Five days after Aizen's escape:
Toshiro blinked wearily at the assembled captains. He'd really had enough to to do between managing his division, dealing with his mother who seemed to need constant reassurance that his father was going to be fine, and keeping an eye on said father just in case Aizen decided to finish him off after all. He really had better things to do than attend meetings. Hadn't they already decided everything last time?
This was the third meeting in four days, and, yet again, their numbers were incomplete. Aizen and Tosen were gone for good, but his father was still out and would be for at least another couple days, and Captain Ukitake, who had done surprisingly well, for him, throughout the fighting, and even attended the meeting the day after, had succumbed to illness once again, and would probably be out a good deal longer than Gin.
There were nine captains then, to meet whatever Aizen decided to throw at them next. Toshiro had been surprised to hear of Aizen's retreat to Hueco Mundo, but he supposed that no matter how arrogant the bastard was he still wasn't completely confident he could take General Yamamoto, at least not in a fair fight. It did puzzle Toshiro that Aizen didn't just come back and use his illusions to pick them off one by one. Maybe he was just that arrogant. He hadn't taken the Hogyoku so that he'd have the strength to defeat them; he already had that power. He'd taken it because only if he fused with it would he have the power to smash them to bits while they fought back with everything they had. He wanted to crush them while forcing them to face his absolute superiority and their own despair. Toshiro wondered if humans had a word for that kind of psychopath. He'd read some of their writings on psychology when he'd been trying to make some kind of sense of his father. Now it was kind of amazing to realize Aizen might actually be more messed up than Gin was.
If that was Aizen's plan they really would have time to prepare, so maybe they could relax, but Toshiro couldn't feel any real confidence about it. They were weak now. It seemed foolish for Aizen not to take advantage of that. He got that it wasn't something they would expect from what they understood about Aizen, but how well could they possibly know what he was going to do? They hadn't known he was anything but a nice, thoughtful captain a week ago. Could they really guess?
He felt they should be prepared for anything, even if it was unlikely. They should be guarding against an attack now as well as in the future. So far, despite meeting after meeting, their instructions had been little more than business as usual, but maybe this meeting would change things.
General Yamamoto cleared his throat. "A situation was brought to my attention yesterday. Shihoin Yoruichi appeared to have vanished. Knowing Lady Yoruichi's skills and personality well I was not too concerned and directed Soifon to do what it took to find the lady without causing a fuss in case Lady Yoruichi had simply failed to notify anyone of a change in her plans. I hoped Soifon and the Stealth Squad would be able to locate her without too much difficulty, however it now appears the situation is more serious than I believed." The old man looked to the woman beside him. "Soifon, if you would, please, present your report."
"Of course, General," the tiny woman answered stiffly. "Yoruichi-sama was expected at the Shihoin Estate two nights ago. I have learned she left Shiba Kukaku's home in the late afternoon with the intention of reaching the Shihoin Estate by nightfall and was greeted entering Seireitei by Jidanbo at half past six. She met Lieutenant Hinamori outside the Fifth Division, at approximately seven p.m., and the two of them went to a popular sakeya, Morimoto's. They joined Lieutenants Hisagi and Kira there. The two women left at some time after ten. There was a bit of a commotion at the sakeya soon afterwards, and Lieutenant Hisagi left after settling the men down.
"Lieutenant Hisagi ran into Yoruichi-sama again on his way home and walked at least part way with her, although his memory of events is unclear. The last recorded surveillance footage we have is of Yoruichi-sama walking into the Asahi garden with Lieutenant Hisagi. Yoruichi-sama should have been recorded leaving by the west path to the Shihoin Estate and Lieutenant Hisagi by the north to reach the Eighth, but Captain Kurotsuchi has informed us that the cameras in the garden had been so constantly vandalized that his division ceased to repair them several years ago. Neither the lieutenant nor Yoruichi-sama were caught on any other surveillance. Lieutenant Hisagi was greeted by Eighth Division guards returning home at nearly two, but we have yet to find anyone who saw Yoruichi-sama after she entered the garden with him. I have questioned Lieutenant Hisagi twice, and he continues to insist he remembers nothing."
"I hate even to consider it," Yamamoto said, slowly. "But Hisagi was Tosen's lieutenant, one of the graduates handpicked by Aizen for his position. He may have acted on Aizen's direction, leading Yoruichi into some sort of trap."
Kyoraku leapt to his adopted son's defense. "There's no evidence he's done anything--"
"Can't remember either, can he?" Soifon snapped back. "Pickled brains seem to run in the family. Ise certainly knows how to pick them."
"Regardless," Byakuya suddenly spoke up. "I do not see how Lieutenant Hisagi could possibly have harmed Yoruichi-sama. The woman is uniquely skilled in combat. Nothing I have seen of Hisagi is remotely comparable, so unless Aizen secretly trained the lieutenant in skills we have no knowledge of we must look elsewhere for an explanation of Yoruichi-sama's disappearance. You are certain she has not simply wandered off?"
"I have spent the past twenty-four hours scouring Seireitei with my division. Her reiatsu is no longer present within the city, and her trail ends with Lieutenant Hisagi's in the Asahi garden. Something happened to her there."
"Or she went cat," Kyoraku offered. "I understand no one can track her reiatsu accurately once she shifts. I recall Yoruichi had a tendency to wander off when the mood struck her. She's never been one for checking in.
"Of course we must look for her, be irresponsible not to, but I do hope that's what happened. I will vouch for Shuhei-kun in any case. He probably drinks more than he should, and he can't hold his liquor, poor kid, but he'd sooner cut his own throat than hurt any woman."
"Perhaps Hisagi is the dupe once more," Byakuya said coolly. "He is an obvious mark for suspicion because of his admiration of his captain. Whoever planned Yoruichi-sama's abduction may have set him up to walk with her into that garden, knowing it was no longer under surveillance, and knocked him over the head before abducting her. If he was half as drunk as Renji is after such evenings, he'd stagger home when he regained consciousness, never realizing he hadn't simply passed out from overindulging."
"The only individual outside my division who could have known the garden was no longer under surveillance was Lieutenant Hisagi," Kurotsuchi said. "He is the one who continually broke the cameras. I requested more than once that he desist, but he completely ignored me. Perhaps this was his plan all along, to create a space in which to commit crimes unobserved. I told you this is what would happen if you allowed people to know they were under surveillance."
"How do you know it was Shuhei-kun damaging your cameras?" Kyoraku demanded.
"He admitted as much," Kurotsuchi answered. "Destroyed every camera in the park and threatened my men if they didn't turn over every hard copy of the films they'd made of his liaisons with Lieutenant Ise--I've warned them before, if they share footage it will get out. The idiots always think they can make some money, especially when the couple is so well known. Imagine if Lieutenant Ise had found out; I'd still be training a new surveillance team!"
"More likely we'd be looking for a new captain for the Twelfth. Maybe, if we were lucky enough to still have a division to house him in," Kyoraku said, looking completely serious. "You've never seen Nanao angry. What sort of damn fools you got working down there, anyway? Don't they value their lives? Selling recordings of some of the goings on in the entertainment district is one thing, illegal, unethical; they probably out to be chucked out of the Gotei, but Nanao-- If I were you I'd be double checking they did as they were told, triple checking maybe. You ever get that memory erasing to work properly? You might want to scrub their memories too. She ever hears even a rumor about a film, and we all--"
"Then Lieutenant Hisagi did know about the broken cameras," Toshiro interrupted. It was clear Captain Kyoraku had been completely distracted from the matter at hand by the prospect of his lieutenant bringing down the entirety of Seireitei. Toshiro thought he was probably exaggerating the extend of her strength, but probably not the extent of her rage. In any case, it seemed unlikely she'd actually find out, as no one could possibly be stupid enough to tell her the Twelfth had tried to turn her into a porn star, and they did have an actual problem to worry about at the moment. "But it's unlikely he's really the only one who knows those cameras are down. In any case, no one really believes Lieutenant Hisagi could have harmed Yoruichi-sama. If he'd tried, I, for one, would expect to still be collecting pieces of him from all over the garden. If something happened to Yoruichi-sama it was either Aizen, someone in this room, or someone who'd planned the whole thing out very carefully and must have known Yoruichi-sama's weaknesses well enough to exploit them, which, to me, sounds like it must have been an agent of Aizen's—which it is possible Lieutenant Hisagi could be, but I tend to agree with Kyoraku; he's not the type."
"Young Shiro-kun is right," Yamamoto said. He didn't seem to notice how Toshiro scowled at that; 'Shiro-kun' ticked him off enough without 'young' being added to it, but he unfortunately shared both his last name and almost his first name with other captains. Everyone was always attaching descriptors to his name to clarify who they were speaking about. Kenpachi had advanced from 'the Ichimaru baby' to 'Ichimaru-chibi' which really kept titles like 'young Captain Ichimaru' in perspective.
"We should consider this as most likely the work of Aizen or his agents," Yamamoto continued. "Our first priority is to locate and rescue Yoruichi, but we must also take the time to consider what Aizen intends to accomplish through this attack."
"This may be a form of psychological warfare," Komamura said, looking sad. "I spoke only a day or two ago with Lieutenant Hisagi; he was very concerned about the morale of his division after Tosen's defection. I am sure the members of the Fifth are struggling as well, but I don't think those divisions are the only ones. Lieutenant Iba has reported to me some concerns about our own men as well. Fighting among the captains, seeing captains injured and some betraying the Gotei has been extremely upsetting to the average shinigami. All shinigami have a great deal of admiration and pride in their captains. They expect us to be above the weaknesses we have too clearly displayed in this past week. They are confused and many are frightened. This attack on Shihoin Yoruichi, who is well-known to all the Gotei for her incredible strength, will only cause more damage to our already poor morale. There will be even more doubt in our ability to stand against Aizen. We will be in no shape to conduct a war against Aizen if he brings the forces of Hueco Mundo against us, not unless we can find a way to restore our men's confidence in us."
"Then it is all the more necessary that we locate Yoruichi immediately," Yamamoto said. "I expect every division to assign members to that task, and to coordinate and share information freely." He paused to give Kurotsuchi a sharp look. "Shihoin Yoruichi must be found. There can be no excuses. You are dismissed."