The door guards at Kyouraku Industries would regret standing that close to the glass doors as said glass doors slammed open with a loud crash.
Before they blacked out, they would find themselves with face to face with an irate, fuming, smoking Shiba Kuukaku. (And a pane of glass.)
"OI, MS SECRETARY, YOU TELL KYOURAKU SHUNSUI THAT I AM COMING UP TO SEE HIM NOW AND THAT HE BETTER NOT BE FUCKING BUSY," she took in a deep breath.
"OR BUSY FUCKING."
The secretary sat there in shock as a whirlwind of black hair and jade green eyes stormed past her to the elevators, all thoughts of contacting the boss, or even any logical thoughts, blown clear out of her mind.
"Jyuu-chaaannn!" The room blinked collectively, turning their heads towards where one obviously distraught Kyouraku Shunsui was standing, dangling his headphones from the tips of his fingers, an arm's length away from his ear.
Hisagi, standing next to the man in question, would swear that Ukitake Jyuushiro crushed a pen cap in his right hand before taking in a deep breath and turning around with a smile on his face. (Of course, no one would believe the pen cap story, but then, what was that crumpled blue plastic thing on the table?)
The white-haired man took off his headphones, holding them away from his mouth. "Whatever it is, Shunsui, can it wait? I am…" he held his fingers a slight distance apart, fingers Hisagi would notice were trembling slightly, though in anger or just plain twitching he had no idea, "Just this close, this close, Shunsui, to getting reinforcements from Genryuusai-sensei, and I swear, if you screw this up, you can say goodbye to the only chance that will be getting bailed out of jail after this is all over."
"Right. My bad." Kyouraku chuckled sheepishly. "Carry on, then. Go work your mojo on…" A look silenced him, Ukitake turning around for a moment before returning to stare at the pad of paper in his hand, still conversing over the headphones.
The pink-clad man sighed, as he pouted and slouched in his armchair, a disappointed look on his face. "Kuu-chan hung up on me, and Nanao-chan is nowhere to be found… Am I destined to be deserted by the girls of this era?"
No one in the room deigned him a reply and a soft silence descended upon the room, only the soft murmurs of the communications team and the light clickety-clack of fingers on keyboards.
A light sigh as chocolate brown eyes surveyed the room, gaze raking over every single corner, before frowning slightly. The headphones in his hand were placed on the coffee table as Kyouraku Shunsui leant forward slightly, hands clasped together, eyes completely serious as he watched the room.
A rapid rat-ta-tat on the doorway, and the door creaked open to reveal a slightly scowling teenager.
"Oya, Hitsugaya-kun? Is that Ran-chan? Where were you?" The silly smile returned to his face, his eyes making the slower transition back to goofy, something unmissed by the teenage prodigy.
Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes as he cast a glance around the room, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"There's something I need to tell you, Kyouraku-san. In private."
Nanao exhaled. Wait. Huh? When had she lain down? When had she gone back to sleep? She had been at the coffee place, and then had been walking back to the office and then she…
Nanao sat up with a start, a hand fisting in the sheets. This was starting to turn into a scene right out of her worst nightmare. Briefly checking that she was dressed, and thankfully she was, she threw off the covers with a flourish. What had happened? (Why was she on a bed?) What was going on? This did not make sense.
"Huh." Her head jerked up in the direction of the window, at where a cyan haired man stared back at her. "So you're up. I'll go give him a ring then. Ya just sit tight here and wait till you're called." Nanao blinked as the man flashed her a wide, almost predatory grin before stepping away, hands in his pockets.
Right. So they were leaving her alone for the moment. Taking in her surroundings, Nanao was surprised to find that most of her belongings were neatly laid out on the table in the room. Most. The K40 was rather noticeably absent. Ah well. They were definitely not careless enough to leave her alone with a weapon.
Her second observation was that mostly everything was white. The walls were white, the ceiling was white, the light was white, the bed spread, the bed posts, the chair and the table. Everything was white, and that was rather disturbing in itself. What kind of person would like everything in shades of white, where even the slightest scuff of the shoe would leave a mark on the floor? (Her traitorous brain answered Kuchiki Byakuya or Ishida Ryuuken, but she was pretty sure it was neither of them.)
But there was no time to think about that. She had to, somehow, get out of here. Somehow. She was not supposed to be here. There was tons of paperwork that needed to be filed, and Kyouraku had to be arm-twisted into yet another meeting. Goodness gracious. What day was it? She better not have been out of it for more than a day. There was still tomorrow's work to finish, because there had been indications that all the action was going to begin soon.
(Nanao noticed that she was either not feeling distressed at her kidnapping, or was so distressed that she was already past the point of being distressed about herself and was now projecting that anxiety onto the work she had left uncompleted. She was not sure which one it was.)
Given more time, Nanao probably would have figured out a way to get out of the room that had only one door and a small window without using a key (which was obviously not available) or ruining her hairpins. (She liked them, thank you very much.)
Some person who she did not recognize came, unlocked the door and escorted her outside, not even bothering to slap handcuffs onto her wrists or make any movements that suggested towards restraining her. Nanao was not too sure whether to be annoyed that they thought so lightly of her or pleased that they were being so careless.
As it was however, her surroundings were plain and nondescript, nothing in any of the corridors seemed to indicate which part of the building she was in. Which would mean that attempting escape would not be a good idea. There was no knowing which way to run. And she might accidentally leave a trail of light gray markings on the pristine, almost hospital-sterilized white tiled floor, which would utterly defeat the purpose of attempting to run away.
The person, who Nanao mentally christened Unnamed Person One, eased open the door (which thankfully did not have a white doorknob) and gestured for her to enter. Nanao vaguely wondered why they were being so 'hospitable' if they truly were the opposing organization. (But who on earth could the people who had kidnapped her be, if they were not of the opposing organization? They had to be Aizen's men.)
The breath was sucked from her lungs as she entered the room. It was a large room, much larger than she would have expected to exist in a building such as this. (She had had the impression that this building consisted solely of tiny rooms, but this assumption was, obviously, false.) In fact, it looked to be the same size as the one they had their own meetings in, back at Kyouraku and Ukitake-san's organization.
The lack of the great number of armchairs and other furniture that she had unconsciously expected was apparent, making the room seem even larger than it truly was. It was, unsurprisingly, all white, and had Nanao had her wits about her, she would have mused that Aizen Sousuke seemed to have some sort of obsession, or even fetish with the color white.
But Nanao did not have her wits about her. For one simple, simple reason.
"Yo."
An all too familiar face grinned at her from the seat just next to that of the largest, middle one.
"Nice ta see ya up on yer feet, Ise-san."
Ichimaru Gin smirked at her from his position at the right hand of where the person who she assumed was Aizen Sousuke (but who was currently shrouded in some form of shadow probably due to the unusual lighting of the room) sat.
He waved at her, drinking in her shocked expression, infamous grin widening as he patted the seat next to him.
After all, it was not everyday that someone got to startle the normally unflappable Ise Nanao.
"So, what is it, Hitsugaya-kun? For you to call myself out into a private room like this? I don't suppose that it's a good time to come out of the closet, ne? I am afraid I have made it perfectly clear that I am interested only in the fairer gender…"
Kyouraku leant forward, a goofy grin on his face, pink jacket draped nonchalantly over the backrest of his armchair.
"With all due respect, cut the nonsense, Kyouraku-san." Hitsugaya's teal eyes were perfectly serious, his white brows scrunched up slightly. "Matsumoto and I went to look for Ise-san because Matsumoto was worried. We combed the area quite thoroughly, but she, I am afraid to say, is currently missing. As it is now, Matsumoto is still conducting her search, but I personally believe that she will not be found so easily, as this is Ise-san we are speaking about."
"Hm." Was the only response he got from the older man who leant back in his chair, looking down at the ground thoughtfully.
Seeing the visible lack of response, Hitsugaya sighed slightly before regaining his focus. "If you will indulge me, I believe that…"
"She's been abducted by Aizen?" Kyouraku raised his glance from the ground, a wry smile on his face, quite different from all the goofy grins that Hitsugaya had seen previously adorning his face. Serious eyes met his, and at once, Hitsugaya knew why Kyouraku-san was able to command such respect from those closest to him.
"Mahh, I thought so too. It's not like Nanao-chan to just up and disappear like that on her own." The happy features were back, Hitsugaya noted, and so was that flippant, nonchalant attitude. How did he do that? That incredibly rapid transition such that if he had blinked, he would have missed it?
"Hmph. Time to remind Aizen why leaving this old man alive was not such a good idea after all. Do me a favor, ya, Hitsugaya-kun?" Shunsui picked his jacket up, swinging it over his shoulders.
"Don't tell Jyuu-chan about this, 'kay?" He turned and winked at the teenager standing rather gobsmacked in the middle of the room.
A fist swung out from the doorway, clipping the side of Shunsui's head as the one person he did not want to see appeared in front of his eyes.
"Don't tell who about what?"
Hitsugaya's jaw dropped, which was quite a momentous occasion, as there were few things that truly shocked the prodigy.
A woman, a tall woman almost as busty as Matsumoto stood in the doorway. A shock of black hair and intense jade green eyes, she was about as loud as an explosion of red, which was saying a lot.
"Oi, oi, Kyouraku. What's this, eh? You're not telling your best friend and gay partner something?"
"I must profess, I am deeply hurt, Kuu-chan. You of all people know that Jyuu-chan and I are most certainly not…" It took only the time for an incredulous infuriated look before Shiba Kuukaku descended upon Kyouraku Shunsui and clocked him one right on the head with that almighty prosthetic arm of hers.
"Ow! Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! It slipped, I swear! It just slipped out like that! I mean, I so completely regret teaching you to chill out and relax and develop your own personality and not listen to the stuffy old men, and I'm sorrryyyyyy!!!"
Hitsugaya's eyebrows shot right up as he backed away to a corner (self-preservation instincts, self-preservation instincts) and watched the boss of their organization get beaten by a lady (or not quite a lady) who had just marched right into the room. (And from the looks of it, right into the building too.)
However, how he found himself squashed between Shiba Kuukaku and the car door half an hour later, Hitsugaya Toshiro, teenage prodigy, had no idea.