Hunting (Open)

Second squad third seat Ryuunosuke was shunpoing along the rooftops of the rukongai. He was followed by three others, members of the detention center squad of the omnitsukido. The four of them were heading towards the location of where the omnitsukido spy network had located a small group of rogue shinigami. Most of them were pretty weak and normally Ryuunosuke would send out members rather then going himself, but he had intel that one of the rogues was a tough shinigami. Former third seat of fifth squad, a kido expert. This was unfortunate for Ryuunosuke who preffered close combat, but fortunately he did know a few kido that would allow him to take down his opponents.

He glanced around observing the scenery. He had grown up in this district, but felt no reminiscence. The past was where he was weak, where he made mistakes. He now strove on into the future striving for perfection. He glanced up. The sun was still bright. How he hated the sun. It made stealth missions so much more difficult and as an omnitsutkido member he was all about stealth. However, at least the sun was going down. It would soon be night, the perfect time to strike as vision was obscured to those not used to operation at that time.

"Seperate and surround. We strike at nightfall." he ordered quietly indicating a building with a nod. There was a silent nod from the other members and they shot off in other directions. He would surround the isolated building and observe it making sure the intel was correct and that all the targets were present. They would strike at nightfall as he oredered. He was observing the building carefully, looking for any opening he could exploit. He hoped he wasn't disturbed. His unit could likely carry out most of the mission, but he doubted they could handle that third seat member. He cursed his lack of foresight as he observed the area. It was too open, too many escape routes to cover with such few squad members. Plus if he was taken down then the mission would likely fail because that former third seat would still be standing.

(Mind if I join this?)

(Its an open thread so go ahead)

Renji was on his daily run, working his way past Second Squad's barracks when a shadow fell over him, then disappeared. He glanced up to see two Shinigami, one of them his captain, heading by on the rooftops. They were using shunpo, so he could tell they weren't simply out for exercise like he was.

Could that mean...a mission? If they were using such speed, it would certainly not be one of trivial importance, and the captain of the sixth squad wouldn't be involved.

A little danger would make my exercise more entertaining, Renji thought. It had been a while since the Arruncar had struck, and he was itching for a fight.

With a leap, he jumped up to the rooftops to join them. He had to struggle to catch up to the other shinigami, but once he did he was able to hold the pace. "And where are you off to in such a hurry, Captain?" Renji asked with a grin.

Ryuunosuke was scouting round the selected he had chosen when Byakuya and Renji showed up. He stood listening to their conversation. "Kuchiki-taichou, Abarai fuku-taichou survey the perimeter and scout it out. At nightfall we all move in." he said calmly. He was glad they had arrived because he was severely undermanned for this area. "When we strike I want Abarai to supporrt the onmitsukido members in taking down the weaker targets. Kuchiki-taichou I want you helping me with the stronger of the members. He is a kido expert, former fifth squad third seat." he felt in his right to order his superiors because he was in charge of this mission and it was an onmitsukido mission. He was glad most of all that Byakuya was here. He was a kido expert afterall and that would help him in combating his opponent.

Byakuya glanced over at Ryuunosuke when he spoke, a bit startled. He had forgotten the other was there. Byakuya stiffened slightly at the orders. He wasn't used to being told what to do. As a captain and head of the Kuchiki clan, he was the one who was always giving orders. But not today, he told himself. Today the important thing is to find out who's killing everyone. Byakuya nodded. "Fine." Byakuya headed away from the others, searching.

Ryuunosuke nodded. He knew, infact he knew all too well, that Byakuya was not one to take orders, in any situation, but this was one situation where he would have to make an exception. Ryuunosuke stood silently barely moving, condensing his reiatsu to incredinbly low levels in order to hide it. Night would soon fall and then he would have to strike. He hoped Renji would be able to follow his orders.

(We should probably wait for Renji before going on.)

(Indeed)

(OOC: komenazai! I've had a busy week, but I'm back!)

Renji pursed his lips as his captain's kidou skills were praised. He took great pride in his captain's strength, but the comment only reminded him of his own inadequacies when it came to that shinigami discipline. When he was a student at the Shinigami Academy, his instructor had advised him to never perform a Way of Destruction technique except as a last resort, lest he inadvertently blow himself up.

Not that he'd want false praise for his own kidou talents. That would be too patronizing.

"I'm taking down the weaker targets? Afraid I'll make you look bad, Third Seat?" he teased Ryuunosuke, offering a grin. He had no intent of making a serious argument against the lower-ranking shinigami's orders. He was on this mission as a guest, after all, and he knew the success of the mission was more important than his own sense of pride. He didn't have to like it, though.

Though "weak" could be a relative term, as he had learned the hard way when handling Espada. "What are the ranks and abilities of the rogues?" Renji asked seriously. Having a captain who had a Black Ops background, the value of intelligence had been drilled into Renji's skull a long time ago.

Byakuya walked around for a few minutes, but could see no one. Maybe whoever had been there had gone. Or maybe he was just hiding. That was a better possibility. Byakuya could only feel the spiritual energies of Renji and Ryuunosuke, but that didn't mean much. It was easy to hide it. The Sixth Division Captain looked around for a little while longer, walking through the streets and around a corner. Since it was night there weren’t many people around. That was good since they would probably distract him.

Byakuya shook his head when he saw there was trash scattered around at the edge of a street. The filth of Rukongai never ceased to amaze him. He wondered what it would be like to live here, like Renji, Rukia, and Hisana had. He shivered at the thought. The raven haired Captain looked around once more before heading back toward the others to report what he had seen: nothing.

He jumped onto a roof and was running toward them when he felt something push him. His eyes widened as he struggled to regain his balance. It was in vain. As an invisible force pushed against him again, he fell off the roof. He landed on the ground, and, cursing under his breath, stood shakily. Aside from some bruises and a long bloody scratch on his arm, he wasn't too hurt. He looked up at the room where he had fallen. There was no one there.

Ryuunosuke did not rise to that comment. He was afterall only third seat because he refused promotion to vice-captaincy and the captain spot was not open. "Most of them are low class, unseated officers. Mostly zanjutsu users. Intel states several have minor kido knowledge and two may be seated, but only 6th or 7th seat. They will outnumber you and my subordinates." he explained and then saw Byakuya fall. He looked upwards. The sun had finally set. "Begin mission now Abarai-fukutaichou." he said before vanishing and appearing next to Byakuya. He glanced over him. He seemed fine. Ryuunosuke had not been that worried. However, something seemed to have pushed Byakuya off and there was no-one in the room or there didn't appear to be. "Bakudo 62: Hyapporankan." he said throwing a rod of energy into the room. It scattered into a hundred filling the room with rods. However, it threw up a lot of dust too. Did it hit anything?

Renji saw his captain was having trouble- he wasn't sure with what what. It seemed an invisible force was attacking him. Perhaps this was a kido technique or an illusion-type Zanpuktoh ability? He wanted to help, but knew Kuchiki could handle himself, and there was nothing that Renji could do.

Ryuunosuke laid down covering fire with a kido technique Renji was unfamiliar with as Renji charged in. He kept his zanpuktoh in shikai form for now- his Zabimaru's size would allow him to cover a good portion of the room, but it would also make unwieldy.

Renji heard an incantation, and dove out of the way as a ball of red fire headed towards him out of the dust.

"Zabimaru, howl!" he shouted. The blade shot forward into the dust. He felt a brief tension as the blade tore through flesh, then it whistled free, only to embed itself in another body.

This was bad the kido expert was hiding all of the rogues via kido making it difficult to fight. He summoned up another kido rod and threw it trying to pin as many as possible down. With each hit they became visible. There were more then he expected but atatcks kept coming. He noticed that if dust settled on them they became visible. He nodded and held out his hand. pointing it slightly towards the ground. He used a newly developed kido to shoot out a small blast of water to turn the dust to mud. Then spoke again. "Hado 58: Tenran." he said. THis blast of wind sent a large spash of mud all over the place. This mud splattered on the people making them partially visible. He smiled breifly before focusing on tracing the kido to its source. He stood almost still his eyes closed blocking attacks by instinct as he tried to track the kido user.

Mud splattered against several more of the rogues, making them plainly visible. Renji smirked as they began to run. "Not so brave when you have to fight in the open, are ya?" he shouted. He sent his blade scything towards the greatest mass of the rebels. He took no joy in striking a retreating opponent, but these men and women had chosen their fate the moment they rose against Soul Society. Besides, retreating was not necessarily a sign of repenting- they could be moving to re-establish their technique or to find someone to attack who wouldn't be of a mind to fight back.

Renji's musing was interrupted as a figure jumped atop Renji's blade and launched himself straight at Renji with a flying kick. That's impossible- no one can land on the flat of a blade like that! The kick connected with Renji's face, and he was flung backwards. His head landed on the ground roughly, and he fought for a second to stay conscious. His hand released his Zanpuktoh, placing it out of reach as his opponent attempted to follow through by impaling Renji on the blade in his hands.

Renji was not helpless, however. Although Shinigami relied heavily on either their Zanpuktoh abilities or kido, every shinigami knew a bit about fighting unarmed. Still on the ground, Renji dodged the lunge and performed a sweeping kick which knocked the enemy's legs out from under him. As he fell, Renji smoothly returned his foot to the ground and stood up in a fluid motion. As he did, his elbow struck out at his opponent's throat, crushing his larynx.

"We vice captains don't go down that easily," Renji informed the shinigami who now lay gasping for breath. He spotted his Zanpuktoh lying no more than a foot away and reached for it as his eyes darted across the battlefield, looking for anyone else who felt lucky enough to take on a vice-captain.

Byakuya quickly backed up as mud splattered everywhere. He hated mud. He couldn't stand to get dirty. Whenever it rained and there was mud everywhere, he either never went out, or if he was already out, headed for the nearest shelter until the rain stopped. You would never catch him without clean clothes.

Byakuya glanced up, and was startled to see more than one person. They had a lot more to deal with than they thought. But we'll still win. Byakuya had no doubt of that. They couldn't possibly be strong enough to take on a Captain, Vice Captain, and Seated Officer. Byakuya stayed back, away from the mud, as Ryuunosuke and Renji began to fight.

After a minute, he stepped forward, trying to ignore the mud, and stepped up behind an unsuspecting victim, quickly stabbing him in the back. He watched, unemotionally, as the man fell, then walked away from him, heading toward the center of fighters.

He glanced over at Renji quickly, and smiled ever so slightly as he saw his Vice Captain take down one of the men. The raven haired Captain looked up, startled, when one of the enemies lunged at him. Quick, but not quick enough. Byakuya stepped met the attack with his sword, and they began to fight.

Ryuunosuke was moving swiftly as were the onmitsukido. Every move they made took down at least five of the opponents. Soon the numbers were vastly reduced. He then dismissed several of his troops to take the corpses back for analysis. Much could be learned from corpses and the 12th squad always had things they could do with them. He sensed a high reiatsu. It was above third seat class. Easily vice-captain or higher. What sort of power had that former third seat gained and how? He would need to be taken alive.

Ryuunosuke walked a step then vanished appearing next to his target where the swords clashed. He had activated his shikai earlier and so he had two blades now, both wrist blades.

One of the onmitsukido members unleashed a few quick blasts of blue fire to cover Renji as he moved to reclaim his Zanpuktoh. He didn't need the support, but he thanked the man with a smile and a thumbs up.

Even as his hand touched the hilt of his weapon, though, Renji kept his eyes up and open, looking for anyone trying to take him out before he was armed with Zabimaru once again. Soul Society's history was full of powerful shinigami who had been killed by their lessers because they had never bothered to learn caution. Renji did not wish to join that list.

There were no takers on that offer, which disappointed him. The rogue shinigami were now badly outnumbered and were being pressed back. Renji looked among his allies for anyone who was still having a tough time.

Zabimaru extended to coil around him as a few of the remaining kido users rained fire and energy attacks down on him. Even in shikai form, however, Zabimaru was strong enough, and large enough, to cover the attacks. The attacks halted before Renji was forced to use his bankai. He heard quickly recited words as the kido users began new incantations.


"Too slow!" Renji called out, whipping Zabimaru around. The attack caught the three kido users off guard, and they spread out, losing their spot in the incantation as they did so. Apparently, they were neither powerful enough to use kido without the incantations nor seasoned enough to maintain their focus on an incantation during battle.

He had to end this, though, before Zabimaru was forced to retract to its normal size.

This man was strong, Byakuya noted as he fought, watching the other's moves closely. Byakuya had to flash step a few times to avoid attacks he couldn't stop with his sword. Usually he only had to use that move once or enver in a battle. Who is he? Byakuya wondered, his eyes boring into his opponent. Byakuya jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding being cut in half. Enough. Now it was time to get serious. No more playing around. "Chire Senbonzakura. Byakuya held his sword up, and it dissolved into tiny fragments, sending the needles flying at the opponent and killing him.

With that, Byakuya stepped away and surveyed the area. There was blood everywhere, and countless enemies lay dead on the ground. It was clear that Byakuya's group had the advantage here. Two of the few enemies that were left Ryuunosuke and Renji were facing. Byakuya was about to attack another one, when something flew through the air behind him, and landed next to Byakuya, their blade at Byakuya's neck. "Now you die, Shinigami," the figure hissed, his blade cutting slightly into Byakuya's skin. A few drops of blood fell, but Byakuya didn't flinch. "Who are you and why are you here?" he asked calmly, standing still. "Answer me!" The enemy chuckled. "You have nerve to ask that right now, Shinigami. But since you'll die anyway, I'll tell you. We were sent to observe the Shinigami here and see who would be our greatest opponents. Apparently we've come to the wrong place. But next we'll go to Seireitei and the 13 Gotei will fall!" The man laughed insanely, and pushed the blade harder against Byakuya's neck. "That's all I'll say. Prepare to die!" Byakuya smirked inwardly. The enemy was underestimating him.

Byakuya dropped his sword into the ground, activating Bankai. Everything turned dark, and the blades scattered, killing the enemy quickly before he could stab Byakuya. "You may know how to fight, but you're no match for my bankai," Byakuya told the dead enemy quietly. "Never underestimate me." Byakuya stepped away, wiping a few drops of blood from his neck. Almost all the enemies had been defeated now.

Ryuunosuke could sense that if he did not up his ante he could lose this fight. He did not like to use the power he was about to, but desperate times called for desperate measures. "Bankai." he stated letting off a huge flare of reiatsu as he did that blew back his opponent. When the reiatsu flare cleared he stood there now with six arms, each with a bracer identical to his shikai with a hidden blade in them. "Seimancia Latentaglios " He stated calmly and then began moving swiftly began to stab them with the right blades of his zanpakutoh. When this hit he smiled. Now the kido user couldn't use any kido at all. He then stabbed out with all three of his left blades. When this hit the limbs it hit were disabled. He sighed and then punched the man in the face whilst he was still standing surprise and knocked them out cold. "Mission Accomplished." he whispered as he re-sealed his zanpakutoh and then used a powerful binding kido on the now knocked out opponent. "All enemies, whether dead or alive, are to be taken to 12th squad for analysis." he ordered. The Onmitsukido did not say a word, but carried out the order.

Renji finished up with the kido users who had ganged up on him. His blade retracted to its normal length. One of the kido users was bleeding from a nasty cut in his hamstring, but would survive if he received prompt. The rest were dead. Renji saw that there were some other survivors among the rebels as well. All of them showed evidence of bruises, cuts, or burns, provided they had not been ensnared in a way of binding technique. That alone told them something about the enemy- they were not fanatics who would kill themselves for their cause, but they weren't the type to turn tail and flee when things got tough, either.

Maybe they would get some more answers about who these guys were when they started interrogating them. It was strange- although there were always a few shinigami who turned rogue, other than Aizen few had managed to actually gain enough power to cause civil war in Soul Society. He'd check with Byakuya later, but it didn't seem like these rebels had made any demands or issued any grievances explaining their defection.

Renji rubbed the spot where the sandal from the flying kich had left an imprint on his cheek. "And I was just beginning to sweat, too," he complained. Secretly, though, he was glad that he had a break from an Espada-size challenge.

Byakuya looked down at his dead opponent, feeling no sympathy for him. He never felt remorse toward any of his enemies because of one simple fact. They chose to fight and except the consequences if they lost. He knew this opponent had thought he would win, but that was just as well. Death was the punishment for being so foolish. Anyone should know not to expect to win against a Captain, no matter what their rank. Expecting to win was foolish, and Byakuya never did it himself. If you went into battle expecting to lose, you'll put forth all your effort to turn it around. If you go into battle expecting to win, you probably won't put much effort into the fight since you think it won't take much to win.

Byakuya looked up from the enemy and watched calmly as the Onmitsukido took the others away. The battle was over. Byakuya thought back to what the man had told him.

"We were sent to observe the Shinigami here and see who would be our greatest opponents. Apparently we've come to the wrong place. But next we'll go to Seireitei and the 13 Gotei will fall!"

The Shinigami are their greatest opponents... if they aren't shinigami then what are they? Byakuya frowned slightly. And are there anymore just waiting to attack? If that was so then they were in trouble. Though they had defeated these, if there were many more then they might not be so lucky next time.

Byakuya walked over to where Renji and Ryuunosuke were, still lost in thought.

Ryuunosuke did not speak. He nodded to Byakuya and Renji and then vanished. His mission was over and he had to create a report. He was not one to hang about. However, as he shunpoed he dropped a note in Byakuya's pocket. It was the date, time and place of their next meeting together.