"By the way, I got into contact with Kuchiki while you were unconscious and passed along your battle report," Yoruichi informed me. "He also has the sealed Shadow mitama for safe keeping to use as proof in the next Captain's meeting. He sent along further orders."
Yoruichi handed over a scroll tube that the missives from Squad Six were sent in. I opened one end of it and slid out the scroll on its fine white paper with the seal of the Sixt Squadron on the outside. It was an official missive then, orders from a Captain to his Lieutenant. I hadn't lost my job!
To Lieutenant Renji Abarai of Sixth Squadron
Lieutenant, your success in providing the proof of your claims of a Shadow threat is noted, however, your courier informs me that you seem to have exhausted yourself in the process. Most specifically that your method in capturing said proof was dubious at best and suicidal at worst, I expect greater improvement in your ability at tactics and strategy. It would be troublesome at this point to have to start over with a new Lieutenant.
Was it just me or did that almost sound like he was concerned for me and telling me to be more careful? nah. No way.
Yoruichi Shihouin believes that extracting you from the trail of your investigation would be unwise at this point as your continued search will, she believes, lead you back to the main nest of the threat. It would be remiss of me to waste this opportunity for reconnaissance and the gathering of valuable information about this heretofore unknown threat. You are hereby ordered to continue in your previously self-imposed mission to track the Shadow you seek back to its lair. Once there you are to gather as much in the way of useful reconnaissance as you are able to, however it is more important that you remain undetected. If the enemy becomes aware of our awareness of him (or them) then they will take greater pains to shield their activities and it would be inconvenient to tip our hand at this point. You are also to extract the mortal boy and employ strategies of misdirection to disguise the agent of his disappearance. Your precise methods of extraction and misdirection I leave to your discretion, with the caution to keep your methods more subtle than you have been accustomed to doing in recent days.
"So. No storming the castle then," I said dryly.
Because of the unusual nature of your impromptu strike-force it is being debated among the upper echelons whether a team should be sent to support you. You have a marked number of volunteers Lieutenant.
It was nice to loved.
There has been, as yet, no official authorization for aid in the feild to be sent, the various captains and their subordinates are all debating whether or not to pull out of Hueco Mundo on the off-chance that your conjecture about it being one enormous death-trap could bear some weight. There has been some unfortunate speculation as to the nature and intensity of oyur loyalties to the Seireitei Lieutenant, some have cited that, along with Kira Izuru of Third Squad and Momo Hinamori of Fifth Squad, you yourself once owed a great deal of personal loyalty to the former Captain Souske Aizen, some have said that your "disappearance" and the wild nature of the tales of a nebulous enemy are nothing more than a smokescreen or a way to stir up greater trouble while Aizen sets up some other plot.
"Whaaat?" I yelped in disbelief. They thought I was a traitor?
Those who do not know you or are easily swayed by rumor and speculation have been the ones mostly responsible for the rumors circulating about you, but you may be pleased to note that you have a core group of loyal friends and allies that strongly disagree with such wild and nonsensesical speculations as you actually being able to fool your Captain, Byakuya Kuchiki, right under his very nose. Clearly nonsense.
Part of me kinda wondered if he'd been born with that confidence of his or if it had just been grafted into him by his rank. Then again, I honestly couldn't really argue that it was entirely unjustified either. The man was sharp. I didn't think for a moment he'd ever not noticed that I saw him more or less as a rival, and part of me strongly suspected that he'd made me his lieutenant just because he was bored and needed someone to toy with to keep himself amused.
The Captain of Second Squadron has tried interrogating Gin Ichimaru as to the veracity of the supposed Hueco Mundo opperation but thus far there has been nothing of use. I believe he is toying with her. She is intelligent and dangerous, but essentially straightforward; personally, I would have sent in Shunsui Kyouraku to extract the information.
If anyone could twist Ichimaru around it would be idiot-crafty Captain of Eighth.
You noted in your letter that you had thought Ichimaru's capture by Rangiku Matsumoto had been perhaps a little too easy and you worried that he might be putting himself in a position that would favor his taking command of enemy forces once they'd breached the perimeter... The head captain and I have run several simulations with your hypothesis in mind, taking into account this new enemy of yours and have found that your conjecture holds up to scrutiny, especially now that you have proven that this threat does in fact exist. Many of the scenarios we played out based around some of your assertions ranged from the mildly upsetting to the disturbing. The head captain has urged me to recall you from the feild so that you can give a personal account of the Shadows and how to fight them, but I believe that the Seireitei would be better served by keeping you in your present position, doing reconnaissance on the enemy. Rukia does not agree with this assessment by the way, she is most upset. Her lack of faith in your abilites must be most upsetting to you Lieutenant.
And there is was, Kuchiki never could seem to resist inserting the dagger right between my ribs. Good job sir. Prat.
As it stood I requested that Yoruichi Shihouin, though she is no longer a member of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, give us her assessment of the enemy, since you were at that point unconscious and unable to do so. She did not bother to reiterate what was already in your previous reports, but she was able to give us an excellent accounting of your first engagement with the enemy. It seems most troublesome that they would be able to generate such powerful magical-constructs for fighting with, one wonders just what exactly else they are capable of. She also stated that she had just barely made the connection between the pool of Shadow, the gem, the diagram, the realm and the Shadowbeast before you had gotten the brilliant idea to plunge your fool self in headfirst into a deathtrap for all you knew. As your Captain, I would request that you at least attempt to refrain from any more such manuvers stemming from such a massive amount of lack of forethought, planning, intelligence and basic common sense.
Ouch. No don't spare my feelings or anything, tell me what you really think.
Your theory about the Quincy being the only ones with a weapon to defeat the Shadows I believe bears further investigation. Unfortunately as far as trapped Shadows go, we only have the one that was bound up in the sphere sent back with Yoruichi Shihouin. Tertiary to the previous mission directives I have given you in this missive, it would be well if, should you get the opportunity to quietly remove another Shadow or two without being noticed, you might do so. Captain Kurotsuchi of Twelfth is, almost literally, salivating over the sole Shadow we have in possession, despite all of the warnings from Miss Shihouin to the effect that it is a dangerous and formidable opponent and that they have no way of binding it. The head captain desires that you should bring the binding spell back to be observed and learned by the Seireitei.
Small problem there, doc, that spell can only be used by a person who has the permission of all four Elemental Courts.
Permission from the Elemental Courts could be problematic however and I wish to avoid the matter for the time being, so for now my orders stand. You are to remain in the field.
Huh, interesting. Must be some kind of political machinatin' goin' on. It was kinda odd for me to feel proud that my boss was so good with the political stuff, seein' as politicians were rarely trustworthy, but there it was. he was a smart guy, I was sure he had his reasons. I couldn't help smiling to myself at the fact that he'd just adroitly given me the go-ahead to start picking off any of the smaller, weaker Shadows I could come across as long as I didn't get caught at it. heh heh heh.
You shall send an addendum to your report with your own analysis of the enemy, Shihouin had not decided to foolishly crawl inside the thing, unlike my wayward and most impulsive Lieutenant, so your insight on the inner workings of the Shadows would be of value. Once you have gathered information and samples to send back to the Seireitei, it would perhaps be wise that you should remain in the field to further investigate matters pertaining to this new enemy of yours as an immediate return to the Seireitei would be... inconvenient at this point. There is a great deal of unrest and speculation about you Lieutenant and there are some few who believe that you should be found, arrested, and kept under observation as a precautionary measure.
I stopped reading and stared, dumbfounded. I felt a jab of hurt lance through me at the implications. I tried hard, I really did, to be a good and loyal fighter but it seemed like it was all for nothing. I get captured, turned mortal, and dumped in the mortal Realm then Bound and sent of some Shadow-goose-chase across a hundred different Divine Realms and I still manage to send back progress reports... and it's not enough to prove my loyalty? How much more loyal did I have to be? I could understand everyone being wary and suspicious after having been betrayed by three of the Captains, one of whom had been considered to be one of our finest and most reliable, but geeze...
It is foolishness of course, but even some Captains are going along with it. The Captain of Second most notably, but she is being paid to suspect everyone and everything. The Captain of Twelfth also seems to find you suspect, but who can say what goes on in his mind. Most however sensibly dismiss charges of involvement with Aizen in any way but as an enemy. The Captains of First, Fourth and Seventh are reserving judgment but you are well thought of by the Third and Fifth Lieutenants, the Acting Captain of Ninth, by the Captain of Thirteenth and as a consequence by the Captain of Eighth, by the Captain of Tenth, and the entirety of Squad Eleven seems ready to go up in arms (more so than usual, anyway) over the matter. I'm certain the other two can be persuaded to come to their senses. Until that time, I believe it would be wise to keep their particular bone of contention out of sight, if not out of mind. And since I am your direct superior I have the authority to do so. You shall remain in the feild, investigating the Shadow threat, running reconnaissance on their stronghold if you can manage the feat. You may continue to send back reports as you have done, I have engaged Yoruichi Shihouin to act as a courier for the necessary future.
Was he actually trying to reassure me? It kinda sounded like it.
Good Hunting.
By my hand and Seal,
Byakuya Kuchiki, Captain of Sixth Squadron.
"Looks like I've got my marching orders," I said after finishing the missive.
"How are you feeling?" Isana asked.
"Well enough," I said loosening my shoulders."I've eaten enough to replace what I lost when I depleted my reiatsu fighting that Shadow, after that, I'm good to go."
"I've been practicing with Miss Shihouin while you were asleep," Isana informed me. "I feel like I've gotten stronger."
My eyebrows raised at this. To be honest I had mixed feelings; it was a relief to hear that she had been putting thought into her own defense and taking training so she could fight on her own, but I knew well enough from having trained enough of them that the rawest rookies also were the greatest danger in the battlefield because they were overconfident in thier skills and took risks to prove themselves that a seasoned veteran would have found another way around. Still, I also knew that if you told a woman like this one that she still had a long way to go before she was ready to see some major action she'd get huffy, and I'd be in for it.
"That's good," I said neutrally. "I'm glad you're taking steps to improve yourself, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful."
There, I mentally patted myself on the back, it had sounded pretty good.
"Wanna see what I can do?" she asked eagerly.
Why the hell not...
"Sure!" I said, trying to inject some enthusiasm into my tone.
She gave me this sharp suspicious look, clearly wondering if I was being patronizing, but shrugged and stood in the middle of the impromptu practice ring I had just deserted myself.
"I'm ready when you are, Miss Yoruichi," Isana announced.
Yoruichi Shihouin opened a large trunk that had sat at the edge of the campground and started pulling out what looked roughly like slightly small man-sized manikins. They were all neatly folded up, in fact it looked like all of thier parts had been made to fit well inside of themselves, they unfolded, extended, refitted and locked in place in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Some of them moved about on four legs, some on two, some had been created with reversed springy-haunches and long, extendable fore-limbs others had an array of bifolded spider-like legs and all of them featured some form of natural weapon on them; some shot water, others had the usual hollow-like scythe-limbs, some had clubbing forelimbs and so on. They were far more advanced-looking than the usual designs we saw in soul society, I had to figure that they were a new form of dummy-hollow invented by the evil genius.
Yoruichi centered a small flare of reiatsu and sent it out among the small force of dummies, which promptly came to life and started acting on thier own. Some of them rushed directly at isana while others scampered off to the nearby foliage to lie in wait and ambush.
Isana brought two fingers elegantly up before her and closed her eyes in concentration as the first three sets of targets came at her. She was surrounded by a faint, glowing aura of emerald green outlinging her features in a thin halo. She suddenly flattened her left hand then made a turning-over gesture. The ground under one of the puppets abruptly hardened to solis stone and then flipped over like a tile around a central pivot, burying and crushing the enemy. Isana gestured again, this time with a clapping motion and two slabs of stone clapped up from two sides of the second target, scuttling closer to her and by now the third was almost on her. She made a rolling motion with both of her hands and a perfect sphere of solid stone flowed up from the ground at her feet. At a pushing gesture from her, the sphere rolled out and crushed the little dummy but not before it got out a shot in her direction with a little claw launcher attached to its back. Isana ducked and puushed upwards and a large flat jut of earth formed a sheild in front of her that the projectile bounced off from.
There was a slight rustle in the foliage nearby and seven of the smaller critters launched themselves into the air banking off the nearby tree branches and centered in on Isana's position. Her aura switched from green to silver and she abruptly blurred into wind. My eyes widened and I almost had to pick my jaw up off the ground. She could flash-step!
:Or well, not quite flash-step. It's more like the Quincy equivalent of it, but still, managing it in three days... that's impressive. Especially since her spiritual power is mediocre.:
The mechanics of flash step were more than a little tricky, because it was not at all just about going fast. Any idiot could boost their speed using reiatsu, part of the ability to make flash-step work was to harness the spiritrons in the air surrounding you and form a shield that both protects you from the ripping pull of the wind (which at that speed would be enough to dislocate a limb or break a bone of you met with and obstructions) and enable you to see where the hell you are going as well as stave off the jarring effects of inertia (which also at that speed would be enough to brain a person good, if not crack bones and tear muscles). Mastery over that spiritron sheild was the key to being able to perform flash-step. It was a very tricky bit of business, involving being able to gather, center and manipulate large amounts of tiny reishin in a very small area very fluidly, it was usually a technique which required a few weeks of study and at least that long of applications straining for each step had to be mastered before the next one could be undertaken... and she had gotten it in a matter of days.
:I wonder if she had any help from those tame elementals of hers,: I wondered.
"Hah!" she shouted as she brought two fingers up from her chest and pointed.
Her aura went from silver to red mysteriously. A sphere of flame at her fingertips and shot out at the target when she gestured. The target exploded, leaveing six more that dodged out of the way and then circled around. She dodged out of the way of one areial attack in the normal way and gestured, a small lancing whip of flame shot out from her fingertips and wrapped itself around her target consuming it on the spot. Her aura changed back to silver again and Isana flash-stepped out of harms way then flash-stepped again to get behind two of her enemies and her aura changed to red again as she shot two large globes of flame at them from out of her hands. Half of her enemeies were gone in a matter of moments, and she hadn't summoned a single one of her actual beasties out on the feild yet. Isana's aura changed back to green again and she flattened one of the other two, switched to red and snet out a few more fire ball shots. The first few missed because her enemies were agile and wouldn't close in, one of them had a long-range claw-launcher built into it, which forced Isana to go on the defensive and use her earth powers to build a rock-sheild. She played a game of shoot and chase with the last of them, flashing quickly around the battlefeild, trying to get into a position of advantage, but her final little critter was a quick one, and she couldn't seem to arrive at a point where she could aim and hit it before it dodged out of the way.
"Lure it in!" I called advice to her. "Don't abandon the high ground, if it calls in allies you'll be in the kill-box."
There was another six or seven of the critters still hiding in different positions out on the feild that I could sense, she had only defeated most of her visible enemies. I was sure that Shihouin was planning something devious for her little pupil with the others. She and her life-mate, that evil shop-keeper, had that much in common it seemed. I often worried about Ururu and Jinta being left to be raised by the weirdo, at least Tessei seemed (sort of) normal. Sort of.
"I'm trying!" she snapped, sending another flare burst its way which the creature effectively dodged.
Isana ducked behind one of her earth sheilds as it sent a volley of claw-darts her way and reassesed her enemy for an instant. The next instant changed the battlefeild. Claws justted up from the surface of the ground beneath her and three long, spikey tunneling type enemies burst up from the ground like a zombie from a grave in a b-movie. In under a minute they anchored themselves in startegic positions around the little valley and started to pepper the area with bone-shot. Isana flashed from sheilded earth-work to sheilded earthwork. She was now on the defensive and she still hadn't finished off her wiry little fellow from before who was using the aid of his allies to good advantage, herding her from point to point. A moment later though, it did make a fatal mistake by getting in too close and Isana torched it with a long, flaring pillar of flame. She tried the same blow-torch method on the huge oponents stationed around the perimeter behind dug-in defenses but they were too well entrenched and the flames had little effect on them.
That was when the final wave of remaining construct-dummies phalanxed in. There were ten of them and they were roughly man-sized, slightly man-shaped, with reverse-haunched limbs, massively powerful forelimbs weilding long staff-like poles with one arm and tall rectangular sheilds with the other arm. They were in a diagonal decending line, with most of ther bodies covered and covering up thier comrades, making it difficult to get a hit in from front or side. Added to that the constant cover-fire from the perimeter...
"This sucks!" Isana exclaimed, nearly routed by then.
She was ducked behind a strategically placed earthwork dome watching the enemy advance on her step by earth-pounding step. She tried to unleash a fire-rain down on them from above but they entenched to the side and brought thier shilds up in a turtleshell to outwait it. She tried making spikes of earth up from underneath them to break up thier line but they moved too well as a unit, and thier haunched limbs launched them straight up in the air and back down again unharmed with little more than a slight deviation in thier pattern which was quickly enfolded again. The technique though was effective when she used it against the perimeter snipers. A few good hits with a solid earth spike and they were down and out. That left only the phalanx of construct warriors to deal with who had moved into position while she was dealing with the perimeter enemies.
Isana's position was now precarious. She was huddled in an earthworks dome carved from the side of a nearby hill, normally that might be a good place to be, especially since most of her elemental powers seemed to be distance weapons rather than close range, but right then it had simply made her like a target on a haystack. The ten phalanx fighters had arranged themselves in two diagonal lines in a downward facing V shape and were currently launching an interminable number of spear at her. Isana set out sheets of flame to disintegrate the volleys into ash as they launched and was holding them off, but only just barely. Everything she was trying wasn't working, earth spikes they avoided, flame rains they sheilded, and she couldn't risk exposing herself by flash step for there were two areial enemies waiting in the weings for her to do just that. She no doubt saw them which was why she held off on getting out of there.
"Try ice!" I called to her.
That was the one element she hadn't tried yet and Rukia's Sode No Shiraiyuki had proven that it was a formidable one. I felt the earth start to rumble and soften a little bit as watter from within the soil began to gather and collect on the surface. it flowed down into the little Valley. The soil itself went from being somewhat rocky and firm to loosening into small particulates and then sogging down into a mire. She was creating quicksand! Atta girl. The mire widened (and presumably deepened) and spread, encompasing the whole floor of the pocket valley. The phalanx warriors were soon up past thier waists, floundering and struggling in quicksand only made it worse. I knew from hueco-mundo that the only thing that could beat a maleable enemy like sand was the solidifying force of ice. It wasn't long in coming. Isana stood up, shouted a command and made a flat chopping motion with both of her hands, the mire sheeted over into ice and then solidified, leaving the phalanx warriors to struggle to get out of the solid block of ice they found themselves in.
Isana smiled and crushed them one by one with large pillars of ice which shattered like brittle glass, tearing thier bodies into peices. There was silence for a long minute as She checked around with her senses for more enemies and found none. Isana emerged from her cover and posed, preening for a long minute.
"What do you think of that?" she said proudly.
She looked so much like Rukia right then that I couldn't help smiling down at her and ruffling her hair like I used to.
"You'll do I guess," I replied warmly, impressed. "Good strategy."
Isana preened even more under the praise.
"You're impressed, admit it."
She was so like Rukia.
"Maybe a little," I relented, letting her have her moment.
"So I guess this means we're fighting together then?"
"We'll see," I temporized. "You'll still be following my instructions when it comes down to a fight. If I say get out of there, I expect you gone, especially now that you can flash-step."
"Fine fine, but you were impressed, right?"
It might be nice to turn the tables on her so I said
"Oh yes, very impressed. Well, it looks like you won't be needing me anymore, so I guess I'll just be on my way! later!"
"Hey!" Isana protested immediately. "You can't leave now!"
"Why not, you got this covered," I said gamely, teasing her.
"But there's a big difference between fighting dummies in practice and the real thing," she said quickly. "I couldn't beat a huge gate guardian like you have been doing. You still have to stay with me. And plus, how else am I going to track down my son? You can't go!"
She was starting to sound panicked so I ended the joke before things could get serious.
"Calm down, relax," I told her disarmingly. "I was only teasing you. I got orders from my captain ta help you out as long as it doesn't interfere with his orders for me. I'm not going to just up and abandon you out in the middle of the howling wilderness."
Though it would sort of serve her right if I did...
isana looked relieved.
"That's not very nice," she told me severely.
I chuckled and pinched her cheeks like a five year old.
"What can I say, I'm not a very nice guy."
"Now that I know is a lie," Isana said firmly. "Someone who wasn't a very nice guy would never have helped me out this far, collar or no collar. You interceeded when I needed help, even if you did beat those two men up because they irritated you and you needed their clothes and money. And you helped me find out what happened to my son, someone who didn't care about people wouldn't have done that either. Even after I put the collar on you, a lesser man would have, y'know, tried something while I was sleeping or out bathing, but you've never once been anything less than a perfect gentleman about it."
I snorted at that last. What, and have my captain one day find out that I'd put paws on his precious, beloved wife? Yeah right, I actually valued my life and body parts thank-you! If he ever got wind of improper behavior on my part with her, there wouldn't be enough of me left to identify... or to fill a thimble.
"You act all tough and badass, but deep down you're a big softie," she accused fondly.
"Tch!" I noised scornfully. "I am too a badass. How many enemies that got in our way have stood against me? None. That's premium badassery right there."
"Oh excuse me," Isana said wryly. "I didn't mean to impune your manhood there oh Undefeated One. Here he is, the sultan of destruction, the prince of property damage, the grand high poobah of-"
"That'll do thanks," I said flatly.
"Hey Renji," she said, her tone taking on a more serious note.
"Yeah, what?" I grumbled.
"Were you serious when you said that you wouldn't ever come and see me again in the Mortal Realm?"
"Yes," I replied shortly.
The sooner I could get this woman out of my hair the better. Even better than that would be getting me out of this damned gigai!
"So when this mission is over, it's really over between us?"
I didn't like the sound of that at all!
"What us?" I snapped. "There's no us, and there's certainly no between to speak of! I'm in love, and have been for longer than you've been alive, or heck, even your parents have been alive."
"That's a long time to love someone unrequitedly," isana said. "Doesn't it get lonely?"
"I have other things to occupy me, like training to get stronger."
And eventually defeating my captain. One day... one day he would be the one lying on the ground in defeat. I might loan him my bandana as a magnanimous gesture on my part.
"Stronger? You already seem plenty strong to me," Isana said, sounding puzzled.
"Trust me, there are fish in the sea that are still a lot bigger than I am," I told her.
"This is certainly true," Yoruichi said, flashing in from out of nowhere to join our conversation.
Isana sort of gave her this irritated, narrow-eyed female look, like she was interrupting something.
"But Renji has improved by a great deal recently," yoruichi said, ignoring the look. "Though his control of his reiatsu still needs work."
"Yeah yeah, I'm working on it already," I grumbled.
"While you were napping," Yoruichi said. "I took the liberty of scouting ahead. I've come across something I think is worth investigating a few worlds away from this one. It's somethin I think you'll want to report in about Renji."
"Well then, let's get going," I said.
Isana mounted up on her beast and for a change Yoruichi, opting to travel in human-form this time, mounted up behind her. I took the lead reigns and we headed towards the nearest gate. On the road again.
My deepest and most abject and sincere apologies for making all you poor souls following this fic out there wait for an entire month before posting this chapter! The sad thing is, I really don't have a good excuse for why this wasn't posted. My computer didn't crash and I could get on the internet just fine when I had the time. The main problem is that I decided that there was a scene in this section that had to be written in (because it wouldn't fit well anywhere else) so I divided up the chapter into two parts (the second half of which is actually going to be deleted because it isn't relevant anymore) and when I went to write the scene it just wouldn't come. So I tried again, and then again and it wasn't working. I thought well maybe if I just give it time. So I let my muse carry me off onto other projects (all of them involving either Renji or Byasana fics) and one week dragged into two slid into three. I have work and school as well to deal with and just never found the right way to write it. Finally I said to myself, look just write something and post it so we can all move on to the next part, I'm sure they're all getting impatient. So I knuckled down this afternoon and made myself write it. I hope you all liked it at least a little bit. Please reveiw, I think I need the ego boost right about now. I'm at that three-fourths slump... T_T