, but the former Captain took the opportunity to throw a pill into his mouth. He swallowed instinctively and looked up at her, confused as to what happened.

"You just swallowed a fast-acting sedative. You'll be awake again 24 hours from now, and you should be well enough to walk around the building without assistance by then. Until then, rest easy."

Ichigo struggled a bit to stay awake, but eventually succumbed to the overwhelming drug-induced desire to sleep, comforting himself with the knowledge that at least Inoue wasn't in any immediate danger.

"No! Stay away!" A luxurious silk pillow sailed across the room, aimed at a woman standing near the door, who managed to dodge it.

"Please, Miss Orihime, calm down!" pleaded an anxious Ishizu. The Holy Court Guardian was standing at the entrance to the room selected to house Inoue Orihime, approximately 20 minutes after the war party's return to the Zero Court from Hueco Mundo. Her master had given her specific instructions to attend to her during her recovery, and to not to let the girl out of her sight while she rested, despite the fact that she was in the heavily protected castle of the Spirit King. At the moment, however, she was at a loss as to how to coerce the anxious girl throwing whatever she could lay her hands on at her into lying down and sleeping.

"What's going on her Ishizu?" the Spirit King said as her threw open the door. As soon as he entered, the girl stopped throwing things and became still. Ishizu looked back and forth between the two, amazed at her sudden change in demeanour.

"My lord, thank goodness you've arrived."

"I know that you haven't been trained as a bednurse, Ishizu, but for the love of Ra I only gave her to you a couple minutes ago! What's happening that's so urgent you called me back here, just when I was preparing to given the post-operation briefing?"

"It's Miss Orihime, my lord. Ever since you left her here she has been in a fit, throwing various objects at me. I've tried reasoning with her, I even resorted to using some weak binding spells, but it's all been for naught."

The Spirit King took a moment to verify this by scanning the floor, noting the shattered glass lamp, as well as the various wall adornments that now resided there. He turned to look at his ward. "Well she seems perfectly calm now, if a bit out of sorts."

"She stopped as soon as you entered, my lord."

He took three large steps towards the bed, proceeding to lean in, but the startled girl made no motion to back away. He reached forward and pulled back one of her eyelids, leaning in closer to examine it in detail.

"Well here's your problem, Ishizu, haven't I told you to look into a person's eyes to see their soul? Come here."

Orihime tensed a bit as the second person approached, but remained relatively calm, not moving enough to disturb the grip the Spirit King had on her face. As Ishizu moved closer and leaned in to get a better look, she almost recoiled at what she saw: abject terror.

"It's not surprising, really. After all, I've seen first-hand what she had to deal with in Las Noches, and a lesser person wouldn't have survived for long. But still, she is a young girl, and such a traumatic experience won't be forgotten overnight, let alone in the couple of hours since she reunited with her friends. Since then she's seen new horrors as well."

"But then why would she lash out at me? I'm certainly not a hollow and she must have realized I meant her no harm."

The Spirit King looked a bit surprised as he turned to his subordinate, but he quickly smirked. "Ishizu, if you can't even see this without going all out, you have some training to do. The fact is that this girl has realized nothing since about 30 minutes ago, when we were still in Hueco Mundo. She is not lucid. This all seems like a dream to her, and due to her recent trauma, her body is instinctively maintaining its guard when it should be recovering its strength. Most likely the presence of a strange person has agitated her somewhat." He relaxed his grip and pulled his hand away from her face. He then took two steps back, and she seemed to almost lose control of herself again. He stepped back in, and she visibly relaxed.

"Well, there's no doubt about it: my presence calms her somehow. That's a bit problematic since I have to go to the meeting now, which I'm already late for."

He sighed and cocked his head, resting it on his hand. He stood there pensively for a moment, and then jerked out of his stance, clearly having reached a decision.

"All we need is something that reminds her enough of me. Go get the demonic suppression talisman."

"Which one, my lord?"

"The pectoral. The one that I wore recently to the real world. She has seen me with it almost every day for a few months, so she should recognize it."

He stayed with her for five more minutes, after which time Ishizu returned with the familiar golden object. The Spirit King took it from her and laid it near the girl, very gingerly. She immediately grabbed the talisman so intensely that her knuckles whitened, but she quickly relaxed her grip, and the two watched as all the muscles in her body relaxed and she finally began to sleep soundly.

After telling his subordinate to continue watching over the girl and to call him if anything should arise, he ran off at top speed back to the Grand Hall, in which the meeting was supposed to have started about 10 minutes ago.

"How come this guy always takes so long? Five more minutes and I'm leaving!"

Captain Zaraki was the first to break the almost ten-minute long silence. The group had been seated around the table, waiting for the meeting to commence, and some were getting impatient, for various reasons.

"I'm not hurt that bad, but these cuts still itch like hell, and Yachiru's goin' to need a nap soon. It's not goin' to be my problem if she starts getting cranky."

Captain Kuchiki wearily turned his head to regard the man sitting diagonally across from him. "The longer I spend here, the longer I have to be in your presence. That battle with the espada was enough time spent with you to last me a lifetime."

The pointy-haired captain was about to retort, but the noble captain cut across him. "Besides, Zaraki, if Hisagi and Izuru can stand being here in their condition, so can you." With that Zaraki decided to keep his mouth shut, as even he could sense the dangerous tone of annoyance in the others voice.

A couple others at the table had turned to look at the sole exchange of the past couple of minutes, but most sat still, with their arms crossed or resting on their chairs, waiting for the meeting to begin. Most captains were quite composed, but several others, especially the lower-ranking officers, were quite obviously longing to go rest after the tough struggle.

The tedium and confusion surrounding the silent room was broken immediately when the doors at the end of the hall were flung open. Some of the more attentive people may have noticed him Flash Step to his seat from the door, but few actually registered it, just being glad that he was finally here.

Seating himself and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, the Spirit King slowly looked over everyone, and then cleared his throat.

"Thank you for waiting everyone, my apologies for being late. Now then, this is the strategic briefing of the last operation. Only those who took place in the actual battle were invited to be here, and there are some who could not be present, for medical reasons. Let me begin by familiarizing everyone. I see that you all are sitting in order of squad, as I requested, so let's begin. In clockwise order,

1st division, Captain-commander Yamamoto Genryuusai, present

2nd division, Captain Soi Fon undergoing medical treatment, instead the 2nd division will be represented by Lieutenant Oomaeda Marechiyo

3rd division, my thanks for Lieutenant Izuru Kira for attending despite his grievous wounds

4th division, Captain Unohana Retsu and Lieutenant Kotetsu Isane present, as well as 7th seat Yamada Hanatarou

5th division, I thought that no one would be able to represent, but I thank Hinamori Momo, who interrupted our battle, for accepting responsibility here as Lieutenant of the 5th division

6th division, Captain Kuchiki Byakuya is present, Lieutenant Abarai Renji is currently being treated

7th division, Captain Komamura Sajin and Lieutenant Iba Tetsuzaemon both present

8th division, Captain Kyouraku Shunsui present

9th division, again I thank Lieutenant Hisagi Shuuhei for coming despite being injured

10th division, Captain Hitsugaya Toushirou present, Lieutenant Matsumoto Rangiku absent for medical treatment

11th division, Captain Zaraki Kenpachi and Lieutenant Kusajishi Yachiru present, 3rd and 5th seats Madarame Ikkaku and Yumichika Ayasegawa both absent for treatment

12th division, Captain and Lieutenant Kurotsuchi Mayuri and Nemu present

And as for the 13th division, unfortunately both participants from the division, Captain Ukitake Juushiro and Officer Kuchiki Rukia, are both incapacitated."

No one was really surprised as the Spirit King concluded his role call, as most were already aware of the status of their fellow combatants, but some had only just realized that some of the more injured shinigami, some of whom they thought were absent, were actually in attendance. The reason, it appeared, for not noticing them sooner was that the aforementioned attendees were sitting or laying in wheelchairs or mobile beds, several feet behind the others, since their conveyances were too large to fit around the relatively small circumference of the table.

Still there were a few questions left unanswered. Captain Hitsugaya was the first to yield to his curiosity. "Who are the two guys sitting next to you, Reiou-sama?"

"I was getting to that. On my immediate left is General Karim, and on my immediate right is General Shada. You may not be familiar with them, but they too participated in the battle." He stopped for a second of consideration, and then concluded, "and just to be thorough, I am the Spirit King, which all of you probably already knew."

Just as he was inhaling, about to introduce that main point, someone interrupted by saying, "The what-King? Spirit? What're you talking about, Dog-boy?"

Everyone appeared shocked, including the Spirit King, who turned and looked at the man on his right, who had just spoken. Upon doing so, his expression changed to one of understanding, laced heavily with sarcasm. "Uhh, right. I was wrong. Apparently Shada doesn't concern himself with such minor details."

Before anyone could express their outrage, confusion, annoyance, disbelief, or any other emotion, the Spirit King finally got around to saying what he had wanted to say.

"Now, on to the main point. None of you were filled in on the entire plan beforehand, in case of security leaks, so I will now summarize the operation in full." He pressed a button, bringing up a large screen covered in words. It floated behind him, almost eerily, illuminated by an unseen source.

The orator cleared his voice again.

"Step 1: Create a double copy of Karakura town and use 2 consecutive transports to conceal the true location. Next assemble decoy towers to split up enemy forces.

Step 2: Dispatch bulk of Gotei 13 to location in real world where the second copy is set up. Aizen, having learned of the switch, will come in force to the real world in an attempt to wipe out Seireitei's main military force.

Step 3: Send remaining forces to Hueco Mundo to destabilize Las Noches as his seat of power, as well as rescuing Inoue Orihime, and, of course, our main objective, retrieval of the Hougyoku. Captains and others create ruckus outside, allowing me to complete the main objective uninterrupted. I proceed to simultaneously destroy Las Noches and the Hougyoku in one fell swoop, crippling the forces Aizen neglected to take with him. We proceed to retreat to the rendezvous point, where a World Gate, set up beforehand, waits to transport us back to the Zero Court.

Step 4: The forces in the real world will have either now achieved their mission of distraction, or will have been forced back to the second stronghold in Soul Society. Either way, after exodus of forces from Hueco Mundo, Shada and Karim launch their surprise attack, killing or capturing the remaining forces.

At least that would have been the ideal scenario, but it turns out Aizen is less arrogant than I thought. He anticipated his potential loss and set up contingencies allowing him to escape capture. We have, however, succeeded in detaining the 2 surviving espada at that location. They are currently in holding cells in this very castle."

Silence descended upon the room as the briefing ended, but it was soon interrupted by Toushiro. "So the bottom line is that Aizen and the other traitors have all escaped, unharmed?" The anger was evident in his voice.

"Well, I wouldn't say unharmed. Tousen and Ichimaru sustained quite a few debilitating wounds and Aizen himself will die from his injuries in a couple days without treatment. As I said, not quite the desired result. As much as you, I would have preferred this incident in which I have invested nearly half-a-year of my time to be summarily concluded at this point, but as I said, a few loose strings are still present. And to this, I turn to the Commander to ask, as we here at the palace move on to our next major battle, will you continue to give us the support of the Gotei 13, in exchange for my troops' continued presence in the capacity of defence of Seireitei?"

Yamamoto turned to him and said, in his most solemn voice, "It is my wish, as it is of any good Shinigami, to maintain our good relations with the Spirit King and the Zero Court and it would be our honour to continue assisting you in whatever way we are able."

"Thank you. Well, that concludes the meeting. I'm sure you all have many more things you would like to ask me or each other, but I believe you desire rest even more than that. Thank you all for putting up with this meeting and my lateness, despite your numerous wounds and tired bodies. For now, please rest in my castle as my guests for tonight, and let's leave further business for tomorrow."

Everyone raised, some helping their friends who were up in arms get to their rooms, some leaving ahead by themselves. Captain Hitsugaya, however, remained rooted to the spot.

"But what about Aizen! How can you expect us to sleep while that coward is still walking around?"

The Spirit King turned momentarily to address the enlivened youngster. "He's not 'walking around', he will be licking his own wounds and attending to his subordinates', assuming he doesn't want them to die in the next couple of minutes. He won't be doing anything bothersome right away, so I certainly do expect you to rest well, and that's an order, understood?"

The young Captain lowered his eyes and sulkily muttered, "Understood."

"Alright then." The Spirit King walked up to Toushiro and flung his arm around his shoulders. "C'mon, I'll show you to your room."

Shada and Karim sat and watched their master practically drag the sputtering boy out of the room, waiting for everyone to leave before they spoke their minds.

Whoa, two more OCs. Also if you recognize the names then yes, I did take them from there, but the characters are original (i.e. the personlities, backstories, etc.). It was just hard to think of good semitic names, and it was easier to use the nice set of which I was already aware (and quite fond). Therefore, think of it as a homage more than anything else.

Also I used Reiou again when I said I wouldn't, but 'Spirit King-sama' doesn't exactly roll off my tongue, sooooooo...yeah.

P.S. bonus points to anyone who figures out the source of this title, its not as straightforward as my other ones.