Chapter Fourteen
Tatsuki searched the evidence lockers in a hurry. She wasn't supposed to be in the criminalistics locker at this time working the graveyard shift but she didn't care. "Adachi... Adachi... Adachi..." Then she found two folders, Adachi Hana and Adachi Keiko. Their father has brought two toothbrushes that they used when they were at his house. It was perfect.
Tatsuki went over to her work station and put on her coat and gloves, trying to tell herself how ridiculous it would be for these girls to have a match in the blood in the bucket. It's stupid... She told herself as she prepared the solutions to place in the machine only to be surprised when she found her first two matches out of thousands of markers.
"Oh... Shirō-chan." Kyōraku greeted the young captain warmly as Tōshirō entered his quarters where he found Jushirō as well who smiled widely at him and waved. "Welcome. Sit down for some tea." Tōshirō looked at the old geezers and sighed. Knowing them, they would probably refuse to share information with him on the premise of if you won't relax with us then we won't share. Shunsei could be that annoying at times.
"Thank you." Tōshirō said and Jūshirō poured him a cup.
"So what brings you here?"
"Do you know any users of darkness based zanpakutōs?" Tōshirō cut straight to the chase and both captains paused to look at each other, leaving the young captain confused. "What?"
"This isn't about... Your friend, is it ?" Jūshirō asked.
"Yes, it is." The Jubantai captain said with a straight face.
Jushirō looked confused. "Well, this is out of the blue."
"Well... I found a lead I want to confirm." Hitsugaya was weary of telling them what he found for a reason. Obviously he can trust them, they are trustworthy men but he doesn't want word to get out that Karin was the one who possibly freed Aizen if he was in that cell in the first place, not just yet. He needed to find out who could possibly indoctrinate her first and why or else things will just get worse.
"What is that lead?" Kyōraku asked.
"A zanpakutō user who uses darkness as a base could have been instrumental in helping Aizen indoctrinate Karin. Kuna told me a lot about it last night." The two captains looked at each other.
"Um... Shirō-chan, I know you are trying to help your friend and all but..." Ukitake paused. "Are you sure you can trust Kuna-san?"
Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow at him. "Was she not a former fukutaichō?"
"I mean... She was but... I'm weary she has other intentions." He admitted.
"Jūshirō is right." Shunsei sighed as he poured himself sake. "Mashiro and her history in general has always been bizarre; especially in relationship to her nobility."
"This has nothing to do with her nobility and she has nothing to do with this." Hitsugaya said. "But if she is not fearful of giving me information when everyone else grows tight lipped, what do you expect?"
"Hitsugaya-taichō, you should beware of outsiders trying to spread false information for their vices. She's still a vizard."
"Oh for fuck's sake." Hitsugaya huffed in annoyance at Kyōraku before picking up Hyōrinmaru and standing.
"Shirō-chan."
"Every year I stay here, in this position, the more I grow to detest Soul Society and everything it stands for." Hitsugaya said out loud, shocking the two captains to their core.
"Hitsugaya!"
"Seireitei is morally corrupt." Hitsugaya admitted loudly, cutting off Ukitake. "Instead of doing the right thing... we do the right thing for Seireitei. Never the right thing as Shinigami or the right thing for Rukongai or the world of the living... we only think of ourselves. And this whole experience has revealed it far more than I ever thought it would." Hitsugaya turned on his heel. "I'll look for answers myself." Hitsugaya started to make his way to the door.
"Wait..." Hitsugaya stopped at the sound of Ukitake's voice. "Muguruma-taichō should have a registry of every single Shinigami and the zanpakutō they own after they register at Shinō Academy." Jūshirō paused for a moment. "I'm sorry you feel that way... I wish I could tell you that you are wrong and being over emotional, but you aren't."
Hitsugaya simply walked out the doors. I was not expecting a show like that. Hyōrinmaru hummed.
Neither was I but here we are. Tōshirō laughed to himself before pausing as the warning bell rang loudly throughout all of Seireitei. A division was under attack. Tōshirō felt a dark feeling in the pit of his stomach as the bell rang and paused then rang and paused again and only fell completely silent after the twelfth one and his worst fear was raised... jūnibantai was under attack.
The Kurosaki household never received not guests, unless it was the rare human who got injured this late and needed Isshin to patch him up. Is it Kei? Yuzu wondered as she craned her head past the the couch while playing a card game with her cousins as her father answered the door. Shinji was also in the room and Kuchiki-taichō was somewhere off bring Kuchiki-taichō. He would have called though... Yuzu concluded and she was correct.
It wasn't Kei...
It was yet another random Shinigami.
Haruki followed her gaze before rolling her eyes. She was already bitter about having two captains around her, another one just made her incredibly annoyed. "Ano... who are you?"
"Fukugawa Sugo, fifth seat of Rokubantai. I was informed that both my captain and Hirako-taichō would be here." He said.
"Yes, we are." Yuzu wondered how that man always appeared out of nowhere and where he has been but somehow, Kuchiki-taichō was now in the room. "What is it, Fukugawa?"
"I have been commanded to inform you two to return to Soul Society under direct orders from Ichibantai." Yuzu perked up.
"Any reason why?" Shinji asked.
"Jūnibantai has been attacked and all Shinigami are required to be there to deal with the threat." He said.
Isshin looked between the two then at Yuzu then back to Fukugawa. "I hope that the threat isn't my daughter, sixth seat Sugo." Everyone fell silent. "I'm coming with you." Isshin decided.
"Kurosaki Isshin—"
"I will not take no for an answer." Isshin glared at Kuchiki-taichō and the Rokubantai captain looked back and said nothing in return.
"Very well." He nodded.
"I'm coming too." Yuzu piped up and all of them looked at her.
"Yuzu—"
"I'm coming too and there's nothing you can do stop me. She is my sister and she needs me." Yuzu cut Shinji off.
"And what are you going to do once you are there other than to stand in our way?" Kuchiki-taichō dropped that bombshell on her and Yuzu stood there in complete silence. "You do not even possess a shikai. Why do you feel the need to be present when you know that your presence will only act as a hindrance?"
Yuzu's lip quivered. "She... she's my..."
"Her being your sister serves no relevance in this situation, Kurosaki Yuzu." He said. "We are both well aware of the fact that she would attack you without hesitation."
"But I have info—"
"All of which are inconsequential and irrelevant at this moment in time." He turned back to her father. "Shiba Isshin—"
"Kurosaki-sensei..." Isshin corrected him for the umpteenth time but he knew it wouldn't go through.
"If we are to leave, we should do so immediately." Kuchiki-taichō completed his thought and Isshin nodded.
"Yuzu... please take good care of your cousins while I'm gone. I'll be back soon." With that, all three of them followed the young Shinigami out, closing the door behind them. Yuzu felt a chill go up her spine and it dawned on her just how useless she was.
"24 hours." She heard Haruki say and she turned to her. "He was wrong... you can help her."
"But... how?"
"How did you discover that she was leaving the clinic in a disguise the second time around?" Haruki said. "The relationship between the mirror and your zanpakutō cannot be a coincidence. So... you have 24 hours to get your zanpakutō to comply. If they are not back by then... and I'm sure they won't be, then we are going in ourselves."
"How are we..."
"I have a plan." Haruki said. "You focus on that spirit thingy of yours."
Jūnibantai was practically an onslaught... far worse than anyone could have imagined. All Captains who were currently in Soul Society had an obligation to go and attend. But none of them were expecting something this bloody. "My... my division is down to a half..." Mayuri complained in exaggeration as he observed the surroundings with whole dead bodies of his subordinates were being hauled out.
Muguruma-taichō did not even want to look him dead in the eye and say, well it's your fault. Because it was. He observed all the other captains as well, more importantly, he observed the sōtaichō and the jūbantai captain. Yamaji stood there, completely silent and unfeeling. The captain of the tenth had a glare on his face and looked just about ready to jump him to show his annoyance at Kurotsuchi's comment but he settled on shaking his head and sighing, as if he knew this would happen.
The ninth division captain knew that, deep down, they all saw this coming.
Kensei knew it was bound to end like this... and his guilt stemmed from keeping quiet about it in the first place when he knew there was a more feasible solution. His mind rewound to the meeting they had where Yoruichi and Mashiro barged in. Yoruichi asked him a question and he chose to stay out of it. He wonders whether if he said something, this could have been avoided.
Yamamoto quietly dismissed all of them, saying that they will meet in the morning. For now, investigations were being carried out and his squad was sent to search for and detain the culprit. He didn't know the girl's name—it had been thrown around a lot but he didn't bother to grasp it— but he knew she was Ichigo's sister. A young girl... getting caught up in this mess.
Muguruma-taichō silently walked back to his division, the thoughts weighing down his mind. Wherethe hell is she? Kensei thought on annoyance. Out of all the times she ignores orders and instructions, she picks now to listen?! He stopped himself from getting angry. Did he always get angry at her? It was only then that that realisation struck him. It made no sense why he was angry now. Could it be because it was just... easier to be pissed at her than it was to see the actual fault? Was it always easier to blame her for things?
"Muguruma-taichō..." He heard someone call only to have Hitsugaya-taichō catch up to him.
Kensei was incredibly confused but allowed it. Out of all the captains, Kensei can admit that he never once had spoken to the youngest captain on the squad. While he was impressed, he had no idea how to converse with children nor did he want to. He has had to deal with Mashiro for years and has had his fill of it. He had had the displeasure of dealing with Zaraki's fūkūtaichō, a literal child more annoying than Mashiro could ever be, and decided that it was enough children for another century.
"Can I help you?" Kensei asked.
"I am aware that your division is in charge of census information and keeping track of users and zanpakutō types, correct?" Kensei nodded.
"But that is highly confidential information." He added.
"Very well, I just believed that it would be in the best interests of this investigation to find out an active user of a specific power type that may be crucial to finding Aizen." He said and Kensei was slightly confused.
"I don't know about that, Hitsugaya-taichō. I'm afraid that without the sōtaichō's authorisation, I cannot give you that information." Kensei said.
"Is that an obligation or do you not have it with you? If it is about authorisation, I can sort it—"
"Listen kid, I have no time for this." Kensei sighed. "If I could show you the files, I would. I doubt there is anything worth noting in there. They're just sitting in my office, gathering dust. But unless the sōtaichō gives his go ahead — something I doubt he will do — then I can't give it to you."
The white haired boy paused. Kensei was expecting him to do something childish and annoying but the boy simply shrugged. "That's fine. Enjoy the rest of your evening." Hitsugaya bowed before using shunpo to disappear.
Well... that was strange.
"Since when do you listen to the sōtaichō?" He recognised that voice and turning around, there she was. She was squatting on a fence post nearby, quietly. Kensei almost always forgot that she started out in the 2nd division under the Ōmnitsukidō. He wondered how she had gotten so loud when one of the skills she was most renowned for was sneak attacks.
"I'm a captain, Mashiro. I'm supposed to be exemplary to everyone beneath me and so should he. The kid should know better." Kensei said.
"Well, that kid is extremely accomplished and a well respected captain in Soul Society who is bound to outrank you one of these days so..." She pointed out with a shrug and Kensei hissed his tongue at her before stomping over.
"Are you satisfied now?" Mashiro cocked her head to the side in confusion but Kensei knew her. She played dumb and stupid when she was totally far from the fact. "You knew this was going to happen yet you did nothing to stop her."
"What are you—"
"Don't play dumb." Kensei said. "You knew what she was capable of—"
"And so did you." Mashiro cut him off. "Yet you chose to ignore it. Why?"
"This isn't about me."
"Well, it is, Mugurama-san." That actually stung. Never had she called him by his last name... even when she was his subordinate. "You chose to keep quiet when you knew the truth. You, Hirako-san and Ōtōribashi-san. Why... are you suddenly too good to be associated with the Vizards? Did you fear that a stance siding with us was a threat to your positions here?"
"What are you going on about?" Kensei hissed in annoyance.
"You finally got the validation you needed from Yamaji, as if forced exile and threats of execution never existed but now, you don't care about anything else. Really shows how much of cowards the lot of you really are." That was the the last straw and Kensei grabbed her by the cloak and pulled, holding her threateningly but the hood fell off her head, revealing her hair and that caused Kensei's grip to loosen and his anger to subside.
Her hair was brown.
"What's the matter?" Mashiro taunted with a deadly look in her eyes and in the dim night light, it was then he noticed her irises were green instead. She wrenched his hand away and jumped off the post. Just as she was about to walk away, Kensei stopped her by holding onto her arm. "Let go."
"No."
"You never cared before... you want to pretend now?" Her eyes dared him to say something and Kensei gingerly let go, knowing that there was practically nothing he could do. He could only now confront the fact that he messed up; him, Shinji and Rose. As she began to walk away, Mugurama called out to her.
"You refused to come back." He said and Mashiro paused in her tracks. He slowly walked over. "You need help... you're in no condition to—"
"You just accused me of doing nothing to prove a point and now you care?"
"I always did."
"You have a funny way of showing it." She scoffed and Kensei sighed. This was going nowhere.
"At least... Go see someone about this. The fourth?"
"Unohana is dead, Kensei."
"Then your family?" Kensei winced from the look on her face. "Mashiro, if you don't take this seriously then you will die."
"We would have never had this issue had you just let me take care of Karin in the first place. Now, I've had to store most of my power in case I face her because she is in the furthest state that needs the most power for detainment and if that kills me then so be it." Mashiro said. "Even if I do die, it's not like anyone will care."
"What about Lisa, Hachi, Shiyori and Love?"
"They'll get over it." Mashiro said.
"Katsuki?'
"He won't care."
"Shinji... Rose —"
"They won't."
"And how about me?" Mashiro paused before looking him dead in the eye.
"... The person who belittled me and made me feel incompetent and useless? Used scare tactics to try and force me out of his division because I am a woman? Does that sound like a man who would care if I dropped dead right now?" She said in a straightforward tone and Kensei was red at the face with anger... except this time, he had no clue who he was angry at. Did he have a very questionable past in regard to his past captaincy before becoming a Vizard? Yes... but as to whether he actually apologized for it or acknowledged that it existed after the fact was a different story and him leaving to rejoin Soul Society without addressing may have cemented that fate.
"That's... in the past." He grunted, trying to keep himself in check from yelling out in rage. It would be too inappropriate at this moment.
"... I especially like how you think a hundred years of ignoring the problem has automatically made it go away. We Shinigami live a long time... so what is a hundred in ten thousand? Between running away from threats or execution and fighting a person who treated me like trash, what was more important in that moment in time?" She took a few steps before pausing. "By the way..." She turned and gave him a face, pulling at her eyebags and sticking her tongue out. "Baka!" With that, she turned on her heel before disappearing, leaving Kensei feeling incredibly confused and frustrated with no idea what to do next.
Ichigo was well rested for once that year. He had a rare free day and took the time to sleep in all day. He woke up late that afternoon, wondering where Tatsuki was. He had wokrn up in the living room, covered in a blanket he was pretty sure he didn't put on himself and figured Tatsuki came home, saw him, covered him and left. Did she have another graveyard shift? Ichigo wondered.
He heard the door rattling and figured it was her and that she locked herself out again. Ichigo rolled his eyes before going over to the door but he noticed that the nail she puts her key on was empty. "What?" Ichigo wondered before opening the door to find Tatsuki on the other side, taken off guard by the door opening.
"My stupid key wouldn't work." She claimed, looking a little ghostly and pale.
"... you have to be gentle with the —Tatsuki, are you good?" Ichigo asked, ignoring the lock altogether and looking at his shaken friend. "What's wrong?"
"... he took two little girls, Ichigo." Tatsuki said. "The youngest one was only eight years old. I should've listened and —"
"Tatsuki, breathe. You're not making any sense." Ichigo said and Tatsuki still looked distressed.
"Aizen took children, Ichigo." Tatsuki said. "He took two little girls and I don't know what he did to them. They already had an abusive mother and—"
"Tatsuki, stop." Ichigo tried to calm her down. "How do you know this?"
"I got a DNA match from the blood in the bucket." Tatsuki said. "It doesn't lie, Ichigo. He took them. He took those little girls and tortured them and... who knows what else he did —"
"Come on, let's go inside, okay?" Ichigo offered. "And you can tell me everything. Just... stay calm." Tatsuki nodded but was still pretty shaky as she followed her friend into the house.