Chapter 13
Kisuke walked in the darkness, clad in all black.
"You know," a voice spoke. "That's quite an unusual garment you've created."
Kisuke looked up, tense. Tessai revealed himself, stepping out of the shadows.
"Creating a cloak that can completely conceal spiritual pressure," Tessai said. "It is far beyond an ordinary accomplishment."
Kisuke gave a fake smile.
"Well, that's a shame. I guess you saw me anyways," he said.
"You're going to try to rescue her, aren't you? Your lieutenant," Tessai stated. "I noticed how you were at the captain's meeting. I had a hunch you would be leaving to help anyways."
"Well, you do know me. After all, we're childhood friends," Kisuke said. "What now? Will you let me go? Or will I have to force my way past you?"
"I find those questions unreasonable," Tessai said. "I will not let you go...that is, I will be coming with you."
Kisuke blinked in surprise.
"Like you, I feel there is something off about this entire situation," Tessai said. "I can't just let it go, so let's go there together."
Kisuke smiled slightly.
"Thank you, Tessai," he said.
Shinji gazed at the scene. Kensei was finally down.
"We need to report this back to the head captain," he said.
"Yeah," Love said.
Suddenly, Hiyori began coughing and choking. Shinji looked down at the small girl in his arms.
"Hiyori? Are you all right?" he asked. "Hachi, forget about Kensei for a moment. We need to get the injured to squad 4."
"Right," Hachi said, nodding.
"Shinji...let go...of me..." Hiyori choked out.
Hiyori grunted in pain before something white forced its way out of her mouth and began enveloping her face in it, creating a mask. Shinji let go of her and grasped his shoulder, his skin stained red from the gash. Hiyori screeched a double toned roar as her spiritual pressure increased rapidly.
"Hiyori!" Lisa shouted, lunging forward.
"What's happening to her?!" Love exclaimed as he followed Lisa.
Something dark abruptly covered them. Everyone gasped and looked around, not able to see anything. Love looked around wildly.
"Where are the others?! What's going on?! Lisa! Rojuro! Hachi!"
Love shouted out in pain as something hit him from the back. He fell to the ground.
"Love!" Shinji exclaimed.
His eyes widened when he saw who was responsible for taking Love down.
"You...Kaname..." Shinji gritted out, wincing from the wound on his shoulder. "You...you betrayed Kensei, your own captain!"
"He didn't betray him," an all too familiar voice spoke.
Shinji's eyes widened as he slowly looked over.
"He's actually quite loyal. As a matter of fact, Kaname was just loyally following my orders. You of all people can understand that, so please don't hold it against him, Captain Hirako."
"Aizen..." Shinji said. "I should've known it was you."
"You mean you were onto me? That was very good," Aizen said.
"Of course I was; that's why I'm a captain," Shinji said, glaring at Aizen.
"When did you start suspecting me?"
"From the beginning," Shinji replied almost immediately. "From the moment I set eyes on you, I knew something was off about you; you were someone I felt could never really be trusted. That's why I chose you to be my lieutenant, so I could keep a closer eye on you, Aizen."
Aizen chuckled slightly. Shinji briefly glanced over to the smaller figure to Aizen's right. It was Gin Ichimaru, his third seat. The silver haired soul reaper had a snake-like smile on his face and his eyes were almost shut; he wasn't even fazed.
"Yes, and I must thank you for that, captain. I depended on your deep distrust of me to make sure you kept watching me. That's why it was so easy misleading you." he said, a smirk on his face.
"You were never out of my sight. What are you saying?" Shinji said.
"You were keeping an eye on the wrong person."
Shinji felt something uneasy flow through him.
"During this past month, when you were so aware of my presence, it wasn't me who was following you." Aizen said.
"What? What are you saying, Aizen?" Shinji demanded.
"I have a very useful ability. I can make anyone mistake any phenomenon for something else at will. That is the true power of my zanpakuto, Kyoka Suigetsu. I refer to it by the common term: complete and utter hypnosis." Aizen said, holding up his zanpakuto for Shinji to see.
"You're saying you hypnotized me?" Shinji growled, shrugging to get up.
"You are a sharp intellect, Captain Hirako. But you're suspicious and that gave me an opening. You didn't receive me as your lieutenant like the other captains did. If you had, perhaps you would've been able to see through me. However, you did not," Aizen said. "And because you didn't trust me, you always kept me at arm's length, never opening up to me or giving me information. And you never tried to get closer to me. That's why I was able to take advantage of you so easily."
Aizen sheathed his zanpakuto.
"The fact is, you never realized that at a certain point, I switched places with a completely different person. I made sure the man who took my place memorized everything about my normal behavior patterns, and especially my patterns of interaction when dealing with you and the other squad members. If you had really been paying attention to me, even slight differences in habits or behaviors would've seemed out of place to you. You were too arrogant to believe that I was smart enough to be one step ahead of you, because you never really knew who I was, and now, you are helpless."
Shinji gritted his teeth, his arms barely able to keep his upper body off the ground.
"Do you understand the depth of your situation now, Captain Hirako?" Aizen asked, his voice calm and collected as always.
"Aizen..." Shinji could feel something writhing in his body.
"Oh, and one more thing. Let me enlighten you about your assertion that you chose me as your lieutenant in order to keep an eye on me. You're mistaken; it was the other way around."
"What are you talking about?" Shinji asked.
"Think back," Aizen said. "Just as captains have the right to select their lieutenants, squad members have the right to refuse an assignment. And while that right is rarely exercised, particularily when you're starting out, it still exists. I had the choice of not becoming your lieutenant. But I accepted the assignment because it was the ideal situation."
Shinji could feel himself growing weaker. Whatever was happening to his body was getting stronger and it took all Shinji had to fight it off. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
"You didn't realize it at the time, but your excessive suspicion and wariness of me was just what I needed. It played perfectly into the successful completion of my plans. Now do you understand? You did not choose me; I chose you, Captain Hirako. I suppose, when it comes down to it, that you owe your friends here an apology. Because you were chosen by me, they ended up on the ground as casualties through no fault of their own."
Something in Shinji snapped and he forced himself to his feet, gripping his zanpakuto tightly.
"Aizen!" he exclaimed.
Something white exploded from him, enveloping the left side of his face. He choked.
"I wasn't actually if it would work," Aizen said, unfazed from the situation. "But thank you, captain, for going for my cheap taunt."
"What's...happening to me?!" Shinji exclaimed, his voice starting to take on a double tone.
Suddenly, he heard his friends choking and whirled around to see the white substance enveloping their faces as well.
"What's going on?!" Shinji exclaimed, turning back to Aizen.
Shinji gritted his teeth as the pain surging through his body increased. The white substance slithered over to the other half of his face. It was taking the shape of a mask.
"As I thought; it appears an agitated state helps to accelerate the Hollowfication process," Aizen said.
"Hollowfication," Shinji murmured. "What have you done to us?"
"I see no reason to explain, Captain Hirako."
Shinji grunted in pain.
"Shin...ji..." Hiyori gasped out.
Aizen glanced slightly to his left where Kaname stood.
"Kaname," he said.
Kaname gripped the hilt of his zanpakuto.
"Yes sir," he said.
"No, don't!" Shinji exclaimed.
It was too late. Kaname was suddenly next to Hiyori. Hiyori fell to the ground, having been cut down by Kaname's blade. Shinji gripped his zanpakuto tightly before lunging forward. Kaname blocked him easily enough before leaping back. Shinji straightened as best he could in his weakened condition.
"I don't know what's going on here, but if you think everything is going to go smoothly according to your plan, you're gravely mistaken," Shinji said.
Shinji narrowed his eyes as he recalled something Aizen had said earlier. An agitated state would accelerate the Hollowfication process, so he should be fine if he remained calm. He took a deep breath, calming himself down.
"What shall I do, sir?" Kaname asked.
"Go ahead and continue," Aizen said. "We'll just have one less sample. That's all."
Shinji huffed and looked at his traitorous lieutenant.
"So then, I'm just a sample to you?" he stated. "Interesting way to describe a comrade."
He heard Kaname charging at him and turned back around, raising his sword to block Kaname's zanpakuto. Kaname attacked relentlessly and Shinji could only block and parry. He was pushed back.
"What's going on?" Shinji muttered. "I can't control my body, like someone else is doing the fighting."
Kaname attacked again and Shinji leapt into the air to avoid getting impaled. Kaname leapt after him and Shinji attacked him. He sent Kaname crashing into the ground. Shinji landed on his feet, trying to maintain his calm composure so the Hollowfication process couldn't accelerate.
Kaname grunted as he pulled himself out of the rubble and stood up.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I'll finish him off now," he said, panting slightly.
"Don't worry about it. I actually expected this to happen," Aizen said.
Shinji grunted in pain as the Hollowfication suddenly took over again.
"I theorized that the speed of each Hollow transformation would differ from individual to individual. I must admit, it was quite an interesting process to observe." Aizen continued. "However, your existence is no longer necessary. I believe it is time to finish you off."
He drew his zanpakuto slowly as if to taunt Shinji.
"In the end, I hope you'll remember one thing. Any betrayal you can see is trivial. What is truly frightening, and much more lethal, is the betrayal you cannot see. Goodbye, Captain Hirako," Aizen rose his blade above his head. "But I must commend you; you provided great research material."
Suddenly, Aizen tensed and looked to his left and moved out of the way just before his arm could be cut off. His lieutenant's badge was ripped off. Aizen hummed and smiled slightly.
"Well, unexpected guests; how very interesting."
