Renraku-gakari.
Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to Bleach.
This story was thought-up before the Burn The Witch spin-off was announced, so nothing from it will be included unless requested.
Rukongai (unknown district), 1871.
An individual is walking around a forested area when he hears what seems to be faint splashing sounds. "That noise? Could it mean..." He asks himself before he grins and heads towards the source. "Salutations, kind sir or madam! It has been many a day since-" He starts to say before hearing a shriek.
"Mi-minaide!" The kind person yells before tossing a large rock at his face.
Once he extracts it, he glares at the person, who he sees is a girl around his age, and immediately turns around. "What, pray tell, have you do that for?!" He asks loud enough for her to hear, and is about to toss the rock aside before noticing that there's a layer of ice covering it.
Yonban-tai courtyard, 2005.
After recalling Minazuki, Unohana turns to leave. "There is somewhere i want to go." She says, only to stop after a few paces. "But... if I'm correct, they may need to know of this sooner rather than later." She tells herself, and vanishes for a bit before returning with a jigokuchou.
"Wait, you're not planning on asking for him to come here already?" Her fukutaichō asks as Unohana draws her zanpakutō again and opens a senkaimon before saying something to the messenger and sending it in. The pair depart in a certain direction.
Elsewhere, a person is at his desk when the messenger flies in.
Back with the two shinigami, they are several miles into their journey when they are met by a figure in chainmail and a tabard with the Latin number 7 on it. "This must be big if someone like you seeks our aid." He says while narrowing his eyes.
"What was that?!" The fukutaichō asks while taking a step forward, but Unohana glances at her.
"Now is not the time for old wounds, Isane."
"...Very well, it would explain all the fluctuations we've been detecting lately. Just what do you have in mind, and why call us?" The newcomer asks her as he looks towards the execution hill for a moment.
"Several days ago, the Goban-tai Taichō, Aizen Sosuke, was found dead."
"What... from what I've heard, there are only three aside from you who could match him, even by surprise." He says aloud.
"That is part of why i sent the summons; i suspect a fourth." Unohana tells him.
"And who would that be?" He asks warily, but before she could answer, a heaviness is felt. "Wha-why is it getting warmer all of a sudden?"
"That would be the Sōtaichō, but we must continue." Unohana explains as she help Isane stand up again.
"Where to, Taichō?"
"Chūōshijūrokushitsu."
After a bout of panic from the fukutaichō, the three make their way to the government district, and all turn to see a burst of pale-blue light from the hill. "Now what; isn't that one of those spells of yours?" He asks, only to gasp as a cloud of dirt as big as the nearby spire appears. "What the hell did you get me into, the end of the world?" He then asks, thinking that for a second, it almost looks like a skill he's seen before.
"Calm yourself." Unohana tells them, only to see three others in the distance, but says nothing. "We must keep going." She says next before she started running.
Once they arrive, the newcomer raises a brow. "This person you called us about sure must have been an impatient one." He quips when seeing the broken door.
Unohana says nothing.
As they reach the underground assembly hall, however, Isane places her hands over her mouth as they see the carnage. "Every last one..." She says aloud.
"How can this be? It's though they were all killed simultaneously." The newcomer observes as he stands by one body slumped over as if attempting to jump over the table. "Captain?!"
While noting the state of the remains, Unohana's hand twitches. "I was right." She says to herself, and heads back outside before performing shunpo.
Almost as soon as the newcomer caught up, the faint sound of an explosion was heard from the tunnel entrance. The three rushed in to see another disturbing sight. Without even waiting for the boy to fall, the newcomer began changing into a large boar. Aizen started to say something, but was cut off as the newcomer vanished for a second and plowed him into the wall of a nearby tower only for a second Aizen to appear and raise a hand. "Hadou no sanjuni: oukasen."
Ichiban-tai, Sōtaichō's office.
Two days after the defection, Unohana, Kyōraku, Ukitake, Zaraki, Kurotsuchi, Suì-Fēng, Hitsugaya, Komamura, their fukutaichō, Rukia, and the ryoka are standing. "Any ideas what that geezer called us for?" Zaraki asks outloud.
"Whatever it is, we will wait for him to explain as long as he sees fit." Suì-Fēng told him.
"Peh. Forget that, ya shrimpy bit-" Zaraki is saying when Yamamoto shows up and prods him with his "cane".
"My apologies for bringing you out here despite the condition some of you are in, but recent events demand we all be summoned." Their leader says as he sits down at his desk.
"But if it was not Genryuusai-dono who ordered us here, then who?" Komamura asks aloud.
"We did." Someone calls out, and they all look to the left to see two people walk into view.
"Aren't you the little early-bird..." Kyōraku tells one of them.
"Any idea who they are, Rukia?" Ichigo asks her as one of the strangers, only for Uryu to reply.
"The one on the right, Kurosaki, is a Nephilim; while the other is a Shabh Alfaris. They're foreign equivalents to the shinigami."
"Equivalents? You mean they do konso instead of quesy's?" Ichigo asks him, causing an anger vein.
"You know we're called Quincy's, and that all i could do is shoot hollows!" Uryu replies before looking to the newcomers again. "Although, the nephilim aren't supposed to have Zanpakutō."
"If that's true, what do they use?" Chado asks, only for Yoruichi to join in.
"I can answer that; you know how i am able to change shape and size?"/"Nuh-uh; i absolutely do not want to hear it!"/"It's the nephilim's special ability." She explains while Ichigo covers his ears, and Rukia draws. "They call it Effusione pellis, and it causes them to shapeshift into any animal from reality or fiction. I learned how to do it before i achieved shikai, but it doesn't quite work when i change back." She tells them before Rukia speaks up.
"I hope my illustrations were of aid to you, Shihōin-dono."
Yoruichi looks down to examine them, then grins. "I'd say it certainly... no, definitely resembles the style one would expect from the Kuchiki clan. Also you can skip the dono dono talk."
"You mean it?! Oh, i simply can't wait to tell nii-sama how his mentor praised my art skills."
Ichigo is about do the straightman routine when he hears a smacking sound. "Ow... what'd i do?"
"As if you don't know; i have nothing to say to you, Captain "former husband" Pendleton." Kotetsu Isane told him while scowling.
A few minutes earlier. "Aren't you the little early-bird... Byu-kun." Kyōraku-Taichō said to one of the new arrivals, a tall man physically in his mid-twenties wearing the same garb as the man Unohana summoned. The only difference was that this man had a sword at his side and a sleeveless haori instead of a tabard, while the other man was wearing exactly the sort of clothes Ichigo and his three classmates had seen on TV about events in their world.
"I guess; but it was only 177 days." The first replied.
The second man turns his head. "177 days for you, Pendleton; i was not due to arrive for another 23 years." He said, making the first hold his hands up a bit.
"Don't take it out on me just cause your naptime was interrupted, sir Naaji." Pendleton told him.
"You dare think me lazy, boy?!" The second growled as an anger vein appeared while Ichigo covered his ears in the background, then huffed.
"Aside from that-" Pendleton then said as he looked around at the crowd. "Let me just say... dai niiii... hajimemashite!" He added with a big grin, which he dropped when he noticed most of them were ignoring him while another worked on some sort of book held sideways. "...Anyway, it seems we have some new faces around here." He says about three individuals of two very different sizes. "So this one actually goes to meetings, huh?" He told himself under his breath.
"What'cha here for, hane hane?" The smallest of the three asked, seemingly not noticing the startled looks she's getting.
"Yachiru, don't shove your elbow in my face."/"Oopsy."
As Naaji was shaking his head, Pendleton walked up to one of the two shinigami on Komamura's right. "By the lack of a badge, you're not the fukutaichō." He stated flatly to the furthest one with the braid.
"No sir. I'm acting sanban-tai fukutaichō, Togakushi Rikū-sanseki."
"Is your remaining superior being hospitalized?" Pendleton asked him, but the shinigami shook his head.
"He's, well... after we brought Kira-fukutaichou back to our compound, he locked himself in the office."
Pendleton slowly nodded before turning around. "Now that that's taken care of; good to see you got yourself one of those badges, Isane." He says as he moved to place a hand on her shoulder, but she smacks it away.
"Ow... what'd i do?" He asks in feigned dismay.
"As if you don't know. I have nothing to say to you, Captain "former husband" Pendleton." She tells him, giving off a sense of something other than simple anger. "You couldn't even be bothered to show up when Taichō summoned you."
"...Aw, don't be like that." He tries to say before realizing Unohana-Taichō is suddenly right next to him. "When did she-" He thought to himself.
"Would it not be best if we got back on topic?" She asked, her tone bringing up a story Isane once told him when he first heard a certain word from her.
Rukongai (unknown district), 1862.
As Isane is out one day gathering firewood, she sees some flashing lights amidst the trees and heads towards them. After a while she hears clanging and shouting. "You think that's it, you damnable kuroyasha; That you can just run Yamauchi* through, then act like we're the wrong quarry? Don't just stand the-"/"Toshinosuke*! Let's make a run for-!" She hears two men standing around several corpses say before a woman in black, yet also in red, interrupts them.
"First question; is there one among your number who has a poorly maintained nodachi with what can barely considered a tsuba?"
"...Uh, the only nodachi we've ever seen is yours." One man tells her, which proves to be the wrong answer when she swings her other arm around, sending a hidden spike into his face.
"Mitsuhiko*!"
"Second question; will i let the rest of you live even if you could find him before the next sunrise?"
After the remaining two ran away, Isane notices a glint is given off by the woman's blade. Once she can open her eyes again, it slides into view from behind her. "I've long since learned not to think youth equals innocence. Show me your hands, or lose them." The woman demands in a voice colder than the steel she's holding.
Isane only response is a gurgling noise making her look around. "Never heard it before?" She is asked in a flatter tone, but shakes her head and picks up something.
"No, but these are yours, aren't they?" Isane asks her, holding up another of the metal spikes as the woman narrows her eyes before searching through some of her victim's belongings and tosses a few partly-eaten bits of kakuni at her before turning around. "Where are you going?" She asks next. "My name's Kotetsu Isane; what's yours?"
"...Shinigami." The woman replied without looking back before disappearing.
Back in the present.
"A-alright... later then." He says, once Unohana is far enough away from him, and both he and Naaji walk up to the Soutaichou and bowed.
"Huh, what that all about? Do any of you know who that guy is, and haven't i seen that woman he was talking to before?" Ichigo asked aloud.
"She's one of the three fukutaichō who were at the Sōkyoku; Kotetsu Isane-dono. Her younger sister is in the same bantai i am, but she outranks me. I'm not sure about the one with the haori, though."/"Me neither. Must have shown up after i left." Rukia and Yoruichi reply.
"I know about him." Hanatarō, who is behind the wheelchair for the acting goban-tai fukutaichō, tells him. "That's Buford Pendleton. I heard he was the one of the two Hachiban-tai fukutaichō, and later was transferred to the San-bantai when the latter's Taichō was killed."
After recalling her, and the other two men who were chasing Renji, Ichigo looks to Hanatarō again.
"So he was the taichō of that scrawny freak who took off the other day?" Ganju asks while Ichigo glares at him for beating him to it.
"Not quite. Ichima... that deserter took over when Captain Pendleton left for the other Soul Society a few decades ago." Hanatarō explains some more.
"Okay; but why would Retsu's fukutaichō risk treating someone who outranks her like that in broad daylight?" Yoruichi asks him, only for another voice to answer.
"I think it's easy enough to guess for a former-"/"Stay out of it, Matsumoto." The juban-tai pair both say while the four male ryoka struggle not to stare at the taller of the pair.
"Heh, no reason to think much of it, Ryoka-san-tachi. Yama-ji didn't say anythin' about it, after all." Kyōraku-taichou adds before looking forward.
"We are again pleased to be in your presence, Yamamoto-Sōtaichō-sama." The two men say, and stand straight. "And yet, we can't help but be displeased. What is this we hear of you going so far as to you that on a mere goteitaishi?" The older of the two asks him.
"If you are referring to the execution, Alkabtin Naaji, the orders came from what we was believed to be Chūōshijūroku." The sōtaichō tells them.
"You believed, yet you never gave any thought to the constant contradictions they suddenly started giving?" Alkabtin Naaji "asks" him. "It is after all well known to you just why the Sōkyoku is intended for taichō's alone... unless you are not as unaware of this incident as you claim?"
The Ichiban-tai fukutaichō then speaks up. "You dare accuse Eijisai-dono of involvement in Aizen's treachery?!"
"Hah; i accuse this living skeleton of being the true mastermind of it!" Naaji declares, causing Sasakibe and Komamura to both reach for their zanpakutō.
"Ugate-" The first of them starts to say, but stops when Yamamoto raises a hand. "To what are you truly referring?" He asks rhetorically.
"We refer to the fact that only a taichō has enough reiatsu to activate the scaffold; thus removing the threat of collateral damage." Captain Pendleton informs them.
As the two visitors continue speaking with the Sōtaichō, Ichigo and his friends glance at each other over the last few words. "Collateral? But how would a whole city's worth of people get heart problems if Kurosaki-kun hadn't broken that post?" Orihime wonders, causing them and the four nearest shinigami to stare at her.
"Inoue, you're thinking of cholesterol." Ichigo tells her as Hanatarō nods.
"What the two men over there are implying is that if it Aizen's scheme hadn't been interfered with by both your orange haired friend here... as well as a certain someone-" A shinigami lady with glasses explains while glaring at Kyōraku, who whistles innocently, then she continues. "-Then the scaffold would have melted, causing everyone within 40 miles of the site to be incinerated."
"And it only took 3 and a half months for you to figure out. Loyal to a fault, indeed." Uryu comments while pushing up his glasses. "And who might you be, anyway?"
"I think Kyōraku-san called her Nanao-chan when i ran into them." Chado explains, much to her annoyance.
"It's just plain Ise Nanao! I'm the current hachiban-tai fukutaichō; and i don't like that tone, quincy... but i won't deny your words, except in how you may not be thinking further back enough." She replies.
Uryu raises a brow just before they hear someone else.
"Hey Uryu, remember that thing about us getting put to death?" Ganju asks while pointing at Ichigo, who is in the middle of the two rows with Suì-Fēng-taichō blocking his way.
"What the hell does he think he's doing?!" Uryu asks loudly.
"Tanpopo just realized those new guys aren't siding with kuronegi down here." Ganju tells him while glancing at Rukia.
"Kuronegi?"
"Nevermind that! Chado-kun, get Kurosaki back here before he gets us arrested again!" Uryu demanded.
Earlier with the two visitors.
"Just how did you manage to let this happen, Sōtaichō; could it be that you've been on the job too long?" Pendleton asked while looking down at him.
"I have been at this... job... long enough to not fall for such provocations." Yamamoto replied with one eye open. "You've read Unohana-taichou's report on what the traitor explained to her before fleeing, correct?"
"I did; but you would have us believe that Aizen was telling the truth about this "kanzen saimin" of his?" Pendleton asked next before Kurotsuchi snorted. "Does the juniban-tai taichō have something to add?"
"Not at all; i was only thinking of what is to be found once this debacle is over and i can have access to Kyouka Suigetsu." The taichou replied unnervingly.
"As one who can read facial expressions just as well, if not better then either of the current or former niban-tai taichō, i can say that he showed no signs of deception." Unohana replied while Suì-Fēng clenched a fist and Yoruichi blanched.
After a few seconds, the two visitors lean towards each other. "You've worked with these people closer than i have; are we to accept this?"/"Lying does cause changes in the facial muscles and the eyes; as Soul Society B's foremost medical expert, she would be able to spot those signs even at a distance."/"Very well."
"We will clear you of collaboration; but you still missed the chance to uncover his duplicity when the Chūōshijūroku became too interested in executing one minor underling even if she did commit a maximum offense." Naaji said, causing Ichigo to interrupt.
"Wait just one damn minute... what does that mean?" He asked as Suì-Fēng rushed in front of him while Chado headed over.
The two visitors glance at each other before Pendleton speaks. "As you were, Suì-Fēng-Taichō."
"You have no authority to give me such orders." She says while she and Ichigo are still staring each other down, until Pendleton says two small words in an exasperated tone.
"Ja-chan."
She flinched and sneered before relenting.
As Ichigo and Chado swear they can see flames surrounding her, the western looking person approaches. "As much as you'd not agree, giving powers to a mortal is bad; it's just not "throw a sun at them" bad." He tells them.
"So then what would you have done?" Ichigo asks after sending Chado back, only for Pendleton to stare at the former. "What the hell are you looking at?"
"...No, must just be coincidence." The captain says after walking around him.
"What is? Hey, i said answer me."
"What we would have done is simply have her reverse the process and erase your memory of the event, assuming you survived like you did before."
"Eh?!"
At that, Pendleton heads back to Yamamoto and says something to him. "This inquiry is hereby adjourned; all except Suì-Fēng Taichō and Kyōraku-Taichō will return to their compounds. The ryoka will accompany Unohana-Taichō. Dismissed." The Sōtaichō said to everybody.
As they part ways, Matsumoto gives a glance behind her. "Say, when Pendleton-san was looking at the ryoka's leader... do you suppose-" She says before Hitsugaya turns his head.
"Don't dwell on what was, Matsumoto; there are only three deserters that matter now." He tells her before walking off.
"Taichō... what would you say right about now?" She asked herself.
Back with Ichigo.
"Hanatarō, you said you're the seventh person of her group, right?" He asks while watching Unohana pass them.
"Yep, what do you want to know?"
"Aside from all the stuff you said before, i heard a bit about this compound of yours from Chado and Ishida, but what about those two?" He asks more quietly before Ganju goes off about having been there too.
"Unohana-Taichō? Well, in all our history, she's one of the only two Taichō who've been incharge of the yonban-tai, and one of the two remaining from the day the goteijusantai was formed." He explains.
"She is? So, would that be why they said that the bastard who one-shotted me, Renji, and two taichōs just ran away from her?" Ichigo asks, making him pause.
"I honestly don't know. Until you showed up, no one has ever seen her so much as look at her Zanpakutō."
Back at the Ichiban-tai.
Once the crowd dispersed, the real business began once Yamamoto sat down. "Now then, how are we to respond to all this?"
Kyōraku made the opening response. "The first thing to do is determine how far this goes; i doubt Ichimaru and Tousen are the only shinigami in on it." He says while looking to Suì-Fēng, who huffs before nodding.
"I will personally investigate each agent of mine from each compound and replace them. Failure of this level will not be tolerated." She tells them.
Yamamoto agrees before turning to the other two. "What is the reaction from your respective commanders?"
"Soul Society C is still debating. General Kysely does offer support, but it'd be limited due to the hollow activity caused by that war the mortals started a few months ago." Pendleton informs him, followed by Naaji.
"Which may even increase if this Aizen of yours has indeed sided with the menos grande, or even with them."
"Which leads to another, perhaps even bigger, problem." Kyōraku says aloud. "Just what do they have to gain from doing anything other than munching on three former taichō, and what was that thing the ryoka claim Aizen took out of Kuchiki-Taichō sister?"
"And why would Shihōin Yoruichi risk appearing before us at the same time?" Yamamoto added. As Suì-Fēng left at the mention of the latter name, she and the others all thought back to an even more disastrous time.
Shinigami Zukan.
As Ichigo and the others are leaving, he stops all of a sudden. "Wait, i almost forgot... Yoruichi-san, you said you know all about shikai and bankai right; that means you have a Zanpakutō, too?"
"Obviously, why do you ask?"
"Couldn't you have used it back at Kukaku's so i could have had an easier time beating up Renji, Kenpachi, and Byakuya?"
"Oh... yeah, i would have brought it and all, but it tends to shoot it's mouth off a lot about how i don't actually need it." She explains, mumbling at the second part, causing Ichigo to misunderstand her.
"Huh, ganging up on little old me?" Figment Yoruichi says as she draws her zanpakutō. "Sucks to be you, then. Bankai: Senkan Nyamoto!" She shouts, and out of a burst of smoke, said battleship, crewed by super-deformed black cats, appears and blows up the whole seireitei.
"You mean you would have done that to me?!" He asks while frantically backing away from her.
"Done what?" She replied with a look of confusion.
Chapter 1.
Buford Pendleton no seiyuu: Asanuma Shintaro.
Naaji no seiyuu: Wakamoto Norio.
* The three named are the imaginary past lives of the skateboarders from the first manga chapter.