Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach
Chapter Twelve - The Search
"I knew that I should have told Head Captain Ukitake the day that we met Heikichi," Shiro muttered to himself as he and Kasumi made their way to Karakura Town. They were on their way to search for Heikichi and find out if he had any connection to the massive groups of Hollow who were gathering.
"Oh come on," Kasumi said, irritated that Shiro insisted upon blaming himself for withholding information that, at the time, hadn't really seemed that important. To either of them ,which meant that if he was to blame then so was she. "This isn't your fault Toushirou. And besides, why should you have told him that groups of Hollow were after Heikichi? I mean they've been after him for as long as we've known him. It should have been common knowledge to Soul Society already. Of course it didn't seem like that big a deal."
The fact that he insisted on blaming himself for this whole ordeal was really beginning to irritate the young girl and she was making absolutely no attempt to hide her disdain from him.
"The fact that they were gathering and going after him wasn't a big deal," Shiro said, sounding years older than seventeen. There was a strange look in his blue green eyes as he and his best friend traveled through the town where they had grown up, searching for any signs of a boy that they had once considered to be among their best friends. "The fact that they're trying to recruit him to overthrow Soul Society is the part that concerns me."
"You know," Kasumi said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "For a genius you can be so stupid sometimes."
Shiro pulled up short and whirled to face his friend, his eyes flashing fire. It seemed as though the words of his best friend had struck a nerve where he was concerned. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it sounded like," Kasumi fired back at him, refusing to back down. "You keep blaming yourself for something that may or may not have actually happened. You don't know why the Hollow are gathering and you don't have any proof that Heikichi is involved."
"He's involved," Shiro said, a far away expression in his vivid blue green eyes. "The only question is to what degree."
"Well," Kasumi said, realizing that she wasn't going to be able to convince Shiro that none of this was his fault. Honestly, the boy had a bad habit of blaming himself for things that were outside of his control and it irritated her to no end. "There's only one thing to do; we have to find Heikichi and get to the bottom of everything. And then you can get over this silly notion that everything's your fault."
"Hmm," was all that Shiro had to say.
"So," Kasumi said, her gaze focused on her best friend. "Can you track his reiatsu signal?"
Shiro held a thoughtful expression on his face for a few minutes before finally turning back to Kasumi and shaking his head ever so slightly. "I can't find him. Either he's too far away for me to be able to pick up on his reiatsu signal or..."
Kasumi knew what Shiro was going to say next. "Or he's hiding his reiatsu from detection."
Shiro nodded.
Considering the degree of skill that Shiro possessed Kasumi knew that the latter was the most likely of the two options that had been presented. And although this seemed somewhat suspicious Kasumi knew that it didn't necessarily mean that Heikichi was guilty of anything.
It just meant that he didn't want to be found at the moment.
But Kasumi was well aware that this fact in and of itself did not necessarily mean that he was guilty of anything. She could well remember times when she would have preferred not to be found and if she were in Heikichi's position the young girl was fairly certain that she'd want to avoid people from Soul Society.
After all, it couldn't be easy to be the reincarnation of Aizen.
At least with Shiro he was the reincarnation of someone who was liked and respected by the inhabitants of Soul Society but with Heikichi things were vastly different. He was the reincarnation of the man who had attempted to destroy all of Soul Society, along with the world of the living, and no one had forgotten about that war. Whether he deserved it or not the young man would be despised by most based solely on the fact that he had been Aizen in a former life.
Which wasn't fair but was more or less how the world worked.
"So do you have any ideas about where to find him?" Kasumi asked, once again turning her attention to her best friend.
"I figured we'd just track the Hollow," Shiro said, his voice quiet and thoughtful. "Worst case scenario we dispose of a group of Hollow and best case scenario we find Heikichi."
"That sounds like a plan to me," Kasumi said, her hand going to her sealed zanpaktou. Perhaps a little fighting would help take the edge off and then, when they finally did manage to track down Heikichi, they would be able to talk about the situation.
At least that was what Kasumi was hoping for. The reality of the situation could turn out to be vastly different but the young girl didn't want to think about that at the moment.
"Let's go," Shiro said in a commanding tone of voice. The seriousness of the situation had caused him to switch to captain mode, which was a rarity and a testament to just how seriously he was taking things.
"Right," Kasumi said, deciding to go along with her friend. He outranked her after all and this wasn't the time to be testing the limits of their friendship.
She could do that later, once this whole situation had been straightened out and things had gone back to normal. She would be serious now, because the situation called for it, but later she would make sure to make an attempt to cheer up her friend.
Shiro seemed extremely stressed due to the fact that he blamed himself for the current situation and Kasumi wanted to help him with this.
The two teens were leaping from roof top to roof top, searching for any signs of the boy that they had grown up with. Neither could feel the reiatsu of the older boy but, as they made their way across town, Shiro suddenly drew up short.
"Do you feel that?" Shiro asked, turning his attention to his companion.
Kasumi nodded, her hand reflexively going to the staff that she wore slung across her back. She could feel the reiatsu of a group of Hollow and the sheer magnitude sent shivers down her spine.
"Let's go!" Shiro called out.
"Right!"
The two teens picked up the pace and soon arrived at a park in the center of Karakura Town. A large group of Hollow were gathered and it seemed as though they were searching for something.
But their search ended when they sensed the arrival of the pair of Shinigami.
"Oh look," one of the more evolved Hollow said, turning to sneer at Shiro and Kasumi. "A pair of bugs have came to be squashed."
Shiro scoffed as he drew Hyourinmaru from the sheath that he wore secured across his back. The Hollow had numbers working in their favor but that was the only thing that they had going for them.
Even combined their reiatsu wasn't really anything to be concerned about.
Kasumi drew her sword as well and quickly evoked it's shikai. Holding up the bow she glared at the Hollow.
"Hurry and destroy these pests," the apparent leader of the group snarled, pointing a claw at the two young Shinigami.
Shiro smirked, not even remotely concerned about the threat from the Hollow. His plan was to make short work of this group and then resume his search for Heikichi.
The battle commenced and, within minutes, Shiro and Kasumi had taken the upper hand in the battle. That is until they felt the arrival of someone with an extremely high reiatsu.
"What the hell?" Shiro exclaimed as he whirled to face someone who seemed vaguely familiar to him. The young boy focused his thoughts on the memories of Captain Hitsugaya and then he realized why the new arrival seemed familiar.
He wasn't one of the original enemies who had fought alongside Aizen but he was definitely a strong Arrancar.
Probably an Espada level.
The new arrival didn't utter a single word as he rushed forward and engaged Shiro in combat.
The attack was so sudden that Shiro barely had time to raise his sword and he gasped at the strength of his new opponent.
This was wholly unexpected.
"Shiro-chan!" Kasumi yelled, taking her eyes off her own opponent long enough to make sure that her best friend was okay. The attack had been so sudden and she needed to see with her own eyes that he was still okay.
"Focus!" Shiro snapped.
"Right," Kasumi said, realizing that she had to focus on the enemies that she was fighting or else she would make a careless mistake. She just had to believe that Shiro would be okay and concentrate on her own battle.
"Everything is going to be okay," Kasumi said as she held up her bow and prepared to launch another arrow.
A/N - yet another chapter. Sorry that it took so long for me to update this story but my laptop suffered an untimely death. Hope that you enjoyed.