A/N: Enter the other half of the equation. Thank you to GrandMal for giving such an early review!
Bleach and all products thereof are copyright to Tite Kubo, et al.
Thursday, February 13, 2003
"One of my guys should be the one to go," said Kenpachi. He was sincerely of the belief that someone like Ikkaku could beat Ichigo's powers back into him, and this was the perfect cover.
"I'm due time off," Hitsugaya said with his arms crossed.
"Obviously, a detachment of the keigun should be dispatched," said Suì-Fēng, as if that was the end of the matter.
"Is that your official recommendation as head of the Onmitsukidō?" asked Komamura.
"Of course," she replied haughtily.
The former Visored, Shinji, Rose, and Kensei all shared looks, before Shinji interjected "I can have my people do it easily. They're already in position after all." He referred, of course, to the Visored whom had stayed behind in the Living World.
"My fukutaichō is familiar with the environs of Karakura and would easily handle any necessary investigation and follow-up, making him the optimal candidate," Byakuya said flatly.
"Optimal?" asked Mayuri, as if tasting the word, "Has that word been redefined since the last time I looked at a dictionary? Precisely what about Abarai-fukutaichō qualifies as optimal? The 12th Division's Technological Development Department is clearly the best suited to investigate such a mysterious reiatsu signature."
"I would caution you regarding insulting my subordinates," Byakuya replied without heat, not even deigning to look at the man.
The bickering of the taichō of the Gotei 13 became a free-for-all as the majority of them made their cases for why their personnel, in particular, should be dispatched. Only Yamamoto, Unohana, Komamura, Shunsui, and Ukitake stood silent among the noise.
"Yare, yare," muttered Shunsui, before looking at Ukitake. He could see his friend coming to a conclusion and once Ukitake looked back at him, he nodded in assent.
When Ukitake spoke his words were soft, but cut through the cacophony like a blade: "Karakura is under my Division's jurisdiction, and I think…that we all know who should be sent." The room fell silent as he looked up and down the row of assembled taichō with a flinty gaze that dared his peers to challenge him. His stare lingered especially on Byakuya, who did not bother to return it, before moving finally to Yamamoto.
The old man had opened his eyes slightly and returned his one-time pupil's gaze. He shifted his view slightly to Shunsui, and saw an unusually intense look of affirmation. After some moments he closed his eyes once more and rapped his cane upon the floor. "It is decided. 13th Division fukutaichō Kuchiki Rukia will be deployed to Karakura to investigate the events there until such time as their cause has been determined. You are dismissed."
It was midday by the time Ukitake had returned to the 13th Division headquarters and dispatched Kiyone and Sentarō to bring Rukia to his office. He sighed and retrieved his largely unused denreishinki from a drawer to make arrangements with Urahara. He had the feeling that somehow this would become more trouble than he anticipated, but he was fully aware that he owed it to his fukutaichō and so he would see it through.
Rukia was sitting beneath a mulberry tree beside a pond doing paperwork when they found her. Although it was winter, Soul Society's weather was not as variable as the Living World's, and so while the temperature was cool, by noon it had become rather quite pleasant. She had decided to take advantage of it while she could.
She looked up when she felt both Sentarō and Kiyone approach her, and waved, only to stop as she saw them both running hard. She stood with her work in hand and made her way out from under the tree and to the nearby path. "What's wrong?" she called out.
"Ukitake-taichō has requested you visit his office!" said Sentarō.
"No, Ukitake-taichō said you need to visit his office immediately!" rebutted Kiyone.
"That's what I said!" shouted Sentarō.
"No, you said—" Kiyone began shouting back.
Rukia found herself pinching the bridge of her nose at their usual act and, not in the mood for dealing with it, shoved her work into Sentarō's hands, before using Shunpo to make her way to the office of her taichō. She arrived promptly and made her way inside, stopping outside the doors. "Taichō, you summoned for me?"
"Come in," came Ukitake's response.
She pulled one of the doors open and walked inside, closing it behind her. Ukitake sat behind his desk in a posture that seemed relaxed but that she could tell was anything but. She walked up in front of the desk and stood at attention. She could see the denreishinki sitting on it, but said nothing.
"Sit down and stop being so formal, Kuchiki," said Ukitake. He gave her a small smile and gestured at the chair.
She took a seat and found herself staring at the denreishinki. "Taichō, I've known you for long enough to know when something's going on."
Ukitake exhaled softly and leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of him on the desk. "An unusual event has occurred in Karakura,' he began. Rukia's head instantly snapped up and her ultramarine eyes met his with a sudden intensity. He could feel her reiatsu begin to spike. "Everyone is fine, Rukia. Kurosaki-san is fine," he added, his tone tender. She visibly relaxed enough for him to continue. "It has been determined that an investigation should be conducted. You've been selected for deployment to handle it…until such time as you come to a determination as to what happened."
Rukia's eyes widened a bit at this and she struggled internally to fight down all the questions she immediately had. She found she had to mentally force further questions about Ichigo aside. "What happened?" she asked after some moments.
"We received reports of a highly unusual reiatsu discharge originating from Karakura. This took the form of a white beam which had a power comparable to the release of a kidō-type bankai or a very high level cero. Not only Zennosuke-san in Karakura proper, but the guardian of Naruki and indeed all those in Western Tokyo, and some in Tokyo itself, reported this incident," he said.
Rukia felt a growing unease and could sense her fingers clenching the desk, but said nothing.
"This discharge reportedly had a very unusual reiatsu signature, and came from a location in which there had been no great presence of reiatsu previously. At that time, Zennosuke-san, as well as your friends Ishida-san, Orihime-san, and Yasutora-san were engaged with multiple Hollows that apparently attacked the town in a coordinated fashion. They reported the number of these Hollows to be consistent through time; for each they dispatched, another appeared. Apparently in the confusion one got away, and was the victim of the discharge. Once the discharge occurred, all Hollows withdrew immediately," Ukitake concluded.
"And there is no indication as to the origin or nature of this discharge?" Rukia asked with incredulity. The idea that that sort of power would be used on a normal Hollow was ridiculous, and hearing that it had apparently been linked with what sounded like an effort to distract her friends made her less than pleased.
Ukitake shook his head. "Ishida-san offered that it somewhat resembled the work of Quincy, but resembled kidō just as much. He did not divulge more than that to Zennosuke-san. Urahara-san has been likewise reticent to share more, either to Zennosuke…or to me."
Rukia frowned. "That's why I'm being sent."
"You have the most amicable relationship with most of the parties involved, making you the optimal candidate to conduct an investigation," Ukitake said. Although it wasn't the reason, it also wasn't a lie, and that was good enough for him.
"Taichō, I will…definitely get to the bottom of this!" Rukia declared, looking Ukitake squarely in the eye.
Seeing her resolve and her anger at whomever or whatever had dared come near her friends, Ukitake smiled and nodded "I have no doubts that you will, Rukia. Since it's unclear at present how long you will be gone, please have your affairs in order and be ready to leave by dusk."
Rukia stood, replied "Yes, sir!" promptly, and immediately left the office with a determination about her Ukitake hadn't seen in a long time. That he hadn't seen for about fourteen months, to be precise. He allowed himself another smile. Maybe it'll work out for the best, he thought.
Rukia had, despite each of their proclaimed desires for more share than the other, divided what pending work she couldn't finish in the next few hours up among Kiyone and Sentarō equally, and after warning them it had best be done when she returned—not that she knew when that would be—left them to it with all due haste before they began to make a competition out of it.
She had a small and fast lunch and finished the remainder of her work in just under three hours. There honestly wasn't that much for her to do in terms of preparing after that, as she didn't intend to carry any personal effects with her, so she busied herself with cleaning up her living space and putting it to order. She recognized it was just a distraction, but she preferred it to sitting idle, and felt her brother would approve of such a use of time, even if it was merely her apartment with the 13th Division's district. (She had asked for it upon taking the position of fukutaichō and her brother had agreed it was befitting of her newfound station.)
Afterwards she was engaged in a simple but hearty dinner alone at one of the Shinigami cantinas (who knew what she'd be stuck with eating in the Living World?) when Renji sauntered in, easily spotting her. He came over to her table and sat down opposite her. As she was busy slurping noodles she didn't greet him, and could tell from the expression on his face he was there because he knew, not in spite of it.
"Heard you were being deployed to Karakura from Kuchiki-taichō," he offered at last, glancing to her. "From the fact you didn't tear up the 13th Division and leave immediately, I assume that guy is okay."
Rukia glared at her friend before kicking him in the shin, and then promptly finished the noodles she was working on before pushing the empty bowl to the center of the table. She wiped her mouth and closed her eyes for a moment. "That's not funny. I was told he's fine," she said, adding "They're all fine."
Renji gave a small smile, managing to conceal it from her before she opened her eyes again. She was entirely predictable in her own way. "I wonder if Ichigo even knows anything happened."
"Doubtful," she replied, "the last report I got said he was home sick and had been sleeping since early last night. His father's watching him just in case, in addition to Zennosuke." With that she began to quickly munch on a piece of onigiri.
Renji watched her for a moment before looking elsewhere, rubbing the back of his head. "Taichō said he had nominated me to go, but felt he had no good comeback to Ukitake-taichō's counterproposal. To be honest though, I'm glad you were picked instead."
He could feel Rukia looking at him but said nothing in response, so at last she went "Eh?" to drive the point home.
Renji turned back to look at her, and just smiled genuinely. He knew if he said what he was really thinking a kick to the shins would be the least of his problems. Before she could demand clarification he leaned in conspiratorially and whispered "You didn't hear it from me, but before I left it seemed like he might be coming to see you off."
Rukia's eyes widened before she resumed eating twice as quickly. If her brother was coming then she wanted to be ready to leave promptly at the appointed time.
Renji stood and clasped her on the shoulder as she ate, his grip unusually strong on her lithe frame. She looked quizzically up at him with a mouth full of rice. He was looking at the door. "Don't wait too long to go see him," he said, before letting go and walking out. Rukia shot daggers from her eyes into his back as he went, fuming. What is that supposed to mean? Always teasing me when my mouth is full! Stupid Renji!
He had a point though. She decided she would meet up with Ichigo the next day at the latest. It had been too long.
Rukia arrived at her appointed send-off by the divisional headquarters just as the sun was slipping below the buildings and walls of Seireitei. Ukitake was there with Sentarō and Kiyone, both of whom were for once were quiet, while across from them stood her brother, impeccable as always. His presence seemed to have scared the pair of 3rd Seats into silence. As she approached, his eyes tracked toward her, and he said merely "Rukia."
"Nii-sama," she replied with the smallest of smiles, inclining her head. She walked up to the group, faced her brother and said "You didn't have to take time away to see me off."
"It was only proper," he replied.
Her smile grew slightly and she nodded again, before turning to Ukitake. "Taichō," she said "I'm ready."
"Kiyone, if you would," replied Ukitake. Sentarō, for once, didn't object, and so Kiyone walked in front of Rukia and withdrew her zanpakutō, using it to open a senkaimon.
Rukia drew herself up in preparation to walk through. She knew the other end would be right outside the Urahara Shop, but something still bothered her about the whole business.
Right before she stepped forward she heard her brother again. "Rukia," he said once more.
"Yes, nii-sama?" she replied, turning to him.
Her brother looked her directly in the eyes and reached out, resting a hand lightly on her shoulder. She kept herself still and calm under his touch. "Go with the grace of the Kuchiki clan," he said. With that he removed his hand, turned, and began to walk away.
She watched him for only a moment before whispering "Yes, nii-sama," with a newfound purpose, and immediately made her way into the senkaimon, which sealed behind her.
She stepped out of the other set of doors into the dusty lot immediately outside the Urahara Shop. It was cold, but all things considered she didn't find herself bothered. It was sort of comforting in some ways, actually, and she could hear Sode no Shirayuki hum at it.
Both Urahara and Tessai stood in front of the doors waiting to meet her, flanked by Ururu and Jinta.
"Ah, Kuchiki-san," said Urahara, a holding up a fan dramatically to cover his mouth, "We've been waiting for you. You're right on time."
She immediately headed for them, not bothering with a greeting. "Tell me about this incident while I retrieve the gigai you've prepared, and don't think that I will be as lax as Ukitake-taichō was over the phone," she said sternly, walking past them all into the shop's interior.
Urahara and Tessai shared a look before following after her, and sighed, both knowing from her demeanor that engaging in their usual behavior would likely be very unproductive for their working relationship with her, to put it lightly. "Don't worry," Urahara said quietly, "I planned for this."
By the time they caught up she had already located the gigai and shut the door to the room it was in, getting into it and dressing. They had given her clothing that was both acceptable and aesthetically pleasing considering the weather, and won a grudging reprieve by furnishing her with a Chappy-patterned scarf. She topped her ensemble off with it with only a small cheer and slid open the door to find Urahara waiting. "Don't think you can buy me off with just a scarf, you could've talked through the door," she said coolly.
Urahara held his hands up in supplication before gesturing to a kotatsu set with tea.
Rukia moved to it and sat down, shortly followed by Urahara, who began to relate what he had felt more than anything, and what he'd been told by his employees. Yoruichi had not been present at the time, nor was she there now, and although he wouldn't say where she'd been or was, he was sure she had nothing extra to add in any case.
"You have nothing more to add than what you've said just now?" Rukia asked at last. She had learned little more than she had from her taichō.
Urahara sat silently for a moment in thought. At last he spoke: "It wasn't just drawing reishi from the environment and turning it into reiatsu. It also managed to convert kishi directly into reishi."
Rukia felt her heart skip a beat and her eyes widen in shock. "Are you telling me it was able to weaponize ordinary matter?"
Urahara nodded solemnly and looked at her, saying "We found evidence at the scene," before pulling a folder out from under the table. Opening it revealed several photographs of the park showing off the crater that had been produced. From its shape, it was clearly not an impact, and there was a long pier that went almost to the middle of it that was completely unaffected. One of the photos had Ururu standing on the pier for scale. It was about the width across of someone in an aggressive stance. Rukia frowned at that. "Someone was standing there," she said at last, tapping at one of the photos.
"Maybe," Urahara replied, his tone indicating he agreed but wouldn't commit to the conclusion. "What I do know is that the source of origin was definitely artificial."
Rukia could feel her eyes narrow. "What do you mean?"
"It was too 'clean'," Urahara continued, looking up at her from beneath his hat, "The reiatsu was too ordered, there was no emotional content, none of the things that mark out the emissions of a living being, be it a soul, human, or otherwise."
"So it was something artificial held by someone…" Rukia said grimly.
"Kuchiki-san," started Urahara, "you should also know that by my estimate, compared to the total reiatsu that would've been created by these processes, we only felt about half of it released in that beam. The other half simply disappeared." He was staring at her now with deadly seriousness as to what that might mean.
Rukia deliberately kept her gaze controlled and looked back at the photos, before slowly sipping her tea. They sat in silence for some minutes, before at last Rukia stood, saying "There are others I must question while their recollections are still good. I trust you've prepared a 'cellular phone' for me?"
Urahara held up a cell phone without looking up. Rukia took it and slid it into one of her coat's outer pockets, making her way back toward the outside door. She stopped as she made her way to the threshold of the room, saying "Urahara."
The man looked up at her, saying nothing.
"Thank you. You've been very helpful. I appreciate your honesty. I will return before the days change," she concluded, and with that she was gone.
Urahara listened to her go out the front door and turned to find Tessai standing beside him. The large man adjusted his glasses and said "I think she's taking after her brother."
"Let's hope not too much so," Urahara said quietly, flaring his fan over his mouth to hide a smirk.
Rukia had called Inoue first. Even though she, along with Chad and Ishida, must surely have been aware of the moment she arrived, the girl had been completely ecstatic and demanded to meet up with her immediately. Rukia assented after only moderate badgering, and had allowed Inoue to pick a tea shop in Mashiba that was relatively central to the four of them. Inoue had told Rukia she would call Chad and Ishida to come meet with them. What she had not told her was that she gave them a time that was 15 minutes later than the time she agreed upon, because she wanted to catch up one-on-one.
Rukia arrived at the tea shop at the same time as Inoue and was nearly tackled by the teenager on sight, who gave her an enormous hug. "Ah, Kuchiki-san, it's been so long! Oh, your hair, it looks great! That scarf is so cute! How are you? What's going on in Soul Society?" she had begun before belting out a dozen more questions.
Rukia only managed to get a word in edgewise in response and so was at last forced, laughing to hide her consternation, to pry Inoue off of her. "Inoue, there's—there's plenty of time for questions, let's get inside, yeah?"
"Oh, yeah, it is rather cold out, isn't it?" Inoue said, puffs of steam coming from her, before practically dragging Rukia inside. Inoue immediately led her to a table for four and ordered a rather bizarre combination of blackberry and mint-chocolate flavored black tea which left Rukia protesting she'd already had some at the Urahara Shop.
"Are you staying there during your time here?" Inoue asked, before smacking a fist into an open palm "I know! You could stay with me!"
Rukia chuckled at the idea more in fear than in good humor and tried to wave it off "No, no, I couldn't possibly burden you like that—"
"Ne, Kuchiki-san," said Inoue, suddenly much more serious, for her anyway, "You haven't met with Kurosaki-kun yet, have you?
Rukia looked up at Inoue at that, seeing concern in her big brown eyes. Renji's advice echoed in her mind without warning. She figured Inoue could tell from monitoring her reiatsu where she had been, but answered anyway: "No, I won't see him until tomorrow. There's a lot to do tonight."
Through Inoue's eyes she could almost see the gears in the girl's head turn, and then it was like a light clicked on. "Tomorrow…? Are you getting him something for Valentine's Day?!" she asked with glee. The look on Inoue's face was easily amongst the happiest Rukia had ever seen her and that made her more scared than a weapon that could turn kishi into reishi or the thought of possibly enduring Inoue's cooking for what could be weeks.
"Ah hah," Rukia muttered, rubbing the back of her head before going "Um, what's…Valentine's Day?" She realized she was falling back into using her schoolgirl voice.
"You don't know!?" Inoue said in shock, blinking.
Rukia laughed nervously and shook her head. She had never been in the Living World for it.
A gleam shot through Inoue's eyes and she lifted a hand, pointer finger aloft, in one of her rarest expressions: a professorial one. "Valentine's Day is the day when women give chocolate to the men in their lives; either giri-choco for men that they respect and have social obligation to, or honmei-choco for their true loves, be they lovers, boyfriends, fiancés, or husbands! Then, next month, on March 14th, the man is obliged to return a similar gift!"
"Ah,' Rukia said, not entirely understanding what this had to do with her.
Inoue looked at her completely incredulously. "You have to get Kurosaki-kun chocolate for when you see him tomorrow!" she said, nodding at herself, her expression firm and unyielding on the point.
Rukia found herself laughing much more nervously this time "Um, how is the man supposed to know whether the chocolate is giri-choco or honmei-choco?"
"Usually honmei-choco is homemade, but really," Inoue stated with another huge smile, "he just will!"
Rukia continued laughing as she felt herself break out into a sweat. Fortunately, it was at that moment that Ishida and Chad entered the tea shop. They had hustled and were early.
"Sado-kun, Ishida-kun, over here!" Inoue waved excitedly to them. Chad and Ishida shared a glance, as Rukia and Inoue were the only other people in the shop and it only had four tables. Without a word, both walked over and sat down.
"Kuchiki-san," both smiled and said by way of greeting. "It's been awhile," Ishida added, to which Chad only nodded.
"It's good to see both of you again," Rukia said with a genuine smile. She was surprised in that moment to see how much mature the three of them looked already, and had to fight away wonder at how Ichigo must look. A few seconds passed as they all sat together before she indulged herself and asked "How is Ichigo doing?"
Ishida coughed, Chad grunted, and Inoue drank her tea too quickly, prompting her to wave at her scalded tongue "Iht hurth!"
Rukia raised an eyebrow at their reactions.
Ishida immediately spoke up "Kurosaki came in late today around lunch. Apparently his father had called him in as being sick before school had started, but he seemed to be in good spirits—better than usual." He didn't explain, figuring she would catch his meaning; he was, typically enough, too subtle.
"He has glasses now," Chad said without any further explanation.
"Eh?!" Rukia said in disbelief, picturing Ichigo wearing stereotypical, thick, circular, coke-bottle glasses. She laughed harder than she had in ages at the thought.
"They're more like sunglasses than anything. Silver frames, yellow lenses, very modern fashion. He had a prescription and said they were for eye-strain. He only started wearing them the other day." Ishida added.
Inoue turned to Rukia and grabbed one of her wrists for a moment, saying "They looth tho cool!" with total belief in it. Chad nodded again in agreement. Ishida pushed his own glasses up. They shared the renewed camaraderie in silence for a minute.
She noticed they hadn't told her how he had been for anything more than the immediate past, but put it aside. Although she didn't want to ruin the moment, she had no choice. "You know why I'm really here," Rukia said at last, letting her tone get more businesslike.
"Yes," they all said at once, their own tones serious, before they started to recount events in turn.