Author's Note: Short chapter to make sure everyone knows I haven't given up on the story. Kubo's infamous pacing is killing me on this.
"H-Hirako-taichou!" Momo gasped, several feet behind the sprinting Shinji. "Where are we g-going?!"
The blond gave an almost bored shrug. It seemed that Yamamoto's firey display had roused something within Momo's Captain; they had been running for minutes in a seemingly random direction. Something struck her. "C-Captain..." Momo inquired delicately. "Are you lost?"
Shinji came to a screeching halt, causing Momo to slam into his back and send both of them toppling forward into a heap of robes. "Ya idiot!" Shinji yelled, pulling the back of his haori out of his eyes. "There ain't no way I'm lost! I'm not like that idiot Kenpachi!" He scratched his nose and looked away quickly. "I'm just havin' a hard time decidin' where to go next."
Sighing deeply, Momo rose to her feet and brushed herself off. "I think we should go help one of the other Captains." She was glad she had managed to make her voice sound so casual. Too bad Shinji had been such an excellent judge of character of those who served as his subordinates.
"Worried about 'Shiro-chan'?" He asked in a sing-song voice, adopting his trademark grin. Momo's rapidly reddening face or the even more rapid shaking of her head served as all the answer he had needed, resulting in the Visored letting out a bark of laughter. Shinji didn't have long to enjoy his elation, however, as a wave of intense heat had begun to settle down upon them almost instantly.
"Bankai. Zanka no Tachi." The ancient voice of the Captain-Commander rang out throughout Seireitei. Shinji let out a sharp whistle and Momo stifled a gasp.
Scratching his chin thoughtfully, Shinji began to mutter to himself. "Well that ain't somethin' ya hear every day..." He turned to ask for Momo's opinion on Yamamoto releasing his Bankai and saw her in tears, wearing an expression of great joy.
"Was that... Yamamoto-soutaichou?" She asked wonderingly, hardly registering Shinji's nod before continuing on. "Then... then that means we're all going to be okay! Right?! The Captain-Commander can't lose, not with his Bankai!"
"Idiot." Shinji walked over and lightly bopped Momo on the head. "Him goin' Bankai's a bad thing. It means the enemy is real strong. Get it? We gotta hurry and free up the rest of the Captain's from battle so we all can help the old man."
Momo frowned and wiped her eyes, deep in thought. "I guess... you're right..." She said at last. "I had just hoped that that would mean all this would end quickly. So many have died already." She flinched as Shinji made to hit her on the head again, but instead rested his hand on her shoulder.
"We'll make 'em pay Momo." Shinji grinned confidently at her, but his eyes shone with silent fury, deep sorrow and, perhaps a small sliver of doubt. "Every last one of 'em. So, I guess our best place to start is, like ya said, to pick one of the nearest fights and lend a hand." The man closed his eyes and scanned the area for the tell-tale signs of reiatsus in battle. "Komamura-san's doin' alright it seems, Soifon and Rose're too far for me to get a decent read on them, I ain't a big enough idiot to step between Ukitake-san or Kyoraku-san and their opponents, so I guess that just leaves..." He pointed toward the direction of the 10th Division.
"Shiro-chan..." Momo breathed. She too closed her eyes and tried to sense the nearest battles that raged on in Soul Society. Shinji was right, Komamura seemed to have been roused to new heights since Yamamoto entered the battlefield, he didn't need the help, but Hitsugaya and Rangiku's reiatsu's were fairly unstable. "This time I'll be the one to help him!" She stated firmly and began striding quickly in the direction of her childhood friend before realizing she had forgotten to let Shinji lead. Spinning around, she saw her Captain wearing a face that showed he was trying to suppress amusement. He was failing miserably.
The corners of Shinji's mouth screamed that he was fighting to smile. "Lookin' for a fight Momo?" He managed to get out before his grin burst forth. "We'll save 'Shiro-chan', but at least let the Captain lead, ya moron. No clue what we're gonna find on our way there." He strode past Momo, who was now glowing scarlet, and turned the corner toward the 10th Division barracks. "I'll be interested to see how ya measure up to Matsumoto."
Momo let out a small groan. "When you say it like that, Hirako-taichou, it sounds like Vice-Captains are just pets the Captains train like show dogs." In front of her, Shinji let out a bark of laughter.
"Not a bad comparison! I prettied ya up Momo, let's see if ya can do any of the tricks I taught ya!"
Hitsugaya barely managed to dodge the spike of ice that had risen beneath him before the black-haired man that served as his opponent hurled himself at him, a small glowing reishi blade poking out from beneath his sleeve. He ducked at the last second, resulting in only the tip of the blade succeeding in slicing through the skin above his brow. He wiped the blood pouring from the shallow wound out of his eye and only had time to watch as the Stern Ritter recovered and did the same leaping strike at his Vice-Captain. "Matsumoto!" He yelled.
The woman turned in just in time, thanks to her Captain's warning. The dust that served as Rangiku's Shikai kicked up and surrounded her, and the silent Quincy was forced to stop his strike lest he be cut to pieces by the ash. She quickly Shunpo'd over to her Captain's side and assisted him in standing. "Thanks, Captain." She said quickly, before turning back to face their opponent.
Admiring his Vice-Captain for a moment, Hitsugaya couldn't help but feel thankful that Rangiku at least knew when to be serious, and that the few times that she was she proved to be a level-headed comrade-in-arms, a far cry from her off-duty air-headed self. A sound caused him to look back to the Stern Ritter. Dripping water. His Bankai was melting. "Heh. That's tough luck on your part. The Captain-Commander's Bankai is so powerful it's causing mine to melt. I bet you wish you had stolen someone else's Bankai now huh?"
The black-haired man merely watched the two Shinigami silently for a moment before looking behind him at the slowly melting wings protruding from his back.
"He's open!" Rangiku yelled, charging the distracted Quincy before Hitsugaya could stop her.
"Matsumoto, you idiot! Stop, it's a trap!" Hitsugaya yelled before giving chase, but he knew he wouldn't get there in time. The Quincy had already turned his head back to Rangiku, who was now much too close to stop. The hidden blade slid out from beneath the jacket. "Matsumoto!"
Suddenly, a blast of fire engulfed the Stern Ritter. Jumping from the attack, seemingly unaffected, the Quincy turned, as did Hitsugaya and Rangiku, to discover the source of the attack. As the dust cleared, the form of Momo emerged from the smoke shield.
"Hinamori!" Hitsugaya shouted. "What are you doing here?! This is way too dangerous!" Remembering that he had just taken his eyes off the enemy, the boy swiveled around to face the black-haired man, but saw that he was merely observing the newcomers curiously. Hitsugaya also saw that, while he personally had been startled the moment he discovered the identity of the one who had just saved his Vice-Captain, Rangiku had a very different opinion of the matter.
"Hinamori!" Rangiku yelled happily, giving the girl a wide smile and receiving one in return. "You're alright! I was worried!" She Shunpo'd over to the younger girl and attempted to give her a quick hug, but Momo ducked to avoid her arms.
"R-Rangiku-san! We're in battle still, remember?" The girl stammered to her friend, who almost immediately realized her mistake and turned back toward her enemy, face reset to that hard, serious expression.
Hitsugaya glanced over at the two of them briefly before returning his own gaze back to the Stern Ritter. "Did you come here alone, Hinamori?" The voice Hitsugaya expected to answer him wasn't the one he received.
"Ah, come on Hitsugaya-taichou. You ruined the surprise." Shinji's voice called out behind the Quincy, who barely had enough time to turn and see the blond Shunpo behind him and aim a slash at his still-deteriorating wings.
Successfully cleaving one of the wings in two, Shinji let out a loud "Ha!" and ducked as the Stern Ritter stabbed at him with the hidden blade. Shinji brought up Sakanade up with an odd slashing motion. twisting his wrist and rapidly changing the speed and direction of the slash. The unorthadox strike served its purpose beautifully, causing Shinji's opponent to hesitate for a moment as he read the attack and receieve a small, deep cut along his left arm as payment for his uncertainty.
Gasping in pain and letting out an indecipherable curse, the Quincy's left hand, firmly grasping a medallion, which Shinji recognized as the same type that As Nodt had used to seal Byakuya's Bankai, gave a twitch. Hundreds of ice shards formed slowly in the air around them, steaming in the heat, and launched themselves at Shinji, who let out a shout and performed a complex series of aerial acrobatics, causing all of them to miss and quickly evaporate. The slight shock the Quincy experienced from the Captain evading his attacks so easily allowed Shinji to capitalize on his opponent's opening. Landing behind him, he aimed a diagonal slash from the Quincy's left shoulder down to his right flank.
Instead of dodging or attempting to parry as Shinji thought he would, his opponent allowed the strike to land home. However, instead of cutting into his flesh and earning himself a serious wound, Shinji's sword sliced the material that served as the black-haired man's cloak and glanced uselessly off his skin underneath. Beneath the cut he had left in the man's outfit, Shinji could see veins throbbing around the area he had struck before recoiling from his pointless attack.
Now finding himself in the opposite position as before, Shinji watched closely as the Quincy's eyes lit up momentarily, seeing an opportunity to strike. The Stern Ritter's blade flitted out once again from hiding, and targeted Shinji's neck. Reading the attack within moments, Shinji let out a laugh and leapt over his opponent, flipping in the air once and landing smoothly beside Hitsugaya.
A few yards away, Momo let out a deep sigh. "Hirako-taichou..," she whined, noticing the gleam in Rangiku's eye as she watched Shinji adjust his tie cooly, "You could have just Shunpo'd away from that attack. Stop trying to be flashy to impress Rangiku-san."
The white-haired Captain beside Shinji let out a grunt. "He wasn't doing that to impress Matsumoto." Hitsugaya clenched his fists as Shinji flashed him that irritating cheshire smile. "He was doing it to impress you, Hinamori."
Shinji turned his head at just the right angle so both Momo and Rangiku couldn't see his face. "Now come on, Hitsugaya-taichou. Why should I care what that idiot thi-" The rest of his statement was cut off by an event that took them all completely off-guard. The 1st Division's barracks had just exploded. "Oh no." Shinji breathed. He whipped his head around to gauge Momo's reaction, but to his relief she seemed unaware of what lay beneath what was certainly now nothing more than crumbling ruins. "Hitsugaya-taichou..."
Shaking slightly, Hitsugaya raised his sword with a nod. "We need to finish this quickly. The last thing we need right now is..." Whatever Hitsugaya had wanted to say, however, was once again left to speculation as a second cataclysmic event occured in the nearby 13th Division. Yamamoto's reiatsu had just disappeared. "Yamamoto-soutaichou!" The boy yelled, turning his head toward the direction he had just felt Yamamoto's reiatsu vanish.
"Ya idiot!" Shinji yelled, whipping the white-haired Captain's attention back to the current location. "Keep yer eyes on the enemy at all times, if ya can't even remember to do something at simple as that then ya don't deserve to be called a Captain!" He jerked a thumb toward the Stern Ritter, who had up until continued to calmly watch the Shinigami interacting in front of him. "If ya had ya woulda noticed he started movin' toward ya the second ya looked away!"
Doing his best to surpress his rage and fear growing in equal measure, Hitsugaya shot Shinji a dirty glare. "We're the same rank Hirako! You can't order me around so casually!" Still, the boy thought, Shinji had a point. The Quincy was certainly a few meters closer to him than he had been before. It began to rain. "We have to hurry."
Shinji nodded. "No time to mess around, we've got two pressing matters to attend to now." He shot the two Vice-Captains a sidelong glance. "I think you two might wanna move, I'm gonna finish this quickly."
At the blond's words, both Momo and Rangiku stared at him stupidly before remembering they had just been given a command by a superior, albeit an indirect one, and Shunpo'd several hundred yards behind the Captains. The Stern Ritter merely continued to watch them silently.
"Ya got experience fighting with me this time, Hitsugaya-taichou." Shinji muttered to the boy. "I bet workin' together, we can get rid of this guy in no time. Might even earn ourselves a bonus from Yama-jii if we show up in time to save him." He heard the boy scoff next to him.
"Don't get your hopes up, Hirako." Hitsugaya said, still shaking slightly. "If whoever just killed the Captain-Commander targets us, we're going to be dead faster than you can blink." He raised Hyourinmaru to his eye-level. "Let's just get this over with."
Shinji gave him a grim smile. "Damn, Momo's right, you're always so depressing, kid." He held his own blade up before him. "Topple-" The Visored was forced to cut short his release phrase, however, when he saw the Stern Ritter he was facing hop back, assuming a defensive stance, and pull out a small object that looked something like a cell phone. "What is that?" Shinji muttered to himself.
Suddenly, the image of a long-haired blond man erupted from the machine, in quality so clear it seemed as if he were standing in front of them all in the flesh. "This is an order to all Stern Ritter from his Majesty." He announced in his cool, smooth voice. "Yamamoto Shigekuni is dead. Bring in the Soldat and fall back. The Royal Guard are coming." At the projections words, the black-haired Quincy placed a hand to the ground and spoke for the first time. "Soldat."
A few streets away, hundreds if not thousands of soldiers, far too many for any of the Shinigami to count, suddenly burst forth from seemingly nowhere, wearing shadows as though they were cloaks. As they progressed through Seireitei, slaughtering everything in their path, Shinji saw a massive Samurai off in the distance cleaving the streets with slow, sweeping strikes. "Figures you'd get a resolve boost from Yama-jii's death, ya stupid dog." Shinji grumbled. He turned back to the two Vice-Captains behind him. "Momo! Don't let Komamura-san be the only one doin' something to their goons! Go deal with those guys! We got their leader!" He yelled, pointing toward the now faintly grinning Stern Ritter.
Momo nodded and Shunpo'd down to the street, blasting off Kido and fireballs at the approaching soldiers, who, while capable of taking down unranked Shinigami with ease, were no match for Vice-Captain level opponents. After a jerk of the head by Hitsugaya, Rangiku followed her friend and joined in the fight.
The Captains and the Stern Ritter then proceeded to watch each other closely. After a few moments silence, Hitsugaya posed a question for his opponent. "That guy just told you to fall back. Why are you still here?"
At the boy's words, the black-haired Quincy blinked once, then jerked his head slightly toward his back. Daiguren Hyourinmaru's wings had reformed, good as new now that Yamamoto's Bankai wasn't slowly destroying all the moisture in the air and the rain kept it humid and cool. The hidden blade beneath his sleeves showed itself, seemingly crackling with energy.
Shinji let out a humorless laugh. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he wants to kill us both before high-tailin' it out of here before Hikifune and her pals arrive." The Quincy nodded, the corners of his lips twitched. "And I'm pretty sure he thinks he can beat us."
Before Hitsugaya got a chance to reply, the young Captain caught sight of the reason the Quincy had been so passive until now. Massive pillars of ice began to rise from the ground, and at the flick of the Quncy's wrist, started to envelope the Captains rapidly. "Sennen Hyourou." The black-haired man stated calmly. Unable to comprehend how a stranger could have performed a technique even he had trouble using, Hitsugaya felt the back of his robes being yanked on and was tossed unceremoniously by Shinji through the opening between the pillars, leaving the Visored trapped.
"Idiot kid. Yer just as bad as Hiyori. All bark, no bite." Shinji said, seconds before he was blocked from view. The Quincy was now wearing a full smile, though his eyes were just as calm as always. At least, they were until they widened in surprise as the ice shattered into pieces and a beam of energy hit him squarely in the chest, sending him flying into a nearby pile of rubble.
"Hirako!" Hitsugaya shouted as he watched the masked man step from the remains of his ice prison. Though his clothes were slightly battered, it seemed Shinji's mask had negated any bodily damage the attack would have done.
With a wave of his hand, the mask disappeared, and Shinji's face was visable again. He was panting slightly. "Heh. I guess I'm about at my time limit on this thing for the day. Wish I had Mashiro's stamina." He turned his gaze toward the sky and smirked slightly before redirecting his eyes down at the emerging Quincy who, like Shinji, had only suffered damage from his clothing. "I really should ask her if she can teach me to hold it longer. Though I bet she makes for a shitty teacher," he stated casually, as if the two Shinigami and the Stern Ritter were doing nothing more than chatting over tea.
"Hirako... you seem a lot less worried than you should be." Hitsugaya said solemnly, watching the Quincy standing before them. "Yamamoto-soutaichou's dead, Seireitei's in ruins, and Aizen's likely walking the streets as we speak. Why aren't you in shambles yet?" The boy watched his Zanpakuto shaking rapidly in his hands. "Because, personally, I'm about to hit my breaking point."
To both Hitsugaya and and the Captains' opponent's astonishment, Shinji let out a bark of laughter. "You really must be worked up to not feel it, Hitsugaya-taichou." He glanced at the young Captain, who merely watched him confusedly. He assumed his famous smile and pointed toward the sky. "The big hero has finally arrived."
Almost as though Shinji had summoned it, Kurosaki Ichigo's reiatsu exploded into being, resonating throughout all Seireitei. "And if I know Ichigo, he's gonna be pissed." Shinji said with another laugh, but something caught his eye mid chuckle. "Huh?" The Visored had just enough time to watch the black-haired Stern Ritter make an odd gesture with his hands before he was seemingly enveloped by shadows. It looked to be the proccess that had brought in the Soldat in reverse. "Runnin' away eh? Ichigo spook ya? I don't blame ya. He's a scary kid."
"Lord Juha Bach will not lose." Speaking a complete sentence for the first and last time Shinji would ever see him in Soul Society, the black-haired Quincy disappeared from view.