Premonition

Whisper in the Dark
"Captain Ryūmonki!" A man with blue hair tinged with black edges stepped into his Captain's office, holding a small, official-looking notice. "I came to inform you that the prisoner, Harumi Muruiyama, had been transferred to the Senzaikyū three days ago." He placed the slip into the man's desk, casually taking a seat in his superior's office. He noticed, however, that Hajime looked bothered. Looking at his Captain through his squinted eyes, he asked, "Sir, is something the matter?"

Hajime sighed, obviously uncomfortable with the whole thing. "Of course there is. This is so unexpected...I swear there's something fishy about the whole thing." He took out a stack of papers. "I'm going to investigate. Everyone is a suspect under my watchful eye. Even you."

"I know how thorough you are, Captain." Tenma replied airily. "I'll keep that in mind, though. You're going to make people suspicious yourself, Captain."

"Not if I stay in here and research..." Hajime paused dramatically. "...from the shadows. Ahem. You won't believe what this position nets me. Now, run along, Tenma. I have some work to do." Even though Tenma hadn't left, Hajime immediately began to flip through several stacks of paper at lightning speed. "However, Tenma. Tell N that he needs to intercept the second set of signatures- the Ryoka." While this was an obvious gambit to stall for time, he did decide that even he had to do his job. "Have him ask a few questions to them, too. I want to know more about them."

"Will do, Captain." Tenma replied cheerfully. "I just can't wait for this all to be over." He cast a look towards his Captain, before looking outside the window at the Soul Society. "I haven't seen Soul Society to tense in a long time..."

"Zzzz...." The sun was still low in the sky, rising steadily into the sky, illuminating the landscape. Inside a building, two people were sleeping, Kayla Hawkins and Dohko Ryuugami. The two seemed relatively at peace, despite sleeping in the lair of the enemy.

"Zzzz..." Kayla turned, her small hand swinging down and smacking the sleeping Dohko on the nose.

"Yeowch!" Dohko suddenly leapt up like a cat -jumping to his feet, he instinctively performed a flip...landing in an garbage can, head-fist. "...A little help here!?" Hilariously enough, his legs were dangling around the air like he was completely helpless.

"Ahatake...no..." A sharp moan came from the sleeping girl's face. "Not there...!" She suddenly shot bolt upright, looking around quickly. "Where's the cannon!?" Her eyes stopped to rest on Dohko. "Oh, Dohko! What happened to you?"

"You smacked me in the face..." Dohko groaned, obviously displeased. "Hurry up and help me, red! I think I saw an eyeball, or maybe it's a white meatball!"

"Dohko, you're so helpless!" Kayla huffed, and, instead of getting up and walking over like a normal person would, she simply extended her braid to the cover the distance. "Grab it and I'll pull you up. Pull on the braid and I cut the fingers off." She added sternly.

"Tch, fine." Dohko grumbled, as he grabbed her braid. "How does that not hurt your hair, or better yet, pull your hair straight out? I could never understand those Fullbring things. It seems like an all-too-convienent way for humans to fight with us on equal footing."

She pulled, her whip-like braid swiftly dragging Dohko from his embarrassing resting spot, before retracting to it's normal length. "Humans had to develop something against the Hollows. The Quincy have their methods, and we Fullbringers have ours. It's all the same, isn't it? Abilities we were born with to fight off a threat we'd normally be helpless against." Kayla slid her hand through her hair. "You could even say nature is encouraging humans to succeed, to improve, no? To put us on a level playing field with these Shinigami and Hollows..."

"That's true. But it's too mysterious. Like nobody ever really found out more about it. All we know is that it's a power that allows a human to pull on the soul of things for multiple purposes." Dohko stood to his feet, staggering for a moment.

"It is relatively new..." Kayla agreed. "However, that's why I'm going to pioneer it. Testing my Fullbring in mundane and combat related situations to get the most out of it...and I suppose you'd like to be a test subject, Shinigami?"

"That's rather surprising..." A smooth, male voice, seemingly muffled. "Such a young girl noticed me? My ability to hide my reiatsu must need a bit of work." Leaping through the window and into the building a young, lean man, dressed in the garb of a Shinigami. He had dark green hair, and clipped into it was a single tomoe. Even his eyes appeared to be unique, a sparkling ruby red with a mitsudomoe pattern floating within it.

"Huh, great..." Dohko scratched his head, obviously annoyed. "And yet we have another freak. Is it just me or do we attract a lot of oddballs?"

"Definitely." Kayla replied darkly. "What do you want, Shinigami? Are you here to get in our way?"

"No, not at all." The man replied calmly, stepping forward. "I'm simply here on the order of my Captain. If you'd be so happy to oblige, I'd like to get some information out of you."

Dohko suddenly extended one of his hands, manifesting a single blade. "I'm ready when you are. But...maybe, we should answer some stuff for him. He doesn't SEEM threatening."

Kayla frowned, extending her arm, morphing the hand into a small-sized blaster. "You go ahead and answer his questions, Dohko." She ordered. "If he makes one wrong move, just one...I'll blow off his head."

The Shinigami eyes her warily. Her abilities certainly seemed unique, he'd never seen anything like them before. "I assumed any Human with unique powers was a Quincy. I guess I've got some required reading to do." He casually strolled over to a table, taking a seat and kicking his feet up. "Come now, sit down. We've got time, no one checks this building."

"Got it." Dohko sighed; though he was waiting for Kayla to just attack him. "Alright, Kayla, if you do NOT attack this guy, I will give you half the cash in my wallet. I promise you."

"The dead don't need money." Kayla quipped.

The green-haired man sighed, his crimson eyes looking at them lazily. "I wish you'd been a group of more reasonable people. However....here's my first question. Why are you here?"

Dohko growled, "At least I'M reasonable. You're lucky Kayla here-" he suddenly piped down to defer suspicion away from him. "Well, your guys captured one of our guys, and so naturally, we're going to get her back. Simple as that."

"That's right, Harumi Muruiyama. The one branded as a criminal of the Soul Society." His red-eyes narrowed. "What were the circumstances of her capture? What happened during the....extraction?"

"Your goons attacked us and left on vague terms, dammit! The hell is up with your law system!?" Dohko uncharacteristically snapped. So much for being reasonable. "Supposedly she broke some law or something, but I swear she's not the type of person to do that."

"According to our reports, she did." The man said, leaning back casually. "This information is normally classified, but our Captain is suspicious of the goings on in Soul Society right now, specifically in the Seireitei." He looked at them sharply. "Would you like to know exactly what she's being charged with?"

"Go ahead," Dohko sighed, rubbing his head in annoyance. "I'm sure I can help however I can." On the inside, he was fretting "God-dammit you better not have stolen something precious or killed a bunch of people."

"She attempted to kill the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13." The Shinigami said bluntly. "After her failed attempt on his life, she fled Soul Society to the human world."

Kayla twitched. So Harumi was guilty of an attempted assassination? "She doesn't seem the type." The girl retorted.

"...Well." Dohko had run himself into a corner here. "...Was that Captain-Commnander a total asshole?" ...What.

"Stern, yes. But not an...asshole as you say." The Shinigami said slowly. "And that's what's so confusing. The attack is even listed as unprovoked, it was an attempted assassination in the middle of the night."

"Oh, I bet she-" he paused, backtracking his words. "....God-dammit. Well, I bet she had a good reason, just ask her!" Dohko was...running out of options.

"That's the problem..." The Shinigami sighed, even hanging his head at this point. "The rule of our governing body and judiciary authority, the Central 46, is absolute. It cannot be overturned. It's troublesome, but that's how it's worked for centuries."

"Well, shit." Dohko....couldn't get out of this one. "Well, I do believe," he paused. "It's not my problem anymore. Come on, Kayla."

"So what is your Captain doing?" Kayla asked, her voiced laced with acid. "Shinigami like you are always content to sit back and watch things happen from the shadows. Harumi isn't the type to do something without a reason, and none of you are even considering that!"

"Our Captain is." The man replied, leaning forward to stare directly at Kayla; she greeted him with the barrel of her cannon. He sighed, pushing her arm out of the way. "He's working right now to get to the bottom of this. Harumi is well liked through the Gotei 13, and there are many who don't believe she's guilty at all." He grunted, standing up. "I suppose I'll cut this meeting short here. I need to report back to my Captain. My name, Ryōka, is N. Remember it, if you ever need an ally."

"Thanks!" Dohko was thinking of trying to give N a handshake but he stopped himself. In his mind, he was thinking, "Oh my god thank god there's a guy doing an inside job here...." He wasn't sure whether or not he would have failed in negotiations and had to fight the guy.

Kayla frowned, her arm returning to it's normal state. "I regret not shooting his head off..." She murmured, however, she was now a bit curious. A Shinigami looking out for their comrade?

N scratched his head as he walked out of the broken down building. "Those Ryōka...going so far to save someone they don't know?" He was legitimately bewildered by why the humans had even come here.

"N!" A young Shinigami ran over to the man, looking at him in alarm. "Why are you here?! No one uses this warehouse anymore..." He looked at the man suspiciously. "And did I hear you say Ryōka!?"

"...Oh dear..." N looked at the Shinigami with a look of surprise. "I didn't think anyone was watching...I suppose I'll just have to keep you quiet."

"W-what?" The man took a step back, uncertain.

N placed a hand on his Zanpakutō, drawing it from it's sheathe. "Contort to my needs..."

End...