This is slightly shorter than I would normally have it, but I have been on a hiatus lately, and I am currently about to leave on another trip. The next chapter should be up relatively soon. At least, sooner than this one was.

Matsumoto giggled drunkenly as she spun around in the courtyard, moonlight being the only illumination for them. She hummed to herself as she danced, the rest of the group watching her.

"I still wonder how she got drunk." Shouta muttered, suppressing a yawn.

"Who knows and who cares? When can we get back to the dorms? I'm tired." Kurosaki grumbled, slumping down from his seat on the bench.

"You can go ahead. Hitsugaya's needs to send in a report, and I have yet to finish reading this book." The brunette replied, waving the mentioned object in the other's face.

"I thought you already read that." Rukia pointed out, joining in the conversation.

"I skimmed through it. I want to actually read it, in case I missed something." He explained, looking up to find that Matsumoto had fallen asleep on the grass.

"Kurosaki, what is this?" Hitsugaya asked, taking a small package out of the carrot-top's bag. It was stained with blood.

"I don't know. That wasn't there earlier." The other replied, frowning as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Open it." Shouta prodded, and the Captain reluctantly did so.

He pried open the seal, and upon looking inside, almost dropped the package at the sight. Breathing in sharply, his nose wrinkled as a scowl deepened on his face. When asked what it was, Hitsugaya simply handed them the package.

Inside, was the severed head of a young girl, who couldn't have been more than 6 years old.

"He never tires of murdering kids." Shouta growled, an almost pained look on his face as he tore his gaze away.

Rukia gagged at the smell, covering her mouth and nose. "It's already decaying! How old is this?" She asked, voice muffled by her hands.

"...There's a note." Kurosaki pointed out. There indeed was a small slip of folded paper sticking out of the head's mouth. "So... who wants to open the mouth and get the paper?" He muttered, shoving the box away from himself.

Without a word, Shouta reached forward, trying his best to look away as much as possible when he opened the mouth. Rukia muffled a shriek.

"Th-There's maggots!" The brunette's hand flinched away when she said that, and he gagged repeatedly as he reluctantly snatched the note from the nest of maggots.

"I got it. Now will someone please close the damn thing before I throw up?" Kurosaki did quickly, shoving the box away.

"Just... read the note." Hitsugaya grumbled, not looking very well off himself.

"...How are you, shinigami? I write this in place of my dear friend, Aizen, seeing as he is busy. I will keep this short. You are approaching the second task by now, yes? I do hope you have fun with the little surprises we have coming up for you. I do hope to see you soon. -Raynaulski

(Also, how do you like my little present?)"

"He's sick." The substitute growled, fists clenched tightly.

"That's nothing new. But the second task is coming up soon. You three need to keep an eye out from now on. We don't know what they have planned." Rukia agreed, barely contained fury etched into her own face.

"Just... one more thing. What are we supposed to do with the head?"

"You're going to have to breathe underwater for an hour you know." Rukia pointed out as they all made their way to the Black Lake.

"I don't know about you guys, but I have something called technology." Shouta snickered as he waved around a small cylinder.

"What is that?"

"Something from Kurotsuchi's lab. I pickpocketed him one time. It's supposed to filter out air from the water for you to breathe. Like some sort of scuba diving gear."

"I'm not worried about Captain Hitsugaya, but how are you going to do this Ichigo?"

"Transfiguration."

"I thought you weren't good at transfiguration." Kurosaki just shrugged.

"Welcome to the Second Task! Last night, something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts." Dumbledore began. Hitsugaya watched as Rukia went up in a poof of smoke.

"Where'd Rukia go?" Ichigo asked, slightly alarmed.

"She must have been a clone or someone pretending to be her." Hitsugaya replied, sighing.

"I think I have an idea of what this... treasure is."

"Okay, so treasure for each champion at bottom of the lake; obstacles from task; and obstacles from Aizen. Great." Shouta muttered, taking Kurotsuchi's invention and putting the mouthpiece in its rightful place.

The cannon went off, and all 7 Champions dove into the lake.

Kurosaki-half transformed into a dolphin-sped through the lake, quickly finding his way into a maze of plants. He whirled around in shock when something sped behind him. All he saw was the rustling of the plants.

'What was that?' He pondered as he continued through the murky waters. He continued swimming, spying Harry going for something. The substitute followed quickly, stopping in shock when he saw the 'treasures'.

7 people were floating there in the water, among them Hermione, Ron, Matsumoto, Rukia, and Shouta's friend Brianne.

Kurosaki watched Harry quickly untie the knot of seaweed around Ron's foot, mermaids circling around him. Cedric soon followed, tearing the binding off with a blast from his wand.

Ichigo wasted no time, joining them as he quickly swam towards Rukia, tearing off the seaweed. Ignoring whatever commotion was going on next to him, he grabbed the smaller shinigami, swimming for the surface.