Outnumbered

[Yuri Nakayama]

Before Year 6

Everything was going well. Soul Society seemed like it was at peace along with the human world. Life went by day by day with Yuri spending it with friends and family. She was the workaholic she always was but did at least take some time off now and then to spend it with her family. It would serve as a great break and escape from the countless things she has to worry about. Her children were doing fantastic. Megumi continued her studies, using her knowledge to treat illnesses at the clinic her and Shiori had going. The twins were energetic as ever, doing whatever things they would do. Yuri didn't seem to mind too much as long as they kept themselves out of trouble. As for Hina, she had grown up into a beautiful young lady although she was shy just as ever. She still has a hard time even trying to talk to people, but at least she had gotten comfortable around Ryouji! It was a start, at least.


During one point, Yuri and Tohru did end up getting married. Sadly, Yuri had a very bad sense of timing and the wedding had happened while Ryouji was in the hospital. It did make her feel guilty, but she felt like he needed to get as much rest as he could. It was too late now to do anything different. She knew that he would be in good hands but she still couldn't help but to worry. Sometimes it's just hard to let go of certain things.

---

Beginning of Year 6

As for today, Yuri was actually at home, sitting outside to enjoy the sunny day and the light breeze that would come every so often. Times like these would often cause her to reflect back on life and wonder how she ever got this far. Every now and then, a soft chuckle would come from her. To think she started out so unsure of herself and not confident. The hardships that she had to go through and with everyone else helped make her into the woman she is today. Funny how certain things can bring different perspectives to any and everything.

After a few minutes more, the Shinigami would stand up and take a walk through her home. It had been a while since she had done so. Along the way, she would have a conversation with her Zanpakuto. They would talk very often as they were very close. To those who were listening, it sounded as if Yuri was talking to herself. She didn't mind it, really.


"Funny how days go by quickly when things are at peace, isn't it?"

The Zanpakuto would give off a low 'hum' that only Yuri would hear.

"You're right. I would prefer peace as well. I know there's the occasional Hollow hunting and that's just as dangerous, but at least it's not like facing a major adversary."

The two would converse a long time as the day went by. It certainly just felt nice to.. Well. Relax.

---

Beginning of Year 6: Month 4

It started like every other day. Yuri was in her barrack's office, working on a few things as per usual. Once things were completed, she was about to step out of her office until her phone had started ringing. She quickly answered, seeming happy once she heard the voice from the other end. She was just told that everyone from the future had come to pay a visit. Once she hung up and put away the phone, leaving the barracks to head back home.

In different areas of Soul Society, Gargantas had began to open. Several Arrancar had stepped out, soon carrying out the mission they were given. They were responsible for making as much chaos as they could and that's what they did. It was a rather hard blitz attack. By the time anyone had noticed, several districts had been demolished. Hell butterflies were desperately sent out to any active Shinigami be it retired, captains, lieutenants. and so forth. Yuri had received her message just a few minutes of the initial attack, but before she could even Shunpo to one of the locations, she was struck with what seemed to be several balas in quick succession. While she was pushed forward be the force, it didn't seem to cause that much damage. The captain then reached for and unsheathed her Zanpakuto, words almost dripping with anger.

"You will regret ever coming here!"

Aysa along with Future Emi had almost made it to their destination until they had sensed a familiar Reiatsu being released. Almost immediately, they rushed over to see if there was any way that they could help. Yuri had been only managing to keep on par and that was only due to the fact she had just released her Shikai. When she had noticed the two arrived, she quickly spoke. She couldn't afford to let her guard down even for a brief second.

"You two shouldn't be here! Get away from here!

"We just want to help!"

It was during that time her attacker lashed at her again, the two striking their blades against the other, currently in a stalemate. Yuri didn't want to admit this in front of the girls, but she was unsure if she could win or not. She could tell that as of right now, he's toying with her. She needed to finish this battle as soon as possible. However, in order to do that, she would need help.

"Help me by getting the others here!"

Aysa had wanted to protest, but she and Future Emi did as they were told. If that's how they could help, then that's what they would do. As they finally made it to their home away from home, both quickly dashed in, calling to whoever would listen.

"Anyone there?! Please, someone say something!"

[Future Shizune]

After hearing her niece ask for help, Future Shizune couldn’t help but wonder why these Arrancar were even here to begin with. There is no one left for them to beat. For years her family has lived in peace waiting for her father to return. She missed him greatly, but now is not the time to think about it now. Shi broke free of the Arrancar’s technique and shunpo’d for a moment, and then reappeared a small distance away.

“Sorry that I can’t help, but as you can probably guess, i’m busy, dealing with this problem.”

No sooner could she possibly finish the sentence, the Arrancar she found herself fighting appeared behind her and swung his blade in her direction but she blocked it. Why was this attack happening now of all times? That is what she was thinking. What could they possibly be after, or who? So many questions and there were no answers.

More importantly than that, where was her daughter, Saya? One would say that both she and future Emi have two of the most whimsical daughters ever. The Arrancar performed sonido, and when he reappeared he started to gather energy together. Shizune gasped and yelled “Cero!!!”, when the Arrancar fired it, Shizune was tripped and she fell down immediately and luckily dodged it. When she stood up, her daughter was standing right there in front of her.

“How long have you been just hanging out there?!”

Saya simply shook her head and vanished from sight yet again. Shizune could only shake her hand in response. She could be anywhere. It doesn’t matter, she was tired of playing this little game. The Arrancar charged head on ! When the time grew closer or the two of them to meet once again Shizune ducked his sword slash, grabbed the Arrancar and threw the Arrancar hard. From the moment the Arrancar left her hand, Saya, appeared kneeling with her bow.

She drew back the Quincy string and fired a massive arrow. It hurried toward the Arrancar and caused the Arrancar to disappear. Shizune sighed from relief mostly, but where there were several, they now had to deal with one less.

[Yuri Nakayama]

By now, Yuri was beginning to pant from exhaustion. Whoever this person was had decided it was time to be serious instead of just playing around. As the fight continued, he kept her from doing much of anything. She would have gotten to Bankai by now but he was making things a lot more frustrating. Heck, she would have gone through Hollowification if given the chance. With a strong blow to the gut, she dropped down to one knee with one arm draped around her stomach while the other rested on the ground. As the Arrancar drew closer, the captain would then use Sekienton to create a rather large cloud of smoke, obscuring her view from him.

While she had time, she began to begin to set up the procedures for Tenteikura.While she didn't have ink, her own blood would make for a decent substitute. Once everything was done and the kido completed, she would then begin essentially an sos message.She was at least hoping there would be someone close by that would be able to come and help.

"If.. If there are any Captains or lieutenants in the area..I'm requesting assistance in the center of North Rukongai. I'm not sure how long I can-"

Before she could finish, she felt a sudden burning sensation in the middle of her back. While she was distracted sending out her message, she was struck with a semi-powerful Cero. Safe to say that it not only ended the kido, but knocked the air out of her. Yuri then fell face down on the ground, writhing in pain. Her breathing had become labored.

"What a shame. I was expecting more out of you, Captain. I hope the others aren't this weak. I suppose it doesn't matter, in all honesty. At least there's a degree of hope for you. Let's just hope you survive."

In a last ditch effort, Yuri had begin to cast Hyapporankan to attempt to pin him to the nearby wall. The rods had manifested around her and as soon as she was about to make the gesture to sling them at the arrancar, she felt another sharp pain in her right shoulder. He had knelt down and stabbed his blade there, making sure it was dug in pretty well. If that wasn't enough, he began to force his blade down her arm, almost splitting it in two. Crying out in pain, Yuri would try to struggle, but it was in vain. Finally succumbing to her injuries, she had fainted.

Satisfied with the turn of events, he would remove his blade from her flesh. Once that was done, he made sure to remove her bloody and torn Haori, tossing it to the side along with her wedding band as soon as he was able to pry it off.. After all, where she was going,she wouldn't be needing those anymore. He sheathed his blade, soon picking up both Yuri and her Zanpakuto. As if to send a message, he would flair up his Reiatsu, indicating to the other arrancars that what they came here for was now done. Those who survived left via Gargantas as did he.

[Saya Tatsuya]

Just like that, they were gone? After they left, she pulled the hood down from around her head and sighed. Saya’s bow also vanished back into her bracelet from which she summoned it from. That was indeed weird that they were fighting the Arrancar too! That was nuts to say in the least but even so, the Arrancar are gone now. She floated Dow toward the ground and ran over to Aysa and waved profusely while shouting her name.

“Are you and Auntie Emi okay? You know, I’ve never really figured out why you refu...”

At that exact moment Aysa quickly put Saya in a headlock and covered her mouth so that she couldn’t finish that sentence. Saya was still trying trying to get free and speak, Alas she could not, so she stopped moving and mumbling behind Aysa hand. Once Aysa apparently got the word so to speak, she realeased her. Saya fixed her hair and sighed again and checked in her Auntie. Once she received the okay from her, she nodded slightly and quickly looked around and tried to gather her thoughts. She remembers that her mother was with them and thought that it would be a good idea to check on her.

“Mom, are you okay?”

Her mother appeared nexxt to her and gave her the ever loving peace sign, saying that she was okay. She was happy that everyone was all right. That was until she was looking for her Granny Yuri. She was looking everywhere for her and there was nothing.

“Hey Mom, have you seen Granny Yuri anywhere? I know she was here with us?”

Saya used shunpo to to the area she fought in or at least she was around when she saw her last. It was starting to suck, that was undeniable.

[Aysa]

Aysa was searching around the area. She thought she had heard Yuri speaking, but wasn't sure if she heard it due to the fighting they were doing. She just had a very bad feeling about this. Something just wasn't adding up. The sudden attack and them leaving..

She continues her search, soon making it where Yuri was last at. Her eyes were skimming everywhere. She was trying to look for any signs of her grandmother. In the meantime, she would try to make sense of things. As far as she knew, there was no one who wanted to harm Soul Society.

She was soon snapped out of her thoughts as she saw something almost.. Shimmer from the sun's light. She stepped over, soon kneeling down to examine what it could be. Her eyes would soon widen and call out to Saya and Shizune.

"O..Over here! Hurry!

It was taking everything for Aysa to hold it together. She held what she found close to her. It.. It just couldn't be.

"It can't be.. Why..."

[Shukumei Onigata]

As if the issues with Captains Nakayama weren’t enough of a problem, the idiots in Squad Five, just seem to make things like the trip seem even worse. Her lieutenant, Hinamori could only sigh as they check for injuries and to see if they can help make sense of this.

“Captain Onigata, you had better come take a look at this.”

Appearing as soon as she was called, Shukumei landed on the ground. Drawing the attention of both Saya and her mother Shizune, they rushed over. Saya hugged Shukumei as did Shizune. Knowing that Says was here, it was only a matter of time before she was jump-huggged by Aysa. Her attention was forced down toward what Aysa was holding however. Shukumei walked over towards Aysa and knelt down near her. She looked around Aysa’s hands and saw a piece of her grandmother’s haori. It wasn’t long before Shukumei figured what happened.

“You guys didn’t see who took her did you?”

Future Shi and Saya both shook their heads. She sighed, wishing that someone could have kept their eyes on her. It’s at times like these that she wishes that her brother was still around instead of being in the human world. She turned to face Aysa and gently placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Aysa, will you be all right?”

[Aysa]

As much as Aysa wanted to cry, she tried her best not to. She knew crying over what happened wouldn't bring her grandmother back to her. Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up to see who it was. Aysa wanted to say something, but every time she tried, she just felt a lump in her throat. She then took a very deep breath before exhaling. She did this a few times to help gather herself and her thoughts.

"I.. I should have stayed with her. It's.. No.. Blaming myself isn't going to fix things.. The main thing is.. I want to figure out why there was even an attack to begin with.. That will probably give us the answers we need."

So, thought she did. The Half Shinigami/Quincy stood up, recalling past events. She would speak out loud so that way, everyone could not only hear her train of thoughts, but to add in any information that they could.

"I remember when we arrived, Saya and I had found Granny Yuri fighting. We sensed where she was since she had just released her Shikai. I wanted to help but.. She insisted that we go get help. The way that she spoke.. It almost seemed as if she was worried.."

Worried about what, however? She knew she didn't get a good look at the Arrancar, but she definitely could tell it was a male.

"It was a male Arrancar.. That's as much as I know.."

Why.. Why would she be missing? Why was there an attack? The more she thought about it, the more sense it began to make. The sudden attack.. Them disappearing with her grandmother not anywhere to be found.. There had to be only one explanation.

"This all had to be planned. Why else would they even bother coming here? They would gain nothing from it. They were probably a diversion.. But.. Why? What would they have to gain by taking Granny Yuri..?"

The more she thought about it, the more she felt angered. Why didn't she see this sooner? It was probably hard to pinpoint as that was the main goal of the other Arrancar. Are they trying to take out the Shinigami by taking various Captains? It would certainly cause enough chaos.

"Auntie Shukumei, would you mind checking in on the other captains? That should let us know if they were specifically after Granny Yuri or are targeting all the captains."

[Shukumei Onigata]

Shukumei nods her head in response to the question that Aysa asked. This whole ordeal seemed a bit strange to her. However she knew that the question she was going to ask next was one she all ready had the answer for. Shukumei was by herself with the exception for today and yet there was no immediate danger towards her. So that means that the specific reason that Yuri was captured, was for a reason that the Arrancar came up with all by himself. Even so, she was going to find out one way or another. Besides this was her chance to check up on her brother and she if he was doing well in the human world.

Not to mention that she was going to take a vacation when this was over because she needed a vacation. It’s been a long enough time since she has had one. It matters not, what matters was that the girls were safe and that they were all right.

“Saya, Aysa you two should go and rest. I’ll let present Shi and Ami know that you are here. Plus I will speak to Head Captain Yamamoto and see if I can go to visit my brother in the human world.”

More than likely the Head Captain, will want her to stay in the human world on assignment. That would be perfect seeing as how she likes getting her hands dirty.

“I’m glad that the two of you are here. I know that the two of you are worried, but you can rest assured that we will find Yuri. Besides, we need a strategy for what happens next. I’m heading back now take care of yourselves while I am away.”

Shukumei spoke with Hinamori and vanished from sight with Shunpo.