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This article, Towards the Future: Finalisation, is a side-story entry in Bleach: The Coven War, set during the Prologue. The chapter takes place three days following Towards the Future: Answers and Questions, and features Kenji Hiroshi and Van Satonaka as the main characters, with Kenji's patrol team serving as support.
This is the final chapter of the Towards the Future side-story, and serves to introduce Garrett Sheppard into the story.
"Who goes with who today?" Ace asked.
Kichō and Ace had really come along leaps and bounds over the last three days. Ace had redoubled his efforts -- the injuries sustained by Kichō in his defence had seemingly lit a fire under his ass -- and Kichō had learned a modicum of restraint. So Kenji decided to keep them paired together under Van's leadership.
"Kichō and Ace go with Van." He said. "Mikado, you're with me."
And thus began their day patrolling. Kenji, after having Van look over the site and facts, had concluded that whoever -- or whatever -- had killed their squad-mates had hidden their tracks well enough that finding them at this juncture just wouldn't be possible. Van had also opined that, given recent events, Captain Kuchiki's killers weren't likely to be involved. What he had suggested instead however -- cultists -- would prove to be nearly clairvoyant. Their number had increased since the Blood War, and some groups where particularly bloodthirsty.
If Van's guess was correct then it wouldn't be the first time a Shinigami had been attacked in the World of the Living by something that wasn't a Hollow.
"Oh, yeah. Give me the problem children." Van opined.
"Not rising to it, Van." Kenji called back.
Van merely smirked. "Worth a try."
With that decision reached all that remained was to see out their allotted time in the World of the Living and then return to the Soul Society to make their report.
"Ace and Kichō will be fine on their own today." Van stated almost as an afterthought.
When Kenji rounded on him Van forestalled his complaint with a raised index finger.
"Look, I've got a lead. But it'll be dangerous and if I'm to get anything concrete I can't be babysitting the kids. Besides, it'll make our report look a little better than 'we showed up and found nothing'. Trust me!"
Kenji considered for a minute. At times he wanted to punch Van in the mouth, but the man knew what he was talking about. He was ex-Onmitsukidō after all.
"... Okay, do what you need to. But if that's the case, Momoko goes with Kichō and Ace." He looked towards the threesome. "Watch each others back and keep sharp. We meet back here at midnight. Move out!"
Van leapt off on his own. "Now to find him."
Kenji, hoping to add something to their report as well, decided that it was time to have a peak at the spiritually aware scene in Kagamino. Events prior to the Quincy Blood War had shown that Japan sported a large Fullbringer population, and reports suggested that this number was steadily rising.
"What are we looking for, sir?" Mikado asked.
"It's Kenji." He replied, though it was half-hearted at best. He'd come to the conclusion that they where going to call him "sir" and "Mr" whatever he said to them. But he wasn't one to who gave up easily. "I have a feeling we'll know it when we see it."
"Let me save you the trouble."
Kenji stopped quickly and half-drew Aoi Inazuma from her sheath.
"You where looking for me, right?" The speaker was male. "Here I am."
"And you are?" Mikado asked.
"Garrett. Garrett Sheppard."
This Garrett was in his early teens -- Kenji guessed fourteen or fifteen -- and sported a mess of brown hair. He wore a karate gi and sported a muscled physique that suggested he was a frequent attender of his local gym. Kenji was about to speak to the teenage boy when he sensed Van's reiatsu suddenly surge!
"Mikado, question him. I'll be back as soon as I can!"
"But-"
He didn't wait for her reply. He flash-stepped away at the extremity of his speed and released his Zanpakutō simply to benefit from the enhancement it brought to his speed.
"I fucking knew you'd found something!"
"That was eventful." Garrett opined.
Mikado looked less than comfortable.
Van, meanwhile, hadn't been entirely honest. Kenji had enough on his plate babysitting the newcomers to worry about what Van was chasing, so for now he was going it alone. For he had found something during his look-over of the scene, and that something was a lingering amount of reiatsu consistent with the reiatsu signature on record for the Visored. Only problem? It wasn't a match with any of the Visored known to the Soul Society.
And he had tracked it.
Van stood outside a run-down building in the outskirts of Kagamino City. An old rusted gate was the only barrier between him and the garden, but he knew to look deeper. He quickly dispelled the traps and stepped inside the building proper. The sudden change in atmosphere was clear to Van the second he crossed the threshold, and he loosened his Zanpakutō in its sheath. The feeling of the violet-coloured hilt, the circular guard, and the keen blade sliding from the sheath calmed Van instantly.
"Found you."
Reaitsu flooded the room and, as Van had guessed, it was unmistakably that of a Visored. The figure before him had his Hollow mask donned, which unfortunately veiled his appearance, but he was similar in height and build to Kenji. His long brown hair served to hide any identfying features Van may have seen. What Van could distinguish however was the sleeveless kosode common to members of the 9th Division.
"Leave this place."
Van couldn't place the voice.
"You killed my comrades." It was't a question.
The silence seemed to stretch on and on. Van was actually beginning to think the man before him was hard-of-hearing, but he was about to be proven terribly wrong.
"... I did."
That tore it and the Visored's reiatsu was met with Van's own! Van wasn't like Kenji: he would have attempted to talk to the man and learn something, anything, through diplomacy. Van was an entirely different animal -- one with a reputation for going for the throat. It had often been said that Kenji and Van, despite being very similar in many respects, where also opposites. Kenji was merciful. Sometimes to a fault.
Van was not.
"Wreak Havoc, Kōsekihana."
And the building was laid to waste by thousands of crystal shards!
By the time Kenji arrived Van was busying himself dealing with the fallout. Van was injured; quite extensively, actually. Blood flowed from several wounds spread across his body, but he didn't appear to be affected in the least. The room however looked like the walls had been painted with blood!
"What the fuck happened here!?" Kenji demanded. "How much of this is yours?"
"Very little, you'll find." Van even smiled. "Our mysterious killer is a member of the 9th Division."
Kenji stopped his tirade immediately. "... You're sure?"
"You bet your hairy arse I am."
Hotaru Hiroshi, known to the Gotei 13 as Yoshiro Shiba, dropped from a Garganta and down towards a safe-house he kept in Northern Rukongai. He was a complete mess of wounds; blood flowed freely from several wounds across his body, and he was pretty sure that his arm was broken. It was just like any version of Van to be a bloody demon on the battlefield.
The only comfort Hotaru could take was that he was currently off-duty.