Hidden Hollow

Chapter 1

Toshiro stood on the rooftop he had decided to make his center of command. His Gigai sat beside him on the lip of the roof, patiently awaiting orders. Renji had been missing now for two days and he was not going to let a Lieutenant disappear without trying to find him. He knew Aizen could have sent any number of things into the world of the living to make life difficult for them. He allowed his senses to spread again trying to pin-point Renji's reiatsu. Although he didn't find the signature, he did find something that seemed to resonate with a similar pulse. What was it, he wondered. With his eyes trained in that direction he still hadn't spotted anything. Sound on the roof behind him made him shift enough focus to identify who was there.

"Lieutenant," he said, addressing her formally.

"Captain," she responded. Judging from the level of the sound she was kneeling. Rarely did Rangiku respect him, but she always knew when to be serious.

"Report," he commanded, and she did.

"I searched the area assigned to me but I can't find Lieutenant Abarai." Toshiro nodded. That had been the same news all day as the rest of the team he had come with scoured the city. If he remembered correctly even Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends had helped search, though none of them had bothered reporting to him. Still, he wasn't their captain so he supposed he couldn't really hold it against them.

"Very well. Take over for me here. I have something I want to check out."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you Captain." He could hear the worry in her voice though she did a good job concealing it. He shook his head.

"No, someone needs to stay here and help coordinate the search effort. I wouldn't dare put Madarame or Ayasegawa in command. You must handle this for me. I'll be back as soon as I can." Now he did turn to look at her. She hid the worry in her voice much better than she hid it from her face. The lines in her brow told him she clearly didn't like letting him go off alone, but she didn't argue with him. She nodded her acceptance and he nodded back before turning to his Gigai. "Follow as best you can." Then he leaped into the sky returning his gaze to the strange resonance.

Buildings flew by below as Toshiro carefully controlled the reishi under his feet. He ran through the sky with more speed than he normally would have. Thankfully, with the wind from the gathering storm he didn't worry about the humans below thinking anything usual was happening. He slowed as he approached what he had detected, drawing his zanpaku-to for good measure. Hyourinmaru was a comforting weight in his hands as he stepped forward slow and silent. He was by a river, walking downhill, a few trees planted along its side. The river flowed through a cement bed and under a small bridge, clearly for people not cars. There was a hulking form crouched in the river on the far side of the bridge. Despite most of it being hidden Toshiro could clearly see the top of the white mask.

A hollow then. That didn't explain why it's partially concealed spiritual pressure had a similar signature to Renji's. What was going on? He hesitated to just kill it, knowing that this could very well be his only lead to the missing Lieutenant. Careful to control his spiritual pressure he raised his zanpaku-to.