Life and Smokescreens

The air was rushing in her ears as she moved through it, a monotonous sound, annoying and relaxing at the same time. She had much less chance leaving the Seireitei than before her promotion, so she treasured every operation and mission she could take part in, everything that would get her away from her desk.

She was moving with a small squad of Shinigami, closing in on the danish town of Aarhus. The sighting of an Arrancar had been reported and so she had taken two of her own Division that were on duty, met up with two more from the Seventh, and the five Shinigami had set out in a joint operation. Assess the situation, defend the populace if necessary, observe if not. And if action was required it would be up to Hanako to decide if they could take him on by themselves, or if reinforcements should be called.

With two small gestures she ordered the other Shinigami to spread out but hang back for the moment. She wanted a look on that individual herself first.

A flash step brought her ahead a good deal and she landed on the roof of a one-storey house not far from the Arrancar. She was to his left and far enough in front of him that she could even see his face.
He had dark hair and dark eyes, a strong contrast to Hanako’s own pale skin and bright-blue eyes. They had their black hair - Hanako’s was originally black, before she’d dyed it dark-red - and black clothes in common.

The strange thing was that he hadn’t this feeling of hunger that most Hollows radiated. In fact, he reminded Hanako of Hastur, at least the first impression did. Only that this one was a completely different stage of evolution. And he didn’t look confused or disoriented. Determination was the word that seemed to be a better fit for this one.

She was quite sure that by now he had sensed her presence as well as the presences of the four other Shinigami that had surrounded him in a wide circle. Hanako stood upright and straight, one hand on Bakumusha’s sheath and the sword loosened. Otherwise she made no threatening move. Hollows weren’t necessarily an enemy any longer. Long ago that was the case, but that was ancient history, before the Gotei had learned of Arrancar. Those could be reasonable and more than animals driven by pure instinct and hunger. And, in some sense, they were brothers to Vizards. While Vizards were hollowfied Shinigami, Arrancar were more or less shinigamified Hollows. Even without the training and knowledge she had received at the academy, Hanako would have assumed that, if one gets to serve in the Gotei, the other can’t be hopelessly bad. So she waited for the Arrancar to make his first move.