10th Squad Barracks

August 29th, 2010

The clacking of the alarm made me jump as I was about to sip my tea. I groaned while I set my cup down and looked at Toushirou, "What do you think this is about?"

"Who knows?"

I listened for the announcement and sighed, breathing in the fresh air. We were sitting outside in the garden beside his office. Toushirou for once asked Matsumoto to leave, asking her to go out and drink with her friends. So, it was just the two of us, if you don't count the shinigami passing by every once in a while.

"Attention! Red alert! Red alert! Intruders detected in Western Rukongai! This is not a drill! Repeat, red alert! Breach detected in West Rukongai!"

I groaned and stood up, Toushirou doing the same.

"Nazeka, if you see Matsumoto, make sure she finds me over by the eastern barracks."

"Right," I replied, immediately becoming serious. He flash-stepped away, while I ran to my own barracks, flash-stepping every once in a while to make it faster. I didn't see Matsumoto at all, so I continued for home. I reached the office and slammed the door open, looking for Ukitake. He was just getting out of his chair.

"Sir! Where do you want me to go?"

"Squad Nine has already secured the Hakudo Gate, so there's no need to go anywhere outside the barracks. However, alert everyone to be prepared just in case we're needed. Ready a group and then report back to me."

"Yes sir!"

I flash-stepped over to the main house where most of the shinigami in our squad stayed during the day. They were all there, standing around and waiting for our orders.

"Everyone! Taicho has asked that you stay prepared, just in case we are needed! I will pick a group. Those who I choose will stay here ready for any assignment our captain gives us! Is that understood!"

"Yes ma'am!" They all replied. I love our squad... I smiled inwardly. They were so well behaved. I asked for the two third seats, who immediately joined me at the front.

"Kotetsu, Kotsubaki. You two are to stay with taicho as I will be handling everything else. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Of course."

"Thanks," I turned to the rest of the group and yelled, "Mizuko! Amaya! Daisuke! Hayate! To the front!"

The four shinigami stepped forward.

"You four are my group. Wait for any directions the captain may give you. Wait for me here. I have to go back."

They nodded, and I flash-stepped back to the office, "Taicho."

"Nazeka, right now we just have to sit and wait for other orders."

"Understood. So, uh... why would there be intruders?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think it could be the boy that Rukia gave her powers to?"

He stiffened, "I thought Byakuya said he killed him."

"Rukia said that too, but you never know. Maybe he survived."

"Survived a captain?"

"Well... when you say it that way, it does sound ridiculous."

"I think it's someone else."

I sat down on the couch, "Well, we'll find out sooner or later."

We waited about an hour before a Hell butterfly flew into the room. It perched on my outstretched finger and I relayed the message to Ukitake, "Attention, all squad captains and lieutenants. The ryouka has been averted for the time being. It is now staying in Junrin'an. Do not make any attempt to attack or take things into your own hands, lest you be punished."

"Thank you."

The Hell butterfly flew off and left, probably to say the same thing to some other captain and lieutenant.

"Sir, shall I go tell the others?"

"Yes."

"Alright, sir."

I flash-stepped out of the room to the main house and shouted, "The commands are to stand down. The ryouka was averted for now. You may continue on with your daily duties for now. Be aware that there might be more commands in the future. That is all."

They all dispersed while I walked back to the office, slowly. Damn that ryouka. Getting us all worked up for nothing...

"It's not it's fault. It's Yamamoto-soutaicho's fault. He's the one who got so worked up with this stuff."

Yeah, but the ryouka was the one who caused him to get worked up.

"I guess."

Whatever. I'm pissed right now, so I'm done talking to you.

"Fine."

13th Squad Barracks

The next day

Another Hell butterfly landed on my finger while I was sitting in the office. Captain Ukitake had gotten sick yesterday after the ryouka event, so I was in charge again. I was completely on edge with the ryouka still at large. What was I supposed to do? I'd never commanded a whole squad by myself before. Maybe I could go ask Toushirou or Kyouraku-taicho for some advice, since Ukitake was asleep.

I listened to the message the Hell butterfly was carrying.

"Attention. All captains are to attend an emergency captain's meeting tomorrow at dawn. I repeat, attention. All captains are to attend an emergency captain's meeting tomorrow at dawn." It flew away and I groaned, "But Ukitake-taicho's sick! And I'm not allowed to go to those meetings..."

There was a knock at the door, and it slid open. Hisagi-fukutaicho of the ninth squad walked in, carrying some papers.

"Eh? Hisagi-san?"

"Oh, Mamori-san, these papers are from Tousen-taicho. They're for Ukitake-taicho."

"I'll take them."

"Ukitake-taicho not feeling well?" He asked as he handed me the small stack.

"Unfortunately." I glanced at the three scars covering his right eye and cheek. An immediate sense of guilt welled up inside me.

"Well, I hope he gets better soon."

"Thanks, Hisagi-san."

"Hisagi."

"Right. Hisagi," I muttered, "Then call me Nazeka, instead of Mamori-san."

"Alright. Hey, something wrong?"

"N-Nothing. I'm just feeling a little nervous. If something happens, then I'm in charge and... well, I've never commanded a whole squad during an attack on the Seireitei before."

"Some of the newer captains haven't either, but we trust their judgment, don't we?"

"Yeah."

"Then just think of yourself as a new captain. Your squad trusts you, and we trust your judgment."

"Thanks, Hisagi."

"No problem. Now, I gotta go back to Tousen-taicho. See ya later, Nazeka."

"Bye." He shut the door behind him and I waited until I couldn't hear his footsteps any more. I collapsed on the couch with the papers and sighed, "It's the first time I was in a room with just him, and now I feel super guilty about those scars. They're my fault... if I had listened to him, he wouldn't have those."

"You don't know that. He could've gotten them some other way. Fate works in mysterious ways."

Yeah, whatever. You're just saying that to make me feel better.

"I'm your zanpakutou. I'm supposed to resolve any problems within your inner world. And right now, it's raining. Hard. Dammit, stop feeling guilty! Your inner world is getting drenched!"

Okay, okay, I'll try. It's easier said than done you know. Sorry.

"Try telling that to my sopping wet mane and fur. That, my friend, was an unnecessary bath."

So, do my emotions always affect my inner world?

"Yeah. When you're happy, it's sunny and bright. When your sad or guilty, it rains; when you're angry, it becomes painfully hot and dry: enough to dry my small pool of water at the top of the tower."

Wow. I never knew that.

"Well now you know. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go and fly around a little bit while I rid my fur of rainwater."

Sorry.

I stood up and put the papers on Ukitake's desk. For a few seconds, I sat down in his chair and imagined what it would be like to be captain. Being captain wouldn't be too bad... No! I don't want to be captain! I don't want to be a shinigami! I jumped up out of the chair and shook my head, taking a look at the papers. They were all things that had nothing to do with me, and everything to do with the captains. Resignations, deaths, and new shinigami yet to be recruited were listed on the papers. There were very few new shinigami. In fact, it was kinda sad.

"Oh well, we just won't have too many newbies this year. Less work for me, I suppose."

1st Squad Barracks

The next day

"Ah, Nazeka? What are you doing here? I thought Ukitake-taicho was sick," Hisagi asked, and I leaned against the railing on the bridge. Many of the lieutenants were sitting in the 1st Squad's garden outside the hallway to the meeting room. The only person missing was Yachiru, the eleventh squad's lieutenant.

"He is, but he asked me to ask one of the captains when they came out what they talked about since he wouldn't be attending. Especially since it's an emergency meeting."

"Oh."

"But, Nazeka, I thought lieutenants are forbidden to hear what they talked about during the captains' meetings," Momo asked.

"If your captain asks, it's an exception," Nemu explained.

The rest of the lieutenants nodded. Momo giggled, "Oh, I guess I was the only one that didn't know that."

"So, has anyone heard anything more about the ryouka?" Kira asked, and we all shook our heads.

"There hasn't been a single mention of the ryouka since the attack. Maybe it's dead?"

"I don't think so. Yamamoto-soutaicho would've let us know."

"Yeah, but you think this would be a bigger deal, right? I mean, an intruder in the Soul Society? That doesn't happen every day."

"But what is it's purpose? What is it after?"

"You think... maybe it's here to kill the king?"

"If that were true, then you think it'd come more prepared than feebly attempting to come into the Seireitei. It'd have to find the key too."

"That's true. Then what?"

"I think it's after Rukia. And I think I know who it is, too," Renji spoke up. He stood up, "It's that kid, Ichigo Kurosaki. Maybe he survived somehow. I don't like to believe it, but that's a major possibility."

"You think Kuchiki-taicho failed in killing the human?"

"I'm just saying, it's a possibility."

The alarm suddenly sounded, and everyone listened, "Red alert. Red alert. The Seireitei has been breached. All squads report to battle stations immediately. Repeat. This is a red alert. All squads report to battle stations immediately." The alarm continued to sound and the announcement was repeated again and again.

"What!" We all stood up and watched as Kenpachi ran down the hallway and out of the first squad's barracks. Every lieutenant found their captain and followed them out of the barracks as well. I did the same, and found everyone staring up at the sky where a huge ball was flying: coming right at the Seireitei. I watched as the ball hit the spiritual membrane and then burst. Only after several minutes did several pieces go flying in different directions.

"The... the ryouka got through..." I muttered, amazed. I had never heard of someone actually getting inside the Seireitei by force. I flash-stepped to Ukitake's room, immediately, knocking on the door and entering without waiting for a response. He was sitting in the center of the room, covered by a blanket and holding a cup of tea.

"Sir! The ryouka broke through the membrane of the Seireitei! It seems there are several ryouka, and they all scattered throughout the Soul Society. What should I do?"

"Nothing."

"Yes sir-er... wait, what?"

"Did any of them land near here?"

"No. There were over by the eleventh, eighth, and third squads, as well as an uninhabited area near the second squad."

"Then there's no reason for us to do anything. The rest of the squads are perfectly capable of taking care of the ryouka near them."

"Yeah, but..."

"Nazeka. Did you think that we were the only capable squad? If anything, because I'm sick most of the time, and you've never had any experience dealing with things like this, we're not at all the most capable."

I sat down on the floor and bowed my head, "Sorry, taicho. I guess I just... just wanted to make sure I did everything I could."

Ukitake sighed, "It's alright. So, since I'm assuming that you came right here after the ryouka entered, you didn't ask a captain what was discussed during the meeting, did you?"

"Um... no, sir."

"Then go find out."

"Yes sir," I flash-stepped out of the room and to Toushirou's office. I looked inside, but he wasn't there, so I ran to Kyouraku-taicho's office. He wasn't in his office either, but Nanao-fukutaicho was.

"Oh! Nanao-san! Have you seen Kyouraku-taicho?"

She looked up and pushed her glasses farther up the bridge of her nose, "Well, last I saw, he was heading to the library. He said he was looking up the number of humans that were given shinigami powers like that boy the sixth squad was ordered to kill."

"Thanks!"

"Er, Nazeka-san, why are you looking for him?"

"I have to ask him about the meeting earlier for Ukitake-taicho."

"Oh, right. Well, good luck finding him!"

"Thanks again!" I ran out the door and onto the streets but froze. I had only been to the library once, and that was with Ukitake. I had no idea where it was!

Okay... think... think... argh, it's no use. I can't remember which way we went! I'll just have to take the best guess I can. Um... left... or right... Okay, left to head back to the barracks, right to go to the seventh squad's barracks... after that it's a four-way street... straight to the sixth squad, right to the um... I think over to one of the gates... and left to the inner part of the Seireitei. If I go left... oh yeah! The library's in there!

I ran down the street following my mental map of the Seireitei (with all it's blank spots...) and finally reached the stairs to the inner section. In Inner Seireitei, there's the Central 46's headquarters, their sleeping area, the library, the mental asylum (I will never set a foot near that place... it's too creepy.), and the way to Sokyoku hill. After climbing the stairs, I passed the gate to Central 46, and I could immediately sense tension between them and myself.

"Those damn people in Central 46. I hate them so much."

"Any reason why?"

I nearly jumped three times my height from the voice behind me. I spun around to see Toushirou standing there with one eyebrow raised.

"Dammit, why did you do that?"

"I was just talking to you."

"Well, don't sneak up on people!" I sputtered, "A-Anyway, how did you find me here?"

"Followed your reiatsu," He said simply. I narrowed my eyes and muttered, "Stalker."

"If anyone's the stalker, it's you. You spend more time at my barracks than you do at your own."

"That is not true!"

"Yes it is, and you know it. So, why do you hate Central 46?"

"Because," I said flatly, blushing at the thought.

He caught it, "You're blushing. And 'because' is not a decent answer. Why do you hate Central 46?"

"I hate them because... because of what they did to you. I mean, they killed off your best friend just because you guys had the same zanpakutou. They're all bastards! Every last one of them!" I could feel my face burn even more as I explained. He didn't change expressions at all.

"You hate them because of what happened to me?"

"Yeah."

"Shouldn't it be me who hates them?"

"Well, yeah, but the fact that someone hurt you makes me mad."

He smirked, but it faded and he looked me in the eye very seriously, "There's something I need to ask you about."

"What?"

He grabbed my hand pulled me into one of the vacant buildings nearby. He motioned for me to sit down, and he did as well, except not facing me. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. I was really confused, until I felt tired and fell asleep.

I found myself facing the giant space between both Toushirou's inner world and my own. He was standing across from me looking down at the icy ground on his side.

"Why'd you pull us in here? I would think that abandoned building would be enough..."

"Because, this has to do with the barrier separating our worlds, as well as the connection."

He sounded so sad when he said that. I pressed my hand up against the barrier, and I immediately felt my reiatsu sink. I pulled away and looked at my hand.

"That's one of the reasons I need to talk to you. Hyourinmaru said that Syugoryuu left out a major detail. Remember how they said our reiatsu would skyrocket or deplete? Well, the person who loses their reiatsu will lose so much, that even their existence is endangered. They will be left with barely any strength. Hyourinmaru said that the last person to try that barely had the strength to keep his heart beating. It's extremely dangerous."

I didn't say anything, too shocked to really find my voice. He continued, " Anyway, that's not the main reason I wanted to talk to you."

"Then what is it?" I muttered.

"Nazeka... you... you lied to me, didn't you?"

"L-Lie?"

"The first time we learned all this, that night it stormed. I asked you about the 'drawn together' part. You said I dreamed it, but Syugoryuu said you lied."

"Syugoryuu told you that?"

"Yeah. I can't believe it Nazeka. Why would you lie to me about that? That's something I should know about you know."

"Toushirou, I-"

"Dammit, why the hell? Why couldn't you tell me? Did you think it would change what would happen in the future?" He asked furiously, and I could tell he wanted to break through that barrier so badly.

"Because I thought that you wouldn't... you wouldn't really love me in the end. That you wouldn't really care. I mean, if you knew that we'd be drawn together since the beginning, I felt that you wouldn't love me truly. It's... It's hard to explain..."

"You didn't trust that I would fall in love with you the same way any one else would? Then what about you? You knew about it, so you could've been the one to not really love me."

"But I wasn't going to let it affect the way my emotions work."

"Well neither am I! I can't believe that you're so selfish! Damn it..." He gritted his teeth and disappeared, leaving me alone to stare at the cold tundra that served as his inner world. A huge gust of wind caught me from behind, and a soft furry head rested on my shoulder. I placed my hand on Syugoryuu's snout and scratched him gently before he lifted his head and looked at the sky. Thunderheads covered the sky and soon, the whole place was being drenched with rain.

"Come on, you need to go somewhere where you won't get wet."

"...You told him..."

"You weren't going to get away with it. You know that, don't you? And Toushirou needed to know. It's better he found out now rather than later."

The rain fell harder, completely soaking both me and Syugoryuu. He snorted and picked me up by the neck of my kosode and dragged me up to the top of the tower.

"I have to tell you-" Syugoryuu began, but I cut in, "You... You told him..." I growled, my body shaking. The rain stopped and all the water immediately dried up as the heat rose. Even I became completely dry in seconds.

"Yes, I told him. We get it."

The heat rose even higher, and I could feel my own spiritual pressure rise with it. Syugoryuu roared and hissed, his mane standing on end all the way down his back. I drew my sword and screamed, "Syugoryuu!"

I flash-stepped next to him and brought down my sword, aiming for his neck. He slithered away fast enough and chomped down on the metal, yelping as he did so.

"Let go, Syugoryuu!"

He didn't say anything, but kept growling, holding on tight to my zanpakutou. I felt a surge of rage and wrenched my sword from his teeth, kicking him in the snout and jumping backwards. He snapped his jaws several inches from my face, but I swung at this nose again. His tail whipped around and knocked the sword from my hands and over the side of the tower. He flew over and picked me up again, taking me down to the gate and dropping me there. A hand grabbed the neck of my kosode pulled me backwards, my reiatsu wavering up and down like crazy. I writhed and screamed, struggling against the hand, but another hand covered my mouth, stifling me.

"Nazeka, calm down, dammit," Syugoryuu growled.

I pried at the hand covering my mouth, but the hand moved and grabbed one of my hands, the other one holding onto my kosode letting go and grabbing my other hand. One of them grabbed my sleeves, keeping me from moving while the hand returned to my mouth as I was about to start a screaming fit.

"Sorry about that. She gets that from me," Syugoryuu said to the person behind me, and I heard an icy voice reply, "That's okay. As long as she doesn't get too out of hand, she's fine."

I tried to bite the hand over my mouth, but I couldn't get it from that angle, so I quit.

"Pull her farther in, and she'll calm down. She can't do much when she's losing her energy from loss of reiatsu."

I felt the hands pull on me and I could feel my reiatsu sink farther than ever before. I fell to my knees and the hands let go. I turned my head to the gate and saw Toushirou standing there, completely expressionless.

"How did you-come into-my inner-world? I-thought we-couldn't-do that," I panted.

"I balanced it out. If your reiatsu sunk, I would step in farther, and it would balance out. If my reiatsu sunk, I would pull your hands in farther to my inner world."

"I thought-you were-mad at me."

"I couldn't have you attacking your own zanpakutou just because you were upset," He said coldly, looking at Syugoryuu, who was picking my sword up out of the ground. He dropped it next to me and began trying to lick his snout where I cut him. His tongue wasn't long enough to reach it, so he just brushed it with the fur on his tail.

"I'm going back," Toushirou said suddenly, and I thought about what I was supposed to be doing. Ukitake was still waiting for me to return with what was discussed in the captain's meeting.

"Wait, Toushirou!"

He didn't respond, but just looked at Syugoryuu, "I leave her to you."

"Of course."

He's ignoring me now... do I have to call him by his title? I groaned inwardly and tried again, "Wait, Hitsugaya-taicho!"

"What?" He asked, annoyed.

"Ukitake-taicho wanted me to ask a captain what was discussed in the captain's meeting. Do you think you could tell me?"

"Whatever. It was a discussion on Gin Ichimaru's actions. He attacked the ryouka boy against orders and failed to kill him. He's getting away with it for now, just because of the sudden intrusion by the ryouka. There will be another meeting later."

He disappeared immediately after he said that. I picked up my sword and sheathed it, and Syugoryuu glided to my side.

"You know, you better start working on learning your bankai."

"Why?"

"Because, you've been lieutenant for quite some time now. It's time you learn."

"Look, I know that Yamamoto-soutaicho wants me to be a captain, but there aren't any open positions. There are thirteen captains for all thirteen squads. There's no room for me. I'll learn bankai when I'm needed. Anyway, I better get back and tell Ukitake what they discussed. No visiting Kyouraku-taicho today... Bye Syugoryuu," I said, disappearing from his sight.