Soul Societies, part 2.
Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to the works of Norman Bridwell.
Buford is seeing Kiyone off at the entrance to the Jusanban-tai when they hear somebody running towards them. "Pardon me, Ukitake-Taichō. Pendleton-Taichō, your presence is required at the Ichiban-tai!" He hears from a male voice.
"Eh... Ōmaeda-Fukutaichō." Kiyone says dismissively, not seeing him as any better than her fellow sanseki.
"Now, now, sweety; leave the poor whale alone. You know they're endangered." Buford tells her, and turns towards him, not wanting to think this has to do with his Fukutaichō. He doesn't notice Kiyone making a rude face at him before running off.
"I am not fat!" Ōmaeda shouts indignantly. "Just follow me, sir. It's urgent."
His earlier hope was dashed when he arrives at the assembly hall. Kuchiki Byakuya, and Unohana are there, along with a... an individual resembling Shihōin Yoruichi, as is a foul-looking man. "Finally he arrives." The person says to himself. "I have a project waiting, Yamamoto-Soutaichō. We must address this without the fourth clan."
Yamamoto nodded as Buford grew nauseous with every word, but not enough to notice what the summons was about.
She was not there.
Several minutes earlier, at the Kasumiōji Family Manor Compound.
"You've got some nerve showing your face here again; and you even bring a shinigami before me after I made it clear that we must not draw attention to ourselves." The steward tells him as he motions to Thao, who is unconscious behind the assassin.
"I did not instigate this, Kumoi-sama. She willingly allowed me to incapacitate her."
The steward huffed before speaking again. "Explain it to me fully, then..."
"How did they let this happen!" Buford demanded, having just learned of the outcome of his Fukutaichō's mission. He naturally expected her task to go awry in a few ways, but desertion was not one of them.
Flashback. Karakura.
Once she can move again, Dang sees that it was not Kurosaki who broke through the space they had been trapped in. "Yoruichi? Another of the ryoka is here?" Thao thinks as the newcomer speaks to the assassin. She then senses the disappearance of nearby reiatsu signatures matching those of the one infront of her.
Having realized that Kurosaki hadn't been the one to free them even after all the feats he'd accomplished, she looks to him as Yoruichi resumes boasting before she interrupts. "Those katana of yours... did the Juniban-tai requisition them?"
"I will not say."
Thao tries again. "Are they be used against Aizen?" Hanza raises a brow at this, which is all she needs. "If so, then i will see to it personally." She glances to the other two, then bends over and a cloud of red smoke suddenly envelopes them.
"...ikai seyo rond...no kokken. Ichidoku...mizukar...o kaki kiru ga ī. B...dō no kyu, Hōrin." Yoruichi alone hears from her as she and Ichigo are coughing.
"Dang-san, have you-"/"Ichigo, look out!" They say too late and are caught by the spell. "Don't do this!" Yoruichi pleads to her. "Whatever you're plotting, it won't work agains-"
"It will... But first, i need inform the Kasumiōji clan head of it." Thao said to her and Hanza.
End flashback.
"What did Kurosaki Ichigo and Shihōin Yoruichi say occurred next, Unohana-Taichō?" Yamamoto asks her.
"Sadly, they informed Iemura-sanseki that she surrendered her Kōkyū Uppen and volunteered to be struck unconscious."
Yamamoto stamps his pseudo-staff against the floor, and opens both eyes. "We cannot allow any more shinigami to defect." He announces as he stands up and calls for Sasakibe. He has no intention of letting Kumoi get the better of him again.
"Stop!" Buford says suddenly, just knowing the Niban-tai will be sent for. "...Apologies. Soutaichō, we already knew that it was too soon for my Fukutaichō to be sent out for a matter of this importance. I'll find out what she is up to, if you permit it."
Yamamoto stares him down for a few seconds before looking to the three nobles. Kuchiki-Taichō says nothing, whereas the Shihōin clan head nods. "While we have yet to secure an intact sample of whatever weapons the Kasumiōji are producing in order to counter them, they can't match anything we of the Shihōin possess. One less shinigami will not be to our disadvantage."
The third man hesitates, intentionally. "Abstain. Those second-rate tinkerers are the Goteijūsantai's problem, not the Tsunayashiro's."
Yamamoto thinks for a moment, and decides. "The majority rules in favor of Pendleton-Taichō. Find your Fukutaichō and bring her to her senses within seven days." He declares. "Should you fail, it will be grounds for Dang Thao's immediate execution."
Buford takes a breath before replying. "There will be no failure, Soutaichō. I'll retrieve her, or slay her myself."
At this point, though, another voice was heard. "Might i suggest something, Taichō?"
At the Kasumiōji compound.
As Thao is in another room to replace her Shihakushō with the assassin's garb, Kumoi hears somebody walk into his office. "Is her claim true, Kumoi?" The person asks him.
"The claim... Ah, you mean regarding Aizen Sōsuke." Kumoi replied as he waved a fan at himself. "Yes, Amagai-san. He was here long ago to examine my work, but was dismissive of it."
"Because of the device he removed from the Kuchiki girl?"
"The Hōgyoku. He told me that the Bakkōtō are inferior to it, and left." He says angrily, not wanting to admit he became slightly convinced after hearing of the incident. "That fool will soon regret the day he met me."
"He shall indeed." Shūsuke replied cryptically.
Shinigami Zukan.
Once Buford and Ōmaeda have left, Ukitake speaks to his shorter sanseki. "How did your day go, Kiyone?"
She turns to him and sighs. "Lousy; he dragged "his little pumpkin muffin" around to the worst places." She tells him, and points to the cart behind her that's full of stuffed animals, clothes, and other packages. She holds up a book. "I don't wear hats, and i don't know how freaking young he thinks i am to make him buy a dozen of these!"
Ukitake leaned over and read the cover, which had a dog that was bigger then it's owner on it. "I'm not sure i see the problem." He said unconvincingly, causing her to give off an anger vein.
Send a review or PM if i should have combined this with ch.1 please.
