This was written in response to the continuity fail challenge. What exactly was SS or rather the Gotei 13's reaction to Ichigo having a hollow? Why didn't they take action? Read on to find out.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach
The meeting that never happened
It had been a particularly bad day for Soul Society. The members of the central 46 had been revealed to be dead and three of the captains of the Gotei 13 had been revealed as traitors. Worse still, it had taken a band of Ryokas to expose them and finally, the three traitors had been rescued by the hollows they now worked alongside with.
Head Captain Yamamoto signed as he looked around the meeting hall. Howdidthingsgettothisstate?CursethatAizenandhisillusions.Whatadishonourhehasbroughtonus. As he looked around the room and observed the remaining (and mostly injured) captains another thought occurred to him. MaybeAizenkillingthemembersofcentral46wasagoodthing.AtleastIdon'thavetoputupwiththeirpoliticalcrapwhilewetrytosalvagethingshere.
Glancing one more time at the people before him, Yamamoto decided that it was time to begin this meeting. Pounding the floor with his cane to gain attention, he addressed his audience in a deep and authoritative voice.
"Greetings fellow captains of the gotei 13. Thank you for attending this meeting. You may be wondering why I called for this meeting and barred even the Lieutenants from attending. The reason has to do with the ryoka boy, Kurosaki Ichigo."
Immediately several murmurs were heard around the room and a certain 11th Division captain merely sneered.
"Silence. Before we proceed, let me warn all of you that what is about to be said in this meeting is STRICTLY confidential and any leaks will be treason against Soul Society"
Immediately a stunned silence filled the hall. Whatsecretcouldthatryokaboybeassociatedwiththatitwouldbeconsideredtreasontorevealit?
Deciding to be extra cautious, Yamamoto decided to cast a silencing barrier. "*Bakkudo no. 81 – dome of silence!" Immediately the whole room was surrounded by an orange barrier that prevented anything spoken within it from being heard.
Brushing the dust of his gi, Yamamoto then turned to the 6th division captain.
"Captain Kuchiki, please start us off by reporting your observations of your fight with Kurosaki-san."
"WAIT! Why does flower boy get to recount his battle? I fought the runt too!" protested 11th Division captain, Kenpachi Zaraki.
"Because, he did something in my fight that he didn't do in yours." Came the calm reply from the 6th division captain.
"What? Bankai?"
"No. And if you want to know, you might want to shut that obnoxious mouth of yours up so I can continue." Retorted Byakuya.
"Hmmph!"
"NO MORE INTERRUPTIONS!" roared Yamamoto. Ialreadyhaveamigraineasitis. Turning to the Byakuya, Yamamoto nodded his head. "Begin."
"Good afternoon fellow captains of the gotei 13. As all of you have been informed, the ryoka boy and I had engaged in what should have been a fight to the death. During this fight, he revealed his Bankai to me. The bankai itself is not the subject of interest we are to discuss nor is it the fact that he was somehow able to achieve it in an extremely short span of time." He paused to let his fellow captains digest the information.
"What is of interest is that during the fight, there was a point in which he seemed to change personalities, becoming a crazed maniac. I wondered briefly if he had what Captain Unohana termed "Schizophrenia" but then I recalled that during his personality switch, I sensed a change in his reiatsu. It was dark, almost hollow like." He glanced at Unohana as a signal for her to continue the story.
"I can confirm Captain Kuchiki's observations. When I tried to heal him, I sensed an unusual abnormally in his reiatsu. It is my belief that the boy has a hollow within him."
The various captains started to murmur amongst themselves.
Interesting.Thisryokamightmakeaninterestingspecimen. Mayuri was already dreaming up 1001 experiments to try on Ichigo.
Sothekid'sgotaholloweh?Morereasonformetotryandkillhim.Hah! Kenpachi had on his usual sadistic grin (then again all his grins are sadistic)
Before the mumblings got worse, Yamamoto signalled for Byakuya to continue.
"If I may continue please, while the ryoka's personality switch could be due to his hollow taking over, he was able to fight it off and retake control, to the detriment of his own fighting ability though."
As more mumblings rumbled through the hall, Yamamoto rubbed his forehead in annoyance and cracked his cane against the floor. Instantly, all eyes turned to him.
"As you have all just heard, the ryoka boy seems to possess a hollow and seems to be fighting it to stay in control. Normally this would be enough cause for concern and warrant us killing him for the protection of soul society as well as those around him. HOWEVER, this is NOT a normal circumstance."
As he paused, Yamamoto was surprised that the hall stayed silent. All eyes and ears were on him. Maybethisdayjustgotbetterafterall.He joked inwardly.
"If you will recall, the boy's name is Kurosaki Ichigo. Sound familiar?"
"Captain commander, you mean Kurosaki...as in Kurosaki Isshin, the banished traitor?" Soi Fon asked aloud.
"Yes. He is the son of Kurosaki Isshin."
Immediately the murmurings started up again. Businessasusual,Yamamoto groaned inwardly.
"SILENCE! What I am about to say I will say only once. So you'd better listen and listen good. I am sure that you have all heard of Squad Zero, the 'squad that doesn't exist' withing the gotei 13. Contrary to what you may believe, it is not a myth. It does exist and its sole purpose is to guard the royal family."
"Begging your pardon captain commander, but what does this have to do with Kurosaki Isshin?" inquired the 8th Division captain
"I was just getting to that. Squad Zero consists only of former captains and even I don't know the full extent of its members. Now, I know that it was officially announced that Kurosaki Isshin was a traitor. To be honest, that was a total lie. It was made up to disguise 2 important facts. One, that former captain Kurosaki Isshin was to become the new head of Squad Zero; two, to hide the identity of the royal family."
"HA HA HA! Who knew you had it in you to tell a joke old man. That's a good one! Isshin captain of squad 0! Ha! You had me going there for a moment." Zaraki Kenpachi was roaring with laughter, much to the annoyance of everyone else in the room.
"I ASSURE YOU THIS IS NO JOKE KENPACHI! Perhaps you want to see how funny it is when I releash Rujin Jakka?"
"Normally I'd accept but I'm sadly in no shape to fight. Darn!" Zanpaki grumbled as he got back in line. Inwardly even he knew that he would be hard pressed to survive the captain commander's full wrath should it ever be unleashed.
"I hope there will be no more outbursts. You may be wondering how someone like Kurosaki Isshin could become the captain of squad zero? The answer is quite simple. Who better to lead the guardians of the royal family than one of the royal family?"
At this, no one laughed. Everyone just stared as Yamamoto as if he was crazy.
MaybethisisanotheroneofAizen'stricks,thought Shunsui. A quick glance as Hitsugaya showed that he thought the same.
Reading their thoughts, Yamamoto decided to continue. "I repeat, this is not a joke and I am not Sosuke Aizen or under his control. Kurosaki Isshin is the third son of the former spirit king. I say former because the former spirit king died a few years ago. You may recall Aizen mentioning to the ryoka that there was no one on top? He was referring to this fact. How he discovered it is beyond me as only myself and squad zero were supposed to know."
Howmanybombshellsishegoingtodroponus?Wondered Ukitake.
"As some of the more perceptive of you have figured out, this also means that Kurosaki Ichigo is of royal blood. Not only that but from what I have heard, he is being groomed by Isshin himself to take over the throne in another hundred years or so."
Thatarrogantbratthespiritking?WemightaswellsurrendertoAizen;Byakuya was not expecting the turn of events and certainly not amused.
"Isshin is not eligible because he has no hollow powers. The spirit king must possess both Shinigami and Hollow powers and as you have all been told, Kurosaki Ichigo possesses such. Therefore, it is our job to ensure that for the sake of soul society, Ichigo learns to gain control over his hollow. That means, no experiments..," Yamamoto paused to glare at a certain 12th division captain who was muttering something slightly vulgar.
"...and not trying to kill his hollow. Your job is to make sure that it doesn't get out of line. We are also to assist him in his growth as a shinigami. Trying to harm him is equivalent to signing your own death warrant since you would be giving squad zero full permission to kill you. And when they do not even myself or central 46 can do anything about it. Oh, and you may not tell him or his friends or family of anything mentioned in today's meeting."
Pausing to spare them one last glance, he continued.
"In fact, this meeting never happened." And with that, he broke the silencing barrier and dismissed the gotei 13, leaving the stunned captains to reconsider this not so ordinary orange-haired ryoka boy.
*Self invented. Apologize if unrealistic or not following cannon completely.
I apologize for all OOCness
This is my first bleach fanfic. Hope you like.