The Ones Who Hunt Souls
World of the Living, Japan, Karakura Town, Kurosaki Clinic
Shoji doors materialized in the clinic's living room, and Ichigo's assembled team emerged. Their determined gazes swept the room as they prepared for their mission.
"We're here to find a powerful soul that has been causing disturbances in the World of the Living," Ichigo replied.
"Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng will scout the areas that Kisuke had told us about. While they do that, everyone else will split up and look around town. Chad, you, Lieutenant Hisagi, and Lieutenant Kira will use your apartment as a base of operations," Ichigo explained.
"Understood, Ichigo," the large man nodded, and the two lieutenants nodded in unison, a sign of their unity and readiness to work together.
"Lieutenant Matsumoto, you are going to be bunking with Orihime and Lieutenant Ise," he told the three as Orihime nodded at him. "Uryu, you take Lieutenant Iba along with Yumichika," Ichigo said to Quicny, who nodded.
"Right," He said as Tetsuzimon nodded at him while Yumichika rolled his eyes.
"Renji, you and Hanataro head to Urahara's and with Third Seat Kotetsu," he instructed, trusting Renji's leadership. "Rukia, Momo, Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, and I will use my home as our base," he said, confident in their abilities.
"Right, then now that is sorted out, here is where everyone is going to be searching," Ichgio said as he pulled out a map of the town, "Chad, Lieutenant Hisagi, and Lieutenant Kira, your group one, your group shall check out Mashiba, and if you see anything that is of note make sure that keep a record of it before going to see what is going on," Ichigo told them as the three nodded as the three got into Gigi and walked out of the clinic.
"Orihime, Lieutenant Ise, Lieutenant Matsumoto, you three are group two and shall check out Sakurabashi," Ichigo informed the three women, who nodded and started to make their way out. You three are group three and will be looking around Kitakawase," he told Uryu, Tetsuzimon, and Yumichika.
"Understood and I have a question: What if I run into my father?" Ichigo asked as he looked at Uryu.
"If you want to tell him what you found out, you can, but I will not force you," He said to his cousin.
"Thank you," Uryu said as he walked out.
The two Shinigami followed him as Ichigo turned to Renji, but the red-haired man held up a hand. "Us three are group four, I'm guessing," he asked Ichigo.
"That's right. You're going to check out Kinogaya. Know that your mission is your Captain's Exam, so I want you to know that Yoruichi, Suì-Fēng, and I will be evaluating you when this happens during the conclusion of this mission," Ichgio told him as both women he mentioned turned to Renji.
"And while you have gained your Bankai, I do not think that is it's true form," Yoruichi said as Renji looked confused, "I know, what you must be thinking, but I know what it feels like, as my Zanpakutō gave me a fake Shikai and fake Bankai, so look within yourself on this mission and learn to see if your Bankai is real or is it a fake," She told him.
"Yes, ma'am," Renji said before turning to Suì-Fēng, who looked him dead.
"While on this mission, I want you to show me that you have what it takes to be a Gotie Captain, and what that means to you," She told him as Renji looked confused and when he was going to ask, "I will not spell it out for you, you have to know what it means to you," Suì-Fēng told him before she and Yoruichi left the clinic.
"And from me, I want to know if you can defend until the last man," Ichigo said as Renji looked at him. When Renji opened his mouth, Ichigo cut him off. And make sure that everyone under your care comes back alive. You have resources, so use them," he told the man, who nodded and walked out, with Hanataro and Kiyone following him.
"And were are we looking Ichigo," Momo asked her captain.
"We're going to look around Minamikawase," he told her as she nodded. The three still in the clinic went upstairs to prepare for their search.
Late At Night, Kasazaki
Yoruichi, in her cat form, was running with Suì-Fēng next to her as they chased something that they could feel was close to them. "Do you feel that, my little bee?" she asked her former student.
"Yes, Yoruichi-sama," Suì-Fēng said as a woman singing filled the air around them.
"Be careful," Yoruichi said as they turned a corner into a train yard.
They found that the one singing was a tall woman with chest-length brown hair covering her forehead in a large, leftward-facing bang, pale violet eyes, and thin eyebrows. She wears red lipstick and a faded green dress with a popped collar encircled by a red tie ending in a flat edge and purple frills lacing the bottom; the dress is divided into two halves, gently curving away from each other at the front of her midsection and is coloured maroon in a bra-like portion over her breasts, with the section below this being coloured orange-grey instead. Underneath this, she wears a short, dark shirt that leaves her midriff bare, blue-grey pants, a light grey arrow pointing downward at her crotch at the front of the waist, and plain brown shoes.
And walking towards her was a train driver in a trance, walking towards her like he was in a trance.
When the driver was face to face with the woman, she raised her mouth to his neck and started to breathe in.
And that is when both Shinigami jumped in, with Yoruichi turning into her true form as she knocked away the woman from the driver.
"You shouldn't interupt two adults, expeshely when they are consenting," The woman told Yoruichi, who scoffed at the woman.
"I very much doubt that he gave you consent to devour his soul," She told her back as Suì-Fēng got ready, but the woman smiled at them.
"Now this is an unfair fight, so I'll be off," She said as she jumped away.
As the petit Shinigami was going to give chase, Yoruichi stopped her, "No, we have the data that we need, and our foe is on the run," She said as Suì-Fēng turned to her former sensei, "And it looks like she is quit good at it, so we'll return to the others for now," She said as Suì-Fēng nodded. The two sped back to the clinic.
When they find Nemu looking over a report, Momo and Rukia look at a map, and Ichigo is cooking food.
"We found one of the Bounts," Yoruichi said as Ichigo approached her.
"Momo," he said as the brown-haired woman set up a projector to show the other team members.
And when they all looked at Ichigo, who looked at Yoruichi, "What have you found," He asked her.
"First, so that everyone knows when Kisuke was both the captain of the twelfth and the head of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, he found something, something that would then lead him to discovering the Bounts existence," Yoruichi said as everyone nodded at her, "At the moment they are small in number and are like a Quincy, even if they are a invention of some Shinigami scientists before Kirsuke turned the twelfth into what it is now, and after going over his research, it was found that they, like Quincy, are born human, but have the ability to eat the souls to live longer, and there has been no limit to how old a Bount can get, unlike a Quincy can can die," Yoruichi said as Uryu rubbed his chin.
"So they can't die," Renji asked as Ichigo narrowed his eyes.
"No, they can keep their eternal life so long as they continue to feast on the souls, but they normally do this to pluses, the woman that me and Suì-Fēng encountered was not doing that," She said as Ichigo looked at her, "She was trying to take the soul from a living person," She told them as Ichigo started to think up ideas.
Before more could be said, a sensation opened. Urahara walked out, and behind him was a small group of stuffed animals.
One of them was Kon. Next to him was a pink rabbit. Then there was a yellow bird in a blue raincoat, a turtle in a suit, a pink rabbit-esque purse, a grey dog with a cape, and the last one was a pale blue dinosaur.
No one said anything as Orihime cocked her head, "That is some hobby you have mister Urahara," She said as Yoruichi started to descend into giggles.
But he just smiled, "Why thank you, Orihime, now then, the reason for the plushies, they are Mod Souls that I have added a bount sensor to so when your out looking, take them with you so they can help you find the Bounts, and with saying that I have upgreaded Kon and Chappy," He said as the last of the Mod Souls walked thou the Senkaimon, and he walked back thought it.
And it was then the small group of plushies looked off in one direction, "Ichigo," Kon said as he exited his body with Ruika and Momo doing the same.
"We'll go after the Bount, as we have the Mod Souls, and then in the morning we'll spit up the Mod Souls," he said. The others nodded, and the captain and lieutenants of the fifth followed the Mod Souls to the Bounts.
They heard singing as they reached the central part of town.
"It's near now; take that leftover there," Kon said as the three Shinigami turned left. They found the woman, and she was ready to take the soul of another woman.
"I would stop if I were you," Ichigo said as he touched Zangetsu's sealed form while Rukia and Momo got ready.
"So they sent three Shinigami this time, and a captain at that," The Bount told them as the woman she was drinking from woke up and ran away.
And the Bount did the same thing as the three Shinigami gave chase.
"So they are like the Quincy and have there own highspeed movement technique," Ichigo said as Momo nodded.
"It's not as fast as out Shunpo but it is fast," Rukia said as the woman turned another corner.
Soon, they cornered her into a construction yard that had a high wall that blocked off any exit, "I do not want to kill you, so please do not force my hand," Ichigo said as he released Zangetsu into Shiki, "So, what are you doing here," He asked her as she stepped away from a wall.
She looked at him, and he looked back at her. "Every well, ask your questions," she said.
"Why are you here," Ichigo asked her.
"I am here gathering my strength to stop someone, another of my kind," She said as Momo raised a brow.
"Another Bount," She asked her.
"So, you know what I am," She asked them as they nodded at her, "Then you must know that my exhusband is planing somthing that will bring a war to the Soul Society," She told them as Ichigo narrowed his eyes.
"Is it because the Bounts were hunted and killing by the Shinigami," Ichigo asked as the woman nodded.
"Yes, but I do not want to follow that plan," She said as Rukia looked at her.
"You want to stop this plan," She said as the woman nodded.
Ichigo narrowed his eyes at her before nodding and sealing Zangetsu back up. "I know you're telling the truth," he said, and the woman looked shocked.
"How Ichigo," Momo asked as she let go of Tobiume.
"It's a Shiba thing that I inherited from my old man," Ichigo said as Rukia looked curious. "I'll explain later, so can we get a name?" he asked the Bount.
"Yoshino Sōma," She told them as Ichigo approached her.
"I'm Catpain Ichigo Kurosaki," He said as he held his hand out to her.
She looked at his hand and then back at him before accepting it, and a jolt of energy flowed through her body before she let go of it.
"What did you just do," Yoshino asked as she moved her finger claw over her bracelet.
"Thanks to being someone who will someday rule over the Soul Society, I have the limited power to look at someone's soul, and when I looked at yours, I saw that you wanted to live and stop someone from the evil path they are on, so I used U - The Upgread to olter your soul," He told her as she looked amazed.
"What," She asked him in a quiet voice.
"Now, you can pass on the blood line of the Bounts," He said as he turned around and smiled as he could hear the slight sound of tears falling on the ground.
"Thank you," she said to him as Ichigo turned to her with a gentle smile.
"Don't worry about it. Do you want help dealing with that other Bounty?" he asked Yoshino, who nodded.
"Yes," She said as the four of them walked off.
And they failed to see that they were being watched by someone on top of one of the buildings.
It was a man who looked to be in his early fifties. He was dressed in a black suit, had long black hair tied back in a high ponytail, and had a beard with a grey stripe.
On his finger was a golden ring with a flame pattern and the same symbol that Yochino's claw finger had.
"Kariya is not going to like that his ex-wife is teaming up with the Shinigami," the man said as he walked away. But then, he has no leg to stand on as he has a Shinigami within our ranks," he said before disappearing into the night.
The Next Day, Kurosaki Clinic
Yoshino was at the table with Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng as the two women wrote down the information that they were getting, "And that is all I know," She said as Yoruichi nodded and started to look over everything before she narrowed her eyes at something.
"What is it," Ichigo asked as he walked downstairs with a towel around his shoulders.
"The enemy has a plan to use a Quiny to open the portal between the worlds, and they have been in contact with a group of female Quincy," she said as Ichigo narrowed his eyes.
"So it seems that my grandfather is starting to play his hand," he said, and Yoruichi nodded.
"So it seems but I do not know the names of the Quincy, as Karia did not want us to know about them, but I do know that one of them went under sergery from a male, to a woman and I do not mean transgender, they somehow made this man into a woman," Yoshino said as Ichigo looked both amazed and shocked.
"I'm not even going to ask how he did that, but the main question I have is what they plan on doing," Ichigo said as he rubbed his chin.
But before more questions could be asked, the clinic's phone went off, and Ichigo answered it. "Hello," he said.
"Captain Kurosaki, my group is on the trail of a Bounty at the moment. We'll give the location once we find him," the vice president of Izuru told him.
"Alright, but be careful. The Bounts, as you know, have something like our Zanpakutō, and we do not know what the Doll of this Bount is," he told the man.
"Understood, we will prosered with coaution," Izuru said before he hung up.
The orange-haired teen turned to the others. "Group three has located another Bount," he said as Yoshino tried to imagine who it could be.
"Can you tell us about the other Bounts that this Karia has working for him," Yoruichi asked her.
"I don't know how many he has under his control, the number could be a hand ful or it could be a lot more than that," She said as Yoruichi nodded.
"I see," She muttered as she looked down at the document she and Suì-Fēng were making about what Yoshino had told him.
Before more could be said, the phone went off again, "It's a man with the ability to turn things to snakes, and here is our location," Izuru said as Ichigo nodded.
"Alright, Renji's group is the closest to yours. I'll send him right away," Ichigo said.
"Understood, captain," the lieutenant said to him. He hung up once more, and so the teen called Renji.
"Yes," Renji asked into the phone.
"Head to the following location as Group Three is engaging a Bount in battle and your group is closest to them," Ichigo said before giving the location.
"Got it, we're heading out now, and Rin just said that he got the signul, coming from that location, so I'll sent more infromation once I know," Renji told him.
"Right, and I have been told that he can control snakes," Ichigo told the man on the other end of the line.
"Understood," Renji said before hanging up.
That is when Yoshino spoke up. " If there's a man who can control snakes, it's Ryō Utagawa, who has the Doll called Fried, a snake," she told them.
"What's your Doll if you don't mind me asking," Momo asked as she helped plate up breakfast.
"Goethe, a fire elemental," Yoshino said to them as she held up her finger claw. And this is him in his sealed form," she told them as Ichigo looked at the claw.
Before they could say more, the phone went off once more. "Yes," he asked.
"The man escaped but he said somthing that made me stop," Uryu said as he was on the other end of the line this time.
"What is it," Ichigo asked him.
"He said that the soul of Quincy is something that he has been wanting to taste for revenge for a while now," he told Ichigo, who narrowed his eyes. So I've got a stupid plan," Uryu said as the orange-haired teen narrowed his eyes even more.
"How stupid are we talking here?" Ichigo said as the woman in the clinic with him looked confused.
"Asano level of stupid," he told him back as Ichigo let out a heavy sigh. I know we have Youshino on our side now, but I have a plan to capture a Bounty and have them say what the plan this Karia is and how they will achieve it," Uryu informed him.
"And who is going to be acting as the bait," Ichigo asked.
"I am, as I'm the only fully blooded Quincy that we have in our team, so I will apear helpless in the hospital and you and a everyone elce can be station outside and within the room," Uryu said as Ichigo sighed.
"I don't like this plan, but at this moment, it's the best we have," Ichigo said, releasing another heavy sigh. Alright, but we have to make it look convincing, so as soon as you don't like it, you're going to have to be roughed up a bit," Ichigo told him.
"Right, how are we going to achieve that?" he asked Ichigo, who looked at the two ninjas.
"Did you forget that we have two ninjas on our team?" he asked as Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng stood up.
"That I did, and tell them, that I need my glasses," Uryu said as he hung up.
Ichigo looked at both women, "Uryu has a crazy plan that will draw out the Bounts so we can capture one and question them on Karia's plan," Ichigo told them as Suì-Fēng narrowed her eyes, "So you two have to make it look like Uryu has gotten some injuries somehow, and they have to look convinceing," He told them as both women nodded and left.
Soul Society, Seireitei, Twelfth Division, Data Centre
Shunsui, Ukitake, and Urahara were standing in front of a computer as they looked over data sent to the team had them last night, "The seems that they want to make their way into the Soul Society, but how that is the question," Shunsui said as he watched as Urahara pressed some keys.
"I do not know, but why would they want to come back here? They were driven out for a reason," Urahara said as he pressed some more keys.
And then something shocked him.
"Access denied," He read as he looked at the screen as a bar for a password appeared.
"How long would it take for you to get past that," Shunsui asked the twelfth captain.
"A few hours at most," he said as she turned to another screen and started typing on-coming codes as a loading bar appeared.
"When that bar fully loads, we should be able to get the information that was stored," He said as the two other men with him nodded.
After a few seconds, another screen lit up as words started to be typed onto it.
"So we have some more information available to us," Urahara said as he looked at the words and read from them. "Okay. So the Bounts have rallied under one banner, and they are being led by a Jin Kariya, who wants to use Quincy, whom Yhwach had sent to Japan to open a way into the Soul Society," he added as the others narrowed their eyes.
"So is the mad king of the Quincy are aiding the Bounts," Ukitake said with narrowed eyes.
"I don't think so, but we can't rule it out just yet," Shunsui said as he looked at the report on the screen.
"I'll go check out the Daireishokairō and see if I can get any more information," Ukitake said, and the other men nodded as he walked out.
Shunsui looked at Urahara with a smile. "I have to say, it was better working with you than it was working with Mayuri; he would always say that you have to go through the proper channels and not do his job as a captain or, if I'm being honest, a father," he said to the man.
The man in the bucket sighed, "I should have never let him out of the maggots' nest," Urahara said with a deep sigh.
"Hey, things happen that you could not know that he would become the man he became," Shunsui told him as Urahara nodded.
"You're right," he said before looking back at the screen and seeing that the bar had fully loaded, the password had been filled in, and a new screen had appeared. "Alright, let's see what we got," Urahara said as he looked at the screen.
"So the Bounts create a special residue that, in the right circumstances, can affect space," he said as he read from the screen with narrowed eyes. That means it can form a tunnel from two planes of reality to another," Urahara said as Shunsui looked surprised.
"So that means the world of the living and the Soul Society," He said, but Urahara shook his head.
"No, it would connect the world of the living to Hueco Mundo, and that would mean countless Hollows would flood the world of the living, but that means that with the time we use to send Shinigami to the world of the living, it would already too late and we would not have enough power to deal with them," Urahara told him as the Shunsui, "But that is only one possiblity that we know right now," He added.
"How much of a possibility," Shunsui asked the other captain.
"50%," He answered the man.