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Hei hadn’t moved in all the time Itazura had been away. The member of the noble Taira clan sat with his fingers interlocked, head down as though in prayer, with his back bent. He didn’t move at Itazura’s approach but he acknowledged his long-time friend with words of greeting. His tone was disheartened and distant; nothing at all like the Hei that Itazura studied, graduated, and finally served with.
‘You look like everyone belonging to you has just died,’ Itazura pointed out.
He was tired and dishevelled. Though Itazura knew that wasn’t why his friend was saddened. He’d been the closest to Naoko, Yori, and Hoshi. He had been their teacher and confident both during their earliest days amongst the division, and had been ordered to show them the ropes. It was a job he had described as refreshing and rewarding, for it allowed him to directly affect the way the next generation would turn out. Or so he claimed. Itazura had his own theories as to why he enjoyed the post so much. And the top of his theory list was young Naoko, who Hei had taken a particular shine to. An injury to them, whom Hei had trained, was as much an injury to him. It went a long way to explaining why he now looked so disinterested.
‘Okay,’ Itazura continued after the awkward silence began to stretch, ‘that was insensitive of me.’ Hei even managed a cursory glance in his direction. Good. That meant he was getting somewhere. ‘Give me your assignments.’
‘… What?’ Hei asked perplexed. Obviously that was one request he wasn’t expecting.
‘I said, give me your assignments.’ He told him of his meeting with Tadashi and how Fox had scared their captain senseless with the analysis she reported. Apparently it scared Hei shitless too. He left out the fact she’d kissed him. The less who knew about that the better it was for Itazura’s health. ‘My father told me to be about my work, but he never gave me any. And I can’t let you do the work, because you’re emotionally compromised, correct?’ He even tried to sound like Hei himself might should their positions be reversed, which earned him a weak smile. ‘I’ll handle things.’
Hei gave him the three assignments that he had been tasked with earlier. The first was a follow-up investigation into the Arrancar that Itazura had fought alongside Indra. Apparently the Eleventh was to deal with those because of their combat speciality. That meant these things weren’t to be captured for analysis; but to be destroyed to protect everything else. The second assignment would see him to the Twelfth Division barracks. Zenshi was looking to share his findings with members of the Eleventh regarding the Arrancar they had fought; including any weaknesses he had discovered. Afterwards he was to report to Tadashi. The final caused Itazura to raise his eyebrow is suspicion.
‘Five unknown beings have been sighted in the outer edges of Western Rukongai? All wore a cloud standard with a viewing scope… How old is this?’
‘It came in whilst you where meeting with your father,’ Hei told him. ‘I only received it shortly before you arrived.’
‘I’ll take care of-’
‘ITAZURA,’ a voice called through the barracks of the Fourth Division.
The shouter was a pink-haired girl on a height with Yuri who burst through the doors like a herd of stampeding elephants! Hei looked at her sharply as though that piercing gaze would silence her, while Itazura stood frozen in astonishment. She was Estelle Hakuya and the Fifth Seat of the Seventh Division, and an utter eccentric. Every time he laid eyes on her he saw the image of Toshie, and he just wanted to hit her!
‘… Estelle…’ Itazura greeted. ‘As always it’s… a pleasure.’
‘Liar,’ she seemed to glide across the floor now instead of stampeding.
She pinched his right cheek and declared just how cute he was, while Itazura struggled to beat down his growing anger. ‘Who’s my wee baby?’ She even made little baby noises at him! Graagh! How could anyone like this woman!?
‘Estelle,’ Hei whispered. ‘Remove your hand from Itazura’s cheek. You are a seated officer of the Gotei 13; so kindly act the part.’ He motioned to the members of the fourth staring at them blankly. Some we’re laughing outright. ‘Do we have an understanding?’
‘Party pooper,’ she stuck her tongue out at him, but when she turned around again Itazura wasn’t anywhere to be seen! ‘Where’d he go? Oh, I get it! You’re playing hide and seek, aren’t you! Okay, I’m game!’ She burst out through the doors again and was gone for all of five seconds before running backwards to her previous position. ‘These are for you!’ She handed some paperwork to Hei before vanishing once more.
When the door opened Itazura nearly leapt from his skin. ‘Using the sickly as a hiding place?’ Hei asked fiercely. ‘Have you no shame?’
Itazura popped his head out from beneath the bed where Naoko Izuru lay unconscious. ‘Is she gone?’ Thankfully Naoko didn’t look anywhere close to waking. Had she he’d have some serious explaining to do.
‘Yes. She has departed.’
‘Good,’ he made himself scarce and immediately rubbed his cheek. ‘God I hate that bitch! Please, oh almighty Soul King, smite her now!’ He even made a mockery of prayer.
‘As I was saying,’ Hei continued without acknowledging his friends idiocy, ‘the report is still hot.’
‘What’s still hot?’
He didn’t need to turn. He knew who the speaker was the second she had entered the room. For the first time in a while the eleventh seat of the eleventh division looked energetic and full of gusto. It felt like he hadn’t seen his sister Mariko in a lifetime, even though it had only been little more than a week. She wore her dark blue hair neatly trimmed and combed with a purple scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. Her garb consisted of the usual Shinigami attire only hers bore a light purple hue to accompany the stark black. Brother and sister greeted one another with a quick embrace.
‘My latest report,’ he replied. Hei withdrew to the seat he had earlier filled. In the meantime Itazura brought his sister up to speed with a brief break-down of events. ‘That’s the jist of it. I could use a hand getting over to the Rukongai, if you’re interested.’
It felt like ages since they’d last done an assignment together. It was probably because it had been more than six years ago since they had. He had joined the eleventh division while Mariko had joined the seventh. In the beginning they had been fit to put aside time to meet and socialize, but their individual promotions gave them less time. Itazura was the eleventh seat and Mariko was the ninth seat officially. Unofficially she was Shin’s “shadow lieutenant”. She carried out many of the tasks expected of a lieutenant, and did them all with a level of professionalism that put their uncle to shame.
‘My assignments aren’t pressing,’ she said to him with a grin, ‘so we can leave right away.’
‘Lead the way.’ Before departing he clapped Hei on the shoulder. ‘Don’t sit there all night. You’re likely to get stiff. Make sure you walk around a little.’
‘Shouldn’t you be worrying about yourself, Zura? It is not I who am walking into the unknown. For all you know these five could have sharpened teeth.’
Itazura merely grinned. ‘… I’m counting on it.’
Yuri stalked the deeper corridors of the Twelfth Division barracks with a black cloak draping his shoulders and a pitch black mask covering his face. An hour had passed since he’d given Indra’s report to Captain Kori and in that time he had picked up a few items to aid in his information hunt. The garb served two purposes: one to conceal his identity and the second to disguise his spiritual signature from sensory techniques. The cloak had been provided years ago by his cousin Kenji for just such an operation, while the mask had been a gift from Kenji’s birth-brother, Rosuto. Apparently he had used it whilst on the run from the Soul Society. What he was looking for was classified documentation. If he where caught then he’d likely be punished heavily; which was why he didn’t plan on being caught.
Luckily the deeper vaults of the Twelfth Division where hidden from most of the researchers, who made use of more public storage rooms. Down here out of the way was where the secrets where kept; and those documents that could prove dangerous in the wrong hands. Yuri only knew about it because Sojiro Kori had revealed its location to him in private some years ago. Ever since then he’d put the knowledge to practical use. It was often an accepted fact that the Twelfth Division knew more than it ever lot on.
‘Left, two rights, and another left,’ he repeated to jog his memory.
Thankfully he remembered correctly. He opened a door carefully with gloved hands and entered. Once inside he lit a candle he procured from his inside pocket. Using Kidō would only give them a spiritual signature to trace should an intruder be detected. With almost meticulous attention to detail Yuri went through the documentation before he found the report which Fox had originally spoke. As she had reported to him earlier certain time spots had been erased. But that wasn’t why he was here. From his outside pocket he took a small device that fitted nicely into the palm of ones hand, with an antenna at the top. A green LED was visible on the face. Carefully he ran the device over the document. It would pick up even the minutest trace of reiryoku while also scanning for fingertips. Later he’d cross-reference those to get a short-list of people who had handled the document. Luckily that would lead him to his target.
‘I must give you your dues,’ a voice called out to him. ‘Never would I have expected anyone other than a member of the Twelfth Division to be able to find this place.’
Yuri knew the speaker immediately. It was Zenshin – who happened to be the seventh seat of the Twelfth Division. What surprised him however was the fact Zenshin was supposed to be convalescing after the injury suffered during the skirmish at Junrinan. He looked completely whole and healthy, which immediately put Yuri on the defensive.
‘It wasn’t difficult,’ Yuri jibed.
The good thing about the mask was that it didn’t just cover his face. It also disguised his voice. In the mouth was a scrambling device that made his natural voice sound deeper, intimidating, and completely different from his usual. It meant that Zenshin didn’t have the foggiest idea who he was or why he was where he was.
‘State your intentions,’ Zenshin continued as though Yuri hadn’t spoken.
‘None of your business,’
‘… You obviously find something of value within our records.’
‘… If it was that obvious then why ask the question?’ Yuri narrowed his eyes beneath the mask. This couldn’t have gone any worse. A cold sweat ran down his back as though in mockery of his situation.
Zenshin drew his zanpakutō in reply. ‘So be it. I will deal with you as a Ryōka should be. Bring forth your Blessing, Chijō no Seijin!’ Yuri watched in calmness as the area directly beneath Zenshin’s feet was petrified. The ground and the walls all turned to stone! ‘For the second time I give you your dues. Most would panic upon seeing a Shinigami release their Shikai.’
He had to be careful. A wrong word here and his disguise would be blown. ‘Rubbish,’ he settled for instead. ‘You know the saying: Calmer heads prevail.’ As if to further his point he vanished suddenly and re-appeared behind Zenshin, who twisted quickly to attack! There was no chance Yuri could hope to best Zenshin’s zanpakutō without releasing his own. For now his only option was to run. Thankfully he hadn’t come here unprepared. From his inner pocket he removed a mine, which he applied to the wall. It was set to blow in only ten seconds.
‘You won’t get away,’ Zenshin called after him. Oh how wrong he was.
The corridor behind Yuri began to petrify as Zenshin approached. Even the mine was overcome and rendered in stone. Thankfully that meant only the outer casing. It meant little for the explosive within. The device ruptured and broke free of the stone upon it, filling the corridor with leaping flames! Yuri concentrated solely on keeping ahead of those flames which he did barely.
‘Forgive me,’ he whispered in the voice that was not his own.
‘You’ve been very quiet.’ So she finally said it? In a way he’d been wishing she wouldn’t. That way he might be able to forget about it.
‘I’ve had a lot to think about lately,’ he deflected.
But Mariko wasn’t forgetful. Not by any stretch. She looked at him in the same way their mother might with that serious face, hands on hips, and eyes that drilled right through you. The likeness between mother and daughter was quite striking. It was strange how he hadn’t noticed until now. Or maybe he’d simply been too busy to notice? Mariko and he hadn’t spent much time together lately.
‘… You aren’t letting this rest are you…?’ She shook her head. ‘I thought as much.’ He sighed in a defeatist way before rolling his eyes. He recounted his meeting with the Arrancar that looked more like a hollow, how he rescued Fox, and the meeting with their father that followed. He finished the tale just before he and Fox left Tadashi’s office.
‘What is there to worry about in that?’ She asked him.
‘I’m not finished… Fox kissed me… and not the thank-you-type, either. I've got a sense for these types of things.’
Mariko merely shook her head and sighed. ‘… I take it Serena is not to know about this? Okay, I won’t say anything. But more importantly, what are you going to say to Fox? You know how she feels about you… right?’ Suddenly she looked rather worried.
‘No actually, I didn’t. I have pops to thank for opening my eyes on that account… or maybe I just didn’t want to admit it to myself. I don’t know.’
‘Regardless,’ Mariko continued, ‘this is something you need to sort out for yourself, on your own terms and on your own.’
‘… I know. The problem is I can’t see how I’m going to without hurting one of them.’ That was his dilemma. ‘If I choose Serena, Fox gets hurt. If I choose Fox, Serena gets hurt. It’s a loose-loose situation.’
‘Think about it carefully… but not now. We’re here.’
Turning he pushed his thoughts to the side and focused solely on the assignment at hand…