Hisagi Shūhei

After following Tōsen around almost all night, Hisagi had the morning to evaluate the state of the divisions and make sure things were in order at Ninth before meeting with Tōsen again. Then he was supposed to accompany Tōsen to three more meetings, the last one with division leadership.

He hoped the energy pills from the Fourth didn't have side-effects from overuse or anything.

First was very, very quiet. Hisagi guessed they were intimidated by the palace looming directly over then. He certainly was. Third Seat Okikiba had set up a sort of makeshift office in their mess hall rather than take Sasakibe's, though he must have retrieved some paperwork from it. The head captain's office was now Tōsen's.

"Despite the former Captain-Commander's orders, not everyone in the division is… prepared, yet, to swear allegiance to… Aizen-sama," Okikiba said, like it was a bad thing. "Under a fifth of the division has… gone up the Hill. We are trying to ready ourselves—"

A fifth? Shit. "Don't move too fast!" Hisagi said quickly. Too quickly? "If—" Damn, he couldn't discourage them, that wasn't allowed, but— Finally, he just said, "There's a test that goes with swearing allegiance, but I can't tell you what it is. People that fail the test may be yoked or killed. So… be very careful."

Okikiba blinked rapidly. "I… see."

And it would have been nice to know earlier, but what could you do.

Second was a mess. Ōmaeda, in his office, looked like hell warmed over. "Regular Second is at about forty percent strength once all the injuries are considered," he said. "We should get up to about eighty when they've all recovered. The remaining twenty percent — most of them are dead, a few are missing."

The arrancar really had been fighting to disable. Hisagi was… impressed? "You've contacted the Fourth for aid?"

"Yes, and the worst cases are there." Ōmaeda sighed. "The Punishment Force — under half of them were taken alive. The rest are about three-quarters dead, one quarter… unaccounted-for. Onmitsukidō, almost none taken alive, one-third dead, two-thirds unaccounted-for." He shrugged. "Though it wouldn't surprise me if a few of the missing ones didn't just go to swear allegiance without checking in. Some of them don't do anything halfway."

"About that…" Hisagi hesitated. He still wasn't quite sure how to present this. "People should be careful, about going to swear allegiance. I can't tell you any details but there's some sort of test." Although he guessed mostly people from Second would do what they needed for the result they wanted.

"I'll be sure to tell anyone who actually talks to me about it."

"Any sign of, uh, your stand-in?"

"Unaccounted-for," Ōmaeda said, and scowled darkly at his desk. "I'd be happier about his maybe escaping if he'd done a better job of protecting his own family."

Oh no. "Are they…?"

"My youngest sister is alive. Hinamori has her."

That was better than nothing. "I'm sorry."

Ōmaeda shrugged listlessly. "You might have been able to help if they were alive."

There was an awkward pause.

"So, you think it will probably be several weeks before Second is action-ready?" Hisagi said finally.

"I think Second should focus on tasks the Punishment Force would usually do," Ōmaeda said. "I don't know what's going on in the Maggots' Nest, but something is, and no one I'd ordinarily send to investigate is available!"

"…Good point. And…" Should he ask about Baraggan? He couldn't bring himself to ask about Baraggan. "I think there will be another division leadership meeting tonight."

Ōmaeda just nodded glumly. "Stay out of the lockup. They bite."

Hisagi didn't even try to decipher that. Or visit the lockup.

Third was in much better condition than Second; Kira was in somewhat worse condition than Ōmaeda. (Physically, anyway. Mentally, he looked… no more despondent than usual.)

"We had minimal casualties during the takeover," Kira reported. "But we did have a dozen people who decided to swear allegiance, and none of them have come back yet — do you know if there's a… timetable on that?"

Hisagi fought not to wince. "Some of it may be that there are a lot of people, what with some noble retainers, and Eleventh, as well as everyone else. And I think there's some amount of training. So you don't need to assume the worst yet."

Kira sighed deeply. "But?"

"But there's a test, of loyalty. I can't tell you what it involves, but it's… not an easy test."

"Of course," Kira said heavily. "I'll advise people of that."

Fourth was buzzing with activity, unsurprisingly. There were wounded from multiple divisions, and civilians, and the not-quite-civilians of nobles' private guards, and one arrancar complaining loudly to anyone who would listen about how he'd fallen through a hole in the street. He found Isane finishing up with a broken leg on an Academy student.

"What happened there?" he asked, concerned. "I didn't think there'd been any fighting around the Academy."

Isane shook her head. "He fell off a roof fighting over a telescope, to see what was going on over in Sixth. Hisagi, I already told Hinamori about this, but — I have some concerns about the… yoke. Medical ones. We had a young civilian girl who was yoked for just a few hours and almost died. It hurts even vice-captains. It is my medical opinion that anyone below seated officer level is in danger from the yoke and needs at least daily checkups."

"I… see," Hisagi managed. "I'll certainly… I think Tōsen-sama will take that into account…"

"Secondarily, please convey to whomever it concerns that the arrancar f— uh, messing around in the sewers had better not damage anything, and if they're still there the next time cleaning comes around they'd better be prepared to do it themselves."

"…I'm confident Tōsen-sama will get that taken care of. He, um, is committed to keeping from arrancar causing problems messing around."

"That's a relief."

"Have you… had anyone go up the hill to swear allegiance?"

She shook her head. "No. I think there's some hope that healing-specific zanpakuto may be returned regardless? They sent Hanatarō back with his…"

"I don't know anything about that — but if anyone does want to swear allegiance, they should be aware that there's a test."

Fifth was fairly good shape, but it had more people gone up the hill than from First through Fourth put together, even with the maximum estimate from Second. Trying to follow Hinamori's lead? And she didn't know about the test yet. (Hisagi prayed she'd never know about the test, but his hopes were not high.) He found out about it from the Third Seat, as Hinamori herself was passed out over her desk surrounded by jumpy noble children who tended to burst into tears if anyone tried to approach.

Hisagi warned the Third Seat about the test. Vaguely.

Sixth was… in better shape than Second, and much better shape than when he'd been there the previous night. The fires were out and the bodies were out of plain sight. Shirogane Ginjirō seemed to have things more or less under control.

"We're at about eighty percent where Sixth was before," he said. "Should be up to ninety in a few weeks. But almost all of those losses are in the upper ranks, and I need to get to know the division as it is now, so our effectiveness is going to drop."

There was a lot more judgment in Shirogane's eyes then there had been in the others'. He hadn't been there — hadn't seen what the options had been — couldn't see Hisagi was doing this for everyone—

"Right," Hisagi said. "Have you had many people going up the hill? Because you should be aware there's a test—"

It turned out most of the people from Sixth who went to swear allegiance, or intended to do so, were noble-descended and at risk of negative attention from Tōsen if they didn't.

"They…" What should he say? "Just… be aware it's not a trivial test."

Seventh was blessedly normal. Well, Komamura's damn dog was whining and occasionally howling in spite of Iba's attempts to bribe it into silence, and he inevitably got dragged into a bizarre conversation about what the most manly thing to do was, but compared to Sixth, normal. And they'd had a few people go up the hill earlier, but since Iba got back he'd been suggesting they wait for more information.

"Good call," Hisagi said. "There's a test."

"What kind of test?"

"I can't tell you what kind of test. No one can say what kind of test. But it's a big test."

Iba sighed. "Some of my guys will want to try it anyway. But thanks for the heads up. You want to ask Tōsen… sama if the arrancar will be doing fire brigade duty, or should we get on that?"

Hisagi frowned. "Uh… good point."

"There's also… uh… we've got some, uh… new transfers. From Eleventh." When Hisagi blinked, Iba lowered his voice. "Eleventh Division has to go up the hill, leave Seireitei, or die. Some of the cooler heads claimed to be from here and said they got caught up in the fighting by accident. I backdated the transfers in the records."

"Ah. Okay. I should be able to cover for that."

Eighth was also in relatively good order, and Nanao came right out and asked him if there was a test. Then she adjusted her glasses at him when he said he couldn't tell her what it was. And again when he said he didn't know why they were holding Matsumoto.

Once he got to Ninth he'd be there for hours, so he skipped to Tenth. He could barely bring himself to face them. Objectively they weren't any worse off than Sixth — better, since they had their own Third Seat and the rest of the division was more or less intact — and objectively, none of this was because of him at all—

"Tōsen-sama, are we going to be bringing in Matsumoto-fukutaichō? She'd be able to help a lot with… people stuff—"

"Shūhei, that harlot has taken shameless advantage of your good nature. Aizen-sama has better use for her in the proving ground and I am glad of it."

"The — she's not a— What's the proving ground?"

Tōsen told him what the proving ground was.

—It was still hard to face a division that couldn't understand why it wasn't getting its vice-captain back. They wanted an explanation he couldn't give them. And wouldn't want to, if he could.

("Harlot"?)

The area around Eleventh was had a lot of collateral battle damage, a lot of bodies, and a lot of grumbling arrancar clearing away bodies and wreckage. Fourth Division wouldn't have to do that, at least.

Eleventh itself was badly damaged and almost, but not quite, empty. Yumichika was just leaving seated officers' housing, carrying several bags. Unlike Kira and Ōmaeda, he looked immaculate, if a little strange in the black-and-white uniform. Curious, given how vitriolic his fight had been.

"Hisagi-fukutaichō," he said politely. "Or do you have a new title now?"

"Not yet," Hisagi said. "You're… packing?"

"I can't imagine Tōsen-sama is going to let the building stand empty for long," Yumichika said. "It will be repurposed or demolished, and either way I want my belongings out of it." He tossed his head. "I'm not sure what the official disposition of former Eleventh Division members will be, when those that went to swear allegiance return, but for now I will be assisting Ōmaeda at Second."

That sounded like a very good idea. "I'm not sure either. Do you have any idea what the numbers are, on Eleventh Division members who went up the hill?"

"Of course not. I was otherwise occupied." Right. "Most of the upper seats are probably dead. I suggest you ask the arrancar for a body count and subtract. Maki-Maki said some left the Seireitei rather than swear or die — he might have an idea how many."

Hisagi couldn't remember who Maki-Maki was. "Where would I find him?"

"He was hiding in the barracks when I found him, but he's probably moved by now."

Hisagi should really probably be asking those "new transfers" of Iba's. "All right. Good luck at Second."

Quite unexpectedly, Nemu was at Twelfth, directing the movement of a lot of… science stuff into the SRDI. There were several strange-looking arrancar among the movers. Rather than looking relieved at his vice-captain's presence, Akon looked… numbly horrified.

"We're being turned over to Szayelaporro… sama, I guess. Those are some of his fraccion. He modifies them so he can eat them to regain strength."

"…Really." That might even be a little worse than Kurotsuchi.

"Kurotsuchi-fukutaichō believes he would have no… long-term use for any division members outside the SRDI, and has ordered them all transferred to other divisions as soon as possible, before Szayelaporro… sama returns from Hueco Mundo." Akon stared at the… science stuff. "He'll probably be in a bad mood, because he had to empty his entire Hueco Mundo laboratory and tear up the floor because Kurotsuchi-taichō liquified in it and he's still trying to find… all of him."

Um.

"And in the meantime we need to hold his subjects. Which fine, it's not like that's new, but doing it for an arrancar is—" Akon broke off. "Where can we transfer our non-scientific personnel?"

"Something for the meeting, I think," Hisagi said. "Will Kurotsuchi-fukutaichō be staying?"

"Maybe for a while. Then she has to go back to Hueco Mundo to help… hell… collect Kurotsuchi-taichō."

He made the visit to Thirteenth as quick as he could. Sentarō and Kiyone both glared at him the whole time. No, they hadn't had any casualties to speak up. No, they hadn't had any trai— Hadn't had any people go up the hill. Thirteenth was ready to go, except for lack of zanpakutō.

And then Ninth. After Fifth, he was prepared for the huge spike in people gone up the hill, but that didn't make him any happier about it.

He really wasn't looking forward to dealing with them when they came back.

Yadōmaru Lisa

Lisa dragged herself out of the bath wishing for a shower. (She missed the Living World bitterly, for so many reasons.) All the battle injuries were long gone, but a night with the Tres Bestias left her looking like she'd fallen down a flight of stairs into a pit of attack monkeys. (Everyone knew she was a pervert. She'd probably always dreamed of this.) The yoke was a dull burn around her neck and shoulders. From the column of smoke she could see out the window, something else was burning more literally.

It was morning in Seireitei.

She'd never planned to come back here at all, far less under these circumstances.

Wrapped in a towel, she shuffled back down the hall towards the room the Visored had claimed as their own. It looked like Hiyori and Mashiro had at least done their part in cleaning up the bloodstains and other signs of the house's previous occupants' abrupt departure — Lisa didn't know what noble family they were attached to and didn't care, either, but it was a good-sized place with three baths. (She had a feeling that would be a very welcome feature in the future.) And it had more actual constructed rooms than some places in Seireitei, which was also nice. At least when they retreated into "their" room they could be reasonably confident Apacci or Mila Rose wouldn't come crashing through the wall.

Mashiro was asleep, tangled up in her sheet, drooling off the edge of her futon. Hiyori was scowling in the corner, scratching angrily at her yoke. Or possibly at the scabs of the scratches from the first time she went after the yoke. Had Orihime healed those? Whatever.

They were lucky that the woman Espada had taken an interest in them, Lisa knew. She had no doubt at all the rest of their friends, presumably somewhere in Aizen's new… castle… were in considerably worse straits. And they were lucky the arrancar had agreed to leave the other two alone in exchange for Lisa's willing active participation. (It wasn't anything she hadn't read about. It felt good. Eventually.)

"Unless they're interested, of course," Apacci had added with a toothy smile.

Which probably meant they were planning on seducing Mashiro, eventually. But not yet.

"You look like shit," Hiyori said.

"So do you," Lisa replied.

"At least I didn't let three different arrancar chew on me."

"At least I'm not a shrimp."

Hiyori sneered, but couldn't seem to muster the energy for an actual attack. "Snake Girl brought clothes while you were drowning yourself." She pointed to a pile by the door. "She said they were busy and would come get us sometime after noon, and not to get in trouble."

The clothing was arrancar white on the top, shinigami black on the bottom, and looked like a uniform rather than two uniforms mixed and matched. Lisa was equally unenthusiastic about both, but would put up with it for intact clothes.

After dressing (covering up most but not all of the bite marks), Lisa wandered to the window. "Do you know what that fire is?"

"No, but it's been burning since we got here," Hiyori grumbled. "There've been others, too."

Lisa leaned out the window. Not a twitch from the yoke. "I think I might go look around," she said experimentally. Still nothing.

"What for?" Hiyori said. "We know where everyone who matters is, and it's not out there."

"We don't know for sure," Lisa said. "Even if we did I'd rather look around than stay in here all day."

"Suit yourself."

"I may be back in five minutes if it turns out the yoke really is tethered to the house."

She jumped out the window. The yoke wasn't tethered to the house.

Lisa loitered for a bit, people-watching. There were shinigami, who seemed scared half-witless but not too badly damaged, at least the ones moving around. There were arrancar — not as many as she was half-expecting. Not as many bodies as she was expecting, either.

There were some fires still burning at various noble compounds, Second and Sixth were messes, and Eleventh was trashed (and where most of the shinigami bodies were), but nothing compared to the huge fire which was, if she recalled correctly, completely engulfing the location of Central 46.

Finally she gave up on pretenses and headed for Eighth.

Kyōraku wasn't around, she could tell immediately — no surprise there. Little Nanao was, all grown up with a vice-captain's badge on her arm, standing just outside the gate talking to a man in black-and-white with—

She couldn't think of any good reason for someone to have 69 tattooed on his face.

…Not one that would fly in the Gotei, anyway.

Nanao looked like she trusted him, but some of her people just inside the gate seemed to feel differently, from how watchful they were being.

"Uh, there is a test," 69 was saying. "Any more than that is restricted information, but I can tell you there's a test, and it's a… it's a significant test. And you should tell people about that." He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "I need to get going to check on the rest. Tenth will be interesting…"

Nanao nodded. "Yes. Though I expect Tenth would be easier if we even had some idea why they're holding Matsumoto…?"

"No, sorry," 69 said — a bit shiftily, Lisa thought. "Look, I really need to finish the circuit so I can get to Ninth — do you mind if I cut out? I'll see you at the meeting tonight."

"Of course," Nanao said, but when 69 had shunpo'd away she sighed and adjusted her glasses.

Lisa thought it over, and jumped down off the roof she was on, landing a respectful two meters away. "Hey."

One of the unseated officers just inside the gate shrieked.

Nanao stared at her. "L— Lisa? What—?" She adjusted her glasses again. "You— Of course. The Visored were captured, too. And — someone yoked you?"

"Yes and yes," Lisa sighed. "Me and Hiyori and Mashiro. You're pretty well-informed."

"I try," Nanao said. "Can I… ask if you're all right?"

Lisa laughed. "Oh, I'm just great."

…Nanao didn't look like she bought it. "Would you like to come in, have some tea, and compare notes?"

"I'd rather have some of the captain's sake but I guess it's a bit early for that. Sure."

Lisa did end up having some of the captain's sake. Nanao didn't, because she needed to keep a clear head and didn't drink much.

"You might want to take it up," Lisa suggested.

"…I'll take that under advisement."

Hitsugaya Tōshirō

Tōshirō woke up feeling possibly even more tired than when he fell asleep — he guessed that was what you got when you slept on sekkiseki. At least he was able to put two thoughts together now.

He wasn't sure how long he'd slept. He wasn't sure how long he'd been awake before that, apart from brief blackouts on the battlefield after Aizen left and during the… incident with Antenor. He was sure that between the fighting and the sekkiseki, his reiatsu was down a lot, and, well…

His body didn't know he wasn't a child, and the lower his power got, the more insistent it got about things like sleep. There'd been a few incidents during bankai training he was very grateful no one else had witnessed. He should probably plan on spending most of his free time sleeping, or he was going to make a fool of himself from lack of it.

…Not that there was anything else to do in the sekkiseki cell anyway.

…Not that anything else that seemed likely to happen was preferable to sleeping.

Antenor was likely to come back again, after he'd been lectured in how not to kill shinigami. The experience had been very degrading and extremely painful, but he'd survived it. He could survive it again. He hadn't pulled off being indifferent to it, but he could move past it.

The… proving ground was something else.

It was going to be a problem. It was already a problem, and he'd barely even been touched. The… recruits had mostly avoided Tōshirō's cell. One had even started to come in, then commented that he looked even younger than he usually did and left. Instead, Tōshirō had just had to lie there, listening. But then, towards the end, a man had come in and — and spanked him.

"Damn arrogant jumped-up Rukon brat, acting like you have any right to any authority here, you child—"

And that had given people ideas, apparently, because he'd barely left when another one came in. "Not so strong now, are you, captain, without your fancy kidō sword or your stupid tricks—"

Tōshirō had managed to place that one before he put the cane down and left — an unseated officer from Eleventh he'd had to warn off harassing Tenth's recruits, one time. He'd thought he'd intimidated some respect into the oaf, but it seemed the respect hadn't outlived the intimidation.

Then there had been someone from Ninth. He'd just jeered, he hadn't touched. Yet.

Then they'd run out of time for the day, and Tōshirō had been dragged back to his sekkiseki cell with nothing but bruised wrists and ankles and badly bruised buttocks. Inoue had practically brightened up when she saw the condition he was in. After healing he'd fallen asleep almost immediately.

Which brought him to where he was now — slumped against sekkiseki that leached out his strength as quickly as it could return, with absolutely nothing he could do about anything.

No. There had to be something he could do. He refused to accept that there was nothing he could do.

Besides just repeat please no one from Tenth, please no one from Tenth over and over in his head.

The door opened. He failed to suppress a flinch back against the cell wall.

It wasn't Antenor, it wasn't even the clone-arrancar — it was the little green-haired arrancar girl who'd been with the Primera and grabbed him by the hair just after they'd arrived in the castle. Tōshirō had no idea why she was at all interested in him.

(It had better not be because they both looked like children.)

(It was almost certainly because they both looked like children.)

"Hello, Shirō-chan," she said with a sharp smile.

He didn't say anything, just glared at her.

"Fight me," she said, and jumped on him. Shit.

She didn't have any weapons out, and she obviously didn't have much training or even experience in unarmed combat. He managed to roll over and throw her off, dodge the next several attacks, and land some blows that probably stung. But she also didn't have depleted spiritual energy from sekkiseki and… everything else, so she was stronger, and faster, and tougher, and still going strong when he was gasping for air and trembling and helpless. And she was considerably less affected by being slammed into stone walls and floor.

"That wasn't that impressive," she said when she had him pinned.

"I know it wasn't very impressive, I don't have any damn energy," he growled into the floor.

"Oh. Right." She leaned her elbow on the back of his head, pressing his face harder against the floor. "I'll come back later then." She was gone before he could pull himself off the floor.

Back later? When he'd be even weaker? What the hell was the point in that?

He was so tired.

He fell asleep again before they came to take him to the proving ground.

Ayasegawa Yumichika

Yumichika had to admit he wasn't sure why the captains' meeting hall had no chairs in the first place, but it still seemed sort of… tacky for Baraggan to have his fraccion assemble that ridiculous throne in there. Not that Yumichika allowed any hint of this to cross his face, of course. He knelt serenely beside the throne with Kira and Ōmaeda, while the fraccion stood proudly around it. No one else was there yet.

He had to admit Kira was coping with the situation a lot better than he would have predicted. He was gloomy, gloomier than usual even, and maybe somewhat emotionally shut down, but not panicking or tearing himself up with shame. He did what was required of him quietly and without fuss, and while that didn't endear him to the fraccion it didn't get them more worked up, either. (Chuhlhourne had claimed Kira had a more beautiful attitude than Yumichika, which was just blatantly false.) And in the morning he'd just cleaned up, treated his most serious and/or troublesome injuries, and gone to work.

On the other hand, Yumichika suspected Ōmaeda was still in shock from losing most of his family. He wasn't really properly reacting to things. When he got past it, there was probably going to be an explosion.

Tōsen arrived, with Hisagi and Hinamori in tow. They both looked exhausted, but Yumichika refused to feel sorry for them. They didn't have to spread their legs for arrancar or bear this damned burning yoke, so what if they had to listen to Tōsen going on about his grand visions for Seireitei and pretend they agreed.

Well, maybe he felt a little sorry for them.

The Tercera arrived with the three female Visored, but without her fraccion. The black-haired one was moving a bit stiffly and showed a few bites, but the other two looked untouched. The green-haired one glared sullenly at Tōsen; the little blond one glared at everyone.

"Cut it out, both of you," the black-haired one hissed. "We're here to get our zanpakutō back, you can shut up for however long that takes."

The blond one switched to glaring at the floor. The green-haired one took a breath to retort, but squeaked and subsided when the Tercera dropped a hand to the yoke. All three of the Visored knelt.

"About time you showed up," Baraggan grunted. The Tercera didn't dignify this with a response.

"Harribel," Tōsen said. "Upon consideration, I have decided that Yadōmaru, Sarugaki, and Kuna will not be given specific division assignments, but classified as shikai assets and dispatched on a mission-by-mission basis. I will inform the division leadership of this."

"As you wish, Tōsen-sama."

Tōsen seemed to study Baraggan's three slaves for a minute, though Yumichika wasn't sure how exactly. "Hisagi. Have they been able to perform their duties satisfactorily?"

"So far, yes, Tōsen-sama," Hisagi said carefully. "I believe since Ayasegawa has no assigned division at present, he has been assisting at Second."

"That is acceptable," Tōsen said.

"As to whether their… condition will cause problems over a longer period of time, Kotetsu-fukutaichō might be a better person to ask."

Hinamori cleared her throat anxiously. "When you have a moment, Tōsen-sama, Kotetsu-fukutaichō also had some medical concerns about the effects of the yoke on those with weaker spiritual power." Tōsen didn't reply, and she didn't press.

Grimmjow swaggered into the room alone. "Harribel. Baraggan. Tōsen… sama. I passed Cirucci and Dordoni on the way up, but Nnoitra may be a while and fuck knows where Szayelaporro's slithered off to."

"You were told to bring your pet for inspection, and approval if an active shinigami," Tōsen said.

"Still don't have one. Would it be okay if I got an active shinigami who's also a noble? You want those yoked, right?"

Tōsen considered this, then nodded. "Yes, that is probably acceptable. But I still want to approve any seated officer you take."

"I'll be sure to do that." And Grimmjow blew back out, waving casually over his shoulder. Yumichika wondered if he had someone in mind.

"Wonder what's keeping Nnoitra," Ggio muttered.

Chuhlhourne sniffed. "He probably accidentally killed his pet and now can't figure out why it isn't obeying him."

Not long after Grimmjow's brief visit, a female arrancar with purple hair (stronger than the fraccion, much much weaker than the Espada present) appeared in the doorway and bowed deeply. "Tōsen-sama, Segunda, Tercera." She snapped her fingers, and she was joined by a haggard-looking young man in the bottom half of a shihakushō. His chest was raked with claw (or nail) marks, and blood was oozing from the yoke. "My new pet, if you give your approval, Tōsen-sama."

Hinamori had clapped both hands over her mouth. Maybe she recognized the boy? Because honestly, Ōmaeda and Kira both looked worse, so his appearance shouldn't be that much of a shock.

"Cirucci," Tōsen said. "Who is the pet?"

Cirucci snapped her fingers again, and the man spoke. "Uh, Utsunomiya Tomomoto, s-sixteenth seat of Fifth Division." Hinamori did know him, then.

"Fifth Division surrendered," Tōsen said.

"Yes, Tōsen-sama, but I found him trying to defend a noble house, and he stated that he belonged there."

Hisagi winced. "Oops," Yumichika muttered to Kira, who nodded.

"They're my family," blurted the boy. "I couldn't just abandon them — you—"

"Shut up and kneel," said Cirucci. He shut up and knelt.

"Approved," Tōsen said to Cirucci. "But he is expected to perform his division duties. And get him a loyal uniform."

"Understood, Tōsen-sama. I did use my other allotted yoke, but I had to take it off — the girl turned out to be a juvenile and anyway her reaction to the yoke kept getting worse."

Tōsen frowned. "You were told not to take juveniles."

"I mistook her for an adult — she was married."

Tōsen's frown deepened. "Nobles are perverse. Is the child now in your custody, Hinamori-fukutaichō?"

Hinamori tore her eyes away from her unfortunate sixteenth seat. "Sh-she's still at the Fourth, Tōsen-sama. She was seriously injured by the yoke."

"Note that the marriage was invalid, as the bride was a child."

"…Hai, Tōsen-sama."

"It's unlikely to be an issue, we killed all the other nobles in that house," Cirucci said.

Tōsen nodded slowly. "I will consider providing a new yoke for you to apply more appropriately."

"Thank you, Tōsen-sama."

The next arrancar all but pranced into the room, followed by a yoked elderly man in civilian clothes. The yoke wasn't fully visible, but what Yumichika could see was smeared with blood and looked burned.

"Why the hell do you want to fuck that?" Cirucci demanded.

"I don't," said the new arrancar. "I just need a servant. None of the ladies I've seen so far seem like much fun, and judging from how Rokurō here has reacted they would probably be even less fun with the yoke on."

The man looked… like a properly blank-faced noble retainer. But Yumichika thought he seemed more disturbed by the condition of the yoked shinigami than distressed by his own predicament. Well, going from a servant to a servant wasn't so bad. Apart from the yoke.

Tōsen approved the servant without any objection. Well, he probably did object to it less than the whole sex toy thing.

Grimmjow swaggered back into the room. "On second thought, I'll stay for the rest of the meeting."

Tōsen looked like he was getting a headache.

"All right, Nnoitra definitely fucked up somehow," Findorr murmured.

The Quinta Espada and his fraccion arrived shortly thereafter. The fraccion was carrying an unconscious girl over each shoulder, one wrapped in a sheet and the other in the remains of a silk kimono. Nnoitra was carrying another, completely naked girl, and fondling her. Her eyes were open but not tracking, and the yoke was inert enough she wasn't fighting it.

Hinamori made a horrified noise. "That's — those—"

Yumichika closed his eyes for a moment. Outrage accomplished nothing. Gathering information might. Hinamori, the green-haired Visored, the sixteenth seat, and — oddly — Ōmaeda were openly distressed. Kira and the black-haired Visored were keeping things pinned down a bit better. Hisagi and the retainer were mostly blank-faced.

"You sick fuck!" the blond Visored snarled. Yumichika noted that the Tercera did not reprimand her.

Among the arrancar, the Tercera was unreadable, and Cirucci and Dordoni both looked like they smelled something bad. Baraggan's fraccion were mostly looking to Baraggan for cues, and Baraggan looked mildly annoyed. Grimmjow was grinning, looking back and forth between Nnoitra and… Tōsen.

Tōsen looked… ominous.

"Nnoitra," Tōsen said. "This is a serious meeting and not a suitable venue for… that."

"I'm bringing my pets for inspection!" Nnoitra said. "That's what you said to do! These are nobles, not shinigami, so I don't need your approval. If that's all, I'll—"

"How old are they!" Hinamori burst out. She went white as everyone looked at her, but managed to continue, "Th-they might not — if— Tōsen-sama, I'm sorry, but if they're too young — I think—"

"Yes," Tōsen said. "How old are they?"

"The fuck should I know?" Nnoitra said. He pinched the girl he was holding. "They don't seem too young to me."

Age was such a… slippery thing, in Seireitei. Hitsugaya was past fifty, but looked preadolescent, but had adult responsibilities, but had the emotional malleability of a very young adult, and was probably still (slowly) maturing and (even more slowly) growing. Yachiru was probably older, definitely looked younger, usually acted the age she looked, except when she seemed to really be playing everyone around her, and no one was quite sure if she was growing at all. (He hoped Yachiru was all right.) Yumichika wouldn't venture a guess about the girls over the fraccion's shoulder, but he'd guess the one Nnoitra was holding was old enough to not be a child, at least.

"They are too young," Tōsen said. "Release them and remove the yokes."

And it looked like actual age was irrelevant compared to Tōsen's offended sensibilities.

Nnoitra argued. Tōsen would not be moved. Grimmjow laughed. Tōsen threw Grimmjow out. Nnoitra interpreted this as showing sympathy to his position and argued some more. Baraggan threatened to destroy Nnoitra himself if he didn't stop wasting everyone's time. Tōsen told Baraggan he was not to kill other Espada without Aizen's permission. Nnoitra yielded with poor grace, and took the yokes off.

Tōsen ordered Baraggan to allow Kira to assist Hinamori in trying to keep the girls alive long enough for Fourth Division to arrive. Tōsen acknowledged that the physical effects of the yokes on individuals with weaker spiritual power bore further investigation.

"Aren't you going to give me replacement yokes so I can get some new pets?" Nnoitra complained, as the Fourth Division team carried his old pets away.

"You still have one," Tōsen said flatly.

"Yeah, but I'm saving that for when someone brings in that bitch Nelliel."

The Tercera's eyes narrowed dangerously. Nnoitra didn't seem to notice.

After all that, Ulquiorra's arrival with a bunch of long thin cases was almost, but not quite, an anticlimax. The cases were spiritually insulated somehow, but Yumichika could still feel Ruri'iro Kujaku as soon as he was brought into the room.

Tōsen didn't have any commentary on the distribution of the zanpakutō to the yoked shinigami — and his own lieutenants. The Visored were all relieved to get their swords back, but not enough to make the blond one stop scowling. Unless her face had frozen that way? Expected reactions from Ōmaeda, Kira, and sixteenth seat. Hinamori clutched Tobiume to her, Hisagi held Kazeshini at arm's length.

Ruri'iro Kujaku's only comment was a forceful general Ugly! and the impression of sulking. Yumichika couldn't blame him.

There was still one sword left over. Kurotsuchi Nemu's, Yumichika guessed. Ulquiorra took it with him when he left.

"Oh, yes!" Chuhlhourne said. "Your Majesty, there's a secret about this sword!"

Shit.