Chapter 7 – Entrapment
"So what Aizen is searching for—what he made these Arrancars hunt—it's not an artifact... But it's a person," Hitsugaya Toshiro surmised slowly, his eyebrow rising by the second.
"It is as you reiterated," Kuchiki Byakuya supplied to the child prodigy, who in turn looked slightly disgruntled that the Kuchiki approved of what he said—a first. Then again, the noble looked different from his usual stoic self. He seemed unusually determined, and it looked like he knew exactly what he wanted out of the meeting they were having.
The Sixth Division's captain requested a joint meeting with the highest-ranking officers to the Captain-Commander just the day before. It was an urgent matter, he stated as he conveyed his request. Assuming that it was about Aizen, the elderly captain acquiesced to the sudden request.
Now, hearing the little bit of information that the Kuchiki Head managed to tell so far, the people in the room—understandably—wore various expressions of skepticism.
"How do you know about this?" Captain Soi-Fon questioned, eyeing the broody captain suspiciously.
"Ginrei Kuchiki. The 27th Head of the Kuchiki Family," Byakuya tilted his head, "and the previous Sixth Division captain."
"And how did he know?" Zaraki Kenpachi, who had been dozing in the corner up until then, taunted the Kuchiki. Byakuya was about to open his mouth to deliver a lashing insult when someone entered the slightly open door.
"From my grandfather," Ginrei Kuchiki remarked, an amused glint in his eyes as he looked at the startled Eleventh Division's captain. Kenpachi—and the rest of the room— didn't expect anyone to enter, much less the formidable and infamous former captain of the Sixth Division—not that he cared about any of that.
"Ginrei-dono!" the Captain-Commander said in barely concealed alarm, he stared in surprise at his former comrade. His deep-rooted suspicion of the whole meeting was now set in stone. If he didn't know for sure what was the reason for the meeting before, he now knew exactly what was going to happen in the next hour. And he wasn't sure if he was ready for it.
"Excuse my interruption, Yamamoto-dono," Ginrei offered to the weary captain, his eyes deep-set in understanding—at least for the most part—of what the captain-Commander was thinking. "I think this matter has been waiting around for long enough." Captain Yamamoto remained silent at that.
"Pardon me, Ginrei-dono, but what is it that you're talking about?" Captain Ukitake uttered, and eyeing his respected Captain-Commander, he continued, "and pray tell why the Captain-Commander seems to be in the know about it too?"
"I will let Captain Kuchiki explain," Ginrei offered, nodding his head at his grandson to explain the information that they had to offer to the rest of the room.
Byakuya inclined and resumed his previously interrupted explanation. "We all know from history that the Gotei 13 was founded by Captain Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni nearly two-thousand years ago, at which point the warring era struck Soul Society for one thousand years to come," he paused. "At the very last war, the first generation of the Gotei 13 fought against an unidentified enemy—that I presume only the first generation of captains still in position today would know—and we learned that we won that war."
Zaraki Kenpachi groaned aloud, which made everyone shift their eyes to him. "Save the history lesson, Kuchiki, and just get to your point!"
"But the written history lied," Byakuya continued as if he didn't hear anything, "we didn't win that war. The enemy was not defeated, it was merely sealed away, too powerful to be completely eradicated. This scroll," he pulled out the well-worn scroll that he previously studied along with his grandfather, "narrated the actual event that took place at the last war. And the writer concluded that this 'enemy', whoever it was," he eyed the four senior captains in the room, "will return."
"Excuse my rudeness, Captain Kuchiki, but how is this relevant to the matter with Aizen?" Kyoraku Shinsui raised his hand politely, a seemingly permanent, lopsided lazy smile on his face. The others hummed in agreement, while Kenpachi was openly yawning in boredom, Lieutenant Yachiru snoozing on his left shoulder.
Yamamoto Genryuusai was increasingly tightening his grip on Ryuujin Jakka, but he didn't show much emotion in his purposefully blank expression.
Byakuya turned his head to Shunsui. "The scroll pertained that the enemy was immeasurably powerful, and only through a miracle that it can be subdued in the first place," he explained, "this 'miracle' was the Seika."
While the other captains and lieutenants in the room were awaiting him to continue his explanation, their eyes screaming 'what is Seika?', the senior captains looked at Byakuya with a hint of recognition at the name. Byakuya shifted his eyes slightly to where the Captain-Commander was standing. And as he expected, the commander of the Gotei 13 was gripping his disguised sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and his face was set on a tight, strained caricature of 'calm'.
Nevertheless, he continued his narration. "He is a holy entity, and will remain for as long as the enemy, or as the scroll suggests, the 'evil' lives. The Seika blesses an individual with insurmountable powers only constrained by the strength of their will. This 'gift' alone is a large scale threat of genocide if the Seika ever falls into the enemy's hands."
"Assuming that this... Seika person is indeed real, how do you know that Aizen is aware of him?" Hisagi Shuuhei retaliated, his posture was that of excitement at discovering something that had a huge potential of being riddled with conspiracies. Who and where was the Seika all this time? What were his actual abilities? How did he come to be? So many questions.
"His possession of the Hogyōku is a major factor of his knowledge. The orb possesses powers that even its creators could not fathom," Kurotsuchi Mayuri supplied offhandedly, his fingers stroking his protruding golden chin—a new modification on his synthetic body. This matter proved to be worth his time, after all. If they ever find the Seika—whatever it was—he was surely going to get his hands on it before anyone else did. He grew giddy with the thought of experimenting on something as close to an actual deity as anyone could ever get—the Hogyōku would practically be obsolete.
Byakuya agreed reluctantly at the eccentric captain's response, finding himself almost shuddering at whatever it was that the other captain was thinking—what with his maniacal grin that showed all of his large, golden teeth that was widening by the second.
"...indeed. And the fact that he uses his Arrancars to hunt down areas near the Kuchiki archival sites is a clue as to what he was searching. He knew that the Kuchiki archives hold priceless information that could not be attained anywhere else. I assume that he was deliberately searching for these archives to gain a clue on the Seika whereabout."
A certain redhead's hand shot up—being unusually silent for most of the meeting, most likely trying to digest the overload of information—and almost every single person in the room turned to him in question.
"Uh... I'm sorry to interrupt. But... you said that the Seika helped to subdue this enemy that we fought in the last war, and that to do that it—he—blessed the individual," Abarai Renji paraphrased his captain's previous explanation roughly, and finding the approving nod from the noble, he continued. "Well, who was it? Maybe we can narrow down the search for this Seika if we can find the one he 'blessed'?"
Byakuya accepted his lieutenant's logic and was about to reveal the one thing that he thought would shock most of the occupants in the room—except for a few people for obvious reasons.
He put the scroll that he had been holding loosely on the table in the middle of the room. "The same one who wrote this scroll," he supplied vaguely at first, then rolled the scroll open to reveal the signature at the end of the passages written.
Most of the people in the room gathered close to the table, trying to get a look at the scroll. Both Byakuya and Ginrei noticed that the Captain-Commander was still rooted on his spot, his stance as if bracing himself. The other senior captains gathered closer, but their expressions looked as if they knew what they were going to find—this, Byakuya had expected. They were tremendously good at keeping their mouth where they belong—for one millennium, no less—and they wouldn't likely spill anything without the Captain-Commander's permission.
"What is it?"
"It's upside down, let me get to that side..."
"Stop pushing me, Matsumoto!"
"Chrysanthemums..." someone amidst the crowd muttered. Some sharp intake of breaths were heard all across the room.
"Captain-Commander?!" a beastly voice of one Captain Komamura pierced through the noise in the room. All the occupants of the meeting room turned their heads towards the front of the room, where the sole commander of Gotei 13 was left standing all alone.
Seeing the shock riddled faces of his officers, all awaiting his answer, Yamamoto let out the tightly held breath he had been keeping inside in one, loud exhale of breath. He reckoned that he would not be able to get away from this now. Perhaps it is time, after all, he thought solemnly as he prepared himself to face the rest of the room.
"Yes," he began, looking at each of the expectant eyes in the room, "that individual was none other than me. I fought the last war, and the Seika trusted his blessings upon me. The blessing which I failed to deliver," he sighed, frowning at remembering flashes of the gruesome memories of his last battle one millennium ago. It was truly a bloodshed. And he couldn't help but put all the blame on himself, carrying the burden of all their loss for centuries to come, because he was not strong enough.
He shook the thought from his head. Now was not the time for regrets and sentiments.
He straightened up and tapped Ryujin Jakka lightly on the wooden flooring to silence the buzzing of disbelieving chatters in the room. "Aizen is indeed searching for the Seika."
"Do you know where he is now?" Renji once again voiced his question. That look on the Captain-Commander face was definitely not usual, the redhead mused as he felt a strange sensation from the deep gaze the commander aimed towards him, before straightening up again.
The hell was that? Renji thought, shuddering.
"Only a handful of people know of the existence of the Seika. My oldest compatriots," Captain Yamamoto gestured to the senior captains, "were the only ones who knew of him, though barely. It was never my place to share this to the world, nor was it safe for me to do so."
"'For the Seika is a lure for all evils to come'," Byakuya mused aloud, making all the other occupants in the room look at him in question.
Yamamoto smiled wryly to himself. "Indeed, I wrote that in my last entry," he gestured to the scroll lying innocently on the table, "the more people who knew, the more risk may befall upon his existence."
He then straightened up his posture. "But no more," Yamamoto expressed strongly, "I know now that a more proactive measure is needed to ensure the Seika's safety. Aizen is getting closer to the truth, and if we don't take action now, he would take the Seika when we least expect him to."
Murmurs of agreement echoed throughout the room. If the Seika was indeed still around, then they needed to protect him at all costs.
Inclining his head, Yamamoto continued, "the Seika... only the one who was blessed by his power could identify his existence amongst us."
"'Amongst us'?," Hitsugaya Toshiro started, "do you mean he is in this room, with us, right now?"
"Who is it, Captain-Commander?!" Komamura pressed, his fist thumping against the table, rattling its legs due to the force.
"He is still unaware of it himself, but I am afraid the time will be coming soon. The one that emits an other-worldly glow that only I can see," Yamamoto let out, his eyes shifting across the officers' faces. In one corner of the room, Kuchiki Byakuya's heart stuttered after hearing the Captain-Commander's words.
Everyone else held their breath in anticipation of the reveal.
"Lieutenant Abarai."
Renji snapped his head to the ancient commander, "yes, Sir?" he asked, wondering why did the Captain-Commander call him out of the blue in the middle of such an important reveal.
Pregnant silence ensued throughout the room. All eyes were drawn to the redhead.
Renji, under all the scrutinizing stare, took a staggering step back in self-defense. "Wha—what, why are you all looking at me?"
"It is him, Yamamoto-dono?" Kuchiki Ginrei inquired quietly, his mien somber.
Yamamoto took a shuddering breath. "Indeed, old friend."
Almost simultaneous gasps echoed in the meeting room and chaos ensued.
"Is this some sort of a joke?" Hisagi Shuuhei exclaimed vehemently, slamming his hands on the table.
"This is not funny, Captain-Commander!" Komamura shouted garishly, forgetting his self-proclaimed reverence to the oldest man in the room for a moment.
All manners of incredulous exclamations and shouts were thrown across the room. Some were arguing against the Captain-Commander, while others were justifying his more than sufficient knowledge to accept what he said as facts. Only the senior captains were quiet throughout the whole debacle, if not for their respect for their commander-in-chief, then for sympathy for the shell-shocked redhead who was only coming out of his stupor.
Renji silenced the room with another slam on the poor, abused table, and a shout, "Shut it!"
He paused to let the others compose themselves, and turned his eyes sharply on Yamamoto, "Captain-Commander, I respect you and all but this is serious! We need to act before Aizen finds what he's searching for!"
"You are right, Abarai. We must act."
A split second of relief flashed through his face as he thought—yes maybe it was all just a sick joke there's no way that I'm—but then movements in the shadows of the room revealed guards that immediately took the redhead's arms behind his back and restrained his body with a silent binding spell, all before he could even respond.
Eyes widening in horror, Renji immediately struggled against the effectively unbreakable binding. "What is—fucking let go of me! Damn you—" he shouted, the fabric of his uniform arms squeezed impossibly tight as he tried to push the binds off his body.
Almost everyone in the room moved to help the hysterical lieutenant, but a murderous glare and a bellowing "no!" from the Captain-Commander stopped them in their tracks. They could only watch as the redhead struggled against the binding and the guards trying to subdue his movements entirely.
Unable to watch as his lieutenant was being forcibly taken—even by his commander—Kuchiki Byakuya took another step forward.
Seeing the movement from the corner of his eyes, Renji snapped his head to his captain. "Captain Kuchiki! Tell them to take these off! Tell me it's not true!" he screamed hoarsely as he tried to physically force the magic spell off his person, his face and neck flushed red as his blazing mane and his veins bulging against his skin with the force of his action.
But Byakuya stopped in his tracks. His eyes conflicted.
And the betrayed look in Renji's eyes was too much for him to bear.
He looked away.
"CAPTAIN!"
And then redhead dropped like a dead animal as another guard took his conscious away with a swift knock on his head.
He was taken quietly from the room.
"Is this the right thing to do...?" Ukitake Jushiro trailed off helplessly as he watched the once energetic lieutenant was taken out of the room.
Yamamoto drooped his head. "There was nothing else that we could do."
Loud thuds of footsteps echoed through the hall of the First Division's barracks as several shinigami tried to desperately keep up with a certain noble captain, demanding his answers.
Kuchiki Rukia struggled to stay next to her adoptive brother, even so much as to grasp his uniform sleeve.
"Nii-sama! Nii-sama please tell me it's not true!" she begged at her stone-cold brother, who never so much as to glance at her direction. It was like back to their first encounter with Ichigo all over again. Only this time, her brother was taking her oldest and dearest friend from her. She just couldn't grasp the idea. Rukia would rather they take her away over and over again than this.
Hisagi Shuuhei growled in frustration and jumped right in front of the captain's path. To hell with ranks and formality.
"Captain Kuchiki, with all due respect sir, but this is not the way to do things," he ground out as he glared harshly at the impassive noble. He couldn't believe that he actually went giddy for the thought of the Seika existing when that person was his kouhai all along. He felt sick. But it was worse that the redhead's captain, who he thought was warming up to his kouhai, would let something like that happened to him. Those faceless guards took Renji away as if he was some sort of a criminal, kicking and screaming. It was hard to watch.
Byakuya finally let out quietly, "it is the Captain-Commander's decision." He then side-stepped Shuuhei and flash-stepped away before any more people tried to stop him.
Rukia shouted at the spot where her brother used to stand, "Nii-sama!"
She screamed in frustration and ran to find her brother.
Shuuhei stood still, a frown on his brows. That Kuchiki Byakuya... he was actually holding himself back when he said that, he mused.
"Where will he be kept?" Ukitake Jushiro questioned as he took a less informal position in the bare meeting room—there were only him, Kyoraku Shunsui, and the Captain-Commander himself left.
"The Muken."
Shunsui shook his head. "We treated our only salvation like the vilest criminal," he mused sadly, and looked at his senior commander, "and Aizen will surely hear of this."
Yamamoto drew his lips to a sharp line. "It is the safest place to be."
Renji found his conscious back as he was being locked in some kind of a dark cell.
At first, his head was groggy, but when he heard the sound of metal keys clanking against metal, his eyes snapped open.
He tried to move but fell down as he tripped on something. Both his arms and legs were bound to each other with some kind of a hado spell that he never saw before.
He shouted at the guards locking what looked like an incredibly complex system of locks, "get these things off me!"
His body jerked forward frantically as he watched the guards leaving, "hey, come back! Wait!" He tried to stand up, balancing his tightly bound feet as he shoved his body forward so he can grasp the bars with his equally bound hands for balance.
"This is NOT funny!" he shouted at the retreating guards. Showing no sign of stopping from the guards, he shoved his body as hard as he could against the bars and tried to rattle the cell to no avail. It was heavily enchanted.
Desperation crept into his voice as he shouted over and over again for someone to let him out.
"Please, please please just let me out!" He screamed as loudly as he could.
But there was no response.
And only then did he notice there was no light other than the flickering torch somewhere beyond his cell.
His voice grew hoarse as he looked around in barely contained fear. Fear of being kept there forever.
"LET ME OUT!"
"You see what they did to him?" a man ground out, already on the precipice of bottomless rage as he was.
"Tell me that you anticipated that," he hissed at another person near him.
"It was all woven in the strings of fate," the other offered quietly, having nothing else to say. It was devastating, no matter how many times he foresaw it, to see the events unfold.
"Shōken was supposed to protect him."
"It is," the other affirmed weakly. Then morosely added, "at least, that's what he thinks he's doing."
"Renji."
Renji's head snapped up from his curled up position on the floor at his name being called.
"Capt—Kuchiki-san?" he scrambled close to the bars holding him in, careful to not trip over the binding on his feet, he was forced to take very short steps as to not fall over again.
The noble had an unreadable expression on his face, and Renji gripped the enforced bars tightly as the Kuchiki failed to look at him in the eyes. So he was feeling the guilt, at the very least, Renji thought with cruel satisfaction.
"Kuchiki-san, tell them to let me go," he demanded to the other man strongly.
When the other didn't respond, he banged his fists against the metal bars as hard as he could, pain was the last thing on his mind right now.
"Kuchiki-san!" he shouted, desperation evident in his voice.
Byakuya inhaled sharply. "You will be safe here. For now." Yet he still couldn't find the nerve to look at his imprisoned lieutenant head-on. He knew that his words meant nothing other than convincing himself that it was indeed the right thing to do.
Knowing that he would get nowhere in convincing his captain to let him out of the blasted cell, Renji slumped against the metal bars. "So I am... really...?" the damned Seika?
"Why can't I feel anything?" he tried to coax out of the silent raven.
Byakuya started. This, at least, he could give to the redhead. He owed him as much explanation.
"Your visions... My grandfather told me that the first time the Captain-Commander encountered the Seika, it was to a seemingly ordinary individual. They grew close and became inseparable friends. One day, that person received visions of a man with red eyes," Byakuya paused to receive the surprised recognition in his lieutenant's face.
It was exactly his face when he was first told the story by his grandfather just the day before. The Captain-Commander's revelation did not come out as a surprise to him, but it was still painful to see the betrayed look in his lieutenant's eyes. What was still on his mind, though, was why he could see the redhead's ethereal glow when the Captain-Commander said that only one that could was the one who received the Seika's blessing. He did not recall any encounter with the Seika before in his life, and he was sure that he didn't receive any sort of 'gift' from him—he would know.
He dismissed the musings for now and continued his narration, "as the war reached its peak, the Seika awakened and blessed the Captain-Commander with powers to defeat the enemy. Once the threat was sealed, and the war was over. The Seika went into a deep sleep that no one could wake him from. Several weeks later, he was gone.
No one who knew the Seika was before, knew where he went. But the Captain-Commander theorized that the Seika simply got rid of his physical form to roam over the land until the time comes to resurface. He thought that the Seika would come back in a new form that would lessen the threat of enemies identifying him."
"A burst of high-density reishi was identified on the Kiishi cliff 150 years ago," Byakuya informed, "the Captain-Commander knew it was the beginning of a new life for the rebirthed Seika," he finished softly.
Byakuya observed the expressions flitting through the redhead before him.
"...' you were born of this cliff'," Renji finally uttered.
He looked up. "... that's what he said—in my visions... so it was true?" he asked hesitantly, referring to the 'dreams' that he had, that he mentioned to his captain on that night.
Byakuya could only nod his head in silent confirmation.
"And the Captain-Commander knew who I was," the redhead stated matter-of-factly, "since the beginning."
Sensing where this was going, Byakuya slowly bobbed his head, again, in confirmation of the redhead's statement.
"And he didn't say anything, " Renji grounded out viciously.
"It was all to protect your identity," Byakuya insisted.
Renji furrowed his brows, huffing incredulously. "Well, now at least two dozens people knew! How is that protecting my 'identity'?" he pressed in frustration, "Aizen will come running when he found out about this," the redhead finished with a threat-laden tone. If Aizen was indeed after him, and if he succeeds, then it was all the Gotei 13's fault.
"The Muken is the most secure location in Seireitei." Renji sneered at that.
Seeing the doubtful action, Byakuya snapped his hand forward and grasped Renji's bound fists from between the metal bars, startling the redhead in question.
"It is for your protection," he finally looked at Renji in the eye, solemn determination in his glimmering dark orbs, promising severe retribution if anything were to happen to Renji under his watch.
"Everything has its flaws, Captain," Renji couldn't help but whisper coldly.
His voice echoed in the darkness that surrounded the two.
Ichimaru Gin smirked in amusement. "So... it's him."
He looked up to see the man sitting on the throne.
He smiled, arms resting on either side of the large throne. "Time to move."
- to be continued -
Additional Notes:
Muken: lit. Avici, the lowest level of Buddhist hell. The eighth and final level of Central Great Underground Prison in Seireitei. It belongs under the Central 46 jurisdictions, but after Aizen massacred them in his betrayal of Soul Society, the Captain-Commander assumed power. This is the place where the new Central 46 put Aizen in after his defeat in the canon storyline.
Kiishi cliff: lit. spirit, plummet. I just slapped a name in for the cliff that I always mention in this story, just to make it easier for me to write instead of having to refer back to the 'joint- training' program whenever I want to mention this cliff.