I do not own Bleach or any of it's characters, though Katsumi is mine.
Sui-Feng entered the meeting hall to find Kyouraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jushiro Taichous already there before her. "I see you were both called to this meeting as well. Do you know what it is about?" The small woman was irritated being pulled away from her duties; but she had been ordered to attend, and orders are to obeyed without question. Personal feelings do not belong anywhere in the chain of command.
The two older Taichous looked at each other, when Kyouraku turned back to her he was smiling that ridiculous smile of his. "We are about to learn about all our faults," one of Sui-Feng's eye brows rose, "and I am sure this is going to be a learning experience for you. Have you met the Adjudicator yet? She has been here in the Soul Society for the last 6 days."
"No I have not. If this meeting is about her, shouldn't all of the Taichous be in attendance?" The conversation stopped as the thump of the General-Commander's staff could be heard hitting the floor with each step. He was followed by a tall, slender woman with raven black hair. Sui-Feng assumed that this was the shinigami Katsumi, the division's Adjudicator for over the last 600 years.
"Sui-Feng Taichou," he said in hes gravely voice, "I would like to introduce you to Katsumi, the Soul Society's Adjudicator." The woman bowed to her in the manner of an equal, not a subordinate. Sui-Feng was not irritated as she usually was when confronted by a shinigami acting above their station. She knew that an Adjudicator was equal in rank to a Taichou, the "unofficial" 14th Taichou with no squad to lead. "What you may not be aware of is that she holds another title, one that you have been in communication with since being named Commander of Onmitsukido...spy master."
Sui-Feng was barely able to conceal her shock. Since becoming the head of Squad 2, she had received secret messages about the mortal realm and the shinigami who moved through it. Plans of revolts, criminal activities, and other crucial information had been delivered to her by these means. Sui-Feng almost contacted this agent when Kuchiki Rukia disappeared in Karakura Town. To finally meet this person in the flesh was surprising.
"I must apologize for not detecting the activities of Aizen and the other traitors before they caused damage to the seireitei. By the time news of them cam from my sources in Hueco Mundo it was already to late to send any kind of warning to you."
The General-Commander raised his hand, "Cease blaming yourself. As Adjudicator and spy you are the conduit of the outside worlds to the Soul Society, what happened with Aizen was an internal matter. We are all at fault, we here should have noticed something. You have detected numerous threats to us throughout the years; if you had not, we would not have been strong enough to have face Aizen, the Bounts, and many others. The seireitei would have face destruction years ago, and the balance of the universe would have been disrupted, which would have ended...everything." Sui-Feng thought back to all the plots that most shinigami were not even aware existed; plots thwarted by the warnings of Katsumi. "As an outside observer you may report the stability of the seireitei when you coming home, and make suggestions that may help us in making decisions regarding the Gotei 13. You have been here for 6 days, are you ready to make your report now?"
Katsumi gathered her thoughts together, "I have put together a report that goes in depth about the the things I have observed. First and foremost, I must execute my duties as Adjudicator. On my return from the North American Division I was called to the Royal Palace, where I meet with one of the Spirit King's advisers." It was one of the requirements of an Adjudicator and Royal Guard that one has to be able to withstand high amounts of spirit pressure. That was one of the reason the Spirit King has his own dimension; his power is so great that few can live in his realm, let alone be able to function. "It is in regards to Kurotsuchi Nemu fukutaichou." A surprised look crossed all the Taichous' faces. It was beyond rare for the Spirit King to involve himself with the running of a seireitei. "Apparently Kurotsuchi Mayuri Taichou did such a well job in constructing her that our Master had decided to gift her with her own soul."
"A Soul?" Shunsui's eyes widened in amazement. "So she is no longer a construct? A real person?" He gave a lopsided grin. He had always liked the quiet fukutaichou, and he admired her looks as well. Nemu almost rivaled his Nanao-chan in looks. What he always wondered was how Kurotsuchi Taichou, who never showed any interest of a sexual nature, had such good taste in making a tall, ebony haired beauty whose legs went on forever. And that uniform her put her is...HOT!
"It was decades ago when it happened. As it was imparted to me, our Master feels that her treatment at the hands of her father is retarding her growth as an individual, and that she needs to be removed from him."
A look of unease crossed the faces of the other three shinigami. "Getting Nemu away from her father is going to be difficult. His treatment of her may be horrible by our, well everyone's, standards, but he loves and dotes on her in a sort of twisted way. How are we going to tell him that she can no longer be part of his squad?" Jushiro asked.
Katsumi looked up from the report she had been scanning. "As Adjudicator it will be my responsibility to pass on these orders to him."
"I don't think you are aware of how...mentally unstable Mayuri can be." Jushiro said cautiously.
"Himitsu Soyokaze spent the afternoon talking to Ashisogi Jizo, who gave her pointers on how to best deal with his master." Katsumi replied calmly.
Sui-Feng sat up abruptly, "Ashisogi Jizo told you? A zanpakuto behaved in a way counter to what his wielder's interest?" She thought back to Muramasa and the Zanpakuto Rebellion.
"You were made aware of only part of Katsumi's abilities when you became Tachou." Yamamoto interjected. "Her zanpakuto, Himitsu Soyokaze, can actually converse with all other zanpakutos. They tell her zan everything, even things that should be kept secret. Though there is no reason to worry, Katsumi is very good at keeping secrets; whether they be big or small. Her zanpakuto has a sphere or influence in which Himitsu Soyokaze talks with all other zanpakutos; the more zans the smaller the field, and the less zans the greater the sphere. Our zanpakutos here are old friends, so I would guess that Suzumebachi and her have been getting to know each other before we even entered the room." Sui-Feng thought of her inner most thoughts and secrets desires this stranger in front of her may already know and flushed. "Do not be alarmed, Katsumi will not let any of your secrets leave her lips. It is this ability that makes her such a good spy, and such a a good observer. She is aware of things that we are not privy to."
Sui-Feng did not like the ideal of others knowing personal information about her; she did not like the sense of vulnerability this gave her. Yet she had to admit this raised the level of accuracy in all her reports greatly.
"Back to my report, I would like to point out a major problem among the upper ranks." Katsumi paused and looked around the room. "It is this problem that allowed the issue of Aizen get so far out of hand. Basicly it all boils down to one thing...a breakdown in communications."
"What kind of breakdown are you referring to?" Ukitake Jushiro asked curiously.
"The fukutaichous main duties revolve around the running of the squad; overseeing things, paperwork, giving orders, and such things needed to keep the squad running smoothly. They also serve another purpose; to listen to their Taichous, ask for the reasoning behind their orders, suggesting alternate actions, and to tell them when they are wrong. Yes...following orders are important in any military organization, but for the higher ranking members to follow orders blindly is a huge mistake. Each Taichou serves the same duties for the Commander-General, and it is then his duty to act as such for the Central 46. The different divisions in the world are autonomous, they do not even like to communicate with each other, but still the Spirit King appointed the title of Adjudicator. Have you ever wondered why? It is because the lines of communication must always be kept open, even if it is rarely used. In all my years of service I have been asked by other Commander-General's how other divisions have handled problems, and I have suggested alternate ways of handling them. Without communication of some sort, major problems may be handled wrong due to ignorance."
When the others opened their mouths to argue some point, Katsumi simple raised her hands to stop them. "There was little way you could have known about Aizen, Tosen, and Ichimaru's treachery, but you may have lessened the impact some what. Kyoka Suigetsu's ability of hypnosis was such that few could escape it, been able to tell what was real or fake. And Aizen's genius was quiet high. Even Himitsu Soyokaze was fooled during the minutes they were in contact with each other; Aizen made sure to limit any kind of interaction between us, and the other two were always on away missions when I was here. But decisions were made and actions not taken that may have lessened the damage if they were discovered sooner."
Turning to Yamamoto, Katsumi place her arms around his shoulders and gave him a hug. "You know how much I love you Senpai," he flushed in pleasure, "which is why I hate to ask...What the hell were you thinking?" She pulled away from him and looked up into his eyes. The two older Taichous smothered a smile, and the youngster's mouth dropped open in shock. "From the very beginning of Kuchiki Rukia's sentence to the way it was to be carried out felt wrong to you, but what did you do about it? Yes you wrote to the Central 46 to verify the order, but you should have met with them and asked them to explain their reasons behind it. Instead you followed the order's blindly, which a Commander-General should not do. You are the leader of the Gotei 13, not a lower seated officer. If you had gone to them before Aizen's "death", you may very well have found out they had all been killed. If Aizen was there with his zanpakuto you may have been fooled, but at that time he was not there all the time. You may have been able to stop it right there. Except for the three traitors, and Sui-Feng, every single Taichou felt something was wrong and felt uneasy about it. If you had gone and met the 46, when those officers approached you about it, you might had been able to reassure them about with more than "it's an order, follow it". They may not have been happy about it, but they felt they could approach you. As it stands, most of them did not even ask about you about it. They felt you would not even listen to anything they may have said."
Katsumi paused, and the continued. "The three traitors wanted it to happen, and their fukutaichous were as deceived as the rest of the seireitei. Komamura followed the order without questioning it because he feels he owes you blind loyalty. Kurotsuchi and Zaraki could have cared less about the whole thing, but even they felt the orders were strange. Unohana and Hitsugaya both went so far as to go to the 46 themselves, though to late, but neither felt they could approach you. Kuchiki was fighting his own personal demons, as you are all aware of. If he felt comfortable approaching his superior to talk about it, that might have made things easier for him. Jushiro wrote a letter to the Central 46, but he and his good friend Shunsui simply disobeyed orders. They went so far as to destroy the Sokuoku." She looked at the two offending officers, they in turn looked down at their feet. Katsumi turned her gaze on the leader of the 2nd Squad. "What concerns me the most is you, Sui-Feng. You were the only Taichou that did not even register that anything was wrong. The use of the Sokuoku on a lower seated officer is unheard of, and the erratic way the execution kept being moved up didn't seem odd to you in the lest. Your "all orders are right and should be obeyed without question, and death to anyone who questions or might stand in the way of them" is the wrong attitude for higher ranking officers. And that same attitude is being passed on to your subordinates, your fukutaichou failed in that regard. Not just because he fears you "I'll kill you attitude", but he didn't see anything wrong with the orders himself. He is good at his job, or else you would not keep him around, but the trust that exist between Taichou and fukutaichou simply does not exist between you two."
Sui-Feng was unsure how she should have addressed this criticism. Her sense of honor was bound up with her belief of following orders, which is one of the reasons Yoruichi had hurt her so much. It had only enforced her attitudes and beliefs, she wished never to hurt others by betraying them in a like manner. Yet she had to agree somewhat with Katsumi's assessment, she was just unsure if she could change over a hundred years worth of thinking and emotions.