The smell of Rage

As I am unceremoniously dragged into the room I notice a man napping next to a pile of paperwork. Oh god all of the smell is coming from one man, I mean how strong is he?! How much did he drink?

"Captain wake the hell up I have something for you!"

"I'm not asleep I'm just power napping. Five more minutes, Lisa...."

The man tries to shake the Captain awake, but he soon finds it to be hopeless.

"Ugh, fine, "LISA!""

"WHAT?!"

"CAPTAIN'S ASLEEP ON THE JOB AGAIN""

"OH THAT STUPID-"

Suddenly, I start to smell the scent of rage in the air, I can hear it too.

The door bursts open, and from the other side comes a black-haired girl with glasses. Completely ignoring me, she marches up to the captain and grabs his ear.

"For Soul King's sake, we needed this paperwork done yesterday. If I catch you sleeping again, I'll confiscate your secret stash. "

Hearing the words 'secret stash', the man jumps to alertness and begins to frantically scan his eyes over the paperwork, occasionally picking up a brush and writing something down before tossing the paper onto a small yet ever growing pile. In fact, I don't think he even realizes we're here...

"Captain!"

"Oh Kentaro, I didn't even see you there. Did you need something from me? I'm rather busy at the moment. For a brief moment, he looks up, and he seems surprised to see me.

"Who's this? Did you finally find a girl who'll put up with your stinky feet?"

"Captain, do you really not know who this kid is?"

"Nope, I was actually hoping he was your secret lovechild. That would've made things easier for me."

Suddenly, I feel the urge to cough. As I cover my mouth with my hand, I feel something warm coming from my lungs. As I cough into my hands, I notice the dark red color of blood staining them.

For a moment, I see something in the Captain's eyes; a sharpness that wasn't there before, but before I can even fully notice, his eyes are back to being dull and listless.

"Normally I'd be obligated to interrogate you, but seeing that you're injured, I'm going to have to send you on down to the 4th for treatment. I don't know what you did to get this injured, but when you get back we're going to have a nice long talk, preferably with a side of sake. "

"Captain, this is clearly a child. You can't let him drink!"

"Tch. Come on Lisa, everyone knows that drinking with a friend is the best way to enjoy a bottle. "

"Captai-"

"Anyway, kid, you best be going before you end up giving me even more forms to fill out. I swear if I weren't already an alcoholic, all of this bureaucracy would make me want a drink."

'The 4th? the 4th of what? Where even is that?'

"Jeez, where did you find this kid, in the middle of the wilderness? Kentaro, escort this kid to the 4th division for treatment. We'll let them sort this mess out."

Kentaro salutes to his captain and grabs my arm, pulling me along. As we walk, countless questions pour through my mind. Captain, captain of what? Is this some sort of ship? However, one question floats to the top of my mind, and despite my best efforts, I can't ignore it. Soul reapers, huh, just like HIM.

Aizen...

-The monster who...

For a moment, the air started to swirl around me, but just as it began, my thoughts were interrupted.

"What's your name anyway?"

'My name? My name is Tom Banks.'

"That's an odd name, but I felt I should know it when apologizing to you."

'Apologize? For what?'

"I didn't notice your injuries. Now I'm not a medic, but even so, the fact that I dragged an injured child without even bothering to see how you were doing doesn't sit right with me. "

'Oh this? It's just a scratch, nothing you need to worry about.'

"Well, I won't dig into it, but I also wanted to apologize for dragging you into this mess."

'This mess?'

"Don't get me wrong, the Seireitei is a great place; you follow your orders and you can get all the food you can eat. However, lately, people have been going missing. People are starting to get worried and you showing up out of nowhere isn't going to help with that. "

Kentaro looks down at the ground for a moment, almost as if he is pondering whether or not he should be telling me this.

"Honestly, the best advice I can give is to be honest. If, for whatever reason, the top brass decide that you've been holding back information, they won't be nearly as kind as our dear Captain was. "

-Honesty huh, I wonder when the last time I was honest. I've been lying for so long that I'm not even sure what the truth is anymore.

"Well, we're here."

"Dear, if you don't stop picking at your wounds, I'll have to bandage you so tight you'll turn blue. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"Oh why hello there Kentaro, what brought you to our lovely 4th?"

"Captain , I wasn't expecting for you to open the door personally, Please let me get that for you."

"Oh Kentaro san, I'm afraid that if I let you hold the door you'd acquire some hard to treat fatigue. It'd be better if you just came in quickly."

"Yes mam!"

As we enter the building, I am flooded with the scent of... warmth? The air here is pleasant, and it's almost as if just by standing here, all of my aches and pains are fading away.

"Oh my, this little one seems to be injured. Here, let me take care of this."

Suddenly, I feel a warm hand over the hole in my stomach. Like the warm sun of spring, I can sense a current of spiritual energy flowing into me. It's trying to fix me, but there's simply nothing to fix.

"How strange! It's almost like you're missing an important organ, but as far as my senses can tell, there's nothing you should be missing. This is going to be a bit painful, so I'm going to need you to promise me to stay still, okay?

'Oka-auGH'

Yeah, that one hurt. The once gentle warmth, for a brief moment, turned into a glaring heat, burning my insides shut. The pain was rather unpleasant, to put it mildly, and for a moment I could almost smell something burnt wafting into the air.

"Alright, I've stopped the bleeding, but this sort of injury will need something a bit more drastic if we want it to properly heal. For now, we'll just need to take it day by day, and as soon as possible, I'll try to come up with an operation to fix this little complication.

'What complic-'

"Sorry about that; it's going to hurt for a while now, but it should get better over time. Please don't try to move too much and make sure to have plenty of rest. I'll send one of my subordinates to assist you back to your division. I'm sorry, I don't quite recognize you. What division do you belong to again? "

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." As far as I know, this kid doesn't belong to any division. "

"Oh really? But I can see his little Shikai right there. Surely he must be part of some branch or other. "

Remembering Kentaro's advice I decide to be honest, well mostly anyways.

'No he's right, I don't belong to any division. As for this sword of mine, I just sort of stumbled on it, and after a complete asshole told me his name, it turned into this.'

"That's a rather funny way of talking about your Zanpakuto spirit, but if you really aren't a part of the Seireitei, then all you need to do is join us."

'I'm not too sure about this.'

"I'm afraid you really don't have a choice. After all, healing is only free for members of the Seireitei, and I don't believe you have the sort of funds to pay for your life-saving operation out of pocket. "

-Despite her kindness, the way she says "operation" really scares me.

I sigh,

'Oh alright, fine, what do I need to do'

"Well, that part's simple. All you need to join the Seireitei at your age is to join the academy. You're rather young, but the fact that you've managed to awaken your Zanpakuto should be enough to get you in. "

'Ergh'

"Oh hush now. You may have managed to awaken your Zanpakotu, but unless you're some kid of a rich clan, I doubt you know even the first thing about the duties of a soul reaper."

''Soul Reapers kill hollows, right? Isn't that all they do?

To my surprise, Kentaro smacks my head.

'Ouch'

"No, that's not all Soul Reapers do. Soul Reapers are responsible for maintaining the balance of souls. Without them, the entire world could crumble into bits. Honestly, where on earth did you come from? "

'I came from the forest.'

"You lived your entire life in that little patch of woods?"

'No....'

-I can't even look into his eyes as I dodge the truth like I would a claw.

"Alright, I can see you don't want to talk, but we need to talk about getting you into the academy. Isn't there like a bunch of paperwork needed to transfer in a student this late in the year?

"Oh my yes, quite a lot of paperwork."

"Who's going to do said paperwork? It can't be me. I'm not even a seated officer."

"The 4th division is a place of healing. New recruits simply don't fall under our jurisdiction. Normally it wouldn't fall under the 8th's jurisdiction either, but seeing as you are the ones who found him... "

Her words are like blades, each and every one cutting to the bone. Although they are still covered with a veneer of kindness, the way in which she delivers each line is beginning to scare me.

"Yes mam!"

-I swear I can even see Kentaro agree with my assumptions, I swear I can even see him shaking a bit.

"Alright kid, let's get going back to the 8th."

"Are you sure you're ready to travel yet? You were quite badly hurt. "

"Just a scratch, huh."

"What was that?"

"Erh nothing, Captain. Anyway, she's right, I've been a tad too hasty. You are still injured after all. "

-For a moment I hesitate, but seeing as whatever's wrong with me won't be fixed by a simple rest, I decide to keep going.

'I told you it's nothing serious. Let's get going. Anyway, I bet your captain would absolutely love a reason to skip out on work.'

*Cough*

-For a moment, I swear I see a twinkle in the Captain's eyes. While it's nothing much, I can almost swear that she's... laughing?

Kentaro quickly grabs my arm and pulls me back through the door. The pleasant warmth begins to fade, and it is replaced with the rich, but relatively uninteresting, air that has been surrounding me as of late. Even as Kentaro pulls me along, he still continues to tremble slightly.

"Oh why did I have to run into her? Sure, she's nice, but dear Soul King, is she scary! Look kid, Listen to me. Never EVER go to the 4th unless you are injured, okay?"

As I recalled the warmth and pleasant air, a question began to form within me. A question that is quickly stabbed into pieces by the sharp words and terrifying eyes of the Captain.

'Yeah, I understand. Unfortunately, I think I'll have to go back sooner or later.'

As we walk down the seemingly endless series of passages, there is nothing but our thoughts to fill the air. While I'm not a mind reader, I do get the feeling that Kentaro is worried about something. I'm not sure, though, if he's worried about the disappearances or about others' reactions to my sudden presence.

'What's wrong?'

"Nothing's wrong, kid, I'm just worried. You sure you aren't some kid of a rich clan or something who got lost?"

'As far as I know, my family was perfectly ordinary.'

"Was, huh."

'Yeah...'

"Ah well, if it makes you feel better, in this place everyone misses their old family. It's rare for families to die together, and even rarer for families that are separated to reunite. What's important is the family you make for yourself. Not that your old family isn't important, I mea-"

'No, you're right, the family you make for yourself, huh.'

Before I even realize it, we've already returned to the barracks of the 8th division. As Kentaro opens the door for me, I am once again hit by the smell of alcohol, although it is noticeably weaker than before. We make our way through the barracks, passing by the various soul reapers chattering and relaxing after what must have been an arduous mission, and soon we arrive at the Captain's quarters.

*Knock* *Knock* Knock*

The scent of alcohol in the air is far weaker. Someone must have opened up a window.

"Come In!"