CHAPTER 2b:

The 3rd Division: Gotei Intelligence

"Yes…yes…come in, come in…"

A withered old female Shinigami entered the 3rd Division Captain's office pushing the sliding door to the side. Hunched over, she moved slowly, using her sword as a cane in her left hand. Not sliding the door closed as she entered, she silently moved just inside and to the right of the now open doorway. Slowly she then rested both her hands and her hunched weight on her upside-down sheathed sword as it rest on the ground in front of her. Her head hung down along with her eyes which, while open, were looking at the floor. Her long grey hair lazily fell down over her half-hidden face and a small silver pin with a "3" on it was barely noticeable on the collar of her black shinigami robes.

She made no sound and stood silent.

About 20ft in front of her, a long and wide dark wooden desk sat, two simple chairs on the near side, and one high backed black leather wheeled office chair on the other side faced away from the door towards the back wall. The wall was blanketed with different sized humming flat screen computer monitors, leaving almost no wall space uncovered from their glow. Each screen would switch from time to time and all had live video depicting all kinds of scenes from around the Seretei and the Rukongai playing on it. From wide-angle views of buildings and landscapes, to close-up shots of doorways and gates, to windows and desks, and even to dining halls and sleeping areas.

From behind the high backed black chair, a manila folder suddenly flipped up over the top of the high chair back, landing with a thud on the wooden desk amidst other similar manila folders, piles of white sheets of hand-written on paper, numbers of photos of varying sizes, all with multi-colored post-it notes dotting each of them. Pencils, pens, and various assortments of "Reishi" or "Soul" phones and their long tangled charger wires littered the surface as well. Under the clutter the remnants of an 'inbox' and 'outbox' seemed to poke out as if harkening to a time when the desk was more organized.

Then a raised and rather pointed man's voice spoke out to the silent woman from behind the chair.

"…THAT one's from an agent of ours on Earth…says she's been picking up some weird spiritual pressure recently…"

Then another folder with a loose sheet of paper hanging out of it erupted from behind the chair falling onto the desk with a loud WHAP!

"…and THAT one's from the 12th and has data from their Tokyo sensors…shows a gentle rise in spiritual pressure and activity over the last few months…especially in the vicinity of some mortal world amusement park or something…WHICH, with the other report, seems to confirm that this is probably no random phenomenon…DO remind me of this later, ok?"

Her head and eyes down, she did not respond and stood unmoved.

After an awkward silence his unseen voice rang out again.

"eh...You know Yasuko, the 3rd Division really needs some more Shinigami for our Earth patrol sweeps. Especially if those lazy lab rats in the 12th don't look closer at the sensor numbers, and get the results in a timely manner. It's pathetic that it took weeks for us to pick up on this rise... ugh...Remind me of that later too…ok?"

Her head and eyes down, she did not respond and stood unmoved.

After a few more silent moments, a heavy and loud "sigh…" came from behind the high backed chair.

"I know… I know…jeesh…stop badgering me, ok?"

The man's voice said louder and agitated.

Her head and eyes down, she did not respond and stood unmoved.

Then the leather chair spun quickly around in place, stopping abruptly while facing the door and the old woman. A few white feathers floated down back in forth in the air gliding down on to the desk. The 3rd Division Captain, Jun Shimabukuro, sat looking forward at his 3rd Seat and Acting-Lieutenant, Yasuko Otomo, his large and beautifully clean white wings tucked in behind him against the chair, and his matted slightly unkempt blonde hair laid lazily across his brow over his right eye. He rested his elbows on the desk with a loud, THUMP!, then he proceeded to rest his stubble-ridden chin on the top of his hands and look down his nose slightly at his older Acting-Lt.

"…You know Yasuko…you don't have to be so rude…I KNOW what time it is..."

Her head and eyes down, she did not respond and stood unmoved.

"Ugh…"

Jun retorted in a huff as he rose from his chair, pushing up and away from his desk with his hands. He continued to speak as he started to pat his black Shinigami robes all over, as if to make sure he had everything he needed. He then started to move towards the door, looking around his desk and on the back of his chair, looking everywhere in the room, except at his Acting-Lt.

"…You know Yasuko…I helped conduct her Captain's test…and she did just fine… so it's not like this is such a big deal…this all seems pretty straightforward, ya know?"

He said as he took an anxious look at the corner of the office, which was littered with stacks of books and a large brown leather lounge chair. Focusing a bit on the corner for a moment he looked confused. Then he shook his head at himself and walked towards the door again, his white wings still tucked in tightly behind his back extending down near his feet. As he moved, he looked around quizzically and then scratched his head before coming to a stop directly in front of the old woman, finally turning his head and resting his confused eyes on the much shorter Yasuko.

There she stood, eyes and head down, her left hand resting on her upturned sheathed sword like a cane, her fragile and wrinkled right hand outstretched to him. In it, she held his long white Captain's coat with its large wing holes modifications cut into the back of it.

He smiled pleasantly to her and shook his head briefly at himself as he look at her down-looking head, the confusion gone from his unshaven face. He then nodded to her and gently took the coat, putting it on quickly yet elegantly, stretching his long and beautiful angelic wings out through the holes until it fit correctly.

"…Thanks Yasuko-san. Now let's go…"

He said kindly to her as he walked out the open door, adjusting his coat and robes a few more times within his first few steps out of the office.

Her head and eyes down, she did not respond and stood unmoving and silent for a few moments.

Then she turned slowly in her spot and walked out the door closing it slowly behind her. Multiple locking noises and beeps were heard as the office suddenly went dark and silent, leaving only the slowly receding sound of the 'tap...tap…tap' of her sword/cane as it slowly moved down the outside corridor following her Captain's light footsteps.