Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I do own bleach, which I… wait; I already did that joke didn't I?
Posted Chapter 13, and realized an hour later that I had missed a perfect opportunity for Ichigo to throw Byakuya's "You are slow, even at falling" line right back in his face! Damn you, hindsight!
Congratulations to Metal Dragoon and Van the Rogue Soul Drinker for being #120 and 130 respectively.
This is not good. Yoruichi stared Gin down. How the hell could I let this brat get the drop on me? God, I've let myself go! She was the former Captain of the Second Division! She's the one who's supposed to do the sneaking up on! As things stood, Yoruichi was more pissed off that she had not noticed Gin than she was worried.
"Hiya, Gin, how've you been?" Yoruichi asked cheerfully. "I see you made it to Captain. Yamamoto must have really been scraping the bottom of the barrel."
Gin's smile didn't budge. "I've been doing pretty good. I don't suppose you would be willing to just surrender?"
Yoruichi tapped her chin in mock contemplation. "No, I don't think I will. I think I'll just be on my way to tell someone about this."
"Tell about what? How I, the loyal Captain, discovered the traitor Yoruichi in the Underground Assembly Hall, surrounded by the dead bodies of the Central 46?"
Yoruichi's eyes narrowed. He was right of course. As far as most of the Gotei 13 was concerned, she was the criminal here. While Gin was not technically supposed to be here either, all he had to do was say that he followed a suspicious looking person. Stupid conspiracy…
Gin drew his Zanpakuto. "Still, better safe than sorry. I'm gonna have to kill you, Yoruichi."
Yoruichi smiled. "Don't get cocky, brat. You're centuries too early to even think of catching me."
"We'll see, won't we? Shoot to kill. Shinso."
Yoruichi flashed out of the way of the extending blade. Gin corrected his aim and fired Shinso again and again. The Goddess of Flash darted around the room, shouting encouragement.
"Oh…So close…Almost had me that time…Getting warmer…Nope, colder…"
Gin proved immune to her attempts to rile him up, his expression remaining one of detached amusement. Deciding that the fox-faced creep wasn't likely to fly off the handle and make a huge mistake anytime soon, Yoruichi went on the offensive. The former Captain nimbly hopped over the next thrust, landed on the extended blade, and shot up it to its wielder. Yoruichi took a moment to savor Gin's smirk being replaced by a look of surprise before she punched him square in the face.
-x-
Gin shot backwards out of the Assembly Hall, skidding on his back for a ways before he could recover and flip to his feet. By the time his sandals hit the floor, Yoruichi had blown past him, heading for the exit. Gin spun to try and pursue, but he tripped and face-planted when his hakama dropped down around his ankles. Looking up, he saw Yoruichi vanish down a hall and his obi flutter to the ground in front of him.
"Well…that's embarrassing." Gin contemplated leaving that part of the encounter out when he informed Aizen, but discarded the thought. It saved him the trouble of coming up with a plausible story for why he let Yoruichi get away. Speaking of which… Gin pulled his pants back up and turned back to the Assembly Hall when he heard the sound of air ripping. He could feel several reiatsu signatures inside, all but one feeling strongly of Hollow.
Things are gonna start heating up…
"Hello, Gin. How are things proceeding?"
-x-
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Sorry, Ichigo."
"We're really sorry! But we couldn't figure out how to stop him and Tsubaki was yelling at me again and Chad was getting tired and we had knocked down so many of the poor buildings and we didn't know how long you would take and Mr. Zaraki was the one who suggested it and…"
Ichigo groaned as Inoue rambled on. In his hand was a torn piece of paper. It read, "The holder of the other half of this paper is entitled to one duel to the death with Ichigo Kurosaki. The voucher can be redeemed at any time after Ichigo Kurosaki has escaped from Soul Society."
"They managed to convince him to wait until we've gotten out of Soul Society at least," Ishida commented.
"Shut up, Ishida."
"As amusing as this is, would you hurry up and put me down?"
"Ah! Rukia, you're okay!" Inoue snapped out of her rambling as Rukia dropped to the ground and started fussing over the former prisoner.
"I'm fine!" Rukia shouted, trying to fend Inoue off.
Ichigo turned to Ishida and Chad. "Well, we've got Rukia. Now we need to get out of here." All three boys froze when they realized they had overlooked a very important potential problem. "We never actually came up with an escape plan…did we?"
Ishida shakily pushed his glasses up. "We were rather preoccupied with becoming strong enough to reach Ms. Kuchiki in the first place. The subject of getting back out somehow never came up."
"What?" Rukia squawked. "You idiots pulled this insanity off and didn't even think about how you were getting out afterward? What kind of moronic rescue is this?"
"All your opinions are still being rejected," Ichigo shot back. Then the metaphorical light bulb went on in his head. "Hey, why don't we just go through the gate I blasted to bits? No way they could have gotten that sealed up in just two days, right?"
"While good in theory, I expect we would run into problems in practice. Specifically, I doubt the Shinigami have left the gaping hole in their defensive wall undefended," Ishida pointed out.
"Well, if you have a better idea, let's hear it."
"Perhaps I could make a few suggestions," an unfamiliar female voice said. Ichigo spun around, saw the small woman wearing a white haori, and lashed out with his cleaver.
-x-
Soifon barely dodged the oversized butcher's knife the Arrancar swung at her head. In hindsight, speaking up from right behind them before otherwise alerting them to her presence had not been the best idea. "Wait a moment!" She drew Suzumebachi and deflected a barrage of arrows. "I'm not here to fight!" She dropped Suzumebachi and held her hands up to show she meant no harm. The Arrancar and Quincy stopped their next attacks, but didn't lower their weapons.
"Judging by your haori, you are a Captain. Which begs the question of why you do not want to fight," the Quincy said.
"Because I'm working on revealing the conspiracy in Soul Society that resulted in the loss of around a third of the Captains and Vice-Captains one hundred years ago and Rukia Kuchiki receiving the death penalty." She picked up Suzumebachi and returned it to its sheath. "Good enough reason?"
Her assailants looked at each other and lowered their weapons. However, the Quincy did not dissipate his bow and the Arrancar had yet to reseal his Zanpakuto. Soifon understood their wariness, but now was not the time for it.
"My name is Soifon. Captain of the 2nd Division and former servant and student of Yoruichi Shihoin." Dropping Lady Yoruichi's name seemed to get them to relax a bit. "I've recently learned that you are unaware of the true seriousness of the situation you've walked into. There are things that you should have been told before coming here."
"And that would be…?"
"Several of the current Captains are traitors, working to obtain an object that until very recently was in Urahara's hands. I can give more details, but it would be best to go to ground right now, before more Captains arrive."
The Quincy pulled out a device similar to the one Lady Yoruichi had used. "The nearest one of Urahara's bolt holes is in the direction." He pointed to the far side of Sokyoku Hill. "It looks like it has enough space for all of us."
Soifon nodded. "Lead on."
-x-
Hitsugaya looked at the report in front of him. In it was a detailed account of exactly what had transpired during the battle between Captain Kurotsuchi and Ichigo Kurosaki, from Kurotsuchi putting up the barrier to Kurosaki devouring him. Vice-Captain Kurotsuchi had included estimates on the Arrancar's speed and power and a list of the abilities he had displayed. It contained everything Hitsugaya needed to learn about what he was up against. He made a mental note (in all caps, bold, and underlined several times) to not get hit by that "Getsuga Tensho". The endless barrage of weapons would be troublesome as well.
However, he was starting to have doubts. The report included everything, including Captain Kurotsuchi's orders to his Lieutenant to go to the Living World and kidnap Kurosaki's sisters. Nemu said that until hearing that, the Arrancar's goal had been simply to escape and that he had shown no interest in eating either of them. Only after his siblings were threatened did Kurosaki fight to kill and even then he had not expressed any desire to eat Kurotsuchi until the very end.
Even Hinamori admitted that didn't sound like the actions of a bloodthirsty Hollow and was in fact at odds with what Captain Ichimaru had reported in regards to Aizen's death. Captain Aizen was not the kind of person who would threaten innocents who had nothing to do with the current situation. So what had motivated Kurosaki to kill Aizen the way he had?
So here he was with two conflicting accounts of attacks by Ichigo Kurosaki. The question was, which –if either - was accurate?
-x-
Soifon looked around the cavern. She had to admit she was impressed. This had been sitting under Sokyoku Hill for over a century and no one had noticed? A cough pulled her attention back to the assembled ryoka and one former prisoner.
"I believe you had an explanation for us?" Uryuu Ishida asked.
Soifon nodded. "You may want to sit down." Soifon did so herself and the ryoka followed her example. "A little over a century ago, Urahara created an object he called the 'Hogyoku'…"
-after a lot of exposition that you can find by reading the manga-
Rukia felt like she was going to throw up. "This thing is…inside me?" Captain Soifon nodded.
Ichigo smashed his fist into the rocky floor, leaving a fair sized crater. "When we get back, I'm shoving a Cero up Hat-and-Clogs' ass."
-Living World-
A certain shopkeeper got a sudden and inexplicable feeling of Impending Doom.
-Seireitei-
"I won't stop you," Rukia said. "That complete and utter…AARG! 'Would you like to borrow a gigai, miss?' my foot! Why did I ever trust that guy?"
Soifon shrugged. "I can't say I agree with his choice of methods, but I do agree that something like the Hogyoku must be kept out of Aizen's hands. If he gets a hold of it…imagine an army of Arrancar as powerful as or stronger than Kurosaki, with none of the morals."
That thought would be keeping the ryoka up at night for a while.
Ishida looked at Soifon. "You said you had a method to get us out of Soul Society?"
"Yes. The Senkaimon. I can open it and send you back to the Living World."
"But we would have to use the official Senkaimon. And it will be guarded by the Kido Corps," Rukia said.
Soifon smirked. "That's not quite true. In fact, you should know of another, far less heavily protected option, Lady Kuchiki." Rukia's eyes widened in understanding and she clapped a fist into her palm.
"That's right! There's a private Senkaimon for clan use on the Kuchiki estate!"
"If we can get you all to that Senkaimon, you can get back to the Living World."
Ichigo jumped to his feet. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Without Lady Yoruichi?"
"Oh."
"I also think it would be wise to wait here a few days," Soifon suggested.
Ishida nodded. "If some time passes with no activity from us, patrols will start to become complacent, making it easier to sneak onto the Kuchiki estate."
"My thoughts exactly."
So the ryoka settled in to wait for the heat to die down. They had rescued Rukia and they had a concrete plan to make their getaway. What could possibly go wrong?
Did anyone else wonder how the hell Ichigo and co. planned to get out of Soul Society in canon? I mean, they didn't even know how they were getting in. Seriously, these things are kind of basic when planning a rescue...
Okay, everyone, do you all know what Friday (12-16-2011) is? That's right! It's my 22nd birthday. And do you know what I really want more than anything? Lots of reviews! So please, make my birthday wish come true by clicking the "Review" button and telling me what you think.