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"Rukia" – Normal Speech
'Ichigo' – Thoughts
*Kaien-dono* - Zanpakutō speech/thoughts
"Bankai!" – Spiritual Technique
Chapter 19: Aftermath: Sibling Confrontation
Two Days Later
Private Room, Squad Four barracks, Seireitei
Consciousness returned to Kurosaki Kirika slowly and reluctantly, a thick, molasses-like haze seemed to cling to her mind, muddying her thoughts, while her body felt strangely heavy and sluggish, unwilling to respond to her commands. She'd been semiconscious for at least fifteen minutes now and could still barely move her head, let alone her arms or legs.
'Urgh…looks like this is the Squad Four Barracks, so I guess I'm being kept here to heal.' the thought managed to break through the mire infesting her brain as she slowly became fully aware of her surroundings. 'Dear sweet kami, my head…I must have really pushed myself too far when I attacked Aizen.' Her lips barely managed to rise into a hint of a grin. 'It was so worth it though.'
It slowly began to morph into a small, crooked smile as she silently relived delivering a wound to the most hated of her three tormentors. Even with the best healing that Aizen had available to him, there would always be a scar there to remind the bastard that she'd survived. It was doubtful that even Unohana Retsu herself could heal that wound without leaving some form of scarring.
The smile vanished as she remembered what she had been forced to do in order to wound the traitorous Captain.
'They know…they all know that Kokken Asa is Kurosaki Kirika.' The redheaded girl let out a slight huff of air, her body slowly becoming more responsive to her commands. 'Of all the ways to disclose that fact, the way that I wanted the least was for them to find it out so suddenly and so shockingly.'
Kirika cringed at the turmoil that had no doubt embroiled her friends and brother. It was going to take everything that she had to persuade them to actually listen to her instead of just reacting and shouting at her.
"Ah, you're awake." A familiar voice said from the door. Kirika rolled her head to see the Captain of Squad 4 looking in at her. "You were out for a long time, Kurosaki-san."
"Kirika's…fine…Unohana-taichō." The girl croaked out, her throat suddenly alerting her to the fact it was as dry as a bone.
Entering the room fully, the long-haired ravenette poured a cup of water that she then helped Kirika drink from. The girl drank greedily and she nodded her thanks to the (much) older woman.
"Now, how do you feel?" Unohana asked.
Running down a quick mental checklist, Kirika said, "I'm…surprisingly OK, considering how far I pushed myself…how long ago was the fight?"
"Two days." The Captain supplied. "Myself, Isane and 3rd Seat Yamada saw to your injuries, as that orange-haired girl was taking care of your brother rather admirably."
"He's OK?" the look of relief on Kirika's face was very pronounced. "Thank kami. Wait, what about Ru-I mean, Kuchiki Rukia?"
"She is also fine, albeit oddly different than when I last examined her." Unohana said with a slight frown. "Her Reiryoku reservoir is now at least three times larger than it was before she departed for the World of the Living. She is now at least High-Third Seat level, if not Low-Lieutenant. I examined her personally when she was returned to the Soul Society and she was barely as strong as a Second-Year Shinōreijutsuin Student. I am at a loss as to the discrepancy."
"She was trapped within a Reiryoku-sapping Gigai from just after she gave her powers to my brother to when I removed her from it a few days ago." Kirika informed her. "That explains her loss of strength. As to why she's now more powerful than before…I have a suspicion about that, but I'd need to talk to Yoruichi-sensei before I elaborate in case I'm wrong."
"Hmmm…I see." Unohana regarded the girl before her steadily, and with quite a bit of curiosity. She had seen the redheaded Kurosaki girl use Shiba Kaien's Shikai herself and still had a hard time believing it. How was it possible?
"Well, to start with, I'll give you a check-up and then heal you of anything that hasn't been taken care of already." She continued briskly. "Once I've certified you to be well, there will be a meeting of the Captain's Council along with all of you…Ryoka…in order to determine exactly what transpired over these last couple of months."
"Is the Sōtaichō likely to actually listen or just react?" Kirika asked frankly.
"He…isn't happy about what has gone on, but he does want to know about what happened under his watch." The second-most senior Captain of the Goteijūsantai answered carefully. "I truly believe he simply wishes to acquire all of the facts regarding what has transpired before he makes any final judgement. What that judgment eventually comes down to will be completely reliant on what he learns, I think."
Kirika snorted slightly. "I suppose that's the best we could hope for; at least those old fossils from the Central 46 are dead." Kirika sighed as she lay back on her bed. "If they were still alive, they'd likely still demand to have us all executed or our powers sealed or something equally moronic out of reactionary paranoia."
As much as she'd like to, Unohana couldn't refute that. It was a likely outcome, after all. The deaths of the Central 46 had allowed Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryūsai to take executive command and exercise martial law over the entirety of the Seireitei as a state of war now existed between them and Aizen Sōsuke's rebellious group at the very least. One of his first directives had been to suspend the selection of a new Central 46 until such time as martial law could be lifted following the conclusion of the war.
Three of the Four Great Noble Clans of the Seireitei, as well as several smaller Noble Clans, had protested this, stating that the government needed to be recreated as soon as possible. They had shut up when the Sōtaichō had glared at them. He was NOT in the mood for the petty and pointless squabbles and power plays of the nobility at the moment.
As Unohana ran through the various Kidō for scanning and healing, she found that there were no further wounds inside of Kirika's body; rather, the strength of her Spiritual Body's muscles and bones had gotten even stronger. The Captain of Squad Four had never seen such rapid healing and regenerative strengthening in a Soul Reaper before.
A Spiritual Body worked very much like a Human's flesh and blood body in that stressing the muscles from exercise and allowing them to heal naturally strengthened them, albeit at a far more advanced level and with far less limits than those of living flesh. She had never encountered anyone who became physically stronger after they had been hurt before. It was yet another mysterious thing about this girl.
"You are in excellent condition, Kirika-san." She said at last. "If I didn't know better, I wouldn't know you had even been injured."
"My ribs certainly remember Aizen almost breaking them." the girl replied dryly.
Hiding a smile at the dry humour, Unohana nodded to one corner of the room, where Kirika's shihakushō and zanpakutō lay atop a small table. "Your clothes are over there, Kirika-san. I must say, you make a better patient than a lot of Soul Reapers I have seen over the years."
"My adoptive father's a doctor." Kirika replied with a small smile. "I know how to behave and let the person examining me have an easy time of it."
Nodding in acknowledgement, Unohana left the room to inform the other Captains that the last of the Ryoka had awoken and was able to move under her own power.
Kirika stood up shakily before shuffling over in her hiyoku (under kimono) to don her shihakushō once again. It felt odd to actually have to put it on like regular clothes, but she supposed it was a good thing that she had plenty of practice with hakama from her time in the Kendo Club. The only unusual parts of her outfit were the twin bandoliers that were the last to go on. She still had no clue as to what they were for and she wished that she did.
As she picked up the sheathed Nejibana, a mental caress of reassurance from her oldest friend made Kirika smile as she placed her zanpakutō at her waist and headed out of the room to head to the First Squad's Barracks and the Captain's Meeting Hall. She may as well get the unpleasantness over and done with.
Later
Captain's Meeting Hall
Captain-Commander Yamamoto peered out at the assembled people in the Captain's Meeting Hall, who were mostly not Captains. His heart twinged as he saw the three spaces where Aizen, Ichimaru and Tōsen should be standing but he rallied, banishing those emotions to the far corners of his mind for now. He could grieve over this betrayal in solitude later, now he had a duty to perform.
The most familiar of the non-Captain Soul Reapers were the Lieutenants, Abarai Renji (who was temporarily relieved of duty), Kuchiki Rukia, Yamada Hanatarō, Madarame Ikkaku, Ayasegawa Yumichika, Kotetsu Kiyone and Kotsubaki Sentarō. Then there were the two members of the Shiba Clan, Ganju and Kūkaku.
The most concerning ones were the Ryoka; Kurosaki Ichigo, Shihōin Yoruichi, Inoue Orihime, Sado Yasutora, Ishida Uryū the Quincy and, perhaps the most worrying of them all, Kurosaki Kirika.
How she had been able to use the Shikai of a long-dead Soul Reaper was beyond him. The werecat that was the former Captain of Squad 2 had refused to say anything unless it was to everyone that was involved at the same time.
At the moment, the girl was studiously ignoring the looks of her fellow Ryoka in favour of closing her eyes and, by the feel of her Reiryoku, meditating. The most she had done was have a whispered conversation with Yoruichi before assuming her meditation.
Deciding that everyone was gathered that needed to be gathered, Yamamoto thumped his cane on the floor, immediately ending the background murmur of quiet conversation from among the non-Captains.
"I call this…extraordinary…meeting to order." The old man rumbled. "As you all know, two days ago, three Captain-class Soul Reapers betrayed the Soul Society and fled to what is presumably Hueco Mundo, the world of the Hollows. What little we have gathered from their words as they departed is very much insufficient, so I have to ask the leader of the Ryoka, former Commander of the Onmitsukidō and former Captain of the Second Squad, Shihōin Yoruichi, to fill us in on the history and details behind this betrayal."
Instead of responding, the purple-haired woman looked to her redheaded apprentice. "Kirika-chan, time to take centre stage."
"If I must, sensei." Kirika replied, opening her jade-green eyes and stepping forward. "I am Kurosaki Kirika, adopted younger sister to Kurosaki Ichigo…but I am also someone who suffered at the hands of Aizen Sōsuke and I will tell you all of that in due course, but in order to understand the actions of the present, and even my past, you have to understand where it started…or rather, where Aizen's first offence against the Seireitei and Goteijūsantai happened."
"Very well, continue." Yamamoto nodded, allowing the younger girl to speak.
"OK…" Kirika seemed to marshal her thoughts before continuing. "It started over one hundred years ago, during Urahara Kisuke's time as the founder of the S.R.D.I. and Captain of Squad 12. Both he and Aizen separately created their own copy of an item of vast power…the Hōgyoku."
"The 'Breakdown Sphere'?" Soi-Fon asked curiously.
"Yes, sempai." Kirika nodded. "They possess the power to break down the spiritual barriers that exist between the existences of Hollows and Soul Reapers. In essence it could allow a Hollow to gain the powers of a Soul Reaper or give Soul Reapers the powers of a Hollow. However, Aizen's own Hōgyoku was inferior to that of Urahara's. I understand that Aizen attempted to feed his own version the Souls of people from the Rukongai to no avail."
"Tch." Ganju spat in disgust.
"After that, the Mass Hollowfication Incident happened, where eight Captains and Lieutenants were Hollowfied, and the blame was placed at Urahara's feet, with Yoruichi-sensei and Tessai-sensei blamed for helping him to escape." Kirika ignored Ganju, but grew slightly angrier. "All of them, with centuries of loyal service to the Soul Society and the Goteijūsantai, were charged and found guilty on the sole word of one Lieutenant Aizen Sōsuke. What actually happened was that Aizen Hollowfied the Captains and Lieutenants as an experiment to test his Hōgyoku's abilities before using his Zanpakutō's true ability of Absolute Hypnosis to sway the Central 46 into dancing to his tune."
"It makes sense now." Ukitake sighed. "The loss of so many of our colleagues at once was so abrupt and unexpected that everyone was in shock…too much so to question the investigation, or lack thereof."
"Yeah, and that's the least of it, Ukitake-taichō." Kirika calmed down slightly as she spoke to the white-haired Captain. "Anyway, Aizen wanted Urahara's Hōgyoku since his own was incomplete, but Urahara presumably took it with him to the World of the Living after using it to stabilize the Hollowfied Captains and Lieutenants."
"Why is it that he seeks to acquire this loathsome orb?" Byakuya asked coldly.
"For some reason, Aizen is obsessed with creating the perfect Soul Reaper-Hollow Hybrid, so the Hōgyoku, which was designed for that very purpose, is necessary." Kirika answered with a shrug. "I would imagine that since his own Hōgyoku is imperfect he likely wishes to combine his and Urahara's into a single one to amplify their abilities…he's likely already done that by this point."
"In the meantime, Kisuke, Tessai and I hid in the World of the Living, with me occasionally nipping back to keep an eye on things and gather what information I could." Yoruichi interjected. "Kisuke also tried everything he could to destroy the Hōgyoku, to no success."
Soi Fon looked chagrined that she hadn't noticed her mentor around and about the Seireitei.
"So, wind the clock forward sixty-odd years." Kirika continued after a moment. "In the intervening years, Aizen took to experimenting on, modifying and even creating Hollows as the base for his Soul Reaper-Hollow Hybrids and one of the first successes was the Hollow known as Metastacia."
This drew the attention of the Shiba siblings, Ukitake, his 3rd Seats and Rukia.
"You…pretty much know what happened in that forest, so there's no need to go over it again." Kirika grimaced. "But…Rukia, do you remember me telling you about Metastacia's abilities?"
The purple-eyed Soul Reaper flinched as attention fell onto her. "Um…y-yes? Spiritual Body Fusion and Asauchi Destruction, I think they were."
Kirika nodded before breathing in and out for a moment. "I…omitted one. Metastacia possesses three abilities, not two." She said at last. "The last ability is something called Sacrificial Separation, whereby a small part of Metastacia detached from the main body the instant you stabbed Kaien's possessed body and teleported to Hueco Mundo, allowing it to the survive the death of its host. Metastacia…is still alive."
Shaking her head mutely in denial, Rukia looked horror-struck. She was steadied by Orihime grabbing her shoulders and squeezing them in a show of support.
"Wait…that means that my brother's still stuck in it!?" Kūkaku yelled angrily. Ganju looked furious as well.
"Yes." Kirika confirmed sadly. "That…isn't all, either."
"What now?" Toshiro grumbled.
"Aizen…took the part of Metastacia from Hueco Mundo and…harvested Reiryoku from it…both Soul Reaper AND Hollow Reiryoku…and tried again and again to implant it into random Souls captured from the farthest reaches of the Rukongai." Kirika said, her voice becoming less steady. "Roll the clock on to twelve and a half years ago…and I come into the picture."
This had her friends and brother locking eyes on her.
"I…am exactly as old as I look, fifteen." She said calmly. "I was a New Soul who had presumably been kidnapped from my parents at the age of two or thereabouts."
"Probably from a Noble Family of some kind." Yoruichi added.
"Thank you, sensei." Kirika said sharply, not wanting to give the Soul Reapers any reason to believe they had a hold on her. "Ahem. Anyway…I had no name at the time. The first name I remember is 'Subject Fifteen of Group C-A' and I only knew that because someone from Group C-A read it off of the collar around my neck. I was, not to mince words, an experimental guinea pig. For the next three years, I underwent numerous surgeries, experiments and other foul things I don't wish to remember. I was…less than human to Aizen and his two stooges. Just…a lump of meat to experiment on and throw away when I grew too damaged to be of use."
The anger in Ichigo's face was only matched by the horror dwelling there, which was echoed by his friends. A lot of the Captains and Lieutenants looked disturbed as well.
"So then, ten years ago, my Group C-A was the last to be implanted with Shiba Kaien's Hollow-tainted Reiryoku." Kirika said with a bitter laugh. "Half-a-million Souls sacrificed to the experiment and I was the only one who survived. Everyone else, including my group, my friends…they all died, from either Hollowfication and being dispatched, or from Soul Suicide."
"Do you know why you alone survived, girl?" Mayuri asked interestedly, utterly uncaring of the appalled looks he was getting from some of his fellows.
"I was born with a Zanpakutō inside of me, and it is a Flowing Water-type, the same as Nejibana." Kirika replied emotionlessly as she ran a finger down her sword's sheath. "Everyone else died because they either didn't possess a Zanpakutō at all, or they possessed something other than a Water-type or Flowing Water-type Zanpakutō. Pure luck allowed me to survive, nothing more, nothing less."
"Hmmm. By the sounds of it, Aizen was unaware of the fact that he had harvested a fragment of Nejibana when he took samples from Metastacia." The insane man mused. "I suspect that with every subject's death in that experiment, Nejibana rebuilt more of herself from the fragments of Shiba Kaien's Reiryoku that were inserted into the test subjects until it regained its mind at some point. Truly a fascinating outcome."
"Yeah…fascinating." Kirika snorted. "Anyway, luckily enough for me, I possessed a unique power; I am able to utterly protect and shield my Inner World from being monitored and invaded, something that the final surgery that implanted Shiba Kaien's Reiryoku inside of me forced into a permanent state of 'on', meaning I couldn't have my Inner World monitored directly. Because of that, Aizen immediately decided to have me killed. As you heard two days ago, he ordered Ichimaru to kill me."
Grinding her teeth, she continued. "He let me run away from him once he removed my manacles, not that I could have escaped. I grabbed an Asauchi that was lying around for some reason and got the idea in my head to transform it into a Bokken, which worked. He grabbed me, told me how many Souls had died and said he was impressed by my survival. He wanted to see if I could go two for two and threw me into a passage he opened from the Soul Society to Karakura Town. If I outran the Kōtotsu, I won, if I let myself get caught, I lost. I barely managed to outrun it, escaping by a bare meter."
"I find it hard to believe that a five-year old girl could outrun the Kōtotsu." Byakuya stated neutrally.
"Yeah, well so am I, Byakuya-sempai. My best theory is that it didn't detect my initial intrusion in the Dangai because my soul was so weak at the time?" the oldest Kurosaki girl shrugged lightly, not noticing the slight twitch that the Kuchiki Clan Head had in his right eye at the continued use of his first name. He had been dealing with Kurosaki Ichigo for the past two days and the boy was infuriatingly informal.
'At least his sister uses honorifics.' He mused with a sigh, taking what he could get.
"After that, Kirika-chan was picked up by us and we agreed to train her." Yoruichi continued, as Kirika was plainly close to her limit. "We had made friends with the Kurosaki family and had them adopt her so she would have a stable and loving family as she grew up. Kisuke even invented a new kind of Gigai that grew with its user, so she wouldn't have to keep getting new ones all the time."
The intrigued look on Mayuri's face, Kirika decided, was decidedly unpleasant.
"I had memories…small fragments of memory from Shiba Kaien…that kept popping up." She said now she had regained some level of control. "Urahara and Tessai-sensei sealed them off so that my ego wouldn't be overwhelmed by them. In recent years, the seal has weakened and I have taken in about half of Kaien-san's memories."
"And Nejibana?" Ukitake asked quietly.
"Nejibana and I successfully bonded with each other a few hours previous to Rukia giving her powers to my brother." Kirika answered. "As I said to Aizen, my fight with him then was the first time Nejibana and I fought as one outside of a spar. I am far more used to sparring against Captains than I should thanks to my incredibly sadistic drill sergeant of a sensei."
"I can't think to whom you might be referring to." Yoruichi said innocently, prompting Kirika to give her a flat, unimpressed look.
"Uh-huh, sure you don't." the redheaded girl said dryly.
"So how did the orb thing get in Rukia?!" Sentarō demanded.
"I have no exact knowledge of that, but I suspect it was part of Urahara's plan to move the Hōgyoku beyond Aizen's reach." Kirika answered. "An undeniable fact is that Rukia was using a Gigai that sapped the Reiryoku of its wearer. Eventually, she would have been no more a Soul Reaper than any human on the street. Putting myself in Urahara's shoes, the next step would have been to cast some sort of sealing Kidō on her to ensure the Hōgyoku stayed put and then killed her to send the damned orb into the cycle of reincarnation, out of Aizen's hands for who knows how long…possibly hundreds of years."
Byakuya's eyes hardened at that. "And you had no knowledge of this plan?"
"I knew only what Urahara wanted me to know, which was the absolute bare minimum needed. He still seems to think I might be a plant from Aizen." Kirika snorted. "I'm not. I have lived and trained for a decade with the thought of killing Aizen Sōsuke, Ichimaru Gin and Tōsen Kaname. I will do that or I will die trying."
The absolute certainty and lack of hesitation in her voice when she made that declaration, combined with the intense zeal that seemed to glow in her eyes, convinced all present that there was no room for doubt. The young woman standing before them would gladly die to see the three men who had tormented her dead and rotting in the depths of hell.
"What other modifications did Aizen made to you?" Mayuri demanded after a moment's pause, evidently bored by the direction the discussion was taking.
"Is this germane to the discussion?" Kirika asked the Sōtaichō flatly.
"Kurotsuchi-taichō, you are already bordering on being removed from your position due to your interference with the Last Family of Quincy and the death of Ishida Sōken and countless former Quincy Souls. Do not push your luck." Yamamoto rumbled dangerously. That little revelation had been more than slightly anger-inducing. Kurotsuchi had deliberately blocked all of Sōken's attempts to communicate with the government of the Seireitei just so he could get his hands on a Quincy that was 'not tainted by the Reishi of the Seireitei' for his experiments.
Added to that was the fact that the insane man had hunted down every former Quincy Soul in the Seireitei and Rukongai and killed them in his experiments.
Needless to say, Yamamoto had already decided that an extensive and in-depth audit of the Squad 12 barracks was in order. And if the mad fool still dared to defy him after this then he'd feed the twisted Captain to Ryūjin Jakka himself.
A fire had been lit within Yamamoto's aged soul; the betrayal of three of his trusted Captains, and the depravity that one had committed under his own nose no less, had driven it home that he'd been lacking in keeping a weather eye on his direct subordinates, as was his duty as Captain-Commander. It was time to change that.
Muttering under his breath, Mayuri started to sulk.
"Anyway…that should be everything that I know about Aizen and his plans." Kirika said, stepping back into line with the Ryoka. Yoruichi stepped up next to her and placed her hand on her apprentice's shoulder in support.
"Are there any further pertinent questions for my apprentice? It has been very trying for her to speak of such things." The Shihōin Princess asked sharply.
"Sensei…!" Kirika muttered with a flush.
"Are you convinced that Tōsen is a part of this whole effort by Aizen?" Komamura asked.
"You mean aside from the fact he went with Aizen?" Kirika snorted and crossed her arms. "Yes, as a matter of fact. Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu can only put someone under its hypnotic spell if they can see him activate his Shikai. Tōsen is physically blind and can only perceive things via his uniquely sensitive ability to detect the surrounding Reiryoku, meaning that he is likely the only person totally immune to Kyōka Suigetsu. This meant that either Aizen would have had to recruit him or he would have to kill him. As Tōsen is still alive, he has been recruited."
"The logic makes sense." Soi Fon nodded. She was saddened that one of the people she considered an ally in these Captain's Meetings had chosen to betray the Goteijūsantai. "I have a question. Do you know who killed a member of the Keigun in the same area that you defeated a squad of Onmitsukidō?"
"I don't know it for a fact, but it might have been Ichimaru Gin. He almost took my head off with his Shinsō just after I beat down a squad of Keigun." Kirika replied. "I was lucky enough to shake him off my trail down in the sewers, so I don't know if any Onmitsukidō operatives were down there with us. Sorry, Soi Fon-sempai."
"No, your observations are most helpful, and that is the most likely case." The petite woman scowled. "Ichimaru will be made to pay for taking the life of one of my men, my pride as commander of the Onmitsukidō will allow nothing else."
Yamamoto eyed the girl…Kirika. She was, technically, a member of the Soul Society, but she would likely not consider herself under the jurisdiction of the Seireitei due to how the government had failed her.
Yes, Yamamoto was flexible enough to admit something like that if it happened. He wasn't blind to the (very obvious) failings of the government of the Soul Society, nor did he miss how Kurosaki Kirika held herself as an outsider among Souls, despite being one herself. Attempting to assert any degree of control over her would likely be not only an exercise in futility, but a very big mistake as well.
"Are there any other questions for Kurosaki Kirika?" he asked, looking around.
"Yeah. You any good in a fight?" Zaraki asked bluntly.
"I have a full-rounded education in the Zankensoki, unlike my brother." Kirika smirked back at the large man. "As it so happens, I am a better sword fighter than he is. Once I get strong enough to not suffer from backlash, I'll gladly kick your ass across the Seireitei, Kenpachi."
"Heh. Now that's spunk, must run in the family!" Zaraki chortled. "You're OK with me, kid."
Mightily resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the latest Kenpachi's antics, Yamamoto wondered why it was he hadn't retired by now. Oh, right; because these idiots wouldn't know how to organise a flea market without him cracking the whip to keep them in line!
A rattling sound drew everyone's attention to Kirika, who looked down at her sheathed sword in surprise as it moved about in its sheath.
"Nejibana? What's wrong?" Kirika asked and drew her blade. "Pardon me for a minute."
Sitting down cross-legged on the floor and laying her naked sword across her lap, she instantly fell into the Jinzen.
"Ok, so is that a common thing with zanpakutō, or what?" Ichigo spoke up.
"No, Ichigo." Rukia sighed. "Only if they get very excited or agitated do zanpakutō affect even their Fūingata forms. I can't think what made Nejibana act up like that."
A moment later, Kirika's eyes snapped open and she sprang to her feet, extending her arm, sword and all, to the side in a familiar pose.
"Surge through the deep sea and roil the dark heavens, Nejibana!" she commanded. The sword spun yellow light engulfed it, lengthening and growing until the trident-shape of Nejibana's Shikai appeared.
For Ukitake, who hadn't seen it, only felt it, it was like a punch in the gut. That was undeniably the Shikai of his fallen Lieutenant, and the Reiatsu it was giving off was that of Shiba Kaien as well, albeit mixed with Kirika's own Reiatsu.
Kūkaku was also stunned at seeing her elder brother's Shikai in someone else's hands. Privately, the one-armed woman had doubted that part of the story, but this proved it beyond all doubts.
'Aizen…you killed my brother…!' she thought in a rage. 'Not only that, you used his Reiryoku and zanpakutō as experimental material! If nothing else, I'm gonna help this girl get her revenge on you! That's a promise!'
"Kurosaki Kirika, what is the meaning of this?" Yamamoto asked, one eye open and staring directly at her.
"I'm merely following the request of my oldest friend." Kirika answered with a smile. Holding up the polearm, she smiled. "Come out! Nejibana!"
Shivering in her hand, the trident flew up and started to spin on its central axis, water surging out to surround it in a cocoon. After a mere twenty seconds, the cocoon expanded and burst, revealing a woman where the weapon once floated. Wearing a tattered hakama, a bandage sarashi around her chest and a hagoromo, she looked divine and ethereal. Landing lightly on bandage-wrapped feet, the blue-haired woman smiled down at Kirika happily.
"It is good to see you in this world, Kirika-sama." She said in a smooth alto voice.
"It's good to have you out here, old friend." Kirika answered with a smile before jerking a thumb at a poleaxed Rukia. "She's just over there, Nejibana."
The pale red eyes of the Zanpakutō Spirit Nejibana locked onto the petite ravenette with a deadly focus. "Kuchiki Rukia." The blue-haired woman breathed. "I have waited for over forty years to have you within arm's reach."
She started forwards, each step purposeful and deliberate. Byakuya and Ukitake made to interfere, but halted at Kirika shaking her head at them.
Paralyzed, as if she were a mouse under the gaze of a snake, Rukia could only follow the advance of Nejibana with her eyes. Zanpakutō could argue with their wielders, they could outright fight like cat and dog, but they were loyal to their Soul Reapers. If Nejibana nurtured ideas of revenge after all this time, Rukia wouldn't blame her.
Stopping a foot from her target, Nejibana glared down at Rukia for a moment before sweeping the girl into an embrace.
"Eh? Eh?!" Rukia squeaked in shock and surprise.
"Foolish girl. Kaien-dono thought of you as a sister, so how could I possibly hate or blame you for what you did?" Nejibana whispered.
"B-but…he's…he's trapped in a Hollow right now…!" the young Soul Reaper whispered back.
"Something that I'm sure we can remedy given time." Kirika said as she stepped up next to her zanpakutō. "It wasn't just memories that I inherited from Kaien…it was feelings and desires as well. One of the strongest was what he felt as he tried to slow Metastacia down when he jumped towards you in the forest… 'I must protect Kuchiki Rukia, I cannot allow her to be harmed by me' and stuff like that. He was thankful that you ended it, Rukia. He died as a Soul Reaper and not as a Hollow. I see that fight almost every night in my dreams, so I know better than you might imagine."
"Kaien-dono…!" Rukia whispered tearfully.
Patting Rukia on the back, Nejibana detached herself before grimacing. "Kirika-sama lacks Reiryoku at the moment, so I must be brief. She has my trust and would have Kaien-sama's were he here. Treat with her honourably, in Kaien-sama's name, I beg of you."
She bowed her head.
"This is impossible." Byakuya stated flatly. "She has only possessed your Shikai for just over two months and she can manifest you in such a fashion? She is at the level where she can train for Bankai already? The boy is one thing, but this is…!"
"One of the few benefits of all of Aizen's experiments on me is that I have a growth rate far exceeding that of an ordinary Soul and my upper limit of Reiryoku is bound to be a lot more flexible as well." Kirika smirked. "Besides, unlike Aniki over there, I've been training and honing my power for a decade; I'm far more prepared for it than he was."
"You still lack combat experience with my Shikai though, Kirika-sama, so I shall hope that you are willing to wait until we become more in-sync with each other." The zanpakutō spirit put in firmly.
"I shall trust your judgement, old friend." The redhead nodded before wincing. "I'm starting to run low on Reiryoku, Nejibana."
"So you are." Nejibana nodded. "Ukitake-taichō, Sentarō, Kiyone…thank you for making Kaien-sama's life in Squad 13 a happy one. Kuchiki Rukia…free yourself of your guilt. I absolve you as only one who was there can. If you need to seek repentance, help Kirika-sama with her Kidō. Farewell…"
In a flash of blue light, Nejibana's body vanished and her Fūingata form clattered to the floor. Silently, Kirika walked over, picked her sword up and sheathed her at her side.
Several of the Captains were eying her warily, while Kurotsuchi gazed at her with avarice in his eyes. Yamamoto felt another headache come up. He was going to have to stop the insane scientist before he committed Suicide by Kurosaki. And by 'Suicide by Kurosaki' he meant 'attempting to kidnap Kurosaki Kirika and having the wrath of her brother, sensei, elder sibling-disciple and very probably most of Squad 13 drop on him like a stone'. No, he'd stopped the Squads from seriously infighting over seven-hundred years ago and he wasn't about to let one mad scientist's obsessions start a war between them now!
"Very well then." He said aloud. "Now that the spirit of Shiba Kaien's zanpakutō has had her say, I shall have mine."
This drew the attention of most of the room, with Shihōin Yoruichi narrowing her yellow eyes at him carefully. She had always had a hefty amount of wariness for him, which was sensible of her; he had led the Goteijūsantai into a war of genocide three times in its history and, as old and weary as he was, he could very well do it a fourth time as well.
Not that he was planning on doing so at the moment, though.
"I am ordering that the Seireitei move to a war footing, effective immediately." He stated. Technically, they had been at a war footing since the walls came down, but now martial law was declared he would have had to order this done officially. "The three traitors, Aizen, Tōsen and Ichimaru, are hereby officially stripped of all ranks, titles and honours they previously held. Lieutenants Hinamori, Hisagi and Kira are hereby directed to assume acting command of their Squads until such time that proper replacements are appointed."
So far, it was boilerplate legalese that he was required to say in the event of treason on the part of Captains, which had actually occurred perhaps a dozen times in the history of the Goteijūsantai.
"Kurosaki Kirika." He said, making the girl stiffen at being addressed directly. "Is it to my understanding that the Hollowfied Captains and Lieutenants from a hundred years ago are still alive and have their faculties intact?"
The amount of subtle attention from Kyōraku increased at this point, as one Yadōmaru Lisa, his former Lieutenant, was one of those who had vanished a hundred years ago.
"To the best of my knowledge, yes, but I have never met any of the so-called 'Visored', as they call themselves, Sōtaichō." Kirika replied formally.
"They're alive, they aren't insane, they've been training to master their Hollow powers, and they are pissed at the Goteijūsantai for basically abandoning them." Yoruichi interjected. "You may want to have the law regarding Hollow powers changed if you want to get any of them back."
'It is forbidden for a Soul Reaper to acquire or attempt to gain Hollow-like powers.'
The law was inflexible, due to the opinion that acquiring Hollow powers would drive the individual who gained them insane…at least that was the surface reason. The other, more hidden, reason was that it was feared by the Central 46 that anyone who gained Hollow Powers would ignore the authority of the Central 46, as they would, technically, no longer be Soul Reapers.
The Captain-Commander spotted the hand that Yoruichi had on her young apprentice and knew one reason why she had brought up the law. She believed that it was possible that the Hollow Reiatsu that Aizen had infused into Kirika had given her Hollow powers somehow.
As if cued by his thoughts, the burgeoning headache he had started to grow more intense.
From all accounts, the girl had been entirely unwilling and unable to stop Aizen from doing what he had done to her. Of course she had! She'd been a mere child. Was he supposed to lay the law down on her for what amounted to years of torture?
'Until and unless she shows any signs of Hollow powers, it is a moot point.' He thought grimly. 'At that point…'
"I shall see." Yamamoto said heavily. "If, as you say, they are sane and in control of the powers that were forced on them, then I shall have to see about having the law suitably…corrected."
The susurration of surprise that came from several people made the old man want to bristle indignantly. He may be loyal to the law, but he wasn't an idiot, nor was he willing to see several people he had known, respected, and worked with for decades and centuries having to stay away from what was their home for fear of execution for something that clearly wasn't their fault.
Providing they were, in fact, sane, that is.
"As we have all heard some fairly weighty matters, I am calling a recess to allow you all to digest it." Yamamoto said before throwing a look at Kurotsuchi. "Except for you, Kurotsuchi-taichō. A word, please."
The abominable man-child had the temerity to actually pout.
With Kirika
Outside the Squad One Barracks
"Kirika."
The redheaded girl flinched at the familiar tone and came to a halt. She had been dreading this conversation since the death of Kurosaki Misaki at the hands of Grand Fisher. Intellectually, she knew her brother followed logic and reason with most things, but when it came to family, he was a lot more emotion-driven. That, plus the countless nights and days of imagining worse and worse possible outcomes to the eventual disclosure, had given Kirika something of a complex about it.
Slowly, she turned around to see her brother Ichigo standing with his arms crossed, flanked by Chad and Orihime. Ishida stood off to the side, far enough away to convey that he was around them, not with them.
"Yes, Aniki?" Kirika answered softly.
"We need to talk." Ichigo said, a flicker of mixed emotions in his eyes, although his voice was almost mild.
"Is this really the best time for this, Ichigo?" Yoruichi stepped up beside Kirika with a frown. "She just had to dredge up her past in front of the most powerful Soul Reapers in the Seireitei."
"No, sensei, he's right." The girl herself spoke up before her brother could answer. "It is time, and past time, that we had this talk. The timing will never be right so long as Aizen still lives, so let's just tear the bandage off and get it over and done with."
The Shihōin Princess eyed her apprentice for a moment before sighing. "You really are stubborn." She groaned. "Fine. But I'm sitting in on this little talk. You have a habit of taking too much on yourself, my young and inexperienced apprentice."
"Thank you, sensei." Kirika inclined her head to her. "Can we go somewhere that's isolated and out of the way? I think we're probably going to need that."
"Sure. Oi, Soi Fon!" Yoruichi called over to her older apprentice (and girlfriend), who was dressing down the fat man that was her Lieutenant. The instant her name left her mentor's lips, the Commander of the Onmitsukidō had Shunpo'd in front of Yoruichi in an instant.
"How can I help you, Yoruichi-sama?" she asked almost eagerly.
"Kirika-chan here needs a place to talk to her brother and friends. Can I borrow a room in the Squad Two Barracks?" the purplette asked.
"You don't even need to ask!" Soi Fon answered, looking slightly appalled. "You should still be the Captain and me your Lieutenant. If not for Aizen, you would be. I'll escort you there myself."
"Thanks, Little Bee." The smile that accompanied these words made the usually dignified Captain's face to flush an adorable shade of red.
As the two Captain-class Soul Reapers led the way, chatting as they did, Kirika turned back and frowned as one person who she half-expected to see there wasn't.
"Isn't Rukia…-san with you?" she asked.
"Byakuya came and took her somewhere. Said he had something to tell her." Ichigo grunted, looking disgruntled.
"Finally." Kirika muttered. "The stubborn idiot should have told her years ago."
"You know what he's going to tell Rukia-chan?" Orihime asked curiously.
"I know what it likely is because Kaien knew a secret that Byakuya told him." The redhead replied quietly. "If Byakuya's telling Rukia…-san anything, it's probably that. I won't tell you what that secret is though. It's between the two of them."
"You don't know how to think about Kuchiki-san, do you?" Chad observed.
That got him a surprised look from Kirika as they approached the Second Squad's barracks. "That's…correct." she admitted before letting out a tired sigh. "I have a lot of Kaien's emotions and memories in me and sometimes, it's hard to remember that I'm not a Lieutenant in the Goteijūsantai or two centuries old like Kaien was. I know things about Kuchiki Rukia that she only ever confided to him, and yet my personal knowledge of her is only so-so. It makes defining my relationship with her, makes how I address her and treat her…awkward, to say the least."
That made the rest of her friends exchange concerned looks as they were hustled into a room just off to the side of the Captain's Office, a traditional Japanese room with tatami flooring and a short table in the centre with seating cushions arrayed around it. Kirika and Yoruichi seated themselves on one side of the table, while Ichigo, Orihime and Chad seated themselves on the other side. Ishida stood leaning against the wall to the back of the room, not taking sides and merely watching, his left hand rubbing the Sanrei Glove that still covered his right forearm.
There was silence as the adopted siblings stared at each other without speaking for a long moment, then Ichigo actually growled.
"Dammit, Kirika, why didn't you tell me about any of this years ago?!" he ground out.
"Several reasons. Care to listen or are you simply going to shout at me to alleviate your emotions, Aniki?" Kirika answered in a precise, clipped tone of voice. Her eyes didn't waver a millimetre.
"What could possibly justify it?!" the orange-haired boy demanded, his voice a low growl.
"For one, there was no reason to tell you before Misaki-okaa-san's death." Kirika began firmly. "Second, the two-to-three years after that, you were in no fit emotional state to be told without irrationally blaming yourself for her death…not that it stopped you anyway, but it would have made things a great deal worse. After that…after that, I wanted to tell you. But I was overruled by Urahara."
"We live in the same house, Kirika." Ichigo looked at her flatly. "I think you could have told me without Hat'n'Clogs finding out."
"Can you guarantee that he doesn't have the house bugged?" his sister shot back at him sharply. "Because Urahara Kisuke is the smartest man in or out of the Soul Society. There's a reason that Aizen framed him to make him leave the Seireitei and Soul Society: Urahara is smarter and sneakier that that damned bastard and he knows it. Any plan that I could come up with, Urahara could anticipate and take steps to neutralise or be forewarned of. My Gigai, which he made in case you missed that fact, could be bugged as well. Heck, for all I know, I did try to tell you at some point and Urahara used a special Kikanshinki on us both to wipe our minds of it happening!"
That idea seemed to cause Ichigo to tense up. "Yoruichi?" the Deathberry turned his glare to the Flash Goddess.
"Kisuke has one special Kikanshinki that is capable of suppressing specific pre-specified memories and inserting something neutral and inoffensive in its place." The Shihōin princess answered neutrally. "To the best of my knowledge, he has never used it outside of the initial testing, although that isn't a certain guarantee that the hypothetical situation Kirika-chan just outlined didn't happen."
The scowl on Ichigo's face grew as he processed that.
"I'll say this on Kirika's behalf, because she likely won't tell you herself." Yoruichi said firmly. "On the night that you took Rukia-chan's powers, she was there and was wearing a prototype version of her 'Kokken Asa' mask that locked down her ability to use her Reiryoku. When she got back to the Urahara Shōten, she outright attacked Kisuke for daring to involve her family in his plots."
"Sensei!" Kirika protested.
"Shush, Apprentice." The werecat said sternly. "As we told you back in the sewers, Kokken, or rather Kirika, has been trying to persuade Kisuke, Tessai and me to fill you in on the whole Soul Reaper thing for years. She worked herself to the bone, not only to get revenge on Aizen, but to protect her new family as well. Kisuke was too much a paranoiac to listen to her, though I think I managed to beat some sense into his head before we left."
"And us?" Orihime asked softly. "Were we a part of Urahara-san's plans?"
"One that he was forced to adapt into his plans out of both practicality and inevitability." Kirika snorted. "Aniki's stupidly large Reiryoku saturates anywhere he goes, making anyone who is nearby just as saturated by it. It's why Lieutenant-class and Captain-class Soul Reapers usually seal away the vast majority of their power if they go to the World of the Living. Call it Spiritual Energy Contamination. In all likelihood, it was Aniki who gave you the source of your powers in the first place."
"Again, Kirika protested involving you two." Yoruichi added. "She had to bow to our wishes in the end, but really, you'd have come to help Ichigo anyway, right?"
Chad and Orihime nodded firmly.
"Grr!" Ichigo threw his arms up. "And so, what now?"
"I have to train." Kirika said firmly. "Aizen isn't going to stop here. He's just gotten started and I need to grow in strength so that I can face him again."
"Why? This is the Soul Reaper's problem." Ichigo asked in mild confusion, only to blink in surprise as his sister facepalmed.
"Aniki, can you please try to not think is such a simple and blinkered way? It's embarrassing." The girl grumbled. "Aizen has deliberately pissed off the Soul Reapers and has sided with the Hollows. Right now, he's probably building an army of Arrancar out of the Menos Grande. He is a threat to both the World of the Living and Soul Society."
"Arrancar?" Ishida asked in confusion, speaking up for the first time. "What are they?"
"Hollows with the power of Soul Reapers." Kirika grimaced. "I only know the name, not how strong they are. Aizen's obsessed with the whole 'Soul Reaper-Hollow Hybrid' thing, so it's probably not a surprise that he'd turn to experimenting on the most powerful Hollows he can get his hands on. Then there's what he might plan to do to me."
"What?" Ichigo asked with narrowed eyes.
At this, Kirika let out a brittle, slightly unstable, laugh. "Aniki, didn't you hear what Ichimaru Gin called me back during the battle? 'That useless piece of refuse trash' is what he called me, and that's all I was to Aizen. I wasn't an intelligent, sentient, sapient being; I was his property, a discarded product of his research that he lost interest in and disposed of like you throw away a sword after it breaks. Now though…I'm vastly stronger than could reasonably be expected of any regular Soul after just ten years of training, I have Shiba Kaien's zanpakutō and I have his memories. Exactly what he could do, if he got his hands on me and dissected me, he'll be thinking. A way to implant combat training into people without actually going through it? Or something else?"
Looking down, the rest of the Rukia Rescue Team saw Kirika's hands, clenched in her lap, trembling. She was scared, trembling in fear. But she still planned to fight nonetheless.
"Leaving that aside, he's likely planning to avenge the wound I dealt him." Kirika said after taking a moment to get herself under control. "No one has ever wounded him in the way that I did. He is a walking bundle of pride, in both his power and the untouchability that it grants him. That I managed to stall and mess around with his plans is one thing, but the fact that I managed to actually inflict a wound of any sort on him, let alone one as large as my last strike inflicted, is quite another. He'll retaliate at some point and I have to be as strong as I can in order to meet it."
"Not alone, you're not." Ichigo said firmly, making Kirika look up at him in shock.
"He handed you your ass, Aniki. You were almost cut in h-half!" she choked out. "Aizen killed all of Group C-A, the only family I had as a child, and they were the last of five-hundred-thousand Souls who had been a part of that experiment. Just that experiment. Who knows how many have been experimented on him just in the last century? Thousands, perhaps even millions. He has made so many suffer and die…and I don't think I could handle it if he killed you too. You, Karin, Yuzu and the old man…no, I couldn't handle losing you all. If something does happen…!"
As Kirika descended into semi-hysterical babbling, her inner demons being given full rein to run rampant by her mental exhaustion and acute fear for her loved ones, Ichigo stood up, walked around the table and drew his sister into a tight hug.
She froze for a moment before weakly trying to squirm out of his arms. Had she really wanted to escape his grasp, she would have done so with great ease due to her training. As it was, she was only putting on a token effort.
"C'mon, sis…just let it out." Her brother whispered.
That broke something inside her. Kirika was tired, so, so tired, of crying about what Aizen had done to her, but this was more than that; her brother may not like what she had done, he may not like that she had kept all of this a secret from him and he may not like that she was still planning on fighting, but this hug proved that he was still her big brother, that he cared about her and wasn't going to turn his back on her because of all she had done, as some of her darker nightmares had worried her would.
Surrendering to her tears again, Kurosaki Kirika started to sob once again, in mingled worry and relief.
As Yoruichi watched her youngest apprentice's friends gather round to support her, she smiled on the outside, but on the inside she was worried. What Kirika had said about Aizen was spot on, given the personality that they knew he had under his veneer of unctuous politeness. That was something that worried her.
'Kirika's ability to predict and understand Aizen is very good. It's all too likely that he'll do exactly as she's predicted.' The werecat thought with narrowed eyes. 'Well, if he does, he'll find getting at my youngest apprentice to be more than slightly difficult. He's toyed with her life enough. No more, not if I can help it!'
Same Time
Healing Room, Palace of Las Nochas, Hueco Mundo
As the Shihōin Princess made that vow, one Aizen Sōsuke was not happy. At all.
Hissing as the wound on his chest slowly, millimetre by agonizing millimetre shrank under the effect of his moderately strong Kaidō spell, the traitorous Captain scowled. It had been sheer thoroughness, rather than foresight, that had made him learn a mid-level Kaidō spell. He had never anticipated that he would ever receive a wound, short of someone of that old fossil Yamamoto's stature getting involved. And by the point the old reprobate took to the field, unlimited regeneration would have been within his grasp, making healing a nonfactor!
Instead, a useless excuse of thrown away experimental trash had not only thrown several wrenches into his plans, had not only dared to defy him, had not only made him actually put forward a modicum of effort far sooner than he had ever anticipated, but she had possessed the sheer temerity to actually wound him!
Eventually, Aizen cancelled his Kaidō. There was no further point to using it; the wound, which was now a ragged scar going from his left shoulder to his right hip, would close no more. What remained was a raised mess of lumpy scar tissue that he doubted even Unohana could heal had she the inclination.
Scowling at it, he grabbed his new uniform and pulled it on. It was an inverted colour scheme to what he had worn as a Captain, which set off a nice contrast, if he said so himself.
Even this failed to entertain him, however. His mind kept looping back like a boomerang to the trash that had dared to wound him.
Smoothing out his face, Aizen stepped out into the corridor, outwardly as serenely confident as ever, and made his way to his private chambers. Once there, he ordered the guards that he was not to be disturbed before retiring for the night.
Once in the safety of his room, he dropped the façade and threw himself onto his armchair to brood.
It was not a common thing for him to do, brooding was usually beneath him since it meant something had not gone as planned, but the situation, he felt, warranted a good brood. A part of him dwelled on perhaps punishing Ichimaru for incorrectly interpreting his orders a decade ago, but he dismissed the idea. Really, for a mere child to outrun the Kōtotsu was beyond possibility to any normal way of thinking, and Aizen could see why Ichimaru had thought it a done deal to toss the waste product into the Dangai.
'At the time, her Reiryoku was pathetically small. I suppose even the Kōtotsu would have difficulties detecting such a small amount of energy until it was right on top of it.' The man considered. 'Yes…that must be it. It did not notice her until she was close enough to the other side of the Dangai corridor, which is how the product survived!'
Aizen knew that Ichimaru planned on betraying him and trying to kill him at some point. He was slippery and as treacherous as a snake that way. A fraction of a second of consideration was given to the possibility that Ichimaru was in league with the disposed product before being discarded with a snort. Ichimaru wanted to kill him; teaming up with someone would run counter to his purpose of being the one who was solely responsible for Aizen's death.
Leaning back in his seat, Aizen then contemplated the disposed product herself…Kurosaki Kirika, formerly Subject 15 of Group C-A. That she had survived the implantation of Metastacia and Shiba Kaien's combined Reiatsu was intriguing to say the least, and the fact that she had certainly gown to be exceptionally powerful inside of a mere ten years was also self-evident, the wound across his chest signified that much at least. She was on the borderline between Lieutenant and Captain-class Reiryoku now, which was impressive no matter whom it was who achieved it.
What intrigued him more was the fact that she possessed Shiba Kaien's zanpakutō, Nejibana. The former Head of the Shiba Family had been a very impressive warrior and a certified genius at the Zankensoki. He had actually felt it was somewhat of a shame that Shiba Kaien and his wife had been killed by Metastacia; he hadn't been one of the old, hidebound fools he wished dead.
The man had actually shown the potential to be useful to Aizen someday, so more's the pity that he died defending an insignificant little wench like Kuchiki Rukia.
If she possessed Nejibana, was it possible that other things had been transferred over to her? Such as memories and the like? Had the fragment of Metastacia been destroyed or was it merely lying dormant within her Soul Realm? The scientist in him was very interested to find the answers to all of those out.
Sadly, things had yet to progress to the level that he could use throwaway Números (Numbers) Arrancar to test and study the formerly disposed test subject. It had scarcely been two days since his arrival in Hueco Mundo, with much of that time spent fusing the two Hōgyoku together. It was that which had prevented him from doing more than slapping a so-called 'Forbidden' Kidō over his wound that halted its time while he worked and had only just undone earlier in order to heal the damage.
'I need at least three of the Privaron Espada to act as guard dogs in Tres Cifras, but that still leaves five to throw away.' He mused with a smirk. Privaron Espada were the naturally created Arrancar who had been the Espada (Swords), the rulers of the Arrancar, before he had some along. With the advent of his own Hōgyoku able to create vastly superior Arrancar, the old Espada had quickly been eclipsed in strength.
Seeing no reason to throw away some perfectly workable tools that were still stronger than the average Números, Aizen had created the Privaron Espada (Deprived Swords) and given them three-digit numbers to indicate their fall from grace. Should members of the Espada fall in battle and need to be replaced quickly, one of the Privaron could temporarily take the vacant seat on the Espada until such time as Aizen could manufacture a replacement.
This served to keep the idiots loyal in the hopes of regaining their former power and status, even for a short time.
Ironically, out of the entire group of former Espada, only one had clung to his seat on the Espada, Aaroniero Arruruerie, who had the power of infinite evolution via his ability to devour and absorb the Reiryoku, memories and individual abilities of other Hollows, one of whom was the Artificial Hollow Metastacia, who in turn had eaten Shiba Kaien.
"Hmm…once the Números are up and running, I believe that Kurosaki Kirika will make an excellent test of my Privaron Espada's combat abilities." He mused aloud, a slow smirk crossing his face. "And if she survives them…we shall see about engineering a reunion for her precious zanpakutō."
With that decision out of the way, he decided to head to bed for the night. Soon, he would stand atop heaven and those who had dared to stand against him with either bow down before him or perish. It was as simple as that.
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Next Chapter: Farewell, Departure and Arrival
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