The Iron Sole Alchemist and the Soul Reapers (Chapter 44) The Princess and the Assassins
by Howlin
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)
The next day, Sloth and I were out for our morning run. Our homunculus selves used the quincy bangles to work on hirenkyaku while soul reaper me raced with flash step and magical girl Sloth used her flash step equivalent. While we raced one another, our soul phones rang. It was a hollow alert. Over fifty had shown up in a large cluster in Karakura Town.
"Another scouting party?" asked Sloth. "This time sending in a mass wave of weak hollows to improve the odds one will be able to report back?"
"Could also be a distraction while he slips in an arancar somewhere else in town," I suggested. "Either way, we can't ignore dozens of soul eating monsters invisible to normal people."
Sloth nodded. "Do we bring our bodies?"
"Against normal hollows even this many, we shouldn't need them. Let us know the plan and that we'll call them if we need backup."
"Done," said Sloth as our homunculus selves nodded. "Let's go."
I took her hand and said, "When we arrive, I want you to stay out of the fight unless you see someone in direct danger. If this is a distraction, someone needs to be keeping a lookout. Besides, if possible, hollows should be purified with a zanpakto."
"If I have to get involved, I'll try to disable rather than kill," agreed Sloth as I apparated us into the middle of the swarm of hollows.
There was a familiar scent in the air. The recipe had subtle differences from the one I'd learned from Uryu, but someone had drawn all these hollows in with bait. As most of the hollows were hovering and trying to spot prey from above, I took to the air myself, flash stepping into the thickest mass of hollows and drawing my zanpakto, decapitating one of them in the same motion.
Two more hollows were cut down next to me as Ichigo and Rukia arrived on the scene.
"Why are there so many of them?" asked Ichigo.
"Hollow bait," I said. "Someone lured them in. Sloth's keeping watch in case this is a diversion."
"Let's split up and deal with them as fast as we can," suggested Rukia.
Ichigo and I nodded and all three of us flash stepped in a different direction. Under limiters, I had to be careful against regular hollows like these. A clean, well placed strike with my zanpakto to the neck or head would take my target out in one bit, but a miss wold leave me out of position and vulnerable to counter strike.
The first three went down clean, but the fourth hollow brought a bladed forearm up to block my overhead strike. He was ready to land a solid punch to my stomach when he stopped my sword. I felt a rib crack and the air blew out of my lungs. Worse, couldn't catch myself in time and I hit another hollow behind me with my back.
The hollow I'd slammed into wrapped his arms around me, pinning me in place while the one who'd blocked me rushed forward to stab me with that wrist blade. I judged the timing and took my animagus form a split second before the hollow's wrist blade could hit me. He instead stabbed the hollow who'd been restraining me. Retaking human form, I flash stepped behind the hollow with the wrist blade and bisected his skull, following the strike up with a clean, decapitation blow to the hollow that'd grabbed me.
I managed another six clean kills before I was distracted by a massive surge of spiritual pressure from Ichigo activating his bankai. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe under the crushing weight of Ichigo's spiritual pressure. The only reason I wasn't immediately eaten was the hollows surrounding me were equally effected by Ichigo's spiritual pressure.
My own spirit energy responded to the fact that I was paralyzed in midair surrounded by hollows my increasing. It wasn't by much, but it let me push past the paralysis enough to touch my substatute badge. With the power limiter on my badge deactivated, the weight of Ichigo's spiritual pressure was no longer paralyzing and I could breathe again.
With my strength and speed multiplied ten fold and the hollows paralyzed, I made short work of a dozen as I caught my breath. With all the hollows in my immediate vicinity cleared, I saw Chad, Uryu, and Orihime running up. There were more hollows than there had been when I'd arrived. The hollow bait had lured in as many hollows as the piece that had lured the gilleon. Uryu made a decision and fired his bow, annihilating every hollow in the sky with a barrage of hundreds of quincy arrows.
I felt a little conflicted. Even with his bankai enhanced speed, Ichigo wasn't killing them fast enough. It wouldn't have taken much for someone to wander close and get eaten by one of the less sluggish hollows. Uryu'd undeniably saved some lives. In terms of pure numbers, though, Ichigo, Rukia, and I could've purified the whole bunch long before they'd eaten enough to match their numbers. Even without the risk to the balance, you could see how the differing priorities of soul reapers and quincies could come into conflict.
I could get over it. Prioritizing saving the living over saving the dead, saving wholes over saving hollows, was a valid choice. It wasn't the choice I'd have made, but that didn't make him evil. We linked back up to compare notes.
Uryu had sensed unknown soul reapers in the area just before the hollows arrived. Ichigo had seen them. There were two of them, protecting a young soul who didn't have a visible chain of fate and who dressed and acted like a spoiled princess. They'd run into one another just before he got dog piled by the hollows and had to activate his bankai. Now, there was no trace of them. Even their spirit energy had completely disappeared.
There wasn't much more we could do at this point. Ichigo and the others headed to class. Sloth and I got back to our routine training until it was time to join them. I spent the better part of an hour with my mask on trying to heal my cracked rib with high speed regeneration. Eventually, I was forced to concede defeat and mend it with a spell.
Now that my soul was no longer ageing, I'd resumed making daily trips to the Soul Society. When I arrived at militia headquarters in Kusajishi, I was greeted by a familiar face. Ganju Shiba and his gang had come out.
"Ganju, what brings you out this way?" I asked.
"It's about this army you've been building," said Ganju. "There isn't a town in the Rukon District where there aren't people wearing your uniform promising to protect people from gangs with spirit energy like me and my boys."
"Have they been hassling you when you weren't doing anything wrong?" I asked. "Koga and the other bounts were supposed to help keep that sort of thing under control."
"No, no, it's nothing like that," said Ganju. "You see, it used to be that if folks in the Rukon District were having problems with that kind of thing, they knew they could count on me and my gang to help them out. Now, they just run to the closest people in blue uniforms."
"So, you want in?" I guessed.
"Well, that depends," said Ganju. "If I wanted to join an army and be told what to do all the time, I'd'a signed up with the soul reapers like my big brother Kaien."
I smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about that. This is a militia, not an army. There's a chain of command, but militia members are expected to protect the people of the Rukon District from criminals and hollows when the soul reapers can't or won't. How you go about it is pretty much up to you.
"The bounts are the sheriffs. Each of them is responsible for policing members of the militia, dealing with anyone in their assigned district who tries to use their position with the militia to oppress people. They also provide general coordination, making sure weapons and equipment are distributed in their districts. I've put in place safeguards against the bounts abusing their power, but if those fail, as militia head, I deal with it.
"Like I said, normally you're free to defend your home town or do the wandering law man gig, but there are two exceptions. If there's an emergency you can't handle, you can call on and expect assistance from other militia members in neighboring towns. And, in the event of a serious threat like a full scale Menos invasion, the militia gets called up and everyone follows my orders until the crisis is over. If I'm not available, the Thirteen Court Guard Squads can issue orders in my place during such a crisis."
"That's really it?" asked Ganju.
"If we made th requirements too onerous, we wouldn't have been able to grow our membership as fast as we have," said sloth.
"Hey, why aren't you in uniform?" demanded Ganju.
"I'm not on militia business," said Sloth. "When you're out of uniform, you're off the clock. Barring one of those emergencies Greed mentioned, you don't need to be in uniform."
"You do need to be in uniform when you're acting as a member of the militia though," added Koga.
"Well, I guess you'd better get uniforms for me and my gang then," said Ganu.
"Welcome to the Rukon militia," I said, drawing my wand and conjuring uniforms in their sizes.
While we were getting Ganju and his gang up to speed, they shared some rumors from closer to the Seireitei. Apparently, Yamamoto'd found a new captain to take over Squad 3. His name was Shuske Amagai, and he'd previously been a member of the patrol divisions operating outside territories controlled by the Soul Society identifying and eliminating threats. I wished him better luck than I'd had dealing with the Seireitei's politics.
The next day in class, three new students were introduced. Kenryu, a black haired young man, Enryu, a mostly bald man bigger and more heavily muscled than Chad with a single lock of black hair, and Rurichoi Kasomioji, a girl with long blond hair and green eyes who looked about ten. Even with all the weird transfer students lately, myself included, they drew confused looks and questions.
Sloth and I were spending more time intact lately, so she was in a position to use her telepathic abilities to work out what was going on. These were the people Ichigo had seen the previous day. They were wearing spirit energy concealing gigais from Urahara's shop.
The girl was the princess and sole heir of the Kasomioji clan, a prominent and powerful Soul Society noble family, ranked just below the likes of the Kuchkis and the Shihoins. The two men were her guardians and bodyguards. They'd come to the world of hte living after a series of incidents in the Soul Society led them to believe Viceroy Gyukaku Kumoi was trying to have Rurichio assassinated in an attempt to take over the clan.
The incident with the hollow bait yesterday had been a test set up by Kenryu and Enryu to see Ichigo's skills in action. His reputation was growing within the Soul Society, and the bodyguards had hoped that he would be able to help them deal with further assassination attempts. He'd apparently passed the test, since the three of them had purchased the house next door to Ichigo and had enrolled in Karakura High School in order to stay close.
This job wasn't one they wanted Ichigo to know he had. Kenryu and Enryu's idea was to just use his proximity as an added layer of protection and hope Ichigo would intervene with an attacker before they could get close.
While Sloth was mining their brains, the three of them were doing a terrible job blending in. Enryu was self-conscious about his voice and refused to speak, relying on gestures to communicate. Rurichio had a formal mode of speaking that somehow managed to draw more attention than her apparent age. It was Kenryu who took the prize for drawing attention with his overzealous protectiveness of Rurichio.
"Is my way of speaking truly so strange?" asked Rurichio.
"Well, yeah," said Keigo. "It's not like it's the middle ages."
"Address Lady Rurichio again and I'll put you in the ground," Kenryu said to Keigo.
Rurichio was already distracted talking to Ichigo and I doubted she'd caught Kenryu's threat. I grabbed Kenryu by the back of his neck and slammed his face down into a desk. I'd used the array on my shoes to subtly reinforce the esk as I did so, both to ensure the amount of force I slammed him down with wouldn't break the desk, and to muffle the sound of his impact and draw less attention.
"Threaten one of my friends again, and you'll be the one in the ground," I breathed into his ear.
Enryu moved to assist Kenryu and found his head pinned to the same desk by Sloth, who said, "Don't start trouble and there won't be trouble. We're going to let you both up now."
Sloth and I released the two bodyguards, who pretended nothing had happened. There weren't any more threats.
This class was an open minded and welcoming bunch, and after some initial awkwardness, the three visiters from the Soul Society were happily socializing. I was a little surprised Tatski had to restrain Chizuru from jumping Rurichio. The princess was far more my type than hers. Clearly the red head had a broader range than I thought.
With a risk of assassins showing up right next door, Rukia convinced Ichigo to let her stay over at the Kurosaki residence. Rukia promised to alert the rest of us if the assassins made a move. Since everyone already had portkeys that would take them to Ichigo's house, an alert would be all we'd need.
"I'm really not seeing the opportunity here," I said when Sloth and I returned home for the day.
"You don't see how being able to save the life of a member of the Soul Society's ruling class could benefit us?" asked Sloth. "The Kasomioji have a representative to the Central 46 chamber. An exile who saved the life of the head of the family would not only get her representative rethinking his sentence, but other noble families would also see the benefits of having him allowed back in the Seireitei in case they or their heirs needed saving."
I transmuted a roast and set it in the middle of the dining room table. When our soul reaper house guests came, summoned by the smell, Sloth and I switched to parceltongue.
"The thing is," I hissed, "aside from being able to visit Rukia, Renji, Hanataro, and the others, there isn't much I really need to go to the Seireitei to do. And the goodwill of the nobles will mean less and less as the Rukon District modernizes and develops."
"Which I'm sure is a fact that won't be lost on the nobles," noted Sloth. "Once they realize what's happening, there will be some who try to slow or turn back the march of progress. While Rurichio is in the world of the living, she'll get the chance to see how an egalitarian, industrialized society works. Add to that owing her life to the hot older guy pushing for progress and we might get a voice pushing back against the conservatives."
I thought about what Sloth said as I dug into my meal. I was getting used to the big meals I needed to sustain my immortality. My alchemic skills meant I never needed to worry about cooking too much, since whatever my expanded appetite and the cycle of soul reaper house guests didn't finish could always be broken back down into its elemental components for storage until the next meal. There was cherry pie and ice cream for desert. With all the well prepared free food, the soul reapers staying with us politely ignored it when Sloth and I started hissing at one another. We could have used telepathy, but our years at Hogwarts had gotten us used to using the language of snakes when plotting.
After cleaning up, Sloth and I headed out to the yard to play a three way game of frizbee with Loki until the sun went down. As we came back inside, our soul phones beeped to alert us to a text. The assassins were making their move.
I grabbed Sloth by her hand, released all of my power limiters, and turned on the spot, apparating to the front of Ichigo's house. Ichigo and Rukia were in soul reaper form on the roof of the house next door, fighting a masked figure wielding a sword that had a large, round mirror for a guard. Kenryu and Enryu were carrying an unconscious Rurichio out of the house and running down the street.
Ichigo and RUkia looked like they had the assassin well in hand, so Sloth and I ran after Rurichio and her bodyguards in case there were more assassins lying in wait. Orihime, Uryu, and Chad arrived on the scene a moment later. Orihime stayed to support Ichigo and Rukia while Chad and Uryu joined Sloth and I following Kenryu and Enryu.
The four of us formed up in a diamond shape around Rurichio and her guards. As I'd been the one to slam Kenryu's face down on the desk earlier, I took the lead position. Hopefully, showing my back would help them realize we weren't with the assassins.
"Is Rurichio hurt?" asked Sloth as we ran.
"No, she's just sleeping," said Kenryu. "What are you all doing here?"
"You suck at keeping a low profile," I said. "It wasn't hard to figure out Princess Rurichio's life might be in danger, so we set a watch."
A light blue getsuga tensho from Ichigo's shikai accompanied the disappearance of the assassin's spiritual pressure. Our party circled around back to the house where Kenryu came clean, explained everything Sloth had already learned through her telepathy, and got on his knees to beg for our help. We agreed quickly with just one snag.
"Should we wake the princess and explain the new plan now, or did you want to fill her in in the morning?" I asked.
"Lady Rurichio does not know about the attempts Kumoi had made on her life, and I ask you not to tell her," said Kenryu. "It would traumatize her."
"You're not giving her enough credit," said Sloth. "I went to school with a boy who was around her age when he learned he was being personally targeted by the most powerful dark wizard in history. Not only was he not traumatized, but he went on to lead the light side against that dark wizard and won."
"Besides, she already knows Kumoi's after her," said Ichigo.
"How could you possibly know that?" said Kenryu skeptically.
"Sloth and Greed can read minds," said Ichigo. "I can do it a little too, but they've got actual training in it."
"Teaching you how to control that better is still on my to do list," I said. "It's just you've got so much else it's more important you master first."
"Rurichio isn't stupid," said Sloth. "She's known about Kumoi for a while. She also knows you've been trying to keep it from her so she wouldn't worry. She's been playing along so you wouldn't worry about her feelings."
Kenryu and Enryu sank into a depression over that revelation, proving Rurichio was by far the more emotionally stable of the three, and that if anything, she might have had a point being worried about traumatizing them. We eventually calmed them down, cheered them up, and they agreed to talk to Rurichio in the morning. With that, we all returned home.
Now that we'd agreed to take on the role of protectors for Rurichio, two new faces appeared in the foeglass. One was an old, white haired man with opaque glasses that Sloth identified as Kumoi. The other was a soul reaper with messy blue black hair, a bit of stubble, and a captain's coat.
"I think this is the new third division captain Ganju told us about," I said. "We'll take a picture to the Soul Society to be sure."
"If there's a captain backing Kumoi's play, we're going to need to be careful," said Sloth. "It means just eliminating Kumoi won't be the end of it."
"And either way, it means this will all be resolved in the Seireitei," I added. "I have a way in without raising suspicions."
"You usually wait until the last minute to tell me about your brilliant plans," noted Sloth. "I'm not complaining either way, but what's different this time?"
"You'll see," I said, expelling my soul from my homunculus body using my substitute badge. As usual, I'd switched off the surveillance when Sloth and I had retired to our bedroom suite.
My Visored self drew my wand and performed a set of transfigurations on my spiritual body. My spiked brown hair drooped and turned red. My brown skin paled and grew freckles. The shape of my face, nose, neck, and chin all altered. I turned to sloth and smiled with slightly unfamiliar teeth.
"As I'm no longer welcome in the Seireitei," said homunculus me, "I'll be sending my apprentice and personal representative, Ron Weasley."
Sloth cracked up, laughing hard enough that she had to wipe away tears, and said, "Okay, good call showing me this early. I wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face. Why Ron?"
"Besides the fact that he really was my apprentice," said homunculus me, "I know enough of his family names, important dates, and other details that make him useful as a fake identity."
"Ron also doesn't look much like me, so there's less reason for them to suspect it's a disguise," said Visored me.
"So, our story is you trained up a member of the militia and sent him under orders to protect Rurichio and deal with her enemies?" confirmed Sloth.
"That's the idea," said Visored me, concentrating my spirit energy so my zanpakto would shrink to the size of a dagger which I concealed inside my uniform jacket. "I'm also hiding my spirit energy using what I've learned from the bounts and the quincies. Let the enemy assume I'm a muggle until an opportune moment appears."
"Well, I can't see any obvious reason it won't work," said Sloth. "You'll need to leave your badge and phone behind, obviously."
Both mes nodded. That settled, Visored me reversed the transfigurations and merged with my homunculus self again.
"It'd help if we could capture the next assassin alive," I said after I'd pulled myself together. "The foeglass is only showing us the key players. We'll want everyone involved in the conspiracy."
Sloth nodded. "The last assassin deliberately stopped defending himself so Ichigo's getsuga tensho would kill him. Fanatics like that don't just go away after you take down their leader."
"The others suck at nonlethal tactics," I said. "We're going to have to take the lead against the next one while everyone else focuses on keeping Rurichio safe."
"I'll keep a wand charged," said Sloth. "The good news is that the first assassin wasn't that tough. We shouldn't have to worry about them breaking the binding spells."
Shuske Amagai was the man in the foeglass. Asking around near the Seireitei's gates not only let Sloth and I confirm that, but also let us get more details about his abilities and what he'd had his squad up to.
Like Captain Kyoraku of Squad 8, Amagai's zanpakto consisted of two blades. The one strapped to his left hip was a more conventional katana. The one on his right hip was an odd to bladed short sword that resembled a tuning fork. Amagai had won a lot of respect from his men by using this second sword to fire an energy blast that obliterated the cleaner after squad 3 had been pinned down in the dangai.
"We are in deeper shit than I thought," I said to Sloth as we took the long way back to Kusajishi, intending on dropping off portkeys to the towns along the way to simplify travel within militia protected territory.
"What do you mean, Greed?" asked Sloth.
"You've seen the cleaner," I said. "That gooey purple bullet train is part of the precipice world's defenses. It can mow down Menos Grande by t he dozens and not slow down."
"So by destroying the cleaner, he's left the Soul Society vulnerable," said Sloth.
"The cleaner will regenerate," I said. "The restrictive current will still entrap weak hollows and unintelligent Menos. The cleaner's mostly there to keep people from taking advantage of the increased density of time. I'm not really worried about that."
"What then?" asked Sloth.
"The cleaner's tough," I said. "It's not indestructible, but it's damn close. Soul reapers who haven't undergone hollowfication have a natural strength limit. Destroying the cleaner using raw spiritual power is above that limit. Amagai is stronger than should be possible."
"Could you destroy the cleaner?" asked Sloth.
"No," I said. "Maybe I'll eventually be able to build up my spirit energy to the point I can do it, but for now, no."
"What about me? Could I do it?"
I nodded. "That punch you delivered to Ulquiora would've done it, though given the nature of the restrictive current, you shouldn't use a punch."
"Okay, when it comes time to fight him, I'll be the one to do it," said Sloth matter of factly.
"It's moot until we have evidence against him. I don't think Yamamoto'll be understanding about us killing another captain. But when the time domes, I'll be there to back you up."
In class that day, Sloth confirmed Rurichio and her guardians had talked about Kumoi and his plot. Rurichio was determined to enjoy her time in the world of the living while we came up with a plan to deal with Kumoi. So, rather than head straight home after class, Rukia took Rurichio to an arcade.
It was nice getting some pure recreation in. Time turners meant we didn't miss our regular training. The informal setting gave us a chance to get to know Rurichio better. She took to video games quickly and enthusiastically, demonstrating a sense of wonder and capacity for joy despite present circumstances. As we took turns at the gaming controls, it soon became clear that what at first had appeared to be a stuck up attitude was really just her being unaccustomed to life outside her palace and untrained in the manners involved. She was a quick study and genuinely wanted us all to like her.
We parted ways for the evening with Sloth and I time turning to continue with our after school lessons with Chad, Orihime, Tatski, and Keigo. The two of us were back at the mansion sitting down to dinner when Rukia sent an urgent text. The assassins were attacking Ichigp's house. We apparated out that instant.
When we appeared outside the Kurosaki house, the roof had collapsed. A rough stone wall had appeared on top of the house. Kenryu and Enryu were rushing Rurichio, Misaki, Karin, and Yuzu next door accompanied by a flaming lion wearing armor. Ichigo and his father Ishin were both out of their bodies. Ishin had on a soul reaper uniform with a white cloth tied around his shoulder that looked suspiciously like a captain's coat. Rukia and the Kurosaki men had the assassin surrounded.
"Stupefy!" yelled Sloth. A bolt of crimson light flew from her wand and struck the assassin square in the chest. Occupied with his three opponents, he didn't have a chance to dodge, and collapsed unconscious.
"I'll fix the house," I said. "Get him restrained next door for the interrogation. We'll explain everything. I promise."
A quick transmutation fixed the damage to the roof, though the wall that had collapsed it was a spiritual construct that had to be vanished instead. Uryu, Chad, and Orihime arrived as we were heading inside. Once behind the barrier that had been put up around Rurichio's house, we exchanged explanations with the Kurosaki family.
Ichigo's family had been aware of his activities as a soul reaper in vague terms since Sloth resurrected Misaki. As such, it didn't take long to fill them in on Rurichio's situation and that we'd agreed to help protect her. The explanations from the Kurosakis were more complicated.
Ishin had been the captain of Squad 10 many years ago, and had abandoned that life after meeting Misaki. Kiske had provided him with a gigai similar to the one Rukia had used that drained his power and turned him human. He considered it a small price to pay to be with the woman he loved and to have the chance to raise their children. It was only recently, after Ichigo became a soul reaper himself, that Ichigo's leaking spiritual pressure managed to stimulate and restore Ishin's own abilities.
The flaming armored lion we'd seen was Cammy, the pet cat Sloth had brought back to life as proof of her abilities when we'd brought Misaki home. After he'd died, Cammy had developed a degree of spirit energy and could use it to transform into the form we'd seen. It was too bad there wasn't a reliable way to induce that change, since it was exactly what I wanted to give Loki.
Spirit energy sealing manacles restrained the assassin. His weapons were locked up in another room and he'd been stripped and put in a grey jumpsuit. Satisfied with the precautions, I drew my wand, pointed it at the prisoner, and said, "Ennervate!"
"You will explain yourself this instant!" ordered Rurichio.
"You'll get nothing out of me," declared the prisoner.
"It'll go easier on you if you talk," I said, "but if you insist on doing this the hard way, we have options. Legelimense!"
Images flashed before my mind's eye, each tinged with emotion and meaning. Like most of the Soul Society, this man's mind was an open book. A moment later, I turned to hte others.
"This man is an assassin in the service of the Kasomioji clan," I reported. "Kumoi isn't contracting out Lady Rurichio's death. He turned the clan's assassins to his side in this coup attempt first."
"Does he know who else within the Kasomioji clan is on Kumoi's side and who is still loyal to the princess?" asked Kenryu.
"The household servants, common guards, and most of the vassals are still on Lady Rurichio's side," I said. "Kumoi has the clan's assassins, the smiths, and a handful of vassals."
"Kenryu, why was I never informed the House of Kasomioji kept a staff of assassins on retainer?" demanded Rurichio.
"We wanted to wait until you were older and less likely to be traumatized by the news," said Kenryu.
"You've been overprotecting her," said Ichigo. "You thought she'd be traumatized if she knew where carrots come form."
"Let's get back on the subject of what the assassin knows," prodded Uryu.
I nodded, pointed my wand, and repeated, "Legelimense!" I dug deeper, probing for what he knew of Kumoi's ultimate plan. I fond something I hadn't expected but should have.
"The Kasomioji clan are renowned swordsmiths with an exclusive contract to supply ceremonial swords to the royal family," I began. "Kumoi's been secretly building up to this coup for decades. He used the swordsmithing secrets of the clan and experimented on numerous souls to develop a new kind of weapon called a bakoto."
"What's a bakoto?" asked Rukia.
"The glave weapon this guy was using was one," I said. "The mirror sword from last night was another. Bakoto are partly organic and feed on the spirit energy of their wielders. They're like zanpakto that have no separate release states and that can be wielded by anyone with spirit energy. There's a flaw, though. Unlike a zanpakto that develops a symbiotic relationship with its wielder, sharing its power in a way that strengthens both, bakoto can grant extraordinary powers well above the wielder's limit by devouring its wielders power, weakening him until there's nothing left. Used sparingly, with a lot of time to rest and recuperate between uses, they could be a boon, but it's easy to slip up, lose control, and be devoured."
"When you say they can let their wielder exceed their limit," said Sloth, "could this be how Captain Amagai destroyed the cleaner?"
"That would be my guess," I said.
After a brief overview of what we knew or suspected about the new third vision captain, Rukia said, "These weapons are clearly illegal. If we bring the one we captured to Captain Commander Yamamoto, he'll be able to launch an official investigation against Kumoi. Any involvement Captain Amagai had will come to light as well. In a few days, this will all be over."
"Before we do that, there's something I want to check," I said, stepping out of the room.
The others followed me to the locked storage room we'd placed the bakoto in. We found the door's latch and hinges sliced cleanly through by a blade. Someone had broken in and stolen the bakoto. We rushed back into the other room in time to see the one we'd captured get stabbed through the heart by a weighted throwing dagger. Outside, a masked figure holding the bakoto flash stepped away.
"These assassins kill themselves to keep from being interrogated," said Sloth helplessly. "My powers don't work on people who want to die."
"Mine do," said Orihime. An orange healing shield snapped into place over the assassin.
"We'll make sure he's really gone," said Ichigo.
"In the meantime, I am going to make sure none of the assassins can ever get in here again," I said. "Misaki, would you give me a hand?"
The fideleous charm in place, with Misaki Kurosaki as the secret keeper, it was otherwise bad news all around. The assassin's knife had been coated in an exotic poison Orihime couldn't reject. Even after Sloth neutralized the poison with an antidote, the assassin stubbornly refused to come back to life. The second assassin had gotten away clean.
Rurichio transitioned from shocked horror to righteous anger at the disregard the assassins showed for the lives of their comrades. She was taking seeing a man die in front of her remarkably well. Kenryu and Enryu were clearly underestimating her resilience.
With our witness and our evidence gone, we were back to it being our word against Kumoi's, and that wouldn't be enough for Central 46. We'd just have to wait for Kumoi to try again. Fortunately, he was sending his assassins daily like clockwork, so it wouldn't be too long.
Author's comments:
There was no way Ishin was going to keep concealing his powers if a threat came right to their front door, so that's one less Kurosaki family secret to worry about. In other news, the house next door is now hidden by a fideleous charm, giving the family a place to retreat to in the event something else goes wrong.