Chapter 12: Panic

After the gate closed and Gin was taken away to the fourth by Kira, word had started to spread about his condition and just who injured the usually cunning captain. Word is that it was the work of Rukia Kuchiki, but that made little to no sense since she was imprisoned in the Senzaikyu. The only real witness was captain Ichimaru as he fought her, and Kira only knew because those were his captains last words before slipping into unconsciousness.

Once word had hit the other captains of the attack, there were different reactions to the news. Most were rightfully confused by the report that Rukia Kuchiki attacked captain Ichimaru when they knew she was imprisoned, and they had no idea of just what Rukia's true crime was other than 'high treason'. Others found the report interesting as even they seemed rather invested into finding this 'Rukia double' as some rumors started calling her. It was only both the head captain and Byakuya who were truly nervous as they knew just what it was that attacked Gin Ichimaru, and right now during this particular captains meeting, they were both dreading the outcome for various different reasons. Byakuya because this would not bode well for his sister, and the head captain for something deeper.

"From what the report was from lieutenant Kira stated," captain Tousen started, "his captain went to the gate as it was being opened by Jidanbo. Then he was defeated by someone who looked eerily similar to Rukia Kuchiki."

"That's the part I don't understand." Captain Ukitake spoke up as he was trying to get to the bottom of Rukia's charges. "What exactly does that even mean someone eerily similar to her?"

"Lieutenant Kira said that just before captain Ichimaru passed out he said something about his attacker was something called a 'soul imprint'." Unohana had just returned from treating Gin's frozen arm and was stumped on just how damaged it was. It was not like a normal frostbite that she has seen numerous times before. This one was different in so many ways. For one, the ice had started to turn black around the limb and was slowly crawling up to his shoulder. Another thing was how it wouldn't react to heat or even kiddo spells. It was strange for Unohana as she has never seen anything like this before. All she really could do was slow the process as much as she could to a snails pace, but whoever did this to Gin Ichimaru wanted to make sure he suffered as the man was in constant pain even when sedated.

"A soul imprint?" Aizen raised a brow. "I've never heard of such a thing before." A lie from the man as he knew of it but had never seen a single piece of evidence to the process.

"There is a reason for that." The head captain spoke in a solemn tone that caught everyone's attention.

"Why is that sensei?" Ukitake asked him.

Yamamoto sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "A soul imprint is something that has only occurred once throughout the history of the soul society. Many of you believe that it is the transfer of a soul reapers power to a human that is truly illegal, but that is just a cover-up for the truth."

"And what truth is that, old man?" Kyoraku asked as he tipped his hat up.

"The first time this happened was long before the formation of the Seireitei, the thirteen court guard or even the Central forty-six themselves. It involved a young man who, in a time of great weakness, transferred his power to a human in the world of the living." Yamamoto sighed once more. "Instead of transferring a portion of his power, the human instead became a complete copy of the soul reaper's soul, taking with him the soul reapers power and even their zanpakuto in the process."

Everyone in the room looked on in shock as Yamamoto continued.

"At first, we thought this was temporary, but as time went on, the human became more like the soul reaper over time. The soul reaper began losing their memories of who they were as their powers never returned to them."

"So why is this such a sensitive subject that it was covered up as the transference of power being illegal?" Soi-Fon asked as she was curious to what was so bad about this.

"Because the human then became corrupted by this soul once he came into contact with the soul reaper once again." Yamamoto continued, seeing everyone confused by this response. "Once the human was corrupted, his energy became toxic to the soul society, and his sheer presence was enough to eradicate everything below a certain level of power."

"And what power was that?" Komamura asked as a sinking feeling could be felt throughout the room.

Yamamoto opened his eyes to the room to let them know he was deathly serious. "The Soul King himself."

Everyone in the room went wide eyed and slack jawed at this information. The soul imprint became so powerful that it took the Soul King to stop him?

It was unbelievable to even comprehend.

It was unheard of.

It was interesting.

It was terrifying.

It was an opportunity.

It was a danger that needed to be dealt with swiftly and without mercy.

These were the thoughts running through many of the captains minds after hearing this news. If a human could become that powerful, then just what should be done about this new soul imprint?

"Wait a moment," Aizen started, getting everyone's attention as he looked to Byakuya. "Didn't you say that you dealt with the one who stole Rukia's power by cutting their Saketsu and Hakusui?"

All eyes turned to the stoic man as he stood there with an almost unreadable look on his face. "I did so in the hopes that it would solve this problem and end it all with no more repercussions."

"While that most likely would have worked, this new soul imprint is different from the first one." Yamamoto's response was met with more questions as everyone once again looked to him for the answers. He looked back at Tousen and the blind man could feel the very weight of this next question on his shoulders. "You said the reports were for someone who was eerily similar to Rukia Kuchiki, not Rukia Kuchiki herself?"

"That was the report from lieutenant Kira when he arrived at the scene." Tousen answered.

Yamamoto's eyes opened ever so slightly more as if this was indeed the worst news he could have heard. "Bring Lieutenant Kira here at this instant, NOW!" He banged his cane to get his point across as Unohana sent out a Hell Butterfly to summon the lieutenant of squad three.

It only took roughly ten minutes for the young man to arrive and kneel in front of the very leadership he followed. When he received the message, he was in the middle of handing out orders to his subordinates and was on his way to visit the captain in squad four. To say the young man was overwhelmed by this was an understatement as the head captain was damn near staring daggers into him.

"Lieutenant Kira," the old man started with an authoritative tone, "in your report you stated that it was someone who was eerily similar to Rukia Kuchiki."

Kira nodded. "Yes sir, I did."

"I need you to tell us every single detail that makes that so, and to explain any differences you saw now."

Kira nodded and tried to recall everything from earlier that day. He had rarely spoken to Rukia Kuchiki before aside from passing, but he had a very sharp eye for remembering people. He could remember most of her features and stature. Her hair was easily defined in a crowd and she had a petite figure along with purple eyes. That was when he remembered the one he briefly saw before the gate closed.

"The one I saw was slightly taller, her hair was a bit longer and had orange tips to it that were only visible because of the sun shining down on her." Kira started as he got everyone's attention. "I only saw her for a brief moment, but her skin was paler I think, and her eyes were also lighter in a way."

"So if we were to put these two together, there would be a true difference in appearance?" The head captain asked the lieutenant, hoping that it was only a trick or the sun or the eyes.

Kira nodded once more. "Yes sir, there would be."

Yamamoto turned pale himself at this news as he remembered what he was told well over two thousand years ago by the Soul King. Everyone noticed the head captains change and began to become concerned. Before anyone could say anything or ask what was wrong, there was an intense pressure that began to press down on the dome high above the Seireitei. Everyone went outside to see something trying to get inside only for the dome to stop it.

"Whoever these Ryoka are," Toshiro started, "they won't be able to get past the barrier."

Right as he said that, the dome began to be covered in black ice from the very epicenter of the Ryoka's presence. The dome started to crack and would shatter seconds later, sending four beams of light into four different directions.

Yamamoto tried to sense which one was the soul imprint, but by the time the four beams of light disappeared in their respective areas, they were too far to sense. Gritting his teeth and gripping his cane tightly, Yamamoto made his order clear. "FIND THESE RYOKA, AND BRING THE SOUL IMPRINT DIRECTLY TO ME! THAT IS A DIRECT ORDER TO ALL SOUL REAPERS WITHIN THE SEIREITEI!" He banged his cane hard to the point that it cracked the ground.

The captains were taken aback by his uproar about the soul imprint, but knew that if he was this panicked about it, then this was a very serious situation they were all in.

Okay, so Fanfiction has been acting really wonky these past few days. It's been hard to get back to writing so I have to use my phone to do so. It is very awkward to do this. The site works sometimes and then just shuts down at the very next minute, so I don't know what the hell is going on with it. I'll still update once a week, but even this is irritating to me.

Well, the next chapter will have some action in it as I completely ignored the whole Cannon thing with Kukaku and Ganju for this chapter.

Anyway, stay awesome, and as always...

PEACE!