Gin smiled as he turned to look up at Shiba Kaien. The lieutenant of the Thirteenth was standing on the round tiles of the roof ridge just a few feet behind him. Kaien looked very unlike himself, not only out of uniform, but in the heavy silk layers of formal court attire. Even outside of work, Gin could not recall any time he'd ever seen the head of the Shiba house in silk, other than at his own wedding where, much to Gin's amusement, he'd kept tugging at his collar and readjusting his haori. He'd looked uncomfortable then; now he looked outright miserable.
"I must say, the hat is my favorite bit," Gin said, his grin growing even larger at the sight of the small black hat atop Kaien's slicked back hair.
Kaien started to raise his hand to adjust it and forced his hand back down. His eyes narrowed and a frown darkened his usually smiling face. "This is your fault," he informed Gin. "I could be spending my day assisting Kyoraku in an investigation of Karakura, but you had to go and tick Soifon off. You know how on edge they've all been since Aizen left. Why the hell couldn't you have knocked them out instead of killing them all? Then they'd be the ones on trial."
Gin shrugged. "I do my best to be agreeable. I know I've ruffled a few feathers, and I expect a few complaints. I don't take it personally-but that lot and quite a few other members of the Four Houses seem to have forgotten I'm a captain. I can't help it if they couldn't handle the reminder."
"You killed twenty-seven men," Kaien pointed out.
"Sets an example, don't you think?" Gin asked, smiling once more. "But you know we'd be here with or without me lighting the match. Aizen's spent years setting out all the kindling. I've never paid any attention to the nobles or I might have noticed. He'd been feeding them all sorts of little lies along with inside information on the Gotei for at least the past decade, probably longer. They were already ready to believe Yamamoto's against them. Nemu was meant to be the spark. Yamamoto's never considered her a genuine person, and she's nothing but property to Kurotsuchi. It was bound to get tense between them and Ukitake sooner or later, and what more proof do the nobility need that everything they believe about Yamamoto is true? He would deny a noble lady of her rights and freedom? Of course, they're all a bunch of hypocrites; I heard what they said when Ukitake married her, but now-Yamamoto wants control over the noble houses. He doesn't care about their ancient rights and freedoms. In fact, he considers them in his way. He's going to use this war to permanently shift the power over Seireitei into his own hands."
Kaien's frown deepened. "That's what Kyoraku told me," he said, nodding thoughtfully. "How many do you think actually believe it?'
Gin stood slowly. "I don't suppose more than fifteen percent, really. Another twenty would like to, and at least half are willing to use it to play for more power. Not many nobles like Seireitei without Central 46, and there are always plenty pushing for more power over the Gotei."
"Too many look back at the old days with longing," Kaien agreed. "Well, seeing as all the traditionalists are already plenty upset, how would you like to be the first commoner invited as a guest to a meeting of the Four Great Houses in nearly a century?"
Gin's smiled his largest and most fox-like smile. "That does sound like fun."
"Gotta follow the rules, though. You walk a step behind me, sit where you're told, and only speak when spoken to," Kaien said.
"Shiba-dono, I'm offended! You sound like you don't think I have any manners!"
"I'm sure your manners could be better than mine if you chose. I also think you'd like nothing better than to insult every last one of us, and I'm sure being in the same room with so many of the highest ranked men and women in Seireitei is going to be a great trial to your self-control."
Gin's expression suddenly became serious. "I spent nearly a century listening to Aizen plan the destruction of Soul Society including my Rangiku. I think I can hold my tongue at a meeting of a few self-important buffoons."
Kaien didn't argue. Instead he led Gin down to the road and to the main gate of the Shihoin estate.
The guards at the gate said nothing as they watched the pair pass, but their eyes were on Gin even as they bowed to Kaien. Even they knew Gin had no place at a meeting of the Four Families.
Gin had not before had much opportunity to visit the great palace of the Shihoin family. It was very different from Kuchiki's estate of wood and shoji, designed to be one with the exquisite gardens that stretched across acres within the high walls. Instead the Shihoin palace was a place of stone pavement and grand structures. It was not a place of perfect balance within a world of natural beauty. It was a fortress of power and military might. The head of the Shihoin House was head of the Stealth Squad and the Punishment Squad. It was tied by traditional closer than any other of the Four Families to the Gotei, and the design of their palace made that military pride obvious.
Gin was used to making an impact with his entrance, but the way the Hall of Meetings fell silent when he followed Kaien inside was a first. There was absolutely no sound as they crossed the great echoing space where representatives of the Great Families sat in a circle too like Central 46 for Gin's liking. Only one quarter of the circle remained empty.
The Fourth Family was absent. They were a secretive House. Gin had heard rumors that even among the Four Families few knew the name of the Fourth, and it was said that no one outside the family itself had ever seen the Head of the House. He wished he'd ever bothered to ask Kaien about it because at the moment, even with dozens of hostile eyes watching him, all he really wanted to do was ask if they'd been pretending a Fourth Family all this time.
He held his tongue and listened to Kaien apologize for his late arrival. Then he followed Kaien and sat where he was directed, being just as well-behaved as promised. He thought it was odd though that Kaien didn't mention him, and when others began to speak no one else mentioned him either. He'd never experienced being the elephant in the room before; it was a very strange feeling.
It didn't take him long to figure out why Kaien had brought him. The discussion was all very polite, beyond anything he'd ever heard before, polite, so polite that he had to pay attention or he tended to lose track of what they were talking about, but some of it was still very unpleasant. There were some horrible things said about the Gotei and various members, said in ways that made it near impossible to take offense. But the Shiba Family, with occasional unfriendly glances in his direction, held their tongues. To speak against him or even the Gotei was now next to impossible for Kaien's family. He had made his stance very clear by bringing Gin with him; Gin had become a symbol for the suspected conspiracy against the nobility. By bringing him Kaien showed he considered Gin a trusted friend and believed the conspiracy to be nothing but a fabrication. In the presence of the other families his own would not go against him. Such obvious disagreement within the family would bring shame upon the entire Shiba House.
With Kaien's position so clearly stated, the best the conspiracy supporters could hope for was a stalemate, and that they got nearly four hours later. Gin thought Kaien owed him simply for not falling asleep. So many careful speeches in a row was mind numbing. He was beginning to sympathize with Aizen's slaughter of Central 46 where the members had been just as dull and cautious with their words, and feel that he'd rather just kill the lot of them than wait for them to come to an understanding.
Shockingly, it was Kuchiki Byakuya who finally suggested the compromise. Gin guessed it was because he was as sick of the whole thing as Gin himself.
"Long before the time of Central 46 and the Gotei itself we of the Gotei held the responsibility for Seireitei," Kuchiki said in that oh-so-arrogant way of his. "We oversaw the shinigami in times of war and violence so that the Heavens would not be troubled. And even in these times Seireitei remains our responsibility. We should remind General Yamamoto that the burden of defense is not his alone, and we will not shirk from our duties. As Central 46 must wait to be restored, we will take its place and return to our traditional place of oversight. The general should be relieved to learn he need not shoulder the burden of war alone."
Gin had to fight hard to keep the grin from his face after that. It sounded to him like everyone was going to lose and that was just about perfect. He doubted even Yamamoto could refuse such a 'request' from the Four Families, not when it held precedent in tradition, and all the members of the families who had wanted to wrest power from the General would not get the chance either, because this 'oversight' was connected to such specific conditions, a declaration of war and the destruction of Central 46. It was a beautiful compromise, one that would make Kuchiki Byakuya happiest of all, as no one would be nagging him any longer to do something about the General and the Gotei. He could return to his planned revenge.
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I have gone over this section over and over. It's been driving me crazy for weeks. I don't feel like I know enough about post-anime Bleach to really do it right, so those of you who have read the rest and see how many ways I've totally screwed up please do your best to ignore it-but I do think the final compromise is very Japanese culturally, where political pressures and even basic group decision making all seems usually to end up much more often a consensus than run by any individual, no matter how charismatic or powerful a singular individual might be.
In any case, I'm just glad to be going back to what I think of as the real story. Politics are necessary in every culture, but no matter how clever I think other people do with them in books and movies, every time I try to write them I get bored silly and skip over them. I really had to force myself to just write this. It's necessary for why I'm going in the direction I'm going so I hope it at least makes sense.