Four Years Later
(Sequel to Bleached)
Disclaimer: We don't own Bleach, just Airi, Zezuri, Cyerra, and Eyon. Yep, two more added.
Note: HEY!! Glad to have you reading this! So far, this is all my work. Wong, my sister, is working on the second part at the moment, so, yep, we'll see how this goes. Z is also going to be working on this as soon as she becomes more established in her new home. Funny how much our RP reflects our own lives... -Airi
"Okay, that looks good, wait! Cyerra! Your stance is wrong; you'll be blown back by your spell!" Two shinigami were in a courtyard training. One wore the white robe of the captains over her black uniform while the other was undecorated.
However, the captain's warning came too late.
"KA-BANG!" a huge explosion rang out through fifth division as the younger girl's spell burst forth and missed the target, blasting the areas three feet in front of them.
The captain choked on the dust and smoke from the spell, "C-Cyerra?" she asked through it all.
"I'm fine!" the smoke cleared away, "Sorry, Jaggerjaques-taicho!" Cyerra apologized, brushing the dust from her dark brown hair with a very tan hand. Cyerra's hair was long, almost down to her waist and braided with a pink, blue, and purple ribbon. "Jeez, I didn't think I was doing that bad..." she muttered.
"Well..." Zezuri tried to come up with some kind of encouraging words, but was at a loss save for "You tried..."
Even Renji could do better with his aim than this girl, well maybe not back when Zezuri had first started tutoring 6th squad's lieutenant. That was quite awhile ago, thought Zezuri, as she demonstrated the spell again. It had been almost four years since the events that had brought her here and since she joined 5th squad. After Aizen's defeat, Zezuri had been forced to join the Gotei 13 in return for Grimmjow's freedom. The former espada now lived in 5th division and he and Zezuri had been married for almost two years now. "Ironic," Zezuri thought, "how I was torn away from everything I knew and loved only to fall in love and marry my captor, find out I died somewhere along the way, and now I live in a different world." Only 7 months after joining 5th division had Zezuri been promoted to Captain rank. Momo had been the first to suggest it, after all the division had lost most of its honor when Aizen showed his true colors and Momo hadn't exactly been successful at taking it over. Now, with Zezuri in charge, 5th division had regained most of its previous honor. Even after its captain married one of the seireitei's most feared enemies not much changed. Although still an arrancar, Grimmjow was now treated like a shinigami; though there were those who didn't trust him.
Zezuri was forced to return her attention to her newest squad member, Cyerra, as she launched another spell. This time the fire blast flew across the grounds and hit the target on the opposite side of the courtyard.
"I got it!" Alright!" the girl called.
Zezuri smiled.
Cyerra had joined fifth squad four months ago after graduating from the academy. Her kido, while very inaccurate, rivaled the power of Momo Hinamori's. Her talent with the sword was above what was expected from an un-ranked member, but the main thing she was known for was her speed. If Cyerra had been in the Secret Ops, she would no doubt be higher in ranking than she was here. Fifth division didn't take many recruits from the graduating class; Zezuri and Momo were still trying to regain an orderly state; after all, the previous two captains of the squad hadn't been around as long as the average captain. So far, so good, but all eyes were on the captain as her squad rose from the ashes.
--
The sun slipped down the western sky as the entire fifth division, Grimmjow included, gathered in the mess hall. This was an old tradition brought back from the captain prior to Aizen's reign. Sosuke, being the bookworm he was, had always eaten by himself in his office.
"How did the search go?" Zezuri asked Grimmjow as she sat down next to him at the single long table. Like in Las Noches, meals and meeting always took place in the largest room at the long table, the main difference was no one sat on the ends.
"Nothing, Aizen… he was always good at hiding things," the blue haired arrancar wore the same outfit he had back in his espada days, only now the colors were inversed to make him blend in better.
"Did you check the floor boards?" asked Momo, sitting across the table from them. Recently, Zezuri had stumbled upon a secret room behind a book case in the office.
"M-maybe it's spelled?" Zezuri had been in the room only once herself, but an odd sensation had overcome her and she was unable to bring herself to re-enter the room.
"Sounds like something he'd do," admitted Grimmjow.
"I'll check it out tomorrow," offered Momo. Deep in her heart she was still searching for that one scrap of evidence that Aizen wasn't evil and Gin was behind this whole scheme.
"Hey guys! Why so serious? Mind if I sit here?" Cyerra approached the chair next to Momo carrying a tray laden with her dinner.
"Ah, Cyerra, of course you can!" Momo welcomed the newcomer.
"Did you hear the latest?" she asked eagerly.
"About what?" Zezuri asked curious to know if this would be something she hadn't heard yet.
"A guard in the second division mysteriously vanished!" she exclaimed, "Ooh! It's scary!"
"Who did you hear this one from?" asked Grimmjow, bored and sure this was another one of Cyerrra's traditional gossip-rumors.
"Hisagi-san!"
"Shuei?" asked Momo.
"Uh-huh! He was talking with… uh, Iba-san!" Cyerra didn't really know the lieutenant of 7th squad very well, so his name slipped her mind.
"Well, that sounds rather important, shouldn't we have heard-" Grimmjow was interrupted by the entrance of a hell butterfly.
Zezuri help up her hand and it flew to her finger, folding its black wings behind itself. A span of twenty seconds passed, but to everyone else in the hall it felt much longer.
"Well…?" asked Cyerra as Zezuri's expression became a combination of fear and concern.
The butterfly took off and flew back through the wall.
Zezuri took a few moments to gather her thoughts before standing up. "A-A guard from second division, the fourth seat to be exact, has gone missing. There is no evidence of any sort of an attack. T-the head captain asks t-that if anyone knows something, that they inform a captain immediately." Zezuri was extremely nervous as she felt all of the eyes of her division on her. She sat down in her chair.
Grimmjow patted her on her shoulder knowing that speech had taken her a lot of courage. "So…. It wasn't a rumor after all…" he grumbled.
"Told ya so!" Shouted Cyerra.
"That can't be all the information, the old man's hiding stuff," complained Grimmjow.
"What makes you say that?" asked Momo.
"We weren't told when or where this guy vanished at!"
"You're right!" exclaimed Cyerra, "So, what does that mean?"
"Trouble."
"Huh?"
"I-if they informed all the captains then it must be serious," said Zezuri. Her expression hadn't changed as she now stared at her plate.
"Aw, taicho! Try not to worry about it too much!" I'm sure there's a good explanation for this!" said Cyerra.
"Y-yeah!" started Momo, "besides we don't know much of what happens in second division!"
--
Dawn broke the next day as the captains and vice captains made their way to a meeting. Save for Zezuri, the group remained as it had been; 3rd and 9th squads had yet to find new captains. Zezuri took her place in between her two favorite and now fellow captains; Restu Unohana and Byakuya Kuchiki. Both of them had helped her adjust to life in Seireitei when she had been brought here by Renji. Unohana had been kind enough to listen to her troubles and save her friends, Airi and Grimmjow, from Mayuri. Byakuya had given her a place to stay and later secretly paid for her and Grimmjow's wedding.
Head captain Yamamoto cleared his throat, "This meeting shall now start." Everyone came to attention as the eldest member began, "Last night, as you all know, a guard from second division went missing without a trace, we have no evidence of anything other than the shinigami seems to no longer exist."
"Head captain?" A short, black haird captain spoke.
"Yes, Soi-Fon?"
"There's more."
"More?"
"Yes, last night shortly after we noticed the disappearance of the guard, I sent my top five trackers in to find him, only one returned and she hasn't spoken a word to me since she returned."
"Has she gotten any medical attention?"
"No, she'd just arrived ten minutes before I came here, I ordered her to go to fourth division, but she seemed confused."
"I'll see to her right now, if that's okay, Head Captain," offered Unohana.
"Wait just a moment; I'd like to conclude this meeting so that I too may go inspect the crime scene. Captains, lieutenants, keep you guard up! Treachery could very well lie at our core again."
--
A few day passed, then weeks, and still no news. The tracking shinigami had taken no physical damage or mental damage, in fact a few days after the incident she began to speak again, but could not recall anything that had happened or her fallen comrades. Soi-Fon was quite frustrated by this; not only had she lost four of her best squad members, had no answers, but she was now short a guard and a very important one at that. She needed to do something about that; two weeks had passed and she knew she had to fill that position, but none of her squad members seemed right for the job.
--
Zezuri had gone off to train the lieutenants for the day leaving her squad to clean up the building. Cyerra was mopping the front entrance's hallway when Soi-Fon arrived.
"Soi-Fon taicho! Hello!" Cyerra stopped what she was doing, stood up and gave a quick bow to the second captain.
"Where can I find Zezuri?"
"Jagger-jaques taicho is training some of the lieutenants today. I can get the third seat if you don't want to wait for her to get back. She should be back in… 15 minutes."
Soi-Fon nodded and moved in the doorway and stood leaning against a pillar.
"I, um, uh… I'll just get back to cleaning…" the younger shinigami had no idea what else to do; the captains normally sent messengers when corresponding with each other. This had to be very important if the captain herself had to come.
--
Ten minutes passed and still no Zezuri. Soi-Fon still waited, but her aura emitted irritation. Footsteps came from inside the building. "Yo! Cyerra, seen Hinamori around? I think I found a spell," Grimmjow spoke.
"No, she and the captain haven't returned yet."
"Tch, slow, as usual." He glared at the ninja-captain quickly and then went back to ignoring her as he sat on the other side of the porch.
--
Another five minutes passed and both Grimmjow and Soi-Fon had run out of patience. Just as Soi-Fon was bout to say something, Zezuri and Momo flash-stepped in.
"Soi-Fon?" asked Zezuri seeing one of her fellow captains, and not exactly one she got along with, "What do you want?"
"I need to speak with you; now."
"O-okay." The two captains left for Zezuri's office.
"Hinamori."
"Y-yeah?" Momo jumped; she hadn't noticed Grimmjow until now.
"I found a spell."
"Alright, let's see what we can do."
Momo and Grimmjow went for the office's secret room.
Cyerra sighed, wondering what both of the conversations were about. She continued to wash the floor silently feeling left out even though it was just due to rank. Although she'd been in this division for four months, Cyerra didn't really have any friends, save for her captain and Momo. The other members of the division were nice, but she had felt no connections. As such, Zezuri and Momo gave her the messenger type jobs, hoping she'd make some friends outside the division.
--
The newest member of fifth squad had almost finished washing her assigned section when Zezuri came out of her office.
"Cyerra?"
"Yes, taicho?"
"Can you come here for a moment?"
"Yeah…" Cyerra replied and followed her captain into the office wondering if she'd down something wrong. In the office, Soi-Fon waited at the table, impatient as always. "H-hello again, Soi-Fon taicho" Cyerra said as Zezuri motioned for her to have a seat.
"This is Cyerra, the fastest member of my division."
Cyerra found herself blushing from her captain's praise.
"So I've heard from the other captains," remarked Soi-Fon.
Cyerra's mind was wondering what this was all about.
"How good is she in hand to hand combat?" the ninja captain asked.
"Hey! I'm right here!" Cyerra felt like yelling, but thought better of it.
"Better than I am, but that's not saying much." Zezuri was a master of kido, like fifth squad's previous captain, and thanks to the razdemerdetemps, she could perform just about any spell without an incantation.
Soi-Fon's hand suddenly was a blur of motion.
"Wha-??" asked Cyerra, catching an object between her middle and index fingers before any thoughts came to her mind. The tan-skinned shinigami half expected the object in between her fingers to be a knife, but it was just a pen.
"Good reflexes," Soi-Fon was impressed, "I guess you'll do."
"Huh, what?" asked Cyerra.
"A few weeks ago, I lost four of my best trackers along with a very important guard. I've managed to replace the trackers with my own squad but the guard's position is why I'm here."
"Me? You want me to be a guard? What's so important, and why me?"
"That's confidential information and you'll know if you accept my offer. I chose you based on the other captains' and lieutenants' recommendations."
Again Cyerra was stunned by the praise her superiors were giving her. "So, what exactly would I be guarding?"
"I can't tell you that other than it's very important. The position is in the deeper cells where we keep the dangerous and unstable."
"Like an insane-asylum?" Cyerra cocked her head to the side as she asked this.
"You could say that. There are other gaurds working there, but in other areas. I'll only require you to be there a few time a day. Will you take the position? I need an answer now."Soi-Fon's gaze was intense as she waited for Cyerra's answer.
"I… uh…" the girl hesitated.
"Go and take it, Cyerra," said Zezuri, "It'll move you up in the rankings."
Soi-Fon nodded, "Fifth seat."
Cyerra's eyes went wide, she hadn't been looking for power, but this kind of promotion was unheard of and her curiosity was getting the best of her. "Okay… I'll… I'll take it!" Cyerra finally managed.
Zezuri gave a half smile and Soi-Fon looked like she had just escaped the apocalypse. "Get your things and be at the front entrance of my division in an hour," and with that, Soi-Fon left the office.
The fifth captain looked over at Cyerra who was sitting in a daze. "C'mon, let's get your stuff."
Just then the bookshelf swung open and Grimmjow and Momo entered the office. "A staircase," panted Momo, quite exhausted, "Every step, a different spell, I'm going to the library to research some, I've never seen stuff like that." Momo exited the room as Grimmjow shut the bookcase.
"The more I work on that room the more it pisses me off!" grumbled the arrancar, "Damn that Aizen…"
Zezuri ran over and hugged her frustrated husband, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Cyerra suppressed a giggle; one of the things she admired most about her captain was the way in which she never hid her affection.
"Cyerra here just got a promotion! She's fifth seat of second squad!" exclaimed the captain. Grimmjow noticed Cyerra sitting in front of the desk. "Ah! That's right!" You've gotta pack!"
Thanks for reading! How's this for a sequel so far? What's that? Where's Airi? I have no idea... ahahaha... Zezuri just was easier to start. I'll take suggestions if you have 'em. The title could use some work as well, any suggestions there would be greatly useful!