[CB] Contact (ShibataTim)

His counter-attack had narrowly missed its target, but it was never his intentions to truly harm the man. As his opponent replied with a counter-attack of his own. Thus Tim quickly lifted his blade over his shoulder and the blade was now extended down his side to block the opponents attacks. Luckily he was able to block it with a loud clang. Once the two blades were rested against each other Tim pushed back against his opponents blade.

Then he resettled his stance to face the man, face to face. Now their blades were raised towards each other and Tim lifted his left hand up and opened his palm. It was time now to think of a different route to take. He neither wanted to harm his fellow Shinigami or make an enemy out of them. Whether or not they had any business bothering them. He hoped that this situation could be handled much more peacefully if he did take this route. "Stop, that is enough. It must show badly on both of our parts for two allies against evil to come to blows. I will adhere to whatever you need."

He was already formulating a new way to attack when Tim raised the white flag of surrender. For a moment he stood there looking at the other shinigami. A look of confusing visited his face before becoming one of disbelief. A very perplexing person this man was. Finally he sighed and raised his hands in a shrug.
"Are you sure? You're not going to suddenly run?" He said as he returned his weapon to his sheath. "I mean we tried this before and you decided you weren't going to go peacefully." His sword put away he walked closer to Tim and stood before him. "I want to ask, what brought this sudden non-violence, but at this point I don't care." he shook his head then held out his right bandaged hand. "Give me your sword." he said flatly. With his left hand he motioned for his companions to approach. Both men looked at one another and moved in behind Tim.

"So you're done?" Kim asked. "Figured you guys would go another three rounds."
"Nope, he's surrendering. Right?" he directed the last part at Tim. The other man clicked his tongue and put his weapon away. Doing anything now would reflect poorly on himself. So it was best to leave things at they were.
"I'll take the box. Let's see what he's hiding." He said.
"Whatever." The bandaged man spoke. "Let's take him back to way-station in the 1st district and report this in. Then we'll see what to do with him." Their patrols had several bases for them to contact Seireitei, or resting areas for shingami going through the districts.The closest one was in the next area, it wouldn't take long to get there and then send a butterfly. In that time they would investigate the box and find out what to do with the troublemaker.

Tim nodded his head and extended his arm with his blade downwards to show no signs of aggression. At this point it would show nothing good of Shinigami to fight one another. He sighed before he spoke and held his hands outward, with the box of interests in his left hand. "Shinigami should not fight one another..."

His eyes darted for only a moment to the box before returning to the men now surrounding him. He had originally told them that the box was just filled with random letters and that he was on a test mission for the Second Squad of the Gotei. If he was fortunate enough, the men would see that he had told no lie and see nothing into the the letters. Though the fact of the matter was that he had lied to them and that he was really delivering letters for Academy Students.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Said the man with amber eyes. He was getting tired of standing around and figured they should hurry on their way. His hands grabbed the box and his finger explored his sides. It wasn't a heavy box in the slightest. He gave it a shake and could barely feel the contents stir. The man with the bandages meanwhile took the offered weapon and tucked it into his belt. He took a moment to adjust the handle so it didn't dig into his side when he walked. The third person of their party took up position behind Tim while the other two started to walk down the road.
"Let's go." was all the bandaged man said as they started on the path. They wouldn't mind a quick pace, but they didn't want to draw more attention than needed. The man behind Tim gave him a push.
"Walk." he said flatly. Being the one to watch the rear and keep their captive in line wasn't a job he was excited about. Still he would take it seriously and make sure the man kept in line and didn't try to escape.

Meanwhile at the front the curly haired man was busy trying to open the box. It was a cardboard like substance, but had a wooden like texture. There were several layers of tape holding the flaps closed. Little by little man edged his nails under the tape edge and pulled the strips up. One after the other the strands were freed.
"Just wait until we get back to the base." the bandaged man said after casting a sidelong glance at the other man. "There's no rush."
To that statement the other man snorted.
"Easy for you to say, at least you got to do something." he stated as he pulled the last big of tape off the box and let it flutter to the ground like a feather. "I wanna see this so called intelligence." he said triumphantly as he open the flaps. The wide smile on his face faded as he beheld stacks of envelopes inside. Cradling the box with his left arm he reached inside with his right. He pulled out some of the letters. They were simple envelopes with some writing on the front. Each of them had a name and direction to the person they were meant for.
"Hugh 2nd street, 3rd District West. Shepard 11th block of 2nd District South." He started to read the addresses aloud. The bandaged man reached over and picked up some of the letters as well. Silently he went through the pile in his hands. After a moment he turned back to look at Tim.
"Interesting intel you have here. Looks like letters, but going to people all over Rukongai. Very odd."
"Hey check this out." the other man said as he pulled out more letters. Among the envelopes there was a folded piece of paper. They had yet to read any of the letters, but this one seemed to have no envelope. The man unfolded the paper only to reveal a list.
"Akira Rakuso, Fuka Yotsuba, Satomi Aizaka, Takamichi Naba...." His voice trailed off as he read off the names.
"Is this the names of the people that sent the letters?" The bandaged man asked aloud.

The bandaged warrior took his blade and tucked it into his belt. While the curly haired man confiscated the box in which he had become quite infatuated with. Then the newcomer on the scene took up the position of the rear and pushed Tim against his back. An order for him to march as the original two were in front of him and guided the party to some location unbeknownst to Tim.

As the party of four made their way down the streets the curly haired man had finally managed to remove all of the annoying tape which held the box together. Inside were letters and the men seemed to be under the assumption that their was some form of intelligence inside. Tim chuckled a bit to himself when one of the men guiding him spoke out about intelligence.

"I told you once before that this was a training mission, that the contents of the box held no meaning to anyone, but that of myself. " He said a bit irritated that he was forced to repeat himself. That and he had grown a bit agitated by the fact that fellow Shinigami were impeding him. "As for the list of names, I have not a single clue. I have neither opened the box myself nor contributed to the contents of the box. It was my duty to deliver the box and its contests. Now you and your party members have interrupted that mission and I am sure to fail." He said as he crossed his arms and continued to walk.

The curly haired man turned to regard Tim's answer, and only snickered. It gave a small level of satisfaction to hear him say that. He failed and perhaps would get punished. Served his right for being such an arrogant punk
"Sucks to be you." he said aloud as he looked back at the list in his hand. It was quite long and the penmanship was very clear. He rarely saw guys write so nicely and guessed a woman had written it. Still that was quite the generalization on his part, it could also be a noble or someone that took the time to practice writing everyday. Of course none of these thoughts came to mind as he looked over the rest of the names. Not one of them seemed to be anyone that he'd heard of. But that wasn't saying much as Soul Society was a vast place. To know everyone was impossible. Still he'd lived there for a very long time, not knowing them meant they weren't someone popular.
"Let me see that list." the other man asked as he grabbed more letters. Their pace slowed somewhat as they shuffled through the envelopes. His bandaged fingers dug through the small group. He said nothing as his eyes darted from the addresses to the list and back again. In the passing minutes he finished reading the pile of letters. "Odd." he said passing the papers back to his companion. "None of the names match those on the list. Still some of those names sound familiar." He slowed his pace to fall back to walk with Tim.
"You claim to be on a mission, but I'm starting to think there's something else going on. It's best you come clean now. Once we get to the station our captains will get involved in this matter." he stated
"We can just open the letters and find out what's inside." The curly haired man said.
"No." the man said quickly. "Opening the box is one thing, but If he's right opening those can get us into real trouble."

As he was escorted to their squads headquarters his stomach ached a bit. It could of been from fighting a fellow Shinigami or for the simple fact that he had lied to the men and was soon going to be caught up in his lie. Unfortunately, coming clean now would only show poorly on his part; no matter how badly he wished to. All in all, he only wanted to help the Academy Students giving them up so easily would be hard for him to do. The men rummaged through the box and eyed the list of names, though they should not recognize any of them.

When one of the men almost completely caught him in his lie, he kept his mouth shut. It was all he could do now, there was no place for him to spew out everything or any reason. If their Captain was at their squads headquarters he would deal with Tim, he was not one to give up information so easily to the likes of anyone. The only hope for him now was for their Captain to be lenient or that of his own squad.

Very unfortunately for Tim, he had never actually met his own Captain. It was as if he was a ghost and it seemed rather unlikely that he would come to his aid here. Especially seeing as how Tim was of no real use at the moment for him; that and he wasn't even a high rank among Squad 2. Things truly did look grim for Tim. He kicked the ground under his feet as he walked with the party, growing ever closer to their headquarters. For the rest of the trip he would not utter a single word unless asked a question. It would not serve to get him out of this situation nor did he wish to bury himself deeper.

It would seem the man's words had struck a cord with the younger man. He seemed to be lost in thought considering his options. The man with bandages glanced at the man behind him who shrugged in response. He looked back at Tim and realized he wouldn't get anything out of him. Still his silence spoke volumes. At the same time it left much to speculation. This mission he claimed to be on might be something more than he was letting on. If he didn't know he wasn't told. The whole matter was too suspicious to just let him go. His gut was telling him that something was going on, and it would be wise to do more digging on the matter before they got the captains involved. With that in mind he increased his pace to resume walking beside the first man. He took a look at the list once more. Over and over again he read the names, committing them to memory. His gut again. A list among the letters. It had to mean something, it had to be important.

The remainder of the walk was in silence as the night wore on. The made good time on the empty streets and wove their way through the district. They stopped before a building that looked like all the rest. Without hesitation the two men leading opened the door and walked in.
"Go on." The third of their party said from behind Tim. Ushering the shinigami into their base of operations. Inside was a modest room with a fire place and three tables. It was the middle table that was different from the rest. While the first two were wooden the last was made of metal. It sat in between the two wooden tables. On each of it's four legs was chain with a metal shackle a the end. These legs sank into the earthen ground and metal pole rose from it's center and into the roof. While the table was metal the chairs by it were wooden like the rest. "Sit down." The man ordered while the other two set the box on the table and then moved to the other side of the room. The flickering light of the flames barely illuminated the small shelf there. There was a wooden cage. The bandaged man opened the door and a black butterfly fluttered from the opening. He stretched out his hand and let the creature land on his finger. After a second it took off through the wall as if it wasn't even there.
"Now we wait." He said turning to face the Tim and the rest. "You have until it returns and then there's nothing I can do to help you."

Spoiler:

The bandaged man seemed to be growing impatient with him and as they drew closer to where ever it was that they were leading him, he could only assume their squads headquarters, it became more obvious with every step of the way. They finally arrived to their destination, it would seem, though this building looked very similar to the ones around it. Once they entered the building his eyes had already adjusted to the darkness. Three tables, roughly six or so chairs, two windows and two doors, possibly more, but he could not make out anything else.

He was ordered to sit at the metal table in the center of the room and so he did. Once Tim sat down he crossed his arms and waited. As the bandaged man withdrew a very dark butterfly from some sort of a cage. It landed on his finger and then took off almost just as quick. Tim assumed this was their way of delivering short messages, much like pigeons in the days of old. The bandaged man then stated that Tim had only until the butterfly arrived to spill what he knew.

Unfortunately, Tim didn't know much to be honest. That and he wasn't willing to give anything up to freely and thought it would be best to just wait for their Captain; if he would even show that was. As time went on he could depict more and more out of the building and even contemplating on making an escape, but where would that lead him? If he wanted to run he should of just done that to begin with; no there was no running now.

OOC: lol I took my time and still I made such a mistake. *Doesn't bother to correct it* Yes a real coin was flipped :p

The man with the bandages stood before the fireplace letting the warmth wash over him. Even with all the bandages he felt a slight chill from being outside. Still the heat was just enough to make the room comfortable, but not stuffy. The other man took a seat on top of the wooden table to Tim's left. He sat beside the box that had been left there. After closing the door behind them the third man sat down in a chair on the other end of the table. He let out a sigh as he settled into his seat and put his hands behind his head and yawned. His arms stretched out to either side as the yawn continued. A second later both hands came back to cradle his head.

"Man, I kinda wish we hadn't spotted him." he said as he popped his neck "Now we got to stay out here longer." He dug into his shirt and pulled out a stack of cards held together by a cord. "Wanna play a game?" The other man stopped his glaring at Tim and hopped off the table.
"Sure, why not?" He was about to pull the chair away and stopped. "Should we tie him up?" he asked looking at the other two men. The man holding the cards looked over at Tim.
"Not like he can run, if he did I can catch him." he said flatly as he took the cord off the cards and began shuffling them. The bandaged man shoot his head.
"He's not a criminal, we're just detaining him remember?" he replied.
"I know, I know. Still we don't let anyone else hang out here free like this." Although he knew the man's motives weren't exactly pure, he was right. They didn't usually allow their suspects freedom like this. Truth be told they were usually capturing bandits and other types. Rarely a fellow shinigami.
It was the third man that came up with a compromise.
"How about this?" He pulled a shiny silver coin from his shirt. "Heads we tie him down, tails he stays free." After a moment both men nodded. It was fair enough. He tucked his thumb beneath his index finger. The man gently balanced the coin upon his thumb and held it out for all to see. The coin was suddenly sent airborne as his flicked his thumb upward. It flashed in the light as it spun end over end in the air. Once it reached the apex of it's flight it seemed to hover before dropping back down. The coin hit the table, then bounced. Once, twice, then spun like a top on the wooden surface. The spinning slowed until it fell down flat. "Heads." the man said.
"Heads." the other man repeated gleefully as he moved closer to Tim. He grabbed one of the metal shackles that was connected to the table's leg. From the side of the shackle he twisted the key opening the lock that held it close. "Fair is fair, give me your leg." he commanded. The other man continued to shuffle the cards.

Tim could do nothing to hold back his laughter. If he were going to escape or at least attempt to, he would of done it earlier. He smirked at the man as he flipped the coin in the air; the outcome truly held no meaning to him. One way or another, he was going to be there for awhile.

The coin finally landed on the wooden table and bounced a few times and then twisted. Until it finally rested revealing 'Heads'. Tim would now be shackled to the table, but it meant little to him. As one of the men approached him and made a small comment reaching for the shackle connected to the metal table. In response he offered up his leg to him.

Still, Tim remained silent. There were no words that were necessary for him to say here. That and they wouldn't get him out of the situation that he was in. So, it mattered little as he watched the man bend down to shackle him to the metal table. The others were preparing to play some card game. Tim merely sat idly by with his arms crossed.

The metal shackle was cool to the touch as it was attached to Tim's ankle. There was a click as the lock engaged and the man withdrew the key. He gave a small smile as he stood back up.
"Don't think about escaping." he slapped his hand against the metal pole that rose from the table. "This house has a metal frame, this table is connected to it from the floor and the ceiling. You want out you'll have to move the whole building."
"Not that you shouldn't try." The man shuffling the cards remarked. "It would help pass the time." Both mean laughed and settled in their chairs at the wooden table. The man with bandages shook his head and sighed. After a moment he took a seat at the opposite table and began to unwind the wrapping from his right hand. The minutes ticked away as he loosened the layers of thin cloth rope. He slowly worked his way from his hand to his forearm. It wasn't until he reached the bicep that he turned to look a the men at the opposite table.

The two men had small stack of coins before them. Each held 4 four cards in their hands and a fifth card lay face up on the table. There was a three of spades in front of the first man, and jack of hearts in front of the other. Kim picked up the face up card and set it beside the deck of unused cards. He then drew a new card and shuffled it into card in his hand. A second later he placed a new card face up on the table. It was the king of diamonds. The other man grimaced at this and tossed his cards down. With a smile Kim collected his winnings.
"If I didn't know you, I'd swear you were cheating." The man commented as he took the cards and shuffled them.
"If you didn't know me, you'd be losing more than pocket change!" he cackled in response. "Stop whining and get shuffling." There were only a few coins left in front of the man as he grumbled and started to shuffle the cards. He suddenly stopped and whipped his head about back and forth.
"Did you hear that?" he asked holding his hand up for silence. Both of his allies stopped what they were doing, but nothing could be heard.
"Yeah the sound of you losing money!" was all he said as he started to stack the newly won coins by size.
"I really heard something." He stood up and walked around the room, his friend ignored him while the man with bandages went back to his work. He neared the fireplace and paused. It was then *clank* could be heard. It less than a second later that something fell down chimney into the flames. The next moment there was an explosion and fire flooded the room. The man that had been standing in front of the fireplace took the brunt of the blast, but he wasn't enough completely shield the rest from the force of the explosion. Pieces of his body had been tossed about the room A large chunk of the wall wast gone. Part of the ceiling were missing and cracks were forming on the remaining walls. Kim lay on the ground face down. The blast had sent him into the opposite wall back first. He then fell to the floor only to be buried by debris. The man with bandages had been tossed over the table only to have it roll over on top of him. His bandages completely engulfed in flames as the wood was eaten away by the blaze.

The men were eating away through time while playing cards at the nearby table. Joking to one another and all in all amusing each other; which had brought a smile to his face for some reason. It was an odd smile, but he took comfort in knowing that his fellow Shinigami knew laughter, for some reason he did. The bandaged man took his time removing his bandages and Tim merely sat idly by.

After some time, unknown to Tim, one of the men swore that he heard a sound. At that moment a crackling erupted from the fireplace and one of the men were unluckily standing in front of it. Which in turn sent him flying forward and then covered by debris. The man sitting at the table, the one looking to be winning, was flung over the table and then it landed on him itself. Half of the building was taken down in the explosion directing from the fireplace.

In all of this confusion, Tim was helpless. He could not move from his shackles and the metal table might of in fact saved his life. When the explosion erupted he had ducked down under the metal table for shelter. It indeed took most of the blast head on, though small debris and a little force made its way under the table, but nothing a Shinigami could not handle and Tim for that matter. He did not know who was the cause of this or if they would be friend or foe.

For the second time the tranquil darkness was shattered by the roar of flame. The explosion shook the whole block and for a second illuminated the night sky. People in the adjacent buildings hurried out of their homes. They were lucky that the majority of the blast was contained within the building. Pieces of the structure was blown in various directions after the bomb had exploded. Still it was the fire that came with it that proved to be more troublesome. Already the flames jumped from the burning roof to those next to it. Those in the street screamed in horror as the fire started it's path of destruction. The district people rushed back into their homes trying to save what little valuables they had. At the same time other raised up shouts for the fire brigade. There was no time to waste. They needed to stop the flames before it got worse. The buildings were a combination of stone and wood, perfect kindling. Some attempted to gather sand and rocks from the street to douse the batches of fire from growing further. It was hard to reach the roof from the ground. In the end they only created a small dust cloud with their attempts. Others tried to use wet cloths to slap the at the burning roof.

Inside the building

The building shook as the supporting wall had been shattered. With ever second that passed the fired continued to eat away at the building's innards. From beneath the overturned and burning table the bandaged man groaned. The other man had yet to make a sound. As the smoke filled the room it was hard to see if he was even breathing. The cracks on the walls and ceiling increased in size. Dust and rock started to rain down.

Only time would tell if Tim would survive this and every second he waited to act his lungs filled with smoke. The building was missing about half of its original construction, but that wouldn't completely stop the smoke from choking the life out of him, nor the fire, nor save the other Shinigami. In the end it might be him who saved those who held him captive, a very kind thing to do considering that it was there fault he was even there.

Tim did only what he believed he could. He came out from under the metal table and began kicking as hard as he could at the shackle bonding him with the table. Tried as he may his efforts may of been in vain, but he could not just lay there and die. No, he was a fighter and one that would go onto the end no matter what obstacles tried to halt him. After more and more brutal kicks against the shackle he almost thought that he would break his leg or ankle before he made the shackle buckle and break from the metal table.

"Is anyone still alive? I'm chained to this table, please I can help you!!" Tim cried out and only hoped that at least one of the men was alive and that would come to their senses and free him; if only for the time being. Again and again he attempted to break himself free with strong kicks to the shackle that bonded him with the metal table, yet to no avail.

In truth, if one of the men did set him free he would do his best to help put out the fire and rescue anyone who need it. He was a Shinigami first and the situation that he was in beforehand would have to come later. For it was his duty to help others and furthermore aid allies, no matter how they felt about each other. His fellow Shinigami would understand this or at least he hoped that they would.

The efforts to quell the fire were barely enough to keep it from spreading further. The portion of the district they were in was close to the border with the 2nd. As such it was equally far from both main populace. The fire brigade from either sector would take time to reach them. Still they tried enough to do something. Determined townsfolk gathered buckets and used their precious water to try and douse the fire patches. Those without buckets instead took bowls and pitchers. A thoughtful man got a latter to reach the neighboring roof. Another man did likewise as they formed a human chain to pass the pail and bowls between them. Fifteen men and women handed the leaky bucket back and forth. The first load was to wet the men that were close to the flames while the next was used on the portion of the roof the fire had yet to reach. Even with the cool water soaking their clothing the man felt the heat of the fire wash over him. The man on the other roof was abit more lucky as part of the roof broke off and fell. With that the level of danger had decreased. It would take only a few minutes to ensure the safety of the two buildings, but the one between them was a lost cause. They could only guess it was the source of the fire. They knew it was a shinigami building, but never bothered to ask what went on inside. It would seem that whatever had happened had nearly endangered them all. As the building continued to burn one of the men on the room thought he hear screaming. For a moment he was going to disregard it, but then he spied movement. Was it movement or was it the shifting flames? He couldn't be sure. It was then that the whole building buckled. The spots that were once burning on his roof were now just black smoking patches. As he descended the ladder the middle building shuddered and then it collapsed.

Inside the building

The man under the burning timbers of the table let out a scream as the fire bit into his flesh. In seconds the fired had sought him out. It swiftly devoured the him. Injured from the blast and pinned beneath the table he didn't stand a chance against the hot fiend's advances. His screams were drowned out by the building's stone getting looser and looser. Finally the stone and wood handle no more. The fires intensity had done a number upon it as had the initial blast. United they fell inward from the metal skeleton frame.

It seemed that the others were in just as bad of a situation as him or even worse. Though he could not see anyone through the thicket of smoke. His efforts to break free from the metal table and shackle were in vain. So Tim decided that the only option was to hide. Unfortunately, he would also have to sacrifice a bit of his Gi, he's clothing. He tucked himself under the metal table and tore a section of his clothing off, wrapped it around his head to prevent suffocation from the thick heavy smoke.

From under the table everything else was a mystery. Did anyone else survive this long or were their deaths a sign that his life was close to an end as well? Only time would tell and so he kept to hiding under the metal table hoping that someone would come to his aid. For now Tim was a sitting duck and trapped. He heard no voices and saw no movement, but what he did hear scared him to his core. A loud snap and crackle was clearly heard just before the rest of the building began to collapse. The fire was quickly consuming the building and at that moment a large timber and support beam fell on the metal table. It buckled, but held true.

For as far as he knew he was alone and trapped. The other Shinigami were either dead or trapped just as he was. They and himself would have to wait for a rescue team. Tim only feared that they would be to late to save him and the others.. Under the metal table he could see the fire lapping towards his feet as he tucked himself deeper under the sturdy table. His torn clothing wrapped around his mouth, face and ultimately around his head prevented the thick heavy smoke from suffocating him.

Everyone in the street stepped back as they heard the sound heralding the building's demise. They wasn't a thing any of them could do about it. The fire had taken the entire building it was only natural that it would fall under the flame's brutal assault. It happened in almost an instant. The sound came first and then everything just seemed to fall at once. A domino effect in rapid succession. A cloud of dirt and ash was kicked up into the air afterwards. Some of the residents had only taken a couple of steps back, now they took several more. They coughed as the foul smoke reached their lungs. If anything the sudden collapse did put out some of the fire as the building smothered itself. While the larger fire was nearly extinguished there were still patches of fire all through the wreckage. As the smoke cleared the gather people were shocked to see the metal frame left behind. For many the building had been standing there for awhile, few recalled it's construction. And fewer still had been inside the structure to see the table within. Now scorched by flame the metal box that was once part of the building still stood. Remnants of the roof clung on some pieces of the shattered building's corner. As their eyes traced the metal frame many noticed the pole that jutted down from the center of what had been the room. While most of the room was flat the only place higher than the rest was the area was that below the pole. Only part of the metal table could be seen beneath the pile. Smoke still covered the area so none really noticed the dark void. Their attention was drawn away by sudden shouting.

From down the road several figures were heading in their direction along the main road. It didn't take long for two shinigami to come into full view. The two men came to a screeching halt in front of the scene. Both of them doubled over to catch their breath. Their entire bodies were covered in sweat from the long run. Even if they weren't short on air, it was doubtful either would have anything to say. Each had the look of utter despair on their face. To see their headquarters demolished was a sharp blow. After a moment of deep breaths one of the men grabbed a nearby citizen.
"What happened here!?" he asked shaking the poor man violently. The unfortunate man was too stunned to speak. The wild look in the shinigami's eyes terrified him to the point all thought stopped. He could only stare helplessly.

As the structure crumbled around him, there was only hope in Tim's heart and mind. Hope that he may live through this endeavor; hope that he would see his friends once more, to actually fight and die on a battlefield and not in such a way. Though it seemed that fate was against him and so was time. If not for the metal table that he was shackled to he would of easily lost his life.

He could only see mere meters in front of him and what was there was the layered rubble of the building. He kicked aside a few of the timbers, but a massive beam was in his way. It was impossible for Tim to move the massive beam while he was shackled and furthermore cramped under the table. Now air could at the most seep through and provide him with what he would consider pure oxygen. Though mostly all he took in was thick smoke; which was beginning to dissipate.

Now he screamed out once more. "Help! Help! I'm trapped in the building a long with four other men!" He could only hope that someone was close enough to hear his shouts. It would be quite odd for no one to come to try to help put out the fire at the least, so his shouts should not be in vain. He attempted to kick at the large beam a few more times, but it only served to tire him out more. Low on strength, air and time, he sat on the ground attempted to slow his breathing down to conserve the air flowing in. As well as to not breathe in as much of the black smoke as possible.

The fight with the towns-person and the shinigami diverted everyone's attention from the moving rubble. Tim's actions had gone unnoticed. But his voice wasn't so easily ignored. Everyone froze. For a moment they thought they had imagined it. There was no way for anyone to have survived such a thing. The group looked at the wreckage looking for some sign, some hit as to where it had come from. One of the men hissed for silence as he gazed at the smoldering house. It was then that he spied the pile and in the center. There was no other place with enough room for someone to be hidden from view. Otherwise they might have seen the person already. The next moment he was scrambling over the broken pieces of building to reach the center of the room. He pushed at the chunk of rock that rested on the top of the pile. His companion who still held the citizen by the collar dropped the man and rushed to help. The man nimbly leaped over a small fire to reach his companion. Together they shoved the large rock away.
"Don't just stand there, help us!" one of them shouted as the worked at moving the timber from it's position. Already they could see part of the metal table from beneath the pile. The people of Rukongai looked on for a moment before joining the men in shifting the rocks away from the table. Minutes later the table was clear. They gave a collective gasp as they saw Tim beneath it. "Get him from under there." the shinigami shouted as he looked about the demolished building to see if anyone else might have survived. Hands reached and grabbed Tim's clothes and tried to drag him free. They only made it a foot or two before the chain stopped them. The shinigami shared knowing glanced at one another. Still the first one placed his hand on the chain.
"Hado #3: Crimson strike." The chain evaporated when the burst of red light engulfed it. The people picked of Tim and moved him away from the table. One of the shinigami went to accompany them. The other took his time making sure there was no one else under the table. His hands were covered in black ash.

His cries for aid had finally been heard and a rescue party quickly made their way to his location. One by one each piece of timber and stone was removed from the pile on and around the metal table that had saved his life. Once they could see the table and Tim underneath, they attempted to drag him out, but failed. One of the men was a fellow Shinigami and noticed the chain shackle binding him to the table. He used a Hado spell and broke him free from the table.

With glee he rushed out as quickly as he could manage and was escorted to the street side by a man and one other Shinigami Tim removed his shirt from around his head that he had used to prevent suffocation from the smoke; he quickly put it over his back. After taking in a deep breathe of the fresh air he remembered the others. "There is four other men trapped in their, quickly time is of the essence!" Quickly he attempted to rush pass the men by him and head for the collapsed building. There was only three things on his mind; if the other men survived, his sword and what had happened to the black box.

The shinigami regarded the frantic Tim before turning to the other man. At the same time those town people gave down trodden looks. They had heard the man's shouts, but they didn't rush to action. Each of them had seen the ruined house. They hadn't thought anyone could survive collapsed building, but Tim had miraculous avoided serious injury. If there had been others in that fire they didn't have the metal table to protect them. Should the fire not have killed them the falling debris had finished the job. Now there was only Tim to tell the story of how this had come to pass. Both shinigami knew that the table they had found him under was reserved for criminals apprehended by the patrols. They would have alot of questions for him as to what had happened. Even more so both of them were curious to why Tim was there in the first place. Did he start the fire? Is so why had he remained in the building afterwards. The whole situation was very troubling. Even more so they deeply saddened to know that shinigami had died. If only they had gotten there sooner things might have been differently. At least that's what they told themselves. They could only stare a the smoke as it rose. Someone would be held responsible for this. The shinigami looked at the people gathered.
"We're taking you back to Seireitei." the shinigami said. "You're going to tell us everything." He didn't want what happened to be released to the public.