Intercepted by the Sotaicho

Zafaron Uriuc, first captain and Sotaicho of the Gotei 13 was not in the best of moods. He had been having a relaxing day so far. Very little was going on in the Seiretei as far as he knew and if there were any problems, they weren't problematic enough to warrant his intervention. All he would need to do was look at the various reports later. Figuring the rest of the day would remain peaceful, he had gotten out some tea and was relaxing pleasantly. However, in the middle of doing this, he received a report that the Second Captain had his limiter removed.

The first irritating thing about this was that he hadn't actually approved Captain Roga leaving. The Captains were given a fair level of autonomy and usually weren't required to actually seek his approval before doing things. However, ignoring the perpetually enigmatic Captain Kurokotsu, Zafaron had made it well known that he at least wanted to be informed by some form of message when a Captain was leaving for the Real World. This was mostly so he would know who to turn to in case of problems.

Roga however had just disappeared out of the blue without sending any note or message. Now it seemed that not only had he disappeared out of the Soul Society without his knowledge, he also seemed to have gotten into enough trouble to warrant his full abilities being released.

So now Zafaron had to leave his warm cozy office and trek over to the 12th division to see if he could get any information about the current situation in the Real World. He had originally hoped to speak with Captain Kurokotsu, but unsurprisingly he was nowhere to be found. So, he decided to settle for harassing his lieutenant for information. After asking a few people he made his way to where Inubara was working.

"Hello Lieutenant Akaihana. I just received a report that Captain Roga requested to have his limiter removed. Did he give any reason of why he needed this to be done? Or do you have any information about problems in the human world at this time? I would ask your captain but I can't seem to locate him as usual." He didn't care about formalities at this point, he just wanted information so he could either get something done or go back to his office. Hopefully it would be the latter.

"Sir, Captain Roga and a few other Captains are currently in the Real World, fighting a pair of Menos who appeared there, along with a lot of other Hollows, sir. Captain Dokueki left to go take care of things, and we believe he is only just preparing to return. We have reishi samples of some Soul Reaper like entities, but they don't seem to be anything we can recognize. Also, we picked up on what seem to be humans, sir. That is all we have though, sorry sir." Inubara said to the Sotaicho, typing away at his monitor, trying to find out more information.

What is this wonderful feeling? Could this be the amazing thing known as a straight answer? Where you ask something and you actually get information back without having to fight for ever single scrap of it? After getting over the euphoria from having Inubara explain the situation, Zafaron stepped back thinking to himself.

Kaiser was already down in Karakura with some of his division, Kurokotsu had also been there and Roga of course was fighting there at full strength. Some menos and a lot of hollows still wouldn't be much of a match for them. However, what worried him was the Soul Reapers that weren't anything recognizable. He had a bad feeling he knew who that could be.

"Continue monitoring please. Any extra information, please report to me. I may need to go down there myself if my suspicions are true." He stood back letting them work. If it was what he thought, then there might be some problems.

"Sir, yes sir. We will tell you if we discover anything as well. We are already going through our archives to try to find out anything on these Shinigami-like presences. Do you have any key phrases you would like us to search for in regards to that, sir?" Inubara asked the Captain Commander, looking over his shoulder for a moment while the typing continued.

Zafaron didn't respond immediately as he was still bouncing things around in his mind. Even if they searched through the archives, it was doubtful they would find anything of substance. All information about the "unusual Shinigami" had been kept hidden by the Sotaichos of the past. He didn't want to suddenly release any of that information, especially if it wasn't what he was thinking of.

"I would prefer if currently you just look into the current battles going on. See if you can get any information about any enemies that we are dealing with. Searching through the archives can be done at a later time." It was a simple way of putting off the problem but he also had the point grounded in logic. He wanted to know if his interference was necessary or if he could just monitor the situation from here.

"Sir, you do know who my Captain is, correct? You've known him for a decent period of time, correct? Then, you must know that he will go into the Archives without any information, anything to speed it along. He's too pig-headed to ask for help, so he will go through there, file by file, until he finds what he needs. Either he'll find it, or he'll die by bookslide. Do you really wish that upon him, sir?" Inubara asked the Sotaicho, turning his head to the side as if trying to understand his train of thought. It really wasn't a good idea to let Captain Kurokotsu dig his own grave, not a good idea at all. He'd do it, if only to know how it felt.

"I guess him dying in a bookslide would be... troublesome huh? I might even have to do some paperwork which would be annoying." Zafaron replied glossing over the idea of Kurokotsu somehow killing himself. He honestly didn't think there was anyways that Kuro would be killed that easily. He had seen undead cockroaches easier to kill then that man. And despite everyones' assurances that he was overreacting, he was still sure that the twelfth captain had found some way to reincarnate himself.

"I have nothing to say on the subject currently. If your captain wishes to search through the entire archives then that is his decision. For now I would like to focus on the current situation to make sure that we don't have an unusually large problem on our hands. We can discuss this at a later time and place." He hoped this would end the conversation right there and then but somehow he doubted it. Being inquisitive made for good scientists and good headaches alike.

"Wouldn't it be beneficial to have us dig up the information for him so he could read it as he went about dealing with the situation? If he goes in there, I will have to control the Division for a while, and then productivity in what you need done will drop. Even if he's barely around, we still have a hard time going constantly without him, sir. You understand that, do you not?" Inubara said with a nervous laugh, hoping he hadn't gone over the line.

"Let me assure you, I understand the situation more than you do." Zafaron said, the barest hints of annoyance appearing on his face. "First off, I am not even sure if the slight suspicion I have has any grounds. The only information you have given me is that there are unusual Soul Reapers. There could many different reasons for this which is why I am requesting more information about the current situation. It may be that what I am thinking of has nothing to do with the foe the other captains are dealing with. In that case, any information I have would be useless.

Second off, any help I could give if the situation is what I think it may be, would not help your search through the archives. The majority of that information was for the eyes of the Sotaicho only and remains that way unless I decide a situation arises which requires it. I could give you twenty different key words and it is doubtful that it would help your search. Captain Kurokotsu would still have to go through most of the Archives to find anything that relates to it if anything still exists at all.

And before you say something about how having a keyword would make it so that he could realize he has the necessary information faster, let me assure you. If he finds any of the information he is looking for, he would know immediately. Any actual reports that somehow weren't destroyed or relocated would have been extremely straight forward.

So your Captain will get his information one of two ways. Either he will find it after scouring for days in the Archives, or I will divulge all of the information myself if the problems in the Real World become too great. And the only way for me to know if the situation is too great, is for you to monitor the current situation and give me as much data as possible. Either that, or I am just going to go down to the Real World right now and see for myself to save us all time."

"Sir, we estimate Captain Kurokotsu to be returning any moment, and that should give us the information we need. His first-hand accounts would be superior to our research at this point, and so there is little that can be gained by focusing fully on this matter. All our research said was that Hollow energies were strengthened recently, but that could just be from the Adjuchas-level Menos messing up the scanning equipment from earlier. After all, I'm sure there wouldn't be any such Hollows there now to put out this kind of energy, sir." Inubara said to the Sotaicho, his attention once again focused on his computer screen, tapping even faster on the keys. He had just gotten the word that Captain Kurokotsu was on his way through the Senkaimon as they spoke, and that meant that he would arrive soon and begin his search.

"Thank you for that then. I shall see if I can pry some information out of that man when he returns. I doubt that I can but I can at least make a vain attempt. Maybe the planets will have aligned just right for once." He quickly made his way to the Senkaimon as the other Captain was going through it. At least he wouldn't be able to escape him immediately like usual. He might even be able to force him to answer questions. Whether they would be useful answers of course would be another story entirely.

Kurokotsu was just stepping out of the Senkaimon when he saw Zafaron. The second he did, he turned to try to go back through it, only to watch it closing. Cursing under his breath, he turned around to face the Sotaicho. "Why, hello there, Zafaron. Why are you out here on this fine, wonderful, uninterrupted day?" He asked, trying to make small talk just long enough so he could slip away while the Sotaicho responded. He did not like having to deal with the other man: He was all about rules and logic and blah blah blah, in Kurokotsu's own words.

Zafaron almost actually cracked a smile at the way Kurokotsu was acting. The man wanted to escape talking to him so badly he half expected at any moment for the other captain to explode into bats or something and fly away. He would allow that, but he still needed his information first. He would just make it quick so that the conversation didn't end with bat guano on his head.

"Just a quick question Captain. Then you can disappear to wherever your current lair is. I would like you to divulge any information about the unusual shinigami you encountered. Anything special about his powers or reishi levels? I need to know whether I need to enter or not. The quicker you give the information, the faster you can be gone." He also wanted to keep the conversation short and sweet. Kurokotsu tended to make his head spin when he talked with him.

Kurokotsu sighed, raking a hand through his hair and looking at the Sotaicho. "Shall we make a deal then, Zafaron? You're willing to get involved, and I'd bet half my Division on this involving the strange reiatsu I felt in Karakura Town. I was actually off to investigate about it, but I bet you would know what I speak of, don't you? You really avoid getting involved unless it's something other people ought not to know about, and Shinigami having energies of Hollows would certainly fall into that little section, would it not?" Kurokotsu asked with a smirk, knowing that he had set up all the pieces. He now needed to gauge Zafaron's reaction to know where next to go.

At the word Hollows, a sharp sound similar to a whistle started coming out of Zafaron's mouth. However, it wasn't a happy tune, but instead it was the sound of an expletive attempting to be held back. Finally giving up Zafaron growled in anger. "Fucking hell, why does this have to happen now? And with the hollows getting rambunctious again as well." He put his hand to his temples massaging them. "Hopefully this is just a fluke occurrence and not the precursor for something much bigger."

He looked back up at the captain who was smirking at his reaction. "Well that was all I needed to know, and I am sure that my reaction was all YOU needed to know. I will tell you this much, if there are any papers you can find about them in the archives, you will know at first glance that it has the information you seek. So any multiple page records that don't mention them on the first page can probably be ignored. All information about them was and is supposed to be kept separate from other records."

A stern look appeared in his eyes suddenly. "However, there is one thing you are incorrect on. The only time I don't avoid getting involved is not when I am trying to hide things, but when I feel that my subordinates may be getting in over their heads." He turned around and quickly sent a message to the Kido Corps to open the Senkaimon again. "I need to get the other shinigami back here."

"Hmm...So these Hollow Shinigami mixups have occured before, and are also classified? Very well then, Captain Zafaron, I shall keep whatever I uncover to myself." Kurokotsu said, bowing to the Sotaicho as he walked by and through the long pathways, straight into the Daireishikairo Archives.

The first file he found that involved Hollows within the first page was about how certain types tended to be more strategic than purely chaotic, a report that was more than likely typed out right as the Arrancar were first discovered. The second file was a bit more relevant to his interests, focusing on Shinigami whose Zanpakuto reflected a more Hollow-like style of fighting, born of brute strength and cero-type techniques.

It was only at the third file that he realized that these files were from the same person, a Captain of the Ninth Division long ago who specialized in documenting various Hollow abilities. His fourth set of notes took a different turn though, and talked briefly about Shingami disappearing after hollow attacks. "Very interesting, this is..." He said, taking this file with him as he went off to discover more.

Kurokotsu grasped another file, this one about halfway down in the Daireishokairo Archives. This made the fifth file from the same man, the one who wrote all about Hollow-Shinigami topics. This file, much like the others, seemed to focus on a set topic. "Hmm...incidents involving Shinigami who had split personalities in battle, personas where they became more violent and their voices changed...Sounds like what I'm looking for." He said with a sigh, shoving that one into his robes along with all the others.

The sixth file and the seventh in the series focused on a theory of how to create these Shinigami-Hollow fusions, and then how the research was proved invalid by a lack of results from the tests ran with low-ranking Shinigami.

The eighth talked about the first of the true Shinigami-Hollow fusions: A Shinigami who wore a Hollow Mask into battle when he thought nobody was alive to see. His name was stricken from the records, never to be seen again.

But the ninth gave the final piece of the puzzle Kurokotsu needed. It revealed that this man, given the codename Hebishiro, had escaped from the Seireitei's grasp and was more than likely hiding in the Real World, teaching others to do what he somehow did.

With this information, Kurokotsu grabbed all nine records and began running toward where he knew, based off of Zafaron's mannerisms, where a Captains' Meeting would be held.