Winter War: Iba: Hurry up and Wait (2/2) [Bleach]

[sophiap]

It was dark enough now that the surrounding forest was a wall of mottled black. Everyone was bracing him or herself for the message they knew would come at any second.

Soi Fong was just starting to mutter something about them waiting too long when she and all the other officers received the same two-word message at once:

Got him.

There was a brief silence in which everyone looked at everyone else to make sure they hadn't mis-heard. Under other circumstances there might have been cheers or whoops of delight, but instead, everyone and everything just seemed to collapse.

Iba nearly sat down right where he was, only stopped by the thought of the effort it would take to stand up again. He heard shaking, hysterical sobbing in the background and thought it might be Suzuki. Soi Fong took two very deep, deliberate breaths, then went over to Sasakibe, Shiba, and the others to resume their planning. When they spoke, it was slowly, and in fits and starts, as if they no longer had any energy.

Kotetsu was fussing over Ukitake-taichou, of course. Ukitake's eyes were closed, and not for the first time Iba thought that the man no longer looked the wrong age for his white hair.

Ikkaku stalked over. He was grinning sharply, but it was more grim than amused. Unlike the others, he seemed full of energy again; so much so that Hoozukimaru was bouncing on his shoulder. There was no sign of the earlier exhaustion.

"Where's Smiley?" he asked with no further explanation.

"Infirmary." Iba didn't trust the grin. "What do you need with Ogidou?"

"I suck at kidou, and I need someone to send word to Newbie and Maki-Maki to come back."

It was too glib, and there was no good reason why Ikkaku couldn't have just asked him or Hinamori or even Ise to send word, but Ikkaku was out the door before Iba even had a chance to try to stop him.

Something was up, but he wasn't sure what. He tried to think who would be best to ask--Hinamori, probably. She was over with Suzuki, crouching down and doing her best to croon and soothe the girl out of her panic attack.

It really should be him seeing to his own people, but Hinamori was doing a much better job at calming Suzuki down than he ever would. The sobbing had stopped, and Suzuki was more red with shame than tears. Still, Hinamori wasn't leaving her side.

Iba had thought Suzuki was stronger than that, but he wasn't as surprised as he would have been a few months ago. Hell, he was now surprised that more people hadn't snapped, and as he thought that, he caught himself turning to see how Kotetsu was doing.

Suzuki looked up sharply as his crutch crumped down hard on a loose board. Her look of sheer panic caught at him, and he almost yelled at her, just because.

"Everything under control?"

"Yes." Hinamori could look downright fierce when she wanted. He considered himself duly warned. She stood up slowly, and he didn't miss the way she placed herself between him and Suzuki.

"Thank you, Hinamori." He leaned to the side as much as he dared, so he could talk directly to Suzuki. "Go sound the all-clear to everyone. No need to move out now, but they're to be ready for an orderly departure--no pursuit--come daybreak. Anyone balks, tell them tonight just gave them a head start on packing."

Suzuki blinked, but as soon as Hinamori directed a gentle, but not very subtle kick to her ankle, she jumped to her feet with a stammered "yessir!" and ran off.

"That'll show me if she can pull it back together or not. If she can't, I'll deal with it. If she can..." he shrugged. "We'll see."

"Thank you for giving her a chance," Hinamori said warmly. She even clasped her hands together, and to his surprise, bowed slightly. "I appreciate it more than I can say."

"Huh. I didn't know you and Suzuki were close."

"Suzuki? Is that her name, then?" Hinamori straightened up, and he could see a blotchy flush rise to her cheeks. "No. We're not. Close, that is."

Iba honestly had no idea how he was supposed to respond to that, or even what to think. And before he could say anything about Ikkaku's errand, he felt a flicker of kidou at the back of his mind. That should have been the 'return home' message to Maki-Maki and Takano, but then Hinamori cocked her head and drew her brows together as if straining to hear a distant noise and Kaede took off towards their makeshift brig, yelling for Yoshino.

A second later, both Ikkaku and Ogidou came out from the back and headed across the room and straight out the door without saying a word. They had a lantern with them. Ogidou was not smiling, but Ikkaku was, and when Hinamori turned to follow them, Iba held out his crutch to block her path.

It was a stupid move. Balanced on one leg the way he was, she could use his crutch to knock him on his ass easy as you please. He could see her consider it for just a second, but instead she simply looked at him with exaggerated patience.

"Let me guess. Ikkaku's pulling together a quick and dirty drumhead trial before Hoshibana and Shirogane even get Rikichi back here."

Hinamori frowned, but there was a glint of guilt there, too. "Ikkaku thinks Rikichi is his problem to deal with. You know that."

Right. Iba couldn't remember how many times he had heard people refer to the recon group as 'Madarame's squad,' even though both he and Hinamori outranked Ikkaku, and Hoshibana had a couple decades of seniority in his third-seat position. Maybe it was a side-effect of attaining bankai, or maybe it was something else, but Ikkaku had taken the lead, and after a few pissing contests (and one out-and-out beatdown), everyone was content to let him have it.

"And you don't think it's screwed up?" He looked around. A shout to Sasakibe or Soi Fong or Ise would stop all of this before it got started. "You, who looked like you were going to rip my head off if I started tearing into Suzuki?"

He should go ahead and alert the others. He really should. But something told him that would cause more problems than it would solve. And he also remembered his own captain turning a deaf ear to a certain conversation between him and Ikkaku.

It also didn't help that he kind of agreed with what Hinamori was saying.

Hinamori took a deep breath, then checked to see if anyone was paying too much attention to them. "You're right. And yes, I do think Ikkaku and Hoshibana-san need to deal with him, but with the way everyone's been, especially after we heard about Ayasegawa-san... Oh, they're going to do something horribly stupid, aren't they?"

The way he might have if she hadn't stared him down before he could say 'boo' to Suzuki. She scooted over to his lame side, ready to offer support if he needed--and only if he needed.

"Come on, Iba-san. You're still part of the group--If something starts going wrong, I think Ikkaku-san will listen to you before he listens to me."

A sharp breath hissed out between his teeth as he put more weight on his leg than he meant to. "He'd listen to Sasakibe. Or Soi Fong."

"Not the same thing," she whispered as they headed out.

What was it, he wondered, with his inability to actually leave? Even after he'd graduated from the Academy, he'd gone back home whenever he could, sometimes even taking his squadmates along for the visit. She'd even send a sharp note if he hadn't been by in a few weeks. Even worse, she'd send care packages to his buddies.

After he'd left the Eleventh for the Seventh, he found himself at his old training grounds as much as he did his new ones. If he didn't show up for a while, Ikkaku and Yumichika and the others would just drop by the Seventh, and then Komamura-taichou would pull him aside and have words with him.

And now, when Takano and Maki-Maki caught up with them and just said a quick 'hey' and slowed their pace to stay even with him and Hinamori, Iba realized that it had happened all over again.

"Good to see you here, sir," Takano said. He was impassive as ever, but Iba had worked with him for a few years, and could tell that that guy was every bit as worried as Maki-Maki, who was all but twitching out of his skin.

"Glad you think so." They were coming up on one of the old estate's outbuildings. A bath house, from the look of things, half of the roof staved in and the fire hole full of weeds and rubble. Ikkaku was already there, leaning against one of the door posts. Ogidou was kneeling by the rickety steps, trying to coax the lantern to life. He got it lit, and shuttered it quickly, blowing on his fingertips when he was done. There was barely enough light to see by, and the bulk of the bath house would keep anyone who was not on the estate already from seeing light where there shouldn't be any.

"I see you got the message, Peaches. You bring Tetsu along to make sure I didn't do something stupid?" Ikkaku didn't seem in any way surprised or bothered by his presence.

"Pretty much," Iba replied, all friendly-like, before Hinamori could say anything.

"Knock yourself out, pal. Anyways, the way I see it, when we get back to the main house, it's gonna be with all this here," Ikkaku swept his hand through the air to indicate the entire group in a way that included the absent members, "dealt with. My squad, my problem."

Hinamori settled in next to him, waiting quietly at first, then bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet and blowing into cupped hands to ward off the chill. Another minute passed, maybe two, and the other Eleventh Division veterans and Kaede showed up.

"Hey, everyone!" Kaede was, of course, the only one who did not feel obliged to wait in silence. "Think Mihane-san and Hoshibana-san will get here soon? It's cold, and why are we meeting out here, anyway--oh, hey, Newbie. They sent you two off on a wild goose chase, huh? Figures. Anyways, what do you all think happened with Rikichi? That was real weird, if you ask me..."

As usual, Kaede's babbling faded into background noise. They were all used to her by now. She could be quiet when she had to, and she could even go taciturn or soft-spoken when she was running a scam or playing a role on one of the squad's jobs.

Iba looked at her, considering. Yeah, she was barely taller than Hinamori, and her hair was dark and curly as springs, but she had a fine rack and she was a good enough actress to bluff herself out of a tight situation if she had to. Maybe, if they put her up on extra-tall geta and dyed her hair and used Matsumoto's necklace...

He made a mental note to say something to Soi Fong-taichou when they got back. In the meantime, the last three members of the squad were coming up the path.

Shirogane came first, looking shocky.

Rikichi was next, walking kind of stiffly. His shoulders were bowed back--his wrists were bound behind him, which made sense. What didn't make sense was that while he looked scared, which seemed about right, he also looked deeply confused.

Hoshibana brought up the rear, and the way he had schooled his expression to a perfect, flawless neutral unloosed a coil of worry deep in Iba's gut.

The worry didn't lessen when Shirogane broke ranks and hurried over to his side. She and him weren't real close, but they'd known each other for years, what with her sunglasses shop and all. They knew each other well enough that they could shoot the shit about nothing in particular for an hour or two, but that was about it. And now here she was coming over to him like he was the one safe port in a nasty storm.

Ikkaku stood up straight and stretched, nearly clipping Ogidou with his zanpakutou as he did so. "Well... Looks like the gang's all here," he drawled. He acknowledged Iba, and his grin ratcheted up a notch. "Hell, we've got quite the reunion going on, huh?"

Iba could imagine a time when Ikkaku's statement would have led to raucous laughter. Instead, most of those who were there simply looked to the others to see how to react and wound up just shifting uncomfortably in place when they didn't get their cues. Takano was perfectly disciplined and calm, but he'd look like that even if Shiba let off a bomb right behind him. Ogidou, as always, seemed mildly amused. Hoshibana stayed where he was right behind Rikichi, hand at the ready on his zanpakutou.

"I honestly thought he was going to kill Rikichi right there," Shirogane whispered. "Lucky for Rikichi, we figured out pretty fast he wasn't out to betray us."

Hoshibana was echoing that last part, more or less, in his report to Ikkaku.

"So what the hell happened? Why'd he run?" Iba whispered back. He ignored how Hinamori was craning her neck to listen in, and kept his eyes on the two stars of the current show. Hoshibana had faded to the background, and now Ikkaku was slowly circling Rikichi, looking him up and down in the dim lantern light. Rikichi was doing his best to stand at attention, but his legs shook and his eyes were much too wide.

"It's so damned stupid, you can't imagine. Stupid even for Rikichi. What's sad is that in a way, I get what he was thinking. I really do."

Ikkaku's circles grew ever tighter. Tight enough that on one pass, he knocked up against Rikichi's bound hands and sent him stumbling forward a step.

Rikichi was still recovering when Ikkaku swung round in front of him and snaked in low with a hard punch to the gut.

Rikichi's legs buckled, and his grunt of pain changed into a much less pleasant sound as he fell hard to his knees and threw up what little was in his stomach.

"That's for deserting your post, dumb-ass." Ikkaku continued his circles, not looking anywhere in particular but still being careful to step over and not in the puddle of vomit.

"That's nicer than what Hoshi would've done," Shirogane whispered.

Iba shushed her, and kept his eye on what was going on. He hadn't seen any tells, no sign that Ikkaku was going to lash out like that.

He saw the next move before it happened, but still he waited. When Ikkaku got behind Rikichi, he lifted a foot and gave Rikichi a boot in the ass--not a hard one, but enough to send Rikichi off-balance and face-first into the ground. Hinamori stepped forward, but Iba blocked her with his crutch.

"Wait," he whispered. He thought he knew how this would play out.

"But--"

Iba shook his head. There was no time to explain, and even if there was, it was not the place. If he'd thought of it, the best explanation would have been the way Ogidou and Kaede gave each other a ruefully amused and knowing look. The Fourth Division veterans knew what was going on.

"An' that was for being a dumb-ass, dumb-ass."

Rikichi hissed with pain as he rocked back slowly into something resembling seiza. Iba couldn't see his face very well, but from the tone of Kaede's 'ew!' he figured Rikichi had fallen into his own vomit.

Rikichi spit to clear his mouth. "I can explain..." he croaked.

"Shoulda done that before you bolted, asshole. Course, if you'd told us you were running off to Ichimaru, coulda been kinda rough for you, right?"

The end of Hoozukimaru's hilt 'accidentally' knocked him in the head.

"Wait... wait..." Iba said, still blocking Hinamori's path.

"Or maybe you were gonna explain that you'd had enough, huh? Too much living rough, too much running, and now you overhear what kind of cuh-razy shit we've got planned and all of a sudden you just can't take it no more."

The last six words drummed out slowly, one after another, each in time with a heavy footfall.

Then, Rikichi was made to do another face plant.

Hinamori stepped forward, nearly knocking Iba off his feet. Fortunately, he was able to stand his ground--barely. She turned on him with a withering look.

"This is ridiculous. Why are you just standing here watching him bully Rikichi? I thought you came here to stop this!"

"Watching Ikkaku bully Rikichi means we're not watching Harada, Yoshino, and Nakajima breaking every bone in Rikichi's body," Iba said, nodding towards the three men who still thought of themselves as belonging to 'Zaraki's squad.' They all looked ready to move at even the hint of a signal, and they weren't the only ones. Iba thought it was a miracle Hoshibana's zanpakutou was still in its sheath.

He could kind of understand how they felt.

Ikkaku turned his attention away from Rikichi for a moment. "Peaches? Tetsu? Got something you want to say?"

"Nope," Iba said. He waved. "You're fine. Go on."

Hinamori stayed quiet, but Iba thought he could feel heat radiating from her. He'd been surprised by her fierceness the times he'd seen it when he was on the recon squad, but then he could remember what Abarai said she was like back at the academy--and could remember Abarai wondering how on earth Aizen had tamed that fire.

He wasn't sure what to think, but it was something to think about.

"You've seen Ikkaku smack people around before when they deserved it," he pointed out. "Just wait. Don't do anything stupid."

"His hands are tied behind his back."

"Doesn't mean he can't fight back--if he wants."

Iba missed whatever insult Ikkaku tossed out next, but this one was followed by a cuff to the back of the head that got a loud 'ow!' in response. It was almost funny.

"So, the way I figure," Ikkaku drawled, "you're either a traitor or you're a fucking coward. Either way, we got no room--"

"I'm not a traitor!" Rikichi yelled loud enough they could probably hear it back at the estate. The next was said more quietly, and he kept his eyes on the ground as he said it. "And I'm not a coward."

Ikkaku stopped pacing. He backed off a bit, but at the same time he seemed to loom even more. And when he spoke, he was dangerously quiet.

"Then what the fuck are you?"

A quick hand signal from Ikkaku, and Hoshibana's blade was free of its scabbard. It flashed gold in the lantern light as it swept down. Someone shrieked--Iba was pretty sure it was Maki-maki--and the bonds slithered away from Rikichi's wrists.

"I asked you a question, brat. What the fuck are you?"

For a second or two, Rikichi held his hands out in front of himself, flexing them over and over and staring as if still not quite believing it. He stood up, wobbling slightly, then answered Ikkaku in the best possible manner: he yelled with rage and leapt at Ikkaku. Somehow it managed not to be ridiculous. His form was sloppy, but not amateurish, and he landed one punch hard enough to make Ikkaku grunt from the force of it. He even managed to dodge one leg sweep and block a punch that might have knocked him out, but it was no contest.

A couple of wet thumps, like a fish having its brains dashed out on a rock, and the fight was over. Rikichi fell to the ground as if all his joints had given out at once, and Ikkaku stepped back, dabbing thoughtfully at a split lip.

The tension that had been building was gone. Hinamori looked dizzy, and Iba didn't feel all that steady himself.

"Now, are you going to tell us what the hell you were thinking?" Ikkaku asked, and it was almost friendly. "Because honestly, I ain't got the first fucking clue."

Rikichi managed a few gurgling wheezes, then gave up.

"If I may, ah, presume to translate," Hoshibana said, "I believe he said that along with Shirogane-san and Yoshino-san, he overheard some of the plans being made regarding the upcoming battle."

Iba limped forwards, Hinamori right beside him. "We know that already. And I'm guessing he spilled what he knew to you. And if you know, we now got four people who shouldn't know but do."

"I stopped Rikichi before he said too much," Shirogane said, quickly enough that Iba wondered how she was defining 'too much.'

"Good." Ikkaku bounced Hoozukimaru on his shoulder as he thought about how to handle matters.

"If it's any consolation, he only spoke of the one plan that you were apparently in the process of, ah, rejecting," Hoshibana said.

Liar, Iba thought, but from the look Hoshibana gave him, and Hinamori, and Ikkaku, he knew damned well they knew he was lying.

Hinamori pushed forward gently but inexorably. "You've made your point, Ikkaku-san. I don't see the need for the others to be here anymore. Anyone who doesn't know, shouldn't know. They need to go back to the estate."

She waited.

It wasn't a direct order, not really. Hinamori outranked Ikkaku, but that rank had been shadowed by what happened to her captain. It had been shadowed even further by her deference to Ikkaku over the past few months.

Hell, it was all topsy-turvy. Ukitake-taichou was in charge, but half the time Sasakibe or Ise was acting on his behalf. Then there was Soi Fong. She was a captain, yeah, but she'd left. That had to mean something. He couldn't fight worth a damn, Kotetsu had more or less folded and cashed in, and he could tell that Shiba was only just going along with them.

Only two seconds passed, but it could have been two hours. Then: "Okay, you heard the lady. Harada, make sure these yahoos get back where they belong. I want you, Nakajima, Newbie, and Maki-maki to take outside guard. Sparkles, you stay here--far as I'm concerned, you know as much as Four-Eyes, here. Anyone who hears something they think they shouldn't, tell Sasakibe right away, and don't fucking go anywhere. Any more fun tonight, and I'll puke."

Once they left, Ikkaku walked right up to Hinamori. "There. I didn't kill him, Peaches. Satisfied?"

Hinamori matched his glare with a sweet smile. "I'm just glad you didn't do anything too stupid."

He poked her in the sternum with the hilt of his zanpakuto. "Tomorrow. Sparring."

She beamed. Iba tried not to roll his eyes.

"Okay," he said, determined to be the voice of sanity here. "Now that it's just the eight of us--"

Iba paused, and re-counted. Him, Ikkaku, Hinamori, Hoshibana, Rikichi, Shirogane, Yoshino, and...

When the fuck had Soi Fong-taichou gotten there?

"We can talk later about how most of you failed utterly in your attempts to be subtle," she said, after a moment's silence where everyone registered her presence and what it implied. "Right now, I want to know why Rikichi deserted us. Madarame-san, you may carry on."

Rikichi looked at her, far more afraid than he had been when Hoshibana drew his sword. Even Ikkaku was taken aback, and he had one false start before he started speaking again.

"Okay. You've had your beating for running off. That was gonna happen anyway. So now, why the hell'd you run?"

For a moment, Iba thought Rikichi was going to ask what would happen to him after he answered, but common sense ruled the day--or at least the next few seconds.

"It's um... It's what you were saying, ma'am," he said, talking more to Soi Fong than Ikkaku. "About getting Ichimaru out of Seireitei by sending someone to tell him that Matsumoto-fukutaichou was with us. It was a good idea, it really was, but I can see why Ukitake-taichou wouldn't want to send anyone, so I, um..."

His voice trailed off, but when he continued, it was with renewed strength, and he looked at Ikkaku and Soi Fong in turn. "It was a good idea, and it could have worked! I could have done something to help!"

From one side of him, a muffled gasp. From the other, a whispered, "See? What did I tell you?"

Ikkaku stared. Then he blinked. Then he exploded.

"Aw, come on, Rikichi! Even for you that's-- For fuck's--" Ikkaku's hands soared up over his head. "Did you drink a cup of stupid for breakfast this morning? Do you really think they would have just let you go after you told them about Matsumoto?"

"It didn't matter if they let me go or not!"

Soi Fong wore the expression of someone who was trying very, very hard not to slap herself on the forehead.

"I wanted to do something! I knew I would never be picked to go with Ikkaku to Hueco Mundo. I knew I would probably be stuck here, but you guys don't get it. I mean, Hoshibana-sanseki and Shirogane-sanseki do."

They'd been sloppy with ranks in the recon squad. Half the time, they used those stupid nicknames Ikkaku assigned (it was like Kusajishi-fukutaichou all over again), but for some reason, Hoshibana, Shirogane, and Rikichi kept digging out their old rankings as if they were afraid they'd forget them.

"Sparkles, you don't look as surprised as you should. Thought you said you didn't hear much."

"True. I did not hear much. But I heard enough. Rikichi, please continue with your explanation, poor though it is."

"Abarai-fukutaichou is my friend!" Rikichi's face was dark, and it wasn't just the bruises setting in behind the tattoos. "And Kuchiki-taichou is everything to us."

Iba was very, very aware of Shirogane standing next to him. He did not look at her.

"And no one knows what happened to them! You know what happened to your captain!"

Iba saw his captain fall in battle. He saw him die an honorable death and bring as much honor to Tousen as Tousen could find in death. There were no questions.

"Yeah..." Ikkaku was still. Too still. "But then, I don't know what happened to fukutaichou. And I do know what happened to my best friend. So no, I don't get it."

Rikichi tried to explain, but Hoshibana spoke over him, his calm sarcasm somehow drowning out Rikichi's louder rant.

"If I may presume to translate again, what he is saying is that it is a matter of divisional honor."

Iba felt a sudden chill next to him, and then softly receding footsteps. Hinamori had taken her leave.

"The Eleventh Division may have its code of honor, but the Sixth has its own, and I would dare to say that while I have come to some understanding of yours over the past few months, my friend, I can safely say you know shit about ours."

Next to Iba, Shirogane was keeping up a constant whisper of shut up, Hoshi, just shut up shut up shut up...

"Really?" Ikkaku was still dangerously calm. "Well, Sparkles, if you want, we can duke it out. Course, you remember what happened last time we squared off. But you know what, what dumb-ass here did had fuck-all to do with divisional honor. You know what Ichimaru could have got out of him? It's as fucking stupid as if Hinamori there was going off to go fight Aizen on her own."

"Hinamori is going to make her report and get out of the cold, thank you!" came a distant voice.

"But Peaches there is smarter'n that. She knows her own revenge ain't worth fucking it all up for the rest of us!"

And with that, he swooped down and got Rikichi square on the jaw with a vicious left hook. "There. You ain't so banged up that you'll be completely useless a few days from now."

The groan that came from ground level suggested that Rikichi might not agree with that.

"So yeah," Ikkaku said, and he was looking not at Rikichi or at Hoshibana or at Soi Fong, but straight at Iba. "This ain't about my honor or yours or anyone else's. We got a job to do, and no one here's going to fuck it up because they got some dumb-ass ideas about 'honor' and shit."

"Good to know," Iba said.

"We will discuss team assignments tomorrow morning," Soi Fong said. "Madarame, Iba, within the next hour I will need your assessments of who you will need for your teams. Meanwhile, I want everyone who was here to return to the estate and stay there until they receive further orders. We will not have any more breaches in security." She turned and headed off without any kind of formal farewell.

"What about Rikichi?" Shirogane asked. "What's going to happen to him?

"I will report to Ukitake-taichou that I am satisfied that Rikichi's superior officers have dealt with the matter of discipline, and that I will defer to him regarding any further pursuit of the matter."

And that was the end of that.

"Okay, party's over," said Ikkaku. "Sparkles, you and Four-Eyes take the brat back up to the main house. Yoshino, you make sure they get there. In other words, you four scram. I'll look after Hopalong, here."

"Go fuck yourself, pal." There was no animosity, of course.

"What?" said Ikkaku, after the other four had left. "Don't like the nickname?"

"I don't like them thinking I got to be looked after."

A short, dry chuckle from Ikkaku. "Ah, suck it up, Tetsu. Anyhow, here's hoping tonight was the end of the stupid."

Iba took long enough to answer that Ikkaku turned to him, brow furrowed. "Look, I learned my lesson--"

"I heard." A lot of what Ikkaku said to Rikichi--and by extension to Hoshibana, and Hinamori, and anyone else with a stake in this game--sounded familiar to Iba. Not the exact words, but the sense of them. "You, I'm not worried about."

"Sparkles?"

There was a pause, but it was brief enough. "Nah. I think tonight uncorked what needed uncorking. He's not going to try to be a hero for the sake of being a hero. He knows what his division's honor means."

"Good, 'cause I want him when we go into Hueco Mundo." Ikkaku picked up the lantern, and the two of them started back up the path to the estate. "I'm going to need people who haven't seen Aizen's magic tricks, and who can fight. Glad Peaches ain't going with us, though. She's a damned good fighter--better than you know--but I don't know what she'd do if she saw Aizen. Just as well she's going with you. Only problem I see is if Kira shows up."

Iba grunted his agreement, but something still nettled at the back of his mind. Something he'd missed, something he wasn't seeing. "That's probably what's bugging me," he said. "But it's more the idea that someone, I don't know who, is going to cause trouble. Anyhow, if you get Hoshibana, I want Takano."

"Makes sense."

They batted names back and forth on their way back up to the estate, and by the time they could see the pale gold of light behind paper screens, they had worked out how they would like to see their top people assigned.

"Let's hope it works. I got a feeling Soi Fong's going to want people who'll be recognized--Sparkles, Smiley, you know. Problem is, I need 'em."

Iba rummaged around in his gi until he found what he was looking for. "Well, at least we got the list worked out for her. Can you swing that over this way this way?" he said, nodding towards the lantern. "I need a light."

Ikkaku did as he was asked. "So what do we do now?"

Iba opened the lantern and lit a cigarette. As Ikkaku put the lantern back down, Iba took a nice, long, sweet drag.

"Only thing we can do," he said. "We wait."

That just got him a glare. "The hell? When did you turn into a fucking cliché factory? We're not going to fucking wait. We're going to drink, asshole. C'mon... Harada always knows where to find booze."

Go to Chapter 15 - Isane: Present