Chapter Sixteen: The Final Countdown, Part Four: Puppet

In a remote part of Soul Society, three of the most deadly enemies of Seiretei were gathered. They were Sosuke Aizen, Gin Ichimaru, and Kaname Tousen. The two subordinates were standing beneath an apple tree, while their leader was perched in one of the many large branches. Aizen wore his usual smirk of satisfaction. Gin was nonchalant, but Tousen had a look of confusion plastered on his face. He looked towards his leader and asked a question.

"Aizen-sama."

"Yes, Kaname? What is it?"

"Why are we here in Soul Society alone?"

Aizen simply smirked at him, "We are here because I need to take care of a little errand. It shouldn't take to long, but I will need both of you two to create a suitable distraction while I retrieve the item in question. Am I clear?"

Both of his subordinates bowed their heads in acknowledgement, "Perfectly, Aizen-sama."

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As Tatsuki was on the final stretch of her after practice, she noticed that the price of her favorite drink in the vending machine had gone. Having to physically restrain herself from do an embarrassing little jig in the middle of the street, she reached in her pockets for the appropriate amount of change necessary. After she had hit the button, she tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for that small bottle of heaven to drop down from the vending machine.

After finishing a long gulp, she glanced over to her left to see a familiar sight. A tired looking mother was in the process of trying to get her son safely out of the door. The little boy, no older than ten, seemed as if he had recently consumed almost a pound of sugar. That is to say, he was extremely hyper. He had a brand new cast on his arm, which Tatsuki assumed he had broken.

When the boy finally did what his mother told him and got in the car, he jumped back out and ran over to the door of the clinic. Just as he was about to open the door, the door opened from the inside. The boy stopped and grinned at the man standing before him, wearing a white doctor's coat. The boy literally bounced up and down as he said, "Thank you very much for fixing my arm!"

The doctor just chuckled and ruffled the boys hair with one hand, "Well, it's not quite fixed yet, Sanosuke. But as long as you're careful, I see nothing getting in the way of it getting fixed. Oh, I almost forgot, here is a present for being such a model patient." The doctor held out a lollypop.

Sanosuke grabbed the piece of candy faster than the eye could see, before grinning even and wider before waving goodbye to the doctor, "See you when I break my other arm, Doctor Kurosaki!"

The orange haired doctor gave a little urk of surprise and uneasiness, "Oi, gaki, the point isn't to break every single limb." The little kid just laughed at him.

Tatsuki finally recovered from shock enough to choke out a semi-squeak, "I-Ichigo!?!"

Ichigo looked over in her direction in surprise, "Oh, it's you, Tatsuki. Heh, I guess I should have been more careful, but I guess it doesn't really matter either way. How about you come in then, Tatsu-chan?" His usual smirk was back in place, which caused Tatsuki to snap out of her funk and walk towards him in order to beat the living crap out of him.

As she walked inside the spacious clinic, she sighed in contentment at the intense blast of cool air that assaulted her. Well, whatever he was up to here, at least he knew how to treat somebody. She couldn't seem to find him in the room she was in, so she assumed he was with a patient. She sat down in the waiting room and browsed through the selection of magazines on the small circular little coffee table next to her. Setting her drink down, she noticed that he had her favorite martial arts magazine.

She was almost halfway through it when Ichigo's voice could be heard. He then appeared in the waiting room, along with a young couple and girl about five or six years old. The little girl was being carried by her father, her arms around his neck. Her mother paused to stroke her daughter's black locks out of her face, before turning to Ichigo and asking, "How soon will she be better, Doctor?"

Ichigo scratched his chin in thought, "I can't say for sure, but I think she should be well enough to head back to school next Monday. You just need to make sure she gets plenty of rest." He smiled reassuringly at them, before directing his next comment towards the little girl, "You be a good girl, okay Tomoe? I'm sorry I couldn't give you a lollypop this time, but I'll be sure to give you double next time I see you, okay?" The little girl smiled slightly, before yawning, snuggling closer to her father, and falling asleep.

After the young family had left, Ichigo walked over to where Tatsuki was and sat down in a chair across from her. His usual smirk was back in all of its glory, causing her to become more relaxed in his presence. Just as she was going to ask him a question, however, he grabbed her and started dragging her towards an examination room. When she started to protest, he cut her off by saying, "Idiot, you're injured."

She looked down at herself, and noticed an unhealthy amount of blood had stained her shirt. "Oh," she said, "I guess you have a point in dragging me over here." Ichigo grumbled at her as they entered the room. He sat her down on the examination table, before walking back and closing the door.

He grabbed the equipment he thought necessary, before turning to her and saying, "Give up your shirt."

Tatsuki had the decency to blush, "Wh-what!?"

"I'm a doctor, Tatsuki, and as the doctor that is treating you, I need to see the injury. You can keep your undergarments on, but the shirt has got to go."

Tatsuki's blush deepened as she removed her shirt. She crossed her arms in front of her chest as Ichigo began to bandage the severe cut she had received. As he was doing so, he said, "I'm assuming you want an explanation for this?"

She just looked at him. He laughed lightly and continued, "I thought so. Well if you must know, I am a Vaizard…"

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Kiyone Kotetsu was in a foul mood. She had been unable to go out 'training' for almost an entire week, ever since her sister had nearly discovered the truth behind the lie. Although the situation had been rectified, Ichigo had been furious. He had gone on a tangent about how they should never relax their guard, especially at this critical juncture. She swore that her ears still rang sometimes when she remembered that particular scolding.

She shivered a little bit as she remembered the conversation she had with her Leader,

"So," said Ichigo, "do you two mind telling me how our entire operation almost fell to ruin? Don't speak, I'll tell you. It's because you two grew overconfident and did nothing to shake off any tails that you might have picked up."

Shaolin tried to protest, "That's not fair, Ichigo."

Ichigo's ire seemed to roll off of him in waves, "Oh, really, Shaolin. And here I thought I was being far too easy on you. There are too many layers of deception in place for us to even have a little slip up. If you don't like it, you can do what my Uncle was forced to do when he nearly blew the lid off our deception. Do you want to do that, do you?"

Kiyone and Shaolin both bowed their heads in shame, "No, Ichigo-sama."

Trying to put that moment behind her, she rounded the bend in the road, only to spot someone she thought she would never see this early. He turned his head towards her, smirking as she said his name.

"Sosuke Aizen."

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TBC

AN: I am truly sorry about the long absence of an update, but Metroid Prime 3 Corruption is just that awesome of a game. Again, sorry. I will try to update more, but no promises. Hopefully, when I finally get back in the swing of things at school, I will be able to update at least every Saturday night. Again, no promises. By the end of this Final Countdown Arc, things will heat up between the Vaizard and the normal Shinigami, as well as the three Traitors and the Espada.

My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones six years ago.

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