Countermeasures

Naoko was aware of a prickling pain all over her body and something soft beneath her. Where was she? She could hear voices muttered just beyond earshot but discerning what they where talking about she couldn’t begin to guess. Each voice was delivered in a calm and timed manner, and for some reason she took comfort in that.

‘… A close thing…’ she heard amongst the voices.

What was a close thing? Oh, her head hurt! Come to think of it her entire body ached in some form. Had she been injured? It was a strange sensation. You’d think someone would remember being blasted by a Cero, but her memories were hazy and disjointed. Any attempt to remember how she had been injured resulted in a weird feeling; like she was missing something. A gentle hand touched her forehead and Naoko opened her eyes gingerly. The room was dimly lit with the window covered by curtains which absorbed the suns light. Her vision shifted through focused and unfocused, which made the room shift. Was she drunk? No, she couldn’t be. Could she? The only time she’d ever tried alcohol was through her father’s friend, Rangiku Matsumoto, and she hadn’t liked it much. It was funny how she could remember that without fail.

‘… Naoko, you’re awake. How are you feeling?’

It took several more seconds for her vision to focus. But when it did she was happy to see the handsome features of Heiwajima Taira looking down at her. Somehow that comforted her too. But there was a pained expression on his face. Had something happened?

‘… Where am I?’ She asked. The only familiar thing in the room was Heiwajima himself.

‘The Fourth Division,’ he replied softly. ‘Do you remember what happened?’ She tried to recall what it was he was talking about. It was difficult, but it had to have been a recent event. But thinking only made her head ache. ‘I see.’ He said solemnly. The tale he recounted was terrifying, impossible, utter stupidity… but she believed him. The more he spoke the more she remembered. The three men who had been standing on the river, the black gateway by which two fled; and the third that rocked the earth with a beam of crimson light, and finally the chains that held her helplessly. She remembered it all.

‘How did I get here?’ That she had no memory of even now.

‘Kazeshini,’ Heiwajima supplied. ‘We don’t know exactly, but for the three of you to have survived… He must have shielded you the best he could, any way he could. He dragged all three of you through the Rukongai, and collapsed the moment he entered the southern gate of the Seireitei.’ He spoke slowly and softly, which made it easier to follow his words.

‘And everyone else… are they alright!?’ She pushed out of her bed and tumbled to the floor. That prickling pain she felt before returned fiercer than ever and she began to sob.

‘They are fine,’ he whispered as he lifted her from the floor gently. ‘Yori and Hoshi are still unconscious, but they are in no danger.’ He set her back onto the bed and pulled the blankets up to her chin, where he wiped her tears as well. ‘Kazeshini is merely resting, which is something you need to do as well.’

‘I can’t sleep. Not now,’ he seemed to understand, but he was having none of it regardless. He brushed her cheek and whispered that he was sorry. Sorry? Why would he be sorry for anything? A light blossomed on the tip of his fingers, and her vision whirled again.

‘Sleep,’ he whispered to her and she did.

Yuri was thankful for the three hours of sleep he’d managed to get in the wake of the Hollow attack his Captain had warned him and Hei of. When he awoke however he found none of his usual companions to be in evidence. Hei was missing though it wasn’t hard to know where he was presently. Fox was nowhere to be seen either, and Itazura was still in the sickbed himself. The idiot finally released his zanpakutō but loses consciousness immediately after because of fatigue? Trust him to go out in style though.

He found Indra barking orders where he had been three hours ago.

‘Close down the area!’ He bellowed. His lungs seemed to be proportionate in size to the rest of his massive frame, for he could shout louder than anyone Yuri knew; or was ever likely to at that. ‘If there’s Arrancar like that last one prowling around, I want them dead!’

‘What’s the situation, sir?’ He asked of the mountain bellowing orders.

‘We found and dispatched three more Hollow with similar characteristics as the one Itazura killed.’ Indra replied. ‘How many of these things there are, however, is unknown.’

‘Then that’s our first priority,’ Yuri said. ‘I’m heading back now anyway.’ Yuri went on. ‘I’ve got more assignments to complete before the days out. Do you want me to bring the Captain that report?’

‘Save me sending it by butterfly,’ Indra handed over the paper he’d been working on, which Yuri pocketed. ‘Tell him also that Captain Nagakura sent further reinforcements.’

‘Will do,’

And so another day of hardship awaited him. Sometimes he was afraid that he would end up like the rest of his family. Apparently the Hiroshi family where growing frailer as time progressed. As things stood right now his aunt Annora, and his estranged brother where all that remained of the once noble clan; counting himself of course. A disease ran through the clan like fire through dry wood, snuffing out lives like fire did. Now he was all that remained of the men, for his brother was off to parts unknown. Yuri wasn’t even sure whether or not he was still alive. Maybe, with time, he’d work himself into an early grave? The thought didn’t half scare him.

‘Are you ill, Hiroshi?’ Indra asked of him.

He had to repeat himself twice more before Yuri shook himself and returned from his trance. ‘No, I’m alright. I was just, just… thinking.’

‘Try not to do too much of that, lad,’ Indra slapped him encouragingly on the shoulder and smiled broadly, like a father might. ‘Leave that for the people with the white coats and titles.’

Maybe he would do just that. He worked hard enough as it was… but somehow he felt that he’d be betraying his friends and his colleagues’ if he did. ‘Thanks, but no. Maybe if I think a little harder, I’ll help solve this mystery a little quicker. Thanks for your time, Indra. Really, thank you.’

‘You know where to find me, lad.’ With that the two parted ways, with Indra returning to his bellowing. Yuri, though, had other plans. He recalled Fox mentioning something about Senkaimon records not quite being right… Perhaps he’d start there? And there was only place one went when investigating the Senkaimon: the home of the oddballs and geeks, the Twelfth Division of the Gotei 13.

It wasn’t going to be a cheerful conversation. Itazura knew that the moment he walked through the doors into the eleventh division barracks. But then again he could be wrong. News of what had happened in Inuzuri was spreading like gum on a sneaker he saw. The news was whispered by everyone and the number of deceased increased with each re-telling he heard whispered as he walked through the barracks. At least they had the sense to be cautious though. Lately too many of the eleventh had gotten the idea into their heads that they where invincible. As he walked he attempted to gauge the mood of the squad. What he came up with didn’t impress him. Most assumed that an opponent strong enough to destroy thirty or more percent of a single district was someone they wanted to fight. They didn’t lack confidence he was happy to say, but sometimes they where so blind they didn’t know when to be afraid!

He found his father directing a number of people with a booming voice. He’d taken the time to fix his hair and change his clothes. He had even washed his face and taken a shave. The result was the Captain he was used to seeing. Captain Kori stood pointing in various directions, tone calm and considerate, his comments timed and well delivered. His back was straight and his white haori was in almost perfect condition, though the black Shinigami garb beneath was scuffed and torn in places from use. But then that was his usual style anyway.

‘Captain, may I have a moment of your time, please?’ Itazura asked respectfully.

Tadashi finished with the group he was dealing with before directing his son to the private meeting room they used so frequently. He spoke quietly with the eighth, ninth, and tenth seats of the division before departing. As he departed the tenth seat ran off with whatever goal she had been set.

‘I take it you’ve heard about Inuzuri?’ Tadashi asked the moment he closed the door. And boy did he sound pissed off!

Itazura noted the air of annoyance about his father then. It was strange how he hadn’t before. Out in the corridor he’d been every inch the eleventh division captain and everyone’s direct superior. In the privacy of his own meeting room with his son as company, Itazura saw his father changed. His shoulders where slumped and a look of great annoyance hung about his youthful appearance. For the first time Itazura noticed lines of worry on his father’s brow. Or maybe he was just beginning to grow old? Wow! That thought scared him. He wasn’t quite ready to face the world without the wisdom of his old man.

‘Yeah,’ keeping the anger from his tone was difficult. ‘Hei filled me over at the fourths barracks. The kids are going to be alright.’

‘I was just about to send word asking after their progress. There’s a load off my mind.’ He dropped into his seat behind his desk, which was mostly clear of the stack of assignments that had sat their yesterday. ‘We’ve been busy, as you can see.’ He did. It was quite remarkable. ‘But that’s enough about paperwork, eh? How are you feeling?’

‘Eager to get back to work, sir,’ it was the truth even if it wasn’t what his father wanted to hear. ‘Fox is safe, alright? That’s all I cared about, to be honest. I merely fainted, pops. It was nothing more and nothing less.’

His father merely laughed at him. ‘Ah, if only I could be young again! You do know that she thinks the world of you, right?’ Eh? Come again? They where talking about the same Fox right now, right? ‘You’re truly blind, aren’t you?’ Again his father laughed. ‘I do pity you though. You’re caught between Serena and Fox, though the fact I pity you for it would baffle most cultures around the world.’

‘… Ha ha, you are just hilarious. But you might as well call it a rock and a hard place,’ Itazura replied. ‘But enough about my apparently abundant love life! What are we going to do about Shuhen?’ The fact he was blushing shouted that fact he was becoming annoyed.

Thankfully his father didn’t rise to the occasion. ‘We’re going to set up some countermeasures.’ His father leaned forward then and grinned from ear-to-ear. ‘He’s caught us with our pants down for the last time, son. I’ve already got… certain outside channels working to find him again.’ That meant Hawke and David, Kusaka’s kids, where being put to work on their granduncle’s behalf. Itazura only grinned. Trust his father to use all means to his hand. ‘All we can do know… is complete the assignments given to us, until my machinations bare fruit.’

Huh. What do you know? This conversation went a hundred times better than Itazura could have imagined. ‘That’s good, because I know what he’s after.’ His father looked at him curiously. What? Hadn’t he expected this? Somehow the look on his father’s face made Itazura feel even better. It wasn’t often he got the better of his old man. ‘He’s tried once before in the past, so why not again? The only thing Shuhen is after is the throne of Heisekai.’

The door opened and Itazura whirled as though to strike, but relented when he saw that it was only Fox. Worry betrayed his better sense before he could still his tongue. ‘Are you alright? It didn’t hurt you, did it?’

She had begun speaking before he had and went silent at his outburst, loosing her trail of thought in the process. She looked at him and then lowered her eyes, looking more than a little awkward. Then he started scratching his head. Where the hell had that come from!? He tried to speak again. Anything at all just to change the subject would do! But nothing came to mind. In the end his father saved him.

‘You where saying something about the two men who appeared with Shuhen?’

Fox picked right up where she left off. ‘Yes, sir, that was it! Yes, one an Arrancar and the second a Visored. The analysis team just got word to me. Sir, they’re stronger than we first feared.’ Somehow Itazura knew exactly where this was going. ‘Sir, each, Shuhen included, had power rivalling that of your friend, Kenji Hiroshi.’

It was usually a rare treat to see his father so utterly surprised. It was like getting an extra present on your birthday that surpassed your wildest expectations. Yet Itazura was that busy looking dumbfounded himself that he didn’t even notice the shocked expression that fell about his father’s face. Silence dragged out. Tadashi was obviously having trouble processing the information. Every time he began to speak he cleared his throat and went silent, where he would repeat the pattern. This time Itazura came to his father’s rescue.

‘Are you sure, Fox? There’s no mistaking this?’

She handed him the report with the test results as proof of her claim, even though he trusted her word explicitly. Somehow he just needed to see prove, if only to help process the outrageousness of the claim the analysis team where making. When Kenji Hiroshi fought Averian for the last time he was changed, different. A hundred times the man he had been. Saying now that three men, one of whom who sixteen years ago, was no stronger than an average captain was now as powerful as one of the strongest men alive!? It was utter madness!

‘… Bah!’ His father crushed the report into his formed fist before straightening it out again. ‘Villains’ these days,’ he was close to losing his temper and Itazura couldn’t really blame him. ‘They don’t seem to be content with what they have, so they run off looking for more! But when they taste power they decide they like it too much, so decide to look for more, and more, and more! Where does it end?’ He was ranting now and stopped when he realized that he wasn’t alone. ‘Sorry, kids. But I need to think about this. If this is true… then there’s only one man who can- no, I’ve said too much.’

Now Itazura was curious. His father had been the verge of naming someone: A man by the sounds of it. But who was it? And for what purpose would his father seek him out?

‘Don’t you two have work to do, correct? See to it,’ it was a dismissal alright and Itazura left hot on Fox’s heels.

He caught her hand before she walked off and spun her ‘round to face him. ‘You never answered my question,’ he whispered. ‘Are you alright?’

‘… I was a little shaken,’ she admitted to finally. ‘I mean, if you hadn’t… I’d be- Thank you, Zura. Really, thank you.’ She rose up on tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the lips before sinking back and retreating. Before she vanished around the corner she stared at him with a hesitant smile. He knew the type of look well. And all it meant was trouble. That kiss… it was better for all involved that Serena didn’t find out about that.

Feeling a little guilty he ran after her, only to find that she had high-tailed it out of the barracks looking for Yuri; or so one of squad-mates said at the very least. ‘Perfect,’ he whispered. ‘Maybe Hei can give me a distraction?’ Pops never had gotten around to actually giving him any assignments to do. Maybe Hei had a few on hand that he’d be willing to share? There was only one way to find out…

Next Story > Locating Traitors.