Part 11

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.

Part 10

Azdeha left Chusei standing outside the house she had just emerged from, looking worried yet determined. She stopped by the open doorway of the next house and leaned one arm against the stone frame, breathing ragged and shallow.

She had feared the men being found hurt, but hearing Chusei echo those fears, in a statement rather than a speculation, made it all the more real and she began to seriously worry. Soi Fon had found no evidence of a struggle, or even a battle. So someone had covered up what happened here. If it had even happened in this place. She frowned. What if this place was just a cover; something to keep the shinigami busy while Renji and Byakuya were being tortured miles away from where they were searching. She felt bile rise in her throat at the thought but pushed it down.

"Get yourself together you moron. You're stronger than this and you damn well know it. So the men have gone missing. Big deal. It just means you get to kick their asses when you do find them for dragging your ass out here to the middle of nowhere."

The thought of berating the two of them when they eventually turned up lightened her mood a little and she ducked under the doorway into the house.

It was a simple structure, flimsy even, with a single room and a raised hearth in the middle. It looked mostly undisturbed by anything except local wildlife, and there was nothing to indicate that anything other than wildlife had ever lived here. As if on cue, out of the corner of her eye she spotted movement and spun around to see a mouse scuttling across the floor and out of the door. She turned her attention back to the hearth. Chusei had said she suspected the men might be being held underground. Well everything around her seemed to be solid rock aside from the centrepiece so she might as well start there.

Strolling over to the structure, she leaned down and studied it closer. It was just a standard hearth made of stone, raised out of the ground to provide heat for the whole floor. She swiped at the dirt inside it. Cold, smooth, flat stone. No cracks or hinges to be found anywhere. She sighed and stood up again, wiping her hands on her hakama and started stamping on the floor. There didn't seem to be anything hollow in this room at all. Wherever they were, it wasn't anywhere near this building.

Shading her eyes she stepped back out into the sunlight and headed towards the next building.

Part 9

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.

Part 8

Azdeha had been pacing back and forth for the better half of an hour, and was pretty sure that had Chusei's floors not been made of high quality tatami, she would have made a hole in them by now.

She hated waiting to find out what was going on. If only there was some way she was allowed into the meeting, but she knew that was impossible. For the time being she would just have to wait.

She walked over to Chusei's kotetsu table and picked up a small ornamental hair piece with flowers on it. She remembered the day Renji had gone shopping for it. He had dragged her with him to get a girls opinion, then spent about 2 hours trying decide between the ornament she was currently holding, and one with yellow sakura flowers on it, while she had wandered off in search of mochi. In the end, he had decided on the purple one, without her help.

She studied it carefully. She had to admit, he'd made the right decision. It was incredibly pretty and she had seen Chusei wear it on numerous occasions. She placed the delicate flower down on the table again and bit her lip. She hoped that wherever he and Taichou were, they were safe. She would be really pissed off at both of them if they'd been stupid enough to get themselves hurt, or even worse, killed. She'd never forgive them.

Azdeha strolled over to the sliding doors which led to outside, and leaned against the screens, staring out at the garden. She could hear the gentle splashing of water on water from the water feature behind the bushes. It mingled with the sound of the birds in the nearby trees, giving off the impression that all was right with the world and there was nothing to worry about.

But there was.

Behind her, a noise like wood on wood sounded and the girl spun round, anxiously expecting Chusei to be there, but it was merely a wall scroll flapping in the wind.

"Come on. What's taking so long?" She sighed and began to pace again.

***

"What are you doing here? I thought you would be off trying to find your beloved captain and idiot brother."

Azdeha paused, resting her hand on the trunk of a nearby willow tree. Kurobara was sat in the middle of a patch of wild flowers, gently weaving them together.

"I needed to take my mind off things. Chusei is at the captain's meeting and everyone else is back at the barracks preparing for missions."

"So you thought you'd come and cry on my shoulder." Kurobara looked over her shoulder at the shinigami, one eyebrow raised.

Azdeha shook her head and strode forward, standing right next to her zanpakuto. Kurobara sighed and discarded the flower chain she had been weaving. She lay back and folded her arms under her head, staring up at the dark clouds rolling across the usually blue skies of Azdeha's inner world.

"You're worried."

Azdeha threw herself down on the floor and picked at a small pink flower. "I just wish there was something I could do."

"There isn't?" Kurobara regarded her curiously.

"Well, there is, but if something has taken Taichou and Renji out, I hardly think I stand much of a chance against it."

"True. You are vastly inferior to your captain and your brother. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say whatever got them would kill you before you even realised it was there."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." Azdeha sneered at her zanpakuto.

"Giving you false hope would be pointless and potentially dangerous. I quite like my existence and I aim to keep it." Kurobara blew a stray strand of hair out of her face and sighed. "You never answered me."

Azdeha frowned. "Answered you?"

"Why are you here? You aren't trying to get me to give you the secret to Bankai are you? Because if you are..."

"No. I genuinely just needed to escape for a while. I figured this would be the best place to come."

Kurobara snorted, "That just proves you're glutton for punishment if you think I'm going to give you any sympathy."

"Trust me to get stuck with the bitch zanpakuto." Azdeha glared into the middle distance, watching the clouds get darker.

"In my defence, I am the embodiment of your soul."

"Don't remind me..." Azdeha's head jerked up suddenly. Someone was calling her name.

"I think you're needed." Kurobara closed her eyes and dismissed the shinigami with a wave of her hand. "While you're at it can you sort out the weather in here. I don't like rain."

"Yeah. Sure...." Azdeha stood up and grinned maliciously down at the zanpakuto lying nonchalantly on the grass. She turned to go as the first drops of rain began to fall, waving obnoxiously over her shoulder.

"Deha chan!"

Part 7

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.

Part 6

Rolling over in bed, Azdeha threw an arm over her face and groaned. As always the sun was shining directly into her room, making it impossible to open her eyes, but at least it was warm. She sat up and warily rubbed her eyes, willing them to work. It had been 3 days since her talk with Chusei, and she hadn't seen the captain since. With Taichou and Renji away, she had been holed up in the office, doing paperwork, while Honoka and Yukito took charge of training and minor missions.

On a brighter note, the two commanding officers were due back late last night, according to the report Renji had sent them the other night, so things would get back to normal at least. She stood up and stretched, her red hair trailing down her back, and picked up her wash bag before heading out to the communal washroom.

She padded delicately down the hallway, the tatami mats warm against her bare feet and hummed quietly to herself while wondering idly if she'd forgotten to finish any of the paperwork. Not that it mattered. Taichou had probably gotten Renji to finish it all off by now. Which meant he'd be in a mood with her. As usual.

She stopped outside the washroom and lay her hand against the door, ready to push it open when she heard a commotion outside in the courtyard. Curious, she hung her wash bag on the hook by the door, and headed towards the noise, pulling her yukata closer around her.

Outside in the courtyard, surrounded by squad members, 3rd Seat Fukui Honoka, was trying to quiet everyone down. Azdeha sidled up to the edge of the group and nudged the nearest shinigami.

"Ne, Muriyama, what's going on?"

The young male turned around, and looked at her apologetically, "Kuchiki Taichou and Abarai Fuku Taichou didn't return last night. No one has heard from them since their last communication 2 days ago. A squad in the nearby area was dispatched to the village, but it's deserted and there's no sign of them."

Azdeha shook her head, "There's got to be some mistake. Maybe they were on their way home and something came up they had to attend to...like a Hollow."

"That's what we're trying to find out."

"QUIET BACK THERE!" Honoka looked at the two pointedly and coughed. "This is what's happening. We're unsure as to the whereabouts of Kuchiki Taichou and Abarai Fuku Taichou, and it's unlike them to not call in and let us know the situation. Sou Taichou has issued us with orders to form a group, lead by Hitsugaya Taichou. Members from Squad 6, 9, 10 and 11 are to be sent. We leave tomorrow morning."

Biting her bottom lip Azdeha backed away from the group. If something had happened to them, tomorrow might be too late. She needed to go to Chusei...and she needed to go now.

It only took Azdeha a few minutes to get back to her room and get dressed, but it felt like hours. She quickly threw her hair into a long pony tail, forsaking her usual style for the sake of saving time and ran out the door slamming it behind her. She was halfway down the hall when she remembered she had left Kurobara sitting on her display stand.

Cursing under her breath the young girl headed back to her room, nearly knocking another squad member to the floor.

"Look where you're going, Abarai san! What's the rush?"

Azdeha bowed quickly, not even stopping to see who she had just barrelled through, "Gomenasai!"

Throwing open the door to her room, she spotted the zanpakuto on the wall where she had left it, displayed above her bed, which was currently unmade. Her yukata was flung carelessly across the shoji screen and the contents of her wardrobe were spilling out onto the floor in her hurry to get to her shihakusho.

She grabbed the sword off the wall and ran out of the room once more, her eyes ahead of her as she tied the sageo to her obi. She wondered if Chusei had heard the news yet. No doubt someone had alerted her to the mission, especially if a captains meeting was being called.

She slowed down when she reached the main gates of Squad 6 and nodded to the 2 shinigami on guard duty, who greeted her back with a wave of their hand as she passed through, and headed in the direction of Squad 9.

She had no guarantee that her friend would be there, she was most likely to be with the other captains, but Azdeha felt she needed to do something. She couldn't just sit around waiting for orders. Especially since she doubted Honoka would let her be on the team. She'd say the young girl was too emotionally attached to be of much use.

Azdeha sneered at the idea, and quickened her pace.

Part 5

Sitting alone in the office, the young girl absentmindedly shuffled the paperwork in front of her.

Taichou and Renji were out on an investigative mission into some weird happenings to the North of the Rukon. Apparently young children were disappearing from their beds at night, but no residual spiritual energy could be detected. They'd probably be gone for a few days. The squads 3rd seat was in charge for the time being and Azdeha had found herself sitting at Taichou's desk processing leave request forms.

It wasn't the hardest task in the world, and she found her mind wandering back to her conversations in the dojo. She had gone over them in her head time and time again, trying to work out what it was she was fighting for. She had considered pride, after all, she was overshadowed by her brother, the lieutenant. Maybe now that she'd found him, she was determined to fight to prove her worth as a shinigami in her own right, instead of being Lieutenant Abarai's little sister.

She'd thought long and hard about it, but that wasn't it. She knew no one looked upon her position in the squad as a result of familial connections so she had no reason not to feel proud as a shinigami. That idea had been thrown out pretty quickly.

Chusei had mentioned love in passing, but Azdeha had scoffed at that idea. The people she loved were more powerful than her so she had no need to fight for them.

"Justice?" she mused to herself, then stifled a laugh. "Fighting for justice. I sound like one of those comic books nii-sama sometimes brings back from the world of the living."

She leaned back in the chair and chewed on the end of her pen. "I'm never going to work this out. I might as well be fighting for sushi."

Sighing, she slouched in her chair and started back on the paperwork.