Chapter 13

"Man, this Ryoka invasion is turning out to be a major pain in the ass." Tetsuzaemon, the Lieutenant of 7th Division, drawled as he entered the Assembly Room assigned for the meetings between Lieutenants. All the Lieutenants of the various Divisions were present, except the Lieutenant of the 10th Division and 11th, Matsumoto Rangiku and Yachiru respectively.

"Yeah, we can finish them off in an instant if the Head Captain just gives us the order." Abarai Renji, the Lieutenants of the 6th Division, sneered. If they weren't about to be given the order to eliminate the intruders, then what was the point of coming here?

The door of the room opened and the aforementioned missing Lieutenant entered with a bored look on her beautiful face.

"Why do we have to meet, if we are not going to fight against these Ryokas? This meeting interrupted my beauty nap." The busty Rangiku whined and flopped herself down in a chair with a huff, causing her considerable assets to jiggle.

"How can Captain Hitsugaya put up with your constant lack of work?" Renji asked pointedly. "My Captain throws a fit, when I don't finish my work early."

"I have my ways," Rangiku answered with a sweet smile.

"Hey Renji, have you seen Captain Aizen lately? He has been acting distant these past few days, more precisely since the news of the Ryokas reached the Soul Society," Momo Hinamori, Lieutenant of the 5th Division, asked meekly.

"No, I haven't. But don't worry, I'm sure he has his reasons." Renji assured his childhood friend as she nodded silently. Renji hated to admit it, but he doubted Captain Aizen would return to normal since he kept getting distant and distant every passing day.

"I hope you're right."

The door was tapped slowly a few times, drawing the attention of the occupants. Renji opened the door and saw a messenger Shinigami bowing in front of the gate.

"Sorry for the interruption, but I have some info regarding the Ryokas"

"Let's hear it," Renji demanded.

"The Ryokas have been somehow able to breach the barrier surrounding the Seireitei and are currently causing mayhem. Only one has been sighted as of right now. The man is a tall individual with long flowing red hair, red slitted eyes, and claws, with a black Shakujo staff. Witnesses reported that he is garbed in a sleeveless black coat, black leather pants, skin tight crimson t-shirt, red combat boots and black metal bands wrapped around his wrists up to his elbows. All Squad members are ordered to be on the lookout for him and the other unidentified ones. That's all!"

All the Lieutenants were showcasing one reaction or the other, but most of them were of indifference and boredom. They didn't care what the intruder looked like, what he wore or what he carried, all they cared about was the certainty that he was going to be stopped and destroyed along with the others, regardless of their numbers.

Rangiku, on the other hand, was frozen in shock and disbelief.

It can't be… it can't be him ! It's impossible! She subconsciously reached for the necklace wrapped around her neck and clutched it in her trembling hands.

"Hey Rangiku, are you okay?" Kira Izuru, Lieutenant of the 3rd Division asked in concern, seeing the troubled look on the blond Lieutenant's face.

"Yes, I'm fine… Excuse me"

Taking a hold of her sword with trembling hands, she dashed towards the door with her head down, so no one could see the tears streaming down her face. The others looked surprised by her reaction and looked at each other questioningly.

"What was that all about?"

***

Haruto was strolling through the admittedly confusing and maze-like streets of the Seireitei, looking and searching endlessly for his most important and crucial objective ever. He was not going to fail, no matter what! He would sacrifice everything to achieve this particular objective. This objective was…

Fortunately, a group of Shinigamis turned around the corner and found the intruder wandering around aimlessly. They unsheathed their swords and took their stances, ready to apprehend the intruder or take him down should he resist. Unfortunately for them, Haruto had other ideas.

He swiftly twisted around and pointed to the first man at the front of the group.

"Hey you!" the man pointed at himself questioningly. "Yes you! Tell me where I can find the food of the heaven?"

"Food of the what?" the Shinigami asked warily, wondering what the redhead meant by that. Weren't they supposed to capture or kill the intruder? If they were, then why were they standing there like a bunch of idiots and being questioned by said intruder?

"The food whose broth is sweeter than honey and whose noodles are the bridge to heaven," Haruto declared passionately, while the horde of Shinigamis looked even more confused, especially the leader who was being questioned. Haruto's eyes twitched and a large tic mark pulsed on his temple when he saw the dumb look on their faces.

"Tell me where I can find the goddamn Ramen!" The loud and booming demonic voice snapped them out of their confused state and immediately high tailed it out of there. Forget apprehending the Ryoka, he was crazy as hell!

"I will find you and when I do, you're dead. Do you hear me, dead!" Haruto shouted after their running backs, causing the group to quicken their pace as a huge cloud of dust kicked up after them. Haruto, despite his irritation at not finding ramen in this godforsaken place, couldn't help but smirk in a self-satisfied manner.

Oh yeah, who was the man? He was!

Sensing the fraction of his potent chakra get near to his position, he stopped walking, a wooden chair appearing behind him as he sat down on the chair in the middle of the street without a care in the world.

A figure dropped down in front of him in a crouched position with the grace of a cat while Haruto looked on in curiosity and interest, wondering who this mysterious person was, gifted with his potent chakra, though he already had his suspicions.

The figure stood up and Haruto was surprised to find the figure to be a busty blond female, with a black face mask covering her face up to her nose, leaving her cold blue but alluringly beautiful oceanic eyes visible. He was quite confused about the cold and angry look on her face though. Sure, they had infiltrated the city, but even that action should not be the cause of such a drastic reaction.

"So, you have finally shown yourself." The figure commented coldly as she glared at the confused redhead.

"Have we met before?" Haruto asked as he scratched the back of his head in confusion. Yikes! If looks could kill, Haruto was sure he would've died right now from the force of her glare.

"That is not any of your concern anymore. You're an intruder and thus must be dealt with!" The blonde declared coldly.

"What do you mean 'anymore'? Your response indicates that we have met in the past. Why do you have a fraction of my power?" Haruto asked seriously and dropped his cheerful façade.

"That is so like you to forget everyone, you silver tongue asshole!" the busty female sneered and unsheathed her sword as she dashed forward in rage.

Reaching the sitting redhead, she wildly swung her sword, intent on finishing him off in an instant. Her eyes widened in surprise and shock when the sitting redhead stopped the strike of her sword with a single finger without even bothering to stand up from the chair.

Those gleaming red orbs staring at her impassively and the uncaring expression on his face didn't bear a resemblance to the man she looked up to, the person she admired so much.

"I suggest you think before you act," Haruto said coldly. "I do not have any desire to implicit harm on your person. I asked a simple question, so kindly answer me in a civilized manner."

He was quite patient with people, but that didn't mean he was going to let them attack him without any reason—except Naruko whose 'attacks' were at least of the pleasurable kind that is—unless he wanted them to.

"Yes, we have met before. I thought you cared; I thought you were always going to be there for me. I was foolish to believe in your deceptively sweet words and empty promises, Namikaze Haruto."

Haruto felt his impassive mask shatter when he witnessed the emergence of small drops of tears streaming down the figure's masked face. Whoever this female was, she knew him and was quite hurt by whatever it was he had done. The only problem was that he didn't remember hurting any females before.

"Please, at least tell me your name. I don't recall ever hurting any female in my life, let alone someone as beautiful as you from what I can see," Haruto asked smoothly as he tried to resolve the situation. The female wiped her tears clean by the sleeve of her black kimono and looked at him in anger and sorrow.

"Always the charmer. It seems you haven't changed at all. My name is Matsumoto Rangiku," the figure reached for her black face mask and removed it, revealing the beautiful tear stained face of the Squad 10 Lieutenant.

Haruto widened his eyes in disbelief and devastation as he slowly stood up from the chair, his shaking hands reaching out to touch the tear stricken face of the now named Rangiku.

He couldn't believe his eyes! All of this had to be a twisted illusion of some kind, but that couldn't be, considering the fact that he was immune to illusion. It had to be a nightmare of guilt, to remind him of the one mistake he never had time to redeem, but he knew he was wide awake.

All this time he had searched for her, all the places he had destroyed simply to find her whereabouts, all the dimensions he had reduced to space dust simply to see her again and yet she had been here all along.

"This can't be, Ran-chan" Haruto whispered in disbelief as he rubbed her tear-stricken cheeks. He couldn't believe the small enthusiastic, sunshine, sweet and loving blonde girl was here all alone, while he searched the earth up and down, but found no trace of her.

Rangiku slapped his hand away and stepped back from him.

"Get away from me and don't call me that! You lost the right to call me that a long time ago! Do you think I'll forgive you that easily after what you did to me?! You left me; you abandoned me when I needed you most! I will never forgive you, you bastard!" She stepped back with tears streaming down her face, while Haruto looked even more heartbroken. He couldn't really blame her since she didn't know the full story of what happened.

"Ran-chan, please listen to me. I didn't abandon you. I searched every stone and pebble for you, I searched for decades, but I found no trace of your presence." Haruto whispered sadly.