I had a sudden doubt I would never finish this chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter Five : This Urge
Shinji Hirako was the well known Captain of the Fifth City. Well known thanks to his position, even though he would tell you it was all because of his charming personality. Thus it was no wonder that he was trying to slip from Hiyori as quickly as possible, with minimal injuries. That was a hard task in itself, but what made it harder was the quickly disappearing form of his Lieutenant.
Shinji never really trusted Aizen. Better keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. While following him around wasn't exactly the Captain's idea for fun, the inevitable coming of the White Crusades urged every Captain to open their eyes and ears, and shut their mouths.
The idea of asking what Aizen was doing was out of question. And informing the Shihouin of his current task was risky for several reasons.
One, no one knew who they could trust. The blame game could turn on anyone. The enemy was everywhere and nowhere at once.
Two, by the time she would be notified, and was able to send someone she could trust (Trust? Here?) or attend to the matter personally, Aizen would've been long gone, and whatever scheme he was involved in would've been burried once more.
Shinji was quickly brought back to reality by meeting a flying foot equipped with a sandal face first.
"Dumbass! You won't even tell me where you're going!" Hiyori yapped. She was always annyoing at the worst possible time.
Dodging the next kick to his face, holding his bleeding nose in one hand, Shinji arched an eyebrow.
"It's because you are too stupid to understand! Now get outta the way." He craned his neck to spot Aizen on the busy street of the Central City.
"Are you following Aizen again, you creep?" Hiyori mocked as she punched Shinji's leg. "You should just ask him to marry you or something, with the way you stalk him" she snorted.
Not being able to spot his Lieutenant, the Fifth Captain let out a heavy sigh. Lost him again because of this little...
"Never mind" he sighed, turning around and slowly walking away, leaving an equally surprised and angry Hiyori behind.
"You can't just leave me like that you dumbass!" she stomped after him.
Shinji turned around, more serious than the small blonde had ever seen him before.
"I think something is up with him, that's why I stalk him like some fanboy. But thanks to you, you little brat, now I have to find some other way to uncover his plans." He looked around thoughtfully. It was broad daylight, and the main street was as busy as ever. Suddenly, he smiled as he turned back to Hiyori.
"And you... are going to help me."
Urahara quietly walked into his Captain's office, watching as the Shihouin woman gave orders as she walked back and forth, three or four wraiths and a few of the human messengers surrounded her. The latter were scribling as if their lives depended on it. They probably did. He smiled at the thought.
"Tell Unohana that she'll have those reinforcements, but not now, I simply can't offer more troops for her. No, she cannot go ahead and be the saint that she is, the Crusades are almost here and I'm determined not to let her run into them on an errand of goodwill." She gestured with her hands, trying to make a point.
"While I approve of all that nonsense the Revered has babbled on about again about unity, I will not let him get the opportunity to- oh, hey Kisuke." She waved like a child, grinning as she saw him. "I'll be with you in a second. Where was I?"
"The Revered" Urahara chimed in happily as he plopped down into one of the sofas along the wall.
"Right. I will not let him get the opporunity to speak up against me and rile up some kind of a cult of followers. What we need the least is a civil war, and with his best intentions in mind, I am fairly sure that this will do us no good."
Yoruichi stopped walking for a slight moment as one of the messengers looked up at her.
"So that's a no?" he asked, his voice a bit shaky.
Yoruichi held his gaze with an are-you-serious face for a few seconds before continuing her little walk around the office.
"That's a no. Oh, and tell him that his stupidity starts to reach over the Frostback mountains. And that's high, very, very high." she pointed at another messenger. "Tell Kyoraku that tonight is off, I have personal matters to attend to. And if he drinks the rest of the sake, Dark Gods help him."
The still remaining messengers and the wraiths looked at her as she stopped tracking. Yoruichi looked around self consciously before gesturing with her hands.
"Shoo, go about your business!"
They immediatly scurried away, leaving the Shihouin alone with her long time friend. She dropped herself onto her office chair, pinching the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed. Moments later, she turned her head towards a smugly smiling Urahara.
"What?" she asked, already smiling along with him.
"You haven't been this cheerful for a while now" her companion pointed out.
"I didn't really have a reason to" was all the answer she gave him as she tilted her head to the side.
"Oh, and now you do?" Urahara asked with genuine curiosity.
"Don't I?" Yoruichi feigned hurt. "We have all these lovely Crusades coming. And thirteen at the same time! I've been waiting for a party for a few seasons now!" She laughed bitterly before turning slightly serious. "I have to relax sometimes, you know. With all this" she gestured around "happening, my brain would be fried from all the worrying if I didn't take a break."
"What brain?" Urahara asked, laughing as he dodged a sandal aimed at his face. "So what can I thank the invitation for?"
"Right, to the point. Actually, it's nothing." Yoruichi said, fumbling with her nails. "Just thought I should warn you that you better get ready for your test."
Urahara looked at his Captain, one eyebrow high up in the skies. The only possible test would be for him to become her Lieutenant. But that can't be, she already had one, and he hadn't challenged Kaien. Not that he wanted to, either. But...
"You didn't." Urahara said, stupified.
"I most certainly did. AND" she stated, pointing accusingly at Urahara, "you are not running away this time, Kisuke. Think of it as a challenge. A big one. And the bright side?" Yoruichi stopped, pondering." Well, there's none, but I'll try and think of something."
"But... a Captain? Really? ME?" The blonde stood up, making his way over to the table to look Yoruichi square in the eyes. "You're out of your mind."
"Always" the Shihouin woman smirked up to him, one hand on her chin as she did so. "But you and I both know that we are in dire need of all our Captains. The Twelfth City needs a leader and I know you're capable. More so than anyone else." Her smile faltered lightly.
"When?" he bowed his head in defeat.
"Oh, but where's the fun in me telling you that?" the violet haired woman stood up, laughing as she made her way to the window. "You'll know when it'll start."
She winked at Urahara with a grin before being enveloped in a screen of black smoke, disappearing into the evening as the dirty blonde shook his head, smiling as he did so.
Shaolin was in the middle of something she couldn't control. She hated to be helpless. To be helpless was the worst thing possible. Except maybe the Crusades. Yes, the worst after the Crusades.
One of the bright minds between the recruits (namely Rangiku) smuggled some booze in from her last trip back to her village outside the Second City. And although Shaolin considered herself a law following, good citizen, and first and foremost, a loyal subject to the will of the Shadowridge, she just so happened to be associated (by mistake, it could'nt be anything else) with Rangiku.
Things started off innocently enough. As innocently as a night of drinking could, that is. A few of them gathered in the empty training fields of the Second, they passed the booze around for a while. Then more people gathered. Everyone brought someone with them. The someones who were brought thought that their friends were also invited now. Soon, it turned into the chaos that it was right now. After part of the booze was gone (how did that woman get a whole stash in there anyway?), some people left, but most of them stayed. Gradually, the whole group had a fair amount of alcohol in their systems, Shaolin included. A few hours later though, someone managed to find them in the backfields. And... things were looking ... rather odd.
Hours after recieveing Yoruichi's message from the wraith, a rare, still-sober-at-this-time-of-day Captain Kyoraku strolled around the training fields in the late evening. Prohibited from drinking himself to oblivion in the company of his fellow Captain, the leader of the Eigth had a hard time occupying himself. Ukitake was once again deathly ill, Yoruichi had work to do, and Lisa... was somewhere. Odd. He always had someone to do something with.
In the meantime, a walk to clear his head was the best thing he could come up with. Second only after the idea of booze, but alas. He thought maybe fate brought him here as he suddenly stumbled over someone. During his attempt to dampen his fall, he fell over another someone and ended up in a third. Clumsy he may be, but never once had Kyoraku stumbled upon anyone in the dead of night. Not to mention three of them.
The Captain proceeded to stand up and take a better look around when-
"Captain!" The unmistakeable voice of his Lisa hung in the air like a light of hope in the darkness.
Dusting himself off, Kyoraku turned his smiling head towards the source of the voice, the ever-scowling Lisa staring at him, mouth slightly agape with a strange mix of anger, a hint of fear and a huge part of indifference. Then he noticed the amount of people around, and the mountain of empty and full bottles of sake. His smile appeared to be permanently attached to his face. It was definitly fate.
Yoruichi was on her way to the backfields of the training grounds for an evening spar with the air. Training alone was probably the only time during her day (or night, as it happened to be) when she could clear her head. It became something of a ritualistic urge over the years.
What was not usual about it was the fact that half the recruits of her own City, and more than a handful of others were laughing and drinking right on the spot where she was supposedly going to relax.