Spirit 3.1
When I regained consciousness two thoughts struck me.
One; Holy shit I can't believe I'm still alive!
Two; why am I in handcuffs in a hospital?
I woke up in a fairly nice looking room, even if it was more on the empty side. A quick glance around showed me besides the bed, side table, and a few wooden chairs nothing else was in the room. The bed I was on was pressed up against the wall right under a large window, so at the very least no one was worried about me making a break for it.
Not sure how capable I would be at it anyway.
Moving hurt.
A quick examination with an Analysis spell showed micro tears on practically every muscle I had along with several other injuries like the broken ribs and the damn hole in my chest. While I could probably fix that with a couple healing spells, I lacked the desire to move and since laying still didn't hurt I decided to just let it heal naturally.
For now.
I would probably get bored and fix it eventually, but I just faced off against two and a half Captain-level opponents and didn't die. I deserved to be lazy.
Toshiro wasn't actually fighting me. He doesn't count.
With nothing better to do and no reason to get out of bed, I closed my eyes again and started dozing.
-o-
Some time later there was a soft knock on the door before it opened and a nurse in a powder pink uniform walked in. Going by the widened eyes and quick departure I think she was surprised I was awake.
A few minutes later she returned with Natsumi, Soifon, and surprisingly Yoruichi.
"Um, hi guys. How did everything go, everyone alright? And, uh, why am I in these?" I limply raised my arms and gave the handcuffs a light shake. Yoruichi gave me a small smile with a complicated expression on her face. Natsumi refused to look directly at me. Thankfully, Soifon decided to answer me.
"Sosuke Aizen, Gin Ichimaru, and Kaname Tosen succeeded in their attempt at stealing the Hokyoku and have retreated to Hueco Mundo with the aid of the Menos Grande."
Not surprising. With all the Captains scattered and not knowing that the Hōgyoku was a thing it would be incredibly easy for Aizen to grab Rukia during all that if he was serious about it.
"While several of your companions were severely injured in your invasion. She stopped to glare at me. I just raised an eyebrow at her, completely unrepentant. I hoped she wasn't looking for an apology. I don't think a single one of us would give her one.
With a defeated sigh, Soifon continued. "Everyone managed to get medical aid in time. They should all completely recover and are currently resting . Unlike a certain officer, who should be doing the same!" she said, glaring at Natsumi.
Natsumi simply looked away. I noticed a slight wince at the movement and that she was lightly holding her side. Definitely still feeling her injuries then.
"So, sounds like things worked out about as well as expected. Does this mean I can take these off then?" I asked, gesturing to the handcuffs.
Going by the awkward atmosphere and uncomfortable expressions on everyone's face, I was going to guess no, I couldn't.
"Guys? Kinda starting to feel like I should be running." I said nervously.
"No! It's just…!" Natsumi started before hissing and grabbing at her side again.
"It's just that Aizen screwed you over before he escaped." Yoruichi finished. "And now the Head Captain needs to decide what to do with you."
I sat up straighter. When the three of them walked in I was feeling pretty relaxed since I thought everything was over, but now I was regretting not healing myself when I had the chance. I slowly started to circulate mana through my arms and legs.
It wouldn't fix the injuries, but it would let me move without cramping up.
"What do you mean 'decide what to do with me'?"
Yoruichi held up a placating hand, trying to keep me calm.
"Aizen might have told everyone you were one of Akihiro Kanou's experiments and I was kinda forced to tell the Captain's what I knew about your past." She said.
"And this is an issue, why?"
Natsumi finally spoke up, "Because all of Akihiro Kanou's experiments were declared bioweapons, and the law says any illegal bioweapons are to be destroyed immediately."
Well...fuck.
"So should I be running right now?" Looking between the three of them I noticed neither Soifon or Natsumi had their Zanpakuto with them. That was either a good thing, or it meant they were confident enough they could deal with me without a weapon and an injured person in the same room.
Considering my current condition, I wouldn't blame them for thinking the latter.
Yoruichi waved her hands in front of her in denial. "We already got the Head Captain to agree to not do anything drastic until we had a chance to talk. But now that you're awake he is going to want more information about Kanou in exchange for ignoring the laws regarding you."
It was kinda hard to describe what I was feeling at the moment. A mixture of incredible rage and mind numbing fear for certain. I was basically being told my reward for helping the Gotei 13 by exposing the whole traitor problem was a temporary stay of execution for existing and it was only an issue because Aizen fucked me over on his way out.
I shifted so my feet were on the floor and I was sitting on the edge of the bed. I absently noticed my hair was down from my normal ponytail and I was wearing a light blue japanese outfit instead of my normal one. A yukata I think?
"Okay, and I guess you guys are here for that information then?" I looked around waiting for their nods. "Can I ask a question first?" More nods.
"Who the fuck is Akihiro Kanou?"
-o-
After a few wasted minutes arguing that no, I really don't know who that is, I was told that Akihiro Kanou was once a respected scientist that worked for the Soul Society until roughly one hundred and fifty years ago. His studies into soul technology were revolutionary and eventually formed the foundations to things like the Gikongan and Project Spearhead even if he didn't actually participate in those projects.
Instead, he was obsessed with finding a way to craft a 'perfect' soul by growing artificial souls meant to specialise in one area, then frankensteining them together to remove any perceived imperfections. Central 46 approved his work as long as he delivered on making super soldiers to use against the Hollows.
As I expected, eventually Kanou ran into issues. Prototypes were unstable, either not functioning as expected or unstable and prone to falling apart randomly. His experiments grew more and more expensive to maintain with little tangible improvement, so Central 46 ordered his resources scaled back and his projects shut down.
Without the massive amounts of artificial souls he needed for his experiments available, Kanou did what any morally bankrupt scientist would do in pursuit of finishing his work.
He started kidnapping and experimenting on human souls.
This continued for several years undetected before Kanou made a mistake. Confident that no one managed to track anything back to him, he got bolder in his kidnapping. Going after souls that he considered 'higher quality' for his tests. One day, rather than sticking to the lower districts where a soul disappearing was less noticeable, Kanou grabbed a young boy from District 15.
This wasn't new behavior from him. It was later discovered Kanou kidnapped hundreds of children for use in his experiments. The difference this time was the boy was actually part of a minor noble family visiting the area while his father inspected a new business opening nearby.
When his son failed to return, the father immediately demanded the Onmitsukidō investigate.
Eventually they tracked down both the lab and the kid. There they found and fought dozens of monstrosities that the scientist had spliced together from the victims he kidnapped. The mindless creations poured out of their holding cells and into the streets. They tore through hundreds until the Gotei 13 mobilised and killed them all. Akihiro Kanou was forced on the run until he was eventually hunted down and reportedly killed by a freshly promoted Fifth Seat Officer, Sosuke Aizen.
-o-
"We thought that was the end of him, but now we can't be sure. Any more information on the experiments you went through would go a long way into easing our fears." finished Soifon.
I shrugged at her.
"Not much I can tell you, I had one converstation with the guy who made me. And I didn't even see him before I was declared defective. Practically the next thing I knew I woke up near a riverbank a bit outside Karakura." I said. Technically true, and I was never going to let anyone know I was created by an extra-dimensional entity. If that meant I got labeled a bioweapon I would deal with it.
Worst case scenario would be that I disappear and help from the sidelines, though I didn't expect it to come to that. The Gotei 13 weren't exactly in the position of devoting a lot of resources into hunting me down at the moment.
"Well that's more than we had before." Soifon turned to Natsumi. "Go get a squad to investigate the area around Karakura for any signs of unusual spirit fluctuations. Then get back to your room, I am not going to deal with Squad 4 complaining about you sneaking out before you are officially released."
Natsumi was clearly not happy about the last order but accepted with a simple "Yes, Captain." She turned back to me and bowed as low as she could without aggravating her injuries. "Alexandria Cross, I wanted to thank you for saving my life. I look forward to working together in the future." She said before turning and walking out the door.
I watched her walk out before turning back to the other two. "Um, what did she mean by working together?" I asked.
"We kinda fudged the truth about your situation. As long as you cooperated with telling us what they wanted to know you were off the hook." Yoruichi said with a shrug. "The Head Captain knows better than to make an enemy out of our group after what we just did and with Aizen doing who-knows-what."
"So the implied death threat was just your way of having fun then?"
"Nope, just them wanting to make sure you took this seriously and didn't try dodging out of an answer."
I sighed. Whatever, I was still way too tired to deal with Yoruichi right now. "Can I take these off now?" Gesturing to the handcuffs again.
Soifon started walking towards me.
"Yes, they shouldn't be needed anymore." She said before inserting some sort of card into an opening. The handcuffs popped off and I had my hands back, yay.
"Any other ways you want to mess with me?" I yawned. Now that I wasn't in fight-or-flight mode I was exhausted again.
"I have several I want to try out!" Yoruichi said happily, ignoring my glare. "But those are for later. Just know Orihime will be stopping by soon to help deal with your injuries. She pushed herself too hard helping with everyone else so we forced her to take a break. So don't run off anywhere for a bit."
"I can do that. Anything else?"
"Nope! But I need to go help get in contact with Kisuke. Need to coordinate getting everyone home in a few days."
The two of them walked out the door before Yoruichi looked back at me. "Oh, and Alexandria? You did a great job, feel free to take it easy for a while."
And like that, all the tension I had building up flowed out of my body. I let out a groan and collapsed back onto the bed.
Yeah, taking it easy sounded good.
Spirit 3.2
It was weird being able to walk openly through the streets after spending days sneaking around ambushing the occasional Soul Reaper. It had been about a week since Aizen had betrayed the Gotei 13 and made his escape, and I was finally cleared to leave the hospital. After so long stuck inside I took advantage of my newfound freedom to walk around the Seireitei and explore a bit more slowly now that I wasn't running to, or away from, a fight.
Members of various squads were roaming around and enjoying themselves. Which made sense I suppose. They did spend more than a week on high alert due to our invasion. With the alert removed, everyone was taking the chance to unwind and relax for a bit before getting back to work.
What was weirder was the complete lack of hostility from the Soul Reapers as I wandered around, although that might be simply because I didn't stand out that much. Orihime had decided to join me for the walk and due to the loss of her clothes was still in a Soul Reaper uniform. Between that and me reforming my barrier jacket to look like the yukatas I was provided, we fit right in.
Of course that didn't mean we did not draw attention. Two pretty girls walking around still drew looks from several men (and women, surprisingly) but for the most part it was pretty harmless.
"...and if you add maple syrup it gets even tastier!"
Orihime on the other hand, was slowly chipping away at my sanity with her weird food combinations.
Feeling slightly ill at some of her self professed 'recipes' I needed to raise a hand and stop her before this went further.
"Orihime, under no circumstances should marshmallow and maple syrup ever be put into a pasta dish. That just isn't right." I told the cheerful teenager.
"No, really. It's super good! You have to come over and try it sometime!" She said waving her hands a little childishly.
"I think I'll pass on that. But I can still come over and make something else for you!" I panicked when Orihime looked down by my refusal.
Seriously, the girl looks like a kicked puppy when she is sad. It's completely unfair. Luckily she cheered up again when I promised to come over at some point. And better yet, she didn't even notice me reversing it so I would be the one cooking.
Orihime clapped her hands happily, "That sounds great! I can't wait. Oh, hi Ishida!"
I turned to follow Orihime's gaze and found Uryu walking up to us.
"Good morning Inoue-san, Cross-san." He greeted us. "Are you free for a bit?"
Since neither one of us were really doing anything specific, we agreed to follow him. We had some meaningless small talk on the way. Uryu was still very interested in my skills since they had several similarities with Quincy abilities, and I wanted to know more about how Quincies made spiritual weapons. Of course Orihime managed to pull us down several off-topic tangents during the walk to wherever Uryu wanted to go, so we never really made it past the basics of either topic.
Neither one of us minded though since we were being pretty casual with both topics, and her cheerful attitude through the whole thing was infectious.
Our conversation ended when we arrived at the building we had been allowed to stay at while we recovered from our various injuries. Unsurprisingly, Chad was also in the main room. The large teen prefered to stay either with one of his friends or out of the way, so it was rare to see him in the Seireitei.
"Hi Sado! You're here too?" Orihime greeted. It took me a second to remember that was Chad's actual name since no one other than Orihime and Uryu used it.
Chad nodded to us in greeting but remained silent.
Uryu walked over to a basket and lifted the lid.
"Okay! I finally finished these last night and thought it would be good to hand them out." Uryu said, passing Chad a piece of cloth, which turned out to be a sleeveless lavender shirt with a dark red cross on it.
It was shockingly professional looking actually, if a bit plain.
"I was able to borrow some tailoring equipment, so I made some clothes for you guys based on what I remembered you wearing." he explained. "So what do you think, Sado-san?"
Chad just kinda stared at the shirt in his hands for a few seconds before turning back to Uryu, who was digging around for more clothes.
"...It's different..." Chad said eventually.
"I redesigned them a bit based on my own personal style added in." Uryu admitted, removing a few articles of clothing from the basket. "Inoue-san these are for you."
I made my way to a free chair while the teenagers had a mini fashion show. Orihime ended up in black track pants with a white stripe down the side and a beautifully made pink shirt with a line of frills running down the right side and some floral accents on the left. Chad had changed into his provided shirt and a normal looking pair of pants. It was hilarious how much more effort Uryu seemed to put into making female clothing, especially since he revealed he had made a lovely pale blue dress for Rukia as well.
Uryu was a little sheepish that he didn't have anything prepared for me, but considering my clothing could shift to anything I wanted I wasn't broken up about it. Then Orihime decided she needed to show Rukia her new dress immediately and took off in search of her.
I offered to go with her but Uryu requested I stay behind, and Chad wandered off back towards his room.
Now alone with Uryu, I decided to tease him just a bit.
"So, did you have something for me after all? Something you don't want anyone else to see me in?" I said slightly seductively, absently pulling on the collar of my yukata.
Uryu was suddenly blushing furiously after just that. I definitely saw why Yoruichi liked doing the same with Ichigo. The reactions were hilarious!
I would never go as far as her though.
"O-o-of course not!" Uryu denied fervently, adjusting his glasses and looking anywhere but at me. "I h-have a request I wanted to make of you."
Oh? I wonder what he would want. I had spent some time getting to know everyone now that we had nothing better to do, I even hung out with some of the Soul Reapers that stopped by from time to time, but Uryu never gave the impression he wanted something from me.
"No harm in asking, I guess" I said with a shrug.
The Quincy visibly calmed himself down before turning to face me. With a very serious expression, he suddenly bowed at the waist. "Please, teach me to use mana. I beg you."
Well there was only one answer I can give such an earnest request.
"No," I refused immediately. "Also, why? I thought you were super proud of your Quincy heritage, so I can't imagine you giving it up just because I use something new."
Uryu's face twisted into a bitter expression.
"I haven't mentioned it to the others yet, but during our fight I used an ultimate technique of the Quincy. As a result my powers were burned out, I am no longer a Quincy."
Ah, I forgot that happened. Still it's not like it changed my answer.
"I still can't help you. Even if you were able to use mana, it's something that would take years, maybe decades, before you got beyond the basics. I don't have the time to dedicate to a student."
"I understand." Uryu said sourly. "Forgive me for being selfish."
"If you are so concerned about losing your powers, maybe talk to your father? I heard he is actually fairly talented as a Quincy. He should be able to help." I pointed out.
Uryu again had a complex expression on his face. "I will consider it."
I blinked at the reluctant response. But I guess going to his dad for help ran against his pride, or something like that. Meh, he will deal with it eventually.
-o-
I left soon after that.
While Uryu was quick to reassure me that there were no hard feelings for rejecting him as a student, it was still awkward to be in the same room.
So I was wandering the Seireitei again. Alone this time, unfortunately, since Orihime had run off somewhere and the rest of our group was unavailable for one reason or another.
I considered hunting down Yoruichi since I hadn't seen her in a bit. But she was busy working out an agreement of an alliance between the Gotei 13 and the Urahara group. While it was a given that both would work together, there was still stacks of paperwork for the approval of materials, pardons for the one hundred years as an exile, and other such things that needed to be worked out so no one complained later.
Of course I escaped that initially because I was injured, but now that I was out of the hospital Yoruichi would happily duck out of the responsibility if she knew I had nothing to do.
I was still debating if dealing with paperwork was worth Yoruichi's company when I heard someone calling my name. Turning to look I saw two Soul Reapers making their way towards me.
One was Natsumi, and the other was a girl in glasses with long black hair that she kept pinned back and with her bangs parted to the right side of her face. Based on the serious look on her face and the badge she wore on her left arm, it looked like I was going to be introduced to another Lieutenant.
"Hi Natsumi," I greeted when they were close enough. "I see you're out of the hospital too."
"Miss Cross," Natsumi replied with a nod. "Also please don't use my name so casually."
I shrugged and by the way her eyebrows furrowed, Natsumi realized I was going to ignore her request. "So what's up?"
Natsumi sighed in resignation before turning to present her companion, "This is Squad Eight Lieutenant Nanao Ise. She wanted to talk to you about the information you provided last week."
Said Lieutenant took a step forward while adjusting her glasses, "Good afternoon Miss Cross, congratulations on your recovery." she said politely.
"Thanks, but you can just call me Alex."
"Of course," Nanao said nodding once. "I apologise for this but I have a request I wanted to make. I am the one handling the report made by the scouting group that went to the World of the Living to investigate the possible location of Akihiro Kanou and I asked Hanakage to introduce us."
I see, I guess they didn't find anything and wanted to see if I knew anything else that might lead them to my 'creator'.
"Further upriver from the point that you described we found a Hollow nest that had managed to escape detection for quite some time. After clearing the nest and investigating, we found signs that someone was using the nest as a disposal area for several souls that showed heavy signs of...modification."
...or I could be completly fucking wrong.
"And I suppose you think Akihiro Kanou is behind it?" I asked weakly.
Nanao nodded, "From what the team found, there were several similarities between what was at the site and the records we found of Kanou's work. It could be a successor, but we still will need to investigate."
"Okay, but why tell me?" Wait, Nanao said she had a request. "Unless you wanted me to check out the site when I head back to the World of the Living?" I asked.
"No, Squad 13 is responsible for cleaning up that area and will take care of it." Nanao disagreed. "The Gotei 13 was hoping that you would agree to accompany the team investigating the Senkaimon they found there."
"Again, why? I'm not really sure what I could do for an investigation."
It looked like Nanao was having a hard time answering so eventually Natsumi stepped in. "We want you as a combatant since the Gotei 13 can't spend the manpower at the moment."
Huh?
I looked between the two trying to figure out what Natsumi meant by that. She just looked resigned while Nanao looked embarrassed and avoided looking at the two of us.
"Right now all Captains and Lieutenants are doing damage control after Aizen's betrayal." Natsumi explained, seeing my look. "In addition most seated officers are filling in to handle the normal work piling up because this was unexpected. We simply can't spare anyone strong enough in case this turns out to be a major incident without affecting our preparations for dealing with Aizen."
Makes sense I guess. And I had no real reason to refuse especially if it delayed my trip back through the Dangai.
Anything to avoid the creepy murder hallway.
"I don't mind helping out." I said. "So, is it just me or…?"
Nanao shook her head. "Even short staffed, we can't send you to investigate alone. 3rd Seat Hanakage will be accompanying you."
My eyes lit up as I threw an arm over Natsumi's shoulders.
"This means I get to spend more time with my favorite sparring buddy! Why didn't you say that first!" I cheered, ignoring the elbow grinding into my ribs.
"Please get off of me…" Natsumi said through gritted teeth.
I ignored her too…
Spirit 3.3
Furious scribbling sounds filled the air as I worked on another set of equations. While I wasn't working on one of my more advanced projects since there was no way to secure my notes, it was still important for me to keep working at more aspects of my magic to fully understand how to use some of the high forms in my archive.
I didn't want a repeat of my first foray into spell storage with jewel craft. Turns out even 'knowing' how to make a storage crystal and actually doing it are very different things. Though the experience did teach me to learn the foundations of any craft since the first few prototypes crumbled to dust...or melted…...or exploded.
I was just glad I had decades worth of experience available to use as a reference. Otherwise I would never get anywhere in making my various equipment. Even if what I had right now was fairly simplistic at the moment.
Finishing with the last line I started scanning through the pages I had written. Nothing seemed out of place…
Initial defining of spell structure? Check.
Matrix for containing mana input? Check.
Refinement of raw mana into spell sequence? Check
Trigger for spell activation? Check.
Limiter on mana draw? Not check?
Uh, what?
I started shifting back through my pages of notes. Each of the dozen or so pages was methodically scanned while I hoped that I simply had the pages out of order. But nope! Turns out I forgot to add a limiter for this spell formula, meaning if I actually tried to use the thing it would pull out every bit of mana I had at once. Probably killing me in the process.
With a sigh I incinerated the sheaf of papers with a small fire spell and blew the ashes out the window with an equally low level wind spell. Raw elemental manipulation was one of the fields of study I hadn't put a whole lot of effort into developing but this much was pretty easy.
"Please do not play with fire while we are in such a confined space." a disapproving voice said across from me.
With a small start I looked up to see Natsumi looking at me with an annoyed expression on her face.
I winced a little, realising she was right. "Sorry, normally I don't have anyone around when I work. So, I kinda forgot you were here?" Because that definitely makes it better. Note to self: learn to not put your foot in your mouth.
Natsumi looked like she agreed with my internal thoughts.
"You spent the better part of two days working on those notes." Natsumi said, choosing to ignore my comment, "Why suddenly destroy that work?"
"It was the theoretical work for a spell I was working on, but I left out a crucial feature that made the whole thing worthless." I explained with a sigh. "Honestly, it would be easier to just start over than try and insert a feature into the formula at the end."
"Another one of your weird Kido spells then?" Natsumi asked.
"Air walking actually." I replied.
She gave me a weird look, like I had just seriously declared that the moon was made of pudding.
"You...do know that that technique is just a basic Reishi manipulation exercise, right?" She asked slowly.
I sighed again. While the Gotei 13 were allies at this point, I didn't really like putting how unique I was out in the open. Getting on the radar of Captain Kurotsuchi wasn't on my to-do list.
"I don't actually use Reishi for my abilities." I explained anyway. If we were going to work together she would need to know the basics of what I did anyway so we could coordinate. "I use a different energy called mana. Similar in some ways, but not the same."
Of course Natsumi wasn't satisfied with that explanation, so I launched into a full lecture about the differences between mana and reishi, how I used mana, and the basics of several of my abilities. In the meantime, our horse-drawn carriage continued down the road to our destination.
The same day that Ichigo and the others left through the Senkaimon back to the World of the Living, Natsumi had informed me the Onmitsukidō had tracked the illegal Senkaimon near Karakura to somewhere in District 49 of the South Rukongai. We gathered up a few things, then set out as soon as we could.
The first day was spent questioning Natsumi about where we were going and what we should expect from the area.
For once I had absolutely no foreknowledge going into a situation. I was aware of what the Rukongai was like in a general sense, but no specifics other than 'gets worse the higher the district number'. It also didn't help that Natsumi wasn't the most talkative of people. Not to say that she refused to answer me. She would dutifully answer any question I asked as long as it related to the mission, but that was it. She wouldn't volunteer information or answer anything personal.
I got the feeling she didn't really like me being here, and honestly couldn't blame her.
If it was Ichigo or one of the others, she probably would have been less difficult but I had personally beaten her in a fight twice, saved her life, and revealed a conspiracy that had slipped under her entire Squad's nose. Then to rub salt in the wound, she was forced to accept my help because the Gotei 13 was too crippled by Aizen's betrayal to keep this internal.
So I kept any jokes or teasing fairly light. No need to kick her while she's down and all that.
Still, even with the curt explanations I learned a lot about the Rukongai. Turns out that while large areas of the Seireitei have modern amenities, much (if not all) of the Rukongai is stuck somewhere in the middle ages technology wise.
There are exceptions, but these are few and far between.
Another thing I learned was how the districts were numbered. Starting from the Seireitei, each district was numbered in a series of circles that were then split into north, east, south or west. Each district had its own committee of representatives that reported to Central 46 and enforced their laws. Well in theory, anyway. Once you got to the outer districts, laws tended to be enforced only when a Soul Reaper from one of the Court Squads was sent out or when it was convenient to the person in charge.
There were Soul Reapers permanently stationed in each section of a district. These tended to be members so weak they were refused by the academy and trained locally. So very few of them, if any, actually managed to get a shikai let alone techniques like Kido.
Basically, they were local police. Maybe slightly more capable than a normal person. But not even as durable as the grunts we went up against in our invasion. Their only real advantage over the souls in the area was the fact they were still given Asauchi Zanpakuto, which could strengthen and repair themselves with the user's Reiryoku so normal swords would probably break given they were hit hard enough.
Eventually it became too dark for the horses to safely continue, so Natsumi signaled our driver to stop. Similarly to the last few times we stopped there was no town close enough to try and find shelter in a town. Luckily for us, the main compartment was more than big enough for Natsumi and I to sleep in, even if it was a bit uncomfortable. And the driver had a retractable cover that he could use as a tent.
Just before I turned in for the night Natsumi spoke up, "We should reach our destination sometime around midday if nothing happens. Please be presentable and try not to attract too much attention."
I groaned miserably. This far out in the Rukongai there was no such thing as 'presentable' in my opinion. Everything was ancient japanese fashion. I'm sure the rest of the trip would be the two of us arguing about what was considered a proper outfit for this mission.
-o-
True to Natsumi's prediction, we reached town right before midday. While I was sure the town had a name, I wasn't really paying attention to Natsumi's introduction to the District or the town we were in so it escaped me.
I was more interested in glaring at the Soul Reaper leaving the carriage.
As I expected, neither one of us agreed on what was considered acceptable clothing and not attracting attention. Granted I spent almost two hours arguing there was no point in me changing my look. Being several inches taller than most of the men I met wouldn't change just because I swapped clothes. Let alone my eye and hair color which stood out in the sea of blacks and browns.
Natsumi finally won that argument by pointing out that while my coloring wasn't nearly as rare as I made it sound, I should at least try to blend in and not announce to the whole town I was an outsider potentially investigating something in the area.
Of course she ruined it by trying to pass me off as a local. I was not going to wear the rags the locals were stuck with.
Furious arguments were made for several different choices of clothes from colors to materials. The only reason we stopped was that we arrived.
"Are you coming, or are you just going to stare at me?"
With a sigh, I followed the Soul Reaper into the street. After the driver confirmed that we were off, he snapped the reins and took off in another direction.
I watched him drive off for a bit, but when he turned a corner and vanished from sight I looked back to Natsumi. She was scowling as she looked over the outfit I had chosen, and while I knew why I refused to change anything any further.
My hair was in its normal style when I wasn't expecting any trouble, meaning loose and flowing unrestrained down my back to where it stopped just below my shoulders. The normal black and red outfit I wore was replaced by a slightly modified Soul Reaper Academy uniform where the only difference it lacked the two pinwheel markings on the front.
I hated how loose it was, but it was the best compromise we could come up with. Of course Natsumi had her own issues with my outfit. While not an exact match, it still called me out as someone obviously associated with Soul Reapers and the only fact that I might be required to fight made her give up arguing harder for another outfit.
She hated my footwear though.
I put my (no pun intended) foot down fairly hard on not changing the combat boots I normally wore. No matter how many times Natsumi tried explaining how it would attract attention or clash with the rest of it, I refused to budge.
So in the end, we were both unhappy. Signs of a successful compromise.
"So now what?" I asked.
"Now, we check in with the town leader and stop by the closest Shinigami outpost." Natsumi replied. "I have to meet with the local Onmitsukidō agents to narrow down our search area. You will be posing as my assistant so be sure not to wander off."
'Because there was so much else to do otherwise.'
Looking around at the buildings you would expect to see in a history documentary, I tried to keep the bitter feelings I had being stuck in a place like this for several days from showing on my face.
Low tech living was fun when you were camping. Less so when everyone around you did because it was the norm.
I followed after Natsumi as she walked towards one of the better looking buildings in the area.
This mission was going to suck.
Spirit 3.4
"These are the reports of departures and new arrivals for the neighboring three towns, make sure the numbers are fairly close and tell me if there is a large discrepancy between any of them. Here are the ones for missing persons and the details for each, get me a map based on where each one occurred and when. And these are requests for the Shinigami to investigate odd issues, filter out anything that might point us towards our illegal lab."
I looked blearily at the piles of paper Natsumi had dumped in front of me. It was far too early to be awake.
"Would you like me to make you coffee as well?" I asked sarcastically.
"No, but tea will do. Green with a bit of honey if we still have it." Natsumi replied evenly.
I rolled my eyes and started shifting through the papers.
Yesterday Natsumi had met with her squadmates and the local Soul Reapers to gather any leads for where the other side to the portal was. We figured that it was unlikely that anyone operating an illegal portal to the Land of the Living would be easy to find, so we focused on what they were using the portal for. Waste disposal.
It was callous, but there was no other reason we could think of that bodies would be dumped into a Hollow nest a whole plane of existence away if it wasn't to cover up something that would immediately bring the Gotei 13 on their head if it was discovered. Soul modification experiments definitely fit the bill there, but that meant we needed to figure out where the person behind those experiments was getting their test subjects.
Natsumi had taken most of the initial steps gathering the reports and materials she had given me to sort through and smokescreening our efforts a little by saying she was on a mission to investigate disappearing souls in the area when it was reported back to the Seireitei.
It had the benefit of being slightly true. Souls vanished all the time in the outer districts of the Rukongai, so there was always an outstanding request for Soul Reapers to investigate and make sure that no foul play was involved. Unfortunately it was often assigned to lower rank newbies as a punishment, so most of the time the investigation was half-assed at best. If there wasn't something obvious like a Hollow in the area, then the deployed Soul Reaper would wander around aimlessly and just be uncomfortable with the poor living conditions.
From what Natsumi learned in her initial data gathering, this would be the first time someone took a serious look at disappearances in a couple centuries. Which was a little depressing but not all that surprising.
Naturally with her taking up a cover as a Soul Reaper sent on a punishment detail, I was given my own cover story. I was now posing as a graduating academy student out on an individual mission as Natsumi's assistant. It was apparently tradition for the graduating class to shadow an active Soul Reaper to learn more about what squad they would be joining, and it was just my 'bad luck' the Reaper I was assigned was being punished at the same time. Normally I'd be fine with that kinda thing, but Natsumi was having fun treating me like her actual assistant in public where I couldn't tell her to fuck off since it would blow our cover.
I think she was getting me back for messing with her so much. Either way, I would be planning my revenge.
I kinda lost track of time digging through the stuff in front of me, but eventually we narrowed down three good leads. The first was a forest between here and another town where travellers seemed to be vanishing occasionally.
Another was rumors of a slavery ring being run out of a few towns that was said to be around here. We had a few reports where people would be seen entering certain buildings and never leaving.
And finally there was a merchant who offered to escort people to different towns throughout the Rukongai. But despite being a fairly well used service, many of the people who moved to other towns were never heard from after a little while.
"So what do you think?" I asked Natsumi while she looked over the summaries for each lead. "Any ideas how we should look into these?"
She was quiet for a while as she flipped through everything we gathered.
"I...think we are going to need to split these between us." she said eventually.
I arched an eyebrow but waited for her to explain.
"We will need to leave the merchant investigation to the field agents in Squad Two. They travel too far for us to investigate thoroughly in a short amount of time." She says, seemingly more to herself than me. But I agree with the logic. If we tried hunting down each person we had a file on it would take months with just the two of us.
Natsumi set aside the papers in her hand and grabbed the next set. "Having you along while we investigate in town would also likely be counter productive, you stand out too much to be good at gathering information."
"I managed to slip through the Seireitei pretty undetected." I pointed out, feeling a little insulted.
She shook her head, "Your stealth abilities aren't in question here. You need to blend into crowds and eavesdrop on conversations to pinpoint where gathering places are located. Even disguised you are too noticeable to gather the information we need."
"So I leave that part to you and just follow the people you point out." I argued.
"You probably could." Natsumi agreed. "But if news of our investigation tips off whoever owns the portal, they might go into hiding and we will lose the trail. So we split up to give them as little warning as possible."
I thought over her plan and didn't really have any complaints about it. Splitting up would definitely be faster and the only real risk would be if something happened to one of us while we were separated, but we could plan around that somewhat.
"Fine, just let me grab some things and I'll head out." I said, getting ready to leave.
Natsumi stops me before I can walk out, "Be sure to take one of the local Shinigami as a guide."
"Why?" I asked, it wasn't like I would get lost just scouting and the locals were far too weak to be backup.
"Your cover." she sighs, pinching in between her eyes. "I told you if you were going to wear anything like an academy uniform you would likely need an escort to avoid anyone questioning you going off on your own."
She did? Uh, I probably should have listened to that introduction, huh?
"Oh come on. If I move fast enough no one would even know I went by myself." I try to wiggle out of needing a babysitter, but it doesn't seem to work.
"The second we arrived our movements were likely being reported to the mayor of this town. I can set up an alibi for myself while you go off to the woods, but not for both of us disappearing at the same time. If the mayor knows, then every criminal element probably knows a little bit as well."
"So fake going with me and just sneak back. You said you would be using a disguise."
"And how will you re enter the town without me?"
"Sneak back in, grab you, then pretend we just got back."
"What if I'm not easily found, or elsewhere, or you need to enter sooner? Stop whining and trying to get out of this, it's far simpler for you to just accept the backup and deal with investigating quickly." Natsumi huffs.
"But they're just going to be dead weight!" I most certainly do not whine.
-o-
"And here we are! Red Leaves Forest! Beautiful little spot away from the mess of town living, and full of lovely little secluded areas where you can get a little more 'in touch' with nature if ya know what I mean." the Soul Reaper throws an arm over my shoulder while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "What do you say newblood? If you impress me I can put in a good word for you with some people I know in the Squads."
Slightly disgusted, I brush his hand away before he can 'accidentally' grope my chest and keep walking towards the forest.
"Awww, don't be like that sweetheart." the creep laughs as he jogs to catch up. "If you want to get promoted you need to learn how to play the game. See, it's all 'bout doin some small favors for the guys above ya."
Aoyama Kimura is the Soul Reaper who Natsumi assigned as my escort. One of the few guys in town that was taller than me at around 6'2" he had short, messy black hair and the same pretty boy looks you expected to see in a host club. He also had the personality of a sewer rat.
Unfortunately, he was also the leader of the local Reapers stationed here so when he volunteered it was practically guaranteed I'd be stuck with him.
"I think I'll be fine without your 'small' favors." I said, emphasizing the word.
He chuckled darkly, "Sweetheart trust me, my 'favors' are anything but small. But you'll learn. Only way up the ladder for girls like you is to catch the eye of someone higher up the chain. You think doing your job is gonna do that? If ya was a guy then yeah, guy's in charge don't wanna get showed up by underlings. But chicks? It's all "oh she's a valuable team member, the place would fall apart if she got promoted!" This could be good practice for you later on."
I wonder if Natsumi would be angry if this guy had an...unfortunate...accident while we're out here. Probably wouldn't be too mad. Afterall nothing of value would be lost.
"Pretty sure the female captains and lieutenants would disagree with you." I replied, hand tightening around the sheath of the katana I'm using as a fake Zanpakuto. It's really hard trying to keep myself from beating the dumbass into the ground.
"Oh, the innocence of the poor naive newbloods." Kimura sighs. "Sweetheart, they might be a bit stronger than the average chick, but the same rules apply. Fuck, they only got the position over a guy 'cause guys don't get stronger with 'spiritual liquid injections' if ya know what I mean."
The sheath in my hand starts making a groaning sound and I need to release my grip or risk breaking it.
"Of course, if they made it to the top then they spent a lot of time guzzling it down." He continues, and motions back to town. "See, the girlie you followed here probably turned down a 'favor' she couldn't afford not to. That's why she got sent to this backwater and you had to tag along. You academy brats don't know how the game works, it's not how strong you are that gets you promoted, it's who's got their eye on ya." He leers up and down my body. "Don't worry though, I'm sure lot's of people got their eye on ya if you know how to ask the right way."
"I'll pass." I said shortly. "Now let's just get this over with so I can get back to town and away from you."
Kimura shrugs, "If that's what ya want. I'll show ya around the forest. But…" he smiles obscenely at me. "...if ya want me to 'show' ya something else ya just have to ask."
… I'm going to kill him.
No, even better, I'm going to get this over with then force Natsumi into a little alone time with him. That way she can kill him and I won't get in trouble. I'd even consider it my revenge for her treating me like an assistant. Of course this means I need to put up with him for the rest of the trip here…
Dammit.