Chapter 21: Trail of Blood
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We are all wrapped in neatly made, little illusions. Some rest in their own ambitious definitions, while others let the world around them decide how to perceive them. Truth does not exist for any one of us. There are as many definitions of a soul as there are souls. And there is only one being who can see all definitions of a soul at once…and know the truth of it…
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"So," said Ichigo, watching as Hanatarou turned away from Nel and moved towards Grimmjow, "What's your story, Grimmjow? Byakuya said that you and Nel were working against Aizen. So…what happened?"
"Hey," the Sexta Espada said sharply, flinching and pulling away from Hanatarou's hands, "I'm fine. Leave it be."
"B-but…"
"C'mon," muttered Ichigo, "Give it a rest, will you? We all know how tough you are. But let the kid heal you. It's not like you won't need the energy. You are in shinigami custody…although if it wasn't for Byakuya, it would be way worse. So, why don't you tell me. What's between Byakuya and you? Were you working with him? Were you working together against Aizen? What?"
Grimmjow didn't miss the fact that the second division taichou had appeared and moved to sit down with them.
"This is Soi fon taichou," Rukia said, nodding to the second division taichou, "She leads the second division and the secret mobile corps."
"The secret mobile corps that just attempted to kill someone who's on their own side?" Grimmjow asked in a gruff, sarcastic tone, "That secret mobile corps? Why should I tell you a fucking thing? You'll probably kill me either way, so I think I'll keep the truth to myself. It can just die with me, ne?"
"You say he is on our side?" Soi fon said, frowning, "but we have proof that he is Aizen Sousuke's lover…that he broke that criminal out of the Central 46 prisons, and that he, himself, returned the man's zanpakutou to his hand. Tell me how we have misunderstood him."
"You haven't misunderstood in any of those things, but you have missed several things," said in a low voice, "Maybe you need to consider those to find your answer."
"Well," said Soi fon, "You seem to think you have more of the answers and are more intelligent than all of us, hollow, so tell us…what have we missed?"
Grimmjow laughed softly.
"Ask yourself this. Why is it that Nel and I, who had never met this man before, instantly knew to protect him? Without question, we knew he was a man of his word, and that although he was made Aizen's, he did not choose it?"
"What?"
"Think about it," Grimmjow continued in a lonely, lost sounding voice, "He had power, responsibility, family, friends and comrades. His efforts in the war helped to ruin the plan to create the King's Key. And his sister was made a pawn in Aizen's plans. Have you asked yourself what would make a guy like that do what he is doing? Why would a guy like that throw away his life, helping the man who nearly got his sister killed? What did Byakuya stand to gain by taking up with Aizen?"
"A place in his new regime?" suggested Soi fon, "I am sure that as Aizen's lover, he would…"
"As Aizen's lover, Byakuya inherited the hardest job you can imagine! He had to leave everything and everyone he loved behind."
His eyes lifted and met Renji's.
"He had to betray people who trusted him. He had to lie down with that bastard and make a child with him."
"T-taichou is…pregnant?" Renji asked, his voice trembling softly and his eyes widening, "Kami, that's why he was fainting! It's why he was so sick all of a sudden! Aizen…made him pregnant? He's really…"
"He was pregnant. I overheard him say that it was supposed to happen…something about it being related to his task. But when that shinigami taichou injured him, he was nearly killed. He lost the child, his powers, his vision…almost lost his life. Aizen made Nel heal what she could, but although he lived, he was still without those things."
"You say it was supposed to happen…this child. Why?"
"As part of his mission. He wouldn't tell us at first what his mission was, but all of us knew that as soon as Aizen unsealed the hougyoku, the madness would begin again. Aizen knew that Byakuya was going after Tenrai Tezawari, a blade that could kill any creature. He said he was going to use it in the spirit dimension to kill a beast that threatened the king. But that was just a cover story he told Aizen to get Aizen to follow him into the spirit dimension."
"He wanted to take Aizen into the spirit dimension?" asked Soi fon, "So he did betray us…"
"No. He didn't betray you. He wanted to take Aizen into the spirit dimension because going to some temple within it would somehow make that blade he carried strong enough."
"Strong enough to do what? What was his mission?" asked Soi fon stridently.
"I don't know everything…the whole of it, but…the reason that Byakuya freed Aizen, sought Tenrai Tezawari and led Aizen to the spirit dimension, was so that he could destroy that damned hougyoku!"
Renji took a strangled breath and looked in the direction Byakuya and Aizen had gone. His memory replayed those last moments, the tenderness in the noble's hands, even as he cleared his own squad from Aizen's path…as he took his fukutaichou down to save his life…then, how that one tear had slid down his face as he said goodbye to everyone and everything he knew.
And he wasn't planning on coming back. That's how difficult he knew it would be. And why he went alone. He didn't want the rest of us to be hurt. So he protected us…and he went on alone to do this…to destroy that nightmare Aizen created.
"Taichou…" Renji whispered.
"Nii-sama…" Rukia breathed.
Soi fon frowned and glared at Grimmjow.
"You have told an impressive story, but you still have not told us why taking Aizen Sousuke into the spirit dimension wasn't a betrayal. In fact, even having destroyed the hougyoku, he will still have taken our enemy to the doorstep of the king. So, knowing that, how do you still say he is no traitor?"
Grimmjow sighed resignedly.
"That part, I don't know. He had to keep quiet. Because anything Aizen learned, the hougyoku knew. And to have the best chance to defeat the hougyoku, he had to keep it from learning that it was his target. Even so, once it was unsealed, the hougyoku learned of it. So after the two obtained Tenrai Tezawari, we helped him escape Aizen and that's when he told us what he was going to do. Thing is…if you were wrong about Byakuya, couldn't you also be wrong about Aizen too?"
"Huh," huffed Soi fon, "He betrayed us before the hougyoku was implanted in him. That means he was a traitor before."
"So…who says that the hougyoku didn't convince him to be a traitor? That it didn't overwhelm his mind before he ever fused with it and that it wasn't manipulating him all along?"
"So you think that when it's gone, he will suddenly come to his senses? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Soi fon said dismissively.
"Yeah…" said Grimmjow, "Well you weren't with Byakuya through this. Nel and I were. We saw how he suffered, and how alone and afraid he felt through everything, how he struggled, and how devastated he was when his child was lost. We saw how it made him sick inside to think about what he had to do, but how he did it all anyway. And you saw, just now, how he protected his own from getting hurt…how he protected Nel and me from being mistreated. That guy is no traitor…and he wouldn't follow one. And if you still think he is, then you are fucked in the head."
Grimmjow caught his breath softly as he realized that hot tears had risen in his eyes. He swept them away with the back of a hand and fell silent, biting at his lips nervously as the shinigamis studied him closely. Soi fon rose and stared down at him for a moment.
"We will inform Kuchiki Rukia if we have anymore questions," she said quietly, then she flash stepped away.
Ichigo looked up at Renji and Rukia, who were standing with their arms around each other and their faces buried in each others' shoulders. He looked back at Grimmjow and laid a hand on the Sexta Espada's shoulder.
"Thanks, Grimmjow," he said softly.
"For what?" the hollow asked irascibly, "I just told you what happened."
"No," he said quietly, "You did a lot more than that."
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The palace temple went silent for a moment as the combatants gazed at each others' candlelit faces in the darkness. Byakuya breathed in the scents of incense and ash, letting the ancient soul of the temple strengthen his. And where he had shivered before at the closeness of death, that old spirit soothed his younger one into calm acceptance of what must be, of what sacrifices must be made for the sake of truth.
And he knew he could no longer hold it inside him. The words would burn his lips as he said them, but they would set his king free. There was strength in truth and now Sousuke needed the truth that had been unspoken, untouched, unknown since that time, long before…when Diablo fell to the former king.
"You have a name," Byakuya said softly, "and I have discovered that name…Diablo."
Aizen stared at him questioningly and Byakuya could have smiled at the sudden sense of dislocation between the hougyoku and the brown-eyed shinigami.
"What are you talking about, descendant of Hajime? Are you referring to those ancient tales you were reading back at your manor? They were made by drunken fools and have been told so many times that they have been stripped of all truth. You know nothing of your own history but the lies they fed you!"
"If it is not truth," said Byakuya calmly, "then it holds no power. And if it held no power, you would not fear it."
The noble barely moved in time to avoid the sudden blast of kido that erupted from Aizen's hands.
"Insolent one! I fear nothing! There is nothing you can do, no words you can say that can help you to free him from me! He gave himself to me willingly. He sought me…created me and took me willingly into his body."
"No…he never even knew you," Byakuya said, holding his weapon up and dodging another blast of kido, "You let him believe he created you. But I will tell him the truth. I will tell him who you are…and who he is…and why you sought him."
"What are you talking about?"
Byakuya froze.
"Sousuke?" he said softly, noting the flash of brown eyes, then flash stepping wildly and countering as the shinigami's eyes went golden again and the hougyoku attacked.
The two bodies circled each other, slashed and blocked at blinding speed as Senbonzakura and Kyouka Suigetsu began an incantation.
Ancient sage, vessel of truths long forgotten, bound by the serpent's sliding path along the earth and the lies spread by his tongue…by the will of the king's scion, rise from the ashes left behind them. Let the light of truth fall over this place and open the way for the king!
Aizen and Byakuya slid to a stop across from each other and the noble could see fury twisting the features of the man standing before him.
"You won't get away with this, damned king's whore! I will kill you before you can move from that spot!"
Fire flared suddenly around Byakuya and with a gasp, he disappeared into it. He reappeared a moment later, flash stepping in from behind Aizen and landing a wicked slash across the other man's chest. Aizen looked down at his bleeding chest.
"Really, Byakuya," he said mockingly, "Did you think that pitiful attack would finish me? You are naïve, aren't you?"
Byakuya stared as the wound began to heal itself.
"Remember?" Diablo said solemnly, "I can heal instantly, any wound you can make. Even Tenrai Tezawari cannot kill me. But feel free to try!"
"Now," Byakuya said softly to Senbonzakura.
"Yes, Master," the zanpakutou said, nodding, "Ban kai…senkei Senbonzakura kageyoshi!"
"And you as well," the noble continued, his dark eyes finding Kyouka Suigetsu's.
He nearly laughed at the look of surprise that Aizen and the hougyoku stared at what issued from the pale, green-eyed zanpakutou's lips.
"Ban kai…"
"What?" hissed the hougyoku, "Aizen Sousuke never achieved ban kai! It was a lie that he used his zanpakutou's illusions to conceal!"
"Yes," Kyouka Suigetsu, "Aizen Sousuke showed all of the taichous and fukutaichous a contrived waster-based shikai and ban kai, but he never sought to achieve ban kai because in the early years he felt he did not need it…and then, he sold his soul to the hougyoku and so, never bothered with it. But even so…I have use of ban kai. Would you like to see it?"
Aizen smirked.
"Not that either of us believe that it will prove powerful enough to affect this battle, but out of an odd curiosity, we will allow you to release it."
"Very well," Kyouka Suigetsu breathed softly, "Ban kai…manako no jouten, Kyouka Suigetsu."
Within the fighting chamber that Senbonzakura created, a soft, eerie mist began to rise. Aizen held still, spellbound by his zanpakutou as the hougyoku made him wear a skeptical smile.
"Manako no jouten," the zanpakutou explained, "Eye of the Creator. Where my shikai controls the senses to create illusion, my ban kai sweeps away all falsity to let the truth be seen."
The mist swirled around Kyouka Suigetsu, obscuring his body for a moment before fading and leaving him revealed. In the place of the thin, green-eyed man stood a similar, but much more regal looking man, his body adorned in royal robes and carrying a scepter instead of a sword.
"What is this?" hissed the hougyoku, "What are you doing?"
"This is my true form," explained the zanpakutou, "Used in battle, it creates an advantage by fully revealing the soul of the enemy. My scepter needs only to touch you…and the Lord's Eye will fix on you…revealing everything you are…including the weaknesses that will allow me to conquer you! And as you are revealed, so will my master be revealed. Are you curious, Diablo? Or do you look at me and suspect already?"
"Damn you!" screamed the hougyoku, charging and slashing at Kyouka Suigetsu.
His sword passed through the man, who disappeared and reappeared several feet away.
"And in this form, I can still use my illusions to escape your attacks. So seek me, if you will, but hurry. The truth is about to be told!"
The zanpakutou disappeared again and the hougyoku forced Aizen's body into motion slashing blindly and viciously. Byakuya and Senbonzakura flash stepped away as Aizen seemed to go mad, slashing at everything that moved and filling the room with flares of fire. A binding kido captured his sword arm, and a wicked-fast flash step sounded. Aizen struck out and encountered a body that convulsed around his blade and froze. Kyouka Suigetsu reappeared, impaled on his own master's blade…and smiling. Aizen looked down and found that the shaking hand of the wounded zanpakutou still held the scepter…and the scepter was lightly touching his thigh.
"It will be all right, Master," Kyouka Suigetsu whispered, blood leaking from between his pale lips "Even though I am broken, the truth will still be seen."
His palm touched Aizen's face and for a moment the deep, gentle brown eyes returned.
"Kyouka Suigetsu…" he said softly.
The zanpakutou slid slowly to the ground and disappeared. In his place, a broken sword appeared.
"Huh," huffed the Diablo, regaining control, "So where is this truth?"
He caught his breath sharply, staring in surprise as the room began to rumble heavily with rising power. The shaking around them increased until the two shinigamis and the remaining zanpakutou were forced to their knees. And before them, a white-lit body was forming, a man whose face was gently obscured, whose voice demanded their attention, and whose very presence made the Diablo shriek with memory.
"YOU!" he screamed, "It cannot be you! I will kill you!"
Aizen's controlled body flash stepped forward and he slashed at the man. To his surprise, the weapon passed through him, leaving no damage.
"What?" snapped Diablo, "How?"
"It is his majesty, Yoshiaki," Byakuya said in a reverent tone, "He is our former king."
"F-former?" repeated the hougyoku, "Then he is…?"
"His majesty, King Yoshiaki, died the day I released Aizen Sousuke from the Central 46 prisons," Byakuya announced, "And that means that his son is to be crowned king upon his return to the palace. But before he can return, the lies surrounding him must fall away and he must be fully revealed. That is what Kyouka Suigetsu's power will do. It has brought the old king, himself to tell the story…but…you already know the truth…don't you, Diablo? It is Sousuke for whom the king speaks, for know this now…Aizen Sousuke is Yoshiaki's only child."