Kinda nervous about this new story arc, not gonna lie. Might've made an unpopular executive decision... But I'm gonna let you guys decide for yourselves ^^ (I don't want to spoil things)

Without further ado...

Chapter Nineteen

Rumble.

An annoyed, muffled groan sounded out. Rustling.

"Hng- ow!"

More loud, somewhat muted noises, including the beeping of a car in reverse.

Sleepy growling. Rustling even more. Thud.

"OW! Ichigo!" Mugetsu sat up, black hair sticking up all over and bleary-eyed. He turned slightly and punched the large comforter-covered lump next to him in the ribs, eliciting a heartfelt oof.

The lump responded by squirming and struggling out from underneath the mass of comforter, successfully landing a kick to Mugetsu's shin, then a similarly half-asleep Ichigo emerged, sporting a bewildered frown. "... the hell-" Yawn. "-was that for?"

"You kept shoving your bony elbows in my sides and head, you oaf! I nearly lost an eye!" Mugetsu protested, shoving his pillow in Ichigo's face and pretend-suffocating him. "What the hell are you even doing in my futon again? Sleep in your own damn bed! What are you, five?"

Ichigo blushed all the way to his ears and fought back. "Sh-shut up! I probably fell off the bed in my sleep by accident. You're the one invading my room and my privacy and leaving your hair all over! You're a geezer, shouldn't you be getting a job and moving out already?"

Ichigo suddenly made to sit up too as a loud noise outside startled them, only to hit his head on Mugetsu's. The two split apart, moaning and nursing their aching bumps.

"Aah," Mugetsu complained. "It's too damn early for this. What's with all that racket anyway?"

Ichigo stood up and went to peer outside the window. He only got a second's glimpse of the moving truck and the men shuffling outside before his Goat Face-sense tingled and he had to lean back to avoid the projectile that dared call himself their father. Isshin crashed into the ceiling, ricocheted off it and towards the yawning Mugetsu, who passed Isshin back towards Ichigo with a kick to the face. Ichigo dodged and Isshin crashed into the window and fell back outside in a shower of shards.

"I think our neighbour is moving out," Ichigo told Mugetsu, as if nothing had happened.

"Hosaka-san?"

"Yeah, they're emptying out her house."

Mugetsu hummed curiously. "She's been around for years. I wonder why she'd be moving all of a sudden?"

"I don't blame her, with neighbours as crazy as you and that Old Goat. Poor woman probably wants to spend her retirement in peace," Ichigo snarked.

Mugetsu pinched Ichigo's side, sparking some more horsing around as they fought for dibs on the bathroom. At least, until Rukia showed up, whacked them both for being too loud and proceeded to seize said bathroom for herself.

╭─━━━━━─╯ 無月の空の接触 ╰─━━━━━─╮

Mugetsu's head perked off his palm during class as he suddenly sensed numerous Hollow spiritual signatures appear. The hell?

A few minutes later he saw Ichigo and Rukia running out of the building and he sighed, getting up and excusing himself. At this rate, he'd have to repeat his junior year again. And he only had a couple of months left, too!

After he'd stored his gigai away, he caught up to Ichigo, sensing Ishida, Inoue and Chad not far behind. At seeing him, Ichigo frowned in surprise. "You didn't have to come, I can handle a few Hollows on my own," he said, grumbling.

" 'A few' ?" Mugetsu repeated pointedly. "There's like dozens out there."

Rukia rolled her eyes at their obligatory bickering and drifted away.

"Okay, yeah, but they're small fries. Not even Menos Grande," Ichigo defended, his tone insulted. They rose up into the sky and started cutting down Hollows left and right. Ichigo seemed particularly aggressive about it, more so than usual.

"A helping hand never hurts," Mugetsu replied casually. "Besides, if we finish faster we can get back in time for the classes after lunch break."

A Hollow roared to his profile. Mugetsu raised a hand and obliterated it in an overwhelming burst of black flames.

As he carved his way through the rows upon rows of Hollows - and what the hell, this cannot be normal - he contemplated with a vague sense of annoyance whether it'd be worth it to just wipe them all out at the risk of infusing the city with even more reishi particles. His half-hearted musings were interrupted by an abrupt spike in reiatsu, and his eyes widened as he recognised Ichigo's Bankai-level spiritual signature.

What is that idiot doing?

Mugetsu manifested Tensa Zangetsu in his hands and launched a powered-down Getsuga Tenshou, cleaving through tens of Hollows in one immense dark wave of reishi, and he headed towards Ichigo.

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled. She could pretend at anger all she wanted, but she was probably worried about him too.

"Didn't you say just a while ago that they're 'small fries'? What are you using Bankai for, you dumbass? Do you want to call the Gotei 13 down on our heads again?" he told Ichigo off incredulously.

"But those guys-" Ichigo started defending himself hotly, looking down. Mugetsu followed his gaze and saw nothing relevant. Only an empty street.

"What are you talking about?"

"There were two guys... and a little girl..." he trailed off uncertainly.

"Whatever it is, we can deal with it later," Rukia intervened.

Suddenly, dozens of reishi arrows flew into the sky, shooting down the Hollows all around them. "Why are you staring off into space? Do you want to get eaten, Kurosaki?" Ishida called out, Inoue and Chad standing behind him.

Ichigo and Mugetsu both glared, unsure of who had been addressed. Ishida rolled his eyes heavenward, as if praying for patience.

The six of them made short work of the rest of the Hollows, then reconvened and started heading back towards their school.

"Thanks for the hand there," Mugetsu offered when it became obvious that Ichigo would be a rude little shit for the time being, sulking for some reason. "Your abilities are especially useful for crowd-control."

Ishida waved him off like the prideful emotionally-stunted idiot he is, unable to take a compliment like a normal person. "That's not what I came out here for. There were a couple of spiritual signatures I didn't recognise around here earlier. Soul Reapers."

"Yeah, I saw them, but only for a bit," Ichigo piped up. Mugetsu hummed. He must have been too focused on Ichigo and the Hollows to pay attention to their surroundings, but luckily Ishida had always been talented at this part.

"I think they used bait to attract all of those Hollows," Ishida continued.

"Like the one you used way back when?"

"Something similar, most likely."

"Can you sense where they are now?" Mugetsu asked.

Ishida shook his head. "No, they've disappeared. What did they look like, Kurosaki?"

"There was this little girl, a konpaku," Ichigo continued. "She was using formal pronouns. She was dressed in a really high quality kimono too."

"That sounds like a princess," Rukia remarked contemplatively.

"A princess..." Inoue intoned.

"The things she said weren't very princess-like, though," Ichigo grumbled. "She was whining about being hungry and attacking me. Like I was her slave or something and she expected me to feed her."

"That's more like a spoiled brat than anything else," Mugetsu said, arching an eyebrow.

"A princess who wants to make Kurosaki-kun her slave..." Inoue pondered. "Did she wear a revealing black outfit and spiky high-heeled boots, wield various weapons and say things like-" and her voice lowered to a sultry, demanding tone, as she lowered her lashes and raised her hand to her cheek. " 'Ara? So who's really hungry? Me!' ?"

All four boys stopped in their tracks to stare at her. Ishida tsk'ed and walked away as if annoyed, but the red tips of his ears gave him away. Chad's face was as unreadable as ever, but he gave off an alarmed vibe. Ichigo was gaping, and his face was as red as his mistaken namesake.

"Inoue-san..." Rukia started, but trailed off, dumbfounded. Inoue's eyes were glimmering as usual, eager and deceivingly innocent."... I don't think that's the type of princess Ichigo saw."

Ichigo was too busy in fantasy land, by the glazed look in his eyes, to nod his head in agreement, though he made a vaguely affirmative sound.

"Oh," Inoue said and moved on.

This girl has no idea how hot she can be, and the world should be grateful for that, Mugetsu thought, a bit shaken.

╭─━━━━━─╯ 無月の空の接触 ╰─━━━━━─╮

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep-

Based on what Ichigo was able to tell us, that girl might be a noblewoman. Were the two Soul Reapers her bodyguards then? Her kidnappers? Mugetsu was debating later, when he, Ichigo and Rukia were back in his younger brother's room.

Beepbeepbeepbeep-

Ichigo's brow twitched.

From what we know of her behaviour, I don't think the latter is likely. But then, what would a Seireitei noblewoman be doing in the Living World? Exotic trip to see the 'wild animals'? He puffed out a sardonic laugh.

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep-

"Will you cut that out already!" Ichigo suddenly yelled. "All that beepbeep-ing is giving me a headache!"

"Shut up," Rukia said, unmoved. She continued typing on her denreishinki, occasionally rifling through a book laid open on her legs.

"What are you even doing?" Mugetsu asked.

"I'm trying to access the R&D Institute's Senkaimon usage records. If those Soul Reapers you saw came from the Soul Society, there must be a record of the time they came through and their identities. This manual is just so damn hard to understand!" she burst out in frustration, slapping the book.

"If that girl Ichigo saw really is a Seireitei noblewoman though, then what could she possibly be doing in the World of the Living? Do the nobility even travel here all that often?" Mugetsu pondered.

"Not to my knowledge. In fact, some of the higher noble houses even possess private Senkaimon, such as the Kuchiki House, but they almost never use them."

"Why have such a frivolous privilege then?" Mugetsu inquired incredulously. "You nobles sure are wasteful sometimes."

"Don't generalise!" Rukia retorted. "Nii-sama is not like that."

"How do you always manage to make everything about Byakuya? Nobody said anything about him, you brocon midget."

"B- b- brocon!" Rukia fumbled, face flushed. "I- I'm- I would never-"

"Funny how you instantly got that, even though you're so behind with the times on other things. Ero-chibi."

"You- you're the pervert!" Thwack. "Impertinent, humongous fool!"

"Ow! What the hell, you deranged gnome! Do you want to brain me with that thing? You have any idea how hard that shitty book is?"

Thwack. Thwack.

"Uh-" Ichigo trailed off, oddly uncomfortable all of a sudden and completely oblivious as to why. He had the weird instinctive feeling that intervening at this point might be bad for his well-being.

Thankfully, there was always Kon, who launched himself out of nowhere towards Rukia. "Nee-san! I'll protect you from the ugly mean-"

"Shut up!" they both snapped, and he landed on their outstretched fists, ricocheting all over the room and landing on the window with a squeak.

Before they could return to their business, however, Kon exclaimed, "The movers!"

"What? They already left this morning," Ichigo argued in annoyance.

"Not them, look," Kon protested vehemently. "It's a gigai!"

The three frowned and moved quickly to the window themselves. Ichigo opened it and they peered outside. "That's the guy from earlier today!" Ichigo exclaimed, and he rushed outside.

"Ichigo!" Rukia called fruitlessly. She and Mugetsu hurried to follow.

When they caught up to him, he was halfway to strangling the traditionally-clothed man in front of him. "You're the one who baited all of those Hollows earlier!"

"I don't know anything about such a thing," the man sniffed disdainfully, turning his head away.

"Why, you-"

"Ichigo!" a young girl, dressed in traditional Japanese wear as well, called out. She came running out from the house several men were carrying various furniture inside. "And this must be your older brother, Mugetsu. No need to stand on formality. We are pleased you came to offer your greetings."

"That's the princess?" Rukia asked. Ichigo nodded in confirmation, thrown off-kilter.

"You know who we are?" Mugetsu asked curiously. Not even Byakuya talks so stuffy.

"Of course! Our loyal servants have informed us all about your exploits," she was interrupted by a huge guy with sunglasses placing himself protectively in front of her. "Enryuu-!"

"Obviously, we checked your backgrounds beforehand," the man Ichigo had been arguing with intervened superiorly.

"What-" Ichigo started, but cut off when the man stopped him by raising his palm to his face, as if to ward him off.

"Such insolence. How dare you address us directly? Know your place!"

As Ichigo stared at him incredulously, the man retreated back inside the yard and addressed the fussing girl. "Rurichiyo-sama, you must go inside now. There may be more Hollows like earlier today. It is not safe."

"Well, then... we guess it can't be helped. We will see you again tomorrow, Ichigo, Mugetsu!" she called and waved.

"Wait, I'm not done with you-" Ichigo marched towards the man angrily, only to bump his head against an invisible barrier just as he was about to pass through the gate. "What the-? Oi! Come out!"

"This is very high-level Bakudō," Rukia mused as she studied the barrier. "That man must be pretty skilled. It's no use."

"Can't you break through, Getsu?" Ichigo asked him.

Mugetsu touched the barrier. "Maybe. But it's not worth it." In the meantime, there's other avenues to explore. "I'm going out for a bit. Rukia."

She looked at him, nodded and fell into step with him.

Ichigo stared after them, frowning in thought.

After a while, Rukia spoke up. "If they're using gigai, they could only have got them from Urahara. That man has a finger in every pie."

Mugetsu hummed in agreement. "We're not likely to get anything out of him though, if he's even around." Rukia scowled. "Whoever they are, it's obvious that they want something with us. It's no coincidence that they've moved right next door, and they've done their research. "

"Then the Hollows earlier... a distraction?" she debated. "Or a test?"

"Whatever it is, they'll come to us themselves sooner or later."

And I find it highly unlikely that this is going to be a small affair, Mugetsu surmised grimly.

╭─━━━━━─╯ 無月の空の接触 ╰─━━━━━─╮

True enough, when they arrived at the Urahara Shouten, the titular owner was nowhere to be found, and Rukia was quickly forced to capitulate when faced with his uncooperative employees. With an enduring wrinkle between her brows, she headed home. Mugetsu had waved her on ahead, claiming he'd be along a bit later.

It was nearly imperceptible, but Rukia had noticed a weight in his gaze and had given him a long look for it. Still, she had let it go for the time being.

Back in the shop, Tessai's glasses glinted, politely menacing, and Mugetsu raised his arms defensively. "I'm here on the usual business," he said and after a second's scrutiny was let through into the back of the shop.

...

"Why is it that every time you come to visit, you're brooding? Am I only a sounding board to you?" Yoruichi's smooth voice intoned jokingly a while later.

Without turning from his seat, Mugetsu threw back "As if you're around long enough for me to visit you all that often."

Ever since arriving in this world - in this time - he had found that he took comfort in the Shihouin princess' company and he tended to seek her out whenever the both of them could spend time together. Being that she was one of the few who knew his secret, but more mature and objective than Ichigo and less vague and scheming than Kisuke, he had decided to confide in her whenever he felt the need to.

In truth, this was not all that often. For one, as Mugetsu had said, Yoruichi was more out and about than not, and for the other, he tended to bottle things up rather more than he should.

In this particular instance, however, he had had to admit to himself that this was probably the best time to seek a second opinion, if there was one. And he didn't want to think about what Ichigo's reaction would be if he talked to him about this.

Yoruichi sat down at the low table and accepted the steaming cup of tea Mugetsu extended to her. "Oh, you made the tea yourself. That bad?"

He kept quiet for a minute or two, gathering his thoughts. "The Head Captain wants me to join the Gotei 13," he told her, half-certain that Yoruichi likely already knew.

True to fact, her expression did not change. "And your answer wasn't an immediate no, or else you wouldn't be here. What'd he promise you?"

"Well..."

Mugetsu stared at him, split between laughing incredulously or launching himself at the old geezer's throat. "And what makes you think I'd ever come willingly to sit under the Central 46's thumb? Surely you don't think I'm that dumb, 'cause I'm telling you now there's not a snowball's chance in hell I'll ever do their bidding."

Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni's face did not so much as twitch, but his slow exhale through the nose betrayed his impatience with Mugetsu's irreverent manner. "The recent events have brought to my attention the fact that the Gotei 13 is standing on the precipice of ruin. Too easily have we been infiltrated and nearly torn apart by the resulting betrayal. The squads are divided; the captains and lieutenants near strangers to one another. We are chained by duty, tradition and the agendas of the nobility. We have lost sight of what's important."

Yamamoto walked away from his desk and towards the balustrade, gazing at the sight of the whole of Seireitei stretched out beneath them. "It took the intervention of outside forces to bring the truth to light and establish peace with an enemy lying in wait. I've arrived at the conclusion that fresh blood may be what's needed to direct our organisation back onto the right path."

Mugetsu studied him for a few seconds, weighing the sincerity of his words. "And you mean to say you wouldn't also be making the Central 46 happy by leashing an unknown variable to you?"

In that moment, all of the Head Captain's thousands of years showed in his wizened face and burdened posture. "The least destructive way you can change the system is from the inside, Kurosaki Mugetsu. If you truly care about this world, as well as the World of the Living, then you will see the reason in my words."

"Is that a threat, Head Captain?" Mugetsu said, his tone not nearly as cold as he had intended. He found himself shaken in the face of the elderly man's frankness. In his previous life, his interactions with the supreme leader of the Gotei 13 had been limited, occupied as they had been with the ongoing war, but from what little Mugetsu had managed to glean, the man had struck him as secretive, constant and unmoving as a mountain, and unshakable in his trust in his subordinates. He cared about the Shinigami and honoured each of their sacrifices, but had the fortitude and wealth of experience to keep a level head no matter the catastrophes they faced.

Mugetsu had not been so naive as to think that a calm commander equalled an unfeeling one, but he had concluded that a man with as much authority and experience as the Head Captain could have been capable of achieving so much more in a thousand years of tenure if only he had been more open to adapting with the times, and so had developed lingering feelings of resentment against said man.

"It is merely a piece of advice. Heed it," and the Head Captain turned away. "or don't."

"And?" Yoruichi prompted once he'd finished retelling his meeting.

"I told him I would think about it," Mugetsu finally said. "The crux of it is... He's right. I can't achieve anything from out here. The only way I can make a difference for the Soul Society and thus the rest of reality is from the Soul Society. But I have no authority there. I'm not a noble, not a Gotei 13 officer and not even a Rukongai citizen. All of my power is worth shit when it comes to the bigger picture."

He leaned forward and threaded his fingers together around his cooling cup. "But if I take his offer, do I have any guarantee that the Head Captain has the best interest of all involved parties in mind, whether human, Plus, Shinigami or Hollow? How do I know that he won't tie my hands the minute I sign on? Not to mention all of the things the governing bodies of the Seireitei have done to you and the others. How can I ever serve people like that?"

"That would be the very point of it, I suppose," Yoruichi mused. "Making sure nothing like that ever happens to someone else again."

Yoruichi, Kisuke, Tessai, Shinji and the Visoreds... They haven't even gotten justice for what happened, beside Aizen's death, he thought resentfully. After a second's pause, he asked "...do you ever miss it?"

He didn't have to specify, for Yoruichi seemed to understand right away since she hummed thoughtfully. "Not often. The fact that I don't have to watch out for anyone attacking me on sight anymore whenever I'm in the Soul Society helps, not that they could ever catch a glimpse of me. There are some aspects I miss, like the hangouts we used to have as officers, but that's not my life anymore. I'm content with reminiscing."

"If you had the chance to go back there, do you think you would? Any of you?"

"Well, even if I wanted to go back, I don't think I'd ever get back what I used to have. The clan elders probably wouldn't take me back, after the 'disgrace' I've suffered. And I wouldn't want to usurp my little brother as Clan Head or Sui-Feng as Captain, not when they've finally come into their own. But it's alright," Yoruichi grinned roguishly. "That sort of cage was always too small for me."

"Tessai will follow Kisuke's lead, and that mad scientist enjoys his freedom to scheme and surprise everyone far too much to ever get tangled in red tape again. As for the Visoreds..."

She looked away solemnly. "Kisuke, Tessai and I, we chose to help them at the risk of being exiled. We knew what we were getting into. They never had a choice. There might be people they miss, at least some of them. But I can't say for sure. They've never liked dwelling on the past, not since coming to the World of the Living."

Silence fell between the two of them as Mugetsu digested all that's been shared. He felt the need to do something for them even more than usual, in light of this new knowledge. He had been aware of the exiles' past since his previous lifetime, but since Shinji had never been the emotionally-open sort, he'd never gotten a good grasp on all of the feelings involved when it came to their particular situation other than strong grudges against the Soul Society and full-blown hate for Aizen and his faction.

"You deserve the choice to go back, whether you take it or not," Mugetsu concluded quietly.

Yoruichi smiled, genuinely touched, and reached out to gently ruffle his hair. Then, sobering, she said, "For the record, it's still very much not your responsibility to fix the world. If you choose to go on a life-long vacation tomorrow, you're just as entitled to it. I just don't think your busybody ass could sit still for more than five minutes without spontaneously combusting."

Mugetsu snorted and placed his chin in his hand. "Thanks," he replied dryly, but honestly. The atmosphere between them lightened, became as comfortable as usual while they drank the rest of their lukewarm tea.

To be continued...

*evil cackle* Betcha didn't see that one coming.

In all honesty though, I know people hate the filler arcs, but I think they were worst because of the timing, because they killed the suspense of the main story (also characters nobody cares about which have minimal to no growth and dumb episodes - filler episode about a filler story arc? that's going too far). Made to fit in naturally on a timeline, I think they have potential.

That being said, I don't intend to cover all filler arcs. The Gotei 13 Invasion Arc, for example, gets a "hell no" from me.

If you enjoyed this, please please please leave a review! Reviews are love and love gets me writing like mad ^^

See you next time!

- Love, Noxi