Just a warning, I now realise after reading the last chapter, Byakuya sounds a little OOC. There is a reason for that. This is from his viewpoint and his best friend's view point. So he may act a little different around her, and show more emotion than he would to the likes of Ichigo. Sorry.
"Hurry up slow poke!" I called back to Byakuya as we flash-stepped into the sereitei.
"Sakurai, though it pains me to admit it, I believe both you, and Utikano-san, are both faster than me when it comes to flash-step." He said coldly as we stopped on the roof of one of the buildings outlining the paths of the sereitei.
"I learnt from the best." I shrugged, smirking.
"You learnt from Yorui-" He cut himself of as we heard a man cry out nearby. The cry belonged to a voice I recognised.
"Captain?" Ruana looked at me carefully.
"Rikiro..." I whispered, realising that the voice belonged to the boy who had bee my 'student' for the past twenty years.
"Sakurai?" Byakuya watched me cautiously.
"Detour." I told the two simply, before running off of the building, and darting down the path to a large clearing, where a boy, with the appearance of a thirteen year old was lay on the floor choking. "Rikiro!" I ran over to him, kneeling beside him.
"Sensei?" He choked out, blood coming out as he coughed.
"Rikiro, it's me." I assured him. "You'll be fine. You'll see." I looked over my shoulder. "Ruana!" She was immediately at my side. "Take care of him."
"Sensei, wait." Rikiro grabbed my wrist as I went to stand, sending both me and Ruana into shock. "The hollow. It's invisible. I can hear music, but not the hollow."
"Music?" Ruana looked at him, confusion on her face.
"Yes Senpai, a flute." HE nodded, beginning to cough again.
"I'll find it. Just don't speak anymore. Ruana will take care of you." I stood up, leaving Rikiro with Ruana, I saw Byakuya at the side shaking his head. If I drew my sword here, I'd be asked about it later. But right now, my anger was rising, and once I got angry, I couldn't control it.
"Calm down." He mouthed to me. I was taking deep breaths, closing my eyes and concentrating on a spiritual pressure other than the three around me, which was hard when my own was rising.
Then a large surge of reitsu got my attention. My eyes snapped open as I drew my sword, it collided with the huge claw of a hollow as it blinked in and out of sight.
I heard a sharp hiss as it drew back from me. I closed my eyes and concentrated for a moment. Then a felt a human hand around my neck as I was slammed into a wall.
"Captain!" Ruana's voice cried out as I opened my eyes.
"What the hell are you?" I growled at the hollow. Everything about it was visible now. It was wasn't as large as I thought. It was taller the Zaraki, and every other person that I knew that was taller than Kenpachi. But it's arms were out of proportion. One arm was huge and made near entirely of bone and hair, whilst the other, the other arm was human.
I gripped my sword through the choking and stabbed the hollow through the chest. It howled in pain and staggered backwards, dropping me and allowing me to pull Nami from him.
"Scatter." I heard Byakuya's emotionless voice behind me. I watched the petals appear around us, then I watched as the hollow dodged each one.
"I can hear music, not the hollow. A flute."
That was what Rikiro had told us. He was right. The hollow was silent. The only noise it had made was when I had stabbed it. I couldn't hear the hollow either, but I could hear the music. The sound of the flute.
"Ugh!" My mind suddenly snapped into focus as I watched Byakuya get flung into a wall.
"Byakuya!" My eyes flared red and I clutched my head. Who ever this was. They were controlling the hollow's movements and attacks. With every note was a different movement or attack. They obviously had some information on how we fought.
I couldn't believe I was about to do this. An act of sheer hope that they had never been given information on my Shikai. I never released it. Or very rarely at least.
"Revive the ocean," my ZanpakutÅ was a little different from Byakuya's, it increased my speed quite considerably, as well as my strength, but nowhere near my Bankai. "Nami." I said the sword's name quietly, near inaudibly. Byakuya and Ruana's eyes widened as the wind picked up pace dramatically.
Ten minutes later...
"So the two of you have finally arrived?" The Sotaicho narrowed his eyes at myself and Byakuya as we entered the room.
"I was beginning to think the two of you were just gonna skip out on us." Kyoraku smirked at me, I returned the smirk, though, mine was more of a regular smile.
"As did I, until I felt your sword released Sakurai." All the captains looked at me wide-eyed and the Captain-Commander spoke. "Care to explain?"
"No." I said simply. "Now carry on with the meeting."
Soifon opened her mouth to protest, but was silenced by Yamamoto.
"Very well." He nodded, glancing up at me as Byakuya took his place in the line. I returned his glance as I leant against the wall.
"We have received a new report from Rukia Kuchiki in the World of The Living." He began.
"Didn't she already send in a report this morning, Sotaicho?" Soifon asked.
"There has been a recent development. A large number of hollows in three separate areas of Karakura Town have been sighted. These hollows were at a higher level than expected. Higher than gillians, around the level of adjuchas. And at least one person from each group stated they saw something resembling an arrancar close by to the adjuchas. These hollows managed to overpower Sado, Ishida, Inoue, Kurosaki Karin and Urahara's assistants, as well as Kuchiki Rukia. Though they failed to overpower Yoruichi, Urahara and Kurosaki Ichigo, all three were quite pressured due to taking on large groups at once."
"When was this, Sotaicho?" Unohana spoke up.
"Around two hours ago." He confirmed. "Added to the information of one of the 'arrancars' seen. One appeared to have some sort of instrument. As even the ones who did not see the figure, could hear music."
My head snapped up. "Flute music?" Byakuya looked over at me briefly.
"Yes. Flute music was the music they heard, Sakurai." His eyes opened to look at the expression on my face. My expression was either cheerful or non-existent, in the way I showed no emotion. My expression now was confused. "What is it?"
"One of Sakurai's squad members was attacked, along with a fair few other Shinigami. We encountered them on our way here, which is what took us so long, and is the reason for the release of Sakurai's ZanpakutÅ." Byakuya explained when I remained silent.
"The Shinigami, he claimed he could hear a flute being played. And as myself and Byakuya attacked the hollow, I could hear the music as well." I told the Sotaicho, looking at Byakuya, who nodded.
"So whoever it was, they were here as well." Yamamoto nodded at our explanation. "Hm?" I felt his eyes on me as mine snapped shut, I cringed slightly as a memory flashed before my eyes.
"Onee-chan!" The screaming of a little boy registered in my head as I look around in panic. There were flames everywhere. I couldn't see for smoke.
"Ototo!" I choked out, coughing through the inhaling of smoke.
I tried to run to find him, but I couldn't move, my feet were trapped under a fallen plank of wood. I could hear the crackling of flames. But I could hear something else too.
That's when I saw her. A girl in a white cloak, her hood fell down from the gusts of winds that blew the flames around. The cloak drenched her completely. She was only small, she looked about eleven in human years but I knew she could have been much older. Her eyes were golden, and there was part of a mask covering half her mouth. It was a hollow mask. Her skin was tanned and her hair straight, shoulder-length and black.
"You're name, it's really -, isn't it?" I nodded as her soft voice spoke. "I thought so. Iko. That's my name, not that you'll need to remember it again..."
She had a flute in her hand, and I watched helplessly as she brought it to her lips. As the music began to play, the flames blew around more harshly, ravaging the wooden building. I could hear my brother start to cry out in pain. I started to scream for him as my breath faulted even more. All I could hear was music as my eyes closed.
"Sakurai?" My mind snapped alert to Toshiro shaking my shoulders.
"Toshiro..." I shook my head slowly to wake myself up. "Sorry. The arrancar, and the flute." I couldn't form my sentence.
"Mitsugayani-Taicho." Yamamoto said my name and I composed myself.
"The flute was played by an arrancar. Her name is Iko."
"How do you know that?" Soifon asked, she really didn't like me. Her voice was kind of spiteful.
"Because," I paused, rubbing the back of my head. "She's the arrancar that killed my little brother back in Rukongai..."
There was silence for a long period of time, with all the captains in the room just staring at me.
"You had a brother?" Ukitake asked, breaking the silence.
"Yes." I nodded once. "I wasn't always an orphan in Rukongai, my mother, she died, when I was six."
"And your father?" Unohana asked. I was getting slightly annoyed now. The last time anyone had bugged me about my life was when I first got here, and the only reason I mentioned it now was because it was to do with the problem at hand.
"I don't know. He was a Shinigami, I don't remember him. This was over one hundred ad ten years ago remember? All I remember was that he stopped visiting two or three months before my mother died." Unohana nodded, seeing I was getting agitated.
"So you can confirm that the music they heard was most likely from an arrancar?" Yamamoto asked me. I just nodded. "Very well. Hitsugaya-taicho." His attention turned to the white haired taicho stood in front of me.
"Yes Sotaicho?" Toshiro spun around to face the Sotaicho.
"You, along with your lietenant, and the lieutenant of squad six, due to all three of you being well aquanted with the world of the living, will travel there. You will aid Kurosaki and Kuchiki, along with all of the others. Understood?"
"Yes, Sotaicho." He nodded once. "When do we need to leave?"
"As soon as possible." The Sotaicho then spoke loudly. "Captains of squads 14 and 6, you both work well together, correct?"
Myself and Byakuya exchanged awkward glances before I answered. "Yes, I suppose so."
"Good. Then your squads will work together to gather information on these attacks, if entrance to the world of the living is needed, request it from me to be permitted." He nodded once. "This meeting has ended."
I made my way back to my own barracks. I sighed as I walked into the office, jumping slightly when I found Kaori sat on her desk, tossing a random object up and down in her hand.
"Kaori." I said her name quietly as I entered the office fully and sat down at my desk.
"Taicho." She looked up at me and leapt off the desk. She looked at my expression and walked over to my desk. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I shook my head. "Just, current events stirring up unwanted memories."
"Ah, gotcha. So, what is going on anyway?" Kaori asked, sitting on the sofa in the centre of the office.
"Arrancars." I told her simply, writing a letter to Ukitake. "A bunch of hollows showed up in the world of the living. They were split up into three groups by three arrancars."
"Right." She tilted her head back to look at me over the back of the sofa. "What's that got to do with us? They don't usually include us."
"Our squad has to work with By-Kuchiki-Taicho's squad to gather information on the attacks."
"But isn't that the stealth force's job?"
"Meh," I shrugged. "What should I care? Just means we annoy Soifon more by taking her job." I smirked at Kaori. "And there is no way I'm passing up that opportunity."