Watching the battle from her vantage point was actually pretty easy; it allowed Yue to survey each and every part of the battle. Each part except for the factory. It went well for a while, even with the abnormally larger flow of Hollows than expected. Where were all the extra Hollows coming from? It was definitely strange, and Yue leaned in, scrutinizing the battlefield. It was hard to tell who was who so high up and the 10th's large number hadn’t helped either. However, when Osamu headed into the factories, Yue began to worry. It was impossible to see anything from up there. Even if she were on the ground, some of the Shinigami and Osamu were inside. 

There were two plausible reasons why Osamu and some of the Shinigami had headed in, right in the middle of the battle. Admittedly, the first reason sounded completely stupid as she thought it over. Osamu could have waited until the end of the battle to inspect the factories and check up on their condition. The second reason, however, made much more sense, despite the fact that the first was a much better option concerning the battle. It seemed that there was an infestation inside of some sorts, an infestation that they’d missed. She inwardly berated herself for not sensing it earlier, though in their defense the Hollows were undetectable, at least until Osamu and the Shinigami had arrived. Yue hoped there were no Vasto Lorde inside or anything of the sort; otherwise, it’d be a battle to the death. A Vasto Lorde or even an Espada were the last thing they needed last now, though the thought of the Espada biding their time was more worrying than being attacked right at that moment. At least with two Captains there, said Espada could’ve been overpowered.

Her mind riddled with worry, Yue watched the factories closely for any sign, anything at all. For the several long minutes she surveyed they factories’ drab grey walls, there was no sign of anything, not even a sound as it was drowned by the sound of battle outside. Yue sighed, contemplating on what to do. Surely Osamu was enough to handle anything in there. The Hollows wouldn’t win this time. Just as she was about to retreat back towards where the 2nd was waiting, Hayan soundlessly dropped down next to her. Yue didn’t start and only turned her head slightly in acknowledgement. 

“The 2nd is needed on the other front.” was all that Hayan said before disappearing off the wall. She turned to watch him go and sighed again. As much as this raid was causing her unnecessary grief, it was worth it. And it would’ve been worth much more only had the Captain-Commander listened to her family. Yue was one of the few who knew of the scandal it had caused within the confines of the compound. The outrage it had stirred was understandable and the decision not to use in-depth, special probability sheets for the Captain-Commander was understandable as well. After all, what was the point of showing them to her when she didn’t listen? Of course, Yue couldn’t say anything to the old woman, as she was bound by secrecy. Furthermore, it would’ve been out of place to tell the Kuroda to use her head. 

With a last glance towards the battle raging behind her, Yue leapt off the wall and headed towards the second front, a point that had originally been intended for distraction and thus had only had minor defenses. However, Hollows had swarmed towards it like a moth to a flame, for reasons unknown and incomprehensible to Yue. Most of the Onmitsukido had gone back to their duties, the Damage Control Corps in particular. The left the Punishment force, the 2nd’s Shinigami and Yue to deal with the unnaturally large influx of Hollows. 

She found her patience being tested by one self-regenerating Adjuchas and she hoped with all her heart it didn’t evolve into an Arrancar, as it’d be a royal pain to get rid of in Arrancar form. He slayed two members of the Punishment force after an hour of battle, making Yue personally go after him. However, it proved to have a significantly larger amount of intelligence than your average Adjuchas as it steered clear of Yue, avoiding her like the plague. That didn’t stop her from pursuing the large, lizard-like monstrosity. Without proper Shunpo, the Adjuchas eventually couldn’t escape the Kido-infused kick that sent it towards the ground mid-jump, smashing it flat. It dissolved into a pool of an acid-like substance, unlike the white dust normal Hollows disintegrated to. And that proved to be another of its special abilities; a second later, it had reformed and slashed Yue’s arm, leaving a long yet shallow gash. She leapt back away from the Adjuchas, landing several feet away before charging again, pumping more Kido into her arms and legs as she did. For a moment, it faltered and Yue feared it wouldn’t hold up – however, miraculously, it did and even as she ran her arm straight through the Hollow and it exploded into dust, the ground cracked and continued to develop fissures under the pressure of Kido. That prompted Yue to finally deactivate Shunko; it often damaged the surroundings equally. 

However, with the death of the Adjuchas, the flow of Hollows finally seemed to slow, leading Yue to suspect that perhaps the lizard-like Adjuchas was the leader, of sorts. Obviously the Gillian didn’t have enough intelligence for that, nor did the normal Hollows that she eradicated with a simple kick. Compared to other Shinigami, it wasn’t a ‘simple’ kick but when considering what she’d come to do in the past few decades, it was simple enough for her. Eventually, despite seven more casualties on her side, the Hollows were defeated. None were allowed to retreat and they stopped coming, allowing the Shinigami rest. There were far more casualties in the Seventh, though not by entirely too much. 

As the men recovered bodies and treated the wounded, a small group of Healers from the Fourth arrived to take care of the injured. After dealing with her own men – taking a roll call and sending the uninjured back to the 2nd Division barracks – Yue aided the Fourth’s medics wherever needed to avoid more death than necessary. Things continued in this vein until an Inner Court Troops agent arrived, informing her of her dismissal. Relieved of her duty, Yue stayed an hour or so longer, aiding the healers with the injured. There was a surprisingly large amount of injured, Shinigami that were wounded deeply by the offending Hollows. By the time they were over with, there was nothing more than could’ve been done and while most were going to recover, a few would be left with the lasting effects.

Yue bid the healers and Shinigami goodbye and headed back towards Seireitei, straight towards the Yukihiro compound. Inside, the vast network of barracks, living quarters, dojos, offices, houses and gardens were full of men, women and children, not counting the courtyards and the open spaces such as open corridors, etc. Though Yue found it hard to greet each and every single Yukihiro, she did her best, bowing and smiling and receiving both in turn. She headed straight for the tacticians’ offices deep within the compound and descended several flights of stairs down into an underground complex. 

The area was dimly lit, yet it was only for effect. While four well-built men remained huddled around a large, round table laid out with close to fifty different maps and long, long sheets of figures and calculations, most of the actual work was done further in. However, Yue knew that she didn’t have to go in any farther; this was enough. 

“It looks like we’re going to have to make some alterations, tell Kuroda if you will. Also, I believe that inspection Akira-san wanted is due.” Despite her voice’s light and gentle quality, as if it was nothing serious (though truthfully, it wasn’t all that serious either), three of the men got up and headed through a door leading deeper in. The last man remained seated on the table, still poring over figures before he looked up, his eyes landing on her minor injury. The slash had stopped bleeding long ago but her arm was smeared with blood from where other Hollows had disturbed the cut. He raised his eyebrows slightly, as if inquiring the reason. Yue shrugged and offered him a sweet smile instead before turning on her heel and exiting the underground chamber. 
---
Yuzuki was beyond pissed. She glared at a couple of kids that literally ran right through her, seeing as she wasn’t exactly visible to them. It had been several decades since she’s last encountered a spiritually aware human. Even Shinigami were rare nowadays, the last contact she’d had being several weeks ago. Spending a hundred years in the same darn place wasn’t exactly fun.

She kicked at a nearby rock – or a boulder, as that was a more fitting term – and sent it flying, preferably crushing one of those irritating humans that always mistook her accidental meddling as ‘paranormal activity’. Of course, Yuzuki had had her fair share of accidents, often unknowingly upsetting a few items – unlike the boulder, which was completely intentional, she thought with a smirk – and subsequently spooking the inhabitants of the small Irish town. She was almost tempted to go ‘haunt’ a house, because it was certainly better than simply standing there, waiting for something. She didn’t even know [i]what[/i] she was supposed to be waiting for and had been waiting for the past eighty years. 

So when she saw a Hell butterfly directed towards [i]her[/i], and not the other way round, she jumped up and grabbed at the insect, nearly squishing it in the process. The butterfly gracefully evaded her clutches and instead landed on her cheek, transmitting the message from her Captain. She nodded along even though there was no one there to see her. After sending an affirmative reply back with the butterfly, Yuzuki stretched and headed towards the nearby forest.

It was a two hour walk to the woods that bordered the quiet town and all the while, Yuzuki stirred up stones and sticks with her feet, counting the number of rocks landing and sticks snapping. By the time she reached the edge of the forest, she had counted a number nearly double of her original. She headed inside, weaving amongst the trees in a rather strange pattern – appearing here, disappearing there; one would almost think she was playing a game.

Almost.

Yuzuki abruptly whirled around, her arms lashing out towards something behind her and coming in contact with a body. The body struggled in her iron grip as she held it in a tight headlock. Her height certainly lent a hand in the situation; being five foot seven and several inches taller than the body allowed her to grip the offender tight enough that no matter how hard they squirmed, they couldn’t get away. Yuzuki became aware of the human’s gasping but didn’t loosen her grip – how and why could they see her, much less follow her? Furthermore, she could feel their reiatsu, no matter how faint it was compared to her own much vaster one. 

Another form emerged from within the trees, brandishing a rather ancient-looking spear. So these were the Fullbring Captain Akimoto was talking about. Yuzuki surveyed the newcomer for a while, taking note of her short burgundy hair and dark brown eyes. In her arms was a male, possibly the girl’s companion, a boy of average height and had shoulder-length messy dark hair with pale, pale skin, like he’d never seen the sun. He’d long since stopped struggling and instead dug his nails into her arm, which didn’t really faze Yuzuki. Glaring at the humans, Yuzuki loosened her grip ever so lightly so that the male wouldn’t suffocate in her arms.

“Who are you and why are you following me?”