Chapter 29. The walls of the Sēireitei have ears (18).

SOMEWHERE AT THE SĒIREITEI....

[ *COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!*]

As the morning had started in a very nice way for some, an audible sound of a rooster can be heard from the entire distance of the 8th division. In a meantime, Ramune was discharged from the hospital after helping out Yamamoto delivering a crucial message to Hirōshi.

Despite her injury on her hand where Kakuzu nearly electrocuted her to death, she was giving an instruction to let her hand rest until she's fully healed. Still wearing Kyoraku's pink kimono, she headed back towards her own place in this freezing late autumn morning.

Apon her arrival, she was expecting all of her brand new clothes on her bed and a bathtub full of very warm water and milk combined in a bathroom by one of her maids, in which her prediction was right.

To her surprise when she returned to her Chinese style cottage house; Shunsui was inside the house, who layed on his body, covered in bandages on his chest and drinking one of her homemade bittersweet sakē in a tiny jade emerald cup. Flustered and her cheeks had turned into raspberry red when he saw him, she stood back and accidentally knocked out one of her smaller lilac and mauve coated vase, yet she caught it without any breakage.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Shunsui noticed her when he sensed his spirit energy.

" Oh, it's you. I guess you're still having an old habit of sneaking in, huh? " She muttered, yet shy and nearly unheard.

Shunsui kept on glancing her half-naked body as his light smirk appeared on his face.

" Took you long enough, Méi guī*. Got discharged by old man Yamamoto?" He scoffed, slowly getting up from her bed.

" I guess you can say that. Nevertheless, we owed him our lives."

" I know. I can't believe he turned his back on the same people that forced him to join them, just for the Sēireitei and our happiness. Something must've changed him, you know?"

" Yeah." She sighed in one breath and then noticed something as if she was changing this subject. With a seductive smile on her face, she quickly wondered when she drew closer towards him and sat on the bed. " So, you fully know my real name, sweet Shunsui."

" Um... well, since we've been together for more than 3 decades, it took me a while." He said, trying his best to hide his own blush from his wife. He then added:

" Besides, I can make it up for you."

Attempted to hide herself from his irresistible charm, she beamed nervously when she blushed once again:

" You know....I have to take a bath, sweetheart. I mean.. the maids are___"

" You don't have to worry about that. " He hushed her, rubbing her red cheeks as he got closer to her.

" W-wait, what?!" She gulped.

" Let's just say, I let the maids to take a break for a while. Whilst, we should be doing some deeds. Besides, I do have some unfinished business until Kazumi's shit headed brother arrived and disturbed us." He smirked.

The way his fingertips gently traced her skin whilst removing his pink kimono from her naked, petite body, gave her goosebumps and released her dulcet and tender sigh. She turned her upper torso to face him and softly asked as she wrapped her arms around his shoulder anxiously:

" Shunsui, look. I'm afraid I might open up your wounds. Are you sure we're going to do this?"

" Don't despair, my sweet rose. As long as you're here..... You'll always be my remedy." He answered in a calm and soft tone, yet confident as he delivered her a soft smooch from her neck to her lips.

Once their lips shared a passionated collision into a deep kiss, Shunsui's hands were gently rubbing and squeezing her small lemon shaped breasts and around her nipples before bringing her entire body closer to his. However, their `steamy` morning was interrupted, when Qīngtíng accidentally burst through the door, dreaded by his discovery.

Feeling himself shriveled up into a dried prune by what he saw, he briskly covered his eyes and looked away. Both Shunsui and Ramune were immediately halted at their `duties` and payed attention towards him.

" Qīngtíng, what are you doing here? Are you supposed to be on guard today or were you sleeping again?!" She snapped

" Forgive me, Méi guī. There is something horrendous happened this morning. It's the traitor. He____."

" Wait, Aizan?", Shunsui disturbed Qīngtíng as his happy expression transformed into a startled and resentful motion. He removed himself from his wife and asked, " Did he escaped from Mukēn and got away?" That question remained a haunted memory when he learnt one of the prisoner had escaped there 200 years ago.

Yet, Qīngtíng shook his head and it calmed Shunsui down.

" It's not that, cousin in law. The traitor is....actually dead. Someone or something must've killed him. There was neither signs of a pin throughout a different person nor his sword that possessed hypnosis. It's like an inside job or something. Zhong remained behind for an investigation."

" Fine, we'll meet you there and catch up with him. "

" Thank you."

Headed and stormed out of the household, the couple were perplexed towards a news. When Ramune dismissed herself towards the bathroom, it left nothing but deadly silence like a mouse...

~~~~~~~~

OUTSIDE OF THE 1ST DIVISION HEADQUARTER ....

Captain Yamamoto and lieutenant Sasakibe stood in front of a wagon where Renji, Shikamaru, Hanatarō and the twins were. Renji was awake with an excruciating hangover since last night by the Tanuki doctor .

' Argh, my head!' He thought, rubbing his messy red hair and stretched. Surprisingly, he saw Yamamoto standing right next to the wagon. Terrifyingly, he gulped:

" H..hey, Captain Yamamoto, lieutenant Sasakibe. What a wonderful morning were having. Listen I ____."

" Renji, don't bother. The Yokai emperor told him everything, so there's no need." Sasakibe remarked as he disturbed him. Renji was stunned and at the same time relieved about Hirōshi's statement about the incident, yet he wondered:

' I thought the Sēireitei might be in ruins. Could Captain Yamamoto had stopped the fallen angels from continuing more damage?', then he asked, " Hey, is Rukia and Ichitaro there?"

" They're at the medical facility, lieutenant Abarai. You can check on them if you can tell me about this child from the world of the living. " Captain Yamamoto ordered

' Oh, shit.' Renji nervously cursed once again. Meanwhile, Lady Xià Xuê de and Hēimâ rushed into a scene as they'll deliver a bomb-dropping news to the captains and Yamamoto. Lady Xià Xuê took a route at the 1st division headquartered, while Hēimâ headed straight towards the captains outside the hall. Just as the remaining captains were leaving, they saw Hēimâ raced towards them and the other tall fox captain grabbed him right before he stumbled on others.

" Hēimâ, what's wrong? You look like you've been chased by someone. " He said in a worrisome tone. The remaining captains were gathering around and Hēimâ panted as if he couldn't muster up a single ounce of strength left anymore :

" C... captain Komamaru. I___"

" Water! Get him some water !" Captain Komamaru ordered. Luckily for them, Rukia arrived with a cup of water for Ichitaro and Captain Ukitake's worries were over and called her. Rukia immediately went to him and asked:

" Captain?"

" Thank you." Captain Komamaru said as he took the cup and gave it to Hēimâ as thirsty as he was. Rukia was shocked at first, but later saw Hēimâ's dog tired body after running towards the hall. Once he stopped gulping all of the water, he finally explained why was he running at this time:

" Captains, something horrible had happened this morning. The traitor....died by an unknown person or entity. He has neither escaped, used his psychic welding sword nor had used any needle to any deceased." He panted after magically returning a cup of water back to Rukia.

Everyone was incredulously gasped after couldn't believe that a traitor has died so sudden inside Mukēn. However, neither Hirōshi nor Yumikō had any remorseful about the news.

' I guess this asshole deserves death more than any other evil being. May that skank never reincarnated and resurrected at the face of the spirit realm.' Yumikō thought, revealing a smile on his face.

MEANWHILE....

Renji was hesitant when Yamamoto was curious about Ichitaro and by the time he was ready to spill the beans, Yoshimura's eyes were slowly opening and looked around if Ichitaro was there. When she realised that her twin brother was gone, she was scared, angry and heart broken. She kept looking around and couldn't sensed his spirit energy anywhere and Renji noticed that.

" Something wrong? " He asked.

" Yeah. Where is Ichitaro, dude?" She later asked.

" I think he's at the medical facility with Rukia. I don't know much."

" Can you please take me there? "

"....."

In sympathy, Yamamoto has no option but to send Sasakibe along with Yoshimura by finding her brother. Before they could do it, Yoshimura simply woke Rangiku and headed out.

But then, Xià Xuê arrived briskly and Yamamoto was agitated. He wondered if Katsuya had returned for more anarchy. Instead when Lady Xià Xuê arrived, she secretly told Yamamoto her discovery that morning. A muffling sounds can be heard, but Renji kept on glancing at Yamamoto and left him.

' Huh, I wonder what's happening today?' He thought.

~~~~~~~~

In the latest morning, Ichitaro was sitting on a hospital bed and Yoshimura and Rangiku found him there. Then, she ran towards him and gave him a bear hug. Even though he really didn't hugged her back, at least he felt something he hadn't had for a long time since childhood - happiness.

" Don't you ever run away again, you hear ?" Yoshimura begged. In which Ichitaro simply replied:

" I will."

Rangiku, by courage, also joined her twin siblings' hugs. Sasakibe and Kira were glad when they witnessed it, in which one soul reaper located Sasakibe and said :

" Lieutenant Sasakibe, there are demons attacking in Karakura town and they're quite several in numbers. "

" Alright, gather the remaining lieutenants and the others immediately." He commanded and the soul reaper agreed before leaving. Filled with curiosity and cluelessness, Lieutenant Kira simply asked:

" Duty calls, Lieutenant Sasakibe?"

" Yea" he quickly answered, leaving Kira guarding the room until Rukia arrived.

~~~~~~~~

MEANWHILE .....

Ikkaku was searching high and low for Ichitaro and whilst he was doing so, he saw Zaraki having a conversation with a colossal man whereas Yachiru suddenly leaped on top of his head. They were arguing at first until Yachiru told him something that she'd discovered and, to Ikkaku's surprise, Zaraki understood on every words she said, which sent him a cold shiver ran down on his spine.

At that rate, when Zaraki turned and faced Ikkaku and like a coward, he awkwardly meandered in backwards before turning his entire body and scuttled away from his captain. Unfortunately for him, Captain Zaraki took Yachiru and leaped towards the path and stopped him.

" Oh. Hey there, Zaraki. Is there something wrong?" He nervously asked, in which eventually, angered the captain. He forcefully grabbed his uniform and drew closer to him.

" I should be the one asking you questions, dim-wit. However, a little bird once told me someone was placing an intruder since yesterday morning when you went missing two nights ago along with Hōshi. And now a certain someone was looking for a that same intruder that Unohana had helped. " , He sneered, revealing a terrifying smirk on his face, " So, you and Hōshi are going to tell me about this kid and where were you at that time before these shit headed fallen angels and attacked us. "

" Wait, Hōshi? I thought it was Hanatarō!"

He exclaimed.

" Too bad." Zaraki smirked, right before releasing his monstrous amount of spirit energy. That's until, Qīngtíng whistled for Zaraki's attention who's 5 distance away from him.

" CAPTAIN ZARAKI, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! THE OTHER CAPTAINS ARE OUTSIDE OF THE SENZAIKYŪ!" Qīngtíng yelled.

" WHAT ARE THEY DOING THERE?!" He bellowed

" ISN'T IT OBVIOUS?! THE TRAITOR IS DEAD!"

Zaraki thought for a second after his smirk was completely disappeared from his face and realised what Qīngtíng meant.

" DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, WE'RE COMING!!" Zaraki yelled.

' We? Does he mean _____?' Ikkaku thought before Zaraki could took off in a high speed, releasing a yelp all the way to the Senzaikyū.

~~~~~~~~

The remaining captains assembled themselves outside of the Senzaikyū along with Hirōshi, Yumikō,Starrk, Shinsuke and among the others. They were all facing the door that lead to Mukēn as it remained opened and under investigation. To their surprise, a stretcher appeared with other two guards from the Senzaikyū and a pure white sheet covering Sosuke Aizan's body. Yamamoto watched silently as small remaining blood stains through the sheet.

" What happened here?" Yamamoto asked Zhong kui.

" Well, apparently Lieutenant Hinamōri found him like this; covered by slashes and pieces of his body, but the orb was missing along with his sword. Whilst I continue with my investigation, I found this candy cane on the ground and when i tasted it, it's super sweet that it'll be enough to kill a quillin." Zhong explained.

" Thank you, Zhong. Keep on with this investigation." Said Yamamoto.

After Yamamoto dismissed himself, the conversation and theories had started a little bit further.

" Wait, could this mean.... he's dead? Just like that?" Ukitake asked.

" I guess so. Whatever happened here, someone must've killed him for joining Baltoh and being a rebellion to Celestia by causing mayhem in the Soul society. Maybe it was a vigilante." Shunsui said, uncertain about the real answers.

" Or it could be Ōtōkāwa's spirit. When bad deeds goes unpunished, his spirit must've been raised from his grave and end his life instantly." Shunsui said.

" Or it's just an old wives' tale that teached kids a lesson. I just don't believe his restless soul might've claimed his life instantly. Besides, this prick deserves it and whoever did this, deserves my respect. Come, Starrk. I think I've had enough of entertainment for today and tell Shuru to bring his kids back to him." Yumikō ordered and Starrk agreed.

" So do we. Our families and Zen must've been worried sick about us too. Let's go, guys. " Shinsuke insisted as they turned themselves, except Masami, into phonexes .

As everyone left after an hour had passed, Shunsui, Ramune and Ukitake remained behind and just before they left, Ramune realised a candy cane that Zhong had on his hand.

' Could someone possessing candy must be behind this?' Ramune wondered.

~~~~~~~~

MEANWHILE IN KARAKURA TOWN....

Somewhere outside the mall, a blue haired young boy in his teens, was riding with a smoke wolf with a dark cherry colour all over its fur. It appeared he was carrying a plastic bag filled with sweets and a flip phone on his left hand as if he was talking to someone.

« Hey, Naruto. If you don't mind, I'll wait for you and Sasuke after you're done with your mission.»

« I think I do. All college kids are okay. Only three are injured pretty badly, but no one died. All that's left is to send them at the hospital.»

« Oh that's cool.»

During their conversation, the smoke wolf stopped at it's track and spotted demons outside of the bar at the street. It instantly growled at them.

« Um, Naruto. I think Smokey found something disturbing. See you soon.» he closed off the conversation. Little does everyone knows he had hidden something in his pocket.