"What's going on with you all today?" I demanded of my students, "What has you so distracted?"

I look around the Company training grounds, making sure to look at today's new students in the eye. Once, I had seen a mentor failing to correctly teach their student zanjutsu. Before they could ruin their student any further, I might have poisoned the mentor's water supply with laxatives.

Do not ask why I had laxatives in the first place.

The mentor was sent running to the outhouses before long and I stepped in as a sympathetic bystander, giving tips and generally taking over training for the two hours the real mentor was gone. I didn't know until later that when the mentor returned and I had left, the student had already improved so much of their zanjutsu that they bested their master. Soon, there was a rumor circulating around that I was a really good teacher.

Which brings me to the situation I've found myself in. As the First Company Third Seat I had the privilege to oversee a very many number of students training. Technically, I can only have twenty disciples under my tutelage but there was a loophole. A loophole that was so normalized that it was actually surprising how I had been able to best utilize it.

I became a very well known Substitute Sensei.

Substitute Sensei's is exactly what it sounds like. Students can for a short period of time go into the discipleship of other mentors to glean information and skills. Of course, no one has ever made it a title. Until me.

Way too many mentors were going to Chojiro-fukutaichou with complaints that I was stealing their disciples. With a little help from the notoriously rule-breaker Yoruichi, we made a really good case and system. Now, I can only train students for one week before they would return to their original mentors and I can't take more than three students a week.

Still, even with those limitations, I have never had a single week free from training students. Once the other Companies heard, they were on me like white on rice. When all rookie Shinigami from the First Company had their turn under my tutelage, it was an all mad rush to reserve me for training. Thank goodness Rue was smart enough to get ahead of the impending chaos and start a waiting list.

A waiting list that would last me years to get through. Not only that but Academy students were also hearing the whispers and signing their names at the bottom of the waiting list, betting that they would graduate before their names would be up.

I've been training with my three new students for four days now and though they're progressing just as well as expected, today they seemed a little bit off.

"You haven't heard?" asked Nora, a rookie from the Eighth Company. She was a rather quiet girl and sadly, despite years of tutelage, she never rose above the skill level of rookie shinigami. So she was largely forgotten by her Company and even her squad didn't take her seriously. Training with her on the first day, I had immediately identified the problem. Whoever was training Nora was a very in-your-face confrontational fighter using strength to best their opponent. Nora should have been training for speed, stealth, and dirty tricks.

I understand that shinigami were supposed to embody honorable fighting but we are also killers. Especially Eighth Company members. I was simply training her the quickest ways to execute people.

"Tell me so I hear it now."

"Last night," she explained, "Five taichous, three fukutaichous and I heard some very important people within the Special Kido Corps all went missing last night. And with the weird disappearances that are happening right now..."

It's been three weeks since the first reports of the missing people started to raise very high red flags. Everyday, those same red flags turned into ringing warning bells until even Rukongai had moved itself for caution. With the weird spike of hollow attacks, more than usual, the entire investigation was seen as dangerous. So dangerous that even some Taichous were put on the front lines, leading teams out into the field.

Last night, something strange happened.

Intelligence was still being gathered.

I turned to look at my two other students saying, "Is this distracting you also?"

"Diabolos-sensei," said Kaito, "If whatever is causing the disappearances are able to take down a taichou, multiple taichous, then what would happen? If the taichous can't take it down, who could?"

Kaito was a Thirteenth Company rookie and though the Thirteenth Company were notoriously kind, welcoming, and warm to nearly everyone he was a little odd. A bit too pessimistic. He had a fear problem and training him was like teaching a mouse how to be a tiger. Difficult.

"And you, Taemon?" Taemon was an Eleventh Company rookie. He was tall and built like a tank, the boy had monstrous strength and nearly no style or skill. Teaching him was like teaching a club how to embroider. All I had to do was hack away at all the hard edges and underneath was a beautiful needle waiting for it's first thread. I've been feeding that boy tons of skills and hopefully, he'll like a particular style enough to search for a real mentor.

"I can take 'em. I'll kill the bastard!"

"You're being an idiot," I said because Taemon needed constant checks to make sure his ego didn't swell his head too much. "Why are you all distracted by this? You will not be called to investigate this anytime soon. So shouldn't you be focusing on me trying to kill you?"

"Shouldn't you be, Diabolos-sensei," asked Nora, "I mean, you are Third Seat of the First Company."

"You're right," I said, pulling my zanpakuto into a battle stance, "And I'm not letting it distract me. Lunge!"

I lunged forward, attacking Kaito head on in a flurry of shunpo. Kaito raised his blade in defense and our swords screamed under the pressure. He squealed only a little bit when I scratched the edge of his blade with my own, sending sparks into the air.

I was attacked from the back by Nora. A rather vicious move but one that I was particularly proud of, especially since with her, I've been pushing her farther by using hohou. So like a Second Company member, I'm training her to be the executioner of assassins.

"Right here," I said, grabbing her wrist and pressing her zanpakuto near my kidneys, "Stab your enemy from here and you've effectively gutted them."

Taemon roared and swung his zanpakuto down upon us. Quickly, I shoved Nora out of the way and used shunpo to jump over his blade. I landed on his elbow and since I was so close, I took the liberty to sucker punch his jaw.

"Come on!" I called, "You can do better than that! You're big enough! Hit me back!"

As prompted, he swung a fist at me and I raised Michael in defense. Taemon was strong though and was able to push me back. But not before my blade cut into his knuckles.

I jumped away from the scene, smiling at my students.

"I should have killed you," I said, "Since you've been so distracted. Pay attention to the real threat!"

I was about to attack again but suddenly there was a royal messenger kneeling at my side.

"Diabolos-san, Third Seat of the First Company," they said, "You are requested by Yamamoto-soutaichou to appear before him immediately. Fourth Seat Momoko and Fifth Seat Natsu are also called with you."

"I understand. Dismissed," I told the faceless messenger. I turned back my students who were looking at me stunned. I told them, "I expect you here tomorrow at dawn. If I'm not here, I expect you to spar together until there is word about my demise. If I'm not dead, I'll be back to break more of your bad habits."

"You're going out to the investigation aren't you?" Nora said, really she was so smart she's easily one of my favorites.

"You're going to die," Kaito said with a tremble.

"Most likely," I said with a shrug.

"You'll kill it," Taemon said decisively and I was strangely moved by his simple faith.

"Love you too big guy. You are all dismissed today." I didn't even wait for them to leave. I left by shunpo, jumping off of rooftops to the soutaichou's office. When I arrived, Fifth Seat Natsu was leaning against the wall, looking a bit ticked.

I turned towards Natsu and asked, "Are we waiting for the arrival of Fourth Seat ?" His scowl grew deeper and he pushed himself off the wall.

"Yes, but I have a feeling she won't arrive until she's 'fashionably' late." He crossed his arms over his chest and cast an irritated look at the innocent wall.

"I wonder why that sounds so familiar," I teased casually. Ever since our life and death mission which promoted both of us to our current Seats, we've been ... friends? Associates? Nah, more like co-workers that don't complain when we're paired up with each other.

"Don't remind me," he muttered. He chuckled before pointing at me.

"I heard a rumor that you were rather hotheaded in the past. Care to deny it?"

"Hothead?" I muse out loud, "Whoever told you I still wasn't?"

He busted out laughing like I just tickled him with a feather.

"You got problems, Agito!" There was a small spike in reiatsu as Fourth Seat Momoko appeared.

"I'm here!"

"Finally! Let's get the show on the road!" Natsu stated before knocking on the door. When we were granted permission, we entered and kneel'd before the soutaichou in the middle of the room. The soutaichou was standing front and center, belaying exactly how serious the situation has become. Five taichous were missing, four fukutaichous and rumors were swirling around unchecked.

"Third Seat Agito Diabolos, Fourth Seat Momoko Yamanaka, Fifth seat Natsu Somer reporting for duty sir!" I stated.

"Rise," Yamamoto-soutaichou replied. I stood straight with a hand on my zanpakuto. The soutaichou was sitting at his desk with both Fourth and Fifth Seat of the Twelfth Company behind him.

"Last night there has been a catastrophy that involved the taichous of Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and Twelfth Company, fukutaichous of Ninth and Eleventh Company. All seven Shinigami have been reported missing from an mission involving the mysterious disappearance of souls in Rukongai. I want you three to guard these two members of the Twelfth Company to the point where they disappeared and investigate what transpired before their disappearance. Dismissed!" The two Twelfth Company members came towards us and we let them go out of the door first. When we were out the door, I turned to Natsu and Momoko to serve orders.

"Keep your wits about you. If you feel something is off balance at all, tell me. Keep in the Illuminati formation. Momoko, you take center-point. Natsu to the left." They nodded their heads and took position. With that, we were off.

"What can you report to me about last night?" I asked the members of the Twelfth Company. One of them turned around to answer me.

"Last evening, a small squad of the Ninth Company lead of Kenji-taichou and lots of seated officers went out on patrol to an area reported to have abnormally large hollows appearing. We lost contact of them after midnight where we presume that whatever is making the souls die unnaturally were confronted the patrol. Yamamoto-soutaichou sent the taichous of Third and seventh as backup. The fukutaichou of the eighth was soon sent to help out the situation if possible along with the fukutaichou of the Kido Specialist Unit. Coincidentally, the fukutaichou of the Twelfth Company was also sent out of an errand to deliver a package containing an investigation device the Ninth Company patrol needed.

"From then on it's a mystery on what exactly transpired. The time frame between the twenty-third hour and second hour is what we were sent to investigate. At second hour a forbidden kido was activated. Kisuke Urahara-taichou of the Twelfth Company and Tessai-taichou of the Kido Specialist Unit were reportedly missing, when investigated upon, it was found that Urahara-taichou has been experimenting with souls and powers of that of a hollow. All Shinigami that was sent out was found with hollow masks attached to their faces, having been changed to that of a hollow essence."

"What will happen to Unahana-taichou and the Tessai-taichou? What is being done with the Shinigami victims?" I asked, absorbing all this information in as best as I can.

"Unahana-taichou and Tessai-taichou are being put on trial as we speak. All ten Shinigami who have been hollowfied at set to be killed."

"Man, that's messed up. So many strong Shinigami being changed overnight to a hollow. Now we all have to suck our gut up until we can find replacements for all of them," Natsu stated. We were walking up to the gates as we talked about this.

"And we're being sent to investigate the area where they turned hollow in the first place? All 5 of us? Is Yamamoto-soutaichou going senile finally?" Momoko asked.

"He sent three of the best Shinigami in Seireitei. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth seat of the First Company. He knows what he's doing. Trust in the Soutaichou. He is a thousand years more wiser that you will ever be," I say the last part in a bit of mockery.

"Are you saying that you're better than me, Third Seat Diabolos?" she growled on the defensive.

"Believe what you wish to believe. I'm just stating the facts that you doubt Yamamoto-soutaichou." Her face flushed but she bit her retort when we entered the forest.

The forest now had some sort of reverence to it now that we knew what had happened last night. Last night, in this forest, something had so terrible happened that it'll soon be considered the shame of Soul Society. I greatly pitied the victimized shinigami but what can we do with them now that they're hollowfied? We can't exactly turn them back to the Shinigami they once were.

As we walked, we saw evidence of places where the patrol fighting small hollows every now and then. There was no disturbances in their reiatsu and everything just seemed normal. When we entered a large clearing with tall wild grass with evidence that there was a large hollow fight, we stopped to let the Twelfth Company members get an accurate report of what happened. Natsu, Momoko, and I all stood guard, watching the forest for any suspicious movements.

"Hey! What are you doing over there!" My head snapped to where Natsu was looking and saw a small but dark shadow scurry back into the forest. Natsu followed after the shadow and I followed after him. When I caught up with both Natsu and the mystery person, Natsu had the soul on the ground with his hands behind his back.

"Don't lie to me! Why were you watching us!"

"I-I was-!"

"Natsu, get off him," I ordered.

"But-!"

"Get off him now and drop your reiatsu. Can't you see the boy is suffocating?" Natsu immediately got up and lowered down his reiatsu levels. The boy coughed before slowly sitting up.

"Leave us, Natsu," I commanded and knelt to the ground so I was eye level with the boy. Natsu left and I studied the boy as he got his breathing regulated. He boy had sharp hawk like eyes with black spiky hair. He looked tall for his age of eleven but he was rather slim. He wore a ripped beige yukata, giving away his status as a poor boy in the district. Not too surprising since the area is mostly underdeveloped lands where bandits cling to for shelter.

"What is your name?" I asked. Now that the boy was a bit calmer now, he also studied me.

"Hisagi. Are you with the Shinigami that came yesterday?" My eyes narrowed a bit.

"What can you tell me about the Shinigami yesterday," I interrogated.

"Why? What happened to them?" he asked in a bit of a panic.

"Nothing bad, they just ran into a little accident and we were sent to investigate what exactly happened before-"

"Did they die?" I breathed a sigh to calm my nerves. This kid isn't answering my question and he's interrupting me.

"No they didn't. They fell extremely ill when they came back and we're investigating the cause. Now what can you tell me about what you saw yesterday?" He looked down at the ground, recollecting his memories.

"My friends and I was out here looking for rabbits to hunt and this huge hollow came out of nowhere. It knocked down three of my friends and they started running but I ... I didn't. I was too scared and I froze. But then the Shinigami came and his subordinates were fighting the hollow except they were having trouble and then there was this guy with sixty-nine on his torso that took it down with one swipe!" His eyes lit up while telling me about Kenji-taichou and I couldn't help but smile.

"The Shinigami you described to me is Kenji-taichou of the Ninth Company. Now tell me, how big was the hollow?" He smiled once I gave him the name to his idol.

"It was ... ten meters tall maybe and eight meters long," he answered.

"After Kenji-taichou exterminated the hollow what happened? Where did they go?"

"They helped my friends out before leaving. They took the western road." I smiled before patting his head.

"Thanks kid, that's all I needed to know." I stood up to leave but he scrambled to his feet.

"Wait! What's your name?" he asked. I smiled and answered saying, "My name is Agito Diabolos, Third Seat of the First Company. Look for me when you become a Shinigami." His eyes widened in surprise.

"How'd you know I wanted to become a Shinigami?!" I chuckled at his behavior.

"It's obvious. Besides, you got the talent kid if you were able to sense our reiatsu and appear and disappear like a shadow. You're gonna be going places kid, just sets your sights on Seireitei." I left him a smile before shunpo-ing back to the group. When I arrived, the two Twelfth Company members were already packing up their equipment.

"So I'm guessing that you have the same information that I do correct?"

"The patrol fought a hollow, stayed a while to help out children and left by the western road," Natsu stated. I nodded my head and we all left by retracing the patrols footsteps. A Twelfth Company member came up beside me.

"We found nothing that would be out of the ordinary in a regular fight with a hollow of this caliber. The fight was timed at about 2:00 last evening. Going at the speed they were going, it's estimated that 60 kilometers from here is their campsite." I nodded my head in acknowledgment.

It seems a bit strange.