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Chapter 3: The Fourth

Through the fog that clouded his mind, Jushiro could make out the faint sound of voices. As the moments passed, the voices became clear and clearer until he could finally make out what they were saying.

"Will he be alright, Captain?" he heard his third seat ask in a panicked voice.

"We healed his broken rib and his lungs seem to be fine now. He'll be fine," replied a voice that he immediately recognized as belonging to Retsu Unohana. Her presence plus the faint smell of bleach and alcohol confirmed his suspicions—he was in the fourth division although he couldn't remember how he had gotten there. He slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the white ceiling above him. A moment later he heard a swish of fabric and looked over to see Captain Unohana enter the small room from behind a white curtain wall.

"I'm glad to see that you're finally awake," said the captain as she smiled down at him, "You had us all worried there for a minute."

"Wha-what happened?" asked Jushiro while trying to sit up. The motion caused his head to throb violently and he quickly let himself fall back into the large white bed below him.

"It's best if you don't move just yet," she said as she walked over and placed a cold hand on his forehead. She quickly scanned his reitsau before pulling her hand away. "You seem to be alright now. You passed out after having a coughing attack. Captain Kurotsuchi and several of the members of the Twelfth Division were out in the woods doing research when they suddenly sensed a sharp spike of reitsau followed by the presence of a hollow. They ran over check things out and found you unconscious." At that moment it all came back to him—the woods, the hollow, the girl.

"We were ambushed."

"Yes, I know. Captain Kurotsuchi and his division members sensed foreign traces of reitsau all around when they arrived on the scene. Kiyone explained what had happened and they were able to chase the attackers down in the woods. They're being detained here in the Seireitei until the Head Captain decides what to do with them."

"There was a girl with them," Jushiro stammered as he sat up, ignoring the throbbing in his head. "I think I might have hurt her. Was she caught? Is she alright?"

"They did catch a girl. She had a zanpakuto with her."

"That's her," replied Jushiro. "Is she alright?"

"I wouldn't know," she replied with a sigh. "They took away her zanpakuto and then placed her in a cell separate from the others. I went to check on her earlier but wasn't able to examine her. She won't let anyone go near her. It's strange though—I couldn't even do a reitsau check on her. She has no spiritual pressure coming off of her at all."

"She's hiding it," replied Jushiro. "I managed to knock her out when we were fighting and all of a sudden huge waves of reitsau were coming off of her. It's incredible, the amount of reitsau she has."

"I figured as much," replied Unohana, "How else would she be able to have a zanpakuto without having a relatively high reitsau level. It sure is impressive though, how she manages to keep it all sealed up like that."

"Excuse me, Captain." Jushiro and Unohana both turned to face where the voice had come from. Hanataro stood peaking from behind the white curtain that served as the door. "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt you, but Captain Zaraki has just come in and he's pretty banged up."

"Already?" Unohana pushed back the white sleeve of her captain's haori to glance at a delicate gold watch that hugged her writ. Here black brows furrowed. "It's not even nine in the morning yet. The Eleventh Division usually doesn't start reckless fighting amongst themselves until at least noon on Sundays."

"Umm, well it wasn't his squad who roughed him up, Captain." Hanataro stepped back from behind the curtain, his eyes cast down on the ground and his hands nervously knotting the bottom on his kimono top. "You see, he forgot that today was his and Captain Soifon's wedding anniversary and she was the one who beat him up."

"Good grief," exclaimed captain Unohana as she rolled her eyes. "You think that he would learn to remember things like that. I just hope she didn't beat him as bad as she did when he forgot her birthday." Unohana sighed and turned back around to Jushiro. "Hanataro will stay here and take care of that black eye for you. You can leave as soon as he's finished." She gave him an apologetic smile. "Now if you could please excuse me, I need to go take care of Zaraki. Although, I really don't see the point—Soi Fon will have him back in here before I know it." With that, the gentle captain turned and left the room.

"I'll take care of that eye for you captain," said Hanataro as he stepped further into the room.

"No, don't worry about it. I'll be fine, I just need to get out of here." Hanataro raised an eyebrow and after a brief internal debate, he decided that it would be best if he didn't argue with the captain. He bowed and then turned to leave. "Wait a minute," called Jushiro. Hanataro turned back around one hand clutching the white curtain in front of him. "The thieves from the forest, do you know where they are being detained?"

"I believe I heard Lieutenant Kotetsu mention earlier that they are currently being held in the Twelfth Division detention cells."

He thanked Hanataro and the boy turned and exited the room quietly. Jushiro got up out of bed. His head was still throbbing slightly and his side was sore, but besides that, he felt fine. He pulled his white Captain's haori and zanpakuto off of the chair that was standing near the bed and put them back on before turning to head towards the Twelfth Division.

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