Azdeha practically battered the door down in her haste to get Chusei to answer. Hopping from foot to foot with impatience, she hoped that her senpai was in. She was about to pound on the door once more when it swung open, revealing a disgruntled Chusei on the other side, her mouth open, ready to object.
She never got the chance. The younger girl pushed past her and strolled into the hallway where she stood, wringing her hands. Chusei closed the door and turned to face her.
"Why are you at home? Why aren't you at the meeting? Don't you know what's going on?" The questions spilled out of Azdeha, who barely paused for breath. "Byakuya and nii-sama are missing. How can you stand there so casually looking like you were planning on having a day relaxing in the garden?"
Chusei was staring at her, eyes wide. Azdeha frowned and bit down on her lower lip. "You didn't know." It was a statement not a question. "No one’s told you yet."
The taller woman shook her head, unable to speak.
"They never came back from their mission and the village they were at is deserted. The recovery team couldn't find anyone and no one’s heard from their team for 2 days. There's a captain's meeting about to...."
She was interrupted by a knock on the door followed by the door blowing inward as Hisagi hurtled himself into the room, gasping for breath. "TAICHOU!"
"I know Hisagi, I know." Chusei waved a dismissive hand at him, not in the mood for one of his rants. "I will head over there now. Brief me on the way, please wait outside for a second."
Turning to Azdeha as Chusei went to leave, she shot her a genuinely concerned look. "I will find out what I can and head out as soon as I am out of the meeting. Sou-Taichou may object due to personal level, but if anyone if good at tracking, let alone finding Renji, it's me." With a nod from her friend, Chusei breezed out the room, haori flowing behind her.
"Igsu." Chusei hopped down to Hisagi, and with a nod they disappeared in a burst of shunpo.
The next hour went by in a hurried blur. Chusei learnt Renji and Byakuya were officially confirmed as missing, but nothing was being declared in public to keep the squad semi-calm. Komamura was chosen to keep an eye on the squad when possible for now. Mayuri confirmed no one had used any senkaimon gates, so the location was within this dimension. Soi Fon confirmed her squad had scouted through the village and surrounding land but found no trace. Surprisingly Sou-Taichou, albeit grudgingly, chose Chusei along with Kenpachi to make a team to dispatch to find the captains. Chusei could track reiatsu quite well thanks to her zanpakuto's abilities, and Kenpachi would serve as back-up as anything which could "capture" two powerful shinigami certainly wasn’t going to be a push-over.
As soon as Sou-Taichou's cane hit the floor, Chusei was behind Kenpachi ushering him out the door. "Nan-da? There is no rush." He lazily complained once they were outside. "Those two can take care of themselves....Well, I don’t know about that sissy boy Byakuya, but Renji used to be in my squad so he will be just fine." Gritting her teeth, Chusei said nothing, but began to cook up her selection for a squad to leave now.
