Stealing Souls (Ny)

"WHAT!?!" The high pitch of a female voice broke the silence in the 8th division barracks. Within the barracks was the cleaning shift, a group that'd finished their tasks of with the lowest return, and were now tasked with cleaning while all other guards were out pursuing recreational activity. A loosely clad shinigami with long pink hair looked to her counterpart eyes wide her lithe form bent over a small chest but she was looking back over her shoulder in disbelief at what her cleaning counterpart had to say.

Her partner was a shorter shinigami with black spikey hair that stood hardly taller than her breast line. He continued to fold towels neatly and place them in a stacks of five. "Just what I said HE killed that Hollow in one strike where it held off the four of us for an hour. Just bam Dead." And though he was saying it practically emotionlessly it still sounded fairly far fetched to him. The incident this shinigami referred to was the incident

"No Way!" The lady Shinigami called again. "If HE's that good why's he still 20th seat then?" her cheeks were puffed with annoyance as much as they were with curiosity.

"You might wanna finish that before the Lieutenant comes back." The shorter of the two told her to mind her work as he continued folding towels, now moving onto smaller hand towels. The lady jumped to her own chores quickly going back to work hurriedly, as if surprised by his response but she knew her duties. "He's a loner, he doesn't want promotion, he's politically held back, he's looking out for someone above him, or maybe he's just lazy and wont accept promotion, meritorious or otherwise."

She stopped. "I wonder..."

"...Lieutenant..."

"Ah! Right!"


Elsewhere a shinigami with short red hair looked up to the shade of a tree, His robes were disheveled as if he'd just been working at something rigorous, perhaps training there was nobody around, and there looking up at the shadows he held his hand out to them his short red hair rustled as he moved his head a little as if trying to get less direct light into his dominant eye. The shadows were different to him. Then again this far from the Seireitei he could get as sweaty dirty and messy as he wanted to and nobody would give a care. His hand dropped back down to the scar that ran down his left eye barely missing, a reminder about fighting from an opponent that'd nearly bisected him down the middle.

"Twentieth Seat: Yamaguichi Kaito! Step forward." Called the 8th division lieutenant, causing the young man with the red hair, who had been shaded by the tree earlier to step forward, his uniform now in much nicer condition, from the rank and file line of seated officers missing only the Lieutenant doing the calling and the Captain who was in a meeting for this particular meeting. "Meritorious Service award, and Two Hollow purification citations. These will be added to your personal file, Good work. That's the last of the awards. Guards dismissed!"

The rest of the Division applauded the 8th division who were big into investigations had seen a lot of action recently, it could be said they were kicking up trouble but that was the way things were now. If there was anyone that deserved to kick up trouble it was the Shingami who would be able to analyze that trouble and eliminate it before it reached soul society and sometimes before it even reached the Living world. Either way with today's ceremonies done there'd be duties to attend to reports from feeler groups in the living world and sensor groups in Hueco Mundo to go over with a fine toothed comb. However most of these were done by the Lieutenant and his aides, and sometimes the 3rd seat. Kaito himself was in charge of the 5th Feeler unit. Rumors had abounded that his 5th Sensor unit and the casualties it'd taken would be Combined with the first Feeler unit under the 3rd seat whom Kaito knew nothing about but recognized.

((I've decided your character is 3rd seat, so please feel free to join in.))

Sentou Ananiki, the 3rd seat of the 8th division. That was the position that he had earned several months ago, and he hadn't been able to be promoted since. He couldn't blame anyone for being a third seat, it was a great and honorable position to have after all. He received most of the authority and respect that the Captain and Lieutenant received, and the best part was that he never had to go to all of the meetings that those two were required to go to. His payment was pretty well off as well, so that was always good.

Sentou was walking down a line of shinigami, looking them closely up and down for inspection. Normally he wasn't quite this strict or formal, but after the incident that happened he had to be a bit more proper in order to make an example for everyone. This was going to be his unit after all, and he had to make sure that everyone had confidence in his ability to lead. After all, a Feeler Unit was an important job and he was glad to lead it. Hopefully his example would help lead the others to being more prepared, they didn't need to lose any more shinigami now.

"Straighten up Naoki," Sentou said as he spotted the pink haired girl leaning over to speak to one of her fellow shinigami. She was....different, that one. She wasn't a terrible shinigami by any measure, but she also seemed to get distracted and often got herself in to situations when her head was elsewhere. Sentou hoped that he'd be able to help her move past that phase, she couldn't keep it up for long if she was going to investigate the likes of Hueco Mundo after all.

As Sentou got to the last man in line, he stopped before slowly turning and looking the man in the face. "Hello Kaito," he said as he held his smile. Sentou had been told about the incident that lead to the two units being combined, he had also been informed about how the situation had been dissolved by one man in particular. Sentou was curious to learn more about what exactly happened out there. "You know Kaito, rumor has it that only one man took out the beast that killed four other shinigami. Would you happen to know exactly what happened out there?"

Kaito wasn't much of a braggart, but he was asked a question by his superior most others in his position would embellish and maybe get a pat on the shoulder in the process. "recklessness, abandoning the rules, and luck. This Division doesn't operate that way and that's why so many died." Kaito responded pointing out the negative elements of the happening giving up his tactical positioning and flawless blindside attack from the sun that took an adjuncts head clean off its shoulders lucky.

It was all in his report very detailed but all factual. They had been ambushed by the Adjunct whose Menos they'd stumbled into the day before on patrol and had a running battle with and after that when they were all lucky enough to get out alive the Adjunct appeared and proceeded to attack within the next sleep cycle. The whole thing was a catastrophe.

Still Kaito stood at attention like Any guard would in this position. Maybe his new commander might have a good idea what they were going to be doing in the real world. He'd always been asigned Sensor teams. The Feeler team was a new experience to him, having to deal with Quincies, Bounts, and maybe even meet substitute Shinigami... maybe. All of the above were rare.

They'd most likely be dealing with the distribution of Hollows.

Sentou's smile held firmly to his face as Kaito spoke about the incident. He had always admired those that were modest, it showed a humility and a willingness to not throw themselves up there. Based on what happened it was obvious that it wasn't just luck, Kaito had dealt a fatal blow to a being that no one else even seemed able to touch. And yet he was a 20th seat? There was no way that was possible unless Kaito was somehow deliberately avoiding promotions. His ambition was small.

"Very well, I'm looking forward to you reminding the rest of this squad what it means to have each other's back than," Sentou reminded Kaito before tapping his shoulder once and walking away. He moved back to the center of the line before stepping back so he could address all of the shinigami at once. They were probably all wondering what their new assignment would be after all.

"Alright everyone, our captain has combined these two groups due to recent events. However, none of you can be rewarded a rest period. There is still too much that the eighth division must do," Sentou said as he looked to all of the shinigami at once. "We are one of the most highly respected divisions for a reason, because our results have helped the other divisions know where to operate and function at any given time. Today will be no different."

"Today we go to the human world. The area seems to be getting plagued with hollows as of the past few weeks, we've seen increases in numbers when they should be lowered. While we don't know exactly what's going on, I can tell you that too many humans have died for us to be okay with. Now, we are going to go down there and find these hollows before wiping them out. Why? It's our job and it always has been our job. You all know how to function on a Feeler Unit, it's part of your training."

Sentou got quiet for a moment as he looked at each man individually. "While we are down there, there is also the chance that we might run in to something.....else," he said as he left the idea vague. "If any of you sense something with spiritual energy that is different from any hollow, you report to me directly. We're going to do this by the book people, I plan to come back with all of you today."

Kaito was curious when their section leader let onto the fact that they might be facing something different than normal. He could deal with hollows all day, their unexpected nature was what kept him on his toes. Then again most of the Hollows in Hueco Mundo were of the variety that couldn't handle themselves when met with a Shinigami.

The Living world would bring exciting and new challenges and somewhere deep down inside the red heads mind he was a little giddy at the prospect of being on such a team.

----

Naoki face planted into the parks soft soil sending a small geyser up around her head, her legs squirmed as she felt the pain from the soft impact of landing. The monster that'd backhanded her into this situation was vaguely humanoid, With a broad white mask and large forearms with scale covered skin. And what seemed to be metal plates for knuckles and spikes protruding from the armored carapace on its back.

Kaito moved through the shadows like death itself, they were in trouble but this was two hollows and Naoki had ran off after this one and their brave leader had sent him to "Get her back." He scoffed like a soft wind in the afternoon and quickly flash stepped from his position into the shadow of another building circling around the Hollow.

It stepped forward. "Poor Poor pretty little Shinigami... I wonder what you taste like..." It asked itself with a little chuckle stepping forward toward Naoki. When the creature reached down to pick up Naoki, Kaito struck attacking from opposite the suns side. and trying to blindside the creature, attacking from is right quarter flank, but was surprised when his attack threw up sparks as it was met with the thick metal like knuckles of the Hollow. This one was FAR more experienced.

"Heh didn't think I could smell you did you? Punk!" With that the Hollow threw Naoki point blank at Kaito sending the two fling back into a building Kaito blunting the impact for Naoki, still, concrete hurt.

The situation had escalated faster than Sentou had expected it to. There must have been at least four hollows attacking areas at once, he hadn't expected so many so soon. Normally four hollows weren't a problem, however it was when some members of your squad decided that they felt like being the hero but didn't actually have the strength to measure up to it. Naoki was one such individual, and Sentou had ordered Kai to get her back before she got destroyed.

However, even that plan wasn't working very well. Sentou could sense that the fight wasn't going very well, so after taking care of the other hollows he quickly made his way to the fight, just in time to see Kaito getting struck by Naoki and smashing in to the building. "Hey ugly, pick on someone your own size," Sentou said as narrowed his eyes. By measuring the spiritual strength of this opponent he seemed tough, tougher than the others. No wonder these two were struggling. Sentou would have to be quick about it, he didn't want there to be a chance that this guy somehow got stronger.

"Bring it on," Sentou said as the hollow charged at him, aiming to crush him with his fists. The hollow would be sorely mistaken. "Come, Hone Assaiki" he said in a low voice. He suddenly drew his sword, but it was acting strange. Instead of it coming out strange the metal seemed to dissolve in to several glowing shards that moved on to Senyou's hands and arms. They rested there for a moment before fading away. Suddenly it was revealed that his entire hands and arms had been covered in a tight plate metal. It barely looked like he wore armor, it almost looked like his arms had changed in to metal themselves.

With his shikai released, Sentou suddenly sprung forward and shot his fist forward. As his fist made contact with the hollows plated knuckles, there was a loud boom in the air, and before anyone could see what happened the hollow's arm was flat out gone. Sentou moved forward and quickly began to deliver a series of punches and kicks to his enemy, striking furiously before finally punching him in the head. There was another boom in the air as the rest of the hollow seemed to blast away in to nothingness. Sentou took a few deep breaths as he made sure that his opponent was defeated.

"HEY!" he shouted as he looked at the building where his two teammates landed. "Are you two alright?"

Kaito watched as the 3rd seat came to rescue them. Well that was no good, he had a reputation to uphold as a talented slacker. Truth being he would have gotten up and continued fighting but with the third seats display of awesome power there really was no need to continue the fight. With two big hits he decimated a Hollow that'd overpowered the two of them.

"That was totally awesome! Sentou-san!" Naoki jumped up from her resting place across Kaito's lap and trotted over to their leader and commander, her face dirty her clothes torn and her hair disheveled with bits of grass in it. "Was that your Shikai!?" She asked amazed.

Kaito stood up and dusted himself off and stretched causing his back to pop, he would be alright not like he got impaled or anything he'd heard of worse things happening during larger conflicts so he counted his blessings sheathed his weapon and prepared to be disciplined for not being able to follow orders correctly.

"Well it certainly wasn't my Bankai," Setsou said plainly as the metal slowly stripped off of him before transforming in to his usual sword again. He didn't sense any more hollow in the area, so there was no point in keeping his shikai out. He didn't like the weapon unless he felt he needed to, as he didn't enjoy it when others found out the ability. He had heard of shinigami getting careless, and because of that hollows had learned to avoid certain powers. He would make sure he wasn't one of those shinobi.

"Naoki, that was very foolish of you. You knew the risk of chasing after a hollow, you NEVER take on a hollow alone unless you have to," Setsou instructed. "You are on a team for a reason, they will watch your back and they expect you to do the same for them. You are lucky that Kaito showed up to hold off the creature until I arrived.....all the same, I am glad that you two are alright. Do you need medical attention?"

Well that was why he was third seat and leader of the unit. But Bankai? Was he joking about having a Bankai or was he truly serious that this third seat had his own Bankai. He'd just received his Zanpaktou, didn't even know its name yet and here he was confronted by a guy that might possibly have Bankai unlocked but wasn't even a captain!

Still Kaito took stock of his condition then Naoki's "I think we're alright he didn't hit us that hard." Really if he'd been hit any harder he'd be a bloody stain on that wall under the girl he 'caught'. Still it wasn't like he was going to die any time soon.

Looking around he quickly reached out with his perception of Reiraku and quickly counting the members of their unit by their spiritual pressure. "So everyone else is Okay? And are there any clues to why there were so many hollows don't they regularly act alone? What makes this area special?" He asked aloud looking to Naoki then to Setsou. This would be quite the question now wouldn't it? Hopefully this wasn't the start of an invasion.

Naoki looked to the two guys then to herself and before starting to dust herself off and work her hands through her long pink locks trying to get all the dirt out. "I'm fine but can I get a shower before we go investigating?"

"Yeah everyone else is fine. They were in groups of about four to fight the others, and you two seemed to find the leader of the bunch," Setsou admitted as he looked over towards Kaito. He had stayed behind only for a minute to make sure that everyone else was okay. He was lucky too, if he had stayed behind to help them than there was no telling if these two might have made it out alive. He tried not to think about it.

"We don't know what's special about this area yet, it's part of the reason we have a larger combined task force in order to investigate," Setsou added. "Right now we just need to keep an eye out for hollows and anything else suspicious, hopefully we can make some sort of a connection....and no Naoki, you do not have time to take a shower. When we return to Soul Society you can fix yourself up, but while you're here you are on the job."

"Now come on, let's meet up with the others," the third seat said before quickly moving to rendezvous with the rest of the squad.

"Aww..." Naoki whined before trying to tidy herself up a little bit, and starting off back towards the group.

Kaito scoffed under his breath and waited for their squad leader to lead them back, that girl was going to get herself hurt sooner or later if she wasn't careful and didn't follow orders. He would however leave it up to their illustrious and powerful leader who carried more weight than his own voice even though him being the only other seated officer made him second in command.

If they were lucky that would be all the action they saw on this patrol, if not there would be hell to pay. This mess still left a bad taste in his mouth, for all he knew that could have been a scouting party.

As the three of them returned to the others, they would find that the other shinigami had gathered on to one building that Setsou had marked as a landmark incase they got separated and needed to regroup. Upon arriving, Setsou was just glad to find that no one was missing or dying. All were accounted for, good. At least no one had died today, he had been worried about leaving the others to go and slay that hollow.

Another shinigami came up and gave a report on what happened. Apparently they had started to overwhelm the hollows, only to be given the slip and escape. They had slain one, but all the others got away with barely if any wounds. "Damn it," Setsou muttered to himself as he bit on his finger. These hollows were more organized, this wasn't just a random attack of any kind.

"Alright listen up people. Those hollows hopefully didn't get far. We might still have time to find and slay them before they hurt any of the humans in this city," Setsou called out. "Our job is to find out what's going on...but we cannot just ignore these threats to the humans. We're going on a hunt to try and slay them. However, I also recognize that this isn't a normal hollow attack. From now on no splitting up, we stay together until we find out what's going on here.....MOVE OUT" Setsou shouted before beginning to use his spirit power to try and track the hollows. Assuming he found anything, he began to lead the pursuit.

It would be easy for someone as advanced as Setsou to find the trail the Hollows left and after a few blocks the rest of the crew had found the correct spirit thread to follow. Even Kaito who'd been virtually silent for the bosses orders had caught on about half a block after, Naoki on the other hand seemed to just be following the group.

It made Kaito sigh that their group was being held back by an airhead like Naoki, then again she was a member of the Omaeda Family. Privileged and having great potential, but being wasteful and arrogant by maintaining such innocence was tantamount to dragging ones face through a bed of coals. Especially in this business.

That was when Kaito realized he let his thoughts run away with himself and pushed for the front of the pack instinctively following the spirit ribbons the Hollows had left. Just as he stepped off the pace the street in front of him exploded in a red fireball sending him flying back into a small car folding most of its metal around him and totaling the vehicle.

"Wada we got here!?" Called a hollow from above the group of Shinigami! THEY WERE SURRONDED! THE HELL!? And there were twice as many Hollows as Shinigami! It was apparent that at least a few of them were of remarkable presence among the Hollows. How could something like that go unnoticed until they were right on top of it?

Setsou continued to follow the trail, not wanting to lose the trail too easily. These hollows were still a threat, even if the squad had originally held them off. There was no telling what they might do in a panicy condition. Someone on the side might get hurt, and Setsou had to avoid that if it was possible ta all.

However, he wasn't going to have time to worry about that for much longer. "LOOK OUT!" Setsou shouted as he barely felt the spiritual attack coming in time. He tried to shield his squad as best as he could, but there was only so much that he could do after all. The fireball came in quick and hot, so to speak, but luckily no one was caught heavily in the blunt of it.

"Damn it, everyone form up and close!" Setsou shouted before quickly saying the words to release his shikai. His metal arms seemed to take over once again. He could feel the spiritual presence of these hollows even more than the last ones. That could only mean that these ones were stronger. It was a plot to lure the whole squad to one area at once.

"Everyone just stay together and defend yourselves, I'm going on the attack. Strike if you can, but otherwise just focus on staying alive," Setsou said before suddenly moving at an increased speed at the nearest hollow. He'd begin fighting as best as he could, punching and unleashing his spiritual energy in powerful shockwaves from his fist.

He couldn't hold back for now, he had to destroy as many as he could as fast as he could. He either needed to draw their attention away from the squad, or at least make it so that the entire squad wasn't wiped out at the beginning.

The Shinigami form up into a battle group, and draw their swords quickly getting ready for the attacks from the hollows that surrounded them. And there from all sides the hollows numbering twenty or so charged the group. There would be carnage and blood as the Hollows came from every side!

A Cero came in from above like the one that'd blown K-san into the vehicle! She couldn't let anyone in the group get hurt so quickly she rattled off a transcription and pushed one palm forward and cradled that arm with her other. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" With that she launched a bright red-pink blast from her had intercepting the Cero just feet above the group of Shinigami. The superior force of the Shakkaho overwhelmed the Cero and the explosion was only channeled away from the group. Quick thinking on the part of the mostly clueless Naoki!

A broad hollow with a round body and large mask landed next to the crushed car, its beady eyes locked on the mostly crushed Kaito. "Howd that feel eh?" Its mouth opened and another Cero formed in its mouth. But just as it got ready to fire Kaito's finger impacted its mask right between the eyes. "No worse than this. Byakurai." A blue flash and the hollow fell over backwards, a smoking hole separating its surprised eyes, Kaito bleeding and injured pushed free of the car blood running down from a cut in his forehead caused him to close his left eye. His uniform now looked so much worse than Naoki's but still he drew his sword and prepared to fight...

Hollows would fall left and right before Setou's Shikai, but quickly the Hollows would turn from the group to the most threatening member their leader. One would come up behind him fists raised trying to pummel him into the ground while others kept the group of his followers fighting for their lives. This twig armed, large handed small masked hollow would not be underestimated as his fists had barbs like a mourning star and was ready to strike down the 3rd seat, with a might levered blow.

Setsou was too focused on punching in another hollow's face when the new one showed up. The one that Setsou just finished off had been tougher than he thought, thus Setsou wasn't fully focused when this new opponent came forward. Setsou just barely turned in time for the hollow to swing, the barbs tearing a decent amount of flesh from his body. He tried to ignore it though, as he knew that this hollow was once again different from the others.

Setsou turned to face him as the man slashed again. He blocked with his arms, the barbs unable to cut the metal that now coated them. He did this a few more times, making sure that the hollow wasn't holding back on him. Setsou began to punch the hollow's arms as they struck at him, allowing for the hollow's arms to begin to crack. The hollows was getting angry and irritated, and that always lead to rash decisions being made.

The hollow struck wildly with a haymaker, hoping that his blow would flatted Setsou. He had no such luck though. Instead, Setsou made a quick dodge to the side before grabbing the hollow's arms. His hands may have been dangerous, but his arms weren't. Setsou quickly stepped on the hollow's elbow and pinned the arm to the ground. With a mighty yell he tore the arm from the hollow, leaving it to scream in agony on the ground. Setsou took the arm and swung the morning star end in to the creature's head five times. There was nothing left of a head by the time that it was dead.

With that hollow out of the way, Setsou quickly went back to fighting the other hollows. His team was doing well, but they were being overpowered it seemed.

"Screw this, we're getting out of here boys!" one of the hollows yelled. As he did this he began to charge up a cero. This was apparently some kind of a sign, as they were all doing it.

"SHIT!" Setsou shouted as he saw what they were doing. The team was still cornered and they didn't have enough time to dodge out of the way, at least the slower ones didn't. "Everyone fire your most powerful Kido! NOW!" he shouted before Setsou muttered his own spell. He seemed to be heavily focusing. However, once he finished the spell his arms began to glow. As everyone else fired their kido, he launched a blast of pure spiritual power from his metal fists forward. The resulting explosion was large, and almost all of the shinigami were shot back, all of them being knocked off of their feet.

By the time the smoke cleared, the remaining hollows had retreated.

Everyone's stance mirrored Naoki's from a few moments ago with Naoki not even leaving her stance, their attacks working to intercept the incoming Cero barrage the results causing a ripple of explosions.

Kaito's eyes went wide as he again had his ass planted into the now mangled car behind himself and the whole thing slid back into a building covering him with the outter layer of brick, he was a tough son of a bitch but he'd need some work, the look on his face spoke library's worth, but could be summed up in 'are you kidding me?' He gave a defeated groan and decided to let the other dig his happy hurt ass out. He could do it himself but there was no sense in doing what you could get someone else to do for you.

When the smoke cleared and the dust settled the Shinigami were strewn about as if tossed about like ragdolls. Much the same as Kaito but they seemed to have fared less well. Most were at least lightly injured. Only Naoki seemed unharmed though her uniform was now in tatters and she covered herself with her arms as best she could.

"Oh god that's going to take a few weeks of massage work to heal," Setsou muttered as he pushed a particularly large rock from off of his back. He could feel a few cracked ribs, he was going to have to get the entirety of the squad checked up before they came back out again. For now though, everyone was tired and injured, and he needed to get them back to Soul Society.

After he had formed everyone up, he had decided to skip the long speech. "Great work everyone, we defeated a good number of the hollows and I'm certain that they'll think twice before coming to this spot again. All the same, we need to take the injured back to Soul Society, you have all earned a good rest....hopefully I have too," he said although he muttered that last part more to himself than anyone else.

Within a few minutes he had summoned the gate to Soul Society and gotten everyone through safely. They were all going to be healed.

And as a side note, he took off the top half of his uniform and covered Naoki with it. She was the most exposed, and it wasn't proper for everyone to be seeing her like this.

Kaito stepped out of the 4th division treatment center, he'd taken more of a beating than the rest of his squad no doubt but had fared better in the long run as his cushion was a little Toyota, and not something harder like concrete or another blast pushing against him. He wasn't eager to get back to work but there was one thing that troubled him, Hollows mostly worked alone in the real world, why so many. He'd have a written report taken to the lieutenant later.

For now he was off to relax

"K-san!" He heard the shout of Naoki from a distance, she was part of his squad now and had taken the least damage from the attacks, besides being an airhead, he had to commend her for her quick thinking when that Cero came at the group. "K-san are you okay!? Everyone else checked out early!" Her voice was clearly distraught, from what he'd heard from the group she wasn't particularly concerned for him but for the group as a whole.

Again that brainless innocence rubbed Kaito the wrong way. "Yeah I'm fine, you should get back to your duties Naoki."

"Okay!" and like that she was off... what a strange girl.

There were some questions he wanted to ask the third seat. Kaito's hand came down to his Zanpakuto and his thumb touched what he thought would be a square guard like most Zanpakuto but this was round and short for a Tsuba. Was this his Zanpakuto? When did it trade itself out with his weapon?

Most of the times leading up to the solidification of a Zanpakuto the Shinigami has dreams where the spirit of the Zanpakuto tries to communicate with them. Kaito didn't remember these dreams or... something more mysterious was going on. Perhaps he might talk with the Unit leader, wherever he was...

Kaito wouldn't have to search extremely hard to find where Setsou was. While he had taken a pretty bad beating, he had also been one of the first to be patched up. He insisted that they get to the rest of his squad, but apparently being such a high seat got one special privileges. Instead of fighting it he just quickly let himself get healed so that they could move on to the next person. The more he fought the longer it would take after all.

Afterwards, he had finished up his report and sent it to his captain. The captain was busy right now, but Setsou knew that he would get back to him soon. Surely he would want to think and speak to the other captains about this after all. Setsou didn't know what else to do, so he decided to complete his usual hobby.

Kaito would find him in one of the training grounds. The upper part of Setsou's uniform had been discarded as he was surrounded by various dummies that were made of different materials. He was moving and striking at each one of them. He wasn't the best in Soul Society, but few could defeat Setsou in straight hand to hand combat. His shikai allowed him to train it up after all, and he loved that about his weapon. He continued to beat on various dummies and smash them until Kaito made his presence to the third seat known.

Kaito watched Setsou beat on the dummies for quite a while and realized that the third seat had hand to hand skills of somebody rated expert or better. It was unsurprising, though he had quite a bit of practice putting hand to hand skills together with Zanjutsu, that it'd become second nature to use hand to hand technique to supplement a weapon.

Kaito drew his Zanpakuto and tossed the Katana into the training ground, "My Asauchi disappeared and this appeared in its place." Referring to the fact his weapon had been replaced by this true Zanpakuto. The weapon itself had a deep dark blue blade with thin cream hair-lines running down the length of the weapon, as if showing shadows folded over shadows. The handle had a white undercloth wrapped in near black ray skin, that almost matched the blade in appearance. The handle was capped with the a long black dragon with white eyes wrapped around the base of the handle on the Kashiri.

"The problem is it hasn't even tried to communicate yet." Though his voice was rife with hesitation he wasn't sure how to continue, or what else to say to explain his situation, perhaps Setsou would have a better explanation of things. He after all had achieved Shikai, and had at least talked about Bankai.

((Setsou might liken him to the sword point out that Kaito isn't good at communicating and is generally under motivated to communicate in the first place unless he's under distress.))

At the sound of movement behind him, Setsou slowly moved away from the last dummy whose head he had just shot off with a powerful punch. As the shinigami spoke of his blade and how it changed, a feat that only happened when a true zanpakuto had been unleashed. What interesting timing, Kaito hadn't used it in the battle against the hollows and yet it chose to reveal itself here it seemed. Perhaps Kaito had proven itself to the sword?

"You shouldn't be extremely worried," Setsou said before moving to the side so that his zanpaktou was now visible. There was no scabbard for it, and the weapon was merely tied to Setsou's hip with a cloth that was easily taken off. "My zanpaktou is longer, showing part of my ambition to strive to become such a high ranking member. Along with that the blade is longer than my arm, also showing how I extend myself beyond my reach sometimes. There's no scabbard because I'm not afraid to expose myself to my enemies as long as I get the job done, and also the blade drags along the ground because I'm not afraid of losing my strength by being roughed up. This sword hasn't gotten any duller since I first used it. And lastly there is a large amount of weight to the blade....that just shows that I can hit hard," he said with a joking laugh.

"Do not worry about your spirit talking to you just yet. Do what you can to fight with it, and eventually you two will find each other. That is the path of all zanpakuto."

Stepping up to his new weapon Kaito pulls the blade from the ground quickly flicking the mud from the end and sheathing it in its scabbard now affixed to his hip, the scabbard was black with long thin clouds of grey. "I see." Perhaps Kaito had been worried for nothing, or perhaps he needed to look more into the future, he was a low ranker right now his Katana was of average size unlike Setsou's who showed more of his personality.

"Have we received new orders yet? Or are we on break after that ambush?" Kaito decided to change the subject.

"As of yet no, we are currently waiting for new ones. Our captain has us on break after the incident, as they didn't expect such resistance. He is going over our report as we speak, and we will have new orders soon i'm sure," Setsou reassured kaito. "After all, this is not a threat that we can afford to ignore in any form or shape, something is going and we must find out what."

"In the meantime, perhaps you should take this opportunity to get to know your weapon more closely. Who knows, maybe you can learn the name of your shikai within week or two. Stranger things have happened," Setsou insured Kaito as he slowly stretched his back out and felt a light pop. "Whatever it is, i'm sure you're up for it."

Kaito stepped away from Setsou and drew his weapon from its sheath, he liked it it felt like nothing in his hands, most Shinigami were taught to treat their weapon as an extension of themselves, it would be hard for Kaito to think of it otherwise, it FELT like an extension of himself, he didn't know that his spirit had already bonded with his Zanpakuto's though he knew not its name he could feel it.

With a quick swing he nearly silently bisected what was left of a training dummy effortlessly the Asauchi would have hung up even after a sharpening. Or at least Kaito felt that way about them. "Should I meditate or should I spar? Or should I just wait and see if it becomes impatient?" Kaito asked swinging the weapon again, even cutting the air it was completely silent, It was then he realized the blade lacked blood grooves. He gave it another long look over.