HALCYON DAYS
Volume One: Reap What You Soul
Chapter Two

It was Kenpachi Zaraki's least favorite occasion: a captain's meeting. They used to be blissfully rare but had become increasingly frequent of late, much to his annoyance.

The Eleventh Division Captain gritted through the pomp and circumstance, standing still with Thirteenth Division Captain Jūshirō Ukitake to his left and Seventh Division Captain Sajin Komamura to his right. There was a conspicuous gap between him and the wolf, dead air where Kaname Tōsen once stood. Kenpachi took note of the awkward vacancy and then turned his gaze straight on at Tenth Division Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya.

The little pipsqueak looked glum; he had become a total buzzkill ever since Aizen shanked Momo Hinamori. Kenpachi could sympathize with Hitsugaya being down in the dumps for a day, but for half a week? It was high time to move on already.

Captain-Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto craned up his bushy brow. After scrutinizing his Court Guards, he raised his willowy cane and brought it back down against the floor and sounded out an imposing clang.

"It has been four days since Aizen Sōsuke, Ichimaru Gin, and Tōsen Kaname revealed their treachery," the Captain-Commander announced. "All of you have had enough time to lick your wounds and wring out your shame. Now is the time for action. Captain Ukitake, have you anything to share?"

"Well... yes, I'm afraid," Ukitake blushed, hating to be the bearer of bad news.

The Captain of the Thirteenth Division was also the primary custodian of the Daireitoshokan, a towering structure located in the neutral Academy Grounds where all of Soul Society's academia and literature were stored.

大霊図書館 Daireitoshokan (Great Spirits Library)

It was one of the most frequented buildings in the Seireitei, where grunts and captains alike went to conduct research or file reports. Aizen had clerked there when he was a Shinigami trainee. After his defection, one of the most pressing questions for the Gotei 13 was whether the Tōtoimonjokan had been compromised.

尊い文書館 Tōtoimonjokan (Sacred Archives)

It was a highly classified sector sealed off beneath the library, plunging deep down into the Seireitei's core. Because the Tōtoimonjokan contained the most sensitive information in all of Soul Society, access to it was restricted only to Yamamoto and Ukitake. Immediately after Aizen made his escape to Hueco Mundo, Yamamoto ordered Ukitake to begin examining the archive's circuits and determine whether or not it had ever been illegally accessed.

"My findings are that the Tōtoimonjokan has indeed been compromised," Ukitake said. "Aizen covered his tracks well at the time; the archive's circuits showed no tampering whatsoever. But the documents themselves told a different story. Each volume in the Tōtoimonjokan makes note of when it is read. It is an invisible log generated on the page that can only be seen under a particular form of light. I found that all of them had been accessed during a period of 18 months nearly two centuries ago – during Aizen's tenure as a clerk."

"All of them?" Captain Suí-Fēng of the Second Division gasped. Aizen pilfered all of the Tōtoimonjokan's secrets?!

Ukitake gave her an uneasy nod of confirmation. "Yes."

"How could Aizen have covered his tracks?" Yamamoto snapped irritably. "The Tōtoimonjokan's security ought to be impregnable."

"Yes, but unfortunately it also obeys commands. My only conclusion is that Aizen used his access key to delete all records of his entry into the chamber."

"What sort of access key is capable of that?" Yamamoto asked.

"Yours, Captain-Commander," Ukitake replied.

The disclosure sent a ripple of unease throughout the chamber, all eyes turning to Yamamoto. The old man furrowed his brow, the subtle gesture signaling immense indignation.

"I have never entered the Tōtoimonjokan," the Captain-Commander seethed. "Not even once."

"Yes, I understand," Ukitake nodded. "I believe that Aizen fabricated your access key, somehow... and used it to read every document in the archive at his leisure."

There was a long silence, everyone waiting on Yamamoto's reaction. Finally, Eighth Division Captain Shunsui Kyōraku interrupted the anticipation.

"So... it's probably fair to assume that Aizen knows even more about Soul Society than any of us?" he whistled, tilting back his straw hat. "That's quite an advantage."

The Tōtoimonjokan was rumored to contain thousands of documents, all of them deemed too classified for even most captains. The thought of Aizen being armed with that intel sent a chill up the spines of everyone except Kenpachi, who had no idea what Ukitake was even talking about.

There's an archive? the Eleventh Division Captain wondered, keeping his confusion to himself.

"Who cares about what Aizen knows?" Seventh Division Sajin Komamura interjected agitatedly. "Now that he is exposed, he can no longer challenge the Gotei 13. He fled to the Hollow world because he was discovered and had nowhere else to go. He is a cornered animal, hiding away in a realm of rot. There is no civilization in Hueco Mundo, only Hollow scum."

"That isn't quite correct," Twelfth Division Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi said ruefully. "It is true that Hueco Mundo is largely a wasteland devoid of anything that can be categorized as 'hospitable.' But there is one place where Aizen could find refuge: the kingdom of Las Noches. If I had to venture an educated guess, he is residing there."

"Las Noches is ruled by the Arrancar!" Komamura shot back. "Rallying mindless Menos to his side is one thing, but the Arrancar have no reason to ally with him."

"Oh?" Mayuri replied haughtily, his eyes widening with ominous portent. "When did I ever imply they had formed an alliance?"

"There is something Aizen can offer the Arrancar," Ukitake noted gravely. "Based on Abarai Renji and Kuchiki Rukia's eye-witness testimonies, Aizen claimed that this Hōgyoku can blur the distinction between Hollow and Shinigami."

"The Arrancar already envy our humanity..." Suí-Fēng gulped, horrified by the implication.

"So Aizen is offering them the chance to become even more like us, huh?" Shunsui sighed.

Komamura listened in wide-eyed shock, finally comprehending the scale of the threat.

"This leaves us with the most frightening question," Ukitake continued. "How swiftly can Aizen amass his army of hybridized Arrancar?"

Hybridized Arrancar?! Suí-Fēng thought, trying not to wretch. Just the thought of Hollow scum becoming more like Shinigami was enough to make her nauseous. The proposition of a hybrid species made her want to puke in front of all her peers.

Abominations.

"The longer he possesses this Hōgyoku, the more dangerous he will become," Yamamoto concluded.

"Then the solution is clear," Mayuri said, theatrically raising his elongated fingernail. "We invade Las Noches and wrest this Hōgyoku away from Aizen Sōsuke."

The proposal was met with an awkward silence from the other captains. The skepticism was pungent.

"We have never mounted an expedition into Hueco Mundo before, much less Las Noches," Hitsugaya recalled. "The only Shinigami who have ever entered Hueco Mundo did so pursuing Hollows through a Garganta. And they never returned."

"I'm pleased to know you have kept up with your division's history, Captain Hitsugaya," Mayuri smirked condescendingly. "I am not suggesting a full-scale assault on enemy territory, but sending a small infiltration team into Las Noches and retrieving the Hōgyoku. Aizen was willing to expose himself so he could capture this object, yes? Without it, whatever pedestrian scheme he has concocted will fall apart."

Shunsui found himself involuntarily nodding in agreement. At least it's proactive, he thought.

"The tactical benefit is beside the point," Ukitake pushed back. "We have no means of even reaching Las Noches."

Entry into Hueco Mundo had remained one of the most confounding mysteries for the Shinigami. While the Dangai had clear paths into the Beast Realm, the Material World and Soul Society, it did not have any discernible route to the Hollow world. If there was any way to reach Hueco Mundo through the Dangai, the Kōtotsu made the necessary exploration all but impossible. All recorded knowledge of Hueco Mundo's geography came from the interrogations of captured Hollows, which had only yielded a handful of findings over thousands of years. Soul Society's conception of how the Hollow home world operated was rough at best.

However, Hollows were able to traverse the dimensions by creating a Garganta, which could circumvent the Dangai altogether. They would tear open the membrane that separated the realms using the technique dubbed Kūmon and force their way through the empty void. Gillian Menos were known to be able to initiate a Kūmon with their bare hands, whereas weaker Hollows took advantage of spontaneous punctures in space that seemed to occur at random in Hueco Mundo.

"Is it possible to construct a Garganta, Captain Kurotsuchi?" Yamamoto asked.

"It must be possible; there is no other way for Aizen to have made contact with the Menos," Mayuri replied, his grin stretching wide. "And if Aizen Sōsuke can devise a Garganta, then there is no reason why I cannot do the same."

Yamamoto considered the boast for a beat and nodded in agreement.

"If you are successful in building a Garganta, Captain Kurotsuchi, then we will consider this counterattack strategy."

Hitsugaya stepped forward, audaciously breaking formation to address Yamamoto directly.

"Captain-Commander, if we do get the chance to infiltrate Las Noches, I humbly request your permission to seek out Aizen Sōsuke... and kill him myself," the diminutive captain asked, his affect soft but deadly serious.

Everyone fell into unease. Hitsugaya's last engagement with Aizen had been a defeat, to put it politely, but everyone was well aware of the youngster's grief over Hinamori's murder – and his unrelenting hatred for her murderer. If anyone in the room had an especially good motivation to execute Aizen, it was Hitsugaya.

The pregnant pause was interrupted when First Division Lieutenant Chōjirō Sasakibe entered the chamber. He hurriedly darted between the aligned captains and knelt beside Yamamoto, whispering a message into his ear. The old man's eyes first flared with annoyance before settling into resignation. He nodded to Sasakibe and addressed his Court Guards.

"Our meeting is adjourned," he announced.

The captains all watched their commander leave in a hurry, surprised by how abruptly he ended their wartime strategizing.

"My, my, there's only four people who can command the Old Man's attention like that," Shunsui remarked with his honeyed voice. "The Shisonka must be calling."

The very utterance made everyone all the more cognizant of Gin Ichimaru's absence. If he were there, he would have taken the opportunity to tease Byakuya Kuchiki. The mischievous snake would have cast his thin-lipped grin at the heir to the Kuchiki Dynasty and cracked wise.

"Someday you'll be bossin' the Cap'n Commander around like that too, huh?" he would have said. "When ya do, ask'm to keep the Cap'n meetin's shorter."

Byakuya wouldn't have even dignified the jest with a response and instead make his leave without any acknowledgement that Gin had even addressed him. That's what would have happened if Gin were still a member of the Gotei 13. But that was no longer the world they lived in. The gathered captains all caught themselves waiting on a joke that wouldn't materialize and awkwardly dispersed.