Orderly Madness, the Melody of Chaos [#01/?]
Chapter rating: NC-17 for gory description
Chapter specific warning: Description of mutilated bodies and a mention of GinxKira
Chapter specific spoiler: Bounto Arc for anime viewers
Chapter summary: Finally back in his position, Hitsugaya starts another day at the peaceful hours of early morning. However the tranquility is cut short by an unwanted news.
Author's Note:
…The expectations are rather scary and they are putting quite a lot of pressure on me. I can only hope that this story will live up to the anticipation… /sweat drops/ As with Empathy, it may take a while for things to get into full swing, but please continue to read. Following are some facts that will help you to understand the story.
1. According to Bounto Arc, there are districts in Seireitei as well, like Rukongai. Unless specified, districts in this fiction will refer to those in Seireitei, not Rukongai.
2. Ichinose Maki is a character from Bounto Arc. For those who only read manga, Ichinose Maki was a rogue shinigami with a light-type zanpaktou, which enabled him to make him invisible. He had sneaked into Seireitei once and at that time, Senkaimon had opened even when seemingly no one was going through the Gate. He also planted bombs around Senzaikyuu; the bombs were a display of their presence and a declaration of a war, in other words, the damage by the explosion was not the main aim.
3. Onmitsukidou is strictly speaking Special Force but in this fiction, I have also given them the task of police force of Soul Society, thus investigations falling under their job description. However when an involvement of outside force is suspected, it will be passed onto Gotei 13 whose job is to deal with 'monsters'.
4. Umesada Toshimori is actually an original character from SS Arc. He's a fat, ugly guy who made a move on Inoue until Ishida intervened.
5. At the beginning of the original Bleach, you will remember that in school, Ichigo and friends were looking at a list of people's grades, stuck on a wall. It's grades out of the whole year -that makes Ishida the top of the whole year and it's goddamn difficult to achieve especially in a high school level; if you know about Asian education, you would understand-. If you think about it, our strawberry's pretty good, too.
And please remember! My muses feed on your reviews so they are vital for my inspiration along with Hitsu's picture on my mobile… /drools/
:::::Orderly Madness, the Melody of Chaos by Kanon Ch.1::::: Back in Soul Society
"Tonight is the last night, I'm afraid… But I will show you my appreciation for our time thoroughly; you deserve at least that much."
A sickeningly sweet voice rang around the dark, silent room but no reply came. It was as if there was only one person in the place, but there surely was another. Soft chuckles followed the whisper-like words, unfazed by the silence.
…Who... are you…?
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-IchiHitsu-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Hitsugaya's brows furrowed, the ends twitching, as he gritted his teeth. Ignoring the foretelling signs of migraine, the irritated captain stepped into the administration office that was once again covered with papers; some dangerously perched on a very small surface, some white corners visible in the oddest places, and some even taller than himself -and that was not just because he was 4'4" tall-. Looking at the piles on his desk, Matsumoto's desk, the tea table and the couch, he wondered for a second if he should feel grateful that there were no stacks on the floor yet.
Not long after he returned to Soul Society, Matsumoto had washed her hands off -figuratively and literally; something about papers and inks poisoning her beautiful skin- the paperwork. The resulting amount of work that the young prodigy faced could safely be labelled as 'unreal' but it actually helped the tenth division captain to slide back into his usual daily routine with surprising ease. This was his normality and whether he liked it or not, he had definitely got used to it as well.
With a small sigh, Hitsugaya made himself a cup of his favourite green tea before sitting down at the desk for another day's work. The diligent captain had woken up even earlier than usual today so the division was abnormally quiet; he would probably be able to get through a lot of papers in such rare serenity. The tranquillity would not last long though, he thought to himself with a slight frown, and was about to pick up the first paper on one of the numerous piles when the sparkling emerald eyes noticed a white envelope on the top. Hitsugaya smirked with a quiet scoff; he already knew who it was from.
Well, it wouldn't do any harm to spare a few minutes of this precious silence for the sake of a certain idiot, Hitsugaya decided, as he opened the envelope and unfolded the paper inside. The white-crowned head tilted back and rested on the back of the chair as the smirking shinigami held the white paper in one hand, with cup of tea in the other. Ever since he had returned to Soul Society, one substitute shinigami found a sudden passion in writing and the aloof captain of the tenth division was rather amused with the frequent and endless letters. The turquoise eyes started to glide across the paper as he drank his tea, the bitter yet soothing taste of clear green liquid warming his inside in this early winter morning.
'Toshiro,
I told you about my family coming over last Sunday, right? Dad managed to bust the front door of my flat, that idiot. As if having to replace it once wasn't enough. My flat's been getting too much abuse this year.
Everything's pretty much the same at school; we had our last exams before the winter holidays. I've done better than last time, came 18th in our year. Sado ranked tenth, Inoue came second right after the stupid Quincy. We were actually talking about how well you would've done if you were still here. You could have beaten Ishida, now that would've been brilliant. I still can't believe that freaking Quincy asked me if our relationship was 'consensual'.'
Hitsugaya scowled and snorted at same time. When Kurosaki first wrote to him and told him about Urahara's monitor that had pried upon their good-byes, Hitsugaya simply wrote back that there would be no need to warn the sly shoten owner of any danger that he may face -only maybe- should he set his foot in Seireitei.
Not long after that, Urahara paid his first visit to Soul Society since his exile to visit Ukitake but he found himself encased in a block of hard, frigid ice as soon as he walked out of Senkaimon and for a number of days, all shinigamis going through the Gate had a rather amusing view of the ex-12th division captain who had a look of a deer caught in headlights on his face. Nobody understood what brought the famed prodigy's equally famous wrath but no one bothered -or had the guts- to ask either; everyone was pretty sure the erratic shoten owner had brought it on himself.
'By the way, I'll drop by this Saturday and stay over the weekend since the exams are all over now. Take the weekend off unless Soul Society is going into a war. I've spent all my visits stuck in your office so far, and I'm not complaining as long as I can stay around but hey, spare some pity for your boyfriend who's been studying so hard. I've now been deprived of my doses way too long.
Ichigo'
Hitsugaya snorted at the last line; 'doses' was the stupid strawberry's way of saying… well, a lot of things that generally involved those callused hands, the nose and the slightly chapped lips. The sea-green eyes looked around the room, trying to find something -anything- that would tell him today's date.
In the last few months since he had returned, the young shinigami had not taken a single day off yet as his division was in dire need of the captain's attention. Matsumoto had done an undoubtedly good job but there were tasks that were executable only with the captain's authority such as re-organising the whole division after the huge loss from the War. It took a long time and much effort but thanks to Hitsugaya's constant endeavour, the division was now back on track to a certain degree with the newly ranked shinigamis settling into their responsibilities and duties. Broken cogs were fixed and missing ones replaced, and the big wheel called the tenth division was finally rolling without any crunches and splints.
With another sip of the steaming tea, Hitsugaya returned the folded letter to its envelope and opened one of the desk drawers. The drawer was neatly organised, a fair number of same white envelopes having taken their place already. The latest one joined its friends and the brilliant teal orbs lingered on them for a while before the snow-crowned captain closed the drawer. Saturday was only two days away, Hitsugaya noted, as he contemplated about possibly taking the weekend off.
The prodigy shook his head and pushed the thought to the back of his mind; he would make his decision on the day if needed. However for now, there was something more important that he had to think of, such as how to get Matsumoto away for a full 48 hours.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-IchiHitsu-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Hitsugaya was almost finished with the first pile on his right when he felt the floor trembling under the thunderous footsteps of his vice-captain whose reiatsu was fast approaching the office. Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow with a frown; Matsumoto on her way to the office -to him- at such speed was unusual and almost always led to something rather unpleasant for him in more than one way.
"Taichou!"
Hitsugaya didn't bother looking up and continued to read through a report from Onmitsukidou about an appearance of a Menos Grande when Matsumoto rushed into the office. The young captain put the report aside once he finished reading; luckily, there was no one working behind the scene and the conclusion was that it had been a stray Gillian that had drifted into the real world. With a quick note that Matsumoto was actually on time for work, Hitsugaya asked in an annoyed voice, thinking he might as well get whatever it was out of the way now so that he could continue with his work undisturbed.
"What is it this time? And I don't care if you have walked in on Ichimaru and Kira again or not."
"Taichou, have you not heard? It's happened again!"
Hitsugaya looked up from another report that he had picked up, his face instantly gaining the trademark scowl. He had come into the office in the early morning and shinigamis were just starting to flock in for the day so until now, he hadn't seen anyone to hear any news from.
"Another one?"
Matsumoto nodded, satisfied that she had now got her captain's attention, and closed the office door behind her.
"Yes, in the Southern District this time."
The radiant emerald eyes narrowed as lips tightened into a thin line. Hitsugaya returned the unread report back to the pile and leaned back. What news to start the day with, Hitsugaya thought to himself, as he started to think over the strange murders that had now claimed its third victim.
About two months ago, a shinigami was found murdered in the Eastern District. It had sparked a lot of wild rumours in Seireitei. After all, such an assassination-like death has never been heard of even when there had been attacks or intruders, and there had been no alert of any of them in this case. Many wondered if this was a sign of another Aizen-like treachery who had first faked his own murder, but this time the victim was a mere low-rank officer of the fifth division.
Nevertheless it was a gory scene that the patrol team came across that morning; there had been a gaping slit on the victim's neck, which seemed to have been the fatal blow. What was perturbing was how each of the victim's fingers was cut off from both hands and stuffed in his mouth, tips of fingers disturbingly sticking out of the tightly filled hole, the corners of lips torn from the over-stretch.
As soon as the news had reached the Captain-Commander, Soi Fon was put in charge of investigating the bizarre murder with her Onmitsukidou force, but the case remained inexplicable. There was nothing special about the victim, just your usual low-rank officer with no outstanding record in his past. The scene was clean of evidence save the small pool of blood belonging to the victim and a broken sake bottle next to him, indicating his activity prior to his death. They found no witness nor had anyone heard a thing.
The post-mortem report by Unohana raised the grimness to another level. It was revealed that every stuffed finger had been broken along with the wrists that had been twisted at odd angles. The victim had also been castrated and the severed organ had been found at the back of the throat once all the fingers were removed. The only humane aspect was that all the torturous mutilation seemed to have taken place after the victim's demise which had been instantaneous due to the cleanly severed spinal cord from the front along with oesophagus and trachea. That explained the relatively small amount of blood at the scene as well and why no one had heard any painful screams.
At first, the most obvious explanation that gossiping shinigamis came up with was that the poor victim had been targeted for being a member of one of the traitors' divisions. The fifth and ninth divisions were having a difficult time even now due to their previous captains' defects and the loss they had ultimately brought about, despite Abarai and Hisagi's best effort; even the third did not completely escape the unfair wrath and the hushed whispers in spite of Ichimaru's true identity. However it had been more than a year since the betrayal and nearly half a year since the end of the War so the theory didn't gain much support.
While the case remained perplexing, another murder took place about two weeks ago. The second victim was from the twelfth division, killed in the dead of night by a stab through his neck. When discovered, the body had been maimed and, for lack of a better word, displayed in the same way. There were no signs of struggle in either of the victims, both of their zanpaktous hanging at their waists, sheathed. With such striking similarities, there was no doubt that the two murders were committed by the same killer but Onmitsukidou did not find any relationship between the two victims; they had not even remotely known each other.
The first ever serial murder in Sereitei's long history was now the biggest gossip topic between shinigamis although the news was tightly sealed from the villagers of Rukongai under a stern order directly issued from the Captain-Commander himself to prevent any improper upheaval.
Hitsugaya turned his eyes to the report that he had placed back on top of its original pile but his thoughts stayed on the murders. Seireitei was not exactly an all-time peaceful place; they had their fair share of violent training and bloody brawls and while it happened rarely, there were times that fights got out of hand and led to grim ends. However these murders were different. They were silent and quick with methodical mutilation. It was not a case of fight-gone-out-of-control; someone was doing this with unknown purpose although whether the victims were targeted or chosen at random was yet to be confirmed.
Oblivious to Matsumot's curious gaze, Hitsugaya's frown deepened slightly. Soul Society was finally getting its former glory back; peace was settling in at last, tension and fear making their final leave after their long residence since Aizen's defect. Gotei 13 was still rather stretched between maintaining the balance of the two worlds and rebuilding themselves. They had not had chance to recover from the loss that continuous Arrancar attacks had caused and the number of casualties from the War was understandably high. It was taking long but steadily, things had been starting to return to the previous normality when the first murder happened and now, they had a third victim.
"Taichou, has sotaichou said anything yet?"
"No… Although…"
"……?"
Hitsugaya fell back into his thoughts without finishing off the sentence. The investigation team consisted of those handpicked with the utmost care by Soi Fon from Onmitsukidou and any information on the progress of the inquiry was kept strictly confidential. It was now no secret that the culprit was thought to be someone within the walls of Seireitei since there had been no alerts of infiltration during any of the nights, and the inquiry had turned into an internal investigation as soon as Kurotsuchi confirmed that Senkaimon had remained closed at all times except when shinigamis went through, all of them quite visible unlike Ichinose Maki.
With the residents of Seireitei now on the suspect list, any further development was sealed away even from the captains in fear of any biased influence, except Soi Fon who led the inquiry and Unohana who was the only non-Onmitsukidou shinigami in the team. However Hitsugaya couldn't help feeling that that was not the only reason behind the strict discretion and he was fairly sure that he was not the only one who felt so.
"Taichou?"
Hitsugaya looked up at his vice-captain in silence for a minute then pushed the matter to the back of his mind. There was going to be a weekly captaincy meeting in an hour's time so probably he could find something out later, but until then, he should not waste any time. And nor should his vice-captain.
"Nothing is going to be solved by us talking here. Now that you've delivered the news, you can sit down and finish those off that were supposed to have been handed in by yesterday."
Matsumoto instantly pouted, stretching her hands out for the irritated captain to see who promptly ignored them and dumped a sheaf of papers into them instead. The jolly vice-captain's voice rose to almost a shriek at that; with the sound alone, you would have thought she had just heard that the end of the world was coming. Actually, the papers in her hands were the end of the world from her point of view.
"Ah, taichou! I told you, the inks poison my beautiful, soft skin!"
An angry mark appeared on the wintry captain but with the patience that comes with the years of practice, Hitsugaya managed to keep his voice at his normal tone, which meant the young prodigy sounded exasperated and annoyed as hell at the -goddamn lazy- buxom woman in front of him. As established before, this was his normality, after all.
"And I told you to zip that nonsense, look at your desk, Matsumoto. It's now-"
"Taichou, you've run out of your tea! I'll just go and get you some more!!"
And accompanied with a gusty wind, Matsumoto was gone from the office along with his cup that had been a lot more than half-filled, papers now scattered on the floor. The clear emerald eyes scrunched shut, the white eyebrows twitched and the customary shout of infuriation echoed through the division, making nearby shinigamis chuckle at their vice-captain's daily antic.
"MATSUMOTO!!!"
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When Hitsugaya arrived at the meeting room, he was surprised to find that all the other captains had already arrived including Ukitake who was looking much better than last time Hitsugaya saw him, talking with Kyouraku as usual.
Abarai was patting Hisagi's shoulder as the ninth division captain ruffled his short inky black hair, looking rather frustrated. On the other side of the room, Soi Fon was discussing something quietly with Unohana who had an unusually serious look on her gentle feature; Hitsugaya assumed they were talking about the third murder. Zaraki seemed to be having a staring contest with Kurotsuchi, both of whom Hitsugaya paid no attention to since he had had enough of the two idiots having stupid arguments long before than a long time ago.
The remaining three, Kuchiki, Komamura and Ichimaru were in the middle of a conversation as well, making Ichimaru look extremely out of place, when the ex-spy noticed the white-haired prodigy entering the room.
"Yo, Hitsugaya taichou! You are finally here!"
Hitsugaya merely grunted out some sort of acknowledgement in response to the greeting and turned around, making Ichimaru pout; even though he now knew that Ichimaru's true intention had always been good, the icy captain couldn't quite bring himself to lose his dislike for that sneaky fox-faced shinigami. However before the pale lilac-haired man could say anything else, Yamamoto entered the room and all the captains instantly ceased their chats and moved to stand in their respective places, ready to begin the meeting.
Most of the reports were the usual things; the Hollows, the real world, and Soul Society which inevitably led to the most talked-about topic in Seireitei these days.
"Now, I am sure all of you are aware that there has been another murder. The victim was identified to be the 20th Seat officer of the ninth division, Umesada Toshimori. With regards to the recent development of the case, Soi Fon taichou has requested for extra patrols to be organised. However Onmitsukidou will be taking these so for the other divisions, keep to your usual rotation."
The observant cerulean eyes caught a quick glance being exchanged between Ukitake and Kyouraku before the eighth division captain addressed the Captain-Commander in his usual carefree style.
"Yama-jii… Onmitsukidou has quite a lot to do, why not let other divisions help out? A few extra patrols won't do much harm."
The reply had been almost immediate, the tone authoritative and firm. The most powerful man of Gotei 13 had responded so swiftly that Hitsugaya couldn't help but wonder if the Captain-Commander had already expected this from his two top-class students.
"No, it has already been decided. Onmitsukidou will take the extra patrols in between the usual ones."
"Ah, Yama-jii… Don't be so stubborn, I know it's an internal investigation and stuff, but…"
"It's for the sake of the investigation and others. Soul Society is still rather unstable and there has been a worrying increase in the number of Hollow attacks in the real world. With Central 46 still out of action, I need everyone to focus on getting Gotei 13 and Seireitei back on their feet as soon as possible. The inquiry is Onmitsukidou's job, and we, Gotei 13, will do our job; do not concern yourselves with this case and make sure your subordinates do not cause any unnecessary uproar."
Yamamoto's tone left no room for debate and even Kyouraku knew there was no changing of his teacher's mind. The flowery captain quietened down with a nonchalant shrug but Hitsugaya could see a slight frown on Ukitake's face and knew he was mirroring the other white-haired captain's expression.
Although Onmitsukidou was the 'police force' of Soul Society, patrols around Seireitei were Gotei 13's job as they were precautionary measures against any possible intrusions or attacks rather than to keep their eyes on shinigamis. Thanks to the Sekkiseki (AN: Bloodthirst stone) barrier, any attempt to infiltrate Seireitei would cause high ruckus that no one would miss so the patrols were carried out only at midnight and at dawn in each of the four Districts, the teams standing guard at various places for the rest of the night.
However the resolute refusal to have Gotei 13 involved in any possible way even in the slightest was rather disconcerting. Was the Captain-Commander taking these murders as a sign of another defect? Was someone in this room already a suspect? Whatever it was, Hitsugaya definitely did not buy the lame excuse Yamamoto fed them even though he did not voice his opinion; to press the aged shinigami even further at this moment could be enough to warrant an accusation of treason if not worded correctly.
The meeting soon ended and the captains flooded out of the room to return to their respective divisions, most of them looking somewhat discontented with the exception of Kurotsuchi and Zaraki, who simply could not care less about the current situation. Hitsugaya quickly caught up with the thirteenth division captain and gestured to him to follow. Ukitake nodded and the young prodigy was soon joined by Ukitake and Kyouraku in one of the empty corridors.
"Ukitake, is there anything you know about these murders apart from wild rumours?"
The sickly captain shook his head, eyebrows furrowed, accompanied by a worried frown.
"All of the important information about the case is strictly classified but I didn't think sotaichou would deter Gotei 13's involvement in the matter this much."
Kyouraku lifted his hat, the ever-so-relaxed smile adorning his feature despite the intentness in the dark grey eyes.
"Yare yare… one thing after the other, isn't it?"
"Unless we have an outsider involved in this, it will remain Onmitsukidou's job, but if sotaichou is…"
Hitsugaya stopped for a minute; he would have to word carefully from here on. Suspecting the elder's true intention in his head was one thing, saying it out loud quite the other. However it seemed Ukitake and Kyouraku already knew what he was going to say. The flamboyant shinigami shrugged as he scratched his chin.
"Asking to get involved in Onmitsukidou's business was essentially testing the water but I guess it's now certain Yama-jii won't let any of us in. I mean, he basically told us to get lost."
"Kyouraku, be careful of how you word things."
The sake-loving captain simply laughed at his best friend's half-exasperated comment before continuing on with a more serious tone.
"The murders are serious crimes, no one would do such things for nothing. But I cannot see what the killer's trying to achieve by them… So far, all of them have been low-ranks, the second one wasn't even seated."
Hitsugaya frowned as he remembered what had happened at Senzaikyuu (AN: Palace of Pentinence) during the Bounto incident.
"Maybe the victims aren't the issue."
Ukitake nodded, his thoughts on the same trail as the icy captain. When Kyouraku raised an eyebrow with a questioning look, the thirteenth division captain elaborated their speculation for him.
"The identities of the victims would be none of the killer's concern if it's something else he or she is aiming for, such as the disturbance that these murders will cause."
"It sounds like Sousuke-kun when you put it that way."
Ukitake and Hitsugaya both scowled at Kyouraku's comment. That was exactly what they were worrying about; what if these murders were part of a bigger plan? Short but heavy and taut silence filled the air before it was quickly broken by Kyouraku with his friendly laugh.
"Well, Yama-jii is just being Yama-jii. What we know about this case is next to zero and I'm sure Soi Fon taichou has not overlooked anything. We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled."
Hitsugaya remained dissatisfied but Ukitake seemed to agree with his friend, nodding with a small sigh. What little frown that had graced the kind feature disappeared, replaced by a somewhat exasperated smile.
"I guess so. Well, I'm going to go back to my division for now before Kuchiki runs to Byakuya to find out where I am."
Kyouraku laughed, patting his old friend's shoulder.
"Another over-protective stalkerish subordinate?"
"She's not as bad as Sentaro and Kiyone but she does worry too much at times. I think she will start panicking, thinking I've fainted somewhere if I don't turn up anytime soon."
"Then I'm going back to my lovely Nanao-chan. I'll see you later, Juushiro, tensai (AN: genius) boy."
Ukitake waved and chuckled quietly as his childhood friend took off with a goofy smile plastered on his face and was about to leave as well when he noticed his fellow 'Shiro-chan' standing very still like a wax statue, frowning at the floor in deep thought.
"Hitsugaya taichou?"
"…………"
"Hitsugaya taichou, are you okay?"
Hitsugaya looked up at the long-haired shinigami although he didn't say anything for a while. The scowl continued to get worse and worse and it was some time before Hitsugaya let out a frustrated sigh, a hand running through his surreal white hair in an irritated manner.
"Hitsugaya taichou?"
"Something about these murders is… There's just something about these murders."
Ukitake's eyebrows rose as the young captain fell quiet again. It was rare for the famed prodigy to be vague like this.
"Something that you don't like?"
"I guess that's one way of saying it. Honestly speaking, I'm not sure."
Ukitake sighed with hidden sympathy for the young shinigami. Aizen's treachery had affected everyone but Hitsugaya had been the most affected one by far out of Gotei 13 due to his connection to the incident through Hinamori Momo. Ukitake had been worried about this young captain who he regarded as a son he never had since he saw Hinamori's dead body with frostbite spreading through the wound. He wasn't surprised that Hitsugaya would be extra sensitive to this kind of situation. Realising that the younger one was not going to say anything else, Ukitake smiled soothingly as he put a hand on Hitsugaya's shoulder, bringing him out of his reverie.
"Perhaps we do worry too much for our own good."
Hitsugaya looked at Ukitake incredulously and the thirteenth division captain laughed softly. He searched inside his sleeves and pulled out some candies that he dumped in Hitsugay's arms, pretending not to have seen the mildly annoyed look, the younger one too polite to refuse them in his face. Ukitake patted the prodigy's shoulder with a reassuring smile.
"Here, I'm sure these will cheer you up. There's nothing else going on yet so don't worry too much."
And the man was gone before Hitsugaya could say anything else. The tenth division captain looked at the bunch of candies in his arms with an exasperated sigh then turned his gaze to the clear blue sky.
There was just something about these cases that bothered him; that's all he knew. He couldn't quite say what it was, he didn't have even an inkling as to what it might have been, truth be spoken. It was like a gentle, almost non-existent disturbance in a calm lake, rippling across the surface before it disappeared in a matter of seconds. Why he was getting these fleeting feelings, he didn't have a clue.
He shook his head, the silky spikes waving in the air along with the motion. Perhaps Ukitake was right. Perhaps he really was worrying too much. With Aizen, there was that unusual persecution of Kuchiki Rukia but there was nothing out of the ordinary going on in Soul Society right now except the actual murders. The snow-crowned captain ignored his uneasy feelings; at least for now, there was nothing he could do since the investigation was in Soi Fon's hands and it wouldn't do to sniff around. That could come across as doubting the fellow captain's capability. The relationship between him and the second division captain was nothing more than two shinigamis at the same rank and he had rarely spoken to her, but he was well aware of her competence and determination.
Stuffing the candies in any available place in his shihakshou, Hitsugaya treaded back to his division. He will go through the papers after watching over his division's training and maybe, just maybe, he will take the weekend off.
If he can come up with a good reason to keep Matsumoto away, that is.