Remembering Anthony

It was a bright sunny day in Seireitei, shinigami were bustling about here, there, and everywhere. In fact, there might have even been a few people who weren't shinigami, what with the new defense force and the Iramasha anyone at all could be bustling about. However, mostly it was shinigami, and in this particular area of Seireitei it was shinigami of the 5th Division, Antonio's division. Speaking of the 4th seat he was currently sitting in a rarely used area of the Division buildings. Antonio Hernandez was sitting cross-legged (the whole kneeling thing the japanese did just seemed very painful to him), his zanpakutou sheathed and leaning against the wall. Normally someone sitting alone wouldn't be that big of a thing. Maybe they were meditating, or thinking, or just taking a small break. However, this wasn't a normal person, Antonio was well known for being a hard-worker and if he couldn't find work, he'd make work.

The secret to what Antonio was doing was held in his hand, nothing more than a very old-fashioned black and white picture, like the kind found in the early 1900's. In the picture were two people, one was Antonio himself, and the other...was the splitting image of Antonio. The two were dressed in WW2 military uniforms, they were scuffed up and dirty from a good long fight. The picture had been taken all of three days before Antonio died, followed a few weeks later by his twin brother, Anthony Hernandez. Today was an anniversary of sorts for Antonio, it was the day he and his brother had graduated from the Shinigami Academy, becoming full-fledged members of the Gotei 13.

Antonio closed his eyes, trying to bring up the memory of that day, or some other pleasant memory, instead...blood, screaming, the clash of steel on steel...Anthony standing over the fresh corpse of a loyal Gotei 13 member...Anthony trying to convince Antonio to join Kin Iramasha...Antonio standing over his brother, sword raised high and then...

The 4th seated member's eyes snapped back open, a few tears trickling down his cheeks from the memory, the picture crumpled in his fist, "Just wait Anthony, I'll free you."

[Hinawa Kagami]

Another normal, sunny day. Everyone else would like the sun and warmth, but not so for Hinawa - a small quirk from her time as a human, where excessive warmth was harmful to her. She never liked the sun too much, and only tolerated heat when it came from the flames of her boyfriend, Kengo. For her, a normal day like this meant a hell of a lot of paperwork, but she just didn't feel like doing it - so it kept piling up lately, but the 5th Division Captain was known to not care two shits about either the Captain Commander or the Gotei itself. In fact, many people even said that her own heart was made out of ice.
Only very few knew how caring she could be, and it was fine this way. Kagami wasn't a people person - she didn't want to be friends with everyone she met. So everything was just fine. Escaping from work into the lesser used rooms of the 5th Division, she thought to be alone for a time and cool down from all this heat - normal people would call it a normal sunny day - when she heard the breathing of someone near. Her senses were naturally very sharp - she was no extremely strong individual, maybe even the weakest of all Captains, but still a warrior with honed senses.

Sneaking a view through the door of the room where the other Shinigami was sitting with his eyes closed, the ice-cold captain silently watched his suffering, letting out a small 'tch' sound. She could fool many people, but not herself. He was obviously in pain because of something - nobody just cried without emotional pain, not like this. With a sigh, she slammed the door to the room open, standing behind the other Shinigami now - the 4th Seat of her division.
"Seems like you have a small problem of your own, Antonio. Usually, the Gotei doesn't try to get traitors back, you know?" The voice of the small, blonde Shinigami was piercing and cold. Over the black Kimono, she wore the white haori of a Captain, with the sword tied to her side - many people laughed about her small appearance the first time. Until she beat them up, that was. Walking besides him, she suddenly had a quite cold and maybe devilish grin on her face.
"Too bad that I don't play by the rules. Tell me what is going on. I can't have my hardest worker slacking off because of some treacherous problems in the near vicinity, or else nothing will ever get done in this whole division." While her words were cold and seemingly uncaring, Hinawa was silently offering Antonio her help. She would even call in her third seat and boyfriend, Kengo, if need be.

The 4th seat had been busy trying to straighten out the crumpled picture when his captain burst into the room. Antonio's response was rather fast, he whirled around, a look of surprise on his face as he tried to hide the picture inside his shirt while the other went up to wipe the tears off his face. His lips were already working on forming some kind of excuse for what he was doing here, (he had no idea what was going to come out as he couldn't think of a reasonable excuse) then all attempts at an excuse died with the grin on his captain's face. Fortunately, relief followed as he heard what she said, followed by a bit of confusion. His captain wasn't known for caring about people, well most people.

Antonio took a second to think about what he was going to say (his captain's sudden offer to listen to his problem had scattered his thoughts slightly), "He's not." Antonio said, the first thing that came out, then he elaborated, "A traitor I mean, my brother Anthony. He didn't betray the Gotei 13, he was brainwashed by Kin he doesn't know what he's doing." After a few seconds more to gather his thoughts back in fully he continued, "He's not in the near vicinity either, I haven't seen him in four hundred years, not since the final battle between Kin and the Soul King, which also marked the battle me and him had. It ended badly for me." There was a slight wince as he remembered the kido slamming into his back and sending him flying through a wall, "Today was the day me and him graduated from the academy and became shinigami, which is why I wasn't working. I don't know where he is, but I know he's alive, and one day I'm going to find him, and free him from Kin's influence."

[Hinawa Kagami]

"Brainwashing, eh?" Hinawas eyes darkened down, if that was even possible from their cold stare, into an infernal, murderous ice-imbuing stare at nothing in particular. Brainwashing sounded very much like what she had been going through for a time before meeting Kengo. Still, it was harder than hard to read the expression of the ice princess - she was actually a bit amused deep down by how she surprised her subordinate, but to hear her laugh or chuckle was damn near impossible.
"So your brother serves the enemy without even knowing... Sometimes, it's better not to even have family, it seems." The words cold as usual, it was impossible to determine if Hinawa was trying to attack her subordinate with words or not. She turned towards the door again, looking outside into the garden of these rarely used rooms. Her voice seemed to have lost the sharp undertone in her next sentence, though.
"Take the rest of the day off. And if you ever find a way to make contact with him or capture him, talk to me. I'm not commanding the Kido Corps for no reason." The smirk on the face of the ice Captain was suddenly present, a smirk not seen often. Maybe a bit mean, but not evil or murderous as usual. "If worst comes to worst... there's still Urahara."

Antonio nodded, when she reiterated the brainwashing part, but then shook his head when she said they might be better off without family. That part he didn't agree with at all, he loved his brother despite everything. As for the order that came at the last of that... "Take the day...off?" He said stupidly, not really comprehending, "As in, all of it?" The concept of a day off was something utterly alien to the 4th Seat, in fact even this short break he'd taken was considered incredibly odd. Many a 5th Division member had thought to relax when Antonio would appear usually with a phrase such as, "If you have time to lean you have time to clean." Suffice it to say, most of the members weren't fond of Antonio.

"Uh, but what about..." Being the hardworker he was Antonio had already taken care of all the tasks that were absolutely necessary today before he'd taken his little break. Meaning, that he would be making work for himself and for some relaxing members. However, that didn't seem likely if he was going to be forced to take the day off. "D-do I have to?" It seemed that after the day off part he'd missed the whole rest of what his captain had said. A whole day without work seemed like madness!

[Hinawa Kagami]

The Captain sighed, slightly annoyed by this sudden outburst. How could someone be so eager for work? She herself hated nothing more than to be forced to do it. Tons of things to do she didn't have any interest for, and it all just so that nobody in the end would say thank you either. But she wasn't stupid - and knew a reason why people dived into work even on days when they should be sad. Well, it wasn't like she cared or anything. Or that she had any experience herself in that. Nope, none at all.
"Te, do whatever you want." Waving with her right hand in a disregarding manner and a short shrug of her shoulders, her ice cold voice still had some wisdoms left, though. She couldn't just let him walk away like this... Because it would drag the work morale down. Yeah, absolutely, that was all the reason for someone like the ice princess to even care! Oh, she was such a genius, she thought. No way he would find out that she wasn't as evil as everyone belived. After all, she had to keep her respect from them!
"But remember a last bit of advice, will you? Geez, why do I even waste my time with it... anyways: Don't run from your problems, no matter into what. They'll just haunt you later. Learn to be your true self, or you'll regret it later. Not that I would know anything about that, I'm not dumb enough to lie to myself." Turning away from her subordinate, it seemed like Hinawa was about to leave him behind to his thoughts.
"But remember. Tell me once you find anything out about your brother."

Antonio sighed in relief that she wasn't going to make him take a day off. The very thought of such a thing had filled him with panic, the 5th Division would likely collapse without him there to make sure everyone did their job! Oh, maybe the captain wasn't quite as cruel as everyone thought, the sheer strangeness of that thought was completely lost on Antonio. In fact, if someone claimed he was working so hard to try and forget about Anthony he'd look at them in complete confusion, he'd been working hard and harder since long before his brother turned traitor. For instance, when they were only seven or so years old. Working hard had simply been ingrained into him as a result of that oh so long ago Great Depression.

So, her next statement about running away was completely lost on him, as was the being your true self. True self? He already was being his true self! Still, he thought it best not to say such things when she had only so recently agreed to help him. "Right, Captain Kagami, I'll be certain to do that!"