Chapter 14: On The Hunt

Back at the Kurosaki house, Ichigo had been laying on his bed and reflecting on this pretty crazy day. Not only has he found out that Grimmjow was even stronger now, but he had also found out that Tatsuki would be used against him by either Aizen or the soul society, and the fact that he had unintentionally resurrected Yoruichi's zanpakuto. At least now she was on his side in all of this. His father had left back for soul society a few hours ago so no one would be the wiser back there. His mother, Yuzu and Karin took Tatsuki back to her place and explained to her mom that there was an accident that knocked her out. Luckily Tatsuki's mom wasn't the one to question as long as her daughter was safe and sound. Thomas had went back home to rest up his pretty sore body, eager for tomorrows training with Wonderweiss. The girls had decided to spend a little time talking to each other about something Ichigo couldn't fully hear from his room.

All in all, he was simply ready to finally get some much needed rest. The second he actually shut his eyes, he was quickly taken by sleep.

Back in the living room, the girls had been talking among themselves about today so far. Nearly getting attacked by Ichigo's father was not a fun thing to them, nor was hearing of Aizen's tip to the soul society. This could be horrible for them if they all stay here in this one house for too long now. Wonderweiss and Hooleer were busy watching TV to really listen in on the conversation too much.

"So, what exactly should we do then?" Apache asked mainly Halibel and Neliel.

"Honestly don't know." Neliel started off for Halibel to finish.

"If Aizen really did tip off the soul society on our current position, then we have no choice but to leave to keep Ichigo's family safe." Halibel told the four in front of her.

"But what about Ichigo?" Sun Sun asked. "We all know that he won't just leave his family after finally being back with them."

"For once I agree completely with Sun Sun." Mila Rose added in.

"Why don't we all just leave then?" Wonderwiess said as he was still looking at the TV. "I could always just tell Thomas where we are or just go and see him whenever to train, so it won't that big of a deal I suppose."

The five women thought about that for a second. It did make sense a little. If they all just moved away from this home to another location, then they could at the very least be a little harder to find. There was really only one problem, and that was if the soul society or Aizen were already monitoring them or not. Going back to Hueco Mundo wasn't going to work since Aizen more than likely controlled most of it by now. So what exactly could they do at this point? It's not like an answer was going to come from out of nowhere.

That was when they heard a knock at the front door. Being a little cautious, Halibel and Neliel decided to go to the door where they felt two weak spirit energies. They opened the door to find two arrancar standing there with looks of either fear or shock. The boy with fear, while the girl looked shocked. Halibel looked to the two and raised an eyebrow to them as they simply stood there, staring at both she and Neliel.

"So." Neliel started in her usual tone of voice. "What are two arrancar who are very much nowhere close to mine or Tia's level standing outside for?" Halibel was actually surprised to hear Neliel talk to someone like that. It was a first for her to hear the usually uppity and happy Neliel talk to someone with a hint of irritation or even anger in her voice.

"W-W-Well." Keiji started in a shaky voice that was trying not to falter at this point. "M-Me and my s-s-sister have left Hueco Mundo to g-get away from this w-war."

Both Neliel and Halibel were surprised to hear this. These two were defecting from Aizen's side and wanted no part of the upcoming war. So why did they decided to come here of all places?

"That's all well and good, but how did you find us here, and why are you two here to begin with?" Halibel asked the two in a demanding tone that caused both brother and sister to flinch.

"Th-That's easy." Meiko started, letting her temper get the better of her. "We heard that there was a group of arrancar's that were against both Aizen and the soul society, so we left to see if we could join in." Meiko said without fully thinking beforehand. It wasn't until she had the door shut in her face with Neliel saying 'Give us a minute' did it really sink in for her. She shakily turned to her brother with tears threatening to leave her eyes and said to him in a borderline pleading tone. "What do I do?"

Keiji had turn pale at hearing her words before and had no idea what to make of the whole thing. When she asked him what to do, he simply shook his head nervously in response.

Before the two could even say or do anything, the door opened and a short, orange haired boy stood in front of the two female arrancar. He rubbed his eyes a few times to rid his vision of the blurs surrounding his sight and looked at the two in front of him. He was still in his gigai and just looked like he was ready to pass out from exhaustion if his frizzy hair was any indication. Both Meiko and Keiji looked at each other then back to the cute chibi and blinked a few times before he asked them a question.

"So." Ichigo started with a yawn as he stretched his arms up a bit. "Halibel and Neliel told me you two left Aizen's stupid face and want to join us." He said in a tired tone. "Why?"

"Because he's trying to send us into a war that we have no chance of winning." Keiji started as he regained some color. "He knows most of us wouldn't even handle a simple lieutenant, let alone all of them or especially a captain. What he's sending us to do in the winter is suicide to most of us."

"Winter?" a new voice said from behind the two siblings that made them jump out of their skins. They turned to see a woman with orange hair and two girls standing next to her. On had a bow drawn and pointing straight at them. "And what, pray tell, is Aizen planning in the winter?" Masaki asked the two calmly, yet with a hint of malice behind her voice.

Keiji and Meiko looked at each other before looking back to the woman with orange hair. They could tell that this was going to be a long night for them. Unbeknownst to them all, a certain bucket hat wearing man was keeping a close listen to the conversation.

Soul Society

There was an emergency captains meeting called about early in the morning. Unfortunately for Isshin, he only caught a few hours of sleep by the time he got back last night, so he was nearly dead on his feet during the entire meeting. The head captain banged his cane down and started the meeting.

"This is an important message concerning the war with Aizen coming soon." The old man bellowed out. "We have recently have gotten word from an informant in the world of the living that Aizen intends to strike in the winter. With that said, we have two months to prepare ourselves. To that end, I am sending a few lieutenants and captain Hitsugaya to keep on guard in case Aizen sends any of his forces early."

Isshin wanted to step up and ask about his family and son, but held his tongue when he remembered that really other than Soi-Fon, none of the other captains knew. If he were to say anything now, then he would be putting his son and his son's friends in serious danger. After the meeting though, he would have a few words with his old sensei.

As everyone filed out of the room when the meeting ended, Isshin stayed behind. He looked to his old sensei and walked over towards him.

"I'm assuming that you wish to speak of why I didn't assign you to this mission, Isshin." The old man started. Isshin simply nodded to him in response. "The choice was not my decision. It was the central 46. They have decided that you are too emotionally invested in this matter and wish to monitor you here properly."

"Monitor me?" Isshin asked in disbelief.

"Yes." The head captain said bluntly. "They want you to stay here within the Seireitei until the end of the war so you may once again become head of the Shiba clan."

Isshin stared at his old teacher, dumbfounded by the fact that central 46 was dropping this on him now of all times. He hadn't thought about restarting his clan ever since he had heard of their demise all those years ago, and there was no way that he could possibly restart the entire clan at his age. Three was enough for him in his honest opinion.

"You can't be serious?" Isshin asked, his jaw still dropped.

"Unfortunately I am, Isshin." The head captain stated. Isshin sighed before heading towards the door, only to be stopped by the head captains next words. "The informant, as you know, was Kisuke Urahara." Isshin turned around to hear the old mans next words. "He has also informed me specifically that your son might not join in the war to aide us. We need that to change Isshin, and I'll entrust you to find a way to do so."

Isshin was taken aback by this request. How? How could he force something on his son when he has every reason not to want any of this? What kind of a father would that make him?

Done. Sorry For The Long Delay.

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