Akane had yet to lead an expedition into the human world in her career, in fact she hadn't been back since her untimely end a few years beforehand. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be a vacation she was after, rather, it was an investigation of strange goings on deep within the catacombs that spanned underneath Paris. Recently, there had been a noticeable increase in the number of people entering these tunnels to never be seen again. It wasn't unheard of for some wayward explorer to simply get lost in the labyrinthine depths and wind up dead, but the numbers that had been going missing was unprecedented. Enough so that the first Division had been called in to investigate.

While initially thankful for her reprieve from the soul society, the young shinigami had hoped for something a little less dire to look into. These tunnels were a hotbed of hollow activity to begin with, from the lost souls who perished there in the modern day to the ancient spirits of the discarded dead. It gave her shivers just thinking about it. So it was fortunate that she had been allowed to bring along an assistant of sorts.

She had sent the request out a few hours before hand, but it wasn't like anything with the First Division seal would go ignored for long. So Akane would stand at the gates that would allow them access to the human world so they could get to work, showing off her usual nervous tic of tugging at her scarf in an attempt to calm down.

Speaking of her assistant, Osamu shuffled his way towards the Senkaimon, yawning. The order to go out into the human world had been a punishment he'd had coming for weeks due to his constant laziness. His captain had hoped that this would give him some clarity as to what his duties were supposed to be about. To that end, he'd rattled off his vows he took at the end of his academy tenure, and immediately received a lengthy sparring session (beating). Nonetheless, he showed up, and while the third seat might have expected some seated member of another squad, she was left with the unseated troublemaker.

Osamu hadn't actually read up on who he was going with, but he was surprised to see the third seat of the first division waiting for him. 'Must be important,' he thought. To Akane, all she would see was a normal shinigami with unkempt hair, a wrinkled uniform, and dark circles under his eyes. Probably no more help to her than an extra body. Osamu Naganori had that reputation, and one that he wanted to keep up, but his track record had proven otherwise. Almost every mission he was sent out on was successful, even with him on it. Surely, that lent some credence to his capabilities.

When Osamu was in speaking distance he raised his hand in a sort of half-wave and uttered a single word. "Yo." In order to validate his presence, he held up the orders he was given by his captain. That other hand was accompanied by a wide grin and a small, mischievous laugh. "What's the plan, Miss First?" He addressed her in a familiar tone, forgoing the command structure that he should have been taught in the academy. In reality he just didn't care, it put too much of a damper on things. He stood there, waiting for her response, whether that be orders or a swift kick in the ass.

Akane blinked and frowned slightly at the introduction of her assistant on this mission. She hadn't heard of him personally, but that was only to be expected of someone who had been within the soul society for such a sort time. He looked the part though, if a little rough around the edges. In fact his greeting didn't particularly bother her, being less than strict when it came to such things. "Hello there, you can call me Akane if you like" The casual nature of this man seemed to help calm her somewhat, they had that going for them for now.

"Well, for now we don't have much to go on... The reports suspect there may be a small colony of hollows in the Catacombs of Paris." Really trhere was less intel than she would have liked, they were heading into an area with an unknown enemy of unknown number... "So I suppose we will just have to go and see what we find"

"Oh, could I get your name? Sorry, I got caught up in planning" From what he could tell so far, despite being in the first division the girl was a bit green. He wouldn't know this was her first mission outside of the Soul Society. "And then I suppose if you're ready we can head off" When Osamu gave the go ahead, Akane drew her zanpakuto to open the Senkaimon. Curiously, her weapon seemed to lack a blade, rather it was simply a grip, but it did the job to tear open a gateway between worlds. A short trip lead by the Jigokucho and they were in the human realm, in an abandoned alleryway in the back-streets of Paris.

Once he saw that the other Shinigami wasn't a stickler for formality, Osamu actually had a sense of happiness. Stuffiness among the ranks was very common, but to see that this one didn't care was more than welcome for him. Seeing as he did show up late on purpose, he felt a pang of regret having stood up someone who wasn't going to give him hell for it. "My apologies, Miss, I should have shown up earlier. I would have, but I've a reputation for bein' a bit lazy, y'know?" His words carried genuine regret for his actions. Osamu normally wouldn't care about his punctuality in any other case.

After that, he would listen to the 3rd seat lay out their plan for investigating the city of Paris, capital of France. It had the reputation of being an old and historic city in the World of the Living, much more interesting than other mundane dots of light that humans lived in. The two Shinigami also didn't have much intel going forward, not knowing if they were just going to clear out a nest of Hollows or something more sinister. Maybe sending a fukutaichou in his place would have been more appropriate, or sending him was just to make this look like a regular mission. Either way, he made sure he was prepared for what might be down there, at least mentally.

As they stepped through and found themselves in the City of Lights, Osamu took a deep breath and exhaled, taking this time to stretch and crack his limbs. He hadn't been in the Human World for a while, and this was a welcome destination for his first mission in a long time. "I am Naganori Osamu, unseated member of the 7th squad. I hope I can be of more help to ya than what my rank says I'll be. Call me Osamu, if you want, Miss Akane. Always more comfortable with it than my family name." Naganori would be one of the minor noble houses that dotted the Rukongai's upper districts, but they never made much noise as far as producing great Shinigami. "Ready when you are, on that note."

The young shinigami shook her head, deciding that getting worried about something as minor as being a little late. "That's fine, as long as you're ready for the mission" She seemed chipper enough, unlike many of the older shinigami she had not had time to become jaded and still held on some hope from her past life that things could indeed be made better if they would only try. As lazy as Osamu might be, his help was certain to be valuable in this strange outing.

It was a thankfully short trip, Akane took in the sights and ensured she was keeping track of any would be attackers. It seemed unlikely up here on street level. "It's good to meet you Osamu! Alrighty then, lets find an entrance into the tunnels... Perhaps we can enjoy the sights after we finish up here" She seemed hopeful at least that this was going to go well. She moved quickly, peeking out of the alley to see exactly what they were looking for. It looked to be a tourist entrance into the complex underneath the city. It seemed to be closed, but unlocked so it was easy enough to step right through the doors and into the dark below.

The areas meant for tourism were clearly marked out, but she couldn't help but feel that they were not going to be on this well lit path for too long. "Do you sense anything?" They wandered for a time, passing through to the end of the tourist section and were faced with a choice. Two dark passageways that spanned off into who knows where. The girl shrugged "I suppose it would be safer to stay together right? Where should we go" If Osamu let her choose, she would head off down the path to the right, and soon into the dark.

Despite his appearance, Osamu was ready for a potential Hollow hive. As the two Shinigami made their way to the Catacombs, he took in all the little sights of the city. It was certainly a different style than the Soul Society, as well as his usual patrol route in Asia. He wondered how diverse the World of the Living was, but he snapped his head back into the mission when he spotted what they were getting into. The walls were lined with all sorts of skulls and bones, and Osamu looked troubled about how the Parisians treated their dead. "I suppose this is one way to pay tribute to the dead, not my style though. The air in here is thick and heavy, but I don't sense anything yet."

As they approached the fork in the tunnels and Akane voiced her opinion, he nodded in agreement. "We don't know what's down here, so we should have each other's back if we get into a fight, don't ya think? As for which way, let's stick with right. Can't go wrong with right...I hope." Osamu let out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his head as a nervous tick. Still, he didn't such much in the way of Hollows quite yet. Perhaps they needed to go deeper into the tunnels. "Before things get hairy, I would like to ask a favor. If these things are stronger than just a band of rogue Hollows, I would ask that you say I was in a supporting role. I don't want to have to deal with paperwork that comes with getting a promotion. It's a bit of a pain, y'know?"

Osamu kept his speech quite vague, not wanted to blatantly say 'Yes, I'm an unseated Shinigami with Bankai under my belt, but I don't want to lead a division.' Hopefully this one could catch his drift that he was at least more powerful than the ranking indicated. Under no circumstances would he want to show off his Bankai here in front of an officer. It would almost certainly get him the belt from his captain, or more terrifying was the prospect of attending meetings. The Shinigami visibly shuddered at the thought.

"I suppose at the time it was nessecary... I don't see the appeal myself" Akane would take the lead once more, her bladeless zanpakuto held ready in-case of a sudden attack. With the two of them there, surely they would be able to pick out any would be attacker by their using their own sensory ability. It just never hurt to be too careful. There was a sudden gasp however as the girl fell forwards into the darkness. There was the sounds of a shuffling of feet and a soft thud followed by silence. "I'm fine!" a slightly startled voice stammered out "It's just slippery, be careful" Should Osamu follow along he would find the ground suddenly shifted from a stable solid footing to what seemed to be a ramp of sorts, sending him deeper into the catacombs.

Akane had fixed herself up by the time he got there, and now it seemed they were on a new path with a flickering light at the end. In fact, as they grew closer it became multiple lights, candles from the looks of things before they stepped into a larger room. It had the same asthetic as the rest of the tunnels so far but thankfully the candles lit up everything before them. At least until they had time to adjust and see just what was before them.

The room itself was suprisingly large, shaped almost like a dome the extended beyond the candlelight. They could see many humanoid figures all sitting in a circle around a central point. It would dawn on them quickly that each and every figure was a corpse in varying states of decay. Some seemed old, rotten down to bare bones to recently fresh. What would be more startling was the demi-hollows that began to crawl from the ground. "What... what is going on here" She stepped back as the humanoid creatures as the strained on their chains of fate tying them to their long dead bodies. They were far enough back that the massing hollows couldn't reach them, but beyond the hellish groans of agony, a calm voice would whisper to them both.

"How foolish, coming all alone. Whatever shall we do with these little interlopers" It wouldn't be accurate to say a voice had rung out from the darkness to goad them. It sounded more like a choir of voices all speaking in harmony. Countless voices somehow speaking as one to them. Though even now they couldn't sense anything around them, other than the massing spirits before them.

After seeing Akane slip down the ramp, Osamu tapped his foot along the edge in order to get his footing, then slid down the ramp to where she was in a somewhat smooth manner. He got rid of the dust on his uniform and then examined the situation around them, gawking at the amount of souls he was looking at, as well as the ritualistic looking circle in the middle of the dome. "It's almost like a cult. I'm not necessarily surprised, though. There are cultures around this world and even some sects in Soul Society that do this, if you believe the rumours."

Osamu didn't seem that disturbed by the spectacle he was addressing, but he was preparing for what might come next. Depending on how long this had been going on, the Hollow that resided here could be exceptionally powerful. The being's voice broke the calm look on his face, and he turned serious really quickly. The dark-haired Shinigami spoke out to the voice in a patronizing tone. "Found the demon they sacrifice to at least. Show yourself instead of using that lovely radio voice."

Even with that tone, Osamu kept a grip on his Zanpakuto, occasionally looking over at Akane to see how she was responding to the voice. For now, he kept his Reiatsu suppressed, not wanting the creature to know his true strength for the time being.

Akane was clearly tense, holding her weapon tightly before her, having immediately unleashed her own Bankai. There was a shimmering of golden light issuing from her body as this happened, accompanied by a surge in spiritual pressure. Enough to send the demi-hollows reeling back towards the stone arch before them. Though the creatures couldn't escape, some began tearing at eachother in a mad push to try and run away. This level of power wasn't what one might expect from such an unassuming looking Shinigami, but there was clearly a reason she had been granted third seat in the first division.

Unfortuantely, despite this power she seemed to be frozen in place. Unsure if she should charge forwards or run away. She was so focused on the threat before them she couldn't respond to her comrade's comment on a potential cult that might have formed.

As if rising to this challenge, the creature released its own spiritual pressure from wherever it was hiding. It drowned out the numerous demi-hollows in an instant and filled both Shinigami with a looming sense of dread. It was like nothing they would have encountered before, outside of perhaps the likes of the Captain Commander letting loose on his power. Some of the weaker hollows almost immediately crumbled at it's might, vanishing into dust. "Perhaps if you survive I will grant you an audience" It chided, the creatures almost soothing voice contrasting completely with the malice behind those words. A glistening black tendril would appear from the darkness, forming into a blade that proceeded to swipe across the hollows that were attempting to flee, severing the chains that bound them to their bodies. It took only moments for this horde to charge the pair, ready to over-run them if they weren't prepared.

The intensity of Akane's Reiatsu was new, and he didn't expect the 3rd seat to have achieved Bankai. Her Reiatsu felt heavy, but whatever the creature had released was another thing entirely. Surprisingly, he could still stand and move around in its Reiatsu, something that would probably put off Akane. The sense of dread washed over him, and he remembered his training. He was a powerful Shinigami, as was Akane, and he would get through this alive or otherwise. Osamu took a deep breath and gently placed his hand on his comrade's shoulder, knowing that her being tense wouldn't help. "Relax, you aren't alone in this Miss First. Make the call, and we can run."

After seeing the wave of Hollows begin to dash towards them, Osamu stepped towards them. Cool as ever, he drew his sword, and grinned his widest. "Oh this might actually be fun....Bankai!" The man's Zanpakuto was tossed into the air, disappearing into the ceiling of the dome. "Tetchū Matsubayashi!...." A Reiatsu that no unseated Shinigami should possess broke free within Osamu, coating him in an aura of green Reiatsu. The space around them began to distort, flickering until every spiritual being within the dome was in a large valley surrounded by tall, snowcapped peaks. The area around them was brightly light, and suddenly, a wave of trees shot through the ground and grew towards the sky. The roots lashed towards the horde of Hollows, and started to skewer and tear apart each one. The man seemed to direct the roots with his hands, or at least through an extension of his mind.

Soon enough, they were surrounded by a myriad of monstrous pine trees, and Osamu stood proudly among them, laughing like an idiot. He turned to Akane, still having the shit-eating grin on his face. "Make the call, Miss First, do we stand, or do we live to see another day? I'm not even sure we can beat this thing." The laughter he exhibited was clearly a coping skill, as the cheery laughter quickly turned nervous from the passive dread the Reiatsu from the creature emitted. "Oh damn this is scary...Today is a scorcher...Wonder where Kine is right about now. She always likes to see me choke on my foot."[/color]