Captain Zaraki headed towards Yamamoto's office, which was much larger than the other captain offices in the Sēireitei. Both Hanatarō and Hōshi were following him. The door to the captain commander's office were slightly opened as the Tanuki doctor and the Tengu were in between it. Meaning Hirōshi and Yumikō were still there.
It had been hours after Ichitaro's `appearance` and their discovery of his race. However, their first appearance in the spirit world remained unknown unless, Ichitaro might have an explanation or at least his twin sisters.
After few minutes, both Hirōshi and Yumikō came out of the office, whilst Captain Zaraki didn't take seconds as he mounted there. When he stepped toward the altar, Yamamoto noticed Zaraki's spirit energy and turned to face him as he approached him.
" Took you long enough." Yamamoto spoke then asked, " Is Hanatarō there with you? Along with his dear friend, Hōshi? "
" Yes, they are. It didn't take me a while than I expected when these two showed up for work." Zaraki responded.
" Huh, just like that time when Ikkaku confessed himself on his whereabouts on those two nights ago. Don't remind me of that." Yamamoto chuckled lightly.
Zaraki also couldn't resist his laughter and a few seconds later, they stopped for a moment as Hōshi and Hanatarō were awkwardly looking at them.
" Umm, are they talking about that same baldie from two nights ago and a poor injured kid that almost died, if I didn't get him out of that saloon?" Hōshi whispered.
" I don't know, you tell them where you were that night. " Hanatarō answered, but tried his best to hide his `anger`.
In which, Hōshi sighed in one breath and placed one foot on the other as they called both Zaraki and Yamamoto out.
" Um, sir Yamamoto. There's something I wanted to tell you. I was the one who brought that poor kid from the saloon all the way here two nights ago. His injury was so bad and so fatal, that I had to send him to Lady Unohana to heal his wounds, despite that I couldn't have any ability including healing. Apart from my shape shifting skills." They explained.
The old Captain commander was in doubt at first, but when he quickly examined some hints from yesterday's catastrophe and the unusual pattern regarding on Kazumi and Katsuya's theories about Ichitaro inside the soul society. He stroked his beard in curiosity as he was in deep thoughts.
' Huh, so they actually confess. I wonder if Hōshi was telling the truth or not about their whereabouts and the kid from the world of the living. If so, what about Unohana? Is she involved in this matter? Or was it Koro? Then what I should do is solving this matter, one way or another.' the old man pondered.
He simply starred at Hōshi and, almost immediately, he inquired:
" Hōshi. Tell me more about that kid you and Ikkaku had saved that night."
" Oh...okay, Lord Yamamoto. So, there was this kid named Ichitaro Kagami that I met him at the saloon....."
~~~~~~~~
As the beginning of winter was fast approaching, the sun slowly began to fall behind the western mountains. Few hours after Hōshi confess their whereabouts, Captain Yamamoto started by placing on the piece of the `Spirit demon in the spirit world` conspiracy and why Katsuya attacked the Soul society in the first place. Yet, there's one question remained and that was how Ichitaro got here.
Captain Zaraki dismissed himself along with Hōshi and Hanatarō a few hours earlier, but since Ikkaku, Renji and Hōshi had told him, they might be punished for letting an intruder inside the Sēireitei.
" I may have figured out the boy was from the world of the living, but how did he get here when he doesn't have any spirit energy nor any magic inside him? " He asked himself.
By the time his thoughts were covering the office room, a door was slightly opened and Hēimâ was peeping through it, causing the thoughts to disintegrate into almost nothingness.
" Umm, Shīfù. You called?" Hēimâ muttered.
Captain Yamamoto then turned and saw Hēimâ peeking through the door with his head.
" Oh, Hēimâ. I thought you were someone else. You can come in now." Yamamoto said.
Hēimâ, simply opened the door and closed it as soon as he got in. When he got closer, yet kept his distance, he was disquieted as the old Captain commander was.
" What does the conqueror of the Heavenly Spirit gates want at these desperate times?" Hēimâ asked, yet felt uneased.
" Is Shunsui and Ramune are busy at the moment?" Yamamoto asked him before he could answer. Eventually, Hēimâ confirmed they're at the 8th Division on Shunsui's office. He, then insisted:
" Good then. I want you to send these kids to their cottage. It'll be unwise for me to send them on the loose whilst there's danger. Start by asking your cousin to discharge that child. "
" Maybe we should tell them. I'm afraid they might suspect something." Hēimâ stated anxiously, yet doesn't want to show it.
" Don't worry about them. I'll deal with them."
~~~~~~~~
{ ICHITARO'S POV}
When dusk was approaching, Ichitaro rubbed his eyes as the nurse finally put brought them food after hadn't been eaten since this morning. Ichitaro had almost spent the whole day inside the medical room for his wounded leg and a fever.
In his belief, once he's fully healed, he'll leave the Soul society even if it's against Ichigo's wishes. After done collecting, the only thing left was the black gem that the Yamagata heir had told him. By then he'll might have to ask Excalibur to send him home, which might be impossible.
Served with a delicious beef stew and rice, two on each separated Japanese style bowls and bamboo chopsticks, they were simply grateful for their meals and finally feeding themselves.
After few minutes of eating, Rangiku realised all of their stuffs were left behind at the wagon and they must've completely forgotten about it. Nervously, she went to her brother and said:
" Umm, Ichitaro. I think we might have a problem. I think we accidentally left our stuff here at the wagon."
" Oh shit. I forgot about it too. After every crap we've been through and my fever had nearly killed me, I completely forgot. I have to go and _____." Ichitaro spoke before struggling to get up. But his sisters stopped him.
" No! Ichitaro, why don't you relax for a while? Rangiku and I will find our stuff from the Yokai emperor or Renji. " She said, whereby he finally agreed. Just as Rangiku and Yoshimura left Ichitaro all alone, with two steps away, they were headed towards the exit.
Unfortunately, they spotted Li and Hēimâ arguing along with a soul reaper woman with glasses on the hallway. At first they saw Li disagreeing with them, but eventually forced himself to agree with them. As they turned around, like scared little mice, Rangiku and Yoshimura abandoned their `mini quest` as they scuttled back to Ichitaro's room.
Ichitaro was confused when he saw his sisters in panic mode, closing the door shut without locking the door.
" Took you guys for three and a half seconds to come back empty handed. What gives?" He asked sarcastically, but still haven't had a single laugh.
" Enough of your cold sarcasm, please? Someone's coming and we have to get out of here." Yoshimura replied.
" What about Li?" Rangiku asked.
" Forget about him, we'll leave a note for him. " Ichitaro answered, not sure if it was his plan or not.
As soon as the door handle turned upwards, Rangiku and Yoshimura had no other choice but to protect their twin brother as they quickly spun to action. Once the door opened, they quickly realized that it was Li who opened the door and he was baffled and irritated at someone. To his surprise, Li noticed that two of the triplets were guarding Ichitaro.
" Still defending him?" He chuckled.
" I thought you're out for us, Mr Li. Is there any possibility we could get our stuff back from the Yokai emperor? We need it as soon as possible." Yoshimura inquiried.
" I think it's Impossible. That's because your stuff are at the Researche and development institute for an investigation. Only captains can go there." He answered with an awkward smile on his face.
However, a woman impatiently pushed him away from the door, which terrified the triplets. Li, on the other hand, was completely annoyed by the woman's
behaviour.
" Nanao, could you at least have patience about this? I had to check if the patient is ready to be discharged today." Li fumed, yet doesn't want to show it in front of the triplets.
" I don't know if you're wasting your own time, but it's Captain Yamamoto's orders. He want these kids at Kyoraku's house as soon as possible, injured or not." Nanao argued. Hence began a controversial argument.
" Lieutenant Nanao, brother Li. Please let's not waste time bickering over Shīfù's orders. " Hēimâ begged, in which they're almost agreed.
" Fine. We'll send them at my brother-in-law's place. But if he's health is improving, you have to report to me first, got it?" Li requested.
" Agree." Nanao simply answered, which confused the triplets.
" Umm, what's going on? Where are you guys taking us and who is this Shīfù Yamamoto you guys talking about?" Rangiku trembled. Whereas Yoshimura and Ichitaro are willing to beat them down.
" You don't have to worry about everything, kids. You'll be safe here once we take to my brother-in-law's place." Li said, in a calm tone.
~~~~~~~~~
When dusk fell, Ichitaro was dismissed and all of the triplets were following Nanao from the medical facility of the 4th Division to the 8th Divisional headquarter. Luckily, Ichitaro was carried by one of the strongest members of the squad and surprisingly, Ichitaro's body was light as a feather. Shortly thereafter, they've reached out Ramune's Chinese style cottage house.
Inside the cottage, the maids were massaging Ramune's bandaged wrist and she almost noticed a sharp pain. Shunsui was anxious and hoping it might go away. When Nanao and the others arrived, she simply entered inside the cottage without knocking.
When Li spotted Ramune was in an agonising pain, he didn't waste time and check if something's wrong with her wrist. Almost immediately, he removed some kind of a spirit paper which was damaged after Kakazu's nearly killed her.
Shunsui looked at Li then turned and saw Nanao along with the triplets. He was confused and asked:
" Uhh, Nanao-chan. Who are these kids? They don't look like from the Rukongai district, are they?"
" Actually, Captain Yamamoto would like to request you to guard them because he knew it's not safe for kids at their age, wondering around to Celestia knows where." Nanao explained.
" Tell me old man Yama is joking at his age. You know very well I have to create my own kids with loving wife. Even Ukitake had a kid before me. I can't take care of these three kids from somewhere in the spirit realm." He complained. But, Nanao continued to ignore his complaints and sighed.
" I know that, Captain. But it's Yamamoto's orders we can't turn our backs now that the central 46 are dead. He doesn't ask you, he command your lazy arse. They will leave this place until Ichigo will come and pick them up." She added.
" Alright, I'll take care of these kids myself. " He whined, behaving like his teenage boy self.
" I am so happy that you didn't disappoint the old man.", Nanao cheerfully said. Before she left, she stopped herself and continued, " Oh, one more thing. Yamamoto also asked if Murasaki is active."
" Why would he want Murasaki this time? The last thing I remember is that he banned all of my dragons, including Murasaki, from burning any traitors. " Ramune remarked.
" It's a long story. Right now, you have to bring him by three days during the funeral and that'll be all. " She said before leaving the kids all alone.
The maids didn't hesitate to take Ichitaro to the guest room and when Rangiku was about to greet Shunsui, he immediately payed attention to his wife. Yoshimura immediately forced Rangiku as they both followed Ichitaro towards the guest room.
" Shunsui, just don't upset these kids too much about this and that poor blonde boy has a leg injury. Please take great care of him." Said Li
" Don't forget to keep your promise to Shīfù." Ramune said as well.
" Don't worry, sweet rose. They're are just kids that I'll take care of them. How hard can it be?" Shunsui spoke.
However, at the window, Jupiter's shadow appeared, monitoring on every Soul reapers and eventually learnt they're going to use a dragon to burn Aizan's body, unrecognisable. Once he finally collected a crucial information, he simply disappeared whilst remained undetected.
~~~~~~~~
MEANWHILE...
At the white palace, Bezel waited anxiously in the living room. Lila gathered some wood and started a fire on the chimney. Kazumi covered herself with a warm pink blanket, still couldn't shake her feelings that her closest ally and `lover` was long gone.
As darkness of the early winter night had fallen, Jupiter emerged from the shadow of Bezel and was too furious to speak.
" Jupiter, what did you see? What are they going to do with him?" Bezel asked.
Lividly, Jupiter shook his head and when he paused, he closed his eyes and breathed heavily.
" Lord Beelzebub, have you ever wanted a dignified and respectful funeral of your own, only for your enemies to completely forgotten about it by doing the exact opposite of what you want?" Jupiter asked.
" I...I don't understand this riddle, Jupiter." Bezel responded in a confused way.
" This is what they'll do to Aizan within three days. The day when Yhwatch declared war on the Soul society." Jupiter explained, which shocked everyone including Bezel.
"What a dreadful way to end his life. Aizan didn't mean to hurt everyone. He was trying to do the right thing while the Soul society was too blind to believe him. He was even attempted to `train` them for an upcoming war on angels. And this is how they repay him?" Kazumi fumed.
" B...but, your Majesty. They are planning to burn his corpse beyond recognition by using a dragon you told the old man not to. We need to make it official that the Soul society are our enemies and we will wage war against them! " Lila exclaimed.
A dark cloud of hatred flooded through her head. After so many decades of fixing and and controlling the Soul society, manipulating them and regained their trust into believing they're far superior than the rest of the entities, hence had to eliminate them one by one. Now the Soul society had betrayed her and Aizan just for their selfish purposes.
Kazumi removed her blanket and got up in anger.
"Fuck these ghost freaks. We're going to save Aizan's body. They'll pay for what they did to all of us. One way or another."