Hirōshi stepped forward as he approached Yamamoto. However, he kept his distance from the old head captain. Furious as he was, his eyes gazed straight at him, leaving no cold sweat to the old man.
" I believe you have my messenger, Shigekuni. Hand it over. Now!", he demanded.
Yamamoto was pleased and turned to Sōi Fon, whom had a small amount of injury by the impact of the violent wind from the Yokai emperor. She simply nodded without any words and left the room. The rest remained behind.
" What is it do you want from me to discuss this time? If it's about that bitch Kazumi then leave me out of this, I'll deal with her myself. It's my duty to protect my people and prevented them from going anywhere near her. I'll gather the remaining of them, even if it means_____." Hirōshi explained. Yamamoto halted him from going any further.
" It's not that. I think you have something to do with the lieutenants ending up in your village, along with these kids from the world of the living.", said Yamamoto.
" I guess you've read my message that should've been sent straight to one of your captains - Shunsui Kyoraku. If he's not available, then Ramune is my second option."
" I'm sorry to say they're injured at this moment while the Sēireitei was under attack by Katsuya's armies. So my question is - do you still have the lieutenants?"
Hirōshi was silent at first when heard the news. He couldn't believed him as he thought Yamamoto was joking at his age, but soon learnt that Rukia told him about the attacks yesterday. He folded his arms next to his golden kimono and sighed, as if pride was melting away by humbleness .
" Shigekuni, even if you're telling me the truth, let me remind you they're still here. One of your lieutenants told me about the incident that took place yesterday. She was badly injured at that time and she believed they were protecting these kids from Jupiter. I believe that Kazumi and her stepbrother were behind this operation."
Yamamoto and the other captains were unexpectedly shocked as they've had learnt something new - out of every fallen angels they had fought, Jupiter was one of them when he mentioned him.
~~~~~~~~
MEANWHILE.....
{ NEIGH!}
A few miles to the Soul society, whining unicorns echoed at the distance. The lazy sun had beaten their pace, but it doesn't stopped them.
Akamaru and her children were fast asleep whilst Yumikō took a nap on Starrk's shoulder after a long night mission on rescuing her. Starrk remained awake and alert at that moment in case any thieves were ambushing their carriage.
The neighing sounds grew louder as it combined stomping through the frosted ground and into the road of the Yellow road to the Soul society. The chariot immediately halted them when they'd reached the Soul society gate, yet the atmosphere felt as if gloomy and rage were clashing together.
The old chauffeur climbed down, went to the carriage and opened the door. He didn't woke everyone up, only the chilling wind that gently did. Yumikō opened his eyes and saw the old man.
" We're here already?" He asked.
Starrk peeped through the window and replied :
" I guess so. This might be it."
" Oh," he turned to the old chariot and complimented.," Thank you for taking us there, sir. Now you must rest until we come back."
He simply nudged Akamaru's slumbered body and she immediately woke up. In fear She looked around and saw her kids still asleep. She breathed a sigh of relief. She saw Yumikō climbing down the few stairs and tilted his head. Akamaru carefully placed Kenny's body along with Haēn and Yuma's.
She then followed them and viewed the Soul society, except the colossal man was already sleeping and the grey wall was smashed into pieces. Akamaru wondered whoever had done this mess after every enemies the Sēireitei had faced over the decades.
They perambulated their way to the gates and Yumikō took out a bottle with a dark magenta coloured potion as he chanted before heading towards the entry:
[ AWAKEN! COMPOS TERRA PERSONA!]
He poured the liquid onto the colossal man's mouth. When he licked the liquid, he finally opened his eyes woke up from a long `nap` and stretching his arms and legs and yawned as if he was reanimated.
He looked around and saw the carriage standing alone with the unicorns. Akamaru, Yumikō and Starrk remained inside before the colossal man even noticed they're gone.
They immediately stopped as they looked around buildings in almost in ruins by annihilations on buildings and bloodstains. In sadness Yumikō asked Akamaru:
" Ever wondered what really happened here? Was Captain Yamamoto there when this happened?"
" I have no idea, dark lord." She answered. Silently, she gave them directions to a location where, she believes that's how Yamamoto almost always held every meetings.
However, it really doesn't take much longer when Kazumi arrived along with her step brother's wife ahead at this hours, while Zen and Iruka were behind them.
~~~~~~~
As hours passed by, Hirōshi remained frustrated, yet kept his cool. The remaining captains chatted at one another about the news. Yamamoto hushed them into silence when Sōi Fon brought an aviary cage covered in a violet red sheets.
Once she removed it, a Nobusama was inside there, attempted to break out of the aviary cage. Kenpachi stared at it as a reminder of the attack he'd received since last evening.
Hirōshi's frustration were in a moderate tone when he sees it. Chōjiro then used the key he had and opened it. Even though it was was hungry and tired, the Nobusama was free at last as it flew towards his Kirin fur covered golden kimono on his chest. Hirōshi was happy, but his anger for Yamamoto lingered in balance.
" There's nothing to discuss anymore, Shigekuni. I'll ask my men to bring them back." He spoke.
By the time he turned around and walked away, two figures stood in his way. Nearly all of the remaining captains immediately grabbed their zanpakuto when they glimpse at the Espada, yet the figure actively grabbed his potion from his side pocket.
" If you come any close to Starrk, I'll swear to you all, I'll blow this place into a million pieces!" He snapped. Hirōshi almost not recognising a feminine-like voice.
" Oh shit, it's you again. Yumikō, you do realise I have to leave immediately. Now, get out of my way, please." He demanded once more. But he didn't seemed to move an inch and chimed :
" I wish I could, ol' friend. But there's something I'd like to discuss with you and the head captain - alone. You can keep your messenger for a while."
The remaining captains and Chōjirō himself dismissed themselves until the room had only four men left. Little do they know, Kazumi had arrive at that very moment, engulfed by anger and antipathy. She grinned at them as her sadistic smirk appeared on her face. Yet, it doesn't stopped the remaining captains from listening these conversations.
~~~~~~~
Inside a wagon- like carriage, Rukia starred at the sunlight and noticed it was late. She looked at Ichitaro as he remained asleep. She thought she felt as if anxiety was gone for a while, yet a sense of dread was there.
Curiously, she simply stroked his hair when she noticed his head was coated with a sense of heat. By then, she could feel Ichitaro's body was burning up.
'A fever?' she thought. Once she had checked closely on his wound, she was horrified when a bandage was smothered by blood. At first, the Tanuki doctor noticed this, then quickly grabbed one of the Nuppeppo and applied it onto his wound. But, it swiftly rejected it and headed back to the box in terror.
" Hmm, something isn't right. It never rejected this kind of wound before. Is there anyone who can heal this young lad? " He asked.
" There are medical teams in here. We might give them a chance.", she stated as she got out of the wagon and grabbed Ichitaro's entire body., " I'll go and find the emperor and ask for his permission myself."
" W-wait. A-are you sure it's a good idea, young lady?" The Tanuki doctor asked.
" Trust me. If I could ask anyone, it should be him."
She simply leapt towards the building without saying anymore words, yet the Tengu spotted her. Tengu also leapt, only using his wings as he tried to catch her once again. In a meantime, Ichitaro's spirit energy was slowly charging in and his fingernails began growing claws. By then, the Tanuki doctor had no choice but to follow them.
~~~~~~~~
" So, you're starting a meeting without me?" She asked, in an apathy but cheerful tone.
" Cut your acting, bitch! You know you're not welcome here." Hirōshi barked.
" Oh, just to remind you that I'm still the owner of the Sēireitei. "
" You must've been delusional about this. What do you want?"
" An apology on my brother's behalf. He shouldn't have done anything of this, just because he thinks a spirit demon is on the loose."
Then, Captain Yamamoto noticed some familiar pattern on Kazumi. Yesterday, Katsuya actually told him about the spirit demon too, but couldn't believe him at first. He thought he was as delusional as his sister was by believing old wife's tale. Hence, if they're telling the truth, this could mean that spirit demon that had landed in the Soul society would have stayed there until further notice. As he listens to Kazumi's ` apology ` , Hirōshi's laughter halted her from continuing.
" Oh, Kazumi. Spirit demons are extinct a long time ago and you're still chasing fairy tales at your age.", Hirōshi laughed.
" You're making fun of my sister in law, you twat. The one who cleansed the Soul society from the them. They're pure evil and they deserve to be dead!" The pretty wife snapped.
" Said her husband who left three of his kids because he thinks they're ` weaklings `. " Yumikō joked , Starrk almost chuckled.
Whilst Rukia found her way to the hallway and nearly lost the Tengu, she accidentally opened the door when the other captains stood back. In her discovery, she spotted Starrk and Yumikō, whilst the Yokai emperor was at the opposite of them. Meanwhile, Kazumi and the pretty wife was in between them and Yamamoto. To anyone's suprise how Ichitaro's spirit energy still circling around in moderation, they soon realise, the spirit demon was real.
" Emperor Hirōshi, Ichitaro is in grave danger. He's having a fever and ____." Rukia panicked.
" No, child. I'll do it, I'll heal him." Kazumi disturbed her. But, Rukia stood back and said:
" I was talking to the Emperor, not you! "
" What will you do to that poor fellow? End his life?" Yumikō asked.
" I'll heal him instead. And in return, I'd like a request to release Sosuke Aizan from Mukēn and dismiss his sentence. Arresting an innocent man, is like caging a bird. He didn't mean to hurt everyone." She insisted, which fuelled Yamamoto's anger as he'd remembered what he'd done.
" That man is a criminal. I've already learnt his crimes and you're defending him like he'd done nothing. He should've been executed a long time ago." Rukia bravely said.
" Don't worry, kid. I know what'll happened when he's released - he'll keep her warm in her bed. Whether it rains, snow or shines, it's lonely at the top." Yumikō said as he wasn't joking about Kazumi's ` love affair ` with Aizen.
The pretty wife was upset and livid about the matter as she stormed towards him and bellowed:
" STOP MAKING FUN OF MY QUEEN, TRAITOR!!"
Starrk quickly pointed the gun at her and the Tengu arrived and tried to shield the emperor and Rukia from fighting Kazumi.
As the individual chatting grew exceptionally loud, Yamamoto's spirit energy unexpectedly exploded from the hallway all the way to the end of the Sēireitei gates.
{ BOOM! }
" ENOUGH!!!" he shouted.
The fight ended shortly and Starrk shielded Yumikō from harm. Rukia does the same to Ichitaro, but his spirit energy was blocking Yamamoto's, preventing her from getting hurt. Kazumi, on the other hand, she used her golden wings for her own protection.
The remaining captains charged in and felt as if their bodies were pressed down firmly. At that moment, Yamamoto was furious by the bickering.
" AIZEN IS GOING NOWHERE AND HE'LL SERVE HIS SENTENCE! THIS CHILD WILL STAY HERE, KAZUMI! THESE TWO WILL REMAIN BEHIND! SO, YOU'LL LEAVE HERE BEFORE I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!" He demanded, which terrified her.
She and the pretty wife left immediately afterwards and the captains were left flustered and frightened by the old man's wrath. The Tengu almost collapsed to the ground and the Tanuki doctor rushed towards the scene. Hirōshi, simply nodded the Tanuki doctor before heading back to the wagon to wake Renji and the others, but not Rangiku and Yoshimura.
As Ichitaro's fever got worse, the other captains decided to sent him towards the hospital for a further treatment. When Zen and Iruka arrived at the Soul society, it was too late as they've missed out the event.
' Dang it. What did we miss?' Iruka wondered.
~~~~~~~
[ Kazumi's POV ]
Kazumi and the pretty wife had escaped from Yamamoto's anger and breathed a sigh of relief. She remained frustrated as her plan backfired when she planned out so perfectly.
" Shit!" She cursed. The pretty wife was mad at Yumikō's comments and asked Kazumi :
" What should we do now?"
" Going according to my second plan- destroy the world of the living. Let's go home, Lila." She answered.
When they've returned home, Kazumi picked up the vintage white powdered telephone and Lila asked when she looked at her dialing those circular numbers:
" You're calling him again?"
" I have no choice. I must check how he's doing."
As she placed the telephone on her ear, waiting for a certain someone to pickup the phone, it immediately answered.
«Abaddon, we have a situation. How's the plan going?»
« Great, actually. I've kidnapped 20 of these kids and they'll be dinner by early winter. It'll work out just fine, your Highness. Trust me.» said a deep, yet appealing voice.
« Good. Once you're done with them, this should distract the captains and you'll destroy them the moment they're outnumbered.»
« Hehehe. Don't worry about anything, your Highness, these young humans will fuel my army in no time. They wouldn't think twice.» the voice chuckled before hanging up.
Kazumi's devious smile have appeared once again as her other plan was in progress.
~~~~~~~
MEANWHILE....
As the tall demonic figure hung up his phone, he turned around and saw a 19 year old girl with a butterscotch hair and lime green eyes staring at him, sitting down in fear. The rest of those kids, in their college age, wanted to save her. Alas, the gargoyles would end their lives if they dare. He bends over her and said:
" Don't worry, my beautiful human. I'll save my appetite for desserts like you. " He said in a honeyed tone, that scared her. His fiendish smile appeared on his face. " As for now, it's just you and me. "