Title: The puppeteer

Rating: Action, comedy

Pairing / Characters: The puppeteer, Kuchiki Byakuya, Kuchiki Rukia, Urahara Kisuke, Shihouin Yoruichi, Hitsugaya Toushirou, Kyouraku Shunsui, Ukitake Jyuushirou, Ururu, Inoue Orihime, Ishida Uryuu

Word Count: 1, 595 words

Warnings: Nothing

Summary: Ichigo is discussed, the puppeteer makes a (chaotic) entrance

A/N: Ya know, for some reason I don't like this. I had originally intended for it to be an action / comedy, but it just keeps getting stranger and stranger. Where the hell the puppeteer came from I don't know but here he is and well, bah, here this is. angry scowl

He stood alone in the shadows, eyes fixed on the Urahara Shoten, wishing he could burn a hole through the wood and plaster and see through to the people inside.

Abandoned. He had been abandoned by them so many years ago, and now they would feel his wrath like the others before him had. He would have the pleasure of watching as the flesh was stripped from their bones, as their lifeblood was spilt across the ground, as their pained screams went completely unnoticed, as their final, dying breaths were gasped…

He smiled. Oh yes, revenge was sweet indeed.

The lesson had been seared into his mind centuries ago – there comes a time in every person's life when they will be called to judgment for their crimes and for the captains gathered inside the little shop, that time would come sooner than they expected.

Eyes gleaming with an unholy red light, he flexed his massive shoulder muscles – and waited.

'H – half hollow.'

'Yes. Well – to be more precise, he's a shinigami who has managed to attain hollow powers – immense strength, unnatural speed, a fierce fighting spirit – most of which he had already. The training I subjected him to only enhanced those qualities enough for him to develop his inner hollow.'

'Kisuke,' Isshin began weakly, 'are you telling me that my son is part monster?'

'No.'

'What he's saying is that Ichigo is very much a lone flower – he's not a complete spirit, not a complete person, not a shinigami, not a hollow. His hollow self has yet to show the evil we've seen in other hollows, and to date, only emerges when Ichigo is on the verge of death.'

Byakuya straightened. 'Kisuke – without the Hougyoku, you managed to force the integration of a hollow self into a shinigami?'

'I did.' Kisuke's eyes were shadowed by his hat. 'There are a few methods known to do this, and sadly enough, there are others who can force this change. The integration of two souls are not always a success, though.'

'There are other ways? You told us that it could only be done through the use of the Hougyoku – so in effect, Aizen could be behind this after all!'

Hitsugaya glared at the former shinigami, but before he could continue his tirade, Jyuushirou broke in, his voice calm.

'Kisuke didn't lie to you, Hitsugaya-kun. It can only be done through the Hougyoku, that is, it can only be done properly. Across the years, there have been many shinigami who have attempted to cross the barrier between shinigami and hollow, but less than two percent of those souls have survived. Others who were forced into merging, who didn't look for a way to cross that barrier died almost immediately.'

His eyes met Rukia's, who swallowed.

'One such person was Kaien,' he completed, and the room went silent.

'Shiba Kaien? Your fukutaichou?'

Jyuushirou nodded. 'Yes, Hitsugaya-kun. both he and his wife Miyako were unwitting experiments of a merging. I only found out after Aizen betrayed Soul Society that he had been the one to do so.'

Hitsugaya felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. 'So all this time when everyone thought –'

'That's what he wanted us to believe,' Shunsui replied quietly. 'As things stand now, Kisuke is the only one with the knowledge to create a merging successfully – and neither Jyuushirou not myself are willing to attempt it.'

'Well,' Byakuya said calmly, 'it would appear that we're lucky Kurosaki Ichigo bears no malice towards Soul Society, or we'd be in trouble.'

Kisuke laughed suddenly. 'I think you'll find that's the last thing Ichigo would do.'

'Inoue-san, why are you rushing so much?' Ishida asked curiously.

Inoue beamed at him. 'Ice-cream!'

'I… don't follow.'

Inoue's smile was bright. 'Well I thought since everyone has been working so hard, I would make them a treat to say thank you.'

Ishida swallowed.

Hard.

'Er… Inoue-san? Exactly what kind of treat did you make?'

Inoue beamed. 'I'm so glad you asked! Ice-cream with wasabi and jelly paste, strawberries and a touch of chocolate sauce. I tasted it myself; even Tatsuki-chan said it was good.'

Ishida's face fell. 'Inoue-san…'

A frown puckered her forehead. 'You don't think they'll like it? I made some for Kuchiki-san and for Kurosaki-kun too.'

Ishida sighed deeply. 'I'm sure they'll love it, Inoue-san.'

The smile returned to her face and she bounced down the corridor at his side, asking him if he thought that maybe one day they would make a movie about the incident that had occurred at lunch time, and did he think that a musical would be better because at least in musicals you could sing along to the words and all the colours were better anyway.

Ishida quivered at the mere thought of Asano Keigo and his appalling clumsiness in a movie, let alone a musical, and prayed that he wouldn't get nightmares from thinking that he shouldn't be thinking about it.

'Ohayo Gozaimasu!'

Heads turned at the sound of the bright voice in the doorway, and Inoue beamed cheerily at them all.

'I hope no one minded but I brought something for you,' she said, bouncing into the room where they were sitting and placing a large, frozen container on the table.

'What is it?' Rukia asked curiously.

'Ice-cream!' Inoue announced proudly.

Rukia's eyes lit up. 'Ice-cream?'

'Hai! I made it myself! Urahara-san, would you like some?'

Kisuke glanced at the girl's expression with some apprehension. 'Well…'

Inoue clasped her hands together. 'Please? You'll like it, I know you will.'

He sighed. 'All right, Inoue. Ururu, please fetch some bowls and spoons.'

'Of course, Kisuke-san.'

Five minutes later, Inoue was scooping the dark brown mixture into bowls and placing the bowls in front of each captain. Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched as he stared down into the bowl.

'What are the red pieces?'

'Strawberries,' Inoue answered cheerfully, getting to her feet.

Nervously, he dipped his spoon into the ice-cream and was about to taste it when everything went downhill.

Inoue turned towards the doorway, throwing up her hands just as a blast of white lighting virtually annihilated everything around her.

Urahara Shoten lay in ruins.

In the dim light, only a faint yellow glow could be seen, the same yellow glow that highlighted Inoue, who lay on her side, hands over her head.

Hitsugaya lifted his head cautiously, half expecting to feel pain from whatever wounds he might have sustained, and was startled to find that he was uninjured. He sat up, cobalt eyes taking in the sight around him.

Kisuke had thrown himself over Ururu and Yoruichi, while Byakuya had employed the swiftest shunpo to date and had used his own body to protect his sister.

Ishida had found himself pushed face first into the floor by Shunsui, who had reacted with near unnatural swiftness. Jyuushirou had dived to the floor as well, and like Hitsugaya, had had just sat up and was staring around the remains of the shop in sheer astonishment.

Not a single person had been injured.

The yellow glow that lit up the interior of the shop enough for them to see by was the large shield created by Inoue's Shunshun rikka, employed almost instantly to protect her friends. Inoue herself hadn't sat up yet, but they could hear her soft yelp of pain as she shifted her hand.

'Inoue-san?' Ishida asked anxiously, embarrassed to hear his voice crack. 'Are you all right?'

Inoue pushed herself up with her right hand, the left cradled against her chest.

'Itai…'

'Inoue?'

She turned around, and managed her usual bright smile. 'I'm fine, Ishida-kun. I just hurt my hand.'

'Let me see it, Inoue.'

She held out her hand and Ishida winced at the splinters embedded in her palm.

'I'll take them out for you, just come over here.' Ishida pulled her to her feet, and she stumbled over to the table. As she sat down, the Shunshun rikka hovered around her anxiously, but her eyes were on her ice-cream – or what was left of it.

'It's ruined now,' she said sadly.

'At least we're alive,' Jyuushirou told her. 'You saved our lives.'

Inoue went red. 'You're welcome.'

Byakuya meanwhile, had already checked his sister to make sure she was unharmed, and was now standing in the doorway, a scowl on his face, violet eyes scanning the area around the shop.

'A spirit attack,' he said softly. 'In other words, we were just attacked by a shinigami.'

'Not a shinigami, Kuchiki Byakuya. I am much, much more than just a shinigami.'

Ishida was always surprised to see just how fast a captain level shinigami could move when the situation required it, and this was no different, for within seconds of the totally unfamiliar voice, six captains, two of them exiled, were standing outside, zanpakutous drawn, in a semi circle around a massive figure in the centre of the courtyard.

'Identify yourself,' Byakuya ordered calmly.

The figure laughed aloud, a sound that was more than just unpleasant.

'Me? I have no name, Kuchiki Byakuya, just a title. Those who know me, know me as the puppeteer.'

Jyuushirou and Shunsui exchanged glances.

'Explain your purpose here,' Shunsui said coldly. In the chaos, he had lost both his hat and his haori, and in stark black and white, was a grim figure to contend with. 'What do you want? Why have you come to Karakura?'

'My purpose? What I want? The answer is simple, Kyouraku Shunsui. I want you – each and every person standing in front of me – dead.'