Disclaimer: OCs are mine, CC ('Copyright Characters') is from Code Geass.

To clear up any ambiguity, the story here follows canon up until Tousen dies (i.e. Tousen doesn't die here, hooray for Tousen fans, if there are any)

Yeah...I had meant to get this one done alot sooner, but school, christmas, getting sick, new semester... that's how it goes.

I had planned to make this longer as well, adding the 3rd visitation in this chapter, but I decided (not only to get this up faster) that 3000 words was long enough and that the aforementioned scene can be added to a future chapter I already have planned (I've outlined the next 3 or 4 chapters... I just don't have any time to write).

This chapter wraps up loose ends with the battle. Next chapter is back to plotline evolution and character development! (i.e. more Orihime goodness).

Enjoy (and review if you do).

Chapter 12: Suzume-sashi

"That's 56 to 8. Mashiro wins again..."

Hachigen was interrupted by the board being sent crashing into the wall, the pieces scattering everywhere.

"All right, set them up again," an angry Muguruma Kensei barked at his former lieutenant, whom he had just lost to at Othello 97 times in a row.

"Eeeeeh! That's mean Kensei, you make me pick them up everytime, even though playing with you is boring and I want to quit..."

Kensei picked up a nearby piece and flung it at the girl's head, causing said girl to cower and shriek.

"We're not stopping until I beat you, so just set them up."

"All right..."

Nobody except Kensei could attain this level of compliance from Mashiro. The last time their de facto leader asked her to do a job, she just pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tongue at him, after which Love, Hachigen, and Kensei all had to restrain him from chasing and murdering her. For some reason, however, respect perhaps, Mashiro still seemed to obey the chain of command to some degree, even though their days as Captain and Lieutenant were long since past.

The aforementioned leader, currently reclining on the top bunk of one of the beds, turned away from staring at the ceiling and surveyed his comrades' actions.

Mashiro had gathered the pieces and gave Kensei his, as they both sat down to play their... 'How many games was it now', he wondered. Hachi was sitting between them acting as judge, and reminding Kensei that he was not allowed to play certain moves he insisted upon playing. 'How can he not have picked up the rules yet?'

Love and Rose were in a corner without furniture, leaning against the wall and sharing a passionate discourse on the philosophical and aesthetic nature of fine art.

Lisa was sitting below him on her bed, legs dangling over the side, humming to herself softly as she read the special literature she had requested from their hosts. Sometimes she would stop and start fidgeting when she arrived at a particularly intense part of the "story".

'And how is the last member of our ragtag group doing?' he wondered. He shifted slightly so that he could see the door behind him, and the person who had affixed not only her hands, but her feet as well. 'Well, I don't know if what she said about me was true, but she was certainly right when she pointed out the Saru in Sarugaki Hiyori to Orihime and that other human back then,' he mused to himself, immediately deciding not to bring up this ungraceful display with her, unless the timing was funny enough to make up for the beating he was sure to receive afterwards.

He continued to watch Hiyori who, one could not guess by looking at her, had been the most severely damaged of them all in the fight...what was it now, about two days ago? He noticed that her voice was deeper and raspier than when he had last paid attention to her, but that was ages ago so he wasn't the surprised.

'Two days earlier...' he thought, recalling their arrival here. The vaizard, himself included had been drugged; he could tell that much even at the time of their transportation here. They all fell asleep, and when they awoke they were receiving medical attention, but at the same time he had realized that they were all restrained and inside this spacious, but oppressive cell. Even with eight people, two tables and four bunk beds the room had never seemed crowded to him, but it still wasn't comfortable, being constrained from moving about. Hiyori had gotten into a fight with a doctor during his treatment of her, reefing against the shackles put on her for the doctor's safety. He quickly anaesthetized her and finished up all the critical surgery. Since Hiyori had next awoken, she realized she felt almost back to 100% and immediately jumped on the bars, screaming to be let out, and about the many painful things she was going to do to her captors once she had escaped. She screamed for 15 hours straight, until a guard came by – at what Shinji had assumed was evening, although he could not tell for the lack of windows – and quickly stabbed her with a long needle through the bars. She crumpled to the ground, her bed not yet used since her arrival, and slept peacefully until morning, at which time she resumed her tirade.

Needless to say this kind of annoyance only served to worsen the stay for the other seven cellmates, but after about two hours they had mastered the art of selectively tuning her out. It was time, however, to put a stop to this, Shinji decided.

"Hiyori, if that hasn't worked by now it's not going to work, so shut up and let us go about our business in peace."

"Shut up, shithead. Besides, we're prisoners, so what business could you possibly have... moron."

"Why don't you just try being quiet for a while and see if it works better at getting their attention?"

"Yeah, right, like that's going to work. Fine. I'll shut up for 5 seconds, but if someone doesn't come to let us out by then, I'm going to scream twice as loud."

Everyone in the room tensed up, all counting the precious 5 seconds of silence in their heads, and bracing themselves the onslaught their ears were about to receive. Hiyori opened her mouth to resume shouting profanities, when a deep, unfamiliar voice cut across her.

"Guess you've finally calmed down. I'll go and tell the master you're ready to hear his terms for your release."

Hiyori was now completely gobsmacked; she looked back and forth between the retreating guard and Shinji, then crossed her arms and sulked off to her bed, where she laid down for the first time, facing the wall so she wouldn't accidently have to see the smug look on Shinji's face.

After the guard left and spoke to his colleague at the door, who ran off to relay the message, he returned to his post near the cell. After a couple minutes of awkward silence, Shinji decided to break the ice.

"Hey Mr. Guard, couldn't you have done this yesterday, it was only Hiyori who was clamouring, the rest of us were already as calm as we are now."

Hiyori turned quickly to give Shinji the evil eye before retreating back to the wall, but it went unnoticed as all eyes were on the slowly turning guard. It was dark in the room, so they couldn't be sure, but they all simultaneously agreed that he was smirking behind the shadows.

"Well... I suppose I might've, but my orders were clearly to wait until all of you were quiet, not just a few. Besides, I would probably have been reprimanded if I had called the King in only to hear such a cacophony."

Before Hiyori (or any of the others, if they had been inclined) could respond, sharp footsteps were heard in the distance. They watched as two figures descended the stairs to the dungeon, and heard yet another unfamiliar voice say, "you two can leave now." The guard next to their cell and one of the people on the stairs bowed and quickly ascended the stairs, while the single remaining visitor continued down until he stood directly in front of their cell. The prisoners were all gawking at his unusual appearance until he opened his mouth to speak.

"I suppose you have many questions. Who wants to go first?"

As their leader, no one objected when Shinji spoke first.

"Who are you?"

"The Spirit King."

Surprise flashed across the faces of the Vaizard, but Shinji's desire for answers did not allow him to be silent for long.

"Where are we?"

"One of the nicer medium-security holding cells in my castle." He could see Shinji opening his mouth again, but could already anticipate the question. "Aizen is still alive."

Shinji hadn't been hopeful about Aizen's demise after passing out mid-battle, he even contemplated the possibility of having become his captive after waking up in an unfamiliar-looking jail cell, but the news still disheartened him somewhat. "So... you mind filling us in on the battle for starters?"

"After the operation in Hueco Mundo was finished, my generals ended the battle on Earth. The best case scenario would have been if all 3 traitors had died. As it stands Aizen himself is moderately wounded, but managed to escape with his two much more fatally injured subordinates. I had one of my men administer something similar to the Secret Mobile Ops internal anaesthetic to all non-Goteijuusan personnel left at the battle-site, after which we withdrew to this castle."

Shinji looked at his companions, who were all exchanged looks of concern and surprise, before turning back to face his gaoler. "So what happens to us?"

"I won't lie to you; much of the brass of Seireitei wants you dead –." He was cut off by a hostile yell.

"That's bullshit, we come to help and then you round us up while we're wounded and haul us off to death row? You double-crossing, stupid..." Hiyori trailed off to silence as Shinji gave her a poisonous look signalling her to be quiet and listen.

"As I was saying, many people would rather you be dead," Hiyori glared at him but kept her mouth shut this time, "but I think that would be a waste. Besides, I don't personally see anything wrong with being a little different."

Shinji narrowed his eyes, "are you talking about us being closer to Hollows than 'normal' shinigami? Because the two are worlds apart."

The Spirit King looked bored, "Really? Would it anger you, perhaps, to hear that I regard Humans, Shinigami, and Hollows as essentially equivalent? You only say that out of bitterness. If I had told you this immediately after the incident, you would have agreed with me readily."

Normally one of them would have argued or yelled at him, but there was something imposing about his words that bore down on them heavily, which they soon realized to be the truth. Silence ensued for several minutes as the enormity of the situation sank in.

Almost through gritted teeth, Shinji forced out a few words, slowly increasing in volume and intensity, "If that's so, then why didn't you do anything a hundred years ago! Why wait until now?" All other Vaizard had their heads turned down as their leader voiced their collective emotion.

Pausing, and proceeding to answer very carefully, the Spirit King responded, "It's not even been a year since I became Spirit King. The old King was very – traditional – not to mention passive. I – greatly doubt - that it even reached his ears, let alone moved him to personally pardon you. Probably only Central 46, as well as a few vested nobles, ever directly judged your alleged crimes."

The room was again bathed in silence, until the Spirit King started talking again. "I understand from Captain Yamamoto that you are most decidedly opposed to re-joining the ranks of the Goteijuusan, but – I managed to come up with an alternative that I hope you'll find preferable."

Shinji and a few of the others looked up at him for the first time in several minutes.

"Might I propose you serve me directly?"

If he had been in a more jocund mood Shinji would've burst out laughing. "You're kidding, right? We don't want to associate ourselves with Soul Society in any way, so serving its King is last on our list of priorities."

"I never intended for you to serve the Spirit King. I've been the ruler of a sovereign nation long before I accepted the title of Spirit King. So instead of being shinigami in Soul Society, what do you think of being warriors in service of the King of the Black Land?"

Shinji immediately turned and looked around the cell, after which much hushed discussion and nodding occurred. After only 30 seconds of debate Shinji spun on his heels to deliver his answer.

"We'd be under your protection, not having anything to do with Soul Society?"

He nodded.

"We'd fight your enemies?"

He nodded again.

"One of which is Aizen?"

The final nod brought Shinji's characteristic crooked smile to his face.

"In that case, I think we just might be able to swing somethin', your Highness." He stuck his hand through the bars to shake on the deal. The King surprised him by grasping his wrist instead of his palm.

The King smirked, "Don't worry; this is just how we shake hands around here." After Shinji corrected his form, and they had begun shaking, he added, "Oh, and, I know you only said it in jest now, but you don't have to say, 'Your Majesty'. You can call me – "

He didn't care what anyone might say; he found the character of both the catacombs and these dungeons to be endearing. Solid stone construction, dark and dank nitre-coated walls, and complete emptiness, barring the few small insects and lichens that, even with their limited physical needs, were hard pressed to survive; what wasn't to like?

He had just ascended two flights of stairs. When the facility was built, he had insisted on making the steps at least two feet wide and one-and-a-half feet deep. When the walls became soaked with moisture during the course of an especially humid day, the carved stone became very slick and hazardous. Those other than himself who used the stairways would be further endangered by their relatively inferior night vision and sense of balance. Besides, he owned the entire dimension; he had enough room to widen the corridor by a mere foot.

Walking through the quiet halls of his estate, combined with the recent successful recruitment of eight Captain-class fighters, had put him in a very good mood. He realized, however, as he approached his next destination, that the same level of tact and sensibility he had used with the Vaizard would be required for his next two errands.

He stopped in front of a cell and looked inside, within which was his next appointment.

"Tia Halibel?"

A woman with a dusky pallor stood up in the back of the cell, and moved out of the shadows towards the bars separating her from her guest.

Her usual clothing discarded, having been ripped to tatters during her confrontations with Hitsugaya and Aizen, she had been given a simple white tunic following the removal of the medical equipment used to save her.

"You are my jailer?" It was spoken in a flat monotone; a bored and depressed sort of voice. It was obviously more of a statement than a question.

"Yes. I'm the Spirit King, a pleasure to mee---"

"Why did you save my life?" A bit thrown at having been interrupted the King pressed onwards.

"To see a talented and dutiful warrior, not to mention a pretty young girl, such as yourself die in such a way would leave a bad taste in my mouth. Also, the fact that you embody the cause of death that is 'sacrifice' would be too tragic to be ironic in this case."

"So, what am I supposed to do with this borrowed life?"

He knew this was coming. Now was critical for his goal to be realized. 'Surely,' he thought, 'just as compassion and understanding were the things sought after by the Vaizard, hope will win in this case.'

"I intended for you to serve me."

"I have no intention of allying myself with Shinigami." A hurried response. The next few words were exchanged with haste.

"I'm not a Shinigami."

"Then what are you, a human?"

"Well...sort of."

"I can't ally myself with a human either."

"Why not?"

"Humans and hollows are enemies."

Two times in one day he will have said it, but it was by no means a record.

"To me humans and hollows are the same. You will suffer no discrimination under my watch."

After this she stopped her quick rebuttals and paused for a moment before locking eyes with him. More than anything he had said, the sincerity and understanding she saw in his eyes at that moment swayed her. To her, he appeared to possess more capacity to empathize with her than anyone else she had met.

"What it comes down to is... I don't want to serve anyone ever again; I'd rather you let me die. When I served Aizen my only reason was to preserve the life he could have taken from me if I had disobeyed, but it ended up costing me my reason for living."

"Your reason for living...what was it?"

"My 3 fraccion...they were called my servants, slaves, subordinates, and many other things, but, to me they were..." she trailed off and looked to her right side, not being able to maintain eye contact any longer.

The man reached through the bars and stroked the cheek of the depressed woman for a few seconds before placing his hand on her left shoulder. "This is very important. What were they?"

Haribel paused for a few seconds before answering, and when she had finally collected herself enough to speak her words still came out as barely a whisper. "Sisters."

He did not say anything and waited for her to recollect herself. After a few moments pause she continued, in an increasingly louder, yet still tremulous voice.

"They were like my little sisters. I had them call me 'Onee-sama' when I was sure we were alone...but now they're dead, killed by Aizen."

'I suppose this means it is my victory,' he thought.

"Well then, here's my bargain for you. I get you as my servant and, in return," he paused to gently wrap his hand around her chin and draw her face around to meet his. As her empty eyes and his bore into each other, a star of hope was born in them. Pleased at seeing this, he continued.

"In return you will get your sisters back."

A few comments:

1. I didn't mess up...you really don't get to hear what he calls himself...yet.

2. I cut the rest of the conversation with Halibel (just to make the cliffhanger all the better). I plan to address Halibel in a later Chapter or stand-alone story (something of an addendum).

3. Vaizard, Halibel, and ....can you guess? You'll have to, since I cut that part too. To be flashbacked in 2-3 chapters.

p.s. Suzume-sashi means "spearing the sparrow" (I've heard - I haven't seen that Kanji myself). It's a type of attack strategy used in Shogi (wikipedia it if you don't know it).

p.p.s 'Othello' is a game where one player in black and one is white, and you capture rows, columns, or diagonals of opponents pieces by enclosing them between yours (or 'jumping' them). I haven't heard 'Othello' used to name it outside of Japan, but Microsoft calls it 'Reversi', so maybe you've heard of that...

Finally, kudos to those of you who saw the tip of the hat I had Mashiro give to another young girl especially gifted at Othello, namely....

5

4

3

2

1

You got it! (I hope)

It's Shirahama Honoka from History's Strongest Disciple: Kenichi!

Really, though, I hope you get at least some of these references to manga, (I like to think) they add a little humor.. remember to Review (positively, if possible).