Title: Five Years
Author: darkling59
Rating: T
Date: 7/12/2013
Disclaimer: Bleach and all related characters, plots, etc. do not belong to me.
Warnings: AU/fix-it fic, time travel (sort of…), assumptions about pre-series events and timelines, no pairings, some intense language
I WILL NOT be including anything from the current manga arc. I've already plotted this story and I'm not really staying up to date on the 'revelations' in the manga. Therefore, the information I use will be how things stood at the end of the arrancar arc.
Chapter 4: Abduction
Despite his intense desire to have friends and comrades, Starrk wasn't really a 'people person'.
Oh, he'd worked with the other espada, of course. He'd even lived among the arrancar in Aizen's army for a brief period of time. But prior to that there were centuries upon centuries (perhaps millennia) of time spent alone. Even Lilynette was a fairly recent addition and, since she was a part of his soul and suffered from the same social isolation he did, interacting with her hardly prepared him for bonding with anyone else. As a result, he wasn't very good with other people. The fact that the only 'other people' he had access to were hollows that would rather stab him in the back, rip is throat out, or flee in terror from his presence didn't help matters.
Trust did not exist for hollows, at any power level.
Therefore, when he returned to Hueco Mundo with Ichigo's hollow powers sealed into sword form, his immediate reaction was to hide it in the deepest, darkest place he could find, beyond the reach of hollow, shinigami, and everything in between. The amount of potential power bound in the weapon was frightening and the last thing he wanted was Aizen (or any of his minions) to get his hands on it. If everything worked out the way he intended, the sword (and the malevolent spirit it contained) would remain dormant until Ichigo was ready to re-integrate it into his soul at which point…well, that was up to the human.
He never even considered using the power for himself.
He also never considered informing Harribel of its existence.
To the pack of female hollows led by Tier Harribel, Hueco Mundo seemed to steadily be growing smaller. The changes must have been happening for decades, but they were so small that no one noticed; a new scent on the wind, occasional strange sounds in the distance, holes to the Gillian Forest staying open longer than normal, fewer evolving hollows, more modified hollows…
It was only after gaining her future memories that Harribel started to notice and realize the source of the changes. Aizen had been manipulating Hueco Mundo for far longer than anyone had known. Now, she found herself crossing trails left by arrancar on a weekly basis and eyeing the distant, massive form of Los Noches with suspicion and trepidation. Three months ago she'd been one of the most powerful creatures in this dimension with little to fear and more than enough reiatsu to keep her pack safe. Now, even a mid-level Adjuchas-class arrancar would be able to meet her in an equal battle. And as Aizen created increasing numbers of arrancar and their trails appeared more often and closer to her home, the possibility of such an encounter became more likely.
Theoretically, her new 'ally' should give her an edge, but his power was less useful than she'd hoped.
Starrk didn't seem to have any interest in using his abilities. Despite the anti-Aizen stance he took during their first meeting, he had yet to make any definitive move against the shinigami and didn't appear to have any plans to change that. He was content to exert minimal effort gathering information and then wait to see what would happen. To Harribel, this sounded like a very bad idea. Los Noches was already buzzing with activity and hostile arrancar became more common every day. The longer Starrk refused to act, the more resources Aizen amassed and the more dangerous he became. She believed in actively dealing with a threat; not spending time looking for information and making backup plans. Even if they wound up killing more people than absolutely necessary by taking immediate action, sometimes sacrifices were necessary.
She did not understand his unreasonable fear of confronting Aizen. Perhaps it was because her memories were incomplete, but the lord of Los Noches was just one shinigami…surely it couldn't be that difficult to kill him if they worked together?
But Starrk did not share her point of view and as more time passed, Harribel began to seriously think about exploring other options. Ones that did not include the other ex-espada.
.X.
"What did you learn in the human world?"
Starrk, reclined comfortably on a sturdy lower branch of a crystal tree, did not open his eyes at Harribel's inquiry. He'd returned over a week ago but had only come back to her territory today. It took longer than expected to find a reliable hiding place for the sword (one he didn't think Aizen or his minions knew about). Lilynette had fun exploring and discovering the nooks and crannies of Hueco Mundo but he'd found it tedious even if the end result had been positive.
"Starrk." He could tell from her tone that she'd crossed her human arm over her chest. "Are you listening to me?"
He gave a deep sigh and turned onto his side to stare down at her. "Can't this wait?"
The Vasto Lorde didn't say anything but he could sense her disapproval. If he insisted, she wouldn't press (he was the more powerful hollow and she was not yet confident he wouldn't react violently if provoked), but she would stand there and stare at him until he caved and told her what she wanted to know.
Ten minutes later, he finally gave up trying to sleep and sat up on the branch, shooting her a sleepy glare without much anger behind it.
"What?"
"Did you find any answers in the human world?"
"Eh…" He shrugged one shoulder. "The humans don't remember anything. There weren't any shinigami monitoring for Garganta so they probably don't remember anything either. "
Harribel's brows drew together and she frowned deeply behind her mask. "No one remembers anything? Who did you speak to?"
"The girl Aizen kidnapped and one of the kids that came to rescue her. She couldn't even see us and he only remembered a little bit when he was dreaming."
"So they do remember something."
Starrk shook his head. "The kid's memories had something to do with his hollow abilities."
Her eyes widened. "Hollow abilities?"
"Yeah." Starrk yawned. "Is that all you wanted?"
"Not quite." She shook off her shock, consigning that tidbit of information (a human with hollow abilities?) to the back of her mind for later consideration. "What are your plans with the shinigami?"
"Well…" He rested back against the crystal trunk, gazing out pensively over the moonlit sand. "I ran into one of them in the human world, but he didn't show up until we were leaving, so I doubt he knows anything."
Not until he ran into Starrk, anyways. The arrancar decided to keep that to himself.
"And your current plans? Will you still try to speak with one of them?"
With a grimace, the arrancar lay back down. "Yeah. It's either that or try Aizen."
"And you believe a shinigami in Soul Society is favorable to Aizen?"
"Aizen is a last resort." If the traitorous shinigami found out Starrk existed, that would be it. Do or die. Aizen would not rest until Starrk was under his control or dead, and neither option sounded appealing to hollow in question.
"Very well." She was dissatisfied with his answer, but let it pass. "I assume you have a plan."
"Well…"
"Yah, and it's stupid." Lilynette chimed in from a different tree several meters away, startling Harribel. Normally it was obvious when the girl was present (she was hardly inconspicuous) but not this time.
"Lilynette…" He grumbled and threw one arm over his eyes. "I'm open to suggestions."
"I suggest you not be an idiot!"
"What, exactly, is the plan?" Harribel interjected.
The male arrancar sighed. "Basically, I need to isolate a shinigami somewhere none of the others will be able to reach and ask him some questions."
"That sounds…reasonable."
"Reasonable? HA! He wants to kidnap a shinigami captain and bring him to Hueco Mundo!"
The Vasto Lorde stared at Lilynette, absolutely speechless, and then turned a disbelieving gaze on Starrk who grumbled and threw the other arm over his eyes.
"Look," He caved under the weight of female incredulity and began his explanation. "It's perfectly logical. The only ones that fought against the espada, and therefore the only ones who might have relevant memories, were captain-class shinigami so we need a captain. We can't question him in Soul Society because the other shinigami would be able to sense us, so we'll bring him to Hueco Mundo."
"'We'?"
"I thought you were interested in finding answers. You don't want to be involved?"
Her eyes narrowed at his nonchalant tone but evaded answering. "Based on your description, you have a target in mind?"
"Mhm. It's-."
"A really bad idea!" Lilynette jumped in. "He was MEAN! And…and…not FAIR!"
Starrk gave a long-suffering sigh and sat back up. "Yeah, well, he's still the best option."
"Who?" the former tercera was becoming annoyed.
"One of the shinigami we fought. It's not important."
"If you want me to help you, then you will tell me what you know about the target." Starrk arched an eyebrow at the icy tone, but shrugged. Harribel and her fraccion were not integral to the success of his plan but they would make it easier and it wasn't like there was anything secret about the information – he just didn't think it was imperative. But if she was that interested…
"Alright. He's one of the shinigami I – ." Lilynette cleared her throat loudly and he rolled his eyes. "-We fought. The one with long white hair."
"I do not remember him." Harribel reviewed the vague memories but came up blank. All she could remember of Starrk's opponent was a fuzzy blur of pink. "Was he wearing pink?"
"No. That was the other one."
"And why did you choose this one?"
He shrugged. "I wanted to choose a shinigami I was already familiar with, and this one was the best option of the four I …WE…fought. Two of the others were false-hollows, and the pink one…" His neutral expression became grave. "…That would be a bad idea."
"No shit." Lilynette mumbled, shivering slightly at the memories.
Harribel blinked rapidly. Four? He'd fought four captains?
"Why choose the captain over the false-hollows?"
He shrugged. "Easier. Shinigami can be disarmed by removing their zanpakuto, but the false-hollows can't be separated from their masks. Plus, this shinigami was sick; that should make him easier to handle."
"And you believe speaking with a shinigami is more important than concealing your existence?"
"Hn…" An image of the green clad shinigami from the human world wandered through his mind's eye. He'd be surprised if the Gotei didn't already have a report on him. "They're going to find out eventually. This way we'll at least be able to control what they learn."
"I see…" She stared up at him for a long moment, before nodding slowly. It still sounded unwise but Starrk should be able to handle the shinigami if anything went wrong. "Provided we are both present for his questioning, I will help you."
"Okay. I need to do some reconnaissance first to figure out the best place to grab him. We should be ready to start in a couple weeks."
Two weeks later…
"How fucking hard can it be to grab ONE sick old guy?!"
"Shut up Lilynette."
.X.
Two months later…
"Ah, well," Jushiro Ukitake shot his best friend a weak smile from the nest of pillows and warm blankets on his sickbed. "We knew it wouldn't last, ne?"
He'd been having a good run; six months without a coughing fit! It wasn't quite a record, but it was long enough that he'd grown used to waking up without the taste of blood in his mouth and the horrible lethargy that always accompanied a bout of illness. Unfortunately, his fits were always more intense after such quiet periods, as if they were gaining revenge for being ignored.
At least there were no urgent matters he needed to tend to. Soul Society had been surprisingly quiet the past few years.
Shunsui pouted childishly. "Aw, but who will keep me awake during the captain's meeting? Yama-jii's going to be reading reports…" He gave a mock shudder.
"I guess you'll just have to pay attention." Jushiro smiled, suppressing a chuckle through long practice (if he let it go, the resulting coughing fit would land him in the fourth division again and he'd much rather remain in the thirteenth).
"Such a cruel fate!" his friend staggered theatrically to the doorway, then turned with a smile on his face and one hand on the sliding partition. "If you're a good boy and get lots of rest, I'll tell you about it later."
With a saucy wink, he slid the door closed on Jushiro's choked laugh, leaving it cracked just enough to keep the room from becoming stuffy without letting in the evening chill.
The captain of the thirteenth division laid back, relaxing as he cast his mind over what he'd need to do to prepare for his convalescence. Kiyone and Sentaro would be by as soon as their current tasks were complete (he felt bad for hoping it would take a while, but their exuberance and noise was something he couldn't deal with just now) and he could direct them to take over his paperwork. Shunsui would make any orders that needed a captain's call. Rukia was capable of assisting, but it didn't feel right to allot her work that a lieutenant would normally manage… the poor girl was still hung up over Kaien's death, even after all these years. The entire division had felt their lieutenant's loss keenly but she had taken it personally despite everything Ukitake did to relieve her guilt. Perhaps he should consider giving her a change of scenery…
There wasn't much to delegate, to be honest. Everyone was used to Jushiro's emergency absences and the Thirteenth Division could work like a well-oiled machine in his absence.
There was nothing he had to worry about…he could rest and recover in peace…
He drowsed sleepily, fading in and out of consciousness and allowing his mind to drift as the time passed.
It was an hour or so later that he heard the outside door slowly slide open. At first, he didn't think anything of it; someone had probably brought him medicine or paperwork and was trying to deliver it quietly so as not to wake him up. It couldn't be Shunsui…captain's meetings had a tendency to drag on long into the night…but maybe someone from his own division or squad four had-
Hollow.
His eyes shot open, immediately wide awake as the reiatsu signature registered to his currently sub-par senses.
"Wha-!" His shout was consumed by coughing and when he tried to force himself up to fight, he immediately crashed back down, too weak to even call for help. Wildly, he swung his head back and forth, trying to find the monster.
There was nothing.
His breathing slowly evened out and he closed his eyes, taking a shallow shuddering breath. It must have been a dream. He was well within the borders of Seireitei; there was no way a hollow could penetrate this deeply without an alarm being sounded.
That didn't help Kaien. A voice piped up in the back of his mind. Or Miyako.
His hands clenched into fists but he forced his breathing to remain even. There was no reason to fear. No –
His body froze, every muscle suddenly tense. He didn't know why but his subconscious was telling him something was very, very wrong. Out of habit, he reached for Sogyo no Kotowari. Even weakened as he was, any opponent would take an armed shinigami captain seriously.
His hand closed over empty air.
"What…?" He croaked out, staring in incomprehension at the empty space next to the bed – less than a foot from his head - where he always kept his zanpakuto. It wasn't possible. He hadn't felt anything. Maybe it had fallen…but now that he was searching, he could sense that his sword was no longer in the room.
Eyes darting warily, Ukitake levered himself up until he was propped against the wall, panting and trying not to fall back into bed. He was too sick for this but he had to get out of the room. Something was going on, something bad, and he needed to warn-
"This the guy?"
He whirled, staring in near-incomprehension at the lion hollow standing directly behind him. There was no time to wonder how, but no way for him to do anything else.
"Doesn't look like much." A new voice, higher pitched and scornful.
The other female was also nearby, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the massive fangs of the feline in front of him. It…she…didn't seem to be attacking, but he knew that wouldn't last long.
All he had was kido and he'd better get it right the first time because he doubted there would be a second chance. He took as deep a breath as he could, summoning his reiatsu reserves.
"Hado-" His breath caught in his throat, rattling deep in his chest, and the spell on the tip of his tongue wavered. No! Not now!
The hollows seemed to be waiting for something because they did not attack, merely watched him struggle. He tried again.
"Hado-" a cough ripped its way out of his mouth, followed by another, and another. His hands came up out of sheer habit and he fell against the wall, unable to support his own weight. No!
"Um…" He heard the creature in the background, but could not focus over his sudden difficulty breathing. "Is he supposed to do that?"
Blood began to drip from his mouth into his cupped hands and he couldn't breathe.
"How the fuck should I know?"
Their voices were distant and he couldn't even sense their reiatsu anymore. Maybe they would assume he was diseased and leave him alone.
Blood splashed to the floor as he fell to hands and knees, coughing from the depths of his chest as blacks spots overtook his vision. The last thing he heard before collapsing completely and falling unconscious was one of the deceptively female voices speaking over his head.
"Hey, if we don't kill him and he dies anyway, can we eat him?"
Darkness.
.X.
He woke up in a cold, shadowy place lying sprawled on his front with one arm pinned beneath his stomach and the other flung out to the side, as if he'd simply been dropped and left in the resulting position. Beneath him was a rough stone surface that scratched unpleasantly against the bare skin of his face and arms and left sandy grit in the resulting abrasions. When he tried to move, a multitude of bruises and aches made themselves known, indicating that whoever had brought him here certainly hadn't been gentle.
With a muffled groan, he pushed himself to his hands and knees, surprised to find that they would support him. Although he was still weak and shaky, the debilitating coughing was gone. It seemed his illness was willing to take a backseat for now.
"Finally awake, huh?" Jushiro's head snapped up, immediately focusing on the new threat. It was the same voice he'd heard right before collapsing; the unknown female speaking to the lion hollow. The scene that met his eyes was like something from a nightmare.
On the other side of a mostly-empty stone chamber (possibly a cave) lit by flickering torches in wall sconces was a carved staircase leading upwards. Draped over the steps were not one but three large hollow-animals. At the bottom of the stairs was the speaker, a deer about the size of a horse with the sharp edges of her mask tilted in his direction and a steely glare in her heterochromatic eyes.
"Leave him, Newbie." The deeper, rougher voice belonged to the lion he'd seen before who was standing a few steps up. Her eyes were also fixed on Jushiro, expression cold.
The third hollow was at the very edge of the light so he could only catch glimpses of massive scaly coils and glittering eyes in a pale mask. It did not speak, but looked bigger than the other two.
A lesser shinigami might have been scared by the sight, but Jushiro had tangled with far worse. (Granted, not on his own without a zanpakuto while wracked by illness, but they still weren't enough to intimidate him.) No, what he found particularly daunting about the situation wasn't the creatures; it was their actions.
They were organized.
Hollows were by nature violent monsters, as cruel to each other as they were to human souls and shinigami. It was next to impossible to find two hollows willing to coexist let alone work together and he had never heard of a pack forming naturally. And for them to plan and successfully carry out the kidnapping of a shinigami, from inside Seireitei…
The implications were terrifying.
"Hey! I'm talkin' to you!" The deer minced forward, stomping her sharp hooves on the ground.
The lion interjected with another growl before Ukitake could respond. "Leave it, Rookie!"
"Ah, shut up! We need answers!"
"You arrogant little-!"
"Savages, both of you." The snake's voice was feminine and demure as she uncoiled and slithered up the steps. "As usual, it falls to me to carry out Harribel-sama's orders."
"Wh-."
"Hey!"
"SungSun, don't-!"
Ukitake was left blinking in shock as the four-legged hollows scrambled up the steps after the snake, yowling in protest at her words and scuffling with each other the whole way. Maybe organized wasn't quite the right word…
He could hear commotion returning from the top of the stairs and levered himself upright, gathering his wits and dignity for the confrontation that was surely to come. His posture was shaky, but he managed to pull himself into a respectable seated position at the only furnishing in the room, a low stone table, and arranged his thin, now dirty and torn, sleep robes as well as possible given the circumstances.
By the time his captors returned, he'd hidden all traces of uncertainty and weakness and sat straight-backed and proud, looking less like an invalid and more like a proper shinigami captain. When he saw the creature following the three hollows, he was glad he'd taken the effort.
In all his long years as a soul reaper, he'd only seen a handful of Vasto Lordes and every single one had taken at least one armed captain-class shinigami to cleanse. This one, obviously the leader of the pack, would be no different. She was roughly human-shaped and sized but her mask-teeth and the edges on her arms and legs looked blade-sharp. The glint of intelligence and control in her icy eyes indicated she would not be an easy opponent.
She came to a halt at the bottom of the staircase and eyed him coldly, completely unsympathetic to his plight.
"So you are the shinigami."
He blinked, somewhat startled even though he'd been expecting to be addressed. This situation was just too surreal; he'd never had cause to treat a hollow as a person before.
"Ah… I suppose?"
What was the right answer? Would a correct response get him set free?...Would a wrong one get him killed?
She 'Hmm'd' in apparent dissatisfaction. "Starrk seems to think you will be useful."
Alarm bells started ringing in the back of his mind.
"Useful?"
"Yes."
"At what, might I ask?"
Her eyes narrowed, but one of her subordinates jumped in before she could respond.
"Hey! Be respectful to Harribel-sama!" The deer snapped, stomping a hoof and menacing him with the horn on her forehead.
"That's enough, Apacci." The Vasto Lorde ('Harribel', apparently) didn't even need to raise her voice for the command to be obeyed. Her eyes never left the shinigami.
Ukitake frowned. "Why have you brought me here?"
"Starrk will explain when he arrives."
"I'm already here." Another newcomer, this one male, sauntered out of the shadows. He was tall and scruffy, with brown hair, pale eyes, dark clothes, and an unimpressed expression.
He was noticeably not a hollow.
Ukitake watched with complete confusion as the stranger strolled closer, completely unconcerned with the powerful monsters on every side. In fact, they seemed to shrink away from him. Unlike the creatures that had remained on the far side of the chamber from Jushiro, Starrk sauntered right up to the table and sat down directly across from him, setting his elbows on the stone and resting his chin in one hand. There was no sign of intimidation in his demeanor, simply mild interest. As soon as he was settled, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on Ukitake, meeting his scrutiny without blinking.
The shinigami furrowed his brow, cocking his head and trying to fathom the situation. No matter how he looked at it, it just didn't make any sense.
.X.
Starrk eyed the captain thoughtfully. The other man looked almost the same, but not exactly, and he couldn't tell whether the similarities or differences were more jarring. On one hand, he was the first person (other than Starrk and Lilynette) who looked the same as his 'other' self. On the other, the powerful shinigami Starrk had battled over Karakura Town was reduced to a zanpakuto-less shaking invalid garbed in torn and blood-stained hospital clothes. It was like seeing Aizen trip and fall off his throne. Just…weird.
"Hello, Taicho-san."
The white-haired shinigami quirked an eyebrow. After a moment of consideration, he seemed to decide on a course of action and smiled slightly, guarded but friendly.
"Hello…Starrk-san, was it?"
"Mhm."
"What am I doing here, Starrk-san?"
Starrk yawned. "Well, you're a shinigami captain. That means you know what goes on in Soul Society, right?"
Ukitake's smile vanished and he eyed Starrk warily without answering. After a moment, Starrk shrugged and continued.
"We've got some questions for you."
"I see." The shinigami's voice was hard. "And if I refuse to answer?"
"It would be best that you cooperate." Harribel's words were just short of threatening from her spot in the background.
Far from intimidated, the captain met her stare for stare until Starrk cleared his throat loudly, bringing them back to the matter at hand.
"Look, we don't want to hurt you. And I doubt any of the questions will violate your 'shinigami oath' or whatever, so…"
Ukitake's guarded expression wavered slightly, an amused smile curling at the edge of his lips. "Shinigami oath?"
"Or whatever."
"Hm." His eyes wandered between Starrk and Harribel for a moment before focusing on the less intimidating and more reasonable (and human) captor, who inexplicably appeared to be in control of the situation. "I do not appreciate being abducted and coerced. If you release me, perhaps we can discuss this further."
It was Starrk's turn to raise an eyebrow in disbelief. "You must think I'm stupid, Taicho-san."
"If you are honest in your claim then you will not object…"
"Nice try." He yawned. "No."
Jushiro eyed him carefully, apparently expecting a more negative (or physical) response. When it wasn't forthcoming, he frowned. The situation was not becoming any clearer and he was tired of being caught wrong-footed.
"You kidnapped me from my bed, brought me here against my will, and intend to interrogate me. And you are allied with hollows. Do you really expect me to trust you?"
Starrk eyed him, mildly surprised by the outburst. But he supposed it was understandable.
"I don't need your trust. All I want are answers."
"And you think I'll give them to you, just like that?"
"Why not?"
Ukitake was incredulous. "Starrk-san, I do not know where you are from, but you obviously know very little about shinigami."
The arrancar gave a one-shouldered shrug and yawned again. "Never really cared."
It was somehow impossible to stay displeased with the man for very long.
"And yet, you cared about hollows." Ukitake eyeballed the Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde in the shadows, moderating his voice so it wouldn't carry as far. "What are doing in such…ah…interesting company?"
That finally got Starrk to lift his chin from his hand and lose some of the half-asleep look in his eyes.
"…What?"
"Hollows do not work well with others, Starrk-san. I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish or why, but I assure you this is not the way to achieve it." Perhaps appealing to his better nature would work.
Starrk stared for a long minute before sighing and crossing his arms, eying Ukitake across the table.
"I don't think you quite understand your situation, Taicho-san." He shifted, leaning back and allowing the cloth over his chest to part, revealing a gaping hole in his sternum and a row of sharp white teeth ringing his neck. "Now…" He cocked his head and frowned across the short space. "Maybe we should try this again."
Absolute incomprehension caused Ukitake's eyes to shoot wide open and his breath to stutter. This could not be possible. He stared between the hollow hole, Starrk's face, and back repeatedly, trying and failing to understand. His mind was absolutely blank. Ridiculously, the most plausible explanation he could think of was that this was all a fevered dream. Or nightmare.
"You don't know me?" Starrk's question was gently probing, but he seemed more interested in the reaction than he had in the entire conversation beforehand.
"Know…what?" the captain of the thirteenth choked in surprise, then shook his head as much to clear it as to indicate a negative. "Of course not! Who…What…are you?"
Starrk frowned deeply. "…You don't remember anything?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He couldn't take his eyes off the hollow hole in the other man's chest.
"And you don't know what I am."
The definitive tone of the statement finally brought Ukitake partially out of his shock with the realization that he was still a captive and he should be paying close attention and guarding his words. Reflexively answering anything the other man asked was a bad idea.
"No. I…Should I?"
This was apparently the wrong answer as Starrk immediately frowned and adjusted his position on the floor so he was slumped forward a bit closer to Ukitake, posture more intense. The hollows across the chamber shifted restlessly, one of the animals growling deep in her throat.
Funny, for a moment there Ukitake had actually thought he was getting control of the situation. That illusion was well and truly destroyed.
"You've never heard of anyone like me?" Apparently, that was a very important piece of information but as much as Jushiro wracked his brain for any reference to a creature such as Starrk, no matter how fleeting, he came up empty.
"Hn." The arrancar read his captive's answer in his expression. "What about the other shinigami? They never said anything?"
Suggesting someone should know something.
Ukitake did not like the implications.
"I am quite sure. No one has ever mentioned anything like you before."
Starrk raised an eyebrow, and Ukitake belatedly realized he should have watched his words a bit closer. If he was trying to secure his freedom, calling his captor a 'thing' was not the best way to make a good impression. Thankfully, the creature seemed willing to ignore it.
"What about the false hollows? They don't know anything either?"
"The…what?"
"The shinigami with hollow powers."
"The What?!"
Starrk pulled back slightly at Ukitake's completely flummoxed expression, confused.
For his part, the captain could not figure out if Starrk was trying to be insulting or if he honestly thought such a travesty would ever be tolerated by the Gotei 13.
"I assure you, Starrk-san, no shinigami has ever had hollow abilities."
Starrk's eyebrow kicked up. "None? Are you sure?"
"Absolutely positive."
"…Hm." The arrancar abruptly unfolded from his seated position, stretching to his full height with ease and turning away from the table.
"Thank you, Taicho-san. You've been…eh. Helpful, I guess." He tossed over his shoulder.
"I…what? That's it?" Jushiro tried to rise as gracefully, but spending so long seated on the hard stone floor combined with the weakness from his illness and bruises from the earlier abduction made him wince and fall back down.
"Yup." He vanished up the stone staircase. After a final frigid glare, the Vasto Lorde followed him, leaving her subordinates behind.
For a moment, he thought they would leave him in peace to contemplate his exchange with Starrk. Then…
"Don't get any funny ideas, shinigami!" The voice was raucous, female, and very young. Jushiro actually jumped from surprise when a small form garbed in black dropped down in front of him on the table. He found himself staring into the pale face of a pre-teen girl with green hair, pink eyes…and part of a hollow mask on top of her head.
"Ah…Hello?"
"HA! Don't try to play stupid with ME! Starrk's an idiot but I'm not! I know you can't be trusted! I'm going to watch you EVERY MINUTE!"
"…"
"Cuz I could TOTALLY take you!"
She puffed out her scrawny chest and glared down at his seated form with all of the authority demanded by her diminutive height. He was absolutely certain he could disable her with ease, zanpakuto or not.
"Ya hear me, shinigami?!"
He blinked, then sighed quietly and brought the palm of his hand to his forehead. After so many revelations, he was inured to the shock. But not the confusion.
Seriously…what on Earth was going on?
.X.
The captain's meeting was well underway when the alarm began to sound, interrupting Yama-jii and causing confusion and alarm as everyone suddenly tried to speak at once.
The sound of pounding feet brought silence to the gathering, broken by the loud slam of the door being pushed open.
"Kyoraku-taicho! KYORAKU-TAICHO!" Kiyone skidded around the doorway, nearly slamming into the opposite wall in her haste.
"Whoa! Easy Kotet-"
"It's Ukitake-taicho!" She interrupted him in her haste. "The hollows-!"
Kyoraku vanished in a burst of shunpo before she could finish, bound for the thirteenth division and completely ignoring the shouting of the other captains in his wake. Seireitei was in chaos but he ignored it for now, instead making his way to Jushiro's bedchamber, which he'd left barely an hour before.
What he found was Sentaro crouched on the floor, head buried in his hands. At his feet was...
Shunsui must have made an inadvertent noise at the sight of Jushiro's blood because the third seat's head snapped up and saw him.
"Kyoraku-taicho!" His normally loud voice was a mere shadow of itself. "W-we found...there's blood. And hollow reiatsu and claw marks."
The captain of the eighth stepped forward and stared down at the blood. It wasn't enough to be fatal but it was very fresh and, as Sentaro had said, surrounded by the claw-marks of a relatively small hollow with strong reiatsu.
"Also...we found this…"
Shunsui stared at the zanpakuto being offered from the third seat's trembling hands, a sinking feeling deep in his gut. Sogyo no Kotowari lay safe in its sheath, physically untouched by whatever had happened. But Shunsui could sense its despair and ire at being forcibly separated from its wielder. Ukitake would never willingly leave his sword behind.
Whatever had happened, Jushiro's hadn't even had the chance to fight back. And wherever he was now, he was all but helpless.
Shunsui accepted the zanpakuto, bringing it to his chest and twisting his hands tightly around the sheath. So long as the spirit of Sogyo no Kotowari was present, Jushiro was alive.
If it vanished…
There would be hell to pay.
Author's Notes:
H'okay…I was really looking forward to writing this chapter but it turned out to be really, really hard. I have a very clear picture of what is happening in my mind, but translating that to text isn't going so well. As a result, there are parts of this chapter I like and others that are just…meh. It's also a bit shorter than I'd planned and contains fewer plot-relevant bits, but the disaster that was last chapter convinced me to spread the material out over 2-3 chapters rather than packing it into one. Shunsui might be a bit OOC at the end, but I was thinking of his reaction when Wonderweiss dropped Ukitake in the Karakura battle...I don't think it's much of a stretch to think he'd vow vengeance on whoever hurt his friend.
Speaking of parts I like…I think the scene where Jushiro meets Starrk is my favorite. The two of them are just so much fun to write. XD (Though Lilynette's pretty fun too…and I liked writing Jushiro with Shunsui…) Maybe I should try a Jushiro-centric story once I've finished all my Starrk stories. What do you think?
An important point I want to address is my current lack of inspiration for Bleach, due to the recent manga chapters. However, I've explained in part or in full many, many times (through pm, review, updates, etc.) and I have a feeling most of you have probably already seen it. If you haven't and you want more detail, please look at my profile or the most recent chapter of "How Coyote Starrk became a Member of the Gotei 13 (On Accident)."
Also, I apologize for how long it's been taking me to respond to reviews in the past two weeks. Real Life has been…well, not good. I promise I will try to respond to everybody even if it takes me a while.
Erm…what else…oh!
Apacci's 'heterochromatic eyes' refers to her having one blue and one brown eye. The only pictures I could find of her as a deer only showed one side at a time, but her differently colored eyes are quite obvious in arrancar form.
Please Review & let me know what you think!
Reviews are a great source of encouragement and inspiration so more reviews = more (& faster) updates.
And a big 'Thank You' to those of you who reviewed last chapter! mist shadow, wolfeclipse25, ennui deMorte, Alowl, dancingjadedragon, KyuukiTheAnimeFreak, Guest, Zaralann, and Guest(2); You guys are awesome!
Currently Relevant Time Line Information:
-Starrk was originally recruited by Aizen after his 'traitor makeover' (when Aizen rejected the trappings of a shinigami, donned his white uniform, gelled his hair, and snapped his glasses), between the events of the Soul Society arc and Orihime's kidnapping.
-Harribel was originally recruited by Aizen around the same time as Starrk (as evidenced by the state of Aizen's makeover)
-Metastacia killed Kaien and Miyako 30-40 years before 'Bleach', based on when Aaroneiro gained his powers and when Aizen was experimenting on hollows of that type.
Information acquired from the Bleach wikia and canonical sources (anime/manga/character books)
I will include facts relevant to the current chapter on this list. In order to make the 'Five Years' timeline work, I will be taking creative liberty with some info and making assumptions about certain events (that Kubo never clarified, one way or the other), so please don't nitpick at me.
