40 : The Shinigami Ganju Saw Today

The dust in the Seirei-tei training grounds hadn’t even settled when Ganju Shiba slammed his palm against the stone wall. "I’m telling you, I saw it! A Shinigami... but not like the others."

Should we look into the of the Kuchiki manor to see if there's any record of a Fortieth Division , or do you want to hear what happened when Ichigo tried to follow the scent? 40 : The Shinigami Ganju Saw

Ichigo, currently nursing a bruised shoulder from their morning sparring session, rolled his eyes. "Ganju, you see ghosts for a living. Be more specific." The dust in the Seirei-tei training grounds hadn’t

"Maybe he was just tired," Uryū chimed in from the sidelines, adjusting his glasses. "The Gotei 13 has been under a lot of stress lately." but not like the others

Ganju’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "He was wearing the standard shihakusho , yeah, but his Captain's haori was tattered at the edges, like it had been shredded by a million tiny blades. And his eyes... they weren't white and black. They were a deep, pulsing violet, like two bruised suns."

"Tired doesn't make you float six inches off the ground!" Ganju shouted, throwing his arms up. "He didn't walk; he drifted. And when he looked at me, he didn't even see me. He just murmured something about 'The Fortieth' and vanished into a cloud of cherry blossoms that smelled like old parchment and ozone."

"That’s what they want you to think!" Ganju insisted, pointing a shaky finger toward the central spires of the Seirei-tei. "But I know what I saw. That wasn't a man, and it wasn't a ghost. It was a memory that forgot to die."