In life, I'd been a child for such a sort time before those qualities were stripped away and I was forced to play adult. I was a child again with the awakening of my reiatsu by the 11th squad, but I ultimately only imitated them. Only after I had died, after the struggle to regain my reiatsu and I had listened to the words of Unohana-taichou and my Zanpakutou did I really start to look at myself.
I'd finally found it…a direction in life, and the desire to pursue it.
I wasn't about to waste a night like this staring at my ceiling.
I left the barracks behind and stepped out into the broad streets that circled the inner courts, picking a direction at random. It was a treat to see Seireitei after dark, the moonlight making the polished stonework seem to glow with a pale inner light. The narrow, twisting alleyways that had been built to confuse invaders made wonderful shadow-play, patterns emerging and shifting as I looked out across the fortifications of the outer courts from the rooftops.
I didn't ruin the trip with shunpo, but took the time to see all the subtle changes that the moon made to the face of Seireitei. Even the presence of the distant prison-tower, a massive construct of deathstone that was uncomfortable to be near seemed subdued, menace softening in moonlight.
Everything was just…perfect.
"Brr…"
Almost. Next time I go for a walk in the middle of the night, I need to bring a coat. I crossed my arms and tucked my hands into my sleeves, rubbing my arms to warm them. The temperature had dropped, the chill pressed on my thin robes. Time to go back, I suppose. There would be other moonlight nights-
No. Not for you.
I turned at the sound. I didn't see anyone…and didn't sense anyone either. Odd. I continued walking, watching as my breath steamed in the air. I rounded a corner and slipped, falling against the wall and grunting in surprise.
The stones beneath my feet were coated in frost, and I backed away, confused and worried. This couldn't be natural…
It is not.
"Who? Who said that?"
Sanguine jester was in my hands, crimson blade glowing in the pale light. I still couldn't sense anyone nearby, and that made me worry. I didn't know what was going on, but-
This has taken far too long already.
I finally realized on the source of the voice, focused on where the voice was impossibly coming from. I was too shocked to do anything, to yell or even to drop my scythe. There was a face in the blade, but it wasn't the Jester, cold and angular where the Jester was open and bright.
And I will not allow for any last-second foolishness.
My sleeves shattered, the fabric falling away in frozen shards as my arms were encased in black ice, freezing my hands to the grips of my zanpakutou. I screamed as I realized it, as the unnatural cold rushed up my arms and dug into my chest. I knew this feeling.
I had felt it at the moment of my death.
"La, la, da da da da…"
Off-key and off-kilter, Kyouraku Shunsui wobbled down the street supported by his fukutaichou. Behind them, slightly unsteady but walking on his own, Ukitake followed slowly. He'd felt well this evening, and taken his friend up on an offer to go out. Nanao had tracked them both down, apparently hoping to pre-empt any trouble her taichou might drag his friend into.
Tonight, the trouble involved several very jealous men and lots of broken furniture. A few drinks had encouraged Kyouraku to woo some visiting girls with song, and the men traveling with them had taken exception to that. Ukitake had wisely moved to the far end of the bar and watched for flying debris, ducking the occasional barstool or body flung his way.
He'd only stood later to intercept a man that moved to threaten Nanao when it appeared she and Kyouraku knew each other from her scolding, and Ukitake had sacrificed the last of his drink when he laid his mug across the back of the man's skull. Nanao would have been more than capable of handling herself, of course, but if Kyouraku had seen his Nanao-chan being accosted, well…suffice to say the third district of Rukongai would now be one tavern short.
Kyouraku started up with a song that he'd written especially for the glory that was Nanao-chan while Ukitake wondered when the man would finally get serious about romancing her.
Two verses in, and a scream tore into the air that made the three shinigami freeze.
"Ise-san, did you…"
"Yes, I heard. What-"
It sounded again, louder, a wailing scream that pushed the fuzz from Ukitake's mind, leaving his friends far behind with a flash-step that took him onto one of the main streets. There was a strange pall in the air, a mass of incomprehensible reiatsu that poured out from somewhere ahead of him. It dimmed as he closed on it, stepping carefully around slashes of black ice that thickened as he progressed and stole the heat from the surroundings.
Rounding a corner with one blade ready to draw, ice crunched under Ukitake's feet as he approached a figure on the ground. The body was crumpled and shaking, facedown on the ground and covered in more of the unnatural frost.
"Are you alright?"
Ukitake stepped around a chunk of ice, watching the surroundings from the corners of his eyes as he leaned down.
"What happened here?"
The shaking stopped at his touch, and the ice around them shattered.
The ground shook, and the force of the reiatsu currents raised the wind around Kyouraku and Ise, making them raise their arms in defense as razor-sharp shards of ice flew past. They clearly sensed two great sources of reiatsu swirling and smashing against each other – but it was the cry of pain that spurred Kyouraku forwards despite the weight of the evening's carousing.
He ran out into the main street in time to see Ukitake thrown from a nearby alleyway, bloody and cursing. Kyouraku was at his side in a flash. A presence manifested to his side, and a zanpakutou slid out to intercept a wicked downwards thrust that would have nailed Ukitake to the cobblestones. Kyouraku's arms moved almost by themselves, centuries of muscle memory throwing away two more attacks before he could consciously focus on his attacker, let his mind process what he saw.
Tattered shinigami robes limed with frost led to a long scythe with a pale white blade. Past that was a bruise-blue half-mask clinging to a young man's face, and pale yellow eyes that lifted the sake from his brain in an instant.
The eyes of a hollow.
A rising cut brought a tower down, filling the streets with dust and debris. A double-thrust glanced an arm and drew a thin line of blood. Around the two combatants, the streets and features of Seireitei were being worn away, one cut and reiatsu-burst at a time.
Kyouraku had managed to draw this thing away from his friend, and he let himself be chased to a wide courtyard where he didn't sense anyone nearby. It hadn't paused in its attack to speak, or even to size up its opponent, only attacking, constantly attacking, an endless stream of cuts and thrusts. Kyouraku had to release his zanpakutou mid-battle, forcing the words out in time to the impacts on his blades.
He had the advantage in reiatsu, but the endless attacks were wearing on him physically. He could sense shinigami gathering, little points of light approaching in a haphazard fashion along with the sound of a general alarm at the edge of his senses. His Bankai may well cinch the battle, but at this point, it might prove a greater danger to those around him than the hollow-thing. 'It' wasn't any class of hollow he was familiar with. The closest thing that came to mind was…
The scythe opened Kyouraku's leg just above the knee in the moment he was distracted. If he was right, there was a shinigami in there somewhere, that he might or might not be able to help, and that made things a lot more complicated.
It was just after that thought that help came from on high, and he flash-stepped away a moment before his fukutaichou peeled the night away with a blast of tightly-focused Kido, a solid column of light that struck the hollow full-on from directly above.
"Nanao-chan, you make a wonderful angel…"
Ise landed next to her captain, ignoring the remark and immediately moving to treat his wounds.
"Ukitake-taichou is wounded but stable. Fourth squad has him. I've sent out a general alert and a request for high-level reinforcements."
"Good. Then let's-"
Ise squawked as Kyouraku suddenly threw an arm around her and lifted them both to a nearby rooftop. It wasn't until she felt him tense for a second flash-step that she noticed the red glow behind her. A Cero obliterated the rooftop they'd been standing on a moment before, and Kyouraku released her a moment later to block a savage swing that wrenched a shoulder out of place and threw him back down to the ground.
Ise yelled her taichou's name, and the hollow turned his attention to her. It leapt, only to be hit by a crushing wave that drove it into a wall. Ukitake floated down, pulling his friend out of the miniature lake he'd created and setting him on dry land. Kyouraku sputtered and bit back a cry of pain as Ukitake pushed his injured shoulder back into place and applied a quick healing technique to counteract any damage from the rough gesture.
Despite Ukitake's half-treated wounds and the cough that Kyouraku knew as a warning sign of his friend's illness taking hold, Kyouraku didn't try to warn his friend away. He knew what was going through his mind right now.
"Ahhh…I take you out for a drink, keep you up late when you should be in bed, and now look at the trouble I got you in."
Beneath them, the hollow/shinigami began pulling itself free of the rubble on top of it. Kyouraku raised his blades slowly, testing his shoulder.
"And that's nothing to say of the mess we've made…"
Ukitake moved to support Kyouraku's wounded side, forcing his breathing under control despite the pain in his lungs.
The hollow/shinigami stood in a spray of water and debris, screaming in rage and hefting it's weapon once again. Kyouraku addressed his fukutaichou with a look and a nod, watching her step out of sight and begin whispering a powerful binding incantation.
"I'll get such a scolding from Yama-jii for all this…"
"Don't worry, I'll vouch for your good character."
They shared a strained grin for simpler times, and met the hollow as it leapt.
"Unn…Ugh…"
Where…
I was in so much pain, I could barely think straight. What happened? This was...no...wasn't fourth squad headquarters…'s too dark…pipes and…stuff…machines…
I tried to move. I couldn't. Not my arms, my fingers, not even my head. I struggled against my bonds despite the pain, testing them. I didn't move, by effort or by falling to exhaustion, not by the tiniest amount.
Time passed, and there was a sound. Light. Voices. A white haori fluttered into view.
Kurotsuchi-taichou stalked around my prone form, stroking a cut on his cheek that had resisted his immediate attempts to heal it.
"Now…"
A group of shinigami, the white coats of the research division, bustled into the room baring trays and pushing carts whose contents caught and glittered in the light.
"Once again…" He pushed his thumb into the cut one last time, ignoring the blood that trickled down his face.
"Let's begin."
