We would like to thank redhat and animegreek123 for reviewing! Here's the eleventh chapter. ~Cat
There was a nip in the air in the seireitei. Autumn leaves were falling and floating through the air as the wind picked up then calmed down. It was the perfect setting for a fall day. A short girl was rushing about the 10th Division's barracks, to and fro plenty of rooms. She seemed excited about something, but whoever saw or passed her by, she would just tell them it was a secret. Curiosity building in the division members, they kept watching her bring decoration after decoration into her room. Although, once she noticed them staring, she made it a point to make it stay a secret. She planted her zanpakutou into the wood and let a sheltering grove of bamboo grow around her path. The members mumbled and talked amongst themselves, wondering what was going on. Rangiku eventually came around and tried to peek in. "Now what's going on in there?" She wondered to herself as she tried to peek through the bamboo. But the bamboo was stiff and wouldn't let anyone look. She pouted and folded her arms. She had to wait like everyone else. But as soon as she came, the bamboo went away. "Come on, come on! It's all set up now!" The white haired girl waved them inside and even her taichou walked in to see what was going on. Everyone was a little surprised. Kuromi managed to actually clean her room and set up little Halloween decorations in her room, even if it was nowhere close to that holiday. "What's going on?" "Look at the jack-o-lanterns!" Rangiku cooed as she looked at them. They weren't expertly carved but they looked so cute!
Kuromi smiled at her taichou as her tail wagged. "It's a birthday party to me! But right now, it's everyone's party!" She explained as other shinigami ate the snacks and played a few of the games she set up. Rangiku and Toshiro looked around, surprised she was actually excited for her birthday. "I thought you couldn't remember." Rangiku poked her nose in suspicious. She rubbed her nose but still grinned. "I don't~ But when I woke up from my coma, I decided that this day would be my birthday." She nodded before going over to explain a game to a group. "Well, it is amazing, isn't it? She set all this up by herself." Rangiku mused as she went to get the drinks. Toshiro sighed a little bit. People born in the Rokungai never really cared much for birthdays. But here she was, making the most of it while it lasted. It was like she was going to die the next day or something. "Did we miss the party?" Toshiro, Rangiku, and Kuromi looked over, seeing Kira and Gin in the doorway. "You made it!" Kuromi sounded more excited as she ran over and greeted them. "You didn't miss it at all. There's still food and drinks left! And plenty of games." She nodded as she walked them in. Toshiro wasn't too happy to see Gin here, but he couldn't just kick him out. In fact, he just stayed away from everything altogether. He wasn't the type to really have fun it seemed. Gin hung around Kuromi the most, though, as did Rangiku. They seemed more than happy to be here. It seemed like this was the happiest day of Kuromi's short life.
Gin was the one to walk forward and lean down towards her a bit. "Hello, Momo." He greeted her, still grinning. Before she could react or scream for help, he managed to calm her down and keep her from doing that. "I just want to show you something." He told her before waving Kuromi over. She nodded and stood by his side. "Oh, Kuromi's here, too." The girl felt a little bit eased up. She was always so nice and playful. It couldn't be that bad with her around. She followed after them towards one of the surrounding buildings. "This is...the Seijoto Kyorin, the immaculate tower grove where the 46 live. Why did you bring me here, Ichimaru-taichou?" She wondered as she followed after him. "Have you ever been here before, Momo?" Gin asked her as he and Kuromi walked inside the building. "Of course not, this place is strictly off-limits. I've never been here before." She answered. "Well, there's someone I brought you here to see." Momo was more than confused, but he never faltered in his smiling. Kuromi was a little confused too, until she started to get her anxiety and fear back. Oh no...She looked over as Gin told her to turn around and there he was in the doorway. "A-Aizen...taichou?" Momo was shocked to see him unlike her comrade. Kuromi took a step behind Gin, just to make sure she was safe. He placed a hand on her head to keep her from getting too scared.
"How are you, Momo?" He asked as he just stood there. "Is that...really you, Aizen-taichou?" She took a step forward, still not believing what she saw before her. "I...I thought you were dead..." Kuromi wasn't sure how much of this she could watch. She knew that something bad would happen to the poor girl and she knew she couldn't do a thing about it. She was useless again. She bit her lip and hid herself behind Gin as her ears folded in shame. "I'm alive, as you can see. I'm sorry, you must have been heartbroken." He had that soft look about his face, like he actually did care. Kuromi didn't want to listen to any more of this. She just wanted this to stop. She may have disagreed with Hinamori a lot but...she didn't want this to happen to her. She heard sobbing next and at that moment, even her own heart shattered. Just how evil was that man? He manipulated her, lied to her...now he was acting innocent. Like he wasn't doing a single thing wrong. "Thank you, Momo...our time together was a joy to me. Thank you very much." Kuromi flinched as she heard the terrible sound of a sword cutting into flesh. "Goodbye." She then heard a thump, not sure if it was Momo's body or her own heart beating all too quickly.
"Let's go, Gin. Bring her, too." Aizen told him as he walked towards the door. "Yes, Aizen-taichou." Gin grinned down at Kuromi and walked ahead of her. She followed, trying her hardest to not look at Momo's fallen body. As they walked outside, Toshiro was waiting for them, but he seemed to just have gotten there. He was panting and seemed out of breath. Kuromi looked at him, but for some reason, felt the courage to not hide from him. If anything...to her, he was the one who never encouraged her to get stronger than she was before. He always yelled at her for having her fun and didn't give her ways of motivation. But...he was still her taichou, she didn't have harsh feelings towards him...not towards anyone. "Gin and...Aizen?" "Hello, Toshiro." He greeted him, but his smile was dark and his eyes darker. He wasn't the Aizen everyone came to know and respect. "It's really you?" "Of course, in the flesh. But never mind..." He didn't look at Gin or anything. "Toshiro is back sooner than expected." "Forgive me, Izuru must have failed." Even Kuromi was confused. She knew there was meticulous planning put into this but...to actually use his own fukutaichou as a decoy? Why? Toshiro finally noticed his own Subordinate next to Gin, and his eyes widened slightly. "What do you mean? What' going on?" "Don't you know? Tactics of course. Divide and Conquer is the best way to destroy the enemy." Kuromi didn't even see his face and she was getting more and more scared. This man truly frightened her...
"Where's Momo?" "Don't you know?" Toshiro gritted his teeth before running past them and into the room. His eyes widened once more as he saw Momo on the ground in a pool of her own blood. "Poor Momo...How unfortunate you found her. I should have chopped her up...and hidden the pieces." Kuromi's heart kept thumping against her chest as she listened to all of this. Toshiro's hand twitched as he heard that. "Aizen...Gin...Kuromi...How long have you three been conspiring?" He asked, not sounding happy, but not sounding angry either. "Kuromi just decided to join in...But we've been planning this since the beginning." "Since before you faked your death, Aizen?" He shook his head and looked at him, still having that uncaring look on his face. "You catch on slowly. From the beginning. Since I became a taichou, I never considered anyone to be my fukutaichou but Gin. And Kuromi, my guard dog." First she was just a failed experiment, now she was a guard dog? What was she to him exactly? She didn't know, but right now, she couldn't think too much about it. "Then...this whole time you were...Momo...me...all the shinigami that served under you...even Kuromi's memories...You were just deceiving and toying with us all!?" Toshiro's temper was slowly rising as he realized what Aizen had done to everyone and how devastating all this was.
"I never thought of it that way...truth is...none of you even recognized my true identity. Kuromi was the only to be right about being scared of me. You should have listened some more." The girl froze up as she felt his hand on her head. But she refused to shake or show any sort of fear anymore. She was doing all this for Gin. So she had to be brave and she had to be strong. She couldn't be afraid anymore. "So you blame us!? How could you be so cruel!? You know Momo joined the Gotei 13 for you. She worked so hard just so she could serve under you!" If only Toshiro knew the full extent of his cruelty. "Yes that is true...which made her quite easy to manipulate. That's why I requested her for my Division." Toshiro was in disbelief. Why would he want her in his Division if he didn't even care for her? "It was too good to pass up. Remember, Toshiro...Adoration is the state furthest from understanding." Toshiro snapped at the remark.
Kuromi's ears twitched before they jumped out of the way from the loud crash that came towards them. They landed safely away from the mess, but she noticed just how cold it was in here. "Bankai...Daiguren Hyorinmaru" They saw ice wings flex out before folding slightly over Toshiro. His arm was completely covered in ice, even looking like a dragon. There were three petal flowers behind him as he glared at all three of them. A cold air rushed towards Aizen, meaning that the young boy had him in his sights. "Aizen...I'm going to kill you!" Aizen just kept that empty smirk on his face before looking at him in the eye. "You shouldn't make such rash threats...it makes you sound weak." He mocked making the white haired boy lunge at him. Kuromi looked away when she saw the brunette haired man get the advantage and sliced Toshiro down his right shoulder. Blood sprayed out as his ice bankai shattered and he fell. Aizen took the time to actually...admire the scenery. "This is magnificent...it's the wrong season, but I like to see ice this time of year." He turned to face them, still smiling. "Well then, shall we?" Before they could even get out of the area, two more people came in to confront them.
"I thought you'd be here, Aizen-taichou...no...I won't call you 'taichou' anymore. You're just Sosuke Aizen...the traitor." The taichou of the 4th Division walked in with her fukutaichou following after. They didn't seem happy at all. "Hello, Unohana-taichou. It's about time you showed up. Did it take you this long to figure out where I was?" He wondered as he faced her. "The Seijoto Kyorin is the only place in the seireitei that is absolutely off-limits. And the perfect place for someone who had gone to such great pains to fake his own death...even constructing that elaborate doll...to conceal himself." Aizen gave a short chuckle. "Almost...You deduced well, but you made two mistakes. First, I didn't come here to hide. And Second...this isn't a doll." He held up an exact copy of himself, the same one that Kuromi didn't believe was the actual Aizen. And she was right to think so. She was surprised that she was the only one to actually deduce that. How could that be? There had to be someone who realized it...but she was hoping for a snowball's chance in hell. "W-When did he?" They seemed more than surprised to see that he had the 'doll' in his hands. "When? I had it in my hands the entire time...but until now, I never let you see it." They were still so confused, even Kuromi was. "You'll understand soon enough. Watch...Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu." The seemingly perfect doll shattered, only revealing his zanpakutou. He dropped it to the ground making it stick into the ground. He went onto explaining just how this Zanpakutou worked, considering that Unohana's fukutaichou was confused and even his guard dog was confused. "In short, once someone sees the released form's spell, they will always fall for it. But it won't work if someone has never seen it...say a blind person. And from the beginning...Kaname Tosen has been working for me." He smirked. Another taichou in the Seireitei...
Kaname Tosen was a blind man, but he made it to taichou level for the 9th Division. He may have been blind, but he could definitely fight...and like many others here, he had a very strong sense of justice. But that's what confused Kuromi the most. If he was so set on justice, then why did he work for Aizen? Even she thought he would do the right thing, even the most just of taichous seemed to follow him. She could only hope there were no more people involved in this. She stood close by them as Gin unraveled a transportation spell. "A word of praise before I go...aside from Kuromi, you're the only one to examine the body so thoroughly that even under the spell, you had your suspicions. It's remarkable, Unohana-taichou. Goodbye...I doubt I'll ever see any of you again." He left them with that as they were transported to the Sokyoku Hill.
As she ran through the streets, Suiren couldn't help but feel all the sudden bursts of reiatsu going on around her. But there were more than a few far off near the Central 46. She couldn't help but feel worried about that place the most. After all, no one ever went near that place, not even for a simple question. She began heading towards there before blinking as Rangiku landed in front of her, looking worried and out of breath. "Suiren...something bad's happened..." She told her and before she could even explain what happened, a voice started speaking around them. It was the fukutaichou of Division 4, Isane Kotetsu. "Hear my words...This is an urgent message from Retsu Unohana of Division 4 and myself. What I'm about to tell you is the truth..." She went onto explaining what happened to the central 46, what was going on right now, who got hurt, and who the traitors were. Suiren couldn't believe her ears. How could her friend be apart of them? She hated Aizen...she was so scared of him! Was it...all just an act? She scowled and gripped her hand into a fist. "There's no way taichou lost...Come on Suiren!" Rangiku nudged her out of it and started to dash towards the Sokyoku Hill.
"Kuromi wouldn't do something like this...She wouldn't hurt a fly even if it landed on her food! How could she join up with someone she's deathly afraid of?" Suiren spoke to herself as she followed Rangiku. The strawberry-blonde woman looked back at her and sighed. She knew exactly why Kuromi had joined up with them. Suiren just didn't think too hard about it. "You've never noticed, huh?" She asked, making the silver haired woman look up in confusion. "She adores Gin in every way. She wouldn't hurt him, but she knows Aizen would. She's so set on keeping him safe that she's putting herself through this." Rangiku explained to her, amazingly finding the answer quicker than her subordinate did. Suiren thought back to the papers she found in her room and looked down slightly. She was lonely. Whenever she found out that Gin was a traitor, she knew she would be devastated and be more lonely. She thought she had no choice but to follow. So in reality, Kuromi already made up her mind long before any of this happened. Suiren never bothered to talk to her about anything, though. They were just doing things that came to mind, like bothering their taichou or just going to random meetings with the clubs. They never once talked to each other about their pasts or how they felt. It was just an unspoken taboo. Kuromi never asked about the scar on Suiren's neck, and the silver haired woman never pried deep into the girl's amnesia or how she felt about herself. That was one of the many mistakes they both made. "Don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault she did this." Her superior added as she kept looking ahead. She looked down slightly and nodded in understanding. Even if she knew this before hand...she doubted she could change her friend's mind.
Kuromi watched as her comrades fell at the hand of Aizen. Renji a red haired, hardheaded boy, laid a few feet from the orange haired ryoka she tried to wake up earlier. Seeing him take care of them so easily, though...it struck fear into her once more. Sure, Gin tried to keep her from freaking out too much, but it was clear that even he couldn't sooth the girl now. She wanted so bad to run out and save her friend, Rukia, but she was frozen. She couldn't move even if she wanted to. She looked at the vial in his hand before it burst open and turned his hand into something strange. It didn't look like wood or any sort of element at all, but when he hit Rukia's chest, a large gaping hole was made. Her eyes widened as he actually pulled something out. She was sure it was her heart or something, but what she saw was just a little sphere. "Amazing...something so small...so this is the Hogyoku." He was fascinated by the object, but didn't care that the black haired girl fell to the ground.
Kuromi didn't understand entirely what the Hokyoku was. She knew it was powerful and could create things...almost as if it were a philosopher's stone for alchemy. But she wasn't sure and didn't want to know. She was worried about her friend. "Hm, the Konpaku itself is undamaged. Amazing technology." Konpaku was the vessel that carried the Hogyoku. It turns out a banished Shinigami called 'Kisuke Urahara' hid it in her friend. "Unfortunately, you are of no used to me any longer." He lifted Rukia up again by the collar around her neck. "Kill her, Gin." Kuromi's eyes widened before looking at Gin. "Shoot to kill, Shinso." "You promised you wouldn't!" Kuromi unsheathed her sword and was ready to redirect the hit before noticing Rukia had disappeared. She looked closer and noticed that her older brother, Byakuya Kuchiki, had grabbed her and taken the hit. He soon collapsed, though. He looked so bloody, just what happened to him? She glanced at the man next to her, though and frowned a little. He nearly killed her friend...she never expected him to do anything like that. Just what did Aizen train him to do?
Aizen was ready to finished them off before being stopped by Yoruichi and Soi Fon. Both of which are or were Division 2's taichous. "You so much as twitch a finger and we slice your head off." Yoruichi threatened him as she glared. Although, the three giants that protect the gate suddenly showed up, minus Jidanbo. Kuromi gulped a bit as she watched, only to cringe a few times at the loud noises, even when two of them were knocked out by Jidanbo who showed up with Kukkaku Shiba, another notable face around the seireitei. "That must've hurt, what shall we do?" Gin smiled at Kuromi before seeming surprised when Rangiku grabbed hold of his wrist and held her zanpakutou to his neck. "Rangiku?" Kuromi wondered where she came from before she felt a hand grab her tail and cold steel against her neck. "Don't you dare move, I'll give you a nasty scar like mine." She heard Suiren's voice and felt like crying, but she stayed strong and stood straight. "Sorry, Aizen-taichou. We've been caught." Gin apologized, seeing no use in fighting them off.
"It's over Aizen. You're surrounded." Yoruichi stated as all the taichou and fukutaichou surrounded the four traitors. But the brunette man just smiled and gave a small chuckle. Kuromi's ears began to twitch as she heard a faint trace of reiatsu. But it wasn't from any of the surrounding shinigami. No...it was coming from above? "What? What's so funny, Aizen?" The black haired woman asked him, not enjoying any sort of games at all. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's time." Her eyes widened as he said that before telling Soi Fon to get back. They both jumped back as a bright yellow beam surrounded him. Everyone looked up, seeing a crack in the sky where the beam was coming from. "What...what the hell?" One of the taichou said in disbelief as they watched the sky crack open. A clawed hand ripped through and before they knew it, a pack of Menos Grande, large and more powerful forms of hollows, appeared inside the crack. "Menos Grande!?" "H-How many are there...no...there's something behind them, too!" A large yellow eye slowly opened behind the pack of Menos. By now, Kuromi's ears were going wild from all the reiatsu she felt from the pack. How in the world did this man manage to force Menos Grande to be his allies?
Three more lights shot down, engulfing Tosen, Gin, and Kuromi in the yellow lights. Suiren, Shuuhei, and Rangiku all jumped back out of the beams line of fire. Kuromi glanced back at her friend before looking forward again. "Please, just forget about me. Don't even realize I existed at all." She told her, trying to sound as cold as possible. But her voice was breaking, no matter how hard she tried. The ground cracked and rose beneath them, carrying them up towards the Garganta in the sky. "You can't escape! Stop!" One of the fukutaichou tried to attack Aizen, but before he could, the Head Taichou stopped him. "That beam of light is called 'Negacion'. It's what the Menos use to rescue one another. As soon as that light envelops something, it's all over. Anybody who's fought a Menos knows that as soon as that light came down, Aizen was out of our reach." The old man explained, making everyone realize that they could do nothing to stop them.
There was a shifting before a large orange and white Wolf man burst out of the rubble. His name was Sajin Komamura, Taichou of the 7th Division. "Tosen!" He yelled, bloody from an attack Aizen pulled on him. "Come back down, Tosen! Why!? Why did you become a Shinigami!? Wasn't it for your dead friend!? Wasn't it to uphold justice!? Where has your sense of justice gone!?" The man yelled to his friend who was already long gone. He was set in his ideals, just like the rest of them. "I told you Komamura. I follow the path least soaked in blood. Justice is always there. The path I walk is justice." Tosen retorted. Gin glanced over to Kuromi, who was in tears by this time. She tried so hard to keep strong and look like this wasn't affecting her, but in reality...it was tearing her heart apart. Suiren just glared up at them, not caring if those Menos were saving them or not. She wanted to get her friend back. She had to get her friend back, no matter what. "You joined forces with the Menos...Why?" Another taichou spoke up. Jushiro Ukitake was the taichou of Division 13. He had long grey hair, but despite that, he looked young. He was angry now, though, but he always used to smile so happily. "To reach greater heights." Aizen put simply. "Have you fallen so far, Aizen?" The white haired man questioned with a glare. "Don't kid yourself, Ukitake. No one ever stood atop the heavens before. Not you or I...or the Gods..." The brunette took off his glasses and slicked back his hair, one strand of his bangs hanging down. "But the unbearable vacancy of Heaven's throne ends now. From now on..." He crushed his glasses almost into dust with a single finger. "I will stand atop the Heavens." He smirked as he looked down on everyone and added, "Goodbye Shinigami...Goodbye ryoka boy...You were interesting for a human." And with that, the Garganta shut closed, not allowing any of them to see where the four had gone.