Toushiro's POV
If the room was tense before saying any word of the mission. Now it was touchable and easily to cut. The most visible reaction between the family members was surprise, especially from Ichigo. Kazui and Orihime exchange worried gazes and then looked at Ichigo, probably waiting for the reaction of my words.
"A-Are you serious?! Bu-But that's impossible! How?! We know that he is immortal thanks to the Hogyoku! Damn it! I was it myself! It's impossible to kill that man!" He was altered, there was no doubt of it and it was comprehensible "Are you sure about this?"
"Is still a long shot everything in fact… We are not really sure, but Head Captain Kyoraku seems confident about it, even Urahara-san was interested in the idea when we told him" The mysterious former Captain of the 12th Division was more than interested about the idea, but something about the early visit when we were looking for our gigais was off, probably, as usual, he was hiding something.
"Then how? How a fire-type zampakuto can kill Aizen?" Ichigo continued asking.
"For the details of the papers, it seems like it's not the typical fire-type zampakuto, the ability that's written talks about some way to absorb the reiatsu of the enemy and make a bomb with it" I saw him ready to reply about it "I know what you are going to say, we are aware of the bombs of reiatsu and how Urahara-san tried to use it in Aizen, however it looks like it's not the same, it seems like it take the reiatsu of the enemy then transforms it in caloric energy and uses it in the opponent as a bomb"
"Wait!" Kazui seemed more scared about the idea "A bomb like that? Of pure heat? That's worse than an atomic bomb! It is way too dangerous that power!"
"Everything sounds way to terrifying really" Orihime's voice was low and fragile, it was more than understandable that they didn't want to get more involved with that man. I sighed with the idea too.
"It's still just theory really" Matsumoto now took the attention "For what it's worth, the only real clue we have is the paper and some studies from the crazy lab of the 12th Division, I mean it doesn't give us the name of the zampakuto and it's been missing for far too long" She got more positioned more comfortable in her chair, stretching herself like a cat "Probably it's all a false alarm and we get some kind of vacations!" That's the only thing that could thing this lazy woman, how not to do work.
"Oi, Rangiku! This is serious!" Abarai cut the show "False or not, we are here to investigate! Not in vacation!"
"What makes you really think that the zampakuto still exists? Or the owner shouldn't be really the case? If it's been too long that you had a track of it, I mean are you sure is he or she even alive?" Ichigo asked.
"The 12th Division find some places in Karakura that had a great amount of reiatsu mixed with heat, we think it's in relation with the zampakuto and for the owner, his name is Himura Takehiko, we didn't found much information on the register of the Gotei 13, neither in the Shino Academy, that's probably missing because of the Quincy war or even before" I sighed again, passing my hand over my hair, trying to think options of what to do "Like I said, everything really it's a long shot, to many "if" in the equation, the principal thing is that we are here to investigate the areas and see what we can find"
"Uhm… I just want to make sure of something…" Orihime started quite worried "Aizen doesn't know anything of this, right?"
"No, the worst thing we could do is giving him information that could benefit him in some way" I sounded maybe a little too harsh in that sentence, but Orihime seemed to relax a little "If we don't find the sword, then he just continues his sentence without knowing any of this, if we find it that's more complicated"
"Why you think that?" Ichigo asked, he still seemed worried about everything.
"There's two possibilities about it, both coming just from the idea of why Himura Takehiko decided to not show any sign of life for two centuries" It was the big question indeed in all the problem "One possibility when we find him, he agrees with everything and come with us, the other possibility is that he doesn't and in fact has some kind of plan against the Seireitei"
We all understand what was more probable to happen. It was rare cases like Urahara's, were they just wanted to stay off radar of Soul Society and really didn't wanted any more trouble. Usually the case was of some exiled who wanted revenge, if that was case, the Gotei 13 was more than capable to handle those kind of situations, but for the last experiences, we couldn't really know.
"So… all ends in just find or not the sword" Kazui said and the others agree in my case nodded slightly.
"Why everybody seems worried shit!" Madarame exclaimed getting off the tense air "If it really happens the worst scenario, he surely doesn't know with who is messing up! It's going to be fun to see how he tries!" A wild smirk was in his face, he really was bored if he thought that.
"Ikkaku is right" Ayasegawa flipped his hair with a hand while saying that "After all we been through, another poor soul looking revenge on Soul Society seems like a child's play"
"Besides, now Kazui and I are in this, they don't stand a chance!" Abarai said with the same overconfidence of her father, sometimes I doubt if she really had something of Kuchiki.
Kazui didn't seem as confident as her, but there was a certain determination in his eyes like his father, probably thinking that he had people to protect and help. He will be of great help if we really get to the worst situation.
"Glad to cheer up the place" Madarame was about to put his feet over the table, reclining on the chair, only to be thrown back off balance by Ichigo and fell on the floor "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" He immediately stood up angry.
"Who let you that much confidence in this house?!" The older Kurosaki said "This is not the 11th barracks!"
"You have grown to be even more boring, Ichigo!" Madarame shouted back and they were now head to head in what looked like a staring contest. I only rolled my eyes and sighed.
"Talking about confidence, Kazui-kun I didn't imagine that you were that close to Akari-chan~" Matsumoto said in a cheerful and amused tone, the younger Kurosaki went to different shades of red
"I said that I don't like her!" Still his face was redder than before. "She is not my type!"
"And Captain!" Matsumoto completely pass over what the kid said and looked at me with the same amused face "You also seems interested in her!~ By the way you looked at her at the gym!" She patted me at my shoulder and I only could stared at her colder, irritated.
"WHAT?!" Before I could reply, Ichigo seemed to change completely his attention from Madarame to me, he looked mad with the idea and that only made me raised an eyebrow.
"You are serious believing to the words of this woman" I pointed at Matsumoto that only had a face of pure false innocence "And I'm only interested is in how she has that amount of reiatsu and none of you said anything"
Now all the Kurosaki's were watching me quite scared for a totally different reason. I did understand why they didn't say anything apart of the rambles that Kazui said in his trainings, they were scared that Soul Society would do something to her. But since Head Captain Kyoraku took the position some things had change and he was in deeply gratitude to the Kurosaki's, we wouldn't dare to have them against him.
"We really didn't know that Akari-chan was going to increase that amount of reiatsu" Orihime said with her gentle voice, almost talking as if Richard was her own daughter "I mean, she's been able to see spirits since she was little, but that was it, that reiatsu in her arm today..."
"It surprised all of us really" Ichigo continued, he was worried "We really have no idea about it"
"And she haven't been resting well lately too… Lately is a few months ago" Kazui said and his parents looked at him concerned "She has told me… I didn't really want to tell, but I imagine that is connected someway"
"It really never happened before?" I asked and the three of them shake the head, denying it. I didn't like where this was going "For how long she's been able to see spirits?"
"If you want to think that is Kazui powers in some way affected her, it's not like that" Ichigo said, quite harshly.
"She told me that since she can remember, like me" Kazui answered more calm.
"I knew that wasn't his powers, Kurosaki, his other friends doesn't seem affected about it, so she shouldn't be" I crossed my arms and closed my eyes thinking about another option.
"What if Akari-chan is like Kazui?" Matsumoto said "Daughter of a Shinigami, do you know something about it?" She let the option go, it didn't sound that bad actually.
"No way! Well…" Orihime started saying, then paused a second and continued "I mean, for what we know, she doesn't have Shinigami relatives, Gideon-san it's completely oblivious about the idea like he knows that Akari-chan can see them but he can't see them or really understand any of it and for her mother… Well Minagawa-san can see them too"
"So it's from Akari's mother, she has a strong reiatsu?" Matsumoto continued asking.
"Eh… Well not Akari-chan's mother per se…" Orihime started.
"It's her grandmother, Akari's mother died before we even met her" Ichigo continued the trail of conversation "Minagawa Hayami, her grandmother, has a strong reiatsu but she's not a Shinigami" He sounded determined about it "But I'm sure that old woman knows that I'm Shinigami, even if I haven't said anything"
"The name doesn't sound familiar at all, but for having a strong reiatsu and we haven't check on it, it's strange" I said, glaring at everyone "But also says that Richard shouldn't be attacked if nobody's knows about her"
"You think is an attack, Toushiro?" Kazui asked. The use of my name irritated me, I was now his size god dammit!
"Captain Hitsugaya for all of you, why it's so difficult!" I glared at them quite angry, then continued more serious "I can't really think of another reason, a burn scar just in the place where a foreign reiatsu was, too much for a coincidence" It was also too much coincidence that she had that attack when we are looking for a zampakuto, but the ideas didn't combine that well yet, so I preferred to kept that to myself. At the moment. "I would recommend to keep an eye on her, just in case, there was nothing around her house when I went there, but again just in case" I stood up from the table, giving a silent order that we all should go to rest "I'll watch around tonight, we'll take turns, the mission needs to be taking care in the day so, it won't be trouble"
The idea seemed to like it to all the Kurosaki's, now they seemed more calmed. The rest of the group also stood up for the leaving.
"Thank you for that, Toushiro" Ichigo did seems grateful for it, that girl surely was like another family member "We'll help with the zampakuto in what we can"
"No problem, still Soul Society owns you a great debt so" We were now outside, the temperature was lower and I felt better in that ambient "Thanks for the food, Kurosaki" I said and nodded slightly, leaving the place, Matsumoto followed the thanks and then went back behind me, Madarame and Ayasegawa went to another direction and Ichika just waved goodbye with the Kurosaki's.
"Akari-chan surely it's an important person to all of them, don't you think Captain?" Matsumoto said in a serious tone, something rare in her. We were now far from the house, getting to Orihime's old place.
"It wasn't obvious?" I could only said "I seriously thought that Kurosaki was going to attack me for what you said" I glared at her showing that I didn't forget about it, it was still kind of strange that after many years wasn't difficult to really look at her eyes now that I was almost the same height as her, her blue orbs were showing a hint of amused again.
"Come on, Captain~ I need to light up the mood!" She giggle about it "And you can't say that she isn't pretty! I would even dare to say that she will be pretty than me! More punk but still!" She started rambling and comparing her.
"At my own expense!" I growled cutting her mumble, we were now passing through Richards's house it was really late so it was surprising to find a light of a room still on.
"So this is where she lives!" She exclaimed at my side, making me notice that I had stopped to watch the place. I resume the walking, quite confused "Captain, you didn't answer!"
"Answer what?"
"Don't you think Akari-chan is pretty?"
"What's the point of the question?" I was annoyed, again. Why couldn't she be a normal lieutenant? I sighed.
"She seemed interested in you! Well… She and I think most of the class we are now, since you passed the cute little kid phase everybody is looking more at you, Captain! I mean I know you've been with girls in the Seireitei and… That reminds me! What about our third seat, she looks interest in you Captain!" I more than annoyed now, why she has to be this way!?
"FOR SOUL KING'S SAKE MATSUMOTO!" I shouted, then with a lower tone continued "I'm out of here!" Using shunpo I left her behind. I couldn't understand the need of gossip of that woman, that's my private life, she didn't need to know anything about it and it was better that way. In a second I crossed the river and was in the Sakurabashi District, that were more apartments of the sort, another second I was in front of the door of Inoe's, well now Kurosaki's, old apartment and Matsumoto wasn't nowhere around, few seconds of peace, I went inside and closed the door behind me knowing that she had a pair of extra keys.
Orihime's old apartment haven't changed that much, probably she had put a set of rules for other Shinigamis to follow and don't destroy the place. In some way the place seemed smaller than before or really my difference of height was making see things in other perspective?
"Things change of perspective when you look different, master" Hyorinmaru's voice echoed in my head.
'You are not exactly helping' I said in my mind, answering while getting to one of the rooms. I decided to start the patrol right away so then I could get a chance to rest later and that way I could avoid Matsumoto.
"You seem trouble about this girl, master" That's not something I wanted to hear from him.
'I'm being paranoid?' I took the soul candy, feeling my separation with the gigai kind of relieve it to be outside of it. "Stay here and don't listen to the woman that's going to arrive soon" I ordered to the mode soul now inside the gigai, which his only reply was "Yes, sir" I leaved the place by the window and started checking the new monitor, that looked like a cellphone, for any activities.
"I can't really say that, too many coincidences are quite strange, indeed" He replied. I moved around the city searching for anything, first the supposed places that had the strange reiatsu.
'The problem is how she could be connected with the zampakuto, that doesn't make any sense' Many places of the register that the 12th Division put in the cellphone were workshops, there were way too many of them, but it was obvious that rare presence. One place did take my curiosity was an old styled house over a hill, the presence was really strong in there 'In the end we are talking about a zampakuto that has an owner, no matter what, that doesn't change'
"What if there is a small possibility?" He said like it was an option. I frowned at the idea. Now I was at Richards's roof, there was still the same light in one of the rooms on.
'A zampakuto changing of owner? That sounds quite inexistent, Hyorinmaru' I searched for any strange reiatsu, but the only one I could feel around was Richards's.
"I know how it sounds, but who knows? I think we had passed the strange circumstances long time ago" Of course he was right, after so many things that had happened in the Soul Society and in the Living World, especially all the situation with Kurosaki, it was kind of stupid to think that strange things couldn't happen.
I stood in a plane part of the roof where I could see just the room that was with a trim light still. From inside I could see a bed alienated with the window and I could see Richards still up with headphones doing something with a few things on top of the bed. She was facing the window but was so concentrated on what she was doing that could only look at her hands, the headphones maintained the long blond locks from falling to her face, she had a deep frown in her expression. Whatever she was doing, it was way too late for her to be up, why she was still up? Apart of the frown, she really looked tired, that morning when they met her it was obvious to see the bags under her eyes, right now was still the same.
Even if she looked tired, I couldn't deny that she was indeed a pretty girl, maybe a little punk like Matsumoto said, but it was going along with her image, but even with the tattoo and the piercings she seemed like a gentle person. Wait… Am I really thinking that? For the Soul King's sake, Matsumoto got her ideas in my head!
"So you do seem interested in her in other ways, master" Hyorinmaru sounded really amused in my head.
"Quiet!" I said out loud. I realize my mistake at the right time and went over the roof.
"Somebody's there?" I could hear Richard opening the window under me, I totally forgot that is a high chance that she could see me. It's good that I have quick reflexes, if she could hear me, she would totally see me. "Maybe I should really go to sleep, stupid dreams I hope it let me rest…" She closed the window and after a few minutes, the light turned off. I relaxed my position, knowing that she wouldn't hear me now.
I was glad that Matsumoto wasn't here, she wouldn't let me forget it. I checked again for any activities, it was a quiet night, there was nothing of my interest. I would notify in the morning to everybody else about the places I looked up. For now, it was good idea that I went to sleep too. But there was something in my mind still when I get back to the apartment and went inside the gigai, why was Richard still up at that hour? And what dream she could possibly had to keep her up?
Now laying down in the bed I could only think of that. I wasn't seeing the big picture and that was irritating me, however it was the first day, I needed to rest. It wasn't that long until I felt my body calm down and drift into sleep completely.
Suuuunday update timeee! :D
I update late today, sorry! But here, here is the chapter! I hope you like it! Now we have a few ideas about the line of the fic, but believe me, there's still many things to happen! :D
I hope you like it! See you next week!
Also thank you to the new follower! I hope you are enjoying this !