A/N: Happy new years people! I should have released this chapter a few days ago, but the end of the month internet cap bit me again. On the plus side, I have been able to get pretty far on the next chapter, so that will be coming soon. Sooner if you keep prodding me :nudge wink:

Mini-arc name: Turn back the Pendulum 1: A Good Mentor

x

The Heir Apparent
Chapter -200: New Division, New Nobles

Thus the Pendulum swings back 400 hundred years, giving but a glimpse into the past and the reasons why things are the way they are in the present.

Kyoraku Shunsui raised a hand above his eyes as he looked up to the sky. The sun was beating down on him, heating up his black Shihakusho to boiling. He sighed and moved the cuffs off where they were burning his forearms. It might be nice to become a captain just to have the white haori, which would surely reflect more heat.

They were standing in an open field, waiting for the ceremony to begin. The ceremony that would usher in a new division to the ranks of the military, and promote a noble family to the rank of great, making them the fifth great noble family. There were long benches set up for the guests to sit in, but few were. The crowds of Shinigami were all squeezing into whatever shade they could find.

'What's taking them so long?' he said to nobody in particular.

Shiraken Daiichi, known commonly as Daiken, was standing beside him. He gave a thin smile and said, 'If you like, I could use Hyorinmaru to cool you down.'

Shunsui smirked, 'No thanks, sunburn is better than frostbite.'

The two young men stood together in companionable silence, occasionally fanning themselves with the straw hats they had been given to shade their heads. They were old friends, having come through the academy together. Two prodigies that were generally only seen once a century, and they had both appeared in the same year. Daiken was the more talented of the two, having been promoted two decades before as the lieutenant of the second division. Shunsui had become the third seat of the eighth only last year, but that was also due to his carefree nature and dislike at being ordered.

'So, what do you think of this new division?' said Daiken. He rubbed the sweat off his forehead and brushed back his flowing white hair; it seemed to have a tendency to form spikes despite its current length.

Shunsui let out a soft sigh. His friend was obviously fishing for a debate, they'd discussed it often enough. He humoured him, 'I think they should rather bring in the proposed thirteenth division. Gotei thirteen has a much better ring to it then Gotei twelve, don't you think?'

'Huh, if we go on like this, it'll be Gotei sixteen before we know it.'

'Well, we already have fourteen,' said Shunsui, 'And it'll be fifteen after today. Gotei twelve, plus the Royal Guard, the Kido Corps, and now this new one; the Onmitsukido.'

'I think it's appropriate,' said Daiken. 'Those stupid humans need to be monitored.'

There had been many reasons put forward towards creating the new subdivision of the military, some innovative; many mundane. The one that had secured though was the need to keep track of a new order of spiritually in-tune humans who called themselves the Quincy. This group was growing alarmingly fast, and their abilities rivalled that of the Shinigami, something they had never seen before.

'I'm sure they won't be a problem,' Shunsui laughed.

'So am I, but only because we'll make sure of it.'

In the past, spiritually aware humans had always been painted targets for hollows. Even though the Shinigami tried to keep a close eye on them, invariably many had been lost. When they'd clubbed together for protection they had simply invited a faster demise, providing an even more attractive target. These Quincy though seemed to have passed through the eye of the storm, they were well versed at defending themselves.

'I think we should meet with them, and try to come to an understanding,' said a quiet voice behind them.

Shunsui turned to see Ukitake Jushiro, the fourth seat of the sixth division. He was well known for his friendliness and quiet acceptance of all those around him. As such people flocked to him, especially those who weren't as able to get along socially as their fellows. But he wasn't a natural leader, he was too forgiving of failures and that; like Shunsui's carefreeness; held him back. He would also have been considered a prodigy, had it not been for the two of them following him a year later into the academy and greatly outshining his achievements.

'Oh, it's you,' said Daiken dismissively, 'I thought for a moment it was somebody important.'

'I'm serious, if we joined our forces it would greatly reduce the load on us.'

'And since when have we had a problem dealing with the hollow? Never, that's when. We are Shinigami, the caretakers of the dead. We have no need of puny humans doing our work. Come, let's go, Shunsui.'

Shunsui gave an apologetic glance to Jushiro as he followed his friend. He had no quarrel with him, in fact he quite liked him. But he'd been friends with Daiken first, and that loyalty held him on the opposite side of the fence. He didn't know why Daiken disliked Jushiro. Perhaps he saw his general friendliness as weakness, he despised weakness in any form.

He followed his friend away from the main crowds, towards a small grove of trees in a gully. There in the long grass lay their former teacher, fast asleep. The grass stalk in his mouth rippled slightly with every breath. Daiken reached over and plucked it from his mouth. He started to move his lip around, trying to find it, but didn't wake. Then Daiken stuck it in his nose. He sat up like a shot, and sneezed it out.

'Hell boy, didn't I teach you any manners?' he complained, wiping his dripping nose.

'Psht,' said Daiken.

'And why do you always have to make that meaningless noise?'

'Nice to see you too, Sensei,' said Shunsui.

'Oy, don't forget about me!' came a female voice from up in the tree, and a small head framed with black hair stuck out from behind the thickest branch.

'Yada-yara, hello Captain Shiba.'

Both Daiken and Shunsui had been trained in the academy and during their spare time by Mikio Shiba, the man who was currently trying to cleanse his nostril. He was the lieutenant of the eighth division, serving under his wife Maiyuki, the one in the tree. Shunsui was the third seat under the two of them. He still found it strange, with Mikio tall and so noticeable with his bright orange hair; and Maiyuki short and petite, that she was captain.

She dropped down, right onto her husband's foot. He cried out with pain, 'Aargh, the hell you doing, titch?'

'It was an accident, so stop being pathetic,' she growled.

'Am not,'

'Yes, you are.'

'Not,'

'Are.'

'Not,'

'Are.'

Mikio got up and towered over her. They glared daggers into each others eyes, then as one they grabbed each others necks and glued their mouths together in a passionate kiss. Shunsui looked away, he'd seen them like this before. It wouldn't be long before they were simulating something else in the grass, it didn't matter to them if captain-commander Yamamoto himself was watching.

'Come, lets go,' said Shunsui, taking his friends arm. 'You know that it's impossible to talk to them when they're like this.'

'They've been married half a century now,' Daiken muttered, but followed him all the same.

They walked further away, to the edges of the demarcated area. The limits were shown by great banners bearing the Shihoin family crest. For today was the day that they became one of the great noble families, thanks to their patronage and leadership in creating the Onmitsukido. The festival was to celebrate both of these things. The Shihoins had been nobles for as long as anybody could remember, but to become one of the great nobles required something extra special.

The rules were also a lot more strict to the greats as to their roles. For example, they needed to have at least one family member in a position of no less than lieutenant standing just to retain their place. They also had to have a clearly defined head of the family, preferably the person with the highest ranking in Gotei thirteen. Then there were the social decorum requirements, most of which Shunsui hadn't looked into too seriously. But he would have to someday, for it was his dream to found his own noble family which would become one of the greats. The noble house of Kyoraku.

His thoughts were interrupted by someone hitting a hammer loudly to the wooden alarm panel. 'Attention, attention; the ceremony has been postponed. All Shinigami are to report to their respective divisions immediately. Visitors, please leave in an orderly fashion.'

'What's going on?' said Shunsui.

'It must have been important if they're postponing this,' said Daiken, furrowing his brows and gesturing around him. He reached inside his front to pull out his lieutenant's armband, and tied it expertly around his arm with one hand. 'I'm going to speak to that announcer to find out exactly what's going on.'

'Good idea,' said Shunsui, and followed him as they set off at a run. As third seat it was his responsibility to get as much information to report to his captain as he could.

Finding the man that had made the announcement wasn't difficult, he was already being mobbed by anxious captains and lieutenants. 'All I know is that there's been a problem in the 3600-4000 region of the material world.'

'That's the place my wife was sent to investigate,' lieutenant Kuchiki cried, and immediately pushed his way out of the throng and started sprinting away.

'Where's he going?' said Daiken.

'You should know, only captains are authorised to use Senkaimon gates without permission,' said Shunsui, 'No-one in their right mind would give it to him, not in the state he's in. He's going to use the Kuchiki family one.' Having a gate for families personal use was one of the privileges exclusive to the great nobles. 'I have to go and tell my captain what's going on.'

He left Daiken, and flash-stepped to where his captain and lieutenant were waiting for him under the tree. They would be very interested in what he knew, particularly because lieutenant Kuchiki's wife, Hanako, was Maiyuki's twin sister. Mikio had taken her into the Shiba clan as well when he had married Maiyuki, she had left only three years ago to join Kuchiki. Hanako wasn't nearly as talented as her younger twin, and was currently serving as the fifth seat of the tenth division.

'I have to go,' said Maiyuki as soon as Shunsui had related the story to them.

'I'm coming too,' said Mikio.

'No you're not.'

'She's my sister as well!'

'But not your twin. As your captain, I'm ordering you to stay put and watch the division.'

She reached inside her robes to pull out a small container. When she opened it a black hell-butterfly flew out. She unsheathed her sword, opened a Senkaimon gate and stepped through, the butterfly leading the way. Mikio cursed loudly as it closed behind her.

'Attention, attention,' cried another messenger, who had just reached the platform and was hitting the hanging wooden panel, 'These are orders directly from Captain-Commander Yamamoto. The cause of the disturbance is an unidentified being of unprecedented power. It is currently being investigated, but until such time as it is, no-one regardless of rank is to take any action against it or go anywhere near it.'

'They just missed Captain Shiba,' said Shunsui.

'She wouldn't have listened anyway,' said Mikio, 'Shunsui, follow me.'

'What are we doing, Sensei?'

'Disobeying orders,' he said with a smirk, then flash stepped away.

Even pushing himself to the limits, Shunsui could barely keep up. Rumour had it that Shiba Mikio was faster than the most of the captains of Gotei thirteen, and with his Bankai he could outpace anybody. If that was the case Shunsui couldn't be too far off the other captain's speed level, unless Mikio was purposefully going at a pace he could keep up with.

One of the advantages about working under him was that Shunsui had had the opportunity to train with him every night. He'd recently become good enough that the other man was using him as a sparring partner, although he was still definitely holding back some. Mikio by all rights should already be a captain, he was at least as strong as the current ones if not stronger. The higher ups had been talking for decades about creating a thirteen squad for him to lead, and if Mikio had shown more interest in the prospect it probably would have happened already.

They reached the Shiba manor in the second district in record time, and skirted around the outside to reach the gate. With any other building they would have simply jumped over the walls, but the Shiba manor was different. It was surrounded by a wall made of Sekkiseki stone. Legend had it that it was the first place to be completely surrounded by it, and it had been the inspiration for the walls of Seireitei. Most of the members of the Shiba family and their retainers had been attending the ceremony, so the doors were shut and locked.

Mikio inserted his blade into the gap between the doors, and they slowly began to open. 'Only a Shiba family member can open this gateway,' he explained.

'What… about your wife?' said Shunsui, trying to get his breathing under control.

'She bears the family name, so she can too. Her sister can't, not anymore. I hope nothing's happened to her,' he added with a frown.

They entered the grounds. Shunsui had been there before, but all the times before it had been bustling with activity and full of people. With all the many family members, visitors, servants, gardeners and all other manner of folk it had been a small town all in itself. Now it stood still and deserted.

'Let's go,' said Mikio.

The two men ran through the gardens to the gate on the east side of the grounds. There were two guards there, the only people Shunsui had seen so far within the walls. They both bowed as Mikio approached, one of them pulled out a small cage of butterflies that was hidden inside a rock; and gave them two. The orange haired man didn't even glance at them as he thrust his blade in the gate, and cried out, 'Material world, 3600-4000!'

The Senkaimon gate immediately began to hum, the cracks between the doorways shining with light. Normally gateways like this would be prepared at a measured pace by a team of experts to get the coordinates exact, but Mikio like Maiyuki before obviously wasn't prepared to wait. He was using the accelerated method, one that took a great deal of power and control to use. It generally didn't spit out the users at the precise location, and could be hazardous for them if any mistakes were made.

Shunsui noticed that he was still wearing the straw hat they'd all been given to keep the sun's rays out of their eyes during the ceremony, he ducked his head so it covered his eyes from the light. 'Sensei, I'm honoured that you brought me along, but why?'

Mikio grinned and shielded his eyes as the light grew brighter. 'I need someone to watch my back. You're not too far off captain level, Shunsui. I've been pushing you hard recently. You'll be a great captain one day.'

A lump caught in Shunsui's throat, 'Sensei.'

'Besides, incidents like this don't happen too often. It's a good chance to get experience, don't you think.' At that point the doors burst opened, and the light that had been shining through the cracks faded into deep darkness. 'Alright, lets go.'

The two men raced into pitch black.

x

A/N: A short note on Senkaimon gates. The reason why they don't have to be stabilised if a soul reaper is going from the material world to Soul Society is that there are permanent gates there. In other words, all they have to do is lock onto them. Naturally in the material world where they're covering such a large area and comings and goings from similar locations are rare it isn't practical to do this, except perhaps in Karakura town. Permanent gates are obvious portals for attack, so they are under constant close guard.

As for the hell-butterflies, I'm sure you know that it's very dangerous to traverse the space between worlds without them. Not to mention they allow access to the gates of Seireitei. Useful little bugs.

And just to avoid any chance of confusion, Shiraken Daiichi (Daiken) is previous life Hitsugaya, a bit more grown up. Shiba Mikio is Ichigo, Maiyuki is Rukia and Hanako is Hisana. Lieutenant Kuchiki, of course, is Byakuya. But then you already knew that, I hope. To refresh your memory, souls don't change their appearance from lifetime to lifetime. They are fully capable though of having a makeover and changing their dress sense, or even covering themselves with tatoos. Their Zanpakutou doesn't change either, nor does its name, abilities or names of abilities. But their knowledge of said abilities could be greater or smaller in different lifetimes.