"Oh, where did he go?" A girl with short red hair and brown eyes huffed as she searched various rooms for the elusive Soul Prince. "Where'd he go, where'd he go?"
"You're not going to find him like that." Her companion sighed, black hair a bit messy and dark blue eyes holding an annoyed expression towards the girl.
The male wore silver European armor to represent himself as the one in charge of keeping an eye on the several branches of Soul Society in that region, half of them anyway. The area was too big for one person, so there was another leader for the Northern countries within the European area. The girl was the overseer of the Oceanic area. They each had a mark on their shoulder that revealed their line of royalty in one of the Royal Families.
"You're not helping." The red-head snapped in her Australian accent, crossing her arms.
"There are very few places he could be; surely you noticed what those places were." The male rolled his eyes. "It's part of our job to know the likely places he will be in before we start searching every crevice for him."
"Alright Mr. Stalker, where are these places of his?"
"He's been in the library a lot recently. If not there he's in his room reading. Sometimes he flies to Dragon Isle with Lord Myndræl."
"How are we supposed to get to him on Dragon Isle?" The girl groaned.
"Let's just check the library."
"Wait up!" Another voice shouted.
The two nobles paused as another silver armored figure joined them, this one dressed as the North American overseer in normal military combat attire for the U.S. army. She had short cropped brown hair and blue eyes and she was quick to regain her breath.
"Hey Ryder, how are you?" The red-haired girl smiled at her.
"Just fine, Alicia. Come on, we have a prince to find."
"I'm guessing that's me."
The girls froze up a bit and whipped around while the male just turned, spotting their target for search behind them in the halls, obviously on his way to the library. Toshiro looked over the three of them. Ryder Evereed in command of business with the North American branches and heiress to the Evereed family. Alicia Verion in command of the Oceanic branches and youngest child of the Verion family. And finally, Kavain Nakash, the only son and middle child of the Nakash family and in command of the southern European branches. What were they all doing together looking for him?
"There you are." Alicia let out a heavy sigh of relief while the young prince just quirked an eyebrow. "Sorry for bothering you, my lord, but we wanted to make sure you knew about the meeting tomorrow."
"Meeting?"
"Every year the different commanders meet with the Soul King to discuss what's happening around the world." Kavain explained. "I would think you'd want to be there to at least see what goes on."
"I would actually." The Ice Prince nodded. "Thank you. But…why did all three of you need to come tell me this?"
"She followed me." Kavain pointed to Alicia. She scowled.
"And when these two try to do something together it ends badly." Ryder added on. "So I came to make sure a fight didn't start."
They expected the boy to find that annoying, knowing his reputation as the Ice Prince, but instead they saw him sigh lightly and smirk, even if it was a tiny one it still surprised them. They thought they heard him mutter something like 'just like Abarai and Kurosaki, always need Kuchiki to step in' but weren't very sure, and so said nothing.
"Alright then, if you'll excuse me." He walked past, the three figures saluting him in their own way – Ryder a military salute with her hand to her head, Alicia pretending to tip a hat, and Kavain putting a hand over his chest and bowing – before leaving him be and walking away.
Setting a mental reminder to ask his father about the meeting before night fell, Toshiro once more searched the many shelves for what he wanted. He'd been looking for three days now, trying to find something to do while Ruala went off to train Karin and the others.
He was also training, but in his own way. When he wanted to practice his combat he'd go to the floor of the last icy Soul King. Each floor had barriers around it that prevented any damage from leaking into other floors, since Ruala's magic had them all interconnected, so he could release as much power as he wanted without worry. He'd also think of ways to earn his next mark.
A book caught his eye. He thought maybe it was just another disappointment, as several other books had caught his eye, but he went for it anyway. It seemed normal, dark blue in color with a silver dragon on the binding. There were several other books with dragons on the binding, but they'd never been what he wanted. Perhaps this was his lucky day.
As he took it from the shelf he saw that the cover had two dragons curling around one another, one a bright gold and the other soft silver. His hopes began to rise. There was no title, just the dragons, so he opened it up and scanned some of the text on several pages, not really taking anything in, just trying to see if this was what he wanted.
It was.
Allowing a small smile to pass, he tucked the book under his arm and left to the rooftops to call Myndræl. Since he was part of this whole reason for needing the book it only made sense that he should be allowed in on the information.
The two met on the roof and Myndræl was quick to notice the book in his partner's grip. He'd brought Dyrilæn with him but Toshiro didn't mind, as Karin also seemed to have two dragons, though her zanpaktou spirit wasn't quite a dragon apparently, just related.
"You found it?" The blue dragon laid down next to Toshiro, eager to hear what was in it.
"Seems so." Toshiro nodded. "I just scanned it but it did have something about a prince with two dragons."
"Sounds promising." Dyrilæn also situated herself atop the stone to be comfortable.
"When I find something interesting I'll read it out loud." Toshiro started reading, eyes darting across the words and taking it in quickly.
"Okay."
The dragons sat in comfortable silence for a while as their white haired companion read on. Myndræl had a light nap, able to wake at any moment if his partner found something, but Dyrilæn was fidgety. She tried to wait patiently but she just couldn't hold still for very long. Something was nagging at the back of her head, telling her to get up and move.
Toshiro had just read something interesting, but when he looked up at the dragons he noticed the crimson drake's unrest.
"What's wrong?" He questioned. Myndræl opened his eyes.
"I feel like something is wrong." Dyrilæn muttered. "Really wrong."
The ice dragons shared a glance before Toshiro stood and approached the fidgeting dragon.
"Try to focus, Dyrilæn. Where is the feeling coming from?"
Closing amber eyes, the fire dragon attempted to pinpoint the source of her worries. It wasn't anything to do with her surroundings. In the presence of the Dragon King she felt completely safe. No, it was something far away yet very close to her.
"Karin!" Dyrilæn leaped to her feet. "Karin's in danger! I have to help her!"
"Calm down." Toshiro snapped and the fire dragon obliged, not really having a choice. "Can you see where she is? What's happening?"
"I'm not that closely bonded yet, I just know she's in danger." The dragon gave a snarl and Toshiro backed away as the air around her heated up. "I'll tear apart whoever has her!"
"She's still in the World of the Living, you can't go there." Toshiro explained, thinking how he could get there quickly. "Myndræl, is Nakryin still here?"
"I didn't see her." The blue dragon frowned.
"Damn." Toshiro scowled, vanishing back inside.
"Why won't he let me go?" The fire drake turned and growled at Myndræl. The ice dragon growled back and she took a step away.
"Because a dragon doesn't belong in the Human World."
"Shimmer went!"
"She's a baby, she's easy to hide. We're too big and too powerful to hide."
"I'm going whether he lets me or not!"
"Dyrilæn!" The ice drake called out in vain as said dragon lifted off the top of the palace and dove towards the Tenchuren. With Ruala gone that was the only way to get to Karin.
Inside, Toshiro knew where to find exactly who he was looking for. As strict as she was, Senjumaru would take him to the World of the Living. He was strong enough now to fight off some of the stronger demon forces and the woman was capable of creating her own spatial freeze, something he'd learned not long ago, which would allow him to fight the way he needed to. If she didn't let him go he could at least have her go and see if anything was truly wrong.
"Shutara." He called out as he stepped into the sewing room. Sure enough the black haired woman was there, looking up at him as he called out. "I need your help with something."
At his tone the woman frowned, moving away from her work and listening intently as he explained what Dyrilæn had sensed.
"You wish to go back so soon?" She questioned.
"It may just be a paranoid dragon, but I want to make sure." Toshiro replied. "If there's any chance at finding a way to Dethmaiyn I'll take it…and I'm not going to let Karin get hurt."
"Of course." Senjumaru smiled softly and together the two of them headed downward and out towards the Tenchuren. Where Ruala was, they didn't know, but if Karin was in danger she wasn't in the World of the Living.
As they reached the tall pillar, Dyrilæn joined them, looking very adamant about going.
"Dyrilæn." Toshiro warned.
"She's my partner." The fire drake bit back. "I want to help her. Myndræl would do the same for you."
He sighed.
"Luckily you're still small enough to fit inside." He said and stepped inside.
The dragon was quick to take her chance at saving her partner and squeezed her way inside. Time to see if her paranoia had any weight to it.
Ooh, cliffhanger. Wonder what's wrong with Karin, and what did Shiro find interesting in the book? So many questions and I haven't given you answers XD Enjoy!