Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ The Cursed Taichou ❯ Part Two ( Chapter 2 )

“They're missing!” She yelled all the louder. “If Ukitake hears about this...you can bet you'll see a just how hard a sick man can hit!”
“I'll go find them myself!” He promised, anything to get her to stop being mad at him and have those cute lovey eyes come back. Jeez, she was prone to mood swings.
“Oooohh and if Kenpachi catches wind that Yuchiru is missing....you are a dead man, Renji, dead!”
That did strike fear into his heart. Oh man! Kenpachi?! He would die for sure.
“Yea...I thought so.” She turned on her heel and left the room. With a groan, he fell into bed.

Katsumi woke with a groan and tried to sit up, only to find a hand restraining her. “Now, now. Please recover your strength.” A voice said, the face blurred as she opened her eyes. After a few moments her vision focused on the face of Urahara.
“What happened?” She asked suddenly, the night before coming back in a flash but not clear enough.
The shopkeeper plopped down beside her, folding his legs and unfolding his fan. “We blacked out. All except the little Vice here. She dragged us down into my little training world. We're quite safe here, I assure you. However....we're also alone, foodless and friendless. With that...thing, standing guard, we can't get out and no one can get in. No one knows we're here either, given that this happened in the middle of the night. It would seem we've just disappeared. Quite a shame actually.” He pondered idly, almost sounding happy about the whole thing. The man sounded happy about everything it seemed.
“There's no way to let someone know we're all down here?” She asked, incredulous. “Don't you have fail safes for this sort of thing?”
He lowered the fan, tilting his hat back. “For being run out of my own shop? Nope, sorry. Never thought it would happen.” He admitted, standing abruptly to walk off. “Someone will find us eventually.” He called over his shoulder pleasantly.
“Great!” She groaned, falling back onto the ground again with a sigh. She was supposed to have reported in this morning, a report she'd probably missed by now. Yamamoto would be disappointed and Kenpachi would throw a fit. Yuchiru happily skipped up to her, leaning over and resting her hands on her knees a she scrutinized Katsumi closely.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I'll be fine.” Yuchiru helped her stand, brushing off her jeans for her. “Thank you. You dragged us all down here, huh?”
“Yep!”
Katsumi ruffled the girls hair and smiled warmly down at her. “Thanks again then. We owe you. Do you know what that thing was, by any chance?”
“Nope!” She said again, happily, before skipping off. “Kisho! Play with me!” She demanded, her voice fading away.
Pulling out her cell phone, she flipped it open, futilely pushing a few buttons. It worked at least and sure enough, that thing was standing guard right above them. The device snapped shut and she slipped it out of view once more. She didn't like the idea of sitting and waiting, but it would seem she had little choice in the matter.
In the distance, Yuchiru's voice sounded again, echoing in the vast spaces. “Yoruichi! Play with me!”

Katsumi checked for the presence of the creature every couple of hours, both by walking up the stairs to the shop for a peek, and on the handy Hollow tracker phone. After the tenth time or so, she gave up. Everyone but Yoruichi had gone to sleep, finding make shift beds in the softest places possible, though Urahara had made this place harsh and barren for a reason and it served it's purpose well.
The black cat came up beside her, flicking her tail against Katsumi's arm. “You should be sleeping as well.” The deceivingly male voice suggested, the sleek feline settling on her haunches.
“No, thank you. I was out longer than anyone so I should be keeping watch.” She pointed out, glancing down. “You can sleep if you'd like though.”
The cat huffed indignantly, raising it's nose. “Just because I'm in cat form doesn't mean I sleep all the time like real cats.”
“I didn't mean it like that.” Katsumi smiled, teasingly scratching behind the cat's ear.
“Yea, yea, keep it up Captain.” She tried to look miffed, but her tone suggested she was more amused than anything.

“Oh, come on, Shunsui.” Katsumi laughed, breathless with it. “If you did that, Mayuri would slaughter you in your sleep!”
“No, maybe just experiment on him.” Ukitake suggested with a smile.
“How can you improve perfection?” Shunsui asked, leaning back against the trunk of the tree lazily.
“I don't know, how can you Katsumi?” Ukitake asked, turning his dark gaze to her.
An audible gasp came from Shunsui. “I don't believe it.” He feigned complete shock, though some of it was genuine. “Was that....affection?”
“What are you talking about? He gives me plenty of affection.” Katsumi defended.
“He must smother you when you're alone then.” He mused, more to himself than them.
“What makes you think I'm not affectionate?” Ukitake asked his friend bluntly, one brow raised.
“Come on Juushiro. You never hug her, kiss her, hold her hand or touch her when another soul is around. Half the time you seem to be afraid that she'll burst into flame if you so much as look at her.” He seemed quite serious and passionate about the topic.
Ukitake took the criticism calmly, responding just as evenly. “It wouldn't be proper for two-”
Before he could finish, Shunsui cut him off. “Katsumi, dear, would you like a shovel? Being with him the most, you must be elbow deep in bull-”
Now it was Ukitake's turn to cut him off. “Don't you dare start up with that.”
“Start what?” Shunsui asked innocently, bringing another laugh from Katsumi. “All I'm saying is that women need a little affection or they'll stray, that's all.”
“Hey! I would never-” But Katsumi, too, was cut off.
“Take my ebony-haired goddess for example,” He began, his tone making it clear that he had quite a bit to say on the subject.
“Ise Nanao?” Ukitake asked.
“You hardly know her, on top of that, you might never work with her. Two days and she's already your 'goddess'?” Katsumi reasoned, or tried to.
“Take my ebony-haired goddess for example,” He repeated, ignoring them. “I shower her with love and affection, therefore she will never seek the arms of another man.”
“Instead she chooses to duck and cover when ever she sees you coming.” Katsumi grinned.
“You lie!” Shunsui accused, sitting up to point a finger for added effect.
“I've seen her doing it.” Ukitake testified.
“You lie too!” He laid back again, crossing his arms over his broad chest in a defensive manner. “My dearest Nanao will come around. Besides, we're supposed to be talking about you two.” He stated, ignoring the fact that he'd brought up Nanao.
“The fact is: He shows me plenty of affection.” Katsumi said with a note of finality.
Shunsui just looked at them, seated with a good one or two feet between them, scratching his chest lazily.
Without warning, Ukitake grabbed her, laying her back against the soft grass. With one arm supporting her upper body, the other hand burrowed deep in her hair, he kissed her. Nothing quick or chaste, but long, lazy and loving. When he pulled away, he looked down at her, black eyes brimming with amusement he might not have shown otherwise. Returning her to her sitting position, Ukitake stared at his lifelong friend, daring him to continue.
“Well I'll be damned.” Then looking at Katsumi, his eyes narrowed as he studied her closely. She had flushed cheeks and a dreamy far off look. Shunsui pointed an accusing finger at Ukitake. “It doesn't count if you've never done it before!”
For a rare, cherished moment, Ukitake laughed. In the night sky above, the stars winked happily over the still blushing Katsumi.

It was around four in the morning that something finally happened. The large gates at the top of the stairs rattled violently, stilled a moment, then began to swing open. With her hand on the hilt of her Zanpaku-to, she rose slowly, stepping toward the stairs slowly. They rose a good thirty feet up, a rather long walk, but not too long for a Hollow...or whatever this was. In the darkness it was hard to see a sure form, but there was something up there. Tall and bulky, a formidable foe for sure.
“You're safe!” A voice cried as someone tackled her to the ground, nearly two hundred pounds of weight crushing her to the ground. Once lifted, the scraggly voice of Shunsui came into view. He wasn't in his normal captain's uniform, flowery as it was. Instead he wore a modest black button up shirt, untucked, with khaki slacks. Barefoot?! Didn't people notice that? “I was so worried! I mean...Ukitake was so worried.” He stood swiftly, and in the same motion, swept her up into his arms. His head lowered, dark eyes close to hers. “Don't tell Nanao, she'll be jealous.” Then dropped her.
“Gah!” Luckily, she landed on someone, producing a grunt and groan all in one. Rolling off quickly, she moved to help up her saving grace. Poor little Hanatorou looked up at her sheepishly, rubbing his back. “Shunsui, that wasn't very proper.” He pointed out in her defense.
“If you hadn't bothered her, she would have landed on her feet. She's a Captain in the thirteen squads.” He pointed out with a lazy grin.
“Heh, oh yeah.” He rubbed his head and walked off to check on the other members of Katsumi's little company.
“Sorry Ukitake couldn't make it, he had another bought of that coughing blood thing. Wasn't pretty. So he sent me instead. Or rather, I volunteered. Without his knowing.”
“Is he okay?” She asked nervously, blue eyes darkening with worry.
“Yeah, yeah, he's fine. Unohana is taking care of him personally, again.” He assured her, actually becoming serious for a moment.
“Wait a minute....” She pulled out the phone. Sure enough a little red dot indicated the position of the critter, still above them. “How did you get in here?”
“Oh, Mayuri helped.”
Just the name sent a shudder down her spine. Then, Mayuri himself, in all his creepiness, descended down the steps. Too grand for a Gigai, he remained in his Shinigami form, odd uniform in tact.
“You're lucky I'm here, in this God-forsaken place. Humans are filthy creatures, I can't believe Yamamoto forced me to interact with these things.” He gave a visible shudder and floated past her without another word.
“Yes, thank you for coming.” She said sarcastically, making him swing back toward her, yellow eyes focusing menacingly on her.
“You should be grateful. If I was one of the newest Captains, I wouldn't be mouthing off to my superior.” He said, eyes narrowing.
Katsumi almost lost it. Her eyes boiled with fury, fists clenched tightly at her sides as she stepped closer, opening her mouth to say something.
“Hey now, if she'd hadn't been -mastering- her Bankai, she would have been a Captain for a century longer than you have.” Shunsui pointed out gently, hoping to avoid a fight. With a growl, he turned and stalked off, muttering to himself about insolent wenches, Katsumi nearly following.
Shunsui took her arm gently and shook his head. “He fights dirty, you'd better not. Besides, no one cares about what he says, it isn't worth it.”
With a growl of her own, she let it go, crossing her arms over her chest. “Jerk.”
Shunsui laughed. “Hey now, I was just trying to help.” He teased, nudging her shoulder. “Anyway, we didn't have any trouble getting in. There was nothing up there. But, when you didn't report in the big man got worried and sent us.” He shrugged, leaning against a large boulder, raising his hand above his eyes, despite the lack of sun. He was missing his straw hat greatly. “The Reiatsu is there, but Mayuri, who 'doesn't make mistakes',” He imitated Mayuri's voice poorly. “Assured us it wasn't there.”
“How is that possible?” She asked, forgetting about her anger for a moment. “Doesn't it have to be there for the Reiatsu to register?”
“That's the theory that's widely accepted, yes, but apparently that isn't necessary.”
The other's joined them, with the exception of Mayuri who didn't want anything to do with a lowly shopkeeper and his amazing, gender confused, talking cat.
“Well, I suppose it's safe to go back up.” Urahara said, peering up the stairs from under his two tone hat.
“Well if Mayuri said it, it must be true!” Yoruichi said before bounding up the stairs two and three at a time, no small amount of malice in her voice. “Yeah! It's safe.” She called down before mumbling; “What a mess!”
They all made there way back up to the shop and the new morning light. Sure enough, the place was empty, if not completely torn apart. Urahara's eyes widened and he looked as if he might cry. “Jinta! Ururu! Where are you?” He demanded, storming off into the back of the shop to find them.
Feeling rather bad for him, Katsumi tried to pick up a few things, but was stopped by Shunsui. “We should be getting back. Yamamoto hasn't decided weither or not he wants you to stay here, but he wants to talk to you personally.” He informed her. “Mayuri is going to stay here with Yuchiru and I'm going to take you back.”
It seemed odd to her the way he took her arm, leading her out. The pace wasn't fast, but for Shunsui it was a bit hurried. Once out of the store, he let her go, returning to his normal, lazy self, looking once more as if he might fall asleep any moment, even when standing and walking around. On a whim, she flipped out the phone.
“Hey! Try and get Yamamoto to let you bring back my Zanpaku-to!” Kisho came running out, nearly tripping....twice.
“Sure thing.” She called back, glancing down. The little red dot began moving away from her. She stood still but watched it continue. Glancing over her shoulder, she watched Kisho retreat into the shop once more, disappearing into shadow.


To be continued...