Author's note: [Eminem's Without Me playing in the distance] And friends, let me tell you, if you wanted Cover Me to update more regularly with me being in the midst of summer with nothing to do- you will be disappointed! Because I have about a week of entertaining my family members in exactly two days, followed by a brief reprise before I spend another following week wrangling small children in the woods. Don't worry though, because Cover Me will be haunting me on the forefront on my mind at all hours, just as it usually does.

Special thanks to my beta namayani, who did extensive construction on this chapter in particular for coherent reading for viewers like you!

Holy fuck this chapter is long as baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalls.

At a certain point in the day, Shuuhei will find himself in a meeting room, patiently waiting for the fantastically long and time-consuming phenomena known as the captain's meeting to end. During this event, an unconscious Renji will get dragged into the room. Then, because the day wasn't rotten enough, Shuuhei will piece this event together with a bizarre encounter from earlier and learn some truly horrific news.

But that's for a later time. For now, he's in his own bed struggling to fall asleep even though it's probably past 3 AM. He misses the feel of Renji's body next to his own and is somewhat surprised at how used to his presence he's gotten during the past months. He even kind of misses the restless sleep-shifting and snoring. If he knew what was going to happen over the past few hours, he would probably be obsessing over that. How used to Renji's presence he's gotten, not necessarily the snoring. He doesn't, however, and is instead obsessing over the few things that really ruined what would've otherwise been a great weekend.

It all started when he and Renji attempted to go to bed, but were impaired by the realization of just how loud the hell butterflies flapping their little wings outside of the window were. A little over half an hour passed before both shinigami agreed their mutual irritation outweighed their took turns making the other listen to a message. In the end, the whole ordeal proved not to be that bad, but it was by no means pleasant. Comparatively, it was like getting a root canal after being told the alternative was to give birth to an adult porcupine.

They each got the official message about the meeting at the Twelfth on Monday morning and three nearly-identical messages from members of the Shinigami Women's Association requesting interviews. What the interviews were about and how invasive they were was not disclosed. Renji also got one from Yumichika. The message was short and left both men confused and slightly embarrassed: "I think you and Hisagi have a nice aesthetic quality together. Very edgy, neo-romantic. Tell me if you need any advice on purchasing lube or any other items."

The rest of the messages, however, were actually for Shuuhei, and they were the ones that bothered him. Four were from his captain who, with increasing agitation, informed him of the fact that he should report to the office at his earliest convenience. The following two strongly implied he should report even if slightly inconvenienced. No less than seven were from Kira, who wanted to talk. The last one, as polite as the previous six, stated simply "I do not want to be a burden, and I do not want to disturb you. I'll wait in front of your quarters, come if you can." This, Shuuhei couldn't ignore or else appear he had disregarded the messages on purpose, so he reluctantly headed towards the 9th. Whatever his friend wanted to say, it was better to deal with it before the very public meeting the next day.

As he entered his division's grounds, he heard a lot more chatter than he would've expected at that time on a Sunday night. Voices rose and fell like the persistent chirping of the crickets just outside. He followed the agitated voices towards their source, intent on chastising what must've been some of the younger squad members, until he got close enough to distinguish words and froze in place.

"-bout Hisagi-fukutaichou?"

"You know, he does seem to spend less time at the barracks. I mean, he usually comes back late so it's pretty easy to hear, but now it's kinda creepy how quiet the halls are late at night."

"Yeah, and did anyone even see him on squad grounds over the weekend? I told you he got a lover! Yukimi told me, and Chia told her, and she said that Asahina said she overheard Lieutenant Matsumoto say-" A second voice rambled off as Shuuhei wondered why it always has to be him to overhear the worst conversations. For a moment he played with the idea of going there and proving those girls that he indeed does sleep at the barracks, but was, unfortunately, undeniably curious as to where the conversation was going.

"I'd check my facts a little more thoroughly before believing a 'he-said-she-said' rumor. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that he's the type to go after guys. Figures it would be guys like that." The third, inordinately snarky voice raises a lot of points Shuuhei would like to question. What makes Shuuhei not "the type?" What are guys like "that", besides Renji apparently, and why does it figure? "What if it's not true, though? Maybe he just got an apartment in town or something?"

"Hisagi?" his name unexpectedly reached Shuuhei once more, not from the collection of curious individuals he's eavesdropping on, but from somehwere behind him and much closer. He instinctively turned around, somewhat surprised to see his blond-haired friend.

"I'm sorry if I startled you, I just saw you walking in and..." Izuru quickly apologized, giving the other a slightly embarrassed smile. He looked relaxed- happy, even. Shuuhei was glad for a friendly distraction from the exchange of rumors he was just forced to witness.

"It's OK. Walk with me?" He suggested as he turned away from the girls and headed towards his own quarters. Kira followed without a question.

"I know it's late and everything so... Thanks for coming. The thing is, I thought you might, well… be upset with me. I did a poor job of minding my own business."

"To be fair, I didn't say I wasn't upset." Shuuhei pointed out, feeling like he'd definitely earned the right to be honest to his friends.

Izuru frowned, looking down at his shuffling feet. He seemed to be considering what he was about to say very carefully, testing each word in his mind before speaking. "I didn't realize that what Matsumoto and I told people would spread so quickly. I really am sorry, Hisagi, I should have known better."

Some of Shuuhei's lingering resentment disappeared. He didn't believe that Izuru and Rangiku meant anything malicious by their actions, but hearing his friend express regret made him feel a bit better about the situation. "Thanks. Honestly, that's really all I wanted to hear."

Shuuhei wondered if Izuru had simply wanted to apologize, but before he got to ask that question out-loud, Izuru's expression brightened to a genuine smile as he continued: "Now you can at least move on from Abarai and everyone can get on with their lives."

Well that sentence came flying out of nowhere. Shuuhei stopped in his tracks and spent a second wondering where his ability to respond appropriately had gone.

"What do you mean by that?" He demanded, tugging on Izuru's sleeve to stop the slighter shinigami. Izuru looked bewildered by Shuuhei's reaction, but not as bewildered as Shuuhei himself felt. "Kira, I said that I'm in love with Renji, by which I mean that I still am in love with him. We're together. It's kind of why this is a huge deal."

Izuru's brow lifted, and be blinked with the sudden understanding of a person seeing daylight for the first time. "You are? I was sure that he was going to reject you!"

Out of everything he had heard that night, this one hurt the most.

Izuru must've noticed the sour look on the dark-haired shinigami's face, because he started stumbling over his words to correct himself. "Uh- I didn't mean to say that I think you get rejected a lot! I just thought- I assumed Abarai was only interested in women. Also, I don't think the two of you would really work out-"

Holy shit.

"What do you mean we won't work out? We've been working out just fine for months, and we didn't need anybody's insight then!"

"You can't really think dating Abarai is a good idea, do you?" Izuru argued, suddenly vehement in his words. "What if you two break up? What if you end up hating each other and a decades worth of friendship is destroyed?"

"In my experience, people hate each other after break-ups when there's unfinished business. Renji and I don't keep secrets from each other!"For a split of a second, Kazeshini popped into his mind's eye again, taunting him with a bankai and an infuriatingly smug air of superiority."Secrets" he whispered, the word heavy and dripping with a mocking tone, but Shuuhei continued as if nothing had happened. "And we've got a good thing going, so I don't see us breaking up any time soon, Kira!"

Izuru's shoulders locked with hostility, but his eyes wouldn't meet Shuuhei's. "Sure, maybe now. What about in the future? You know that if you stay together you won't ever be able to raise a family, right? Even if you adopted, I doubt either of you would want to leave your vice-captaincy to raise a child!"

"Who said either of us want kids?" Shuuhei pointed out as he struggled to push an unwelcome sense of déjà vu from his mind. Rangiku's speculations on a future between Renji and Orihime. Bones of children in a crypt. Why is everyone so interested in Renji's non-existent offspring?

"Well, don't you think it might upset the dynamic between you and your friends just a bit?" Kira pressed on, his voice turning more venomous by the second. "If you and Renji have a relationship then… other people might feel neglected."

Ah, so that was it. Shuuhei folded his arms, trying to fix Izuru with his best condescending glare as if that could have made the light-haired man realize he was being rather stupid and childish. "By 'other people' you mean yourself, right? Well I'm fucking sorry if you're scared of feeling like a third wheel, but that's not my problem!"

Izuru looked taken aback, particularly since Shuuhei is the person east likely to make something not his problem. Everything is Shuuhei's problem. Shuuhei gets obsessed about trying to fix other people's problems. And this actually could be, at least somewhat, his problem. He probably never would've said such a thing if he hadn't been that angry, but suddenly it had been said. Shuuhei wondered, for a minute, if he's going to falter and take it back with an apology to Izuru but nope, looks like he's too much of a stubborn idiot. The audience is overcome with shock and disbelief.

"Okay, so maybe I was a little hurt that two of my closest friends were seeing each other and I didn't even know about it! Is that such a surprise?"

"Maybe we didn't tell you because I knew you'd be like this! Can't you just, I don't know, be happy for us instead of acting like a brat?"

For a long moment, there was silence. Izuru looked like he wanted to respond as he sent Shuuhei an icy glare, but was clearly uncomfortable continuing the argument. He finally settled on turning away and leaving the 9th division grounds without a word. After Kira left his sight, Shuuhei headed in the opposite direction, excited to finally reach the solace of his quarters. He tried really hard not to think about who might've overheard this particular exchange, and the additional rumors that would be running around Seireitei by the morning.

Half an hour later, Shuuhei is in his own bed, on his own, failing at not-thinking and playing out these past hours in his mind. He's torturing himself with all the little details: the tone of his captain's voice requesting to see him, the little rumors about him floating around, escaping his own subordinate's mouths, and finally Izuru—the changes in his expressions, the anger, the disappointment, the disapproval.

Things going distressingly wrong in Shuuhei's life isn't exactly uncommon, but there has at least always been a reason for it. Someone or something is responsible for the consequences that Shuuhei is left to deal with. So what is responsible now? The insistent flapping of butterfly wings against his window. The creepy-crawly sensation like something is wriggling around under his skin that comes with the knowledge that one's privacy has been violated. The heaviness in his head characteristic of oncoming sleep even though Shuuhei knows very well he's too unsettled to rest.

An unexpected chill works its way up and down Shuuhei's spine, making him shiver despite the fact that it isn't cold indoors at all. Shuuhei breaks away from his thoughts and fixes a glare at his zanpakutō, sheathed and leaning against the wall ever so innocently. "What?"

No response on Kazeshini's end, to Shuuhei's utter lack of surprise.

Shuuhei rolls his eyes, and sighs deeply, getting ready for what he knows will be an uncomfortable conversation. "If you've got something to say, just say it. I don't want to keep phasing between here and the catacomb world just to listen to you being a brat."

Shuuhei can actually feel his sword's smugness, even as there's still no trace of the usual brusque, raspy voice to match it. Shuuhei crosses his arms and shuts his eyes, unimpressed. "You're going to have to learn to manifest in this world anyways, seeing as you're the one who wanted to show me 'our true power'. Talking shouldn't be that difficult."

Finally the sound of grating laughter filters into Shuuhei's ears. "Difficult? Nah, but why give you the satisfaction?"

"Well don't worry about that. I'm far from satisfied." Shuuhei promises. "At least you're finally talking to me on my terms, I guess."

"Don't speak so fast, shinigami. Who's on who's terms here? Try taking your head out of your ass and take a good look around, eh?

Shuuhei takes his eyes away from the ceiling. Blinking a few times, he's a bit taken aback when he realizes the darkness around him is a lot thicker than it was just moments ago. Even if he can't see anything, the dusty, mildewy air invading his senses like a suffocating blanket of mustiness gives Shuuhei a good idea of where he is.

"Dammit." Shuuhei groans, sitting up on what has somehow turned from a comfortable futon into a cold stone surface. "How do you do that?"

Shuuhei places a palm straight out,his fingertips meeting a solid wall. He pushes, irritation growing as he gets not even a shift or a creak to tell him if the wall will falter. His hands travel up, feeling the gritty stone grind against his skin until he meets the corner where the wall turns into the ceiling not even three inches above his head. Shuuhei growls as his location becomes apparent to him, twisting his body to face the longer, adjacent wall.

A solid kick is all it takes for it to give one distressed moan of protest before falling, revealing the only slightly less musty, torch-lit halls of the catacombs.

"I'll admit, this is both new and unsettling." Shuuhei says as he climbs out of the newly-opened crypt.

Kazeshini, sitting in the open tomb directly above Shuuhei and kicking his feet through the air, cackles in response. "Heh, I know, right? Wish I could take credit for that. Maybe it's symbolic or something! A foreshadowing of your fate."

"What?" Shuuhei stands up, brushing dust off his clothes. "No, that's stupid."

"Suit yourself, just don't die simply because destiny is conspiring against you. If your stupid self gets killed because you're too weak to pick up a hint from the universe, I have to check out, too, y'know."

Wow. That was almost considerate except for that whole part where he spoke.

"'Course, having an ace up your sleeve might help out with living your pathetic life all the way into retirement. Something like- oh, I don't know, unlocking the full extent of our powers. I hear having a bankai is pretty handy for that." Kazeshini points out casually, swinging one of his scythes in his hand by the chain. He looks exactly how Shuuhei pictured him during his conversation with Izuru earlier- arrogant, malicious, the type who's so perfectly sure that if he keeps talking everything will just fall into his lap.

Shuuhei eyes his zanpakutō's spirit critically, keeping wary in case Kazeshini decides that scythe might look nicer lodged in Shuuhei's sternum. "I'd like to believe this is a thing rooted in mutual interest, but I'd also like to believe I'm not that stupid. In all seriousness, you know what I think of you. What makes you think I want your full power so badly?"

Kazeshini grins, so full of teeth it's almost more snarl than smile. "Well, shit. Just my luck to get the shinigami who argues against getting more powerful, ain't it? Even if it's gonna help your boy-toy?"

"Renji can handle himself, especially in a fight. Don't bother using him to bait me again." Shuuhei growls, pretending not to notice how Kazeshini's cheshire grin grows even wider.

"Who said anything about just being powerful in a fight?" The blade in Kazeshini's hand spins faster, twirling until it's a circular blur of black and silver, glowing orange like a halo in the torchlight. "I'm talking about respect, too, shinigami. Something you used to have, before you let your so-called friends stab you in the back."

Now Shuuhei is a little curious. Annoyed and insulted, but curious. "Could you maybe just skip to the point?"

"You know this whole scandal is starting to make your subordinates doubt you. And who could blame 'em, what with you being you and all? I mean, you got a real record of devotedly dogging after Tousen, then the monster-captain that saved you, and now baboon-boy. Maybe you like having all these stronger, powerful guys around you. Maybe you like having them rescue you, take care of you. I guess it just 'figures'." Kazeshini ends with a mocking, higher pitch, mimicking one of the rumor-mill girls.

Shuuhei sucks in air through his teeth, taking a deep breath to calm down because for one moment he's so angry he's forgotten how to see straight. "That isn't true. It's never been like that, with my captains or with Renji."

"Who gives a shit if it's true? All that matters is that people might start inferrin', and by that point it's about as good as headline news." The wiry form of Kazeshini disappears into a whirl of gusty wind, a little black twister that spins away and rematerializes down the hall a few feet away from Shuuhei, kicking up dust and cobwebs as it does. "We work together, though, help me help you and then not only are you on equal ground with lover-boy, people will think twice about belittlin' either of you."

Shuuhei keeps his stance, not easing up on the serious look he gives his zanpakutō. "Why would you help me? You've never exactly given me reason to trust you."

"I could say the same. You always go on about how I look 'like I'm meant to reap lives'." Kazeshini puts air quotes around the last phrase, using a dramatic voice for emphasis. "Kinda gets on a guy's nerves, you know? Verbal abuse, name-calling, losing me in a hollow for several days. Hurts my feelings. That's why I'm gonna prove that when all is said and done you need me, shinigami, and you need me a lot more than I need you."

Now it's starting to come together.

"So this is really about your ego, isn't it?" Shuuhei points out.

"Don't be like that. Think of it as a competition! Between the two of us, who relies on who more? Who's the stronger in this partnership?" Kazeshini offers with a shrug and a sweeping gesture between himself and Shuuhei. "Whatd'ya say?"

Shuuhei's glare falters, weighing his options. Shuuhei's been betrayed by someone he trusted once more than enough, thank you. On the other a hand, getting his bankai... there's a lot to be gained from that. He'd be able to stay with Renji, protect them both without looking weak.

"I say-"

"HEY

The startlingly high-pitched voice ricochets like a projectile around Shuuhei's skull, the impact so jarring that he's completely unprepared for the tugging sensation that follows, pulling him as if he's being physically yanked out of his spirit world. Coming back to his room, watching Kazeshini and the catacombs spin away from his vision, all but knocks the wind out of him despite the fact that his body hasn't actually moved for the entire duration of the conversation.

Then the wind actually is knocked out of him as a tiny blur of black and green bounces on top of him, and Shuuhei is pretty sure it's Mashiro. He's not positive, though, because a part of his brain that is doing it's best to function tells him that there's no way she would be in his bedroom—in his bed— in the middle of the night. That would be ridiculous. Would she?

Shuuhei blinks, rubbing one hand over his eye as he reclaims his bearings. "Kuna?

Mashiro folds her arms over her petite frame, puffing out her cheeks in irritation like a blowfish. It's hard for Shuuhei to remember she's much older than he is when she's like this, but to tell her so would only invite a temper tantrum. "It took you long enough to wake up!"

"I wasn't- never mind." Shuuhei slowly sits up and it takes him a moment to realize that he's actually the one who should be irritated. "What the hell are you doing in my room?!" he hisses through his teeth as he jumps out of his bed, Mashiro still sitting comfortably on it. Things like this never happen when Shuuhei stays over at Renji's.

Her expression changes into one of urgency and importance.

"You were supposed to report to duty at soon as you had the time. And it seems to me like you have the time now."

Time for sleeping, maybe. Although to be fair, Shuuhei can't officially be positive on whether Mashiro or Kensei actually sleep at all. That's not an innuendo, either. They're both just very high-strung people and always seem to be awake regardless of what hour it is.

"Time?! Kuna, it's the middle of the night! I'm trying to sleep! I'll come to the office tomorrow, like I'm supposed to. Now please, for goodness' sake, leave!"

"No can do. We were out paroling and we ran into something weird when we were out there, Kensei really wants to talk to you!"

"You were patrolling just now now?"

"We were patrolling all weekend. You would've known if you've reported for duty. I wanted to track you down and drag you out, but Kensei said to leave you be."

"Captain said to leave me be—so why are you here again?"

"As I said, there's something weird. He said to get you."

'Weird' is not typically a good indicator of events in Soul Society. To be dubious is not entirely uncalled for when used. "Weird in what way?"

Mashiro pouts, tapping the big, bubbly characters on her "Super-Duper Vice-Captain" badge. "I see that look on your face, Mr. Skeptic! It's rude to question someone of a higher rank! Especially at this time of the night. Just go talk to Kensei, okay? He'll explain it better, anyway."

There's no arguing with that. Ninety-seven seconds later Mr. Skeptic is rushing Miss Super-Duper Vice-Captain out of his quarters, heading towards the captains office. It's dark and quiet outside, and there is absolutely no sense of urgency in the air. It's so calm, actually, that Shuuhei finds it difficult to believe that he's walking around the barracks at some ungodly hour due to something that could simply be Mashiro's idea of a joke. He wishes to just go to his bed and sleep. Or Renji's bed—the one he should not have left in the first place. Whatever Renji is doing right now is probably at least fifty times better than what Shuuhei is doing, especially if the thing Renji is doing is sleeping. He wonders if this day could get any if this morning could get any worse, as the case may be.

The group of distraught-looking patrol members outside of his captain's office confirm the fact the something is, indeed, going on. The captain must have just dismissed them as by the time Shuuhei approaches they slowly start scattering, no doubt heading towards their quarters. Shuuhei glances after them with a slight pang of jealousy, only to recompose himself before facing his captain who's now standing alone leaning against the doorframe.

"Reporting for duty, sir."

"Hope you didn't get comfortable in your bed, Hisagi, because you're assigned to an investigation starting five minutes ago." Kensei barks, waving one hand to his side to dismiss Kuna, who gives him a raspberry to be ignored before vanishing. "We'll be running late to the meeting, " he adds as he heads out, confident that Shuuhei's following him.

As it happens, Kensei doesn't do a much better job that Mashiro at explaining. To be more precise, he doesn't really explain at all.

Now, Shuuhei doesn't consider himself the kind of person to overthink things—other people have disagreed on this matter, but that's beside the point- but there's only so long he can follow his captain past the Gotei's property, through the Seireitei and into the depths of Rukongai without growing a bit suspicious.

Flash-stepping makes things a little better, because it saves Shuuhei the inevitably useless task of trying to interrogate some actual information out of his captain. It also makes things a little worse, because Shuuhei doesn't notice the way the surroundings change until Kensei gives him the order to stop.

The sun is starting to appear on the horizon, and at this time of the year, that should also mean that people are starting to appear on the streets to begin going about their day. However this section of the Rukongai, in the high numbers and densely populated, if the tents and shacks built as makeshift homes on the side of the road are any indicator, is quiet. It is, in fact, completely silent. That is enough by itself to qualify as odd.

The visored captain, coming to a halt only a few paces away from Shuuhei, looks over the rows of houses from the middle of the street. "They've evacuated civilians. Stay on your guard, Hisagi."

"Sir, I don't know what I'm on my guard for." Shuuhei points out, feeling more than a little frustrated by this point.

"Don't be dense. You can feel it too, can't you?" Kensei pushes in that way that makes Shuuhei feel as if he's being talked down to and overestimated at the same time. "The spiritual energy here—the entire district."

Shuuhei flexes his reiatsu, reaching out across the area. Like a sonar, he feels his own spiritual energy brush against that of countless other souls. He doesn't focus on anyone in particular, but is vaguely aware of everyone, like they're standing there at the edges of his peripheral vision. "For this district of Rukongai? It's certainly less than average, but I'd guess that's due to the evacuations. There are probably still hundreds of normal souls here."

"Which wouldn't be a problem if anyone was still here. You misunderstood." Kensei says in a matter-of-fact tone, gesturing with a sweeping motion of his hand to the buildings around them, apparently trying to make Shuuhei see something painfully obvious. "When I said we evacuated civilians, I was saying we evacuated all the civilians. Everyone in the whole district."

"But- I felt other people here! I know I did." Shuuhei insists, feeling like he's losing more and more understanding of the situation by the second. "Look, I can just track someone's spiritual pressure and-"

Shuuhei tries to stretch out his spiritual energy again, attempting to focus on a specific target and locate the soul it belonged to. Yet when he attempts to lock on to a source of energy it suddently disappear, like the energy turned transparent, and the moment he moves on to the next source he can immediately sense the previous one again. Like an optical illusion, where he can see the whole picture but not the individual dots.

Shuuhei just can't hold onto a precise spiritual pressure, each one slipping away like sand through his fingers. He gives up when he feels the aching throb of a headache blossom in his right temple. "If there aren't any souls here, what's all that spiritual energy?"

"Wish I could say for sure. Then again, we did manage to find it before, so that's a plus." Kensei shrugs, then waves for Shuuhei to follow him. "We found whatever it is around here, shouldn't have wandered too far off. Mashiro was the one who originally stumbled across it, naturally, since she always manages to run straight into trouble. Searching would go a lot faster if we could sense it, but you already saw how well that goes in this case. Last time we found the thing, our patrol only managed to injure it, so I didn't want to bring more officers back out here to pursue it than absolutely necessary. Don't want any of the lower level shinigami to get hurt."

Shuuhei wisely doesn't comment on whether Captain Mugumura wants him to get hurt.

The silver-haired captain starts down the road, not flash-stepping but walking slowly, deliberately, as if waiting for whatever they were hunting to jump out of the alleys. Shuuhei has little choice but to follow after him, debating on how much more information he could press for before Kensei lost his patience for explanations. "Captain, what exactly is 'it'?"

As if triggered into action by Shuuhei's question, the ramshackle building almost directly next to Shuuhei gives a long, angry groan. The walls, already dilapidated and held together only by a patchwork of wood panels, begin to sag and swell forwards as if trying to drag themselves off their own foundations.

"That might be it," is the only thing Kensei can respond with before the wall splinters like a canon was fired at the walls from the inside and a great, chaotic thing staggers out amidst the debris.

In the human world, Shuuhei held a brief fascination with the cultures of other human nations. By brief, he means it was only for like three days, but it was long enough to gain some fleeting insight. Shuuhei had learned to align Soul Society with Japan in what humans called the Edo-era, and to see pictures and symbols of alien cultures nearly untouched by Japanese society was quite shocking and thrilling, for a moment at least.

This creature, the 'it', looks like one of the supreme beings from one of those cultures. Those ancient gods and monsters with six arms sprouting from their torsos, with singular bulbous eyes, entities with physical traits that simply looked not right—this being looks as if it could be the direct descendant of those beings. It staggers towards them, and seeing it walk with legs of different sizes is cringe-worthy sight. One is long and gangly, and the other shriveled and lame, like that of an old person. One arm swings at its side, the fingers gnarled and clutching at the air, but the accompanying arm has been reduced to a mangled stump, oozing blood down the creature's unnaturally long, stretched-out body. Shuuhei can't even see if the thing is in pain because its face is obscured by a tangled mess of mangy black hair covering patchy, discolored skin.

No, Shuuhei reconsiders; it doesn't look like a god. It doesn't even look like a monster. It looks like a mistake.

"What the hell…"

"Be careful!" Kensei shouts, his hand ready on his sword. "It's faster than it loo-"

For a moment Shuuhei feels like he lost time, like a piece of the jigsaw puzzle of the universe fell away, leaving him gaping at the black, empty space and wondering what the fuck happened. Because in one instant the pathetic creature is stumbling towards him on its merry way, mismatched legs tripping over each other at a snail's pace across the dusty road, and the next second there's flash of black light and Shuuhei's back hits the dirt.

The creature presses its only hand against Shuuhei's chest, holding him down with a shocking amount of strength. On instinct, Shuuhei's own hands wrap around the thing's wrist. He hopes he can use his advantage of using both arms to shake the creature off him.

That advantage takes a soaring leap out the window when the creature shivers, like its struck by a chill, and a black flare of spiritual energy races up and down its body. It circuits up to where the joint holding it's arm would be, sparks flying out of the shoulder. The energy spirals out in a vague, limb-like form, before dissipating and leaving a new arm behind, tan and muscular, unlike the rest of the creature, and twice as thick as the limb.

Shuuhei switches tactics, curling his legs towards his body and kicking up at the creature while shifting his grasp from the thing's wrist to Kazeshini's sealed form at his side. He doesn't make it that far. Before his fingers can meet the hilt, the creature's new arm slams his into the ground and Shuuhei's vision goes slightly blurry from pain as a thought flies through his head: his arm isn't supposed to bend this way.

He hears Kensei shout behind him, and there's a sudden flux in the air that makes Shuuhei's eyes tear up before the creature is knocked off him by a powerful blast of wind.

Shuuhei grimaces, only partly from the pain that's a result of forcing himself to move again, but mostly due to seeing the creature hit the ground head-first, twisting its neck at a horrific angle. He allows himself a sigh, thinking the fight is over, but then the thing start flailing its lopsided limbs against the ground in an effort to get up again. Shuuhei hearts his captain shout from behind him. "What are you waiting for? Attack it already!"

Another black flash and the lying creature disappears, only to abruptly reappear lurching towards Kensei, evidently finding him to be a more problematic opponent than Shuuhei. If Kensei was ever startled by the thing's speed, or its grotesque appearance, the surprise must have worn off during his first encounter. Unlike Shuuhei who now feels extremely useless, the visored just fixes the creature with an unflinching stare as he raises Tachikaze for another attack.

The combat knife slashes through the air twice, one strike down and one strike up, sending a high-powered stream of wind slicing into the creature's chest. There's a wet, sickening noise of flesh and bone ripping apart as Tachikaze's attack carves a deep 'X' in the creature, from shoulder to hip. It's not enough, though, because the thing's body sparks with more black spiritual energy and the sliced tissue attempts to close around the wound like water rushing to fill an open drain.

Kensei growls in frustration, "Unless you're waiting for an invitation you're free to jump in any day now, Hisagi!"

Oh shit, he's right. Shuuhei pulls himself to his feet, initial shock subsiding enough for him to ignore the pain in his arm and chest. His hand moves, a little jerkily, to place his palm out and focus his spirit energy into a hadō, when he's suddenly struck by the image of Kazeshini, dark outline against the torchlight, smirking.

Shuuhei's not sure if it's Kazeshini trying to pull a part of him back into the spirit world, or maybe he is just imagining the entire thing. Either possibility is wildly inappropriate for the given circumstance, but the image doesn't go away. The words are clear in his mind, and for a moment, they are the only thing he is aware of. "You need me."

A sharp stab of anger pierces Shuuhei's thoughts, because how dare that violent, self-absorbed brute interrupt his fight and imply Shuuhei cannot win on his own? Yes, Kazeshini is the source of power that has helped Shuuhei win countless fights, but it was a power that Shuuhei has long since earned. He doesn't need Kazeshini's assistance with anything. Kazeshini is his to use, his to control. He can handle anything the dark spirit throws at him, bankai included. And he most certainly does not need any help from the damned spirit.

The scythe slicing through the creature's body is finally what ends it, cleaving the ugly thing in half. Before Shuuhei can have his moment of dignified victory, however, he is almost knocked off his feet again by the wave of spiritual energy flooding from the creature's broken body.

The spiritual energy of hundreds of souls, the missing souls Shuuhei had sensed earlier, pour out of the destroyed body and swarm through the air like enraged hornets. Reiryoku of various color and strength drift up before dissipating like vapor. Hundreds of souls that had been crammed into one disfigured vessel, released only to fade away.

"Well, uh." Shuuhei struggles for words as he fights the impulse to go over and nudge the body with his foot to make sure that it's really dead this time. "That was new."

"'Least we found your missing, un-evacuated souls. The question is—what the fuck just happened to them?" Kensei points out, crouching over the creature's body without hesitation. It's a good question.

The two halves move, vibrating and shaking, making Kensei jerk back and Shuuhei draw back his scythe. Suddently, limbs aren't different lengths and sizes anymore, and patch-work skin is now smooth and even-toned. The sliced-up body on the ground is now unmistakably human-shaped.

Kensei stands back up, brushing the dirt off his knees as he looks over to Shuuhei. "This may complicate things."

Shuuhei is used to having a lot of questions in his life. Questions like "Why do I suck so much at standardized tests?" or "If I get less than four hours of sleep will I have enough energy to pretend to be a functional person the next day?" and "Yeah, I know what my usual tolerance is, but how much alcohol can I consume tonight before getting alcohol poisoning?"

This however, is the first time he gets to ask himself "What was this this unexplainable event involving a monster that I witnessed, which has left me both alarmed and confused, and whom can I talk to about it?" Trying to think of a way to start such a conversation, Kuna's words run through his head: "We ran into something weird."

After seeing that Shuuhei would get himself to the Fourth Division for his injuries, Kensei disappears to the captain's meeting, where he will have the responsibility as both the head of the security division and the person whose squad found and killed the creature to summarize the event to the other captains. This leaves Shuuhei with little to do but find a minimal amount of people to talk to about what just happened before the whole situation with the mysterious creature explodes into breaking news and military action.

His first impulse is to find Renji, whom, aggravatingly, he cannot sense anywhere. A sense of fear crawls its way into his heart that still hasn't calmed fully after the fight. And it's such an irrational fear, and Shuuhei knows it, but its impossible to chase away. What if the Sixth Division is just a bit too prestigious for a Rukongai-dwelling, apologetically brash, fresh-out-of-the-closet homosexual vice-captain? Well, from their perspective Renji is only maybe gay, since no one's exactly released an official statement on his sexual orientation. Still, a 'maybe' might be whole lot for some people, particularly people looking for a reason to criticize him. And Renji has a lot of people looking for a reason to criticize him. And, though Shuuhei tries to quell his anxieties best he can, he can't completely rule out the possibility that there may be people who would like to do much worse to Renji than criticize him.

But no, Shuuhei chastises himself, Renji wouldn't want Shuuhei to think of him as too weak to be able to escape a sticky social situation simply because Shuuhei can't find him for, like, fifteen minutes.

Or seventeen. And a half. You know, whatever.

Staring at a clock, Shuuhei suddenly remembers the meeting he was extremely late for—while the fight wasn't that long, it took him an Kensei a while to return to Seireitei, and then he was at the Fourth and then Renji... His feet are already carrying him towards the Twelfth Division Headquarters, at a speed that definitely catches some curious glances.

He slows down a bit to pass through the gate, when a guard blocks his path with the business end of a pike. "I'm sorry, sir, you can't go in there just now."

Shuuhei backs away from the offending weapon, while still trying to peer over the guard's shoulder. "This is where the meetings are taking place, right? I'm a lieutenant, I need to be in attendance."

"I realize that, lieutenant." The guard apologizes with a slight bow. "But we've had a recent incident inside the labs. There are people inside, so the situation is being handled with extreme care. I cannot allow you to enter the premises."

"Well, then where's the meeting?" Shuuhei fights the impulse to rub the returning headache in his temple.

"They've moved it to the main meeting room in the First Divison."

The First, of course, Shuuhei sighs as he heads back in the direction he came from. He runs past the Fourth, more than just a little angry that nobody informed him of the location change while he was getting his arm fixed, and is out of breath by the time he reaches the First Division.

It's a full house. Everyone's already there. Except for, to Shuuhei's dismay, Renji. He looks around the room and his eyes connect briefly with Izuru's but the blond quickly looks away. If it's possible, his heart gets even heavier. He drags himself to a wall and leans against it, looking at nothing in particular. He wants to forget about the monster, and about Kazeshini. He wants this day to end. He wants to sleep. He wants Renji. He does not want to talk to anybody, especially if anybody is not Renji. The others seem to respect that silent wish of his and they direct their chatter elsewhere. He does not hear any words. Does not even register anything around him.

After what seemed like forever, tragedy strikes yet again, mixed with the slightest of reliefs as Shuuhei's favorite red-headed trouble-magnet gets carted through the doors. Both Rukia and Shuuhei panic, but, fortunately, Renji quickly comes to with the promise his brain is perfectly undamaged, thank you very much.

He's not without distress though, but doesn't seem to be in the business of explaining. "That kid was a prisoner, right? So why? What's up with the weird spiritual energy? What's happening to him?" Renji asks Captain Kurotsuchi, much to the confusion of just about everyone in the room, Shuuhei included. Those words, however, the 'weird spiritual energy,' strike him as eerily familiar.

Mayuri's says, in a tone as condescending as if the explanation should be apparent even to an infant, "Well, wasn't it obvious, Lieutenant? He was dying."

Renji is pretty good at hiding it when things bother him, but even Shuuhei can tell that for some reason this news alarms him deeply. "What do you mean 'he was dying'? What happened?"

"Well, this meeting was supposed to be at my division exactly because I was to exposit my full research on the subject, including some specimens. Due to this inconvenient relocation," his eyes stray to Renji for a moment, "I guess a brief summary will have to do." Kurotsuchi sighs, folding his hands behind his back. "My division has done some research on the theory of combined souls. A more simple mind, such as ones belonging to my audience, could take Gillian hollows as an example, a masive, singular spiritual being comprised of many smaller souls."

This Shuuhei knew already. The creepy feeling is back, his gut telling him this information is relevant to the creature he fought. He hopes he's wrong.

The scientist-captain continues with his exposition. "Until very recently we thought this phenomenon only occurs among hollows, since all hollows are at their core made of souls full of despair. A soul is only as resilient as its willpower, after all. The idea that the same could happen to healthy, whole souls was unthinkable, until souls began vanishing in large quantities in Rukongai. Isn't that right, Lieutenant Hisagi?"

All heads swivel at once to face Shuuhei, who swallows and wonders if a response is expected from him and he might as well. "While on patrol, the Ninth Division encountered a strange… entity. I don't know how to really explain it, myself."

"And entity is one thing you could call it," Captain Kurotsuchi chuckles. "If we know a soul's despair can transform it into a hollow, perhaps it's not a huge surprise that other emotions can impact the constitution of a soul as well. From what our research can ascertain on the subject, we can almost definitely say that large amounts of apathy have a similar effect."

"If it's apathy, Rukongai is the perfect breeding ground for it," Rukia points out, more to Renji than to anyone else. "It's not like people have a reason to have hope out there."

"Without the ability to retain willpower, the total and utter lack of motivation or inspiration by anything, apathy consumes these souls until there is nothing left. The souls lose their individual traits until they all blend together, manifesting into one being made of countless souls, usually using one original host body as a vehicle for the others. The host becomes an empty vessel, unable to protect their memories or even their physical traits from the manipulation of the other souls. That is why, Vice-Captain Abarai, you probably received some blowback memories when the specimen you encountered in the labs exploded."

"Exploded?" Renji echoes, spine going rigid.

"Like a water balloon, yes." Mayuri agrees, offhandedly. "Some souls, such as that one, simply cannot sustain that much spiritual pressure from other souls. They can't use their energy from an excessive amount of sources to change physical form and adapt like the one the Ninth Squad encountered. It's too much for them, you see, which is why we had the dampener on it. That was the only thing keeping it alive, I'm afraid."

Renji sits next to Shuuhei, expressionless. Shuuhei has a feeling that, for whatever reason, this is going to take a lot of cuddling to fix.

"I hope that's cleared some questions up for you. I certainly appreciated being able to sort my thoughts out loud, myself." Mayuri says nonchalantly, turning and shuffling back out the door.

Shuuhei wraps an arm around Renji and pulls him closer. The red-head doesn't look at him, but he does relax noticeably. Shuuhei looks around the room and everyone returns his gaze, their eyes filled with worry and questions, even Izuru. Whatever this is, it's a lot bigger than two male vice-captains having a taboo relationship, and Shuuhei can't help but be ever so slightly grateful for the monsters.