Back in the city of Seireitei, a week after the meeting held by The Organisation, Renji returned gloomily as he had been summoned by his Sheriff. All the Sheriffs were still in Seireitei as they took care of financial issues and technicalities which were required in order to support their activities in their respective cities. Renji entered the building assigned to his division and waited tensely in the waiting room in front of Sheriff Kuchiki's office. Renji knew that he was in trouble for taking time off work in order to search for Rukia. He waited for about an hour, when finally some men emerged from the Sheriff's office. The secretary then motioned for Renji to enter and she closed the door silently behind him, leaving him alone with the stern sheriff.
"Sit down, Abarai Renji." The Sheriff eyed him thoroughly and waited for the Vice-Sheriff to settle down before he started to speak. "I will not tolerate such actions; you could have easily tipped the delicate balance that we have achieved with the mafia. You shall not wander into the mafia's territory like that. You shall not take on responsibilities or actions which will reflect badly on our division. Next time something like this happens, you shall be stripped of your rank. Now leave, but make sure that I get a detailed report of everything that happened by tonight. Then you shall return to your duties- we have a lot of work to do before returning to our city."
Renji nodded as he left the office silently. He always felt oppressed in that office, everything was very clean and neat. He felt scrutinised by the walls themselves which were so impeccable, unlike him. He shook his head as he cursed under his breathe, he hated writing reports and to think that he had to write a detailed report because of Rukia, that got him really irritated.
It took Renji a whole afternoon to write the report, he finished it late in the evening after sitting with the Sheriff's secretary who checked his spelling and so he had to re-write a great portion of the report. Byakuya had already left the office and was at a meeting with the Chief Sheriff, so Renji slipped his report under the Sheriff's locked door. He then stepped outside in the moonlight as he stretched his back and walked slowly to his sleeping quarters. He decided to take the long way to his room and passed next to the river. He then noticed two dark figures in the small park beyond the river and decided to investigate quietly. He didn't get too close for fear of being discovered, but as the sky cleared up of clouds, the moon shone brightly and he identified them. One of them was Sheriff Soi Fon and the other wasn't familiar to Renji. He had some tattoos on his face and Renji chuckled silently as he saw the numbers 69 tattooed on his face. Renji observed them exchange something which looked like a bulky brown envelope and then they separated. Renji thought of following the man and let some seconds pass before he followed him, but he couldn't find his trail anywhere and so, after a couple of minutes he gave up and returned to his room. Renji found it difficult to sleep as he kept stirring in bed thinking about Rukia's situation. He was then roused by a knock on his daoor and he was surprised at the person paying him a visit so late at night.
……………………………………………………………………………………………...
Some days after the mysterious meeting that Renji had witnessed and the mysterious visitor he had received, Ichigo woke up with a blood crusted and swollen face. He recalled that after his fight with Grimmjow, when he was fighting to remain conscious, he heard two voices arguing over him.
"Are you sure you want to help this jerk?" the first voice, which seemed to belong to a female, inquired annoyingly as she poked at the injured Ichigo with her foot.
"Just help me lift him on the cart. Mind his head Hiyori!" a male voice called out as the girl knocked Ichigo's head against the cart.
Ichigo rubbed his head as he looked around and made a mental note to thump the girl named Hiyori as thanks to her nursing capabilities. As he got up, he looked around at the old warehouse that he was sleeping in. his head was covered in bandages- however the job must have been done quickly and recklessly. Ichigo sighed as he walked around and spotted his belongings. They had been dumped in one corner of the dusty place. He noticed that his mobile phone was the only missing item. Even Rukia's sword and his guns were there. Ichigo heard the door opening and two voices arguing with each other. He looked over and saw two blonde's walking towards him. One was a short girl with freckles and a tooth sprouting from the corner of her mouth, while the other was a tall guy with a fringe and a cap who was talking on the phone while the girl grumbled and complained at him. The girl, presumably Hiyori threw an icepack at Ichigo and then threw herself on a battered couch. Whilst the guy hung up and passed the phone to Ichigo.
"I used your phone because mine was low on credit! By the way I'm Hirako Shinji and this is Hiyori" the girl snorted at the introduction as she rifled through a magazine.
"Where am I?" Ichigo asked as he felt annoyed at their stupid looking faces.
"You are in our hide-out, we're the Banditos known as the Vizards and you, Kurosaki Ichigo are to train with us and stay with us temporarily until you're requested to leave." Shinji smiled at the befuddled Ichigo who refused loudly to spend one more minute in their company and then continued to yell at Shinji that he didn't follow anyone's orders.
"why don't you call your informer? I've just been on the phone with Kisuke and he suggested that you stay with us and listen to our side of the story. Anyway your job is finished- Rukia has been taken into … 'custody' by Grimmjow."
The crestfallen Ichigo sat down quietly as he listened to what Shinji had to say.