I do not own BLEACH, though I wish I did.
Early the next morning Katsumi visited the 12th Squad's grounds. She noticed that the shinigami around her tried not to notice the presence of an outsider. As she entered the hall of the Research and Development Department, she was finally confronted bu a male shinigami sporting horns on his head and wearing a lab jacket.
"What brings you here? Usually shinigami go out of their way to avoid the labs.", he asked curiously.
"Hello, I need to speak to Kurotsuchi Taichou." She wondered how he had come by his appearance. When Urahara started this organization, all the scientist were of a normal human aspect. Just what was Mayuri trying to accomplice with experiments of this nature.
"Ahhh...this may not be the best time to be speaking with Taichou. I believe he is busy in his lab working on the latest experiments." He said this hesitantly.
"Let me worry about that." Katsumi assured him with a placid smile. "Just show me to his location and I will deal with any objections he may have." She leaned toward him and in a confidential voice whispered, "I promise not to mention your part in my bothering him."
Akon merely shook his head. "It is none of my business what he does to you, just don't go blaming me when he wont let you out of the building with out any drastic changes to anatomy." He turned and lead her deeper in to the labyrinth passageways.
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Kurotsuchi Mayuri sat in front of his computers analyzing the results of the most recent attempt at DNA splicing. The useless work of several days.
"I am sorry to interrupt you sir, but I need to have a word with you." The female voice came from the region of the doorway.
"GO AWAY! I can not be bothered with any foolish interruptions right now." He said irritably, never taking his eyes away from the glowing screen of numbers and symbols.
"I must insist that we meet now." Returned the voice, it was spoken softly but held a note of steely resolve and command. He swung his chair around to face this challenge to his authority. The tall woman who spoke was calm and not intimidated in the least, which was usually not the case. She spoke again, "My name is Katsumi and we have met before, though you seem to have forgotten. My title is Adjudicator. I am caring a message to you from our Master the Spirit King. As such I demand your full attention."
Mayuri vaguely remembered her from decades ago, but any message from the Spirit King gains his immediate concentration. He started to think of all the top secret experiments he was working on that such a meaningful dignitary may possible take exception of. It was wise of him to show her a modicum of respect. Her title of Adjudicator easily equaled a taichou; there was 13 of them, yet only 1 of her. "Just how may I be of service to you?", he asked condescendingly.
"He wishes your daughter Nemu to be removed from your care and be reassigned to another squad."
Katsumi watched the emotions that flickered across the man's face, and there was even a touch of parental concern.
"Nemu? That idiot girl! Why should he care about her? She is my daughter, this is her home. I object to her removal from here." Mayuri declared indignantly.
"What you want does not matter, and do not think you will be able to intimidate me into not fulfilling my orders." Katsumi responded in an almost threateningly manner, something he had little experience with. "But as for the why, I suppose I can tell you that. Apparently you did such an amazing job in constructing her that the Spirit King gave her a soul."
"Well of course I did a good job! I made her perfect. Physically she can handle more damage than any other shinigami can take, but her looks are based on what is considered the perfect "form"." He paused in the middle of his rant, "The Spirit King recognizes my brilliance? And he gave her a soul?" This was certainly not what he had been expecting, but it satisfying that such an august personage recognized his high intellect.
"I know she holds a lot of responsibilities as fukutaichou and vice-president, and that her leaving will be hard for you. I assume that you have been downloading her memories and knowledge periodically."
"Of course I have! You never know when some accident may occur, and not just to her but to myself as well. We both have scheduled data dumps into the main computers." How silly not to make preparations for any kind of emergency, that was one of the first things he insisted on.
"It should not take you too long to build another daughter then, maybe a son this time? Then you can simply download the needed knowledge to the new sibling. Maybe with some upgrades?" Katsumi suggested off offhandedly. "As an experiment you have been testing her in a controlled environment, just think of this as field testing. How well can she function in a social situation on her own. I would think you would look forward to this opportunity...unless you do not think she can handle it?"
"Not handle it? Not handle it? I will have you know that anything that I created will not only handle it, but will surpass any natural shinigami by far."
"The Spirit King gave her this soul sometime in the last 5-6 decades. I wonder if you can go back through the data and be able to tell exactly when it happened." She said offhandedly.
"Now why would I want to waste my time doing that?" Mayuri snarled.
"If you can find out when it happened, maybe there is some way to measure it. If it can by unmeasured and quantified, there may be some way reproducing it." Katsumi barely kept the smile off her face.
"Reproduce it? Well...if I can measure it, I can make it. But why should I even bother is beyond me." Mayuri acted irritated, but on the inside his mind was working fast. He was struck by the ideal that he may be able to create a human soul, that would put him on the same level of the Spirit King … intellectually.
Katsumi smiled serenely, "Then you are in agreement with this order. When your new daughter is functioning, Nemu will be moved to another squad." She said this as if it was already desired by her father. "I do ask that you remove the poisons from her systems. She will be going to Squad 4, as well as here, to see to her health, and I do not think you want Unohana to sample any of it." Mayuri shuddered at the thought of that woman getting her hands on proprietary information. "Most of the shinigami here are not very perceptive, if you would give her a different name and appearance it would help them. There are not very many red-heads in the seireitei, it would make her unique." He had to agree with her that most of these idiotic shinigami had a hard time finding their zanpakutos, let alone tell the difference between two exquisitely crafted individuals.
"Well yes, I can easily make another daughter. An upgraded one at that, maybe see about installing new components that will give her greater offensive capabilities." He hesitated, "What about Nemu? Where will she go?" Though that girl was often a pain, he felt a kernel of concern about her. "She is a fukutaichou, any demotion in rank will look bad for her..." as an afterthought "and I suppose about me, too."
"There was talk about the 13th Squad, but they is someone already slotted into that seat. Then there are the 3 empty taichou seats. When they get filled she may be chosen for one of them." Katsumi replied thoughtfully. "Hisagi Shuhei fukutaichou has been doing a wonderful job as acting Taichou for these past few months; if he is named Taichou, he would need someone to take the 2nd seat."
Kurotsuchi's eyebrows came together. "He seems less inept than most of them. I don't know if he could past the Taichous exam."
"There is no need for the exam, he has already proven himself a competent officer. All he would need is the recommendation of 6 Taichous, and the approval of 3 others. Most of the other Taichous are suitably impressed with him. I have to go see to some other errands, I am sorry for interrupting you at your work." Katsumi slipped out of the lab, purposely leaving the conversation open. She was sure Mayuri knew what she was doing, but if her reasoning was sound and logical, Ashisogu Jizo assured her he would give it consideration.
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Hisagi Shuhei sat on the roof of the 9th Squads barracks, he was using this break from paperwork to oversee the training of his subordinates. He got so little free time he tried to use it to cut down on his work load. He noticed whenever anyone approached him, which is why he was surprised when a woman joined him.
"Who are yo..oh, it's Katsumi, right? From the other night?" Shuhei did not remember much from drinking too much, but he quickly recalled the information he gathered through the rumor mill. She was a contemporary of Kyoraku and Ukitake Taichous, and anyone that old had to be strong. Yet she did not exude spiritual pressure, as they did. Being this close to her, he should feel something, even if she was trying to hide it. Maybe she was like Kusajishi fukutaichou in that she seems to be naturally unreadable.
"I'm sorry I was unable to stay around and talk with all of you then, but I promise that I will try to make it to the next party." She sat down next to the handsome shinigami. "Right now I have a favor to ask you."
"We don't know each other, we have barely even talked, and you are already asking me for favors?" Shuhei appreciated her looks as well as the next man, but he was getting tired of people asking him to do things that they should be doing their selves. He has enough problems trying to put Tosen behind him that he doesn't need to borrow any more.
"Well...it's actually not for me. It is for Kurotsuchi fukutaichou. Not many are aware of the fact that she is going to be leaving the 12th Squad shortly."
"Leaving Squad 12? What happened? I though her father had ever forbidden her to go." He asked in surprise.
"If you can keep this confidential?" Hisagi nodded. "She has attained a soul...don't ask my how, it's confidential...and it was necessary to separate her from her father. That is pretty easy, but trying to find a place for her until a position can be formalize is the issue." Katsumi leaned closer to him and looked up at him hopefully. "I was wondering if you would go to Yamamoto and say she could stay here."
"Are you sure that it would be OK? I would think they would want her to stay with a Taichou.", he asked.
"Well I suppose she could go with Kyoraku...but he is such a womanizer, I don't know if I would feel comfortable leaving her with him." He grunted in agreement. "I can always suggest Ukitake, but his squad is undergoing some internal reshuffling. Maybe Nemu will feel comfortable with Zaraki Taichou."
"Zaraki! Nobody who is learning to be a person should be left with someone like him. And I agree with you about Kyoraku. Hitsugaya Toshiro would be good, but he is already putting up with Rangiku."
"She is a very hard worker, I am sure she can take care of a lot of the little paperwork and duties that have shoved off onto you. The busier she is..the less time she has to worry about what is happening to her. I've been around for a number of years, I wont tell just how many, and I must tell you I find that you are a model shinigami. I don't think there is anyone else better that Nemu can emulate, we do not want her becoming another Zaraki, Ichimaru, Aizen, or her father to name a few." A faint blush appeared across his cheeks. "For all of his faults, Tosen did know how to train good officers."
A haunted look clouded Hisagi's eyes. "Tosen was a traitor, who deserved what he got."
"I do net blame you for feeling that way. He started with good intentions, mistakenly following what he thought was the path of less blood, but then he allowed Aizen to corrupt him. I am surprised he did so well training you, which is why I feel Nemu should be placed in your squad."
"I'm nothing special." Shuhei looked down at his zanpakuto with a frown on his face. "Kazeshini is such an ugly weapon."
"How can you say that? I think he is very beautiful." She reached around him to run her fingers along the length of the blade, Shuhei shivered as if she had run those fingers down his body. "Zanpakuto are weapons, they are made to kill as well as to protect. Every sword, dagger, or knife exhibits the same thing...the desire to kill. Even those that are dedicated to healing, such as Unohana and most of the 4th Squad, are made to kill. You need to accept that reaping life is merely it's function, that you are the one who controls wither it kills or not." Katsumi looked to him, "Unless it is not the zan that bothers you, but your ability to use it. Most of the demon arts where developed to kill, yet you use it with such skill. It is that same skill that controls the zanpakuto. Is this what has been holding up your achieving banki?"
He shot her a quick glance. "I'm not powerful enough yet to have banki."
"That is non-sense. You should have reached that level by now, maybe I can not give Tosen as much credit as I have. A fighter needs to recognize the danger of his zanpakuto represents and respect the power it gives you, but one should never fear it. It is not the sword that is good or evil, it is the wielder that is responsible for anything it does. If you do not want a zan that signifies death..I suggest you give up being a shinigami."
"I know that in my mind, but in my heart...I fear...I don't know exactly what I fear." Hisagi hung his head, ashamed that someone who did not even knew him guessed at what he was going through.
"When I was your age...I had all sorts of problems with Himitsu Soyokaze, but there was one person who I could depend on to help me through them. He scared me at first, but now I think of him as a father figure. If you go to Yamamoto and ask him if Nemu can be placed here, I suggest that you ask him to help you with Kazeshini."
"Yama.." He swallowed and cleared his voice. "The General-Commander? I don't think I need to talk to him about anything as little as this to him." Just the thought of talking about such personal problems with the highest ranking officer of the entire soul society was daunting.
Katsumi leaned closer to him, "He's not going to bit you, and as your immediate superior it is his duty to help you with your training." She shoved him gently with her arm, "I was in the first academy graduating class, so I think I have known him longer than you have. I know he can answer these types of problems, or at least point you in the proper direction; that is what he has done for me."
Hisagi looked up hopefully, "Do you really think he will help me?"
She smiled back, "If he took the time to straigten out not only me, but my two looser friends Shunsui and Jushiro, he will help you. The old man even forced Kendo lessons on Zaraki, and he hated that with a passion; he wound up having to use it too. Of course Yamamoto would help out one of the best and brightest the seireitei has. And you would have no one better in helping you get named Taichou...I would not recommend mentioning that to him." Katsumi winked as she said the last. Shuhei's jaw dropped open, then he stammered a denial at wanting to attain the rank of Taichou. "You have been acting Taichou for the last several months during war time, on top of your duties as fukutaichou. If anyone has shown what kind of officer he would be...it is you. You have to take the initiative; we all know you can do the job, but you have to actively work to achieve it. Yamamoto has seen more history than anyone else, and as such he would be a great resource to achieve your goal. He really likes you, though he may not show it." Katsumi stood up on the roof. "If he tries to get our of it...just tell him that I sent you to him. He may be wise and powerful now, but at one time he was just like us. Give him a chance." With that she turned and shunpoed in the direction of the 11th Squad grounds.
Shuhei was daunted by the prospect of approaching the General-Commander, but Katsumi has known him for centuries. If anyone know how he would react, it would be her. He was thankful that he could talk to someone like her about Tosen; he had been trying to deal with it on his own. He tried to talk to Komamura Taichou once, but the fox headed shinigami was as confused about his old friend as Hisagi was. Maybe this would be a good thing, something that will help sort out his feelings about the betrayal of his Taichou and best friend.