I've felt like crap this last week and almost missed an update, but hey, I managed to finish it and upload it on time, aren't you all special? This is a fairly long chapter, surprisingly considering I wrote this while ill, so if I miss anything major grammar wise forgive me. Thanks to KageNekoReborn, Kage Kurai, Phantom Claire, Guest 1, Guest 2, and AngryHitsu!
Guest 2: I'm not sure how much longer it will be, at the moment I'm figuring a solid 30 chapters in this story, and then I'll be writing the sequel to it, because how I picture this story going it'll need the two stories to convey what I envision, and the sequel will probably be another 30chapters or so and will take a different view. Also all submitted characters will make an appearance, if not this fic, then its sequel. I do hope this answers your questions.
Anyway let's get to the main event!
DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN BLEACH ONLY THE PLOT AND SOME OF THE OCs.
Ichigo really began to wonder if his wandering had any meaning at all. Maybe it was some sort of spiritual journey that he was supposed to engage in and find something out that he didn't know and once he found out what he needed this dammed snow would stop. Okay so maybe he was grasping at straws but when one was wandering around in a wasteland getting nowhere, on tends to grasp at straws. Ichigo got up and started what he assumed was his daily wandering.
Time didn't exist here. Ichigo knew that it had to have been at least a week or more sense he had entered this place, it seemed longer, and then it seemed like no time had passed at all. It didn't help that the humming sound which seemed to have taken permanent residence in this world, was wearing on his nerves. At first it had been a relief to have something other than the howling of the blizzard and the crunch of snow as he walked. But all the humming was one note played constantly never changing in pitch or and variations at all. There was no variation and Ichigo was sure if he ever found out where the origin of the humming was he'd waste no time dispatching it.
Constant noises could be disconcerting. Ichigo was surround by two at all times, the only times there was another sound was when he was walking, or in a rare moment spoke aloud hoping to get some sort of response back that wasn't him cringing at how pitiful he felt. He truly felt alone for the first time in his life, in the physical and emotional sense of the word.
Decided that dwelling on his predicament wouldn't change anything he pressed on. Ichigo wasn't sure about what would come from his aimless wanderings but he had fooled himself into thinking that he was accomplishing something, other than tiring his mental self out. Really? How did you get tired when you aren't technically there?
He shook his head, his thoughts were wandering. These days it was harder to keep his thoughts focused. He hadn't made any progress in finding out who he had a crush on, though he did come to the conclusion that it had to be a shinigami. Not that it helped him any, Ichigo had come to the conclusion that he would actually have to see that person before he was able to come to a definitive conclusion. That is if he ever saw another human being outside of his dreams, where they got killed, or his nightmares involving the Neo-Gotei.
Trudging on through the bitter wind and whipping snow, he headed off in the same direction he had been following since the sound of humming had been fleeting and a onetime thing. It had given him a sense of purpose. Following this particular direction might end up killing him, but it was better than circles, which would kill him, if his mental self could be killed.
That sounded… cheerful. Ichigo thought wistfully. He wasn't one to think that anything was impossible but as he looked around and the only thing that he could see was the snowstorm and his quickly vanishing tracks, he was starting to think that this was.
Ichigo smiled grimly. He was the savior of sole society. He had mastered Bankai in a matter of weeks, when it took years most of the time. He had broken into Soul Society and had fought the third seat of the eleventh, the fought the captain of the eleventh, the vice-captain of the sixth, and the captain of sixth. It seemed anti-climactic to die in a mind induced snowstorm caused by a group of people with a vengeance. But then again, how was he expecting to die? In some over glorified battle where the odds of him achieving victory were so astronomical that he actually did die?
Actually, that is really how he envisioned himself dying.
But… If I die, then this would all stop. This snowstorm, the torture, and this loneliness. Ichigo thought.
Just as he finished his thought a jolt of pain ripped through him as he crumpled through the floor. He had fallen in the position of ultimate submission. This would've been mortifying to him as he was such a proud man, if the pain hadn't been so terrible.
What the hell is happening? Ichigo thought just before he blacked out.
Yuna was observing the newest Premier, the best that she could at least. It was hard to observe someone when shadows seemed to be distorting their form. Yuna wasn't one to distrust the King. In fact she trusted him completely when it came to the plans for destroying Soul Society, but after that she wasn't so sure. But this girl seemed like one that shouldn't be taken at face value. They knew nothing about her. By 'they', Yuna meant the other premiers. The King was sure to know everyone he brought into his inner circle, but that didn't mean Yuna had to trust them.
She had attempted to look up the newest premier in the archives but found that she didn't exist. Which made the half demon all the more suspicious of Kurai. So she had settled for the good old technique of following someone to learn about them. This really should've been Tadashi's job as Kurai was taking over Masao's position of being his partner.
Though they were only partners on missions, and missions were rare. Sachio didn't want Soul Society to learn of them too far in advance, lest that resulted giving the current Gotei thirteen even more of a chance of beating them. Though it's not like knowing who they were would help the shinigami dogs anyway.
In her musing she notice that the Premier of the Justice Cell had vanished. "Damn." Yuna muttered before leaping off one of the ceiling beams.
"Who the hell names their cell the justice cell?" Yuna said not caring who heard. "If we aren't careful we'll have another Kaname Tosen running around."
Having nothing more pressing to do she started to wander around their headquarters. Having been here for so long she knew the place like the back of her hand. Soon enough the shinigami that Masao failed to kill would be knocking on their door and Yuna had a score to settle.
Sachio sat behind his desk looking over the reports that his scouts had sent him. The shinigami had managed to find where his base was after all. There was no doubt that Urahara was behind that annoyance. If they thought that they'd be able to catch the Neo-Gotei unaware they were horribly mistaken.
Yuna had her cell spread out around and in their headquarters. Truth be told Yuna's cell was the most obedient. Though the reason they were was because they had heard the stories of Yuna unleashing her full demon power. Sachio hadn't even seen it, but he was sure it was impressive and frightful.
If the shinigami even tried to get within 100 meters of their base they'd be met with fifteen guards, though they were weak it'd be no easy challenge for seven shinigami. Of course Sachio knew that the shinigami could win the battle, while it was setback in his numbers it wasn't life threatening, and they'd be tired. Making them easy for Yuna and her cell to kill.
Sachio put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. An idea had struck him. Among the shinigami sent to spy on him there was a captain. He knew almost everything about Soul Society from memory and from reports his other premiers had given him, but he wasn't sure about what the captains' could be hiding. Enyo would make short work of the squad ten captain's resistance to betraying Soul Society. After all, no one was able to resist Enyo when she wanted to know something.
With that in mind he sent a hell crow to Yuna. Hell crows were a more skewed version of a hell butterfly. Besides they were a lot harder to ignore. He had told Yuna to keep the captain alive as he was needed.
Sachio leaned back in his chair. His problems about to be solved for him. All that awaited him was paperwork so he thought that a walk was in order. Perhaps he would see how fast the teenager was deteriorating. The King of Neo-Gotei stood up, a creepy smile on his face.
The sense of urgency that had been with the group since it had been formed was prominent now. They were moving at a slightly faster pace than they have been. It wasn't fast enough to make up the distance they would be losing in the two hours that they would have to stop. Previously they hadn't lost that much time sticking to the odd shadow or two once they found them and resting in them. Out in the middle of Hueco Mundo, it was completely barren, adding to the sense of despair that had taken residence in the group. There was something inherently depressing about looking ahead of you and looking behind you and seeing that it looks exactly the same, as if you hadn't made any progress at all.
Luckily the seven shinigami knew that they were getting closer because the waves were getting stronger, according to Rukia and Ashido. Any progress at this point was welcome news. It was getting hotter and tempers were beginning to flare.
Toshiro was eyeing his group with caution. He knew that heat and short fuses tended to not go well together and he really didn't want to write a report about how his group was surprises because of an argument he could see how the other captain's would laugh at him. He was already looked down upon, even if he had proved himself several times over, and this would just confirm their suspicions that he was still a kid despite his talent.
It was annoying because Ichigo wasn't thought of as a kid and they were the same age physically! Toshiro huffed, the white haired captain had at least two hundred years or so on the substitute shinigami. But then he supposed there was something about Ichigo that made it impossible for him to be thought of as a kid. There was the unbelievable strength that the carrot top possessed, maybe it was the fact that Ichigo had beaten several captain several time, or maybe it was because the teen had seen a lot more in his short life than most people did in a lifetime or an after-lifetime.
The hour before noon passed rather uneventfully. Ashido lifted his hand signaling for a stop. Toshiro arched an eyebrow as Ashido turned around. He knew why the stopped but it didn't feel any hotter than it had a little while ago. Toshiro lifted his arm to his forehead to wipe the sweat that had started to accumulate, he was surprised by the amount.
Looking around he saw that the others in his group were in basically the state as him. A thin sheet of sweat coated their foreheads. He realized that Ashido had lead them as far as they could before the heat became too unbearable. He nodded his approval to the mysterious shinigami, he received a nod in return.
The group after a few minutes of trying to figure out why they were stopped, the heat having evidentially slowed their thinking process, gratefully slumped onto the desert sand. Toshiro was slightly more delicate as he carefully lowered himself to the sand. He wasn't in favor of stopping but he could start to sense his dragon's discomfort with the heat. They had to sit in the direct sunlight, but it was better that overheating themselves by rushing through the desert. The bright side was because they weren't technically alive, they could survive without food and water, it was more of a luxury in Soul Society, to give the soul's a sense of normalcy if they so desired it.
No one was in the mood for talking. Not that they had anything to talk about, aside from how the desert had become monotonous, how sick of sand they were, or the heat that was becoming steadily hotter with each passing minute. Within thirty minute Toshiro was able to feel the full heat of the desert. He knew it could be hot, but this was ridiculous, he never wanted shade so bad in his life, he actually felt bad for taking the shade that they had used when approaching Los Noches for granted.
In Soul Society the captains were starting to take a more personal interest in their squads. None of the members of the squads were made aware of why they were suddenly being supervised by their captain in training instead of one of the seated officers. In some squads it was a welcome change to see their captain and for others it was a nightmare especially if said captain wanted to "observe" your fight technique closer, which would ultimately mean that you were facing your captain.
Though another thing that was peculiar and sometimes a relief, was there was more captain's meetings. Again the lower ranked shinigami weren't aware of the reason but for those few squads that had captain's that didn't hold back in a "friendly" spar it was a relief.
There happened to be one such meeting occurring at this very moment.
The nine captains stood in their usual positions, waiting for the Head-Commander to start their meeting. The old man sat at the head of the group looking around at the pitiful ranks. He sighed. Everyone was on time at least.
"Anything?" The old man asked them. The captains had been asked to observe their squads to see if there was anyone that could be part of the Neo-Gotei. Since they had limited information they were looking for anyone who was suspicious, incredibly strong, and had a zanpakuto that would fit in with the Neo-Gotei.
The captains shook their heads or muttered something along the lines of "No."
"Are we sure that they're even in Soul Society?" Soi-Fon asked. "It doesn't seem like they'd be willing to be that bold and actually infiltrate us."
"According to the information that Captain Hitsugaya one of the Neo-Gotei's leaders stated that they would know what we were planning to do. Which could mean that they have infiltrated us, so we have to make sure that they do not have anyone on the inside." The Head-Captain answered.
"There are a lot of Soul Reapers. If we have to evaluate every single one of them, it would take years. While the Neo-Gotei have been patient so far, we are unsure of when they could attack. It could've been a bluff." Voiced Captain Komamura
"You could be right, but do you want to take that risk?" Captain Kuchiki spoke up.
That seemed to have pacified the eighth division captain. The rest of the captain's remained silent. Each thinking about one thing or another.
"When, and if, these Neo-Gotei attack Soul Society, don't we need to worry about some sort of counter-attack plan?" Ukitake asked. "What about evaluation divisions 3, 5, and 9? They need another leader aside from their vice-captains, or in the case of the fifth division their third seat."
There was a murmur of agreement. Head-Commander Yamamoto was silent as he thought about what had been just said. There were certain protocols about naming a captain, and he couldn't just promote the vice-captains without proof of a Bankai from either of them, and the third seat was out of the question as well. He didn't want to do what he was going to do next but there was no other alternative.
"I'm initiating General Order: Eleven."
The captains looked at Yamamoto surprised. That order hadn't ever been used in all of Soul Society's history. The order was that in case of a captain being unable to take control of their squad and a captain was needed in an emergency situation another captain would take control of that squad as well as their original division. That meant double the work for the captain, the order didn't specify what captain would take control of what division.
"Any volunteers?" Yamamoto asked the captains, as he expected not one of them raised their hands.
He looked around, he had to choose carefully. At the moment he knew that the tenth division captain was out of the question. The sixth division captain was also out of the question he was already doing a lot more than was needed since his vice-captain was aiding with the search for Kurosaki, the thirteenth division captain was in the same boat. There were several other captains that he wouldn't burden or didn't trust with another squad. Actually there was only one captain that he would willingly trust another squad. Not that any of the other captain's weren't capable, there were just things that needed to be taken into consideration.
Just as the Head-Commander was about to speak what captains would be doubling up the meeting was interrupted, for the second time in a month. He opened his eyes to confirm that he was sensing the correct spiritual pressures. He couldn't believe his eyes, he would've smacked his forehead in disbelief he wasn't such a high ranking man in front of his subordinates. The captains looked surprised, and some of them even looked irritated.
Standing in all of their glory were three past captains. They didn't look taken aback by the surprised looks, in fact two looked the slightest bit smug, as if they were pleased with themselves, and the other one however looked disappointed as he stared around the room.
"What do you three want?" Yamamoto asked, a tad coolly.
One of the trio laughed and waved his fan in front of his face. "It seems that the Gotei 13 are short three captains."
There was a paused, clearly the man was waiting for some sort of comment, but he got none so he continued. "Seeing as General Order: Eleven has been activated which allows the doubling up of squads for the captains or the reinstatement of previous ones on the discretion of the Head-Commander."
"I know what the order does. I'm the one who made it. What's you point?" Yamamoto snapped crankily.
"My point is there are three previous captains standing in front of you." The man answered.
Another one of the trio spoke up. "Using us would mean that none of the captains would have to double up, which is better for them and their squads."
"Not to mention, you don't have to keep us around." The third spoke.
Yamamoto bit back a sigh. Unfortunately he couldn't fault their logic and he would prefer it if he didn't have to exhaust his captains any further. But these three weren't exactly the knights in shining armor that Soul Society wanted. But with the limited information that they had on Neo-Gotei the three standing in front of him could prove to be advantageous to Soul Society.
He could see the growing smirk on one of the trio's faces. The Head-Commander absolutely hated that he had to utter these words, but the pros outweighed the cons, and the three were, at one time, capable Captains.
"I hereby name Kisuke Urahara as Captain of the 9th division. Yoruichi Shihoin as Captain of the 3rd division." Yamamoto sighed, the last one was the hardest to do considering the circumstance in which he left. "Isshin Shiba as Captain of the 5th division."
"Isshin Kurosaki." The newly appointed 5th division captain corrected automatically.
The head captain arched on of his long eyebrows and he could see the surprise on the faces of a few of the captains at that news. They were smart enough to piece together the information. That had been more surprising than the three of them barging into the first division.
Yamamoto could see some captain were displeased about having certain people become captains. The ones that were showing the most displeasure were understandably Captains Soi-fon, Kurotshuchi, and Kuchiki. Yamamoto figured the first two had reasons to be displeased with this choice but he couldn't figure out why Kuchiki was, then again Kuchiki was just that type of person.
The newly appointed captains walked to where they assumed their spots would be, as long the positions hadn't changed. Once the three reached their spots, there was only one noticeable gap but at least they knew that the owner of the spot would be back the moment things got bad here, if he wasn't finished with his mission then.
Yoruichi smiled kindly to Soi-fon since they stood across from each other, as expected she got an irritated eye roll and pointed glare. Isshin almost walked to where he used to stand since it was currently vacant, but the recalled at he was the captain of a new division. He took his place across from Captain Unohana who smiled warmly at him, and Isshin felt a sweat drop roll down his neck. Urahara strolled over to his new spot, he was staring at the empty spot, but the person next to the empty spot looked less than happy to see him, so Kisuke smiled innocently at Captain Kurotshuchi.
Once they were settled in the Head-Commander cleared his throat, trying to regain the attention that was so rudely taken away from him when the three former captains burst in. He would have to ask them how they got into Soul Society and into the first division barracks without anyone noticing.
"Captain Urahara." The Head-Commander shuttered as he had to return to calling Kisuke that. "Did you find anything out, something that we didn't know?"
Urahara nodded and cleared his throat. "Yes. This anomaly that the 12th division found, is where we think the Neo-Gotei's base is. Captain Hitsugaya and his team are heading there as we speak. I have no idea how long it will take them to get there nor do I know that this is for certain the actual base of the Neo-Gotei."
"Did you find anything on the five members that we know for sure exist?" Asked Soi-Fon.
"I did. Thanks to human technology" Urahara grinned.
"Human technology? You're lying!" Kurotshuchi cried indignantly.
"I'm not." Urahara shrugged. "How else do you think that they're able to catch "paranormal activity"? It's a spirit or shinigami that gets caught on camera and only people with reiatsu can see it. How well you see it depends on how much reiatsu you have."
"The point?" Yamamoto interrupted.
"Yes. The park where Kurosaki-san was taken had video cameras. From that I was able to run a facial recognition scan on them. I was able to get positive identification on three of them. On the other two that were there that night, I only had partial faces but I was able to get the best candidate matches for them." Urahara grinned.
"Well? Who are they?" Soi-fon asked impatiently.
"The first one was Yuna Hasegawa."
Captain Unohana's eyes widened slightly. "You're sure of this?"
"Yep. She looked directly at the camera by mistake." Urahara replied. "Why do you know her?"
The healer nodded. "I thought her dead. We'd be better off if she was."
"That small thing isn't something we need to be afraid of!" Kenpachi laughed.
"She is. She sold her soul to demons. I don't know what she's capable of now. She was captain class before she made the deal, now, she could very well kill us all."
There was silence for a few minutes while the captains processed the information that Captain Unohana provided them with.
"On that depressing note I still have four more names to give out." Urahara spoke, oddly cheerful.
"Go ahead."
"Daichi Edano, Masao Narumi, Enyo Marvos, and Tadashi Inuzuka." Urahara rattled off, waiting to see if he would be interrupted, when he wasn't he looked up to the Head Captain who was looking decidedly grim.
"Those are names I haven't heard in a very long time." The old man muttered. "All of them do not bode well for Soul Society, especially if they're working together."
"Who are they exactly?" It was Komamura who spoke up.
"Three were known traitors to Soul Society, the last one was declared dead after going into Hueco Mundo and never returning along with the rest of the team." Yamamoto answered.
Urahara had nothing more to share. He knew that Head-Captain Yamamoto would brief them more on the traitors another time, but for now everyone was slightly more reserved as they absorbed the information that proved what they subconsciously knew all along. This would be a war, the one that decided the future of Soul Society, and that their opponents would be highly skilled. A heavy air settled over the twelve captains.
They barely noticed when Yamamoto banged his staff against the ground adjourning the meeting. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts as the meandered to their squad's barracks, and the three new captains received their new haoris with their squad number on the back.
"It feels weird to be wearing one after going so long thinking that I wasn't ever going to be allowed back into Soul Society much less a captain." Urahara joked lightly.
Yoruichi looked less than pleased. "It's too bulky. It'll slow me down."
Isshin remained silent as he put on the haori. He hadn't wanted to return to Soul Society, but a lot of convincing on Urahara's part, and calling in a lot of favors to get someone to watch Karin and Yuzu while he was here, finally got him back. He sighed. It felt weird, he was doing nothing while his son was in danger. But there is nothing that he could do to aid the rescue, at the moment they didn't know where the team was and he'd be wandering around Hueco Mundo with little chance of finding them. This way he was doing something helpful.
The captain would be lying to himself if he said that he wasn't excited about returning and seeing who took over the tenth division and how well they maintained it. Though he was disappointed that both the Captain and Vice-Captain were out.
The three left the first division barracks, each heading off to their own squads to introduce themselves.
Isshin laughed dryly. "Vacation is over. Back to work."
How many of you saw that coming?!
That was probably the worst chapter ending in the history of chapter endings. I mean, yeesh, *shudders* I no other way to end it! Ya know? I may update early to make up for it, for now want the preview? Of course you do ya greedy buggers, I mean my lovely readers! Wee~, is it finally starting to pick up?
At the base of Neo-Gotei the room that housed their prisoner remained one of the least visited areas of the entire castle. It was passed a lot by the staff and members of the Neo-Gotei but hardly ever inquired about. Most of the staff and lower ranks had been given the story that it was a traitor, it didn't seem likely that anyone would want to betray Neo-Gotei given the power that they had in their top ranks alone but they bought it.
There had been a few visitors to the room. It was mainly the top ranks, at it had been Premier Enyo most of the time. The lower ranks didn't know the extent of her power but they did know she had a way of getting what she wanted when she wanted it. So again they though it had been something to do with interrogating the traitor.
The highest person that the guards had seen enter the room had been Yuna, the second-in-command of the entire Neo-Gotei. So it came to a surprise when the guards were greeted by none other than the King himself, though they weren't exactly greeted, it was more like a command to open the door. But they complied without hesitation.
Hope that keeps ya'll sated until I can post chapter 19. You know the drill; leave your comments in the review. Questions, comments, and concerns leave below, and for those who ask questions I'll get back to you all in the next author's note! Any who… Later! ~IF