Part of this story is just me working all my favorites onto the stage to play around. This one isn't really a one-shot collection in the way that "Best I Am" was. It's got more of a throughline. But it's still part of the fun for me.

I hope it's fun for you too.

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Hitsugaya didn't miss the fact that Yumichika Ayasegawa was holding a bottle of quite possibly the hardest liquor Soul Society had ever seen, if the smell was anything to go by. He looked grim, and Ikkaku didn't look any better. Matsumoto frowned studiously as she watched this pair enter their office; no doubt she was thinking about the fact that she normally liked the idea of drinking on the job, especially with these two. They were fun drinking companions.

It felt . . . dangerous somehow.

"Ikkaku tells me you're on his trail."

Hitsugaya frowned, leaned against his desk, and watched the Eleventh Division's third-seat officer pace about the room. "If he is who I think, then yes. I am."

Yumichika didn't pour into a saucer or even a cup; he drank directly from his bottle. He grimaced, but not from his rotgut. It was simply the topic of conversation that had him in such a sour mood; Hitsugaya would have put money on it. "I'd hold the old bastard would be scattered to the winds by now, or else happy enough staying out on the fringes with his little empire. You say he's operating in the upper districts? Close to the court?"

"That's right," Matsumoto said. "One of his flunkies set two children on us."

Yumichika snorted. "Of course."

"He went by Nishi when we ran him down," Ikkaku said.

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto shared a glance. "West," they said as one.

"He's a leech," Yumichika spat, taking another swig from his bottle. "He can't be assed to do this own dirty work. Loves to send his little birds to do it for him. You say he set two on you? I can assure you he has plenty more where that came from. If he's throwing children at a captain, it means he's secure enough in terms of assets that he's comfortable ridding himself of a few."

"You're saying this man expected us to kill the little ones," Matsumoto said.

Yumichika shrugged. "Not explicitly, but he wouldn't have cared if you had."

"Nishi fancies himself a puppeteer," Ikkaku said. "A spider, tugging at his little webs. Not unlike my predecessor." He took the collar of his captain's cloak between two fingers. "Not to say he's anywhere on that level, mind you. Just that he's so damned arrogant that you'd think he was."

Hitsugaya was scratching notes into a little book he'd pulled from a drawer.

"He's a coward is what he is," Yumichika growled. "Anyone who uses children to fight for him, spy for him, steal for him. When he finds out that a captain and a vice-captain are on his tail? He's going to wet himself."

"So," said Matsumoto, "what do you think he's after? Why would he have children robbing people for him? It can't just be money, can it? That's ridiculous. The risk is too great for way too little reward. How many rings could a child realistically steal? What does he really want?"

"I haven't the faintest," Yumichika said. "If you're taking charge of this investigation, though, I want in. I want to know if that bastard really is still around. If he is, I want to look him in the eye. I have questions that need answering, and he owes me answers."

Hitsugaya thought about asking Yumichika what his history with this man was. Why he was so obviously embittered. He thought he didn't need to; seeking clarification would only rub salt in an obvious wound.

"Far be it from me to refuse a volunteer," he said instead. "If you're offering to help, I accept."