Hinamori's Apprentice
Chapter 39
"Is this it?" Momo asked in disappointment, "If this is all we have for clues about where the enemy took Karin…"
"Don't be deceived," Soi Fon said, leaning on a cane to avoid causing her recently healed injuries too much stress, "These items provide a wealth of information about our enemy. Already we have found several crucial clues."
Momo, Toushiro, Rangiku, Soi Fon, and Shuuhei Hisagi stood around a table, upon which were several items recovered from the enemy. Soi Fon had agreed to give them a private briefing on the findings of her investigation.
Some of the objects were sealed in bags or cases, while others sat in the open. The items included a heavily curved scimitar, a set of the brown robes worn by the warriors, a bow with accompanying quiver of arrows, a knife, some sort of dried meat, and several other objects.
"Why don't you explain your findings?" Hisagi suggested.
"Very well," Soi Fon said, clearly not pleased with having to showcase her work to her current audience, "The clothes are woven from yak fur, with horse skin being used as leather. The steel in their weapons is crudely forged with many impurities, probably scavenged scrap metal. The knife is made completely out of iron. An analysis of the wood used in the bow indicates an origin in Central Asia."
"So they're from the living world," Rangiku commented.
"Indeed," Soi Fon confirmed, "Furthermore, analysis of the prisoner and the autopsy from several bodies have shown that they are completely human, not a type of soul or other being."
"An entire group of humans capable of such ferocious fighting… it's almost hard to believe," Momo said.
Soi Fon continued. "Though they are evidently spiritually aware, neither the captive nor the corpses we've analyzed have shown any sign of special powers. Their prowess on the battlefield is derived solely through strength and ferocity."
"Incredible…" Toushiro murmured, "Do you know where they came from, exactly? I've never heard of such humans."
"No, unfortunately," Soi Fon said, "Based on the rations they carried and pollen stuck to the fibers of their clothes, were able to determine that they probably reside in Central Asia, but where they came from originally and how they came to be as they are now are both unknown. The language they spoke has been identified as related to the ancient Mesopotamian languages, but we are unable to translate the words of the prisoner."
"Mesopotamian? Nobody has spoken those languages in thousands of years!" Momo said in surprise.
"Well my analysts identified the words of the prisoner as related to the Mesopotamian language family. Whether you believe it or not is up to you," Soi Fon said irritably.
"Ordinary humans who are able to hold their own against Shinigami and speak an ancient language… this just get's stranger and stranger," Toushiro muttered.
"Was there anything else being carried by them? Anything beyond this primitive stuff?" Hisagi asked.
"No," Soi Fon said quickly. Her tense tone caused the others to stare at her.
"Are you sure?" Hisagi said calmly, "Didn't you find anything else?"
"I… No. The things you see in front of you were all the prisoner had when he was captured," Soi Fon said.
"Really? Because a couple members of my division reported that you transferred a package to the Twelfth Division marked for technological analysis," Hisagi said calmly but firmly. Soi Fon scowled at him.
"You were having your men spying on my division?" she said coldly.
"No offense meant, Captain Soi Fon, it's just that you have a tendency of keeping secrets from other divisions. Now why don't you tell us what it is that was so complex that you sent it to Twelfth Division for analysis? I know you don't like Captain Kurotsuchi, so I doubt you'd have sent something to him unless you felt there was no other way to discover its purpose," Hisagi said smoothly. Momo and Rangiku looked on in amazement as Hisagi compelled Soi Fon to tell them the whole story.
"…Very well then," Soi Fon said after long hesitation, "You're right, there was one object that baffled my best experts. We still don't know exactly what it is, but…"
Soi Fon reached into her robe and pulled out a small photograph. Everyone gathered around to get a better look at it. The photo featured a small, silver cylinder with several small ridges but otherwise no unique markings.
"What is it?" Rangiku asked.
"If I knew that do you think I'd have sent it off for analysis?" Soi Fon said irritably, "None of my men were able to discover its purpose. The prisoner was reaching for it when we captured him, so clearly it is of some importance. The fact that it is so different from everything else that was used by these men adds to the mystery. Quite frankly though, there is nothing we can do about it until a complete analysis is conducted by Twelfth Division."
"I see…" Toushiro said, "May we see the prisoner now?"
"I suppose…" Soi Fon said reluctantly, "But remember, I'm only doing this because of the Captain-Commander's instructions to share intelligence with the other Captains. I don't like having people interfere with my work."
"We know. Thank you for being so cooperative," Toushiro said, a hint of iciness in his voice. Soi Fon's attempts at keeping the results of her investigation to herself were making Toushiro rather frustrated, even if he did not outwardly show it.
"Very well, follow me. I'll escort you to the holding area for the prisoner," Soi Fon said.
They followed her out of the room and down a hall of the Twelfth Division headquarters. They were led outside and into another building, where they walked through more halls before going down a long set of stairs into an area that looked like a prison. There were numerous guards as they made their way towards the place where the prisoner was being held. Finally, Soi Fon stopped outside a door flanked by two guards.
"This is it. My men are interrogating him right now, so if you could wait a few minutes-"
"You said yourself that there's no way you could communicate with him, so don't try to delay us with the excuse of ongoing interrogation," Toushiro said.
"Fine," Soi Fon growled, reaching over to the door and punching in a code on the number lock. There was a click, and the door opened.
Inside were two Second Division members standing across a table from a dark skinned man whose hands were bound. The uniformed men turned and quickly bowed upon seeing Soi Fon.
"Captain! We were engaging in the basic interrogation methods as you ordered, but as before they had no effect! We tried to-"
"I know; I expected that from the beginning," Soi Fon sighed, "Please excuse us."
"Yes ma'am!" they said with a bow, quickly leaving the room.
The prisoner glowered at his new visitors, but did not say a word.
"Well, here he is," Soi Fon said, sarcastically waving her hand at him, "The prisoner you wanted to see so badly that you interrupted my work. Now that you're here, what do you plan to do?"
Momo, Toushiro, Rangiku, and Hisagi exchanged awkward glances. In truth, they had no idea what they would do now. It was very likely that this man had information that could help them rescue Karin and defeat the enemy, but they had no way of communicating with him, and even if they could, what was the likelihood of him cooperating and answering their questions? Things were beginning to feel hopeless again as no clear solution presented itself.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Momo cleared her throat and spoke.
"Um, hello there," she said nervously, "We… We'd like to know where you took Karin and why. Please tell us how to find the place where you took her, wherever it is."
The man continued to stare coldly at them, showing no reaction to Momo's words, causing her to shift nervously before speaking again.
"I… I'm Karin's mentor, Momo Hinamori. She is a very close person to me. She's important to lots of other people too. Her brother is worried sick about her; he's done almost nothing but train and fight duels with Eleventh Division members since she was taken. I don't know why you took her, but we need to rescue our friend. Please, tell us where she is. Tell us how we can rescue her!"
Again, the man was silent.
"Oh, that's clever of you. My best interrogators have been working on a way to communicate with and question him, but all this time they could have just asked," Soi Fon said irritably.
"Well they haven't produced any more results than Momo, so why don't you be quiet for now," Toushiro said with an icy glare.
"I'd expect such nonsense out of that naïve girl or your Vice-Captain, but not from you, Captain Hitsugaya," Soi Fon said, "How can you believe that her idiotic babbling to a prisoner who can't even understand her language will possibly produce results?"
"I don't know. To be honest, I'm doubtful that it or any other technique we could think of will work, but Momo is doing what she can to save her apprentice. She knows that the odds are against her, but she's still trying, and I won't tolerate you insulting her for it," Toushiro said fiercely.
"There's no room for such emotional foolishness in times such as these," Soi Fon said, "We need a real plan, not just the inane babbling of a traitor's old subordinate!"
"What the hell do you mean by that?" Toushiro said, anger in his voice, glancing at Momo, who looked as if she had been punched in the stomach from Soi Fon's harsh words that brought up the memory of her old Captain.
"I mean that this girl isn't suited to this sort of work, so she should step aside and let the professionals handle it. She lets her emotions control her. Because pouring her heart out and begging this captive to help find the Kurosaki girl feels right to her in her emotional state, she does it without any regard to whether it will work or not. It's the same as when she was crying for a traitor, making herself believe fantasies because they felt right rather than acknowledge the cold hard truth," Soi Fon said. Tears were beginning to leak from Momo's eyes, though she was able to maintain her composure. Upon seeing this, Toushiro's eyes filled with rage.
"Shut up," Toushiro growled, "I won't tolerate your needless cruelty towards Momo."
"I'm not being cruel, I'm being honest. If you were as smart as they say, you wouldn't have brought someone so emotionally involved into such a sensitive investigation," Soi Fon said, "Then again, if you were as smart as they say, you probably wouldn't remain friends with someone who was quicker to believe you a traitor than they would Aizen."
This was too much for Toushiro. Without warning, he lunged at Soi Fon, his fist clenched and drawn back for a strike. Soi Fon quickly sidestepped, grabbing Toushiro's wrist and smashing him to the ground. Momo let out a small scream and rushed to Toushiro's side as Hisagi quickly grabbed onto Soi Fon to prevent any further fighting.
"Toushiro… Don't you ever do that again! I don't want to see you getting hurt because of me!" Momo cried, helping Toushiro to his feet.
"You see what I mean? Getting yourself worked up into an emotional mess only weakens you. There's no place for weakness in this division. I could report this incident, but I won't out of pure pity for you," Soi Fon said, smirking a little a she watched him wipe away a trickle of blood from his nose.
"If… if caring for one's friends and comrades is a weakness, then I'll gladly be weak," he panted, straightening himself up.
"That mindset won't get results. Feelings for comrades must be put aside at times," Soi Fon said. Before Toushiro could respond, there was a sudden harsh, barking noise that sounded almost like a laugh. They all turned to look at the prisoner, whose glare was now solely upon Soi Fon.
"Yow dun know te mean of te word 'coomrade'," he said with a heavy accent, "True war-yor know te coomrades trust din respect. True war-yor know honor of self din coomrade. Te boy know. Te boy defend honor of te gul. Te gul know. Te gul fight for te safe of her fend. Yow know no bond for coomrades. Kyrzk never spayk such dishonor woman."
"You… you've been able to understand us all this time!" Soi Fon said, a mixture of shock, anger, and surprise in her voice. The others looked equally surprised.
"Kyrzk never spayk yow," the man said, "Leave, din Kyrzk spayk te boy din gul. Te boy din gul have honor worth spayk."
Karin sat with her legs crossed and her arms folded in the meditative position Momo had taught her. Her eyes were closed and her breathing slow and steady. To an observer, her stillness combined with the bruises and cuts on her body might lead to the belief that she was dead, but this was far from the truth. She was deep in a meditative trance, honing her powers.
"Meditation brings strength and wisdom. Lack of meditation leaves weakness and ignorance," Momo had told her during her training. At the time, Karin had thought it to be rather silly. What was so special about sitting in a funny position and thinking? Now Karin knew what Momo meant. Even with her powers mostly sealed, she could feel great progress.
In her meditative state, she was able to focus in ways unimaginable to her. She was able to leave her physical body, her fears, and her uncertainties behind and devote all of her energy to honing her skills. Though her reiatsu was sealed so that she could not use it for any techniques, she still had control over the reiatsu inside her body. She manipulated the reiatsu within her body just as if she had been using it in battle. Memories of past fights and training sessions flooded through her head, making her mindful of the strengths and weaknesses of her abilities. She recalled what it felt like to use her Shikai, and imagined channeling her reiatsu through the blade. She thought of the times when she had been too slow, and imagined moving with greater agility. By clearing her mind of all but meditating, she was able to focus on multiple aspects of her abilities.
It may not be true practice, but this was the best she could do right now, and if she ever hoped to get out of this place she had no choice but to continue. As time consuming and difficult as it was, she did not allow herself to become frustrated. As Momo had frequently said during their training, "Impatience makes things take longer."
As ridiculous as it sounded, Karin was beginning to feel that her meditation was having a noticeable effect. Not only did it make her feel stronger, but she found that by meditating beforehand she was able to better withstand the torture Usagi subjected her to. She was now extremely grateful to Momo for teaching her proper meditation, for without it she would likely have lost her mind by now.
Karin did not dwell on the torture that Usagi put her through. "Focus on what you can change first, what you might be able to change in the future second, and what you can't change only when you have nothing better to do," Momo had told her. There was much truth to these words. Focusing on the pain that Usagi put her through was useless. Focusing on honing her skills was the most important thing right now. Even the thought of how she would get out of here would have to wait until an opportunity presented itself. She had to strengthen herself before she could begin to think about escaping, or as Momo had philosophically put it, "Going through life is like sailing on an old wooden ship. You can't direct the wind, but you can adjust your sails." Her current circumstances were beyond her control, so the only thing she could do was hone and strengthen herself.
Of course, the thought of how she would escape did cross her mind fairly often, even if she tried not to focus on it too much. From what she had seen, she was deep within the enemy's base, and her cell had no weaknesses that she could find. She had toyed with the idea of charging the servant creatures when they brought her food, but they always came in groups, and with her power sealed it was unlikely that she could overpower all of them. Furthermore, even if she were able to get out of her cell, she did not know which way she would go to get out, nor did she know what other enemies might be lurking on the way. To complicate things even further, she had no idea where her Zanpakuto was. Beyond a few brief moments, she had been unable to get in contact with Denryu. She thought she could sense the general direction he was in, but there was no way to be certain, and her Zanpakuto was likely just as well-guarded as she was. It was best to put aside such thoughts right now; they would only provide unnecessary worry.
In her meditative state, time passed neither quickly or slowly, instead feeling as though it didn't exist at all. Thus, she did not know how long she had been meditating when she detected several sets of footsteps approaching her cell. She opened her eyes just as three of Usagi's grey-skinned minions opened the cell door and brought in a plate of food and water. Karin took the food and water without speaking. The first few times food had been brought to her, she had refused and insulted the creatures, but soon thirst and hunger drove her to grudgingly accept the poor food and dirty water.
Her aggression towards the trollish creatures quickly disappeared as well. Though they looked ugly and intimidating, with rough grey skin, beady black eyes, and sharp teeth, she soon realized that they were quite pathetic creatures. Their fearsome appearance clearly compensated for the fact that they were very small, shorter than Karin, or maybe even Toushiro. While they were strong for their size, a close look revealed them to be thin and malnourished. Their behavior when not following orders was rather shambling and listless. She didn't know the circumstances by which they came to be serving under Usagi, but she doubted that it was by their choice.
"I told you idiots to wait!"
Karin cringed a little at the sound of Usagi's voice. His appearance usually meant an intense session of torture as he attempted to force her to submit to his will and allow him access to her soul. Usagi strode into Karin's sight, an unusually angry look on his face. Karin had quickly learned to fear Usagi's smile, but when it was also quite intimidating when he looked angry.
"Well, thanks a lot you stupid brat," Usagi said, "Thanks to your resistance, Aurion is pressing me harder than ever. It's your fault I'm off schedule, but nooooooo, he's blaming me! I swear, when this is over I am going to take great pleasure in killing you. Right now though, we still need you. That in mind- Would you get out of the way you stupid worthless creature?" Usagi broke off to deliver a kick to one of his minions that had bumped into him while shambling about. Karin winced a little as the creature impacted with the stone wall. Usagi cleared his throat and continued.
"That in mind, I will continue our little sessions. I had another one planned for around now, in fact, but something came up," Usagi said.
"What?" Karin asked dully.
"Aurion decided that he'd like to have a little chat with you," Usagi said.
"Aurion? You mean…"
"Yeah, the guy in charge of this little operation," Usagi chuckled, "I don't know what he plans to do with you, but with luck it will make you wish you had cooperated with me! He's requested to meet with you in one hour; I'll be coming to get you at that time. Unless, of course, you'd like to open yourself up to examination now..."
"Fat chance of that," Karin said. Usagi chuckled at this.
"I thought not. I suppose I'll see you in an hour then…" Usagi turned and walked off, leaving the creatures behind.
With Usagi gone, the two creatures that had been standing on either side of the door quickly went to the side of their comrade and helped him to his feet. Karin saw that there was a nasty scrape on his head where he had impacted with the wall.
"Come here," she said. The creatures froze and looked at her cautiously like dogs that had just been alerted to an intruder. "Come on, I won't hurt you. Come over here," Karin said again. After a moment of hesitation, the injured creature slowly hobbled over to where Karin was sitting.
Karin examined the wound. It wasn't particularly deep, but it could get infected if left alone.
"Hold still. I'm not an expert with this, but I did pick up a bit of knowledge through observation," she said, placing her hand over the wound. A green glow surrounded her hand, and the wound slowly began to heal. With her amateur skills, it took several minutes, but when she removed her hand the injury had been healed.
"It's funny. I'm the one in a cell, but from what I see, we're both prisoners," Karin said. The creatures quickly spoke among themselves in a language composed of grunts. Karin watched as all three of them hurriedly left, locking the cell door behind them.
She sighed, closing her eyes and returning to her meditation.
"I am the Captain of the Second Division and Commander of the Onmitsukido! You will answer my questions!" Soi Fon said firmly.
"Yow dishonor woman. Kyrzk not spayk yow," the captive said, "Kyrzk may spayk te boy din gul, te honor ones. Yow leave."
"I will not give into the demands of a prisoner!" Soi Fon said angrily, "Now that we know that you are able to understand us, we will begin interrogating you in earnest!"
"Kyrzk possess honor. Never spayk to dishonor ones. No use try."
"I, uh, think he's saying that you shouldn't even try interrogating him because none of your men are honorable enough for him to speak to," Rangiku said.
"I know," Soi Fon snapped, "It doesn't matter what he wants. He can tell himself that he won't talk, but with proper interrogation, there is no doubt that he will."
"But how long will it take? What quality will the information be?" Hisagi asked, "I think it may be best to allow him to speak with Captain Hitsugaya and Vice-Captain Hinamori. He is willing to talk to them; we couldn't ask for a better opportunity!"
"But… this is my division; I can't just cede my authority so easily…" Soi Fon said, looking very conflicted about what to do.
"I don't ask that you cede your authority, I only ask that you let me and Momo talk to this guy. This is our best chance to get information," Toushiro said.
"I… I don't know…" Soi Fon said, shifting uncomfortably. She clearly recognized the opportunity being presented, but was apparently not keen on leaving Momo and Toushiro to perform such important work.
"Please Captain Soi Fon, just let us speak with him. I promise that it will be worth it!" Momo pleaded.
"This guy probably knows a lot about the enemy. You'd be passing up a major opportunity if you refuse to let them speak with him," Rangiku said.
"That's right, and think about how you would look if your interrogation failed and word got out that you had an opportunity to get solid information from him but passed it up because of your pride," Hisagi said. Soi Fon scowled at this, but moments later sighed in defeat.
"Fine, I'll let you two speak with him, but you'd better make it worth my while!" Soi Fon said.
"Thank you, Captain Soi Fon!" Momo said.
Soi Fon did not respond to her thanks, simply turning and opening the door to leave.
"Wait, Matsumoto. You'd better tell Ichigo about this lead, he'll want to know," Toushiro said.
"You can count on me! He's probably beating up guys in the Eleventh Division right now, so I'll go check there first," Rangiku said.
"I'd better go too. When he's fighting out of frustration like this, it can be a bit… difficult to get his attention," Hisagi said.
"Very well, you two go and contact him; we'll stay here and talk to the prisoner," Toushiro said.
Rangiku and Hisagi walked out, followed by Soi Fon, who gave them one last stern look before closing the door behind her. Momo and Toushiro turned to the prisoner.
"So… will you tell us where you took Karin?" Momo asked.
"No yet," the man said, "Yow have prove yow honor persons. Kyrzk spayk yow, but won't give secrets. Yow must win honor duel before Kyrzk give secrets."