Second chapter on the next day, hurrah! Hopefully I can keep this up. Wish me luck!
The grand hall was unusually busy. The hallways were bustling with people: some holding paperwork and others grouped together in teams looking ready to fight hollows. Two guards were posted at the door where captains held their meetings with General Yamamoto. When she announced herself, they left her in quickly and shut the door behind her.
Across the hall were the General and…Captain Mayuri. A shudder passed through her spine. There were countless rumors about the mysterious scientist, and none of them were good.
She knelt, bowed her head, and said, "You summoned me, sir?"
"Yes," the General said. "We don't have time to spare so I'll be direct. You are hereby assigned with the task of finding the human responsible for these mass killings."
Her head snapped up. She looked for any signs of a joke, but there was no mistaking the serious expression the General held.
"Um," she struggled to find the right words for this, "with all due respect sir, isn't this the sort of task for a lieutenant or a captain?" She looked at the General for an answer, but it was Captain Mayuri who spoke.
"Can't you see we're busy?" Mayuri rolled his eyes. "At the rate humans are dying right now, we'll soon be overrun. We can't afford to stop and look for the cause of this mess."
"And what makes you so sure it's a human causing this, and not Aizen?" She couldn't help but ask.
"Oh that's easy," a huge grin spread across his face, showing almost every tooth; it was unsettling. "More than half of the humans dying were convicted of crimes, and only a human would care about getting rid of criminals. Aizen has a larger goal in mind."
Before she could reply, General Yamamoto slammed down his cane, recalling their attention.
"Konan Masuku, you will be sent to Karakura Town," he commanded. "There, you will connect the substitute shinigami and collect any information you can from him, since a human would know more about this."
"Yes, sir," she bowed her head again.
"Captain Mayuri will brief you on all he has discovered," he continued, "and you will report your findings from the human world directly to him."
"Sir," she said, more reluctantly this time. She was afraid he was going to say that. 'I guess now I'll find out if the rumors are true.'
When she was finally dismissed, she hurried back to the division six office where she left Renji. When she entered, the piles hardly seemed to have gotten smaller. Actually, she could have sworn that they have gotten bigger.
"Finally," Renji sighed in relief. "So what did the General want?"
"I've been assigned to find this mass murderer," she said. Careful not to tip over any towers, she made her way back to her desk.
"Wow, lucky," he smirked. "If I ever see this guy, I'd be itching to cut him down."
"Likewise," she grinned back. "It'll be tough not to when I find him." After getting a few things, she made her way back out to head off. She said farewell to Renji, once again feeling sorry for leaving him with all this unfinished work. He promised to see her off into the human world, if anything just to escape the office for a while. She laughed at that, knowing she would feel the same way if their roles were reversed.
The main hall of twelfth division looked like something out of a syfy movie. The entire area was filled with metal contraptions and thick rolls of power cords, with dozens of screens acting as the only source of light. She remembered the day Renji had brought some movies over from his trip to the human world, where, one by one, humans would be picked off by some vicious alien. As she walked toward where the captain was sitting, she half-expected some slimy creature to crawl up from behind her and attack.
"Well, it's about time," Mayuri cried when he saw her and quickly showed her the gigai she would use in the human world. As she stretched and made herself comfortable in the artificial body, he briefed her on what he learned.
"This killer has quite the power," he almost sounded impressed as he read off a computer screen. "He seems to be able to kill at any distance, even across countries, but the one true connection between the killings is how they are killed."
"And how are they killed?" She walked over and tried to read along, but to her surprise the letters on the screen were moving too fast to catch.
"All were killed by heart attacks," he explained. "Now, since I don't have enough time to build a gigai that can work without a heart, I made this." He suddenly spun toward her and grabbed her wrist, pulling it up to his face. He pointed to a ring placed on her thumb that had the trademark flaming skull etched on it. "When you activate this ring, it will force your body out of the gigai faster than any glove or soul candy could. Ideally, you would use this before succumbing to a heart attack."
"Okay, I get the idea," she pulled on her wrist, but he refused to let go.
"Even though I made this, do make an effort not to get killed." He said it like her dying was more of a nuisance more than anything. "I don't want to waste my time making spares, and this is really just a precaution. Since this killer just attacks physically, I'm sure your spirit will survive."
He finally let go and she took more than a few steps back, rubbing the spot where the captain held her. She couldn't hold back her glare. Captain or not, she could hardly tolerate being treated like she was expendable.
However, Mayuri didn't seem to notice. He simply swiveled his chair back toward the screen and then waved her off like a bug. "That's all for now. I'll tell you if I have more, and don't forget to report whatever you learn in the human world."
Konan knew it was no use letting him get under her skin, so she turned without saying goodbye and walked out with her head held high.
When she arrived at the gate to the real world, the only one there to see her off was Renji. She could tell he relished being out of the office, but she knew that he would have come regardless. There were good friends, and her being the third seat allowed them to spend time together, but she knew by the way he looked at Rukia Kuchiki that they could never be any more than that.
"Ready?" Renji asked.
"Yup," she nodded. She was wearing a thick black coat over a red shirt, a simple skirt, and knee-high boots. Her soul candy, memory replacer, and communicator were all hidden on her person. "So, what's this substitute shinigami like?"
"Ichigo Kurosaki?" He looked thoughtfully to the side. "Well, he's…strong. Really strong. But sometimes, he can really stupid and really simpleminded. I mean really simpleminded, he's just plain straightforward. Don't even try to pass any kind of strategy by him, 'cause he'll just blaze through with his zanpakuto not even thinking about—"
"Okay, okay," she's never seen Renji get so heated up over someone; it was kind of funny. "Is he a good guy?"
Renji sighed heavily and seemed to mull that over for a moment, but then he looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, he a good guy."
"That's all I needed to know," she said, trusting Renji's judgment. "Well then, see you around." She headed off toward the gate, a hell butterfly hovering around her.
"You better not get killed!" Renji yelled.
She looked back and smiled, "Me, killed?" She saw Renji smile back, but in his eyes was a small hint of worry. The gates closed behind her, and deep down she knew he had every reason to feel that way. A killer of hundreds of humans, this man was truly cold-hearted and wouldn't bat an eye getting rid of her to achieve his goals, what ever they could be.
She took a deep breath and steeled herself. 'Here I go.'
She dashed toward the human world, ready to start the hunt.
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