Azdeha opened her eyes to see Hisagi staring down at her, beads of sweat forming on his forehead where he'd run back from the captain's meeting. "Come on! Taichou said she'd meet us at the village. I'll brief you on the way."
With that she was on her feet, Kurobara at her side, and the two shinigami were out of the house, at full shunpo.
"Apparently they sent a scouting party ahead earlier but they came back with nothing. Chusei Taichou is up there now with squad 11 searching the area."
Hisagi had been filling Azdeha in on the finer points of the captain's meeting, or at least as much of it as he had been told, but it did nothing to ease her tension. In fact, it made it all the worse that Renji and Kuchiki Taichou had just disappeared with no evidence, or signs of a struggle according to SoiFon's people.
"Hopefully we'll have more luck."
"I hope so, although, Soi Fon's team are pretty thorough. It is their job after all." Azdeha shot him a dirty look. For all his cheek and good looks, Hisagi could be far too serious at times. And annoyingly logical.
"Well we have something she didn't." Azdeha gritted her teeth. She knew that SoiFon's team would have looked everywhere for the missing shinigami, and searched for residual energy to try and work out what happened. However they lacked the perseverance that she and Chusei would bring to this operation. The determination to find their men no matter what. She knew that she wouldn't stop looking until she found them, and neither would Chusei. Even if they were ordered to stand down by the King himself.
Beside her Hisagi's mouth twitched. "Renji's a lucky guy to have you two out looking for him." He knew about Chusei's relationship with Renji and it was fairly obvious that Azdeha would be determined to find her brother. "I imagine you'll put some of that effort into finding your captain too?"
Azdeha frowned, of course she would. There was no way she was going to leave Byakuya behind. She opened her mouth to say as much then realised who she was talking to. Hisagi had no idea about their situation. At least she didn't think he did, but you never knew with him. He was observant to say the least. "Of course I want to find him. He's my captain after all."
Hisagi nodded, understanding full well what she meant. His own captain had once betrayed him, but before that he would have done anything to save him. Like he would do anything to find Chusei if she was the one in this situation. Suddenly he held up a hand and the two Shinigami stopped. He pointed through a break in the trees.
Azdeha squinted and could just make out the edges of a village, and a figure dressed in black kicking at doors. "Looks like Chusei Taichou's already started."
"Soi Fon did a general sweep but I can't count that it was thorough given the time frame, "Chusei kicked in another door, closing her eyes and sharpening her senses to mentally sweep the room for reaitsu, finding nothing she came back out and turned to Ikkaku and Yumichika, "so look in the houses and especially the floors. Got it?!"
"Hai!" And with that Ikkaku and Yumichika set in to action, annoyingly not running, but striding to the nearest houses to them.
Growling, but choosing not to comment any further, Chusei kicked in the next house. Nothing. This could take forever at this rate.
Sensing two familiar presences pop on to her near-radar, Chusei stepped back in to the street from the latest house and looked upwards to confirm her sharp senses were right. "Good. You two, get on the floor and check the houses here. These aren't lived in enough to be real so we're sweeping the floor for now. We both know if Renji or Byakuya had seriously fought there would be significant damage but there simply isn't. I think they are below ground." Nodding, Hisagi passed Chusei and began on another set of houses. As Azdeha went to pass, Chusei grabbed her shoulder and pulled her to one side.
"The only way neither me or Soi Fon could sense Renji and Byakuya is if they were deep underground, or worse yet in that horrid reaitsu-sapping stone they make Seireitei's guarding walls from." Chusei looked her friend straight in the eyes, "I'm just telling you now to give you a heads up. I don't intend to stop now I am on the scene and I know you won't either...but I just want you to at least prepare yourself to see them hurt." Seeing her friends eyes quiver a little Chusei did the official thing and let her go with a curt nod.
The next 17 houses revealed nothing. Each dud-house wound Chusei tighter and tighter but as they were her only clue she could hardly vent and blow them all down. Letting out her frustration by kicking more than the door down in the last house, when sensing nothing Chusei went in to the street and took several deep breaths before looking forward and catching sight of something which made her heart freeze. "No....no it can't be! This is a joke!" Knee's wobbling, Chusei leant heavily on the nearest item she could get to, eyes locked ahead.
Half hidden by the next street, stood a house at least 2 stories high but much wider than the other houses. Apart from these features no-one would think it very special but Chusei could see the extinguished red lanterns either side of the door, the familiar flowers in the windows and one figurine in the top left window. It looked like a simplistic brothel but it looked hauntingly similar to the same one she had been born and raised in....which had burnt down the night her mother was murdered.
