Chapter One - "Declaration of War"

[Captain-Commander]

The fight between Juno and the Hollow went on for a while longer, each time Juno attacked, the Hollow just repelled it with little effort. Even through all of this, the light in the distance where Captain Tahoshi landed was still gone... a line of buildings destroyed in his path.

Takahashi and Captain Yuudai looked on, Yuudai in horror, and Takahashi in terror.

As soon as Yuudai saw the battle wasn't going in Juno's favour, he stepped in, offering his strength to the fray.

"Oooh, There's one more willing to die!" The hollow taunted, firing a small energy bolt towards Juno, then barreling into Yuudai. Juno barely flash-stepped in time to dodge it, but Yuudai was caught in the bull-rush, sending him flying away. Takahashi could only look on, barely seeing what was going on, let alone being able to act in a way that would make a difference.

Yuudai soon regained composure, and mounted another attack. This time, he got a swing in with his sword... Unfortunately, the Hollow ducked it easily, and kicked him in the stomach, sending him head-first into Takahashi, sending them both to the ground. For a split second, he almost seemed to ignore Juno above him...

[Juno]

"Vagrant Dynamism.... Lend me your aid! Blitzshnell!"

The timing was perfect. She released Shikai just in time to stab both of her now black-bladed swords into the Hollow, a surge of electrical energy rushing through his body. He let loose a horrible roar, instantly realizing that the small girl was a bigger problem than he thought.

As the energy started weakening, she kicked off his back, barely having landed before rushing in again, striking at him with blinding speed. The Hollow blocked the strike and was greeted with another electrical current. The need to get out of close-quarter combat with Juno was quickly becoming apparent and he pulled his body away from the swords, lashing out with his fist to catch Juno in the shoulder. She hit the ground hard, having managed to contort her body so that her already injured shoulder aborbed the shock of the fall instead of her head. Juno got back to her feet rather quickly, although slower than she would have liked, just in time to see the Hollow finish ripping a hole back to Hueco Mundo, retreating after casting a vile gaze in the Shinigami's direction.

With an audible growl, she turned away from where the Hollow had disappeared and sheathed both of her swords, promptly making her way to where her comrades had fallen.

"Maki-san? Hotaru-chan.... are you alright?" she inquired, helping Yuudai back to his feet despite her strong dislike for the man. Hotaru returned to her feet shakily after the weight of the Captain had been lifted from atop her.

[Tahoshi]

Captain Yuudai looked over the battlefield... Several craters lined the side of the battle that they were fighting from... One of them from himself. He sighed, and had to admit, no matter how much more powerful he was than the other captains here, He still wasn't powerful enough to beat a single Hollow.

"What was that?" He asked himself, an image of the red ball of light, and the word 'Cero' that the Hollow had spoken before attacking him. He turned to face the battlefield once again, following it over in his mind.

"First Zenai was gone... Then Tahoshi got hit over that way... Then... Wow..." he thought, replaying the speed and determination that Juno had shown in the last tussle before the Hollow retreated. He had to give her respect for that... But he couldn't bring himself to that level just yet. Admitting someone elses strength over his own was not something that Yuudai could do.

[Kaiya]

Kaiya sighed as another large hollow blocked her way. This time it was skinny and looked pretty fast. "Since, I don't have time to dilly dally..." with that Kaiya unsheathed her Zanpakutoh. "Mah, Gomen Altair..... Shadows of a bird!" with that the sword glowed red. It morphed onto her right arm making her arm grow larger. The light vanished to show her arm was now a Silver wing with long swords as her tips and a half showing red eye under the silver feathers.

"Sorry Altair, But it seems we being attacked" she said with a smiled at the eye who looked at her intently. The hollow not liking to be ignored came behind Kaiya. "DIE!" with that He slashed at her left shoulder making her shout in pain. The eye widened before covering Kaiya whole. "OH? DONE NOW? WELL YOU CAN'T BE DONE! YOU MUST DIE!" with that said the hollow grabbed part of Kaiya's shield wing to scream and hold his hand as blood started to go down.

"what the hell is this!?!?!?!?!" asked the lizard like hollow as he looked at the part he grabbed to see the feathers sticking up. "what! So you decided to trick me huh! I'll show you!" screamed the hollow as he slashed at Kaiya's shield not caring about that his fingers were being cut and torn. All of a sudden the Feathers twitched all over until all of them were sticking straight up. "What the He--" the Hollow couldn't finish as under him the sword tip burst. Cutting straight up and out of the mask.

"AAAAHHH!!!" and with that the hollow vanished in blue light. Time stilled before the sword tips when back under ground and back to normal length. The wing unraveled for Kaiya to stand with her left arm completely healed. "I'm sorry Altair, I got injured" she said looked at the eye who had rage. "But Can't sit around, Gotta go find the others!" and with that said. Kaiya flapped her right arm to jump high and a bit soar fast to the ground. She still headed towards the directions of Molly and Rikka.

[Sir Razgriz]

This just wasn't Razgriz's day; he'd almost gotten killed by a Hollow, looked at a very ugly side of himself, saw a fellow Captain get...Whatever the Hell'd, Witnessed as someone with vastly more experience was turned into a meteor, WHILE IN BANKAI FORM, in a single strike, saw a mini game of Shingami Bowling, and, to top it all of, he was too slow to be able to do a thing about it, and, even if he wasn't, he was still too injured to be effective. Takahashi might've patched him up nicely, but he was still really sore.

"Until we find Capt. Tahoshi, and we WILL find him, who's in charge?" Razgriz asked, bluntly as usual. No one immediately stepped forwards, so the question "alright, who has any ideas as to how we should start finding him?" was added onto the previous query. Still no response. Couldn't blame them, really; that was a heck of a battle; the type that tended to leave people emotionally and mentally drained. Of course, most battles he'd seen didn't involve souls being absorbed, but it was close enough.

Still, though; they needed to do something. "Look; Capt. Tahoshi was a soldier. I heard in the academy that he almost punched Napoleon. I don't think he'd want us to just stand around; he'd want us to do something, such as look for his body. I usually don't rant like this, but right now just standing around feels wrong. I'm going, regardless of whether the rest of you are or not. My side still hurts a little, but some pain is good; it lets you know you're alive. Wait; that's not true any more. Hmm..."

As he continued his monologue in the form of murmuring to oneself, Razgriz set out in the direction the Captain flew in, hoping his landing wasn't too far away.

[Rikka]

When the alarm sounded again, she knew it had become more serious them just a few rouges. The sent of rouge Molly and her had just killed, seemed to be attracting more of his kind. The hollows seemed to be else where. Her eyes darted around the area as shadows started to form around them, she counted three. She drew her sword and got in position to attack.

One of the shadowy figures jumped forward, landing a few yards away from Rikka. The other two started to get closer. The closer one ,that was slowly walking closer, looked lean and agile. Her smiled when he saw Rikka look around at the other two, her stance slightly shaky. "You nervous? You scared? Three against two, you know the odds are in our favor." He looked to earthier side at his two companions.

"Nervous about what? You guys have no chance against me." The tip of her sword wavered, and her whole body seemed to shake. In her mind, she knew she would almost be no match for three of them. The one who had been talking, lunged out at her. She blocked the attack, and swiftly counter struck. It let out a screech, as it's right arm fell to the ground, bleeding a black and red mixture. A smile spread across Rikkia's face. Perhaps this wouldn't be as hard as she thought. In her small moment of self-reassurance , the other two figures had jumped behind her. One grabbed her and the other was ready to slash at her, with some gruesome looking claws.

Her whole body started to be consumed by fear. It reminded her to much about her abusive childhood. The adrenaline through her into a blind rage and she started tearing at everything around her. She started to scratch at the figures face. It screeched as she dug her fingers into it's eye sockets, and quickly released her to hide his face in his hands. She had dropped her sword, but didn't seem to notice as she flung herself on figure with claws. When she collided, they fell to the ground in a tangled mess.

Lucky for her, his claws got tangled in her long white hair. He kicked her with his feet and frantically tried to get her off him. She was going at him with everything she had, she bit his neck, its gooey warm blood oozing into her mouth. The figure couldn't scream, but would have if it could. With the shot of pain, it ripped out one of it claws out of Rikka's hair and slashed her in the right forearm. She released him and rolled off him, holding her forearm close. She stood shakily and spit it blood out of her mouth the pain in her arm made her regain control. Her hair was in a right state, tangled and matted and dotted with a bit of her blood, while her face was covered with that of the figures. She wiped around her mouth with the sleeve of her robe and started to re gain her breath. She just realized that she had dropped her sword and her eyes franticly searched for it. The figures started to regroup by it, trying to save themselves a little trouble.

She looked at all three of them; they all had been injured in some sort of way, but not nearly enough to stop them. Damn, I'm already tiering and still, they can go on. I'm also distanced from my Zanpakutoh. I'm running out of options for this battle... how sad would it be if I lost to three rouges! Still breathing heavily, she clenched her fists, she could feel her blood running down her arm. "I will not lose to you, you are scum. Compared to me you should be nothing. " She choked out, tears of anger welling up in her eyes. She heard a quiet thud on the wall behind her and glanced up to she Kaiya.

[Captain-Commander]

Yuudai looked at Razgriz, at his almost taking charge of the group. Juno looked up at him from her lower height, and stared him in the eyes.

"I'm 2nd in command of this mission" she spoke up, confidently. The anger she felt towards the murdering Hollow still high. "We need to Find Tahoshi-san, and then get back to Seireitei, there's no telling when that Hollow will come back for more."

She lead them to the crater where Tahoshi landed, still smoldering by the time they got there, with the smell of burning asphalt from the road. a gust of wind sent the fumes straight towards them, choking them slightly, but what was more worrying was the singed Captains Jacket, with the number Five written on the back.

"This was Tahoshi's..." Juno said, looking around for him. "He Can't have been killed by that..." she continued, trying to sense his Reiatsu, but to no avail. It was as if he just... Vanished.

******* Meanwhile, in Seireitei *******

"Hahahaha" the other Rogue shinigami/Hollow's laughed, watching their comrades being skewered by feathers and other weapons.

"Our time here is done..." they all said together, as a blue-white light surrounded them, coming from tears in the sky above them, the blue light of the sky torn asunder, making way for a thick black haze... All of the Rogue's caught in a negation field, sucking them back to Hueco Mundo... All the Shinigami could do was watch.. unable to touch them anymore.

[Kaiya]

Kaiya, looked at Rikka with a worried look, before looking at Molly. "Don't worry, I'll heal help you" smiled kaiya as she held out her wing. The eye looked at Kaiya in a "You serious?" look. "Now now, Altair, Please let me hel them" she ordered, Altair rolled his eye before glowing, making the whole wing electrocutes with red bolts that looked like lighting. One long feather that was glowing red with electricity clearly scene on it shot out and went inside Rikka, making her jolt a bit. The red electricity can be clearly scene healing up most of her wounds, but not all.

"Go, to the healing squad to patch up some of those wounds! I have done all I can to help you, since I still need to save my power for my own division, bai bai" she smiled before jumping over a wall to her own division. "I better hurry to go see if everyone is alright" she whispered before rushing even faster to her division.

**********10th Division!***************************

Kaiya made it to the 10th division which looked like a mess. Shinigamis were running all over the place and blood was everywhere, from the walls to the floor. Kaiya instantly started wrapping things up. "I want to get the critical ones help now, We'll help the ones that are stable later! Move it!" ordered Kaiya as she pointed directions of Shinigamis who asked her questions or answers. "I want to know what happened here, How many have died in our division? And how many are injured?" asked Kaiya in a worried voice.

"Sorry, Fukutaicho, we were caught off guard when they attacked, we didn't know what hit us, about 10 of our division died, and about 15 are injured!" stuttered a shinigami. "Okay, I want the bodies removed then the injured healed, I'll help as I can" Kaiya said very calmly making the shinigami worry, but move on to his task. "Altair I know, this might tire me out, but I need to okay?" kaiya reassured altair before she held out her wing.

The red eye glowed making the wing electrocute red bolts again. Soon 15 feathers with red electricity on it shot into the 15 bodies, making everyone see the red electricity heal only the critical wounds before disappearing. "Bring them to a healing squad" whispered Kaiya as her arm glowed red before turning back into her Zanpakutoh before sheathing it. "Look after the men, I shall return soon" kaiya said before heading towards the Commander. "I think its time to see what is going on" she whispered, while strapping her Zanpakutoh back on her

[Rikka]

Rikka was glad to see Kaiya, even though it was brief. She wasn't expecting to be shot with a feather, she guessed that was a bonus. She was still quite tired and need to know how everyone else in her squad was doing. Sense Molly had been with her, she knew she was alright. She picked up her sword and resheathed, now was not the time to dwell on what had happened during the fight; she'd almost rather not know. She told Molly to follow her to Squad VIII's section.

The section was swarming with running Shinigami. Some yelling in pain, others that had fallen and now have been trampled. She looked at the horror that was her squad, and jumped into the fray. Molly Stood on the walls edge trying to find where Rikka has disappeared to. Not seeing her, she started to yell out, her calls being drowned out by the chaos.

Rikka wasn't havening much luck either. People were so out of control they weren't paying much attention to anything that was around them. She jumped on the closest wall and drew her Zanpakutoh. "Now, to calm every one down, although I hate using my Shikai on my own squad." She took a deep breath and held her sword out in front of her and yelled. " A tigers roar, a fearful cry, Suno-Tora make them bleed!" Her face started to change, becoming more cat like, especially her eyes. Black tiger stripes appeared on her face and along her arms. Her sword became smooth and turns chrome white.It started to curve, it gradually increased towards the top.

She moved her arms, almost like she was dancing, and made a strong gust of wind form from nowhere. She sent it down on her squad, the angle that it was comping from, forced them to stop and kneel or be blown away. They looked around until they saw Rikka. They all stood in a single motion, fear in their eyes from what she might do to them. "Now that I have your attention, I need to ask you a few questions." She looked over the group, almost every one was shaking. "Molly, come here!" Molly ran through the group and jumped up besides Rikka.

"Now, I need to know how many of you have been injured. Not minor cut and scraps, I mean serious injuries." She turned to Molly. "Molly, I need you to help get them to the healing squad." Molly nodded and jumped down into the crowed. "If anyone disobeys her while I'm not around, shall answer to me. Is that understood." A mermur arouse from the group. Rikka's face started to show a hint of anger. "Is that understood!" All at once they yelled back, understood. The place started to move again, this time with people helping the injured to the healing squad. Rikka slipped away, heading in the direction of the Commander. She had released her shikai and returned to her normal self. She needed to know what had happened and what had caused it to. She had never known a hollow even daring to come in side the Seireitei , there had to be a reason.

[Sir Razgriz]

The squad dispatched to the real world got back just in time to see the rogues and Hollows disappearing.

"Damn! Too slow again!" Razgriz thought, seeing the Rogue's warping-induced light show. Figuring he'd used up his Insubordination quota for the day month, Razgriz hung rear guard on the trek back to Seireitei, in case a rogue thought he'd stay behind and be smart, picking off the returning Shinigami. However, their discipline seemed to be tight enough that there were no further incidents en route to the command center. Of course, the debrief likely wouldn't be fun, but at least they were around to hear it.

Fortunately, Capt-Cmdr. Sato merely asked, quite calmly, what happened during the mission and what happened to Capt. Nakasaka and Tahoshi. He was told, by everyone, about the five Hollows, the deaths of said Hollows, *a certain Vice-Captain* nearly going down with them, the target Hollow's vampiristic abilities (and, thus, what happened to Capt. Nakasaka), and the vampire Hollow's strength (and, accordingly, what was known to have happened to Capt. Tahoshi).

The Commander didn't say a word throughout the entire debrief; a casual observer walking by would've thought he wasn't paying attention. Then again, a casual observer would be deaf, blind, and incredibly lucky, to have not known what had just happened, and, therefore, wouldn't be able to observe very well anyways.

When the assorted Captains, VCs, and Seated Officers finished, Sato informed the group that he'd need some time to mull it over, and accordingly everyone was dismissed. Some went out to take their minds off the attack by training, while others brainstormed with the Shinigami who'd been in Seireitei to answer the questions of how Hollows snuck into Seireitei, who the Rogues were working for and their motivation, and what would happen next. The streets weren't only red from the setting sun; there was a long several weeks ahead.

[Kaiya]

Kaiya walked along the halls to the Commanders office. Pictures of great Shinigami here and there with a lovely rug made this room seems like you were in the top class Mansion. Kaiya giggled at that thought as she continued. But she only stopped when she saw the picture of an old Captain. The woman was smiling a beautiful smile making her appearance beautiful and elegant. On the bottom of the portrait was a gold plate. And engraved on the gold plate said...

"Captain Akiko, We will miss you dearly, We hope you come back to Soul Society one day"

Kaiya heart panged in sadness of the loss of a great captain. "Mah, Akiko-Taicho, what would you do now?" asked Kaiya to herself as she was about to walk on when someone called her name. "Kaiya! Kaiya!" called out Rikka as she caught up to Kaiya. Rikka breathed in a bit before releasing air. She smiled at kaiya who smiled back before turning serious.

"I see your going to see the Commander as well" stated Rikka getting a silent nod from Kaiya. Rikka shrugged before looking at the Picture. "Man, First Akiko-taicho, and now this, what the worlds coming too" sighed Rikka as she and Kaiya went on their way to the Commander. "So how many injured in your division?" asked Kaiya in a sad tone that made Rikka almost flinch.

"Terrible, Many injured and dead...How about your side?" asked Rikka getting a sad nod from Kaiya. "We better get some answers or else I'm gonna go Shikai on someone's ass" growled Rikka as she quickened her pass to the commanders office making kaiya also walk faster. "Please calm down, Rikka-san, its not good for you, and Besides its too late to be mad" whispered kaiya making Rikka sigh. "I know....But...but...Our men died, without even given a heads up! Damn it all" cursed Rikka as they came to the oak doors with golden carvings. Kaiya politely knocked the door and waited. They waited for a couple of seconds before a voice came.

"Come on in Rikka-Fukutaicho and Kaiya-fukutaicho" said the Commanders strong voice.

[Rikka]

Rikka entered, still fuming but tried to calm herself. Kaiya walked in close behind, she didn't stand close to Rikka; out of fear of her anger going out of control. Rikka leaned against a wall and took several deep breaths. She looked towards the ground and closed her eyes; after a few moments she had regained her calm composer, but her anger was still raging inside her. She looked up at the commander, he too looked like he had just heard some bad news. Kaiya seemed to be waiting for her to start, so she walked forward; tring to figure out how to put what she felt into words.

"Permission to speak sir?" She asked, her voice tense. He nodded so she continued. "As you probably already know, the Seireitei was under attack by hollows and rouges earlier." She took a deep breath still tring to stay in control of her anger. "Many Shinigami have died or have been seriously injured." Her body seemed to tremble, and she could feel her anger; it was on the brink of bursting out. "What the hell, went on. Never has a hollow dared to show it's face in the Seireirei!" As she finished, she slammed her fists down on the table; hot angry tears started to slide down her face. "They weren't even warned before they got attacked. Damn..." She wondered what was fueling her anger. Was if fear? Kaiya walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off and tried to continue, but couldn't bring her self too.
Kaiya looked at the commander and started to speak.

[Captain-Commander]

Commander Sato looked down at them from his chair, raised above the main level of the building, and held his hand up to stop them.

"It's ok. I know what you are going to say" he interrupted. "We have all lost someone, whether it be squad members, or a captain..." he continued, looking across the room.

"We all took it heavily when Captain Akiko died... Juno has stepped in and taken command of the squad admirably..." He paused for a second, and looked down at the ground in front of him.

"I will be looking through the ranks to find a suitable replacement for Captain Nakasaka, and Tahoshi." he continued again, standing up. "This enemy is indeed stronger than we had anticipated... and unless we do something about it, it will slowly tear all of soul society apart..." He closed his eyes for a second, and looked over the two.

"Giving in to your anger is not the solution to this problem. You must keep your cool, and work together to take this enemy down. We don't know what is ahead of us, but we do know what is behind us. If we learn from it, then we have gained as well as lost."

Then, Sato sat back down, and was silent, waiting to see what the younger ones would take from his speech.

[Rikka]

Rikka swallowed hard and her face started to become a light red; she felt somewhat embarrassed about her out break. "Captain Nakasaka, and Tahoshi... The hollow got them.. ." Her fists tightened as she tried to control herself. She had been stupid to think that her squad was the only thing that really mattered; there was thirteen squads and they all had lost people. Two Captains had been lost and she barged in acting like the world owed her. What right did she think she had. She was at a loss for words.

"Commander Sato, the hollows came here... Does that mean they are starting to get braver or maybe it was just a way to show that they can attack us at any given time. Were they tring to scare us? The newer shinigami didin't know what to do... " He voice was more nervous and unsure, like she was thinking out loud. She stood and looked at her hands, and her voice was just loud enough to be heard. "and I couldn't do anything to help. "

[Kaiya]

Kaiya, looked at Rikka before looking at the commander then at rikka again. "Rikka-san, its best that we do as the Commander says....Anger will only make things worse" whispered Kaiya trying to calm down Rikka who still shook with anger. "I know!, But I couldn't do anything as they died!" shouted Rikka drawing tears. Kaiya sighed before looking at the commander.

"Commander, the enemy is getting stronger, for hollows to get in here is like asking us to die" stated Kaiya in a slightly strained. "I know, you too are getting a little furious Kaiya, But for now all we can do is wait for more information to come in" he said in a calm voice. Rikka silently cursed as she looked to the ground with anger fully read in her eyes. Kaiya sighed at both the people in the room. "What a situation we are in" she said calmly loosing her anger slowly.

Rikka could only nod at the comment as the Commander stayed silent. "Well Commander what are your orders?" asked Kaiya with a smile making Rikka look at her in disbelief that she can be smiling at a time like this. "Go back to your divisions and help your men out, then wait for orders" the Commander ordered making them both nod. They bowed in respect before leaving the room to let their commander be in peace.

*******Outside the Building**************

"HOW CAN YOU SMILE!" shouted Rikka furious as kaiya smiled all the way when they were walking. Kaiya looked at before chuckling. "Because Rikka, anger only causes you to be blind, we must learn from our mistakes and train harder" she said in a gently voice making Rikka calm down a bit. "well I must go Rikka-san, My division is probably waiting for me" Kaiya bowed before rikka then waving goodbye to the Vice Captain. Getting a slight nod from Rikka as she turned around and walked away.

Kaiya too began to walk thinking over everything before looking up at the cloudy sky. "What is going on these days" she whispered before walking along down the path to her division.