Two Sides of a Forgotten Coin

The 17th District of the West Rukongai was often referred to as the "Town of Arts". Painters, sculptors, poets, dancers, singers and theater houses populated the streets, advertising their crafts in such bright colors and lights the district was said to be brighter at night than during daytime. It also was home to some very respectable brothels, which some might count as an artform too. The streets were crowded with people at all times; young couples seeking to immortalize their love, a family with eager kids attending a performance, a wealthy old man seeking to add to his art collection and so many others.

Through that crowd casually walked a lone father, his eight year old daughter at his side. One might expect the little girl to scream in amazement at the various scents and spectacles she passed by, to pull at her father's hand in an attempt to buy that figurine of a swan for her, or that sunset painting, or to attend that famous play about a warrior princess. The father would chuckle and tease her, promising he would treat her to some kind of sweets to hush her and try to check out a gift for his wife maybe. Instead, the two of them moved forward with an almost mechanical pace. The man's face looked like it was permanently hewed in boredom, while the girl's face lacked any kind of sensation at all. At least in the man's eyes one could see some kind of memory of light, some indication that they had once been sparkling and deforming with joy, but the girl simply looked like her emotions were carefully dissected along with her navel cord - even the way she gripped her father's hand made it seem like she only did it out of necessity, just like another person would breath or watch out for glass when he was walking barefoot. Which she was, by the way.

Not that anyone seemed to care. The artists shouted through the open windows of their shops like street vendors, the crowd buzzed with excitement and praise and the day passed by like any other in the 17th District. The father and his daughter turned left and walked into a tattoo shop which already was filled with a line of customers. The artist stopped his work for a moment to raise an eyebrow at the age of the girl, but then raised his shoulders and went back to his Irezumi. Father and daughter however, did not join in line, but instead walked to the back of the shop. They came to a stand-still a few meters away from the cash register, which the shopkeeper did not like very much. "Hey, what the hell do you think you're-"

The couple did not pay any attention to the man, or to any of the other costumers. "This should be about right" The man whispered blandly. The child nodded and wrapped her arms around her father's shoulder and her legs around his hips, although the stiffness by which she performed this robbed the gesture of any tenderness. The man raised himself, took a step closer to the direction of the cash register, and while the tattoo artist jumped out of his seat and reached for his blade, the man whispered "Ippo, Nagare".

The blade fell clattered on the floor of the shop when the man and his daughter vanished into nothingness. 17 districts, a giant sekkiseki wall, some streets and a few sliding doors further, the kitchen of the Ninth Division was blown apart when the man and his daughter appeared in the middle of it. As the girl lowered herself, she and the man stayed silent for a few tense seconds. When no response seemed to come, they began moving through the area, checking rooms and scouting for bugs or cameras. It seemed the information Mūbiki had received had been correct. Most of the Division's upper members, including the captain and lieutenant had been summoned regarding a security breach on the other end of Seireitei. Fast, without real attention to remaining silent - if anyone had heard the explosion, a few footsteps surely wouldn't matter - Mūbiki began moving in the direction of the captain's office. Classified information regarding the Soul King was said to have been stored there, and he wasn't planning on not getting his hands on it. The girl moved in his shadow, her eyes staring forward but not seeing anything.