Azdeha walked out of the final house in her row, wiping her hands on her top. She was covered in dust and grime from checking every crack, crease and loose stone in the huts she had been searching. So far her search had yielded no results. As she looked around, the distressed faces of the other Shinigami in their group did nothing to lift her mood. Clearly no one had found anything. She sighed and put her hands on her hips, arching her back to stretch as she did so. As she threw her head back the sun blinded her. It was low in the sky, meaning it was almost late afternoon. They had been searching for a while now and the strain was beginning to show. Ikakku was sitting leaning against a cold stone wall, wiping sweat from his face, further down the other members of squad 11 were sharing out water.
She leaned back until she could feel the solid wall of stone behind her and let her legs slide out from under her. Things were beginning to feel useless. She couldn't sense any spiritual pressure from the two missing men, in fact she could barely feel anyone's spiritual pressure. This area seemed to suck it all out of them or something. If they couldn't rely on spiritual pressure to locate each other, and whatever had been here had covered its tracks, then they were quite literally screwed. And not in the good way.
Rubbing her forehead as she tried to stave off the oncoming stress headache, Deha spotted Chusei running up the street towards them. Everyone leapt to their feet and turned towards her as one. She was clearly in a hurry which only meant she had discovered something.
Kenpachi was the first to reach her, stepping out from one of the buildings and planting himself in front of her. She would have slammed into him had she not been so well trained. She skidded to a halt in front of the big man and said something to him, the urgency of it plastered across her face. Kenpachi listened and the two captains called everyone forward. Deha hurried over, hand ready on her zanpakuto. She muscled her way through the other Shinigami to the front and stopped right in front of her friend.
"Chusei?"
Chusei re-iterated, looking at Azdeha with a locked yet concerned gaze. "There is an entrance that is clearly the one they wanted to find. There are lanterns lit around it and the tatami mat was not correctly on the floor. Considering there hasn't been any luck with these "stage houses" it has to be what I suggested to look for and I don't want to waste any time."
"Wait a minute woman, if it's a clearly staged entrance it would indicate a potential trap." Kenpachi interjected, lording over the women.
"Then send your crazy Ikkaku and that Yumichika in first!" Chusei insisted.
"That's bias against my squad."
"Then Ikkaku and Hisagi." Chusei looked through the gathered group and summoned Hisagi closer. "I don't care who, we just need to go now. With my theories, every second we waste bickering could be hurting Kuchiki Taichou," Chusei glanced momentarily to Azdeha to check on her, "and Abarai Renji." How she hated using his whole name, especially in this circumstance.
When Kenpachi took too long to think this over Chusei simply decided to make a stand. "Fine. Hisagi, Azdeha, igsu." As she led them through the crowd Kenpachi let out a protesting groan of defeat and began to follow. "Ikkaku, show kyu-ban tai how it is done ok?" He growled, signalling for Ikkaku to move forward to join Chusei.
"Hai Taichou!" Ikkaku ran up and as he met Chusei's small group she pointed out the home ahead replicating her old home. The pair soon ran ahead.
"Head to the back, right through the house!" Chusei called after them, beginning to break in to a run herself.
Nudging Azdeha as she passed, Chusei took the lead. Soon Zaraki's group followed. Looking back to check Azdeha was following, although of course she was, Chusei lead them through the brothel, running slightly faster so as to pass the familiar surroundings, she slowed as they skipped through the garden to arrive at the back hut. Slowly sliding the door back entirely, Chusei took this moment while the others to catch up to speak to her best friend.
"We need to be strong for them regardless ok?" Chusei forced a smile. "Strong or weak they would love to see us kick ass huh?" She laughed, winking, "so let's show them our powers ok? Show them what Kurobara and Shunen-Ryu can do."
Azdeha nodded and the two women gave each other knowing looks. They had to be prepared for what they found deep down underground, even the worst case scenario. Unfortunately it was all part of being a shinigami. People died in battle all the time and you had to suck it up and carry on, mourning in your own time because they had a job to do, protect Soul Society and help souls cross over and no matter what happened, people still needed protecting and souls still needed reaping.
