Deep Set

What if Aizen's plan all along didn't involve Orihime? What if all he wanted to do was lure two powerful shinigami onto his side? He figured it out all he had to do was kidnap one small child.

Disclaimer- I do not own bleach or any of its characters.

All I can say is, Auto Recovery is now my best friend, and apologies if this chapter is/seems patchy it must have been written in 6 different formats then put all together. But anyway enough waffling you have waited long enough!

Chapter Ten- Ti Sento

Matsumoto had been rather surprised when she had woken up the following day at noon having not been awoken at the sound of her taicho screaming at her for having a party in there squad office yet again.

At first she had assumed he was having a lie in, and then wondered if it was perhaps the end of the world after all this was her Taicho she was thinking about, however after waking up properly her worries had then turned to slight relief. After all she had gotten away with drinking the night away and sleeping the morning away and she had never felt better.

Smiling to herself she poked awake everyone else and shooed them out the door so she could tidy up or in reality shove all the empty bottles under her desk for the 3rd seat to clear up later. Luckily a thing her Taicho hadn't quite caught her or the third seats doing yet, he was still distracted over the mystery why they all kept quitting.

Satisfied with the state of the office she picked up a half empty bottle and storing it in her assets for the time being exited the 10th squad office building. Looking about sheepishly in case her captain was just waiting to ambush her outside the main entrance she was happy to find no-one there. Breathing a slight sigh of relief she turned to head out to her own quarters when her world suddenly went dark and Matsumoto looked up to find the face of Kuchiki Byakuya

Her eyes went wide and she stepped back from him "Sorry Kuchiki-Taicho I didn't see you there" Byakuya didn't acknowledge her just stared

"Have you see my Taicho?" she asked attempting conversation, again he ignored her and began to walk past her into the office buildings

"Renji's not there he set of earlier... surprisingly okay considering last night" she added as an afterthought, "Not that we were drinking or anything" she quickly added covering her tracks

Byakuya still hadn't replied as he opened the office door and stepped inside Matsumoto following curiously behind. She watched as he walked over to Hitsugaya's desk and began to look through the reports on the top of the big pile at one side.

"Kuchiki-Taicho what?..."began Matsumoto but Byakuya cut her off

"Hitsugaya-Taicho asked me to take care of his division in his absence and that is exactly what I intend to do" he commented beginning to look through the huge pile on the shorter taicho's desk.

Matsumoto looked confused at his words, "His absence, has Taicho been assigned somewhere?"

"Assigned no, himself and Rukia took it upon themselves to follow the substitute" Byakuya explained offhandedly concentrating on his sorting.

Matsumoto's eyes where now almost as big as her assets as she stared at the black haired shinigami,

"Taicho disregarded orders!" She started disbelievingly "and without me!" She added her shoulders drooping slightly.

Byakuya's eyebrow raised but he chose not to comment, "I have informed Yamamoto-taicho of this and that I will be in part time charge of this division for the foreseeable future"

Matsumoto spluttered, "You told on Taicho?"

Byakuya ignored Matsumoto picking up a few reports and sorting them into two piles, "On the contrary" he began stopped Matsumoto before she could splutter more non-sense, "Yamamoto Taicho is under the impression that Hitsugaya-Taicho is rather under the weather"

Matsumoto stood there stunned her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. Byakuya remained silent continuing to sort the reports, he then stopped suddenly stood up and handed Matsumoto one of the piles,

"Your paperwork" he spoke shortly before picking up the other pile and moving toward the door.

"Wait!" exclaimed Matsumoto and Byakuya turned to face her,

"Something to say Matsumoto-Fukutaicho? Or perhaps I could take a detour to Yamamoto-Taicho's office right now and..."

"No nothing to say" Matsumoto cut him off sharply and turned back to her desk leaving Byakuya to let himself out.

"Manipulative bugger" She muttered as she plonked the reports down and attempted to sit behind her desk despite the huge pile of empty sake bottles tucked under it.

--

Ichigo and company had been running along the corridor for what seemed like eons they had be travelling steadily uphill but it seemed to be leading them nowhere, Ichigo was about to suggest they turned back and try another corridor when he slipped and fell on something that had covered the usually hard ground with a slight mist, reaching down to touch it with the palm of his head he realised it was sand. Before either Rukia or Hitsugaya could comment on his predicament he jumped up and looked up at the ceiling where there was definite cracks zigzagging across the ceiling where the sand was coming through.

"Kurosaki?" Questioned Hitsugaya, who had stopped just behind him and observed his strange actions

"Either of you know what covers the ground in Huenco-Mundo?" asked Ichigo letting the sand he held in his palm fall as he turned to face the other two behind him

"It's reported to be like a desert" answered Rukia, and then she noticed the sand falling from Ichigo's hand and a look of comprehension crossed her features

"We're not far then" concluded Hitsugaya

"We're not" Smiled Ichigo and turning back to continue on running down the corridor, Ichigo being careful where he was putting his feet.

It didn't take long before the corridor began to widen out and soon Ichigo was staring up at the night's sky and the shining moon. Jumping up Ichigo landed softly above ground onto like Rukia had described earlier- a desert plain.

Taking a good look round as for as Ichigo could see where millions of dead tree's cropping up in various parts of the landscape, he was about three quarters of the way though his scope when he spotted Las Noches, Just as Hitsugaya and Rukia jumped up beside him.

"She's there" Ichigo spoke shortly, ignoring Rukia's twitch beside him as though she was restating the urge to point out the obvious, "Don't ask me how I know I just know"

Hitsugaya stepped in front of the trio, "Well whatever you know Kurosaki let's get a move on she's not got long where ever she is" before disappearing in a flash of shunpo.

His expression turning grim Ichigo set off after him Rukia just behind.

--

Matsumoto had tried, she really had but paperwork was like a whole other different language to her. She felt like she had sat there for hours and had only managed to fill in one sheet from about a month ago that rattled on about risk assessment and she had only then signed it, after that they all seemed the same and if it wasn't for the previously stored bottle of sake she would have left the desk ten minutes ago when she had started.

Sighing and flopping onto the only clear part of the desk she tried to remember back when she had done some paperwork, back when she had first started as a lieutenant but there seemed to be a memory block around it. Grumbling in annoyance Matsumoto stood up quickly from the desk to go get a look at the finished pile of paperwork on her Taicho's desk to get some clues as to what to do, at the sudden movement however all the stacked sake bottles that had been precariously balanced under the desk fell over and smashed littering the floor with shards of glass. Cursing violently Matsumoto hopped onto and across the desk to avoid the shards, only then knocking over the haphazardly placed paperwork all over the floor. Her curses getting more violent she began gathering up the fallen pieces of paperwork only to find that some where now slightly damp as they had landed on top the smashed sake bottles and absorbed some of the spilt liquid that had been left at the bottom. Growling at the offending pieces of paper having run out of curse words Matsumoto picked them all up attempting to put them back into some kind of order, steering clear of the shards that had somehow gotten everywhere. Once they where all up she began looking around for something to sweep the shards out of the way so she could get back to her desk, completely forgetting about her original plan to look at some completed pieces of work.

Finding nothing to hand Matsumoto was lost. Then hit by a brainwave she drew her Zanpaktou and released it, watching as her blade dissolved to what seemed like nothing. Feeling the slight presence of Hineko awaken in her mind more, closing her eyes Matsumoto concentrated on making the many shards of glass ash to make it so she could simply waft a blanket and get it all out the way so she could –attempt- to get back to work.

Still with her eyes closed she wondered in the back of her mind why she had never tried this before, dismissing it she then concentrated and released Hineko toward the glass and got to work, visualising in her mind the shards crumbling into dust. Roughly a few minutes later, Matsumoto couldn't tell as she was concentrating harder than she had in a long time the office door opened with a bang startling her and what remained of the shards, desk and paperwork flew everywhere.

Opening her eyes to peer who had just come through the door she was surprised to find Byakuya standing there,

"Kuchiki-Taicho" she exclaimed surprised

"I leave you for 15minuites and what happens?" Byakuya spoke monotonously sounding surprisingly like Hitsugaya. Matsumoto eyed him questioningly before looking behind her... at where her desk had previously been.

It seemed that Matsumoto had released a bit too much power and all that remained of her desk was a large pile of wood chippings with smattering's of glass surrounding it along with shards imbedded in the wall behind.

"I did one sheet" spoke Matsumoto holding out the one she had completed to the Taicho sheepishly slightly crumpled from being gripped in her hand.

Byakuya continued to stare before turning round and motioning for her to follow.

"Emergency Captain and Lieutenant meeting" he explained as they exited the office, "I came to inform you since Hitsugaya-Taicho's hell butterfly came to me"

Matsumoto cringed and knew she had technically failed there unspoken agreement of her doing the work and helping Kuchiki-Taicho in her captains absence while he remained silent on his whereabouts. She did not mention anything about it however and they walked in silence to the 1st division barracks and then split there separate ways to stand in there divisions position.

After waiting around for a few moments receiving strange looks from captains and lieutenants around, Matsumoto presumed because of the absence of her Taicho but she couldn't help feeling a bit un-nerved and kept checking her cleavage in case they had popped out. Which was a ridiculous assumption as if she was honest with herself at least half the room would have to excuse themselves with nosebleeds if that happened.

Their attention was called suddenly to the front of the room with the arrival of Yamamoto and Sasakibe, Yamamoto moving to take his normal chair and Sasakibe moving to stand in place behind it.

"You are probably all wondering why I called an emergency meeting" He addressed the hall surveying the occupants of the room his eyes lingering on Hitsugaya's empty space for a few seconds before moving on.

"I have received word from a reliable source that two shinigami and the substitute have defied my pacific orders and have left for Huenco-Mundo"

Mutsumoto's look of alarm went unnoticed as the rest of the squad leaders exclaimed expressions of surprise, Yamamoto held up a hand to stop them and the room returned to silence

"They need to be brought back immediately, not for defying my pacific orders but I have also received disturbing news of Aizen's new plan" There were a few murmurings throughout the room before Kyouraku spoke,

"And what else has the basted got up his sleeve?"

There were a few light hearted laughs at this but they too soon died as Yamamoto opened his mouth to reply, "I was not given exact details, just that if they are not pulled out soon the three including a captain will be under his control"

All at once every head in the room suddenly turned to Hitsugaya's empty spot and the room exploded into conversation. The only three that stayed silent amid the chaos being Matsumoto, Byakuya and Kenpatchi but that was due to the fact he had nodded off to sleep and Yachiru had begun happily drawing on his face.

"Control? Hitsugaya-Taicho wouldn't let himself be controlled" Spoke Ukitake over the masses after a few moments of conversation creating a hush around the room, allowing him to continue speaking, "There is nothing that could manipulate him to Aizen's side, are you sure this source is reliable?"

A murmur of agreement swept the room which left calm behind it; Yamamoto took this opportunity to speak again,

"I am positive of this sources reliability, they have never been wrong before and they have helped us out well so far, and at this time and with the degree of the information would be unwise to go against it" Yamamoto took a breathe before continuing,

" There is no use to sending many shinigami as it may give the enemy more opportunity to take over more of our skilled as we do not know the nature of this control, so I ask that a select few go simply to pull the three out" his eyes came to rest on Byakuya, "You will lead the mission Kuchiki- Taicho" Byakuya nodded in understanding also wondering in the back of his mind if the head captain already knew why the shortest Taicho was not around and simply humoured him when he had come to inform him that he was ill that morning, "Select a team, the passage to Huenco-Mundo will be ready within the next few hours"

Byakuya nodded in understanding again and ignored the various curious looks coming from the other captains as to why he got to head the mission.

After a few other matters where brought to the captains and lieutenants attention none of which Byakuya payed much attention too his mind focused on the mission ahead and who he should take along with him. When the meeting was dismissed he followed the rest of the squad leaders out, not noticing his rather bleary eyed lieutenant trying to catch his attention behind him.

--

Ti Sento- 'I feel you'

I'm also trying not to follow the series to detail. I have my own idea's that will come into play but at the moment I do apologise if not much is going on differently. It will get going soon when more characters come into play ;)

Thanks for reading (and sorry for the ridiculously long wait!)