AN: Part 3 was inspired by a review on this site.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Star Wars, they belong to their respective creators and/or copyright owners. I make no money from this story. It is not for sale or rent.
Chapter 6
=DA=
Part 3
=DA=
Yamamoto's office
First Division Barracks
Soul Society
Four combat capable Captains gathered in Yamamoto's office to meet him. In four minutes, Aizen managed to cut the number of Captain level Shinigami Gotei 13 had in half an as if that wasn't enough, many of the wounded couldn't necessary be trusted now. It was moments like these that made Yamamoto feel all his years and almost look fondly at the idea of retirement.
The short and to the point reports they had ready didn't tell the Captain-General anything he didn't already know.
First the wounded, most would make complete recovery, with the obvious exception there being Captain Ichimaru. Yamamoto didn't need the read the short note from the Lieutenant of the Fourth Division a second time. Ichimaru was paralyzed and without either Unohana's particular skills, or perhaps the unique ability of the human infant Orihime Inoue, he was a write off as far as combat potential went. He might be able to cast a few Kido spells that didn't need particular body parts and gesture in order to properly channel and aim, but that was it.
"Captain Kurotsuchi, one of the first priorities of Twelfth Division will be finding a way to heal Captain Ichimaru and bring him back into active service. You can have him once he is awake and has told us everything he knows about Aizen's extra-circular activities."
"A challenge, eh? I'll get him up and running, perhaps I'll add a few upgrades as well…" Their resident mad scientist mussed.
It took a supreme effort of will for Yamamoto not to show how he felt about this whole situation, especially now that Kurotsuchi had to be a painful reminder that they were in this mess not because of what Aizen had done in the past but because currently there was no way to prove he did it with orders. That sentiment wasn't lost to at least three people in the room, possibly four if Kurotsuchi could for once see past his ego.
"Now that we're all aware the kind of trouble we just found ourselves in, can you answer one question, Old Man?" Uncharacteristically, the question came from Jushiro who used a particularly harsh tone. "Did we really just trade Sosuke Aizen, a loyal and competent Shinigami for fucking Urahara? You know, the other insane scientist, who even his pet psychopath," At this Ukitake nodded at Kurotsuchi, "can't stand and abhors? Truly?"
"Compliments will get you nowhere, Captain Ukitake. People like you will never understand what needs to be done to advance science…"
"Mind you tone, whelp." Yamamoto's eyes turned into slits as he glared at the Captain of the Twelfth.
"We've done worse things in the past, especially the Old Man here and Retsu." Shunsui added gravely. There was no trace of his usual cheerful self in either his bearing, expression or voice.
"That's just it." Ukitake picked up the opening his friend gave him. "We've done worse back in the day than Aizen either outright admitted or implied. So why did you take the word of the Exile? Why did you even allow Urahara to speak tonight?"
"What about those things that attacked us tonight? What about the Hollows Aizen threw at us as a distraction?" Soi-Fon demanded.
"Those? I won't be surprised at all if what Aizen's Zanpakuto told me is true; Just another order for covert weapon our wise and caring government authorized. It's just that now said weapon isn't under their control." Shunsui shrugged. "It's not like they haven't done something like that before, recently too. You remember that mess with the artificial souls, don't you, Captain Soi-Fon?"
The Commander of the Stealth Force grimaced at that. She did remember that particular debacle.
"Will you answer my question, Captain-General?" Ukitake demanded.
"The answer is simple." Yamamoto rumbled and the heat in the room skyrocketed. "The absolute best case scenario tonight was that Aizen was merely a rogue, a traitor doing his own thing. That would have been bad enough and it would have meant a civil war anyway. While what happened isn't the worst case scenario…" He grumbled. "It comes close. Urahara and the Hollowfied Captains I can deal with, they're a known constant. Aizen, even before his reincarnation tonight, not so much. It would have been for the best if we could have detained him while getting to the bottom of this. Instead, we'll be fighting a two sided, perhaps three sided civil war, if not one that is even more complicated."
"Gotei 13, Aizen and his allies. Don't you give Urahara and the Hollowfied Captains too much credit by declaring them a credible side in this mess?" Shunsui needled.
"They will stand against Aizen as tonight aptly demonstrated even if they don't formally join us. The third side should be obvious to someone with your experience, Captain Kyoraku."
"The Noble Clans who usually pull the strings of the government." Shunsui grimaced. "Do you think they would act openly?"
"You're presuming that they haven't yet done so. There are three suspects for the attacks upon the Central 46 compound and the Central Archives." Yamamoto raised a finger. "One, obviously Aizen's faction is responsible in order to conceal the fact that no one authorized his crimes." A second finger joined the first, "Two, it was the former Captains and Lieutenants acting without consulting with Urahara in order to spite Aizen." and a third winger went up. "It was either agents of the Noble Clans or a contingency in place by the now dead government meant to eliminate loose ends and evidence tying up tonight's disaster with the Noble Houses."
"Add to that whatever other side projects Central 46 had ongoing that might now go rogue because no one holds their leash." Ukitake sighed. "So, basically out of fear and politics, we traded one Captain, who even if partially guilty was at least loyal to the primary mission of Gotei 13 for a monster like Urahara, and a group of Captains and Lieutenants with unknown loyalty and a grudge against Soul Society. That is if they decide to one day formally return to the fold."
"If that happens, I can guarantee you, we're going to lose at least a few of the Captains currently recovering at the Fourth. At the very least, many of them would demand that Urahara receives his just reward for everything he has done. And I'm not even counting the invasion he engineered." Shunsui pointed out.
"A criminal, who by the Ryoka boy's admission, and isn't that an entirely different mess, planned for the destruction of the powers of one of our most promising Shinigami in order to fix his own damned mistake. While we're talking about the humans, what are we going to do with them? Mind you, we already misplaced potentially the most useful one, and another is Isshin Shiba's son."
"They'll be detained until a final decision could be reached." Yamamoto stated.
"In other words, you're washing your hands off them and waiting for Central 46 to reform. We all know they would try and make an example of them now that Aizen and Tosen are out of reach." Ukitake shook his head. "I'll be dealing with them personally."
"Mind you tone, boy, or do you fancy yourself ready?" Yamamoto demanded. He glared sharply at his student and even more heat flooded the office.
Jushiro glared back unimpressed and released some of his own Reiatsu. "Oh, cut the theatrics, sir. You know very well that neither the skirt-chaser nor myself actually seek or desire your job. However, recent events, especially tonight's fiasco, were almost enough to make me reconsider." Ukitake nodded at Shunsui. "The two of us are among the most powerful and experienced Shinigami and as far as strength goes,' He cracked a small satisfied smile, "yesterday my illness held me back. Today? Thanks to that idiot Urahara who brought Ms Orihime in Soul Society and Aizen's suggestion… well, who knows." He finished while absent-mindedly patting his chest.
The fact that the usually kind and understanding Jushiro said this, with such a vitriol no less, surprised most of the present Shinigami.
"At least Retsu is gone for the time being so I won't have to fear for my virtue tonight." Shunsui attempted to lower the ramped up tension with a joke, earning his twin snorts from his friend and the Captain-Commander, who took a breath and reined in his scorching Reiatsu.
=DA=
Part 4
=DA=
Soul Society
After the disaster of a meeting, Kyoraku and Ukitake moved towards the Thirteenth Division at a leisure pace.
"Wasn't that a bit much, old friend? I know that Aizen did you a solid favor tonight, but…" Shunsui began.
"But what? I don't remember you protesting overly much a century ago when Urahara was exiled, in fact I don't recall much if any backslash from the older Captains. We both know why the R&D division was established, for every benign research they do, there are at least two that in a just world would have seen the people conducting them thrown in prison. While Urahara might present himself as close to a saint by the standards of the Noble Clans, that's merely damning him with very faint praise."
"Well, there's that. The only surprise I felt a century ago was that he experimented on our own with Hollowfication, not that he conducted such experiments in the first place. One of the purposes of the Twelfth was to reign in certain excesses… unless authorized by Central 46." Jushiro grimaced. "You do know that the Twelfth would have been the primary place the government looked for researchers in something like this, right?"
"For something like this, which could turn Gotei 13 against them? You saw what happened tonight, the mere suspicion that Central 46 authorized such experiments on our own nearly tore us apart… and when is said and done, the Twelfth Division is still technically under the military's authority. The Old Man gets to keep them in line and make inspections. What do you think would have happened if Central 46 gave order for such an experiments, the Twelfth did them and got caught? Aizen on the other hand, no one would have believed him responsible and if it came to light he was involved, it would have been very easy to paint him as a traitor. Central 46 would have gotten their cake and eaten it. It makes sense, its something they've done in the past to deflect blame." Ukitake explained.
"Or he was indeed traitor before his reincarnation, yet now he's suddenly loyal, making everything a damned mess." Shunsui pointed out.
"That's a distinct possibility. However, words are wind, I can judge him only on his known actions and he has done more than enough to earn the benefit of the doubt. Urahara on the other hand? He engineered and invasion, sent children to what would be their deaths unless we get them out, what he did to Rukia, confirmed by his own words, do I need to go on?"
"His reputation is quite tarnished…" Shunsui winced.
"If a century ago most of us saw him as an upstanding Shinigami, it wouldn't have been just Yoruichi standing by him and earning herself an exile with him."
"There's that. What are you going to do now?" Kyoraku asked.
"The obvious, get the children back to the living world and go have words with Isshin too. Once that's done, perhaps track down the Hollowfied Captains and have words with them too. They're among the primary suspects for blowing up Central 46 and the Central Archives. They do have a motive. Under orders or not, Aizen is responsible for what happened to them."
"That's another can of worms we'll need to deal with. You know we might need them on our side, right?"
"I know for a fact that at least Byakuya would want Urahara's head on a spike, I can't blame him really, and if that happens, we're likely to lose them as active allies."
"If it was them who came in to blow things up and it wasn't either Aizen's people or our own Nobles cleaning up house."
"Yes, that." Now it was Jushiro's turn to grimace.
"You aren't exactly impartial in this is all I'm saying old friend."
"Being impartial for the longest time and doing nothing about what Central 46 and the Noble Clans have been up to is what one way or another got us to this point." Ukitake pointed out.
"I can't argue with that. I'll go pick up the other two boys and meet you at the gates. I suddenly feel like a relaxing trip to the world of the living."
=DA=
Thirteenth Division Barracks
Soul Society
It was a good thing that Ukitake found Ichigo where he left him. The last thing any of them needed was more underhanded action tonight. He only hoped that Shunsui would find the Quincy kid still at the Fifth's detention center, because if Kurotsuchi got his hands on the boy, vivisection would be the least of what awaited him. The same might be true for the large lad, Chad. With his powers which almost tasted similar to those of a Hollow, the odds were great that the Twelfth would want him for experimentation as well, which was usually a fate worse than death.
"Ichigo, there is a change of plans. It's time for you to go home, now." Jushiro announced and began removing the Bakudo spells binding Kurosaki.
"Good. What about Rukia and my friends?"
"Rukia should be all right. She is currently at the Fourth Division being examined after what Urahara did to her. At this time, her sentence is considered void." At least until Central 46 reforms and then all bets would be off. Worst case, Aizen might find himself with some more defectors if the new government proved as short-sighed as usual. Then again, this time around Byakuya might actually throw his weight behind his sister and resolve that particular issue that way. "It's you and your friends I'm more concerned about. The Captain-General had the bright idea of leaving your judgment to Central 46 once it reforms." Jushiro paused at that, wondering what conclusion Kurosaki would reach.
"The same people who sentenced Rukia to death for no good reason?" Ichigo asked for clarification.
"Their successors once selected." Jushiro confirmed.
"Should I hope that said successors would be smarter?"
"The odds are great that they would be cut from the same cloth." Ukitake explained.
"I see." The boy scowled. "In that case I would very much prefer to be as far from here as possible when your government reforms."
Well, Kurosaki was no fool, just young and brash it seemed. Ukitake could work with that.
"That was my thought as well. A friend of mine is going to retrieve your other two friends. As far as Ms Inoue goes…" Jushiro grimaced. "We're pretty sure Aizen got her before he left. At this time there isn't anything we can do for her. You should worry about yourself and your remaining friends. People are angry and confused, they want someone to blame for tonight, and you three are very convenient targets."
"What else is new…" Ichigo grumbled.
"On the bright side, we should be able to get you home before anyone is the wiser. Besides, I'm looking forward catching up with your father and asking him a few questions about his association with Urahara."
"I'll want some answers as well." Ichigo nodded, agreeing with the sentiment. "Ah, this is much better." Kurosaki straightened up the moment Jushiro removed the last binding spell.
For a few moments the room rattled with the amount of Reiatsu leaking from the human, before he managed to somewhat reign it in. Still, his control was atrocious.
"Ichigo, a bit of advice, as one Shinigami to another, work on your control. You'll last longer in combat once you master it, not to mention it would make learning Kido orders of magnitude easier. As you experienced yourself, the Demon Arts could be very useful."
"I'll think about it." Ichigo nodded. "How do you get better at controlling your Reiatsu?"
Jushiro gave the boy a sidelong look. "Did no one explain the basics to you properly?"
"Rukia tried, however her explanations were kind of odd and didn't make much sense. There were a lot of rabbits involved."
"I see…" Ukitake grumbled. Granted, such things were supposed to be taught at the Academy and merely graduating, even with honors, didn't mean you had what it took to be a good or even passable teacher, but still… Perhaps some remedial lessons while Rukia recovered might be prudent. "Well to begin with, while people often use the terms interchangeably, the reserves of Spiritual Power we have are properly called Reiryoku, that is the potential power we have within ourselves. Reiatsu is a term describing our Spiritual Pressure, our Spiritual Power at work. In order to control your Spiritual Pressure, you first need to become intimately familiar with it…" Jushiro began to explain while leading Ichigo towards the Senkaimon.