Road to Redemption

Chapter 20: New Year's

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken me so bloody long to update. These last few chapters are going to be a bit longer than usual and I move also been writing the prequels first chapters so that maybe I can make a faster schedule for these babies. Reminder that after this there are only two chapters left until the prequel, so be ready for that. As always feel free to vote and comment. Thanks for reading! 😉

©Bleach and it's characters don't belong to me. They belong to Tite Kubo and Shounen Jump. Only Anna, Shizuka, Hibiki and Mitsuru belong to me.

Chapter 20: New year's

"It is as you said. I told them everything and the group fell apart almost immediately." Ginjo's voice echoed in the dark office, the only light came from the blue communication pendant.

Anna chuckled. "Of course, it's clear the Kurosaki boy still has strong ties to the Soul Society, the rest of them, however, aren't as biased. It's natural they'd split apart after receiving such information."

Ginjo hummed. "It's a shame really. They are just a bunch of nice kids that got forced into this mess by mistake. I thought that after what happened to me and...the others, they would not involve human teens in their plans anymore."

He heard Anna sigh. "I know, but we cannot allow any casualties to ruin our plans. If we want to stop them from repeating this cycle forever, then we need to win. Failure is not an option."

"Got it. I'll keep an eye out, but for today I'm drinking for three."

"Don't you always?" Anna's cold voice switched to amused. "I'm sure Hibiki and Mitsuru would give you hell for doing this shit every year."

"It's probably why I do it. I'll see you soon, get some sleep nerdy girl."

"Same goes to you pudgy."

The communicator stopped glowing and the room went dark. Instead of turning on the light, Ginjo placed a few candles in front of a shrine that held two photos.

"Happy new year fools."

Afterwards, he raised a glass of wine and began drinking.

***
"Do you think they'll be up by now? I really don't want to wake them." Orihime said as she clutched the boxes of pastries in her hands.

"According to Chad, they all wake up early. It's almost 10 so I'm sure it's ok."

Ulquiorra remained quiet. He hadn't been able to sleep well after yesterday's incident, so when Orihime suggested baking goodies for their fullbringer friends he didn't refuse. Cooking often helped take his mind off things, he'd never thought he'd grow to enjoy it so much, it was probably Orihime's influence that turned it into something so dear to him.

Along the way they ran into Shizuka who was heading for the club as well, and now they were spending their morning with the fullbringer group.

"Good morning everybody!" Shizuka announced after they walked in.

To his surprise, everyone was already awake. The only person he didn't see was Ginjo, he assumed the fullbringer leader was probably training.

"Hey you three. Seems like everyone wanted to stop by today. Sado has been down training for almost two hours." Jackie was sitting at the bar beside Riruka and Yukio

"That's a funny coincidence, but we're not here to train. Ulquiorra and I were baking this morning and thought you guys might want some goodies."

"That's sweet of you, sit anywhere you like we have the place to ourselves. Hey, Giriko is breakfast ready yet?"