Bleach: Shihai no Tsumi: Old Stomping Grounds

 "I've taken the liberty of taking ol' Kurosaki-san off your hands. Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't end up dying or anything like that during training. No promises though.

P.S. "If you originally thought this was from some serial killer who slowly kills off each hostage he kidnaps, then you watch way too much television."

This message, written in what looked like blood, was found dripping on the wall of the Kurosaki family kitchen when they all awoke in the morning.

"Someone.... has a sick sense of humor."

At first, Megami had been alarmed at the fact that her husband had been kidnapped from the home. However, once she understood what had happened via the message, she was left with a rather disturbed expression. It wasn't at the fact that the kidnapping was supposed to be normal, but the fact that someone had written the message in blood-like material. Seriously, who does that unless they're aiming to scare the viewer?! Either way, it was working to great effect.

Miharu appeared next to her mother, hanging upsidedown from the roof. The message had disturbed her when she had walked downstairs for orange juice, but she had been only half awake at the time. "Is it possible Tō-san wrote this to scare you?" She asked curiously.

"My husband knows I'm not used to stuff like this. He wouldn't dare-- wait a minute...." Immediately, Megami's eyes shot up towards the roof. "Miharu! Get down from there this instant!!!" She demanded, folding her arms across her chest. "I already just got over you sliding down the stairs and risking your head being cracked open like an egg!!!"

Miharu's feet unhooked from the ceiling with a POP and she flipped, landing on her feet. "Kā-san..." She sighed. "You worry waaay to much." She said, walking over to the message. She placed her finger on it, getting the red material on it. She was about to lick it off...

SLAP!

In a disciplinary manner, Megami slapped the girl's hand before it could reach the stuff. "For Kami's sake!" She scolded. "You don't just carelessly taste anything that looks like food. One of these days, you're going to eat something that's going to turn your insides out!" She directed her attention to the message, placing her hands onto her hips and sighing. "But.... at least the words themselves aren't threatening...."

Miharu frowned. "Kā-chan!!" She whined. "It could have tasted real good! Why'd you do that?"

"For your safety, dear. One day when you get older, you'll understand...."

Miharu sulked, and at that moment, the doorbell rang.

"Hm?"

Megami stopped looking at the message to turn her head curiously towards the door. She briskly walked towards it, bringing herself close enough just to hear the voices outside. "Who is it?" She called out - common policy for letting in someone into her house.

"Rukia Kuchiki!" The well known voice of Rukia rang into the house.

"Come in...."

Rukia opened the door and it creaked. As she entered, it was seen that she was wearing the standard Shinigami Shihashukō, instead of the normal modern attire she wore around the Yūrei Ōkoku. "Good morning Megami." She said, smiling. "Good morning Miharu." She called into the kitchen.

"Goo' m'nirf!" Miharu's muffled voice called back. Apparently, she was now eating a bowl of cereal.

"How come you're in your uniform?" Megami asked, looking over with a questioning eye. She stepped aside to allow Rukia to enter the home, hands folded in front of her.

"We, that is, the special ops and I, are going to be heading into the Seireitei." Rukia explained. "We have to warn that section of the Soul Society about Takahashi." She paused. "Why don't I feel Ahatake's spiritual signal?"

Megami's expression turned sheepish. She raised a thumb behind her to point at the message Ahatake's kidnapper had left for him. "Well...." She trailed off at that word, not really having much to say.

Rukia read it, her eyes growing narrower and narrower as she did so. "Oh Lord." She said, sighing. "Don't worry about a thing. This is just a message written by Kisuke Urahara. Ahatake will be back sooner or later."

"I know...." Megami acknowleged, frowning as she turned towards the message. "But, still.... writing messages in such a manner?"

"Kisuke has a twisted sense of humor." Rukia replied dryly. "You get used to it after awhile." She sighed. "I think it's time I got going." She said, her tone suddenly businesslike. "Your family will be alerted when we need your assistance. Let's hope Ahatake is back by then."

"Of course...." Megami gave a short bow in Rukia's direction. "Good luck."

Rukia smiled. "Thank you." She said, before vanishing out the door with Shunō. There was a some clanging in the kitchen, enough to warrant Megami to walk into the kitchen in time to see Miharu, getting up from falling over some pots and pans, to try and taste the "blood" on the wall again.

"Young lady...." Megami said sternly, folding her arms across her chest and fixing her daughter with an even stare. "What do you think you're doing?" She walked slowly towards the girl, keeping her pose. She would have to clean up the message, now that they knew what had happened to Ahatake.

"Snack time?" She said, smiling at her mother.

"Get out of here! And bring me some a cleaning spray bottle and a washrag. I need to get rid of this...."

"Yes Kā-chan..." Miharu said, slinking out of the room.

Setting out
Rukia landed right in front of the palace, where she had been told to arrive. All that remained was for the others to arrive.

There wasn't much activity within the area. The spot where she had landed was a place reserved for the diplomatic squad, a shuttle a few meters away. It was here that one of the soldiers was standing guard while three figures boarded. One looked like Yuusuke, the man Rukia had seen from before. However, the other was a slightly younger man wearing some sort of cloak, a uniquely-shaped mask over his face. Another was someone she would not recognize that stood guard with the other foreign soldier.

Rukia used Shunpo to make it over to Yuusuke, who was the last of the three boarding. "Hello, Gouto-san." She said, by way of greeting.

If Yuusuke hadn't been interrupted, he would've gladly responded.

However, one of his subordinates had to just cut him off. "Hey, sir!" He called out, turning his head and cocking an eyebrow towards the Shinigami female. "Who's the midget?" Instantly, he was earned a smack on the head by Yusuke, who was giving him a rather annoyed glare. "Ow! What was that for!"

"This midget just happens to be the ambassador for Yūrei and the feudal Soul Society, Kuroda-san!" He scolded, sitting himself down in one of the seats. "Have some respect, Captain!"

"Sorry, Colonel...."

Rukia chuckled. "I can only assume this is the vehicle we'll be using to get back to the Seireitei?" Rukia asked, looking at the shuttle with amazement.

"That'd be right."

The hooded figure spoke with a professional level, yet his tone came off with a relative ease. "We're going to be using this vessel here to get to the Soul Society and get right back without any trouble, considering we don't have any problems on the way." He explained calmly, turning his back onto them and walking into the cockpit. "In the meantime, fasten up your seatbelts. This's going to be a bumpy ride."

She boarded, looking around with every growing amazement. She had never been in something like this before. She took a seat, looking around for the "seat belt" Yuusuke had mentioned. She wasn't sure what it was.

"Uhm... the seat belt's right beside where you sit at."

The final stranger had spoken up, looking at her with a questioning expression. However, he also pointed in the direction of where the belt parts were.

Rukia looked up, and found it. She pulled the seatbelt down, but when she let it go, it slid back up. "Um...how does it stay?" She asked curiously.

Immediately, snickering could be heard from both Yuusuke and the young man sitting beside him, both of them nearly unable to hold back their laughter. Even the man who was helping her couldn't help but smile a little, but he lifted a finger to point at the insertion device. "You have to plug that into the buckle slot." He instructed, sitting back and looking on.

She looked down, and saw something black and red protruding from the seat. She moved the seatbelt clip into the buckle and it fastened. She was surprised. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Hey, Shogo!" The Captain said enthusiastically. When said Shogo looked up, the Captain immediately raised his hand up in a "thumbs up" gesture. "That's what she said!" Both he and the Colonel burst out in laughter, each one turning towards the other to give him a high five.

Rukia looked around puzzled, her face clearly saying "What?"

"....just ignore them."

Rolling his eyes, Shogo sat back in his spot, buckling up his seat belt calmly. As soon as he did so, the vessel launched off of the ground and into the air within seconds, taking high to the skies. The buildings quickly became dots, and the city now looked like it could fit into a box.

Rukia looked out of the window she had, and gasped at the sight. This was something else she hadn't seen.

Yuusuke smirked. "This your first time flying?" He asked, looking over his shoulder to view his own portion of the ground. "I know how you Seireitei Shinigami are with your preference to that Shunpo crap."

Rukia chuckled. "Yeah. This is my first time in something like this. We don't have anything like this in the Seireitei."

"Hopefully, you'll get used to it. You'll probably be doing it a lot, since you're the ambassador and all...." He remarked, turning his head back towards her. "In either case, you might as well sit back and relax. It's gonna take some time for us to go all the way from the city to Soul Society, at least a few days."

"A few days?" She asked, puzzled. "I thought something like this would move faster than that."

"Hey, this ain't instant teleportation we're talking about here." Yuusuke said, shooting her a slight glare. However, it was in good humor. "Sometimes, people prefer to take things nice and slow."

"Taking it slow?" Rukia asked. Did they actually have the time for that?