I sat in the garden outside my bedroom and watched as a Hell butterfly came and landed gently on my finger.

"Attention. There will be a Lieutenant meeting in thirty minutes at the first squad's barracks," The black butterfly flew off my finger and up over the fence. I stood up and stretched, grabbing my zanpakutou from the porch beside me. My reiatsu had finally returned to normal ever since that incident inside my inner world earlier that morning.

What a crazy day, I thought, With the ryouka entering the Seireitei and shinigami running every which way to stop them... I suppose I'm glad that Ukitake said to not do anything. I'd be worn out... but then again... I'm bored... Well, off to the lieutenant meeting. That'll at least keep me occupied.

I walked down the streets, meeting up with Renji and Kira half-way there. They greeted me and asked me how the captain was doing. I answered, but we quickly skipped to the subject about the ryouka.

"Any news?" I asked, but Kira and Renji both shook their heads.

"We thought you might know."

"No, I haven't heard anything about them since this morning."

"Yeah, you certainly left in a hurry after they made it inside."

"I had to go let Ukitake-taicho know. But he informed me that we didn't have to do anything since they ryouka landed near the other squads."

"Oh, that would make sense," Kira said, "It was kind of funny. One second you were here, the next, you were gone. You just disappeared."

"Shunpo."

"Yeah, we figured," Renji said. He fixed his lieutenant badge absentmindedly, not really paying attention to the conversation since it had nothing to do with the Ryouka.

"So, Renji, any idea who the ryouka boy is?"

"It's Ichigo. I know it is."

"A pretty bold statement for someone who was ordered to eliminate him," I teased. He snorted, "Taicho was the one who made the final blow. If he's not dead, it's his fault."

"Yeah, sure."

"I'm serious! You can ask Rukia!"

"I would, but you know, ever since your captain allowed them to take his own sister to the repentance cell, I'm not allowed in there. I have to go with taicho if I want to."

"Look, I don't want her to die any more than you do."

"Then why do you act like you do when ever you're in front of her?"

He played with his badge again, avoiding the subject.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're jealous of that Ichigo kid."

"Why the hell would I be jealous of that damn Ichigo!" He snapped, walking faster to avoid Kira and me. We caught up to him and I grabbed his sleeve, "You're certainly making it sound like you're jealous."

"Nazeka-san, I think you should stop..."

"Kira, shut up. Can't you see I'm busy trying to get answers out of pineapple head here?"

"Shut up!" Renji yelled, and I snickered, "That's right you giant red pineapple. I want answers out of you, and I want them now!"

"Well I know that a bunch of lieutenants want to know what your relationship is with Hitsugaya-taicho!"

"That's none of your concern!"

"Well neither is this, so stay out of other people's business!"

"I'll do what I want, Pineapple Head!"

"Midget!"

"Moocher!"

"What! I am not a moocher!"

"Hinamori's told me that every time you visit her barracks, you eat their food and don't even bother to help around the place! That sounds like mooching to me!"

"Guys! The meeting? Have you forgotten the reason we're walking down this road in the first place!" Kira broke in, pushing Renji and me down the road closer to the first squad's barracks. I folded my arms and sulked that I was being forced to stop arguing with Renji. I always won, since he failed at calling names. However, I can't say that I had many more names up my sleeve to call him.

"This isn't over, Mamori!"

"Whatever, Abarai!"

"Shut up you two and get through the damn door!" Kira pushed us through and I slid in to the back. Sasakibe-san, Matsumoto-san, Nemu-san, and Iba-san were already in the room. After us were Hinamori, Kotetsu-san, Hisagi, Nanao-san, Yachiru, and lastly, Oomaeda-san. We all stood around the room as Iemura, the third seat of the fourth squad, began the announcements.

"This is the latest situation report. Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, both of squad eleven, have apparently been withdrawn from the front lines effective immediately. It's reported that both high-ranking officers have sustained serious injuries and a detailed damage assessment for the entire squad is currently underway. But at the moment, all we have to go on are unconfirmed preliminary reports of the day's action-which would seem to indicate that squad eleven was almost completely annihilated."

Everyone tensed at the thought of squad eleven being taken out.

"What! That's impossible!" Kira seemed to put into words what everyone was thinking while Momo muttered, "Not squad eleven..."

"How could a handful of ryouka have done so much damage in just a few hours?" Hisagi asked, and I nodded.

Oomaeda-san just picked his nose and scoffed, "That squad's pathetic!"

"Squad eleven is one of our strongest squads that deal with only physical strength and force. I doubt even you could have handled one of those ryouka," I said, and he growled, "Shut it, pipsqueak!"

"Three of the ryouka have been positively identified. And two of these have been known to have taken a member of squad four hostage. Intelligence indicates that this group is heading this way; however, since a short time ago, we have been unable to detect their reiatsu, so their whereabouts are now unknown."

"Obviously our intelligence leaves something to be desired," Matsumoto-san said. Iba-san replied, "You know, now that I think about it, it's been a while since our fourth seat has reported back in. We'd better send someone to check on the West 20 region. Who knows? He may have been defeated too."

"Are you serious? Isn't the fourth seat in your squad Jirobo? The 'Wind Scythe'?"

"That's right."

"First Jidanbo, now his brother? Can they both really have been defeated?" Hisagi asked.

"What the hell is going on here?" Kira asked.

"Obviously these ryouka aren't as easy to deal with as we thought."

"Well I've been trying to tell ya for years that the eleventh squad isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Shut up, Oomaeda-san. I'd like to see you face those ryouka. Maybe then you'd take back what you said."

"Silence! This meeting is hereby dismissed!" Iemura shouted, folding up his paper and leaving the room. Kotetsu-san followed him, and soon, everybody left one by one. I looked around for Renji, still wanting to finish our dispute from earlier; however, he wasn't in the group. I tapped Momo on the shoulder, "Hey, have you seen Renji?"

"He left just before the meeting was dismissed out the back door. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing. I was just looking for him."

"I'm kind of worried. Renji never shirks his duties as a lieutenant."

"Well, I'm sure he's fine."

"Okay..."

"See you later," I said, running past , but someone grabbed my arm. Matsumoto-san pulled me aside and said, "Hey, uh, Nazeka... about taicho... what happened between the two of you? I know he had run off to go see you, but when he came back he was really upset..."

"Well um... Matsumoto-san-"

"Rangiku."

"Right... Rangiku, um... we kind of had a fight..."

"You two had a fight? About what?" She instantly perked at the thought of gossip. I groaned inwardly and said, "Well... it has to do with our zanpakutou... and when he was still in the Academy, I lied to him about mine... and he's upset that I lied to him."

"Well of course. I'd be upset if my girlfriend lied to me."

I raised an eyebrow, "What did you just say? We're not... dating... and we're certainly not boyfriend and girlfriend! That just sounds so... weird!"

"Then what are you two?"

I thought about what Renji had said earlier. 'Well I know that a bunch of lieutenants want to know what your relationship is with Hitsugaya-taicho!'

"We're... We're just friends. That's all," I said, rubbing the back of my head to pass it off.

"You and I both know that you're not serious. What's wrong about admitting that you're in love with taicho?"

"I am not 'in love'!"

"Then what then? If you're not 'in love' with him, how come I know that you two have kissed? More then once I might add."

"H-How did you know that!"

"I have my sources. Ukitake-taicho thinks that there's something going on between you two too. So, just admit that you love him. You should probably go and tell him now too. He's really not happy..."

"I told you I'm not in love with him! Leave me alone, Rangiku!" I yelled, pushing past her and running down the hall past the rest of the lieutenants that were still dispersing to their squads. Damn, why is she so persistent about that! I'm not in love with him! Why the hell should I be! If he gets upset over me lying to him, he should wake up and see that a bunch of people have probably lied to him over time. Kusaka included. Jeez...

"You know, Rangiku's right. It's about time you just admit it. You may not realize it, but whenever you guys kissed, it was more like a 'thank you' kiss; however, since I'm your zanpakutou, I know that you really liked it. You haven't wanted to admit that you're really in love with him since the very beginning."

Okay, you know that it's super awkward that you're talking about this... when you're a guy and you're my zanpakutou. Please stop.

"Not until you talk to him."

Must I endure the awkwardness? Really?

"Yes."

Fine, whatever, give it your best shot.

"My jokes are coming along for the ride too, you know."

WHAT! NO NO NO NO! I can deal with the awkwardness, but not your lame corny jokes! AGH!

"I win."

Whatever. No jokes. Go to sleep or something!

"I don't have to listen to you until you earn your bankai."

That sounds better and better the more you annoy me. When can we start?

"Just go talk to him. I'm not in the mood to help you with learning your bankai."

Yet you're in the mood to annoy me. Just go away already.

I walked down the streets and took a deep breath, panting ever so slightly from running. Footsteps could be heard in all directions as shinigami continued to move to different posts as the ryouka moved around the Seireitei. I passed another street that intersected into the one I was walking on, when suddenly I was tackled by two people. I fell to the ground and felt the other two people land on top of me.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!"

"Uh, Orihime, could you please get off me? We're crushing whoever's beneath us."

"Right!"

The weight lifted, and soon the person on top of me got up too. I picked myself up and brushed off my hakama.

"We're really sorry. I guess we weren't looking where we were going!"

"No, no, it's alright. I wasn't paying attention either," I looked up and saw in front of me two people who were definitely not shinigami. One was an orange-haired girl wearing a pink shirt and white gym pants and shoes. She had a chest that could easily rival Matsumoto's... and that was saying something. She also had two light blue hairpins on either side of her face. The boy had navy blue hair and glasses, and wore a strange white and blue outfit, with gloves and a small cape.

"Y-You're the ryouka! Or at least some of them!" I grabbed my hilt and pushed my sword slightly out of it's sheath with my left thumb. The girl called Orihime held up her hands, "W-Wait! Please, we're just here to-"

"It's no use Orihime, she's a soul reaper. She's supposed to attack us." The boy said, holding out his hand. A light formed around his hand and soon a bow took form. He aimed it right at me, but I just scoffed, "Tch, where're your arrows? You're not gonna do much with just a bow, cape boy!"

He scowled and put his hand at the bow, pulling back like he was pulling it taught. Sure enough, there was a light blue arrow made of reishi. My eyes widened as he aimed and fired; but I dodged the arrow for the most part-the arrow only singeing my sleeve.

"These are my arrows, shinigami."

"So I noticed, four eyes."

"Ishida, please stop! Maybe if we explain-"

"I told you, Orihime. She's not going to listen."

"I would have listened... though now that you burned my sleeve, I'm not even going to consider it."

"Ishida!"

"So, come on, Ishida," I spat, "Show me what you've got! I'm interested in that power you have."

He drew back his arm and another arrow shot from the bow, whizzing past my cheek. I drew Syugoryuu and whacked at another arrow that was aimed for my face.

"Please, miss, you have to understand! We don't want to fight!"

"Shut up! It's my duty to handle any intruders in the Seireitei! So tell me, boy, what's your full name and what exactly are you? I've never seen a human able to shoot arrows made of reishi before," I relaxed a little. As much as I wanted to fight him for real, I knew the best thing I could do first was to gain some information.

"Uryu Ishida. I'm a Quincy. So, now that I've told you who I am, why don't you tell me your name, shinigami. Isn't that custom for you during battle?"

"The name's Nazeka Mamori, lieutenant of the 13th Squad. I've never heard of a Quincy before... but I have another question for you. Why did you invade the Soul Society? You two are humans. Though you say you're a Quincy, you don't seem to have a high reiatsu or any real soul form. In other words, you're just a human with some spiritual powers. And as for you, girl, you have no real reiatsu at all. If anything, it's so tiny that I could easily crush you with my own. If you met a captain, they would kill you just from being around you. From what I can tell, you have no special power. What makes you two think you could take on the Soul Society? So tell me why... why the hell did you guys come here! Did you really think you could defeat all of us!" I lowered my sword a bit, but the boy didn't move his bow an inch.

"We came here to aid a friend. He's here to rescue a friend of his. A shinigami that you are condemning to die! You shinigami are disgusting! Condemning your own kind?" The Quincy grimaced, pulling his bow taut again. I froze.

"You're... you're here to rescue Rukia? That means... that means you're here with..."

"Ichigo Kurosaki. That's right."

"But... Kuchiki-taicho said he had killed him... that he was dead! Does that mean Renji was right? Kuchiki-taicho really did fail to kill him? But why...?"

Suddenly, there was a burst of reiatsu, and I could instantly tell that it was Renji's. There was another reiatsu rising with it, a completely different reiatsu than any I had ever felt. It had determination, guilt, sadness, and anger mixed within it. There was just something different about it, and I had no idea whose it was.

"That reiatsu... it's... Renji Abarai."

I narrowed my eyes, "You know Renji?"

"He nearly killed me down in the World of the Living. Of course I know who he is."

"Who's the other guy then?"

"That's Ichigo. He's fighting Renji... again."

"Ichigo!" I looked over in the direction of the Sokyoku Hill, where the reiatsu was spouting from, "He's fighting Renji! There's no way he'll win! Renji's a lieutenant!"

"Ichigo will win." The girl spoke up quietly. She smiled at me, "I know he will. After all, he's Ichigo. He always does his best, even when it doesn't look like he has a chance."

"You sound so confident. Are you sure this Ichigo will defeat Renji?"

"Most definitely."

I smirked, "Well, we'll see. We lieutenants are tough." I tugged on my badge, "Anyway, I want to ask you guys another question."

"What?" The girl asked. I sheathed my sword, "Would you guys accept my help?"

"What!" They both shouted, appalled at my sudden form of truce. I nodded, "I don't want Rukia to die either. In fact, I think her older brother, Kuchiki-taicho, is a total bastard for not trying to get her out of the execution. She's part of my squad, and she's an old friend of mine. She's counting on me and Ukitake-taicho to help get her out of this. The problem is, we tried a diplomatic solution, but we just can't get any solid evidence that giving Ichigo her powers was the only thing she could've done. So, if we can't do it with facts, then maybe... maybe I'll help you guys out in the end."

"But you raised your sword at us! There's no way we can trust you!"

"The only reason I did that was because... well... you're the ryouka. Natural reflexes. I was ready to fight you too because of what you did to my sleeve... how am I gonna explain to the captain this without admitting that I let you guys go?"

"You're just going to let us leave?"

"Of course. I just said I wanted to help you guys. However, I can't help you guys immediately. It'll be from behind the scenes, okay? Anyway, I have to go back to my captain. He isn't feeling well. Remember, we never met, okay?"

"Uh... sure?"

"Bye Ishida, and uh..."

"Orihime Inoue. But wait! We need to know where Rukia is-"

"Thanks! Bye Ishida and Inoue!" I dashed down the road I had been traveling down earlier, feeling the reiatsu from over by Sokyoku hill fluctuate up and down. My mind raced as I tried to figure out what I was going to tell Ukitake-taicho. I could always tell him that I cut it by accidentally running into something sharp... no, that won't work. My skin is burned... Wait! I could just cover it up with my lieutenant badge! I moved the badge down a little, making sure that the white fabric was tight enough that it wouldn't fall off.

I passed more and more barracks until I finally reached my own. The sun was getting lower and lower in the sky as I maneuvered through the endless roads. I had forgotten how far away the first squad's barracks were. I passed Kotetsu and Kotsubaki as they were walking my way. They waved hello, but they didn't stop to talk. In their hands were some bottles of sake, so I assumed they were going off to drink.

I crossed the threshold of the gate and wandered around the hallways until I reached the office. Ukitake-taicho still wasn't feeling well, so I was alone in the large room. I crashed onto the couch and took off my sandals, throwing them carelessly on the table in front of me. I found the pillow and laid back on the soft cushions, putting my feet up on the arm of the futon.

"Man, so much has gone on today. It's been the longest day ever!" I murmured to myself. I put my arms behind my head, "And now... now I've just said that I'll help the ryouka. Me and my impulsive behavior. How the hell am I supposed to help them! I'm a shinigami, dammit! I'm supposed to fight the ryouka, not help them! And if anyone else finds out... I'll be put in jail or punished for treachery too! What did I get myself into!" Damn it, damn it, damn it!

"And now every lieutenant is wanting to know what my relationship is with Toushirou. How annoying. I always hated gossip, even while in high school. But... I suppose that's a good question... I mean... No! What am I saying! Just because I'm not in front of somebody, it doesn't change what I said before to Rangiku. We're just friends. That's all. I mean, sure we've kissed but... but they were like, 'thank you' kisses. Both times. But... they were nice... AGH! What the hell am I thinking!" I smacked myself in the forehead, "I'm not in love with him! I'm not in love with him! I'm not in love him!"

I sat up and looked around, not sure what I wanted to do. But in my mind, I had to do something, something to keep me preoccupied. I jumped up and walked over to my desk, looking for some paperwork or something. For the first time, there was absolutely no paperwork left for me to do. I opened a drawer, looking for something else, but there wasn't anything for me to do in there either.

"This is driving me nuts! Isn't there something I can do! Something to get my mind off this?"

"You could always work on your bankai. Why not give that a shot?"

"Why the hell would I want to do that!"

"I'm giving you a suggestion. That will certainly keep you busy."

"Fine, whatever. I'll go to the training grounds," I muttered irritably.

"Excellent. Off we go, my little Nazeka!"

I picked up my sandals, quickly brushing off the dust and dirt that had covered a small part of the table because of them, and put them on, trudging outside to the training field away from the main section of the barracks. The field was void of any life, so there would be no disturbances. I walked to the center of the field and drew my zanpakutou, watching as Syugoryuu appeared in front of me-a transparent dragon that was probably three times my height.

"So, what now? What am I supposed to do?"

"Usually you would have your captain or someone else who knows how to do this with you, but since your captain is sick, then I'll take over for him. Basically, we're going to fight. As soon as you ready yourself, I'll release my full power. Around you will be different versions of your sword in it's shikai. You're going to have to find your true sword by believing in my power and believing in your own. You can't back out, and you can't back down. You will lose if you do."

"And what happens when I lose?"

"You'll lose the chance to ever gain a bankai. This is your one and only chance, so I suggest you make sure you're prepared."

"Doesn't this process usually take days? If you haven't noticed, the Seireitei's in a form of crisis, so I don't have time to fight you for hours on end."

"Yes, it usually takes months. However... we could do this differently. We could make it a little more interesting, how's that? If you can defeat me within the time limit of four hours, then I'll materialize like the next step promises, even though it's supposed to take days. This process is to make your zanpakutou obedient and work for you. It's also supposed to change your soul enough to allow extreme increases in energy that a bankai is required to have. If you can do it in four hours, then I promise you that your soul should have changed enough."

"Alright, four hours. How come you're so laid back about this?"

"You're forgetting that I've done this four times before you. I'm used to it."

"Sounds fair enough," I sheathed my zanpakutou and folded my arms across my chest, "I have one more question. How am I supposed to fight you? You're a dragon, you don't have any hands to hold a sword."

"Both Hyourinmaru and I have a solution for that."

He raised his head and started to glow, growing smaller and smaller until he was only a few feet taller than me. His body glowed even brighter, and when the light disappeared, there was no longer a dragon standing in front of me, but a young man with long steel gray hair... the same young man that helped me with my shikai all those years ago!

"Y-You're the one that helped me-"

"I couldn't have you using me wrong. You did need some instruction, so what better way to help than actually guide you through holding it and using the right wrist movements?" He slowly became more solid until it was like he was a person that lived in the Soul Society and not a dragon that lived in my soul.

"Why didn't you tell me that that was you?"

"I thought you assumed it was."

"It had passed through my mind, but I was still hesitant about believing that it was you, since you hadn't mentioned it."

"You shouldn't be so disbelieving of my powers. Alright then, enough questions. Let the fun begin!" Syugoryuu held out his hand and my zanpakutou disappeared from it's hilt, dispersing around the training room in different forms of my shikai. The problem was, that even though it seemed it would be easy for me to spot the right sword, they all only had minor changes, so I would have to be really careful.

I turned to Syugoryuu to ask him how many swords there were out here, but the words never left my mouth. The only thing that did leave was a huge burst of air when Syugoryuu punched me hard in the gut. He held out his hand and a bright light formed the shape of my shikai in his palm. It formed into the familiar whip and I looked at it closely. If that's my shikai, then shouldn't the one I'm looking for be exactly the same?

"Not necessarily!"

I looked up to see him dragging the whip around his body, letting it snap forward with it's sharp crescent blades. I dodged, backing up just a few steps before he flicked it again.

Forget trying to look for them, 'cause it seems that Syugoryuu has the intention of killing me more than helping me!