Renji Fudo took a sip of tea. "I'm a vice captain now. Things are different than when you were younger."

"That's the whole point of what I've been saying!" Shouted Yoshiko Shihoin, locks of her dark purple hair falling out of place as she leaned forwards. "I'm all my clan has left," She added, much quieter. "Yushiro is crippled now, and Yusuke was killed in action his first week on duty. You have to understand how much I need you, Renji."

Renji set down his cup of tea on the table, and looked at Yoshiko for a moment. Her cheeks were flush with emotion, amber eyes beginning to glisten. "...It's still not an easy decision to make, because of how it would be for you-"

"Stop trying to protect me!"

"What else do you expect me to do?!" Shouted Renji, slamming his palms on the table and standing up.

Yoshiko looked up at him, backlit as he stood beneath the cherry tree in the tea garden. "Renji…? No… no, you can't be-" Before She could finish the sentence, a sword seemingly spontaneously manifested clean in the center of Renji's face, pinning him back against the tree. Yoshiko shrieked in horror, falling backwards out of her chair onto the lawn. The blood was quickly welling out of the wound, dampening the front of his uniform. "No! NO…!"

"Lady Yoshiko, what's the matter?" One of the Shihoin servants ran out to see the cause of the commotion, and stumbled to a stop when they came on the scene. A strange sword, most likely a soul cutter, had pinned the vice captain of Seventh Squad to the ancient cherry tree like a mere bug. The man's once lithe and powerful form was now limp, his rugged features split in half by the twin blades of the sword.

"Central…" Yoshiko started, trying not to hyperventilate. "Send a hell butterfly to Central Forty-six. Renji Fudo has just been murdered."

C=={======

"No. This is different."

"A vice captain is still dead, Captain-Commander."

Shunsui Kyoraku sighed. "The body is genuine. We've established that fact by now. Aizen has been returned to his cell, and both he and the suspect are completely outside of the social circles the victim and Lady Shihoin move in."

"But who else could have done it?!"

Shunsui narrowed his eye at the Central 46's investigation committee. "That's what my squad's investigation is looking to determine. This will not be another 'Aizen' incident. You have my word."

"And you'd better keep it. If you keep bullying the council around and are proven wrong here, there will be serious repercussions."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Shunsui said casually, turning to walk away. He sighed again as he came out of the hall, and began Flash Stepping back to his squad's buildings. The situation was bizarre, certainly, but he was sure this wasn't the doings of Aizen or a completely random act.

Several moments later, Shunsui arrived back at Squad One's grounds. He headed into the main office, and was straight away met by one of his vice captains, Nanao Ise.

"Captain," She greeted him, with a quick nod. "This is Lady Yoshiko Shihoin."

"Sir, good evening." Yoshiko said with a bow. "I heard the suspect was being held on your grounds, and would like to request a brief talk with them."

"Ah. Well, I'd love to, but I have to keep this squeaky clean for Central Forty-six." Shunsui beheld Yoshiko for a moment, seeing the strong resemblance she held to the rest of her family. He'd heard of her as the quiet and dutiful one of the bunch, and could see she was deeply affected by what had happened. "But how about this, Miss Shihoin: I'll let you sit in on my initial interrogation. I won't be getting to anything juicy most likely, but it'll let you get a feel for the suspect. Would that be okay?"

"Yes, Captain-Commander."

"Alright then, come with us." Shunsui said with a smirk. The suspect was being held in the jail beneath the building, in one of the lighter security cells, but had been moved to his office in anticipation of the interrogation. "How've you been holding up since the incident, Miss Shihoin?" He asked, as they headed down the hall.

"...I'm still in shock. It just makes absolutely no sense. Renji and I had never met her, not even once or in passing."

"It is pretty weird, yeah."

"Have you ever met her, Captain-Commander? What's she like?"

"Ah, I haven't met her, either. According to the records, she got transferred out of First Squad and promoted back when Old Man Yama was still around, so she was out of here before I came in."

"So they're an officer…" Yoshiko whispered, her gaze fixed on the floor. Shunsui noted the intensity of the expression on Yoshiko's face, and thought that perhaps she and the deceased were much closer than publicly known.

Giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, Shunsui said, "Relax. If we could get Aizen, we'll get to the bottom of this, too." After going up the stairs they came to the main hallway, which the door to the office was in the middle of. Knocking once, Nanao slid the door open.

"Captain-Commander! What was the delay?" Asked Genshiro Okikiba from where he kept watch over a woman seated and facing the desk.

"The investigation committee was panicked; had to calm them down some before we could really get to talking." Shunsui nodded, silently signaling to Genshiro he was free to go. With a nod of his own Genshiro left, motioning to where a few folders were on the desktop. "You can have a seat to the side, here," Shunsui whispered to Yoshiko, pulling out one of the empty chairs.

Trying her best to remain calm, Yoshiko turned the wooden chair to face the woman and got her first good look at the suspect. They wore the short sleeveless jacket with purple edges of Squad Six's elite, and appeared to be tall though they were seated, having a broad-shouldered and athletic figure; their dark hair cut in an inverted bob that framed their face well. Yoshiko noticed the woman looked a little pale and tired, and though her looks had not benefited from the arrest, found the suspect entirely too attractive for someone who had possibly done what she had. Sensing the intense scrutiny, the woman turned to look at Yoshiko, a neutral expression on her face.

Clearing his throat, Shunsui began, "Let's start with the basics. Name?"

"Rin Takanade," The woman answered. Yoshiko crossed her arms as she leaned back in the chair. Rin's voice was a low soprano, well-rounded and smooth; it was definitely the voice of someone used to wielding authority, she thought.

"Age?"

Rin raised an eyebrow at the question. "Three hundred and eighty-two."

"Really? You don't look a day over ninety," Shunsui said in jest. Rin did not appear amused, and he continued, "Occupation?"

"Soul reaper, eighth seat of the sixth protection squad of Soul Society."

"Soul cutter name?"

"Mountain Bell."

Shunsui nodded, and pulled the sword in question from under his desk. "You are to do nothing more than release your sword and then return it to its sealed state." Unsheathing Mountain Bell, Shunsui laid it across Rin's lap.

"Sound the alarm, Mountain Bell!" With a very faint tone and a flash of light, Mountain Bell took its shikai form: the twin blades similar to a tuning fork, but with a katana's tip shape, leading into red spherical gem at the top of the handle. The handle appeared like weathered wrought iron, and around the middle segment were more gems like the one on the handle; the pommel was a heavy iron ball the size of a fist with more of the red gems on it. Closing her eyes to focus for a moment, Mountain Bell glowed and shrank back to its sealed state. Rin looked up at Shunsui, but his expression was unreadable as he took her soul cutter back from her cuffed hands.

"This… creates more questions than it answers…" Shunsui thought as he returned to his seat. Rin had just confirmed that the soul cutter that killed Renji Fudo was indeed hers, but it had very clearly been in its sealed state just a moment ago when the general information page in her file had noted it to be a continuous release type. Going further down the page, Shunsui asked, "Commissioned or enlisted to your squad?"

"Enlisted."

"From the academy?"

"From the academy," Rin confirmed.

The same information was on the page in front of him, but there were no concrete grades as there might normally have been in the academy section. Instead were the inconclusive praises "fast learner, great swordsmanship, overall good student". "...Alright. Now for the two obvious questions. First: what is your relation to Renji Fudo?"

"The only one we had would be our professional one as officers of the protection squads," Rin answered, looking down at her hands. Peering closely, Yoshiko saw Rin was more tired in her spirit than physically tired. "I'd seen him before at the large officer meetings between squads, but we'd never spoke." Rin glanced over at Nanao as she kept the minutes, and briefly at Yoshiko. "I'd heard of him as being a very solid and loyal man, and an excellent field commander. I never knew or met him personally, and his persona didn't irritate me." Rin shrugged.

"And the million kan question: how in the Hell did you throw your soul cutter all the way across the Court of Pure Souls?"

"It's… the same concept as a Flash Step," Answered Rin, looking up towards the ceiling of the office. "But the current is focused on the sword, instead of your feet. Less mass to move means the flash can be much farther."

"Much farther, nice," Shunsui deadpanned. "But all the way across the Court of Pure Souls?"

"I sure you could flash your own soul cutter out into the Rukongai mountains if you tried."

"I'll just take your word for it. Now," Shunsui said, leaning back from the file, "You've been cooperative so far. So tell me why you did it."

Rin fell silent for several moments. "...I had no idea it was the vice captain. I sensed an… evil resonance, and acted on instinct."

"Instinct?" Shunsui asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "You're an experienced officer, and you seem to have your act together."

"...It was something I encountered in the past," Rin said, almost too quietly to be picked up. Looking Shunsui straight in the eye, she raised her voice and said, "I swore to myself that if I ever encountered it again, I would destroy it." Rin sighed. "What's done is done. I did it; you can go ahead and put me away."

"Alright, alright. There are some things we have to confirm before we do that, but I appreciate the honesty. Now, what is your relation to Yoshiko Shihoin?"

Confused, Rin answered, "None whatsoever, Captain-Commander. I'd heard that the heir Yushiro had been crippled several years ago, but that's about all I know of the Shihoin family. If you don't mind me asking, what does she have to do with this?"

"Eye witness," Answered Shunsui, carefully keeping eye contact with Rin.

"But I was alone in my squad's training grounds…" Thought Rin. "I was so far away when I threw Mountain Bell. If you don't mind me asking, Captain-Commander, what squad is Miss Shihoin in?"

"Second, as is the tradition for the Shihoin house," Shunsui explained. "Lady Shihoin was with Vice Captain Fudo when he died."

"Oh. Well, pass on my condolences to her, as well."

Yoshiko could barely contain herself as the interrogation went on. Every little gesture, every hint of resignation to her sentencing, and especially that off-hand apology without even recognizing her, irritated and disgusted her. "True, nothing juicy. But I've heard all I need to hear about this woman," Thought Yoshiko. "If she wants to be put away, that's fine with me."

As Rin glanced at Nanao taking notes, a thought came to her. "Captain-Commander, why isn't Central Forty-six handling the investigation?"

There were a number of reasons Shunsui had for personally leading the investigation, but he decided to say, "This isn't as clear cut as something like giving your soul reaper powers to a human or trying to attain a hollow's powers, so I'm taking a little bit of the burden off their hands while-"

"Sorry, but- I literally just told you how I murdered a vice captain a few minutes ago."

"Like I said, we have a few things to confirm still."

"I'm sorry, sir. I'll just have to trust your judgement here."

Shunsui smiled, seeing how Rin's sense of justice would have fit well in Squad Six. "What made you take the transfer to Squad Six?"

Rin's eyebrows jumped up in surprise. "Well, I suppose it was mainly the change of environment. I knew Captain Kuchiki was a tough but fair leader, so I felt it was a safe place to grow and learn." Giving a sheepish smile, Rin added, "And they have a strong kickball team."

"It seems like you would have done just fine in Squad One."

"It was a good place. My time there, being around Captain-Commander Yamamoto and the other seated officers, really prepared me for the promotion."

"And how was your time at the academy?" Shunsui asked, a slight smile on his face.

"It… was busy. I spent most of my time studying, and going through lots of tests."

Shunsui noted the brief dark look that came over Rin's face before she answered. Studying and training could only contribute so much to that, he knew for a fact. "How did your advance placement missions go?"

The look of alarm and surprise on Rin's face at that question was much more evident. "Smoothly. There were several close calls, but I was able to sense the dangers and help keep my team safe. None of them were injured by hollows."

"Very nice. And, I suppose, those world of the living missions helped you graduate early?"

"No, Captain-Commander. I stayed the full six years." Shunsui found that hard to believe- in fact, he was reasonably sure it was the first lie Rin had told during the interrogation- but didn't show it.

"Alright. Well, Miss Takanade, thank you for your cooperation. We'll be in touch with you soon as the investigation continues." Rin nodded, and Shunsui looked over to Nanao. "If you wouldn't mind, escort her back to her cell real quick. There are a few things I'd like to go over with you in private once you've done that."

"Right away, sir." Putting the minutes neatly down on the desk, Nanao walked over and motioned for Rin to stand, then led her away by the forearm once she did so.

Waiting until Rin and Nanao were out of the room, Shunsui asked Yoshiko with a reassuring smile, "So? Your first impression?"

"Her… casual resignation doesn't sit well with me, Captain-Commander. I feel like she doesn't know or care what she's done." Yoshiko smoothed down her uniform on her lap, and took a deep breath. "But if she wants this to happen, then I won't be opposed to it." Yoshiko looked up to Shunsui. "And your first impression?"

"She's cute! I can tell she's got a little fight in her," Shunsui said with a chuckle. "She seemed a little reserved, but there's still plenty of time to follow through with the investigation." Almost hearing Yoshiko scream the thought at him, he added, "Relax, I'll be taking this seriously. Miss Takanade doesn't seem like the kind of person you can just rip information from, so I'm gonna be taking a gentler approach."

"I see."

"I know it's not the way your family or captain usually handle interrogations, but it works. If she's comfortable, she might share information that otherwise wouldn't come out."

Yoshiko nodded, though she was still displeased. "I wish you success with the investigation." Standing and bowing, Yoshiko asked, "If I may, Captain-Commander?"

"You're free to go," Answered Shunsui, gesturing towards the office door. As Yoshiko turned to go he looked back down at Rin's file. Her time at the academy stood out to him the most, but more questions had been created than answered. There was a lot to coordinate with Nanao, and he took out a spare piece of paper from a desk drawer to start a checklist.