I would like to start today's chapter by thanking all of my readers for sticking with this story. I hope everyone is enjoying it. I also give a thank you to all of my reviewers. Please keep it up. I like hearing what you guys think of my story.

Mitaro and I found Sanosuke a short while later. He was battle three Hollows at the same time. We didn't see him at first, we only heard his howls and shouts of joy. He had always liked being in a good fight. We ran in and quickly dispatched two of the Hollows. He looked at us, disappointed that we decided to help him. After he defeated the third he walked to tower above us.

"What the hell guys?" he whined. "I was having fun until you decided to step in a ruin it."

"Quiet Sanosuke," Mitaro ordered. "We've got big problems and need to get back to Soul Society." Sanosuke quieted at Mitaro's imperious voice. He automatically stood at attention and waited for further orders. Mitaro looked him up and down. "It's good to see you can show respect to me, despite our friendship. I'll explain everything back at the barracks." Sanosuke and I followed silently as Mitaro opened the doorway back to Soul Society.

A quick trip through the border world and a run through the Seireitei and we were back in the 3rd division barracks. Mitaro led us into a debriefing room and sat down at the table. Sanosuke and I followed in suit and waited for Mitaro to speak. We sat in silence for a few moments.

"Sai," Mitaro suddenly started the meeting. "Tell us what happened. Leave nothing out. Any detail may be important."

I was slightly taken aback by the seriousness in Mitaro's voice. Is this truly the same fun-loving genius I knew in the academy? I thought to myself.

Sanosuke had similar thoughts, though he decided to voice them out loud.

"Hashibara, what's going on? Why are you being so serious all of a sudden? You've gotten so 'authority figure' on us."

"Abarai-taicho reminded me of my responsibilities after today's adventures. Guys, we can't always be the same jokers we were in the academy. It's time to grow up. I realized this when I fought that Hollow a few weeks ago and again today. Both of those times, lives were in danger. Our decisions put those lives in danger. We need to accept the consequences, good or bad as they may be. Now, Sai, please explain what happened."

I stood and faced my friends and comrades. I related the day's events, not leaving out any single detail, however minute. I started from rescuing Orihime, and being subsequently rescued by her, to Ulquiorra's intrusion, to discovering the identity of my Zanpakuto. It took a while but neither of them interrupted once. When I finished I sat back down and waited.

Sanosuke stared at me, mouth hanging open. For a second, I believed he had forgotten how to speak. Mitaro nodded, having heard some of this before hand and stoically taking what he didn't know. I sat down and stared at the table, trying to determine what was going to happen to us next.

A loud bang made the three of us jump out of our reveries.

"Hashibara Mitaro, Tsumiato Sai, Akage Sanosuke!" a commanding voice shouted. We looked towards the door to see Abarai-taicho standing there. "Come with me."

He stared at us for a moment longer then whirled and left. We scrambled out of our chairs and jogged after the retreating form of the captain. We followed him through the twisting corridors of the Seireitei. I was amazed at how easily our captain could navigate, unerringly, to his destination. It wasn't until he stopped did I realize where we were. The three of us stood outside the 1st division barracks.

Abarai-taicho turned towards us. "You three, this is very serious. I had to call an emergency meeting of the captains of the Gotei 13. You are going to be present for this meeting. You may or may not be called upon for your story. Under no circumstances are you to speak before you are spoken to and only answer the question asked. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir!"

Without another word he turned towards the door and knocked once, loudly. The door opened enough for us to pass through and then slammed shut as soon as we had crossed the threshold. The members of the 1st division, the elite of the shinigami, stood at attention as we passed by them on the way to the captain's meeting hall. Abarai-taicho gave them no notice, but Mitaro, Sanosuke, and I glanced around warily, never having been in the presence of such figures before.

We reached the end of the hall and two shinigami open the large doors for us and bowed. Abarai-taicho nodded to them and entered the room. We hurried passed and the doors shut quietly behind us. For the first time ever, I stared at the assembled majesty of all thirteen captains of the Gotei 13.

Yamamoto-Genryuusai Shigekuni, captain of the 1st squad and commander of the Gotei 13 stood at the head of the column.

Soi Fon, captain of the 2nd squad and head of the special corps, stood to his right. The space across form her was vacant, waiting for Abarai-taicho to fill it.

Unohana Retsu, captain of the 4th division, stood waiting patiently next to Soi Fon.

Across from her, the captain of the 5th division stood. Promoted at the same time as Abarai-taicho, Madarame Ikkaku stood looking uncomfortable, and what appeared to be unhappy, in his captain's haori.

Kuchiki Byakuya, captain of the 6th division, looked at us from his spot on the floor, his normally stoic face should the slightest, almost imperceptible, amount of pride with Abarai-taicho.

Komamura Sajin, captain of the 7th division, stared straight ahead, looking over Kuchiki-taicho's head. His canine features were set in a hard glare.

Kyouraku Shunsui, captain of the 8th division, lazily looked in our direction. His white captain's haori covered, as always, with his pink flower-patterned kimono and his straw hat tilted to one side. He smiled around a piece of straw poking out of the side of his mouth when we entered.

The 9th division captain also looked at us. His eyes were set in a stare but were not glaring. Hisagi Shuuhei stood, looking like he was meant to be a captain all his life.

Hitsugaya Toushiro, captain of the 10th division, stood next to Komamura-taicho. Next to the giant, Histugaya-taicho looked even shorter than he really did. His face, ever serious, stared at the Yamamoto-soutaicho waiting for the meeting to start.

Zaraki Kenpachi, captain of the 11th squad, stood across from Histugaya-taicho. His eyes roamed the hall, seemingly in boredom. His giant form constantly shifted, ever so slightly, as if he hated standing still.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri, captain of the 12th squad and head of the Research and Development in Soul Society, stood silently. His eyes, like Zaraki-taicho's, were roaming over the room. His eyes, however, were calculating, taking in everything about the people around him and planning some new scheme.

The captaincy of the 13th division was still vacant. The former captain, Ukitake Juushiro, fell during the Arrancar war and no replacement had yet to be named. Because of this, the new lieutenant Arucho Danzu stood in the spot. Arucho-fukutaicho stood tall, almost as tall as Zaraki-taicho. He kept his red hair cut short and spiked up. His piercing gaze swept past Abarai-taicho and fell on me, as if he could see everything about me. Instead of keeping his Zanpakuto attached to his hip, he held it by the end of the scabbard over one should and across his back, the hilt sticking out past his far shoulder.

Abarai-taicho motioned for us to follow him as he walked quickly down the aisle of captains to his place. The three of us stood quietly behind him, wondering what would take place. We didn't have to wonder long. As soon as Abarai-taicho was in place, Yamamoto-soutaicho banged his cane on the floor to gather attention.

"We will now start the meeting!"

Ok, I know this chapter was kind of boring. I needed to reintroduce the captains and introduce the new ones to you guys. I'll do my best to make the next chapters more interesting, and hopefully more exciting.