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Rebellion, rebellion, rebellion, oooh I love me a good rebellion! Anarc-
...Are you... Have you finally lost it?
Hmm? Oh, nah, just bored of the backstory.
I could feel Aizen's sigh, even if I didn't hear it, at my words.
By backstory, I was of course referring to Byakuya's current rant about how he'd lost contact with his Zanpakuto spirit following the 'trial, how that escalated to a fight between it, and over all his, non-verbal, apology for failing to mention the fact it.
Tl;dr, I was currently tapping my fingers on the large desk all, barring the mad scientist and imprisoned idiot, the captains had elected to surround for the meeting.
Most of them had various shades of seriousness filling their faces, with hints of worry gracing Yamamoto's and an utter lack of fucks gracing Unohana's- The woman was humming a damn tune if I heard her correctly.
The only reason I was even here was to helpfully explain exactly what had happened in the non-canon futur-
Oh fuck! Aizen! I don't know what the fuck to say!
Aizen chose not to respond, though a distinct feeling of smugness swept through me.
Needless to say, I twitched at that and elected to just wing it.
"Captain Byakuya to not report such a thing-" The sternness in the old man's voice quickly brought me back to the matter at hand, an involuntary frown making its way onto my face as I started panicking the slightest bit...
I can't wing it without any wings! Best to delay the old man's punishment and keep Byakuya talking-
It took me a moment to notice the fact Yamamoto had stopped talking and was now directly looking at me, indecision marring his face for a moment before he let out a sigh.
...What just happened? Did I miss something?
"-is a grave matter of misconduct." Yamamoto continued, while I plastered an uneasy smile on my face, still wondering what the fuck I was going to say- "Yet, your efforts in still electing to defend Karakura town from the swarm of hollows that had shown up, despite your weakness was commendable."
To the side, I watched as Byakuya let out the barest sign of relief at the words.
"Any punishment you may be due, will be decided after this... Threat has been neutralized. After your capabilities following it are taken into consideration."
"Well look on the bright side, they sure as shit won't promote you for it." I deadpanned, recalling my own earlier offer of being transferred to the North Pole.
Byakuya, along with a few other captains- Hitsugaya and Jushiro included, blinked in bemusement at my words.
Shunsui on the other hand took a swig out of his drink.
"What?" I deadpanned. "Trust me, stick with this gig, 'cos anywhere else is a deathwish."
Kenpachi, unsurprisingly, chose to actually finally notice the fucking meeting going on as he turned an inquisitive look towards me.
"Yeah?" He slowly started grinning. "What kind of death wish?" He questioned, a full-on grin on his face.
I shrugged at him.
"I mean, those fucks basically can't die, so boredom for starts."
The piece of information turned the bemused expressions on most of the others- Given I doubted they knew they were even liable for a pay raise, into bafflement.
"Is that right.." Kenpachi whispered before he swiftly turned towards Yamamoto- The man currently giving me an appraising look, he turned towards Kenpachi for a moment before back to me. "Oi, old man, think I can get a promotion if I kill enough brainwashed spirits?"
Yamamoto let out a sigh at that and pointedly ignored the question as he focused on me.
"We're not here to kill them you brute." The blind fuck- What was his name again?- chose to be the voice of reason regarding that. "That would only make our jobs all the more difficult. I've no wish to fight those hollows without a Zanpakuto spirit."
"Tch." Was Kenapchi's elegant response. "And just like that, I've lost all interest in kicking your bony ass."
"Enough." Yamamoto quickly cut through the building tension as he focused his eyes on me. "This all brings us to the matter at hand." A beat passed as I raised an eyebrow at the look of disapproval. "Though I understand your worries regarding the hollow problem, I find it concerning that you did not think to mention this Muramasa along with them."
I tilted my head at him.
He frowned at that.
"Surely it had occurred to you that, had that spirit chosen to attack at the same time, the Hollows could've taken advantage of it and caused more destruction?"
"Well, I mean yeah sure- It occurred to me, and can't actually remember why but I just didn't think it was a worry." I deadpanned. "Honestly, even if he managed to brainwash all of your spirits and somehow, someway, managed to convince them to team up with hollows?" I scoffed. "I probably still would've wiped the floor with 'em."
To my surprise, besides concern gracing Shunsui, Ukitake, and Yamamoto's faces at those words- The others believed me for some reason.
Honestly, I'd probably get my ass handed to me, but if I said that then I'd be in even bigger trouble so...
"Eh?" Kenapachi was the one that broke the sudden, short as it was, silence following my statement. "So you're saying there was no chance of that happening?" He clicked his teeth. "Would've been fun to mow down spirits and hollows together. Show them all that power trumps their tricks any day of the week."
"...You..." Hitsugaya turned a very pointed look towards Kenpachi. "Did you not see what that demon Ulquiorra was capable of?"
Kenpachi shrugged.
"I saw what the fat fuck was capable of-" Another tch from Kenpachi. "Honestly, not that impressed."
"...That fat one almost killed you thirty-seven times..." Hitsugaya pointed out, warily.
"Shyeah. Imagine failing thirty-seven times." Kenpachi snorted. "Fuckin' failure is what he was."
Were... Were they fat-shaming Yammy?
It occurred to me that I'd thought of him just as quickly.
Oh god, was I fat-shaming Yammy?
Sheesh, Soul Society was turning me into a bad person!
You're unbelievable.
Oh, look whose back, the bad part of Soul Society! Got any ideas on how to get out of this mess?
Aizen quickly went silent again, unsurprisingly.
A quick cough from Yamamoto quickly brought the matter back at hand, his gaze narrowed at the non-challant captains sniping at each other before his gaze zeroed in back on me.
"At the very least, we already know what this Muramasa is capable of- Which I suppose makes him less of a worry, as I can't imagine the devastation it would've caused if we'd gone in blind."
"Tell me about it-" I snorted. "Freakin' Quincies would've caught you off guard given how quickly ya'll love escalating to bankais."
"Indeed." Yamamoto nodded.
Oh good, he remembered my little warning.
Neat.
"Still, given out of everyone here, you and Captain Byakuya are the only ones capable of fighting this Muramasa without worry."
I blinked at that one, while Byakuya let out a sigh, before he nodded with ease.
"It is best we end this 'rebellion' before his brainwashing spreads too far."
"Sounds good." I nodded. "One problem with that."
I quickly paused, frowning again.
...Why the fuck did I say that?
What was the problem?
There was a problem- I was certain of it, I just couldn't quite...
I tilted my head again, my hand going to my chin.
Was it the whole Kuchigi Koga thing not existing?
No... That just means Muramasa doesn't have an actual shot at winning-
I blinked, my hand dropping to my side as I considered that particular part.
Why was he fighting then? Surely he knew Kuchiki Koga was literally nowhere around either? But the better question was...
Aizen...
He didn't respond.
How's Muramasa alive right now? You know, considering there ain't a trace of Koga?
I should know, Aizen freakin' checked.
Evidently, he had the whole freakin' realm under surveillance. Somehow.
...What are you- Oh.
Yeah...
Oh shit.
"Captain Sosuke?" Yamamoto's voice filtered through. "What's the problem?"
I let out an uneasy chuckle, idly scratching behind my head.
"Um. Right, so, I can't actually tell you."
Yamamoto narrowed his eyes the slightest bit.
"Why?"
"...'Cos then ya'lls spirits won't need a brainwashing to rebel." A beat passed. "Huh. Now I remember why I wasn't supposed to mention this threat at all."
I started chuckling and promptly stood up. "The best thing to do for now is... Well. Go kill Muramasa, and beat Byakuya's spirit into an N.D.A!" I gave everyone a thumbs up.
"Aizen." Yamamoto remarked, slightly alarmed. "What..." He hesitated as he locked eyes with me.
I let out a sigh.
"So you remember why I refused that promotion right?"
Something flashed through the old man's eyes as he nodded, slowly.
"Like, seriously, given their origin...?" A beat passed, my mind pulling back from the fact that Zanpakuto's were basically made from tons of dead shinigami souls. "Scratch that, too much information."
See, it's stuff like this that made me do what I did.
Don't justify your need to Aizen, Aizen. It's terribly Aizen of you.
...Next time you swallow a primordial hollow core, don't ask me for help.
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