Diversionary Tactics [P]

Toshiro stood at his desk, reading over page after page of the report in front of him. It would seem that recent disturbance in the Rukongai district had proven more dire than initially anticipated. What was at first considered simply violence and aggression amongst the citizens themselves was quickly proven wrong with help from the twelfth squad. It had seemed as though indications of hollow presence and sightings had been seen in various close proximity districts. The damage and condition of the areas had not yet been assessed and the task of both reconnaissance and destroying of the hollow had been assigned to the Tenth’s captain with the explicit orders that it should neutralized as quickly as possible with as little damage as possible.

Toshiro had gathered a grouping of members from the division for this task, however there was one missing member he wanted in as well, he had sent word out for other members to find her. Once she was in place they would be able to start on this mission, her strengths would be valued this time and certainly would allow for them to more effectively resolve this issue.

However, Toshiro could not help but feel a bit on edge, hollow arriving in soul society were an anamoly. They were full well of what could and certainly would occur if they were caught, and they most always were, for a hollow to want to take on such a mission they would need to either be foolish and reckless, or confident in their strengths to deal with the potential issues that come with it. Toshiro had hoped for the former of the two and placed down the report with a sigh as he finished reading it over.

Only a moment passed though before Toshiro felt the close presence of another Shinigami and then came the knocking on the door. Toshiro walked over to the door calmly opening it for Rin, who he was waiting on.

“Welcome Miyagi-san. We need to discuss something quickly, time is of the essence.” Toshiro said calmly as he walked back to his desk, waiting for Rin to follow in suit so that he could begin the briefing.

“Yes. I would presume the same.” Toshiro would say his tone distant and neutral in emotion.

It was true the way the trees were separated would certainly imply that whatever did it, either did it with no regard, meaning their bodies were big enough to push the them in such a manner, or the less favorable of the options that it was done on purpose. If this had been done on purpose it was clear the goal was to lure them towards that direction, the outcome would then be either the two of them finding nothing and wasting their time providing for the hollow to wreak more havoc or for them to be ambushed and overcome more easily. There was nothing the two Shinigami could do though, both Rin and Toshiro had no other leads to work off of and were going to lose any kind of trail if they didn’t act with speed.

“Our only option right now I believe is to head towards our only lead, but be on your guard Miyagi-san. We don’t know what lies ahead.”

Upon finishing his words Toshiro would shunpo out into the direction of their intended target, assuming that Rin would follow suit with him. Something about all of this though didn’t sit right with Toshiro, he could feel it as though there was something that they were missing or that was out of place with this whole scenario, yet Toshiro could not place exactly what it was. The captain would stop roughly five meters out from the displaced trees.

There was nothing in the area, the feelings of hollow reiatsu surrounded it, but it was faint not much stronger at all from what they had been sensing previously. Inside the forest, a few meters deep it seemed the trees stopped their purposeful bending. The feeling of an ominous venture surrounded Toshiro and he couldn’t help but keep feeling that proceeding was the incorrect option, however what else were they to do?

The captain sighed and a moment later summoned a Hell Butterfly, perhaps the other squadron had found something more than they had, if they were lucky at least that would be the case.

“Report. Have you found any sightings or information? It seems Miyagi-san and I may have found something a disturbance near the forest in this area. However we aren’t sensing much, we are going to investigate further. Please report back with any findings.”

As he finished Toshiro would send off the Hell Butterfly in the direction in which the two Shinigami had come from, hopefully expecting to hear word as soon as possible.

“Let’s be off Miyagi-san.” Toshiro would say looking at Rin before he shunpo’d again into the forest. The tree line obscured most all the light, letting only small rays penetrate through its dense coverage. However Toshiro came to a stop again, there was nothing around, even the sense of the hollow reiatsu seemed to somehow just disappear. Just the idea of it baffled Toshiro, unsure of where to proceed or what to look out for, the only thing he could sense in the area was Rin.

“Miyagi…do you sense that…” Toshiro said hoping that her answer was not the same as his, that they both could no longer feel it. Though at the pit of his stomach he couldn’t help but feel she would answer just the same.

In a few short moments the two Shinigami would arrive at their initial meeting spot and unluckily for them there was nothing around. None of the former Shinigami, presumably investigating at their assigned location, no other rukongai citizens, seemingly nothing, it all seemed far too quiet and on top of all of that Toshiro still had not received word back via hell butterfly from his former squad.

“The lack of communication is a bit disheartening.” Toshiro said coldly, his voice trailing off at the end as he thought to himself the various scenarios the two of them may be facing in the very near future.

Their best case scenario was that the hollow was dealt with, the other group had intercepted and taken care of them and somewhere among it all his initial hell butterfly had been lost in the fray, or the team had lacked to send a return message. That of course was the best scenario, often times though that was not the case in most scenarios that Toshiro had experienced during his time as captain, in fact it was much easier to assume the worst case scenario in these situations.

The worst case scenario in this situation of course was that the hollow was found, but not taken care of. That the group he had assigned had failed in their attempts to stop the creature and that its power was even more than they had initially anticipated. This being the case it would mean that this group was either all dead or severely injured, either way it would mean that Rin and himself would be in a situation in which they would need to deal with it by themselves.
Toshiro let out a small sigh as he took one more look around, nothing new sticking out from his view. Visually there was nothing that stuck out, however at that moment a faint sense came to Toshiro a corrupted and evil feeling, that of a hollow reiatsu. It was extremely faint though, meaning either it was severely being suppressed or that it was distant, the feeling though came from the location in which the secondary group had headed out towards.

“Miyagi-san. Can you feel that? It’s faint, but definitely of hollow origin.”

Toshiro paused for a moment, they needed to act fast especially if the hollow were to go on the move again. It would be almost impossible to catch him if he kept disappearing like this.

“Quickly. We need to persue. Be prepared though, the enemy may be stronger than we anticipated.”

As he finished Toshiro entered into a shunpo, headed off in the direction of the faint reiatsu signature, hoping that what they found was not what he had thought was their worst case scenario.