In Las Nochas, under a starless sky, Nnoitra Gilga snaps Mila Rose's neck, kicks at Di Roy Rinker's broken body.
He grins, savage and full of uncontrolled joy. To his left, Szayelapporo Granz wipes at a speck of blood on his shoulder, and Tesla peeks out from where he'd been hiding behind a sand dune, unable to stand the combined reiatsu of the Octava and Quinta.
Nnoitra looks at all of them, hefts Santa Teresa and lets her fall over his shoulder. "It's time," he says, "for a fucking revolution."
Byakuya had been too lost in his internal conflicts to really pay attention to the going-ons in Seireitei in the weeks before Rukia's execution the first time around. Now he wishes he'd payed more attention. Kurosaki and the others had entered Soul Society in, what...ten days? And then there'd been the Captain's meeting, the one that had ended with Hitsugaya's faith in Aizen shattered and had set the traitors' plans in motion. Byakuya has been avoiding thinking about it.
Maybe if he doesn't think about it, it won't happen.
For the last day, Byakuya has studiously avoided the other Captains with a determination bordering desperation. If he sees Aizen or Tosen, he's...he's not sure what he'll do. And he doesn't trust himself not to fall apart at the sight of Ukitake or Kyoraku or even thrice-damned Kurotsuchi.
(Byakuya had still been in the fog Renji's death had left him in when Mayuri had snapped, so he doesn't remember it. All he knows is that Mayuri had fought Barragan in a kamikaze mission that ended with both of them dead and Kisuke grieving not just the death of Yoruichi but also the death of his protege and...well. Byakuya quite frankly has no idea what Kisuke's relationship to Mayuri was. Despite the fact that Mayuri had been one of the last to die, Byakuya and Mayuri had never really talked.
For all of Mayuri's genius and for all that Kisuke cared about him, Kurotsuchi Mayuri was one sick bastard.)
All Byakuya really knows is that he's going to spend at least the next week holed up in his quarters, no matter what anyone else thinks. He has to plan, to force himself to remember the timeline leading up to Aizen's defection.
And then he has to decide how he's going to murder Aizen Sosuke.
The fact that the Quinta went mad and launched a coup really isn't something that surprises Luppi Antenor. What does surprise him is that Nnoitra is apparently winning. Harribel and her two remaining Fraccion have fled, which - what? Last time Luppi checked, she was the Tercera, and more than strong enough to beat the Quinta. Szayelapporo, Aaroniero, and Nnoitra have allied and declared themselves to be the new ruling body, Yammy and Zommari are dead, and Starrk killed Barragan in a stunning upset that Luppi still doesn't understand.
None of it bothers Luppi that much, honestly. Luppi'd been aiming for a spot among the Espada - he's fairly sure he's strong enough for Septa - and Nnoitra Gilga's revolution really doesn't change that. All it does is leave more openings in the ranks.
Luppi smiles to himself. For all that this revolution sucks for poor Di-Roy and Mila Rose and Cirucci and everyone else who got in Nnoitra's way, it really doesn't suck for Luppi.
He'd always been selfish, but that's okay. He's a Hollow. He doesn't have to be a sweet, naive ray of sunshine.
Being naive is what got Zommari killed. And Luppi plans on staying alive for quite a while longer.
"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man. Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south. Hado thirty-one: Shakkahō!"
Red light flashes, looks like it's going to do its job, and then explodes in Renji's face. It'd hurt if not for the kido shield Kuchiki-taicho flings up between Renji and the blast without a word. It's a reminder, Renji thinks. A show of power. Kuchiki-taicho is showing just how strong he is, able to cast something Renji can't even name - not that that's saying very much, all Renji knows is that Kuchiki-taicho's kido didn't look like Enkosen - without even calling the number.
"Sorry," says Renji sheepishly, once the smoke clears. If this were anyone else, Renji'd call the kido stupid and ask why on earth he needs to know how to make things explode when he already has Zabimaru, who makes a pleased purring sound at the compliment. But this is Kuchiki-taicho, and Renji's not suicidal. He's not gonna call kido stupid to Kuchiki-taicho's face. "Think I put too much reiatsu into it."
That's a lie. Renji was careful not to overdo the energy put into the casting this time, but he figures having some reason as to why he's failing is better than just telling Kuchiki-taicho, guess I'm just bad at this.
Kuchiki-taicho's face doesn't even twitch, but the hand he'd been casting kido with clenches and moves behind his back. Renji wonders what that was about. "You are too focused on creating the kido," says the Captain smoothly, voice like melted chocolate. Renji thinks he might have just peed his pants a little. "Think about the outcome, what you want the end result be. You are a creature of instinct, Abarai. Let your instinct guide you."
Well, that's also a lie. Renji's instincts are telling him to ask Kuchiki-taicho what's wrong, to tell him everything that makes Renji afraid, to run his fingers through Byakuya's soft-looking hair...
Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Renji is not going there. But at least now Renji knows Kuchiki-taicho can't read minds, or his taicho would have Senbonzakura'd him the moment he'd thought the name 'Byakuya'. He'd always thought Kuchiki-taicho was pretty, but he'd never wanted to do any more than surpass him before...
"Alright," says Renji, pretending he was remotely paying attention to Byakuya's words and not his soft-looking hair.
(Zabimaru cackle, the assholes.)
Byakuya blinks grey eyes, and turns away with a dramatic swish of his scarf. "Try again," he says. "Shakkahō. That is a very useful kido, Abarai. Easy to cast without the incantation, once one learns how it feels." He dips his head in the slightest of nods, takes a step back. Renji takes that as his cue to start chanting again.
"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all, ah, all creation, flutter of...wings..." Renji has to stop there, because Kuchiki-taicho has stepped closer to Renji, close enough that Renji can smell an odd mix of Sakura and sea salt, and Renji needs Byakuya to move right now. He hasn't the foggiest idea why his brain decided now was the perfect time to be...attracted to Kuchiki-taicho, of all things, but his body is really reacting to Kuchiki-taicho's proximity.
...and he'd thought Kuchiki-taicho's given name again. Abarai Renji is going to die.
"You stopped," notes Bya - Kuchiki-taicho, and Renji belatedly notices the pink flush spreading from the bridge of his nose across his upper cheeks. "Why?"
Renji scratches the back of his neck, and ignores Zabimaru's laughter. "You distracted me, Kuchiki-taicho," he says, and Kuchiki-taicho's face shutters, eyes seeming to loose any spark of emotion they'd previously contained.
"Make sure that doesn't happen in battle," Kuchiki-taicho says, rather harshly. "Focus on yourself and your opponent, not me. Or whoever happens to be there at the time."
Huh. That seems like an extreme reaction, but Kuchiki-taicho's been acting weird ever since he attacked the strawberry kid, so Renji puts the thought to rest. He'll talk to Unohana-taicho if he has to.
(Renji hopes he doesn't have to. He needs Kuchiki-taicho to be all right, to be Renji's Captain.)
(He needs Byakuya to save Rukia.)
Teaching Renji kido was a mistake.
There was a reason Renji was terrible at it, Byakuya knows that, but he'd hoped Renji would be able to get past it. Instead, Renji had blown up Shakkahō, hypnotized Byakuya, made Byakuya forget his place, and then, to top it off, inadvertently reminded Byakuya of Renji's death.
(Renji had been winning. His Bankai was stronger, stronger than Yammy's release. Renji had been winning, and Byakuya had made him slip up.
Byakuya had killed him.
When Byakuya was all but comatose, Kisuke had told him time and time again that it wasn't your fault. Byakuya would start believing that when Kisuke started believing that he wasn't responsible for Yoruichi and Mayuri's deaths.)
Byakuya makes up a poor excuse to leave, strides from the Sixth's training area with a swoosh of fabric. He walks to his quarters, serene and noble, and the second he's alone with a locked door he falls apart.
He doesn't hear Senbonzakura calling to him, doesn't hear Renji's knocks, just collapses to the ground and...cries.
He feels numb, once the tears are wiped away. But at least numb means he's not hurting.
When Byakuya finds the energy to rise again, to put on his brave face and be a part of the world, he doesn't bother trying to find Renji. Byakuya needs space, time to think and get control of himself.
Word spreads quickly that Kuchiki-taicho is sick. Byakuya doesn't do anything to squash the rumors, either; if he's sick, he can't attend any of the Captain's meetings. He won't have to interact with Aizen, which is a blessing, and he doesn't have to try to pretend to be okay.
Renji shows up every evening, with a pile of paperwork and important news. Rukia's impending execution - even if she technically hasn't been sentenced yet - weighs over the two of them, but neither of them ever bring it up.
Unohana Retsu arrives three days after Byakuya's 'illness' sets on, with her fukutaicho in tow. Byakuya bites his tongue hard enough he can taste blood, but manages to get through the visit without breaking down.
(The official report Retsu sends out says that Byakuya is suffering from a fever and chills. What she tells Jushiro and Shunsui and Yamamoto-sensei is more along the lines of, 'he's in shock'. After the way Byakuya had withdrawn after poor Hisana's death, his odd behavior in the face of his sister's crime isn't entirely unexpected.)
In a shop in Karakura town, Urahara Kisuke plots.
Byakuya's little message was unexpected, a factor Kisuke hadn't prepared for. But Byakuya's loyalties don't impact the mission, not really. Yoruichi will keep the human children away from Byakuya as though he were Ichimaru or Tosen, and everything else will proceed as planned.
After Rukia is saved, when the hogyoku away from Aizen's prying fingers, he'll investigate. That's not a priority, though; Kisuke has bigger things to worry about.
Things like keeping Kisuke loves alive.
When Byakuya hears that Kuchiki Rukia is to be executed, he isn't surprised. This is the beginning of what will be Aizen's end.
Byakuya has things to do, messages to send. But he takes a minute to imagine Senbonzakura sinking into Aizen's chest. When the time comes, Byakuya will enjoy making Aizen suffer.
Whatever pain Aizen will feel would be but a fraction of the horribly unpleasant feelings in Byakuya's chest.
"Why would I be afraid, Mr. Goofy Tattooed Eyebrows Man?"
"Afraid - Rukia, they're going to execute you! You should be terrified! Ugh. If you're not going to have a self preservation instinct, I'm not going to beat it into your tiny head.
But really. Kuchiki-taicho's already making an appeal to 46. He thinks there's something weird about your sentence. He'll get you off the hook."
"Get me off the hook? Nii-sama won't save me. He'll execute me himself."
Ten days after Byakuya retrieves Rukia from the World of the Living, there's a disturbance in the Rukongai. Tosen Kaname, who'd been patrolling the area, apprehends four intruders and a cat. The intruders escape with only mild injuries, and Tosen returns to Seireitei with reports of a human-feeling boy with unusual reiatsu and an oversized sword.
Byakuya doesn't leave his rooms, sends Renji to the Captain's meeting in his place. And if Renji wonders how Byakuya had known there would be a meeting called?
Well, if Renji wonders, he doesn't ask.
When Gin returns from the impromptu meeting, he find a Hell Butterfly on his desk.
This by itself isn't unusual. As a Captain of the esteemed Gotei Thirteen, Gin's constantly subjected to messages 'n reports 'n asks to sign off on beach holiday 'mental health breaks'. All sorts of things Gin doesn't really care about.
What's unusual is the fact that the Hell Butterfly made it into Gin's office without setting off any of the twenty-eight kido traps Gin has layered around his place. Kira-chan should've come running at the first hint of an intrusion, and the fact that Kira-chan is alive and well and not panicking means whoever sent the Hell Butterfly got it through Gin's defenses.
Gin's a prodigy, see. His kido isn't half-bad. The only shinigami he can think of who're able to get past his kido without even disturbing Kira-chan in the next room over are Aizen, Urahara-taicho, one of the exiles from the Kido Corps - like Hachigen, Unohana-san, 'n the Captain-Commander. Aizen has ways of contacting Gin that don't involve Hell Butterflies (and Gin's fairly sure his quarters are Aizen-proofed), Urahara-taicho and Hachigen are most definitely not in the Soul Society and incapable of sending a Hell Butterfly without alerting Soi Fon or one of her minions, Unohana-san doesn't send Hell Butterflies (she just shows up to wherever Gin is like some Lovecraftian monster), so the message must be from the Captain-Commander.
But why the Captain-Commander would make such an effort to go through Gin's kido is beyond him. And besides, the Captain-Commander was in the same meeting Gin was, so it couldn't have been from him.
Gin taps his chin, contemplating. He could make Kira-chan open the Hell Butterfly in case of unexpected explosions, but that might ruin his pretty face. That'd be sad. So Gin reaches out a hand and lets the Hell Butterfly land on his finger.
It isn't Yamamoto's voice that comes from the Hell Butterfly. It isn't Urahara-taicho's, either.
(And damn, Gin needs to break his habit of calling the exile Urahara-taicho in his head.)
"Ichimaru-taicho," says Kuchiki Byakuya's message. "I am hosting a dinner at my estate tomorrow night." Which Gin immediately thinks is sketchy, 'cuz Kuchiki's been sick as a dog, according to Unohana-san. "You are invited to join me at your leisure, at whatever time is acceptable for you."
It takes Gin a second to parse the uppity noble-speech. "Captain Six," he says to nothing in particular. "Aw. I didn' know ya cared." To the Hell Butterfly, he says, "Reply: Ichimaru Gin to Kuchiki Byakuya. But of course. I'll see you tomorrow."
Gin doesn't have anything better to do than figure out what Kuchiki wants from him. And besides, it'll be a welcome distraction from Aizen's plotting.
Hinamori Momo sits with her Captain outside of division headquarters. The night is cold and clear and calm, and helps soothe her anxiety.
Aizen Sosuke hardly notices the warm body next to him. His mind is gone, lost in plans and calculations.
Kurotsuchi Mayuri watches the video feed of a Captain and Lieutenant side by side, and belatedly realizes that something's wrong.
--
What does Byakuya want with Gin? What did Mayuri notice? You'll find out in the next update! =D
...
Guys! I'm alive. I'm sorry this is so late. I was super hesitant about adding Nnoitra, and then I had a realization ...this is my fanfic. I can do whatever I want.I'm doing this for free, and if I want to give Nnoitraa bigger part than I'd originally planned, guess what? I can do that.
Anyways. Comments are, as always appreciated! Please let me know what you think. I love hearing from you guys!
Dalia2 - thanks! :) yeah, Bya'll end up talking to some others about the whole time displacement problem. Senbonzakura's great for some moral support in the meantime, though. (And his sass will provide some much-needed humor. Hopefully.)