Ichimaru Gin watched with a broad smile as the Punishment Force spread out around the Thirteenth Division. It seemed like a pointless exercise. Not one of them would be useful if Soifon expected a fight, and if she didn't then why didn't she just walk right in the front gate and request Captain Ukitake turn himself in? That's what he would have done. Captain Ukitake always had such nice manners; he'd probably surrender just to be polite.
But Soifon slipped over the wall with a few of her top officers-wisely excluding Omaeda-and crossed the grounds unnoticed by anyone but Gin.
He followed behind at a safe distance, not that he expected a fight, but you never knew; Nemu would not be happy.
The Thirteenth really was a beautiful place, especially when you reached the garden surrounding the captain's quarters. Gardening was one of the captain's hobbies, when he was well enough, and the members of the division, knowing how much their captain loved it, tended it conscientiously in his absence.
Gin chose a nice smooth rock to sit on beside a pretty little pond, beneath the concealing branches of weeping willow and got out a bag of dried persimmons. He really was going to enjoy the show.
It was like watching a movie in the World of the Living. The shoji doors to the captain's bedroom were wide open, framing the quiet morning scene. Nemu was up, wearing only a thin silk kimono the same vivid green as her eyes, and sitting in the sunlight. She was running a brush through her long hair as she spoke softly to Ukitake who Gin could just barely see, still laying in bed.
It looked like a nice pleasant morning, and Gin wondered briefly if he and Rangiku had ever had such a morning, undisturbed by yelling children and demands for breakfast. He couldn't seem to remember any.
But this wasn't going to be a nice, quiet morning for the captain and his wife. Four figures in the black uniforms of the Punishment Force appeared simultaneously. Nemu was little more than a blur as she leapt to her feet and launched an attack at the two who'd clearly thought holding a couple knives on her would be enough to restrain her.
She blocked their attacks with ease; she was faster and stronger than either. She knocked one off the porch and into the pond with a swift kick to the gut and the other staggered back from a punch to the face. Then she was on the ones who threatened Ukitake. She grabbed the nearer before he had time to turn and simply threw him out of the way, but as she raised her fist to strike at the last, Soifon with her zanpakuto a golden claw decorating her right hand, Ukitake spoke.
"Stop, please, Nemu," he said and the woman froze.
She was absolutely gorgeous. Her emerald eyes flashed with rage and her cheeks were flushed red with exertion. Her chest was heaving with each breath she took, and her silk kimono barely clung to her perfect body. Gin had to wonder how Soifon's men had managed to fight back at all, but then they really had made a fairly poor showing for the force that was supposed to be able to subdue any threat to Soul Society.
"Soifon," Ukitake continued. "I don't know why you are here, but if you intend to arrest me, I will, of course, come in without a fight."
"Shiro-chan, you can't!" Nemu protested.
"If I have been accused of some crime I will defend myself, but I will do so within the bounds of the law," Ukitake answered as he slowly climbed to his feet. "To do otherwise would be a betrayal of my duty and my office."
Nemu lowered her arms slowly, and Soifon did the same. The captain kept her sharp eyes on both Ukitake and Nemu and remained tensed for action, but Nemu had relaxed completely, turning her back on Soifon to speak to Ukitake.
"If that is what you wish," she told him. "But it seems wrong to me to endure such treatment when we have done nothing wrong."
"It's only Captain Ukitake I've been ordered to arrest, but I'll take you in too if you give me any more trouble," Soifon answered.
She glanced quickly over her men; the one Nemu had tossed out of her way was the only one standing, although he seemed to be favoring one ankle, while the one she'd hit in the face was dripping blood as he slumped against a cracked wooden post and the man in the pond had been rescued by another member of the Force. Her frown deepened, but she gestured to the man who was still standing, and he limped forward.
He passed Nemu warily and stopped in front of Ukitake, pulling out a set of heavy cuffs. Even with his face concealed by a mask, he seemed frightened, and even Gin caught the sigh of relief when Captain Ukitake offered his wrists without protest
"I am sure Captain Soifon has a very good reason for this," Ukitake said, and he looked over at the other captain, frowning. "May I know what it is I am accused of?"
"Captain Unohana was able to revive the men who were guarding Rukia, and they remembered their attacker, and when Captain Kuchiki regains consciousness I'm sure he will as well," Soifon said forcefully. "I know you were unhappy with her sentence, and I am unsurprised that you would risk your own freedom to save her, but I never imagined you would be willing to kill innocent-"
Nemu was looking back and forth between the two captains in confusion, and Gin grinned as shock shifted to horrified understanding one the white-haired captain's face. It was more than a little vindicating to see someone else finally understand how complete Aizen's trap was.
"I never have," Ukitake interrupted. "And I never will. I have been here since I left the Fourth late yesterday; Nemu can tell you I never left. It was not me those guards saw. It was an imposter."
"An imposter who broke your lieutenant out of prison and brought him along? It had to be you-how many other people, even captains, could best Kuchiki using only kido?" Soifon demanded. "You are the only one with any motive, the only one who feels the need to protect Rukia."
Ukitake nodded, and Gin sighed. He'd hoped at the very least the captain would be taken away protesting his innocence. Some people really didn't seem to know how to put on a proper show.
Even his last words to Nemu lacked drama. He simply looked at her for a moment, and Gin supposed the gaze was meaningful, but all he said was, "Please, be careful."
Nemu nodded. Then she looked over at Soifon and said, "You will be careful of his health." There was a definite threat in her tone, and Gin wondered if it might be worth one more round of poison just to see what Nemu might do to Soifon if her husband fell ill in prison.
Soifon ignored the other woman, and with Captain Ukitake in tow, left the division.
Ichimaru Toshiro was about ready to scream. When Lieutenant Abarai had come to him at four in the morning he had thought the man had to be mad. For one thing he was supposed to be locked up so what was he coming to a captain for? But then when he said his captain had been attacked and someone had taken Rukia, Toshiro had perked up.
Renji had seen the Stealth Squad transport the three injured men to the Fourth in secret and had followed them there, hoping to hear what had happened and to get a lead on Rukia. But he had only been there a few minutes when this kid, 'Hana-something or other' had come up to him with a note from Unohana herself.
The note had been to Toshiro so Renji had come to deliver it and because of that he was now sitting on a tower roof, overlooking the Eighth Division, repressing every ounce of his reiatsu, and watching the Punishment Force and the Kido Squad search the grounds for any sign of Kuchiki Rukia. Captain Kyoraku and his lieutenant were standing in the first court with the General. Soifon had taken several dozen men with her to the Thirteenth, but even though Captain Ukitake was the one a guard had identified as his attacker, the General was here. It was clear who of his two students he considered the greater threat.
Toshiro glanced at the note again. Unohana had kept it short and almost incomprehensible; he supposed that was because she wasn't quite sure of Renji, even if the idiot was in love with Rukia. It is as we feared, was all it said. So Aizen did know they had discovered his secret and he had made his move first, and with one illusion he had removed his two greatest threats.
What he had done with Rukia and why he needed her were probably the two questions Toshiro should be most focused on at the moment, but he needed to see what, if anything, was going to happen to his mother first. If Rukia was hidden within the Eighth, which the General seemed to suspect, then she'd damned well better not be with his mother.
Eventually they seemed to have searched everywhere, including Nanao's home, and he watched the heads of the different units confer with the General. Then they were splitting up and Toshiro watched in shock as Nanao was escorted to her home by Second Division guards and Kyoraku was led toward the gate in chains.
That was when Lieutenant Hisagi arrived. He ran straight toward the General only to be stopped by the pole arms of the General's own guards. He looked extremely upset, like he might even be shouting at them. Toshiro felt vaguely sorry for him. He was in the absolute center of the mess, but because of his loyalty to Tosen he had been kept nearly completely in the dark. Kyoraku had said something about him deserving proof if they were going to ask him to be part of their plans.
In the end, Hisagi backed away from his adopted father and his escort and turned for a moment to look at his wife, under guard if not yet arrested. Then he turned and left the division. Toshiro frowned, wondering how badly they were going to regret not explaining anything to Tosen's lieutenant