Movement on all Sides

(Above Kuoh Town; dawn)

The sun slowly made its way above the line of the horizon, bathing the city in the golden light of the morn. High above the still slumbering city, unseen to those lacking spiritual awareness, was a large tear in space that led into a vast and dark void. From that tear came a group of 31 people dressed in black Shihakushos and white uniforms with black cloaks, a platoon of Quincy and Soul Reapers led by a man in black pants with two belts, a black shirt exposing some of his chest, and an open white jacket with black fur hemming. He had messy blue hair and blue eyes with green markings underneath them, and his right jaw had a Hollow mask fragment of a mouth. This was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, one of the top Arrancar in the Gotei.

"Alright people, you have your orders." He started as the tear closed behind them, the man swinging an arm out to signal his command. "Spread out and set up a perimeter. We need to find that Sellzen freak, kill him, and recover the stolen sword." The group responded with a quick 'Sir!' before splitting off to begin their search, leaving the Arrancar alone. "Now, let's see." He muttered before sending out a pulse of spirit energy and getting a sonar map of Kuoh Town. "And there's no one worth fighting. Damn it." He cursed before walking toward the Soul Dragon Candy shop to gather any remaining intel he might need. "I hate babysitting."

(On the way to school)

Walking through the city streets was some of the members of the Occult Research Club; Rias Gremory, Akeno Himejima, Koneko Toujou, Asia Argento, and Issei Hyoudou. There was more, but Kiba Yuuto was dealing with some past issues and was skipping school for a bit and the other is a shut-in. They were also known as the Gremory Peerage, one of the hidden groups of Devils that resided in Kuoh Town. Rias was a crimson haired beauty with fair skin and blue eyes. Akeno had black hair tied in a long pony tail, violet eyes, and similar skin. Koneko had golden eyes and had black cat hair clips holding her hair, almost resembling a cat in her appearance. Asia had long blonde hair and green eyes, almost radiating a light pureness that would make others smile. And finally Issei, a teen with spiky brown hair and eyes. They all wore the Kuoh academy uniform and were happily making their way to school when Issei noticed something.

"Uhh... is that samurai cosplayer standing on a telephone pole?" He suddenly asked, seeing a person in a black Shihakusho and Hakama with a katana at their hip, scanning the surrounding area. The rest looked to see the same thing, Asia looking similarly confused but the rest had a knowing look in their eyes.

"Akeno." Rias started. "It isn't time for the bi-monthly meeting with the representative from Soul Society, is it?"

"No Rias. Not for a another week." Akeno answered as the person flashed away.

"Soul Society? What's that?" Asia asked.

"The domain of the Shinigami." Akeno answered as they continued their walk. "Originally, they were the shepherds and purifiers of lost or corrupted souls, guiding them back through the cycle of reincarnation."

"Like on that Don Kanonji show?" Issei suddenly asked.

"Indeed." Akeno said. "Very much so." Suddenly, Rias, Akeno, Koneko, and Issei all crossed their arms over their chest and let out a 'BOHAHAHA!' laugh. "I loved that show growing up." The rest of the grow nodded in agreement, though Asia seem like she was left out. "But back on the Shinigami, from what I've heard, ten years ago they became the main military strength of the Shinto Pantheon."

"Back then two family heads of two clans, Halphas and Naberius, tried performing sick and twisted experiments on Japanese Yokai and tried committing a campaign of genocide to cover their tracks." Rias continued. "From what I remember, the Shinigami stopped almost every attack and bought my brother and the other Satans enough time to learn about what happened. After that, the Devils were confined to Kuoh as the only place we could operate freely." Hearing that surprised the two fresh Devils of the group, Issei and Asia. "I remember hearing about the strongest of the Shinigami, that his very presence was suffocating as dozens of Devils fell to his blade." A somber silence hung over the group, contemplating what Rias just said. Issei gulped but put on a brave face.

"Don't worry prez!" He said, holding up his left arm with a confident smile. "I'll protect you no matter who the enemy is!" Rias smiled before Akeno wrapped her arms around the man.

"What about me Issei~?" She cooed, leaning in to his ear. This led to Rias and Akeno starting a pseudo and friendly fight over the man's attention. A happy moment to undercut the tension that Rias and Akeno could sense in the air.

(Some Time Later)

Grimmjow was growing more and more irritated, almost two days have passed and still no sign of his prey. The Arrancar was never a patient man to begin with and ten years did only so much to help with that, but he still craved a fight. The idea of battling against the legendary sword Excalibur, even just a fragment, seemed interesting enough. However, the quality of opponents, or lack thereof, only fueled his disappointment in the mission. However, he swore his loyalty to his king and would see it through to the end. In the meantime, he'd do whatever it took to alleviate his boredom. Such as allowing the Devils of the Gremory Peerage and the Holy Sword users to fight a rather pointless match.

It started out as a meeting to agree to not meddle with each other as the Church members hunted for the missing Excalibur, but then one of the Exorcists started talking shit, the situation only grew worse, then Kiba appeared and escalated it into a full on sparring match. Grimmjow could tell right away that the kid was out of his element, focusing on his anger and desire for revenge instead of being a calm and focused swordsman. Nothing he saw was really impressing him him; Kiba's power was being hampered by his lack of imagination and broken focus, the blue haired girl called Xenovia was mostly power and untapped potential, that girl Irina with the twintailed chestnut hair was agile but spent more time talking and proclaiming her faith than fighting, and Issei was severely crippled by his innate weakness and time needed to build up his strength. That was before the kid called out 'Dress Break' and started acting like even more of a creep and accidentally stripped two of his friends naked.

"This is actually hurting me now." The panther said as Issei was punched by Koneko, got back up, and loudly proclaimed his desire to see more boobs. "That's it. Time to end this." He casually stated before unleashing his Reiatsu.

(At the fight)

Issei leapt at Irina, intent on removing her tight black bodysuit from her body, when suddenly the air started shaking and he felt his body seize up, causing him to fall to his knees and gasp for breath. Forcing himself to look around, he found that everyone was facing the same fate, even Rias and Akeno. As Issei's power reached its limit and was reset, the pressure let up and the air was filled with desperate gasps for air. As they caught their breath, a new figure appeared in the middle of the field.

"Everyone done fighting?" He heard the man ask, the young Devil looking up to the new arrival. "Good, because there won't be a second time. The name's Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, 3rd seat of Squad 16 of the Gotei." He introduced while putting on a pair of black gloves. "Now, who wants to tell me what leap in logic told you that this was a good idea?" He demanded, sternly glaring at the entire group.

"3rd seat? Gotei?" Xenovia asked, unaware of the Soul Society.

"That means I'm the third highest ranked member of the 16th division of my group's military force. The Court Guard Squads of the Soul Society." He calmly answered, still glaring at the assorted humans and Devils.

"Sir Jaegerjaquez," Rias started, already back on her feet and displaying her authority as a leader, "I assure you that this was a controlled spa-"

"You have two Holy Sword users fighting unarmored Devils, using the actual swords instead of practice swords, and you want me to believe this was under control?" He interrupted, glaring at the crimson haired Devil. "The very atmosphere of this spar was one half game between those two idiots," he pointed to Issei and Irina, "and attempted death match between them." He pointed to Kiba and Xenovia. "This was not a controlled sparring match, this was an incident between the Church and the Devils waiting to happen." He marched right up to Rias's face. "Don't forget kid. Kuoh isn't Devil territory, it's rented living space. Pull something like this again and you'll be evicted. Am I understood?" He growled in a low tone, daring her to speak up. Just as she was about to speak though, Grimmjow disappeared from her sight with a sound of static and was already between Xenovia and Kiba. "And I'm not sure which one of you two are the bigger dumbass here. That's a serious question I'm trying to figure out."

"What are you talking about?" Kiba growled, furious at the man for stopping the fight and taking away his chance to destroy an Excalibur fragment.

"From what I heard of that meeting, both sides agreed to stay out of each others way. But then you," he pointed to Xenovia, "instigated a conflict while you," he pointed to Kiba, "pushed this fight to happen when it's obvious to any actual swordsman that you can't properly handle a blade right now." Kiba growled as he got to his feet and used his Sacred Gear to manifest a massive Falchion sword. "And you're too reliant on that sword's power and not your own skill. I'd almost think you both had potential if you didn't suck so bad right now." He purposefully goaded as Xenovia got up, brandishing her Excalibur, a straight sword with a three pronged tip and an ax like guard.

"I'll show you, foul heathen!" She growled as she charged toward him, the Arrancar looking unimpressed.

"Watch your back!" Kiba called out as his massive blade slammed down on Grimmjow's back while the Excalibur smashed against Grimmjow's forearm, a shockwave of power passing over him... but the man was otherwise unaffected.

"Like I said." He kicked Kiba and sent him flying into Issei, sending the two tumbling, before pushing aside Xenovia's Excalibur and hitting her with his palm, likewise sending her into her partner. "Potential, but right now you just suck." He disappeared from sight again and appeared behind the Exorcists, grabbing their arms and pulling them up. "Now play nice, share info, and maybe work together. Later. Tensions are too high right now." He demanded, hauling them to the Devils. Asia and Koneko were dressed and Asia was using her Sacred Gear to help heal Issei and Kiba.

"Okay! Okay!" Irina cried out as Grimmjow released them. "You scratched me." She noted as both her and Xenovia found small cuts where Grimmjow grabbed them.

"I got sharp claws." The Arrancar told them. "These gloves are supposed to dull them, but not enough it seems." She pouted while Rias and Xenovia talked.

"He may be rude, but he has a point." The crimson Devil stated. "We both want these swords out of Kuoh, so let's start with which Fallen Angel is responsible for stealing the Holy Swords. If you actually know." Xenovia looked at Asia cautiously as the kind Devil offered to heal the scratches Grimmjow inflicted.

"A leader of the Grigori. The Fallen Angel Kokabiel." Hearing that surprised Rias while Issei asked what the Grigori were.

"Just the two of you against a leader class? Are you planning to die?"

"We do what we must to keep the Fallen from the Holy Swords." Xenovia answered. During the exchange, Grimmjow felt his phone vibrate.

"Well, if it gets too difficult then we'll handle it." The Arrancar said as he started walking away. "I'm itching for a decent fight anyway." He flashed away and reappeared far above the group, still watching as they continued sharing info and pulled out his phone. "This is Grimmjow." He answered, holding it between his ear and shoulder as he took off his gloves and revealed perfectly normal hands.

"The gloves worked." He heard Keigo say. "Irina Shindo and Xenovia Quarta are both infected with surveillance bacteria."

(Soul Society: Squad 1 Main Office)

"I am deeply sorry about that Ichigo." The leader of the Angels said over a speaker on the Head Captain's desk, where Ichigo was doing paperwork and informed his heavenly friend about what happened earlier. "I told them to send Dulio, at the very least he would've been able to keep things peaceful. Unfortunately, some of the Church's more extremist elements have been trying to discredit or dismiss him due to his new and more tolerant views of other factions."

"So he's still getting flak from that one time he teamed up with a Devil to eliminate a Stray?" Ichigo surmised. "Dang. I hope things work out for him, but I know how obstinate we humans can be. Still, slow progress is still progress." One of the projects that they were working on was making the Church more tolerant of the other factions, aiming for peace among non-aggressive elements. Things were progressing slow to moderately at first, then the biggest advocate was caught teaming up with the Church's mortal enemy. Sure it was to defend innocent lives, but the Church's warmongers and purists took that chance to stonewall their efforts. As a result, Dulio, the strongest exorcist of the Church, was now constantly on missions with half being pointless time wasters. "Maybe we can work this mess here in Japan to our advantage."

"Speaking of messes, we still have no word on where the Pendragon siblings are." Artoria, Arthur, and Le Fey Pendragon, scions of the house and bloodline of King Arthur. Ichigo met them years ago and took the twins, Artoria and Arthur, under his tutelage in swordplay and spearmanship. Not long before he took over as Captain Commander, he was informed that they disappeared while stealing a powerful holy sword and spear. No word came up about them since.

"They can take care of themselves, but I will crack their skulls the next time I see the twins." Ichigo said, groaning about the aggravations his students caused him. Just then, Nagao came rushing into the room with a folded paper.

"The daily report on Kuoh." She said, handing him the paper. Ichigo took a quick read before raising an eyebrow and looking at his lieutenant. "Yes, this information is accurate. Both the Kuoh Bureau and Squad 12 triple checked the events. This happened."

"What is it?" Michael asked, curious about the report.

"Your Holy Sword users are broke because Irina spent all of their money on a shit painting of some kind of saint, that she never bothered to examine and verify if it was a saint." Ichigo told him, a silence permeating the room as they digested the information. During that time, Ichigo noticed that three of Grimmjow's team were now dead with holes in their chest with residual angelic energy.

"I will not defend this decision, nor will I blame you for finding some way to punish them for this lapse of judgment." Michael said, proving that everyone has a tolerance limit for stupidity.

"I might just do that. For now, I'll take advantage of this and get them to open up to working with Soul Society." He set the paper down and wrote down some instructions. "Get Orihime to find and take them in to her home. She's a friendlier face than Grimmjow." Nagao nodded and set about her mission. "Michael, I'll let you know if anything else comes up."

"Thank you my friend." The angel said as the connection was cut. Ichigo then starting punching in a new set of numbers on the speaker, this time calling a Devil.

"Hello Sirzechs. Are you aware of the current situation in Kuoh?" Ichigo asked the standing Lucifer.

"Partially. Is everything going all right?" He asked, sounding a little concerned.

"Debatable. I'm going to use this as a test of your sister's capabilities since she's given me reason to doubt her standing as Kuoh's overseer."

(Kuoh Academy: Home Ec Classroom. After School)

Orihime Inoue Kurosaki, wife to Ichigo, mother to their son Kazui, communal mother of all of his children, the school's number one beauty among the teachers, one of the three great ladies of the school with Rias and Akeno, teacher advisor to the Occult Research Club, former seated officer of Squad 15 as a contracted spirit user, still an occasional agent for Soul Society when necessary, and none of the Devils in the school were aware. She took the job as the Home Ec teacher shortly after confirmation that Rias Gremory and her peerage would be attending that school along with one Sona Sitri, another VIP among the Devils. The main role was to keep an eye on them in case of anything, but that didn't mean she failed in her day job. She was a favorite among the students, not just because of her looks, but because of her motherly kindness and fun personality that made her students enjoy cooking. Now here she was, drawing out the next lesson plan and waiting for a certain girl.

"You wanted to see me Kurosaki Sensei?" Rias asked as she entered the classroom.

"Yes, please sit down." Orihime said while thinking of the next recipe to cover. "I've been the club advisor to the Occult Research Club since its inception, so I'd like to think I know the members." Rias sat across for her teacher, wondering where this was going and what she would say in response. "So Kiba's absence from school and the club for these two days seem a bit odd to me. Do you know anything that might explain this?" Rias immediately tried to the think of a believable lie in spite of the look that her teacher was giving, a look she could only describe as 'a mother expecting to hear the truth and will punish you for lying'. However, Rias absolutely couldn't get a normal human civilian involved with Devil matters, so she decided to go with a half-truth.

"Something bad from Kiba's past came back to trouble him." She started, trying to find the best mix of vague and informative. "He's been a little distracted because of it, and it seemed a bit dangerous so I told him to stay away from it. He didn't listen and left, despite me telling him not to cause any trouble."

"But you didn't offer to help him?" Orihime asked, already knowing the full story of Kiba, the Holy Sword Project, and that Kiba was running the risk of becoming a Stray Devil. "At all? In any way?"

"The situation is a little complicated and I didn't want to risk bringing trouble for the rest of the ORC." Rias defended, feeling a little guilty that this was her response as pretty much all she could do in the current circumstances. "I can't make trouble for everyone if it just for one person. No matter how much I want to help." She couldn't afford creating conflict with the Church or the Fallen just for Kiba's sake. This was strictly between the Church and Kokabiel, it just happened to be in her territory.

"Being a leader is about making tough calls Gremory, but it's also about how to best help everyone and to prevent tragedy." The teacher returned. "If no one else wanted to help Kiba with whatever issue this is, than that's their business. But if they DO want to help, you have to choose how. Reach out a hand, offer him support, be there for each other, any number of ways to let him remember that he can rely on you." Orihime offered the Devil a gentle smile. "You just have to find the best way to help everyone you can. That's one of the principle burdens of a leader, Rias Gremory." The heiress gasped lightly as she took in her teacher's words.

"Kurosaki Sensei." She whispered, remembering that she was mainly thinking about preventing a war by making sure no one meddled in the affairs of the other factions. But thinking about it now... maybe she should've done as Grimmjow said and started working with the Exorcists. After all, both the Devils and the Exorcists want the Excaliburs out of the hands of the Grigori, she has plenty of right to participate in resolving it since she was in charge of Kuoh, and the situation certainly calls for cooperation. But at the same time, she's not sure how the rest of the Church, the Fallen, and even the Devils might react to hearing about this.

"You seem so distracted lately Rias." Orihime suddenly said, slightly shaking the Devil from her thoughts. "Did you fall in love recently?" Now Rias turned into a blushing mess and the spirit user gained a cheerful smile before switching to a questioning expression. "Seems like I'm right, but with who?"

"K-K-Kurosaki Sensei. Is it really necessary for you to-" Rias started before Orihime made her guess.

"Issei." She said, causing Rias to blush even harder. "Right again." Orihime's expression suddenly turned serious. "Listen carefully Rias Gremory, this will be the most valuable information you will ever hear in your pursuit of love with Issei Hyoudo." Seeing this sudden change in her teacher, Rias forgot about her embarrassment and gave Orihime her full attention. "He's a timid pervert." She said with full seriousness, causing Rias to face fault.

"I think everyone in school knows he's a pervert Sensei." Rias returned, pulling herself back up.

"I said TIMID pervert, not just perverted." Orihime clarified, confusing Rias. "He'll seek it out but is too afraid to touch. The way he acts implies he's purely lustful but what he truly desires is to love and to be loved in kind. He'll desire sex but only if it's truly what both sides want." The Devil was surprised by Orihime's insight, reaffirming her favor in the woman. If Orihime had a Sacred Gear or even power at all, she would've offered her teacher a place in her peerage in a heartbeat. She truly believed that she could reveal the truth to Kurosaki Sensei, and the woman wouldn't treat her any differently. "That said, I can see hurt in his eyes. Something terrible happened, and he's keeping it bottled up." Rias thought for a moment and remembered when Issei was killed by a Fallen Angel that faked being his girlfriend, breaking his heart in a truly cruel way. "You have an uphill battle Rias, but don't forget what I've always taught in class."

"To always cook with love." Rias answered immediately, reciting what Orihime always said at the end of class.

"Because love makes you focus on others; their needs, how to help, how to reach out, how to connect. You care about your actions, being more careful, being more considerate. It may be a repeated joke in some shows that even with love there's no helping some chefs, but to truly cook and act with love is to truly care about helping others and creating a truly fine dish. That is the key to peace and understanding those that can become friends." Orihime said, making Rias smile.

"Thanks for the talk Sensei." The Devil said as she got up. "I'll try to figure out how I can help Kiba and reach Issei's heart." Orihime smiled, watching as her student left. Once Rias did, the Soul Society agent took out her phone and connected to the surveillance feed connected to Irina and Xenovia, who were meeting with Issei, Koneko, another Devil named Saji, and Kiba. They were at a family restaurant and negotiating their new team up. Looking through the previous minutes of the meeting showed that the Exorcists agreed to the team up in exchange for the Devils to destroy one of the stolen Excaliburs since recovering them is unlikely and ONLY because Issei is technically a Dragon. They mentioned an atrocity called the Holy Sword Project and dropped the name of the monster involved, Valper Galilei.

'This is getting messier by the minute.' She thought as she tried to sense out the Reiatsu of the Gotei forces in Kuoh, finding Grimmjow in hot pursuit of something while three more were fading. 'I'll have to be more active.' She received a text on her phone, stating that some of the Quincy in town gave Irina and Xenovia her address. "And make dinner for three." She said, putting away her phone and holding out her right hand, with four rings on each finger colored red, blue, white, and brown. "Rise Ventus, I need speed." She called, causing a gray androgynous humanoid to appear before her, whisking her away at blinding speeds. She stopped at a park where she found two Quincy and a Shinigami with holes in their chests, each with residual holy power. "No more." She declared with determination. "Shun'o! Ayame!" She called out as a feminine male with a blonde topknot in a red coat and a woman in a pink robe and a red shell like robe appeared. "Souten Kisshun, I reject!" The two spirits split into two smaller sprites that were connected by a dome of orange light, engulfing the Gotei members. The holes in their chests began to close, slowly at first before Orihime repeated 'I reject' causing small balls of light to fly away from the holes and accelerating the healing.

'Freed Sellzen. Valper Galilei. The more I learn about them the more disgusted I feel.' Orihime thought as the healing finished and other Gotei members appeared to help their comrades back to the Kuoh bureau, thanking Orihime as they left. 'What kind of monster are you to recruit such depraved beings Kokabiel?' She wondered before heading home. She had a big dinner to make.

(On a rooftop high above)

"Well, isn't that interesting~." Freed hummed out, watching the events of Orihime's actions play out. "Seems like things are getting much more exciting!" With him was a short elderly man dressed in a priest's attire with gray hair and small glasses.

"Indeed. Though, I'm more interested in those... what did Kokabiel call them again?" He questioned, trying to remember the name. "Zanpakuto? That was such an interesting sword. A shame that we couldn't retrieve any of them because of that blue haired ruffian."

"Indeed, but I doubt he'll keep falling for that illusion I've been using to evade him for much longer." The two turned to see a man with bone white skin, blood red eyes, pointed ears, with ink black hair that reached past his shoulders. He wore a decorative black robe and had ten jet black wings on his back while wearing a sinister smile. "To think the rumors were true and Soul Society is indeed becoming more active." His smile grew more vicious. "Just the thought of crushing these arrogant humans that play at divinity makes my blood rush. But... not yet. Not until everything is ready." The Angel turned his eyes on Orihime as she began to walk away. "She'll be a nuisance. Freed, capture that woman. And try to get Valper a Zanpakuto to study." The two men smiled.

"Understood Lord Kokabiel."