Animals were not allowed in squad 4. No exceptions.

Allergies were very common amongst shinigami, even amongst the nobles. Shinigami always try to deny it but the teary eyes and running noses are often seen around the presence of animal fur.

This rule caused Komamura quite a bit of grief when he first became a shinigami. Prior to the loss of his helmet the only people who knew of his appearance had been Yamamoto, who offered him the opportunity and Unohana, due to the occasional injury.

His initial thought was that she would reject him like others did when they learned of his appearance.

He was so relieved when she did not that he had no objections to treating him in separate quarters.

The same rule meant that Squad four was the only division spared from the chaos of having gods manifesting in Seireitei.

Sort of.

There was a giant white snake in the back of the compound. Its eyes were golden orbs bigger a persons head. It was also perpetually wet and thus a health hazard. No one knew what to do about it. It didn't actually do anything so when their captain ignored it, so did the rest of the medics.

"Wolf -san. I do not allow animals into the division for hygienic reasons. If you are to help the division I must request another bone if you have one."

Amaterasu did as she was requested and handed over the holy bone. For a few seconds she debated handing over a container of Steel soul sake, just to see what would happen. It would probably cause an uproar, again. Everything out of the norm always caused an uproar. That was the nature of death, it was orderly and predictable because it was a constant. Everything ends and everything changes and everything begins anew. It's a natural cycle that always happens on its own time.

"If you could make the snake move that would be nice too. Snakes do carry disease after all."

-Mizumeru?-

The sound of water shifting. -No.-

Interfering with that tends to result in copious amounts of headaches for every god involved. Mortals on the other hand tended to either, not notice, or distort of the change. Nuregami had always been a bit of a cynic. She was probably not looking forward to the head ache from the Fragment.

-No. I am not.-

The results of the flux as the cycle turned typically meant abnormally large souls coming into existence. That meant that the mortals born with abnormally large souls were also born with power.

The interference of the fragment had artificially blown up a number of these souls, leaving them unstable and easily broken. She had seen the results for themselves during her venture into Hueco Mundo.

Souls that had suffered under enormous power and enormous pain. They were impressionable and easily manipulated and prone to highly destructive acts of madness.

She purified as many as she could but the sun does not rise indoors. The human imprisoned there would have to escape either on her own, or with the help of the younglings in the area. Then again, her friends were going to her also. Hopefully they would make use of the rest stop in the desert that the wolf goddess made from the purified souls. Sakuya and her tree were long gone but Amaterasu still liked the scent of fresh flowers.

Orihime waits until the espada leaves before pulling her companion out from under her bed.

Nobody noticed. Mostly because nobody expected anything out of her. It had hurt when she was amongst friends. The feeling of not doing anything and the feeling that nobody expected her to do anything.

Watching her friend, the snake-in-a-pot crumble after she was exposed to that glowing thing was just as bad even if she had known it for a short time. It didn't matter what she did or didn't do it seemed. Her friends were going to get hurt so she may as well be there to heal them. But first she needed to get out of here.

She had full intentions of leaving today preferably with the snake too. It's hard to leave your only companion in the world of eternal night. Maybe she should make some armor for it, with sponges. The little thing is constantly wet and it leaves very noticeable marks. She had swiped a large amount of toilet paper from the bathrooms in preparation for their departure.

Some time ago she saw a huge flash of light, ever since then the snake had been trying to convince her to leave. How she could understand the reptile when it made no noise, she would never know. But they got on like salt in soup. She rather missed making soup from her apartment. It had been a while since she had made watermelon and bacon bisque. Maybe her friend the snake would like some.

"Tsubaki!" she cried.

Renji expected the rescue mission to go many ways.

He expected a great battle within the confines of Aizen's lair.

He expected to destroy the base as they raided it, searching for Ichigo's friend.

He wasn't quite expecting to use a reishi heavy tree as a rest stop or picking up arranger as guides.

He definitely did not expect to see Inoue Orihime flying at them with arrancar in pursuit.

"Inoue!" Shouted Ichigo as he drew his zanpakuto for battle. "We're here!"

"Oh great. There goes any chance at stealth we might have had." Moaned Uryu but nonetheless he too drew his arrows.

The plan was still salvageable.

Aizen repeated to himself for the hundredth time.

He knew enough about the thirteen gods that they were beyond comprehension. There was no research papers, only lore which was full of exaggerations.

The Female wolf had been a disappointment. It was severely lacking in power and could only summon subpar beings.

They were mindless forces of destruction that could barely be controlled.

The piglets were the worst of them all and he could still hear szayelaporro complaining about his machines malfunctioning from having whales swimming through.

Luckily the damage to las noches was mostly cosmetic, even when that human girl escaped. It was still workable, he just had to stop her from leaving Hueco Mundo. Practical evidence of the wolf being an ordinary wolf or at best, a wolf demon. Those were nearly extinct if Komamura's appearance meant anything.

The human brats would just make enough noise to force the Gotei 13 into acting. Kurosaki Ichigo would still be considered an asset since he hadn't seen Kyoka Suigetsu yet.

Yes, the plan was still salvageable.

"Yoruichi-sama. Are you alright?" Commented Soi Fon as she sorted through a stack of papers regarding the kasumioji clan. "It wasn't one of the informers was it?"

The cat on the floor continued to shake its head vigorously, as if dislodging something from its ears. "No. I heard the sound of water crashing. That's usually a signal from someone that's drowning." She scratched her ears a few more times to make sure. "I'm going to assume that its someone else accidentally broadcasting something. Kind of like how I heard chinese pop music a few days ago."

Soi Fon refused to comment and ignored the flush that slowly crept up her face. "Here it is. GyoKaku Kumo. Steward of the Kasumioji clan. Apparently a good number of the recent changes within the Kasumioji clan can be traced back to this man."

Both women stared at each other as they remembered the tip they got several days ago.

"Kasumioji clan head deceased under suspicious circumstances. Heiress underage. Suspicious accidents have been noted. "

"I remember him getting caught up in a scandal when I was still around. The details a bit fuzzy but try checking the files on the Bakkoto incident. I think it had to so with unsanctioned human experiments involving experimental swords made from the Kasumioji clan."

"Thank you for the tip. What are we going to do about the girl if this really is a conspiracy?"

"Keiko -chan is surprisingly accommodating. If the Kasumioji heiress needs a place to hide, put them together."

"Would that be wise? The girl nearly went off the deep end with Lieutenant Kusajishi."

"Everyone goes off the deep end with Yachiru. Keiko's just special." Preened the cat. "Besides. She grew up in Rukongai by my side. I think she handle a few assassins. I think she'd be glad for some female company that won't try to beat her up for fun. "

"That is not a good thing Lady Yoruichi." Insists the stealth captain. She refuses to be jealous of how the girl she has grown slightly fond of, had been so close with her mentor. It was in poor taste to envy a child who was still learning to socialize. Because nothing good ever comes from the moon tribe. Especially from bastards Urahara Kisuke who she bears a disturbing resemblance to. "You have a great deal of influence on that child. Please do not allow it to turn into Urahara."

Yoruichi stared at her student for a few minutes before laughing out loud. "You noticed that too? You have to admit, Keiko's a pretty smart little kid. She reminds me a bit of myself when I was Younger. Shishou used to have me prank members of the Onmitsukido with Kita. If we missed the target she'd spar with us until we felt like dying. Then she'd stuff us full of dang and cake."

Then she snorted at the look on Soi Fon's face. "Yeah. Your Aunt was pretty much my nanny when I was growing up. She raised me with a kid she picked up off the streets in Seireitei. Can't say what the gender was since he was always wrapped up in a ton of loose baggy clothes, but he responded to the name Ki-chan or Kita. Kita was cute, funny, slightly agoraphobic, and always slightly nervous. One hell of a saboteur in the making." Yoruichi shook herself out of her past memories. "Never mind that, we're getting off topic. Where is Keiko anyway?"

"Ah. She is-" They were promptly interrupted by the loudest cat scream they had ever heard followed by shrieks of terror. "Apparently being accosted by Hagane's cat."

"Something is wrong with that cat." Yoruichi chuckled for a few moments before becoming serious. She turned and made to jump out the window. "Keep tabs on the Kasumioji heiress. If Ichigo catches wind of this he'll turn Seireitei upside down... Again." and then she was gone.

Soi Fon returned to her mound of paperwork. It had nearly doubled with the discovery of a possible conspiracy. Unsanctioned assassinations were a good source of concern since they usually meant rebellion. Unsanctioned human experiments were also a problem since they didn't want a repeat of the vizard incident. Both typically meant a hostile takeover.

The human children were currently in Hueco Mundo.

The Kasumioji Heiress was on her way to the Living world.

There might be a few days to work this before it all starts to blow up. This cannot be publicized. Not when the Gotei 13 were still recovering from Aizen's betrayal. Lady Yoruichi is right in that Kurosaki Ichigo must not have the opportunity to bring chaos amongst them again.

Soi Fon Groaned in her mind and summoned for her double. It was going to be a long and difficult night.

AN:/

Holy crap its been a while.

My dad had to retire due to medical problems and i had to look for a part time job. then i had to go to china for a month because of some important family functions, then school started and i had to get my entire computer erased due to a virus.

I ended up with a huge case of writer's block when i realized that i didn't remember how these arc's go. This was around the time when the battles lasted for multiple episodes and i got tired of it.

So i took a break and replayed Okami and the sequel while i tried to figure out where to go from here. I'm still not quite sure what I intend to do because there are obviously changes occurring within the characters and I need to try and puzzle it out. Updates might be really slow because i'm trying to find a way to integrate the past with the present and i don't want to do a Turn Back the Pendulum thing. I apologize for any stylistic inconsistencies but i like to think that this chapter is making more sense then some of the previous ones because we finally get some plot.

So as usual. Give me all your comments criticism's and ideas. I could really use them