A shorter chapter this week, but I hope it is satisfactory.
Shunsui was in his office speaking with a very unexpected guest. One Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, the chief lieutenant to the queen of Hueco Mundo herself.
"So I have your word that Grimmjow's little 'excursion' wasn't authorized in any way?" Kyoraku was discussing matters related to the surprise appearance of the former Espada in Soul Society.
"Correct, Lady Hallibel has no interest in hostilities, and allowing Grimmjow to act unsupervised would be a detriment," Nell took a sip of her tea as she shared this. Grimmjow was useful as a means to deal with problems that required a violent solution, but due to his nature, not much else.
"Alright, but that doesn't explain why he came here," Shinji had heard of the appearance of a heavily injured Hikone Ubuginu, and how he was tended to, and taken away by, Sinosuke Yamada. It just was too convenient for them not to be connected.
"He was pursuing a hostile who had retreated to Soul Society by the name of Hikone," Nell placed the saucer and teacup back on the desk as she had finished her tea. "Are you aware of who this individual is?"
Shunsui sighed.
"Unfortunately yes, I assume you are referring to Hikone Ubuginu, the bodyguard and retainer to Tokinada Tsunayashiro," with that Shunsui placed an image of a small dark-skinned child on the table.
"Yes, that would be who attacked us," Shunsui sighed at Nell's answer. While this proved that Tokinada was up to something as Hueco Mundo was not a part of his assigned responsibilities, his actions inadvertently strengthened Hallibel's position, and he could spin that to cover for whatever he actually planned for.
"I would like for you to stay, at least until this blows over," he considered his options, having her stay, even if it was a controversial decision, would allow de-escalation channels between Hallibel and the Gotei.
"I would require a place to stay, and I doubt many would acquiesce," Nelliel had a point. The entire idea of being a shinigami was built on the purification of hollows. Nelliel's very existence ran against that.
"I'll see what I can do."
Yoruichi hated being in one place for an extended period of time. Not in the sense that she couldn't sit still, but in the sense that she didn't like setting down roots. The closest thing she's had to a 'home' for the past century was the shoten, and even then, she would often spend months, sometimes even years away from it.
Yoruichi wasn't entirely sure what drove this aspect of her, but it was certainly not liking the responsibilities given to her by Kyoraku. It felt like an anchor, like she was leashed to a pole in the ground that had been set into concrete. So here she was in Soul Society, choking under the responsibility as though it were a tightening collar around her neck.
Surprise surprise, being raised from birth to be the defender of Soul Society gave someone serious responsibility issues.
Yoruichi heard a knock at the door to her home. She quickly flashed to the door and opened it. "Yeah?"
In the door was Tsukishima, dressed in his usual immaculate way. "May I come in?" The taller man asked politely.
Yoruichi let him in. She had been expecting him for a while. As Ginjo was Kukaku's right hand and chief of security, Tsukishima was her left.
"So, you said you wanted to talk?" Kukaku used Tsukishima as her gopher when it came to less-than-ethical actions. Primarily because of his ability to erase any memory of his presence. It wasn't something Kukaku liked to do, as the Shiba largely preferred to play above board, but it was naive to pretend that the under-the-table game wasn't important.
"I have had little luck extracting information from the visuals department members about Xcution prior to the alleged interference of the thirteenth," Tsukishima largely found himself agreeing with the assessments of both his lady and Lady Shihoin. After he was given a psych profile on the late captain he had found Ginjo's accusations seeming less accurate than before.
"Figured working that end wasn't going to work, you find anything else though?" Yoruichi was unphased. Casing out the department's informational security would be a good way to figure out the internal clearance structure of the department.
"I did get confirmation that the department is in possession of uniforms for all forces except the Onmitsukido," Yoruichi grinned slightly at that. Seems that her decision to separate uniform production for the corps was a good idea after all. She'd love to shove that in Senjumaru's face.
"That's more than we had before," Yoruichi didn't like Tsukishima per se, he was a sociopath who was only really loyal to Ginjo. Fortunately, that did mean that he largely behaved, and since this mission was to find out who was actually responsible for the deaths of the original Xcution, he agreed to help. Combine that with his fullbring giving him the ability to both find out everything about a person through memory insertion, and then have them entirely forget about him, it made for some really good detective work.
The only problem was that everyone they had tagged so far was not inside Tokkinada's inner circle. Hell, at this rate, given the family was largely purged, the only one left who knew probably was Tokkinada.
"Keep up the work, keep it low risk. We don't want Tokkinada finding out," this little investigation was entirely off the books, and due to what they were doing, in theory put the entire operation of the department at risk. Things he would not hesitate to leverage against them. Especially as one clan interfering in the operations of another could escalate to a civil war, and thus invoke the wrath of the Gotei.
With a subtle nod from her guest, he then moved to leave.
Now Yoruichi had to find out who was left of the Tsunayashiro who would know what happened, and that required a cross-referencing of the entire list of the dead from that day, and who were living members that day.
That meant a visit to Byakuya.
Rukia found herself once again distracting herself by throwing herself into her work. However, it wasn't because of pressure, stress, or unprocessed trauma or grief, but nerves.
She and Ichigo had…
It was best not to linger on that. The controversy alone should that little secret come out would probably upend any privacy they still had. Overnight they would become the SWA's darling couple, and merely contemplating that made her feel remorseful of all of the times she involved them in her and her brother's prank war.
She had taken necessary precautions to make sure there weren't any unwelcome surprises, but she still found herself entirely embarrassed by what happened. It shouldn't have happened, but not only did it happen, she liked it. Feeling herself being embraced by him, held close, and feeling the warmth of his body and the calm envelopment of his presence around her's, and then…
Rukia shook her head and got herself back on task. Those kinds of thoughts could cause her to be reckless like that again.
She needed a little space, at least for now. Ichigo would probably have some more success with his exercises. She would probably need to do another check-up soon and may need Bazz B's help again, but she'll cross that bridge when she doesn't feel like she's going to explode from embarrassment from even thinking about Ichigo.
Damnit why did he have to be so hot!
Ichigo was in a bit of a fog. He didn't know what to do next. Everything that happened at the hot springs was…
Why did he let it happen? He knew she was concerned about their relationship progressing without official proceedings. So what did he…?
The thoughts had been distracting him for the day.
"Oi! Ichigo!" Or they were until Ginjo had grabbed his attention with the force of a vice. "the head captain wants to speak with you!"
"Let the messenger know I'll be there soon," he moved to grab his red haori from his room after a sigh.
"No, he's here," that stopped Ichigo's train of thought with the screech of a pneumatic break.
He quickly ran to his room, grabbed the haori, and ran to the front foyer while putting it on in a frankly comical manor that almost made Ginjo laugh.
Ichigo stopped to catch his breath once he entered the foyer.
"No need to tire yourself out on my behalf Ichigo," the head captain played coy. Lightening the situation.
"With all due respect, bullshit. You came here, so what's the issue?" Ichigo stood up straight as he finally caught his breath.
"Just the matter of a guest I have nowhere to put," and with that Shunsui took a wide step to the side. Revealing a woman with long wavy green hair that Ichigo felt he should recognize…
They locked eyes and then he remembered.
"ICHIGO!"
"OH GODDAM-" Ichigo was then hit with the force of a human-sized missile moving at high speed. His own blut and the sturdy wood the foyer was made of preventing any damage.
"Damnit old man, you could have…" when Ichigo got up and looked to stared daggers at the head captain he found that he had vanished.
"Damnit."
"So you're telling me that the head captain oh so graciously decided to have us be the hosts for the ambassador from Hueco Mundo until further notice?" Ichigo and Nell nodding in unison just further soured Kukaku's mood.
"Great. Just great," Kukaku took a long drag from her pipe. She then looked over at her new guest
"Is there anything you need?" Kukaku figured there was no good way out, and blaming Nell was a dick move.
"May I have my companions accompany me during my stay?" Kukaku looked at Ichigo, who was seemingly in thought as if trying to remember something.
"Ichigo, is that going to be okay?" Kukaku had no idea about Nell's companions nor the company she kept in general. So this call was entirely on Ichigo.
"It should be fine, as long as they don't summon that large sa-" Ichigo suddenly found Nell's hand covering his mouth.
"I can assure you that they will behave," Kukaku gave Nell a side eye at her reassurance, but since Ichigo endorsed them she ignored it. Though she swore Ichigo was going to say 'large sand worm.' it was probably nothing. Yoruichi did get her to finally start reading Dune, so it was probably just her imagination.
Karin had just finished her patrol for the day and was meditating with her zanpakuto as her father had instructed her to do.
So far nothing came of it. Just formless silence and the inky black of her own eyelids. No inner world, no zanpakuto spirit.
Karin thought today would be the same. Do her nightly routine, meditate with her zanpakuto until she's too tired to continue, then go to bed.
Tonight was different.
Tonight she noticed a subtle shift in her immediate surroundings and opened her eyes. She noticed how now she was outside in a forest. Specifically in a clearing of the very forest around the town cemetery, where she had encountered Grand Fisher.
"You have arrived. Good," before her stood a moderately tall young man with messy black hair that reached to his chin wearing a black robe or cape. She couldn't tell. His face was illuminated by a blue campfire that sat between them.
"Well, didn't plan on this today," Karin shot a smirk at the boyish figure. Not noticing the other being behind them. "So, what's your name?"
"I have none," Karin looked him over. She now remembered how Ichigo had described the manifestation of his quincy powers. This was probably her's.
"I like the gumption kid, but if you want my name, you'll have to earn it," A masked figure, shorter than her fragment, walked forward. She was wearing a mask reminiscent of a predatory bird, and from it came a plume of blue feathers that covered her entire upper body. Only her smaller frame and her voice hinted at her gender.
"So I take it you are my zanpakuto," the figure's golden eyes narrowed as if they were smiling as she tilted her head to the side and raised a hand, revealing her bone-white skin.
"Guilty as charged," she then sat down, her golden eyes focusing on Karin. "Good to finally meet you," Karin noticed the white hakama pants and the pitch-black nails.
"Is there anything you want to talk about?" Karin was hoping to make progress with her zanpakuto if she was able to make contact with it.
The bird skull tilted and eyes smiled again.
"Nope."
And Karin awoke sitting in her room again.
Karin sighed in light frustration. It seemed she was going to be difficult.
Feedback is always welcome.