Seeing their reactions, Kisuke chuckled and his 'skull' was once again covered by his flesh and skin while the black chains surrounding his body disappeared, "I apologize. It does that whenever I become agitated. But rest assured that the Seireitei's stance has been received well."
While speaking, Kisuke's body started disintegrating into dust and by the time he uttered his last word, only his head remained.
"Wait! Don't go!" Soifon tried to stop him but it fell deaf on his ears. The next instant, Kisuke's presence had all departed the area, leaving behind the disgruntled audience.
"Tsk." Soifon clicked her tongue and said while walking away, "I'm going to Hell."
"Wait, why?" Shinji hurriedly grabbed her shoulder and asked.
"Something is bothering me and I need to check something."
"Then I'm coming with you."
Soifon turned around and looked at him straight into his eyes with confusion before saying, "Fine..." And while turning her head to Byakuya and Lisa, she added, "But we can't have more Captains leaving the Seireitei, especially in this sensitive time."
Byakuya turned around to leave while saying, "Do what you want. I'm returning to report back that Urahara Kisuke is hostile." With a Flash Step, he disappeared.
The corner of Shinji's mouth uncomfortably twitched and he abruptly faced Lisa, "It's going to be a mess so please make sure that he doesn't do that."
Lisa nodded and also disappeared with a Flash Step.
Soifon and Shinji were about to leave too when they heard Ichigo's voice from behind, "W-wait! I still don't know what's going on. Care to fill me in?"
Soifon pointed her thumb to the Quincy girls and replied, "It sounds like they've been snooping around so go ask them."
With Soifon and Shinji leaving, that left Ichigo even more confused so he could only turn towards the silent Quincies.
"All for the price of a dinner and some takeouts," Liltotto said with a deadpan expression.
'I can't afford to treat these gluttons... I should call Uryuu and Chad.' Ichigo thought to himself.
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While moving towards the door that the Seireitei opened, a knife suddenly went flying in Soifon's direction. Startled, she stopped and pulled out her Zanpakuto to intercept it, tossing it spinning upwards.
Soifon tried finding her attacker but failed. Shinji, on the other hand, caught the knife that was thrown at her and saw that there was a folded paper attached to its handle. He looked around and with a low voice, he muttered before opening the paper, "It's probably that bastard."
Soifon sheathed her Zanpakuto and peaked at the paper that had a map and a few lines of messages in it in Shinji's hand.
[That was some good acting. Come to this place if you want to know more. PS. Please destroy this map after you've memorized it. It's going to be troublesome if others were to reach it. PSS. Bring the twins with you.]
Soifon's eyes landed on the map for a few seconds and without any word, she immediately burned it with Magic.
"Hey! I was still memorizing it!"
"You don't need it. Just follow me."
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Kisuke watched them leave from the shadows of the tree and after making sure that there were no more people around, he loudly muttered, "Need something? I doubt you're here just to listen in."
Some distance away from Kisuke, a dark-skinned man with braided hair and blindfold came walking out, "How did you know I'm here?"
"It's a clever way of hiding and it took me some time to pinpoint your exact location. But that's not really important." Kisuke turned around and faced the man, "It's been a while, Tousen-san. For some reason that I won't further explain, I have a feeling that we could come to a good agreement."
"Hmmm... You really are hard to read, Urahara Kisuke."
Kisuke stared at him for a few moments before saying, "You should be done torturing Tsunayashiro Tokinada so why haven't you shed your chains?"
Kisuke noticed that Kaname froze for a moment but didn't point it out, "What makes you say that?"
"Oh, my bad. You're probably not yet done with him. But considering that guy's personality, he would have joined you or established his own organization. Without any news from him all this time, I can only assume that you already got your hands on him. Am I wrong?"
Kaname sighed, "You're not and it has been boring these days after he stopped reacting to anything."
"If you want to get more reaction, you can consult Kurotsuchi-san. His expertise in this area is beyond ridiculous."
"Enough of that. Why did you say I can shed these chains."
"You are Ichimaru-san's contact within Szayelaporro's ranks, aren't you? You can do what he did."
"..."
"So you probably already heard about me from Ichimaru-san. And the reason you are here is because he won't tell you where I am."
"..."
"Good call for him, honestly. Since there it's just an unnecessary risk just by knowing where I am staying. I hope you don't misunderstand."
Kaname remained silent for a while and sighed, "...If you know that much then I'm going straight to the point. What do you plan to do with the [Chained]?"
"If they can't be reasoned with and refuse to forsake those chains, then I plan to deal with them sooner or later. Their existence is not really helpful for me."
"...I see. I'd like to assist."
Kisuke grinned, "I knew we were going to get along well."
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Soifon and Shinji arrived at the outpost that the Seireitei built and they were greeted by the one leading the security and military, the Captain of the 7th Division, Iba Tetsuzaemon, "Captain Soifon, Captain Hirako, what are you doing here?"
"Investigation." Soifon briefly answered, "We're going past the scouting teams."
Under his sunglasses, Iba's eyes became serious, "With just you and Captain Hirako?"
"It's urgent. We want to follow a trail and the earlier we do, the more information we'd be able to gather... I hope." Shinji answered while scratching his head, 'They are going to be suspicious, but we don't really have any choice."
"That's right." Soifon nodded beside him, "We're only hoping that we'll find Nimaiya Ouetsu's trail and shed more detail on what's really happening."
The tension in Iba's body eased up, "Is that so? Then please be careful. The beasts of Hell have been increasing these past few days and one of the scouting teams spotted a [Chained] north of here."
"Noted. For now, we'll go south." Shinji then turned to Soifon, "Shall we leave?"
"Wait. I called someone to join us."
Shinji's brows immediately furrowed, 'There's someone else?'
Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long as two teenage girls with identical appearance came running towards them, "Captain. Reporting."
"Ophis, Lilith. It's going to be dangerous. Make sure to keep up."
Ophis and Lilith were in their Shihakushou and with katanas behind them nodded in acknowledgment.
"Alright, let's go."
Shinji looked at the 'twins' with suspicion, but unbeknownst to him, he was traveling with the worst 'monsters' he ever met. However, Soifon also didn't realize what sort of ridiculous existence she was commanding.