Disclaimer: Bleach, its characters and its settings aren't mine
It said a great deal about Chojiro Sasakibe that no one even suspected he was dead.
Aizen found that rather sad. He took mild revenge on the other man's behalf, mostly by provoking Yama into making everyone in the Seireitei miserable.
He'd felt he needed a hobby.
Today he'd succeeded quite magnificently - to say Yama was angry was nowhere near sufficient; he'd passed through anger and out the far side. This time into sputtering rather than the purity of absolute rage he'd once been capable of.
Excellent.
"Where did this come from! Chojiro - details - who prepared this monstrosity!" Yama held up the manga in shaking hands, almost frothing. The comic book had young Abarai on the cover, standing back to back with the Ryoka boy, Kurosaki.
"I don't know, Yama-san." The old man was angry enough that Chojiro would have used the honorific. Had he been alive he'd have been intensely worried about old Yama. As he was not alive, Yama's rages and declining mental state was not of great concern. Which was why Aizen had brought this little gem to the old shinigami the moment he'd found it.
It was a – what was the word? A manga? A magna? Something like that.
About the Ryoka boy. Yama couldn't ask for a better present.
Aizen had been strolling the countryside, had stopped by the academy on the way back. Yama had mentioned something about a package from the headmaster, asked "Chojiro" if he might pick it up. Aizen had agreed, it was a lovely day for a walk after all, and he liked the academy. Aizen liked to walk under the trees there.
He certainly hadn't expected this. No student would leave their trash about but sometimes they forgot things. At first he'd simply intended to leave it at the office, it was only by chance Aizen happened to look at the thin booklet.
His first thought -what by Hueco Mundo? His second, when did Renji-kun get into something like this? He'd read the first page, looking carefully at the pictures, quickly flipped through to the end. How-
Aizen had laughed out loud, raced back to present the book to Yama.
"I found it on the academy grounds, left under a tree. I can only assume one of the students dropped it." Chojiro Sasakibe visibly tried to stay calm; Yama preferred if those around him stayed calm while he raged.
He no longer paid attention as he once had; Aizen felt the finer points of his performance were being ignored.
"Orders were given! This - this mockery is outrageous! I want the perpetrators found!"
Sasakibe had known how to handle the old man, Aizen stepped to a cabinet and poured the old man a small measure of a concentrated spirit. Yama had discovered distilled alcohol almost two thousand years ago. More recently he'd developed a taste for some of Mayuri's compounds, thought strictly speaking Yama-sama didn't know he'd been enjoying those.
Aizen loathed Mayuri. The man was sloppy, the most buffoonish of his former colleagues. Never once had he noticed bits of this and that disappearing from his labs.
The act of giving the old man the little glass steadied him; Chojiro had been his lieutenant for over nine hundred years, accounted himself Yama's closest friend for almost as long.
It was sad really. Even at the beginning Yama had never suspected, and that was before the chemicals had addled his brain.
To think Aizen had once feared this man.
Yama straightened a little. "I'm sorry, Chojiro. This-"
"I know, Yama-jii." Shunsui's expression, Chojiro Sasakibe had only used it occasionally when he and Yama were alone. "This needs to be investigated. If I might make a suggestion?"
"Of course."
"I was thinking perhaps Captain Unohana?" Retsu was best, one of the other might quash this so brutally it'd never reappear. Aizen didn't particularly want that to happen. "She has the right touch for younger people."
"An excellent idea." The old man set himself, squared his shoulders. "I would have sent Zaraki. Please summon Captain Retsu."
Poor old fool, trying so hard to hang on. "Of course, Captain Commander."
Twenty minutes later the captain of fourth division was leafing through 'The Substitute.'
Unohana Retsu hadn't been visibly flustered since she herself had studied at the academy.
"Oh dear."
"Yes," growled Yama. "Oh dear exactly. I want this dealt with, Captain Unohana. Put a stop to it."
"I found it at the academy," Aizen added.
"Of course," replied Unohana. She and Chojiro Sasakibe had been close, relatively speaking; they'd still never gotten beyond their family names.
"I suspect," said Aizen, "that this came from inside the walls of the Seireitei. No one outside could know the details of these events."
"It's not accurate," noted Unohana. "I wonder why?"
"It's propaganda," replied Aizen.
"It's set to put the Vizard in the best possible light." Growled Yama. "Orders were given that this was not to be spoken of, and this trash is floating around the academy?"
"I'll see to this at once, Captain Commander." Retsu didn't wait to be dismissed. No one did anymore. Unohana walked towards the door, still leafing through the booklet.
Aizen followed along.
"An unusual tactic," he said. "Who on earth could be behind it?"
Unohana smiled her usual warm smile. "I'm sure it's nothing Sasakibe-san. Some of the younger children, perhaps. We'll track them down and ask them to stop."
Aizen had to smile himself. Retsu-san never changed.
"Where will you start, Captain Unohana?"
"The academy," replied the lady captain. "I'll ask around until I find someone who knows about the manga and go from there. I'm sure I'll have the Captain Commander's answers by the end of the afternoon."
Aizen thought that might be aggressive, but he didn't say so.
Captain Unohana went outside, released Minazuki. Moments later she was flying towards the academy.
Minazuki landed on the academy lawn and Unohana returned her Zanpakuto to its sealed form. It had been a beautiful day to fly and she was grateful for the opportunity.
It also wouldn't hurt that whomever were looking out a window would know a captain had arrived. She carefully hung Minazuki over her shoulder and walked towards the academy doors.
It had been too long since she'd been here really. She used to teach a class here, perhaps she should take it up again now that Itane-san and Lemura-san were up to speed. She liked having so many enthusiastic young minds around, had recruited several of fourth company's officers directly from her students here.
Unohana planned in advance. First she needed another copy of the manga, one with an owner. From that she would trace a supplier, then the supplier to that supplier. Someone had to know the manga's provenance. She could follow that chain back to see how the manga got onto the campus.
It was a plan she was modestly proud of. The plan of the manga itself was brilliant, she'd concede that as well. This forbidden knowledge, any shinigami who'd been exposed to Kurosaki Ichigo had been ordered never to discuss him or any events he played a part in. None of these students were amongst that number. The manga, biased though it was, would keep Ichigo-san's memory alive. There'd be a new crop of soul reapers one day soon who'd never received the order that Kurosaki-san was to be forgotten, and they'd ask and be told not to speak of it. And they'd find there really was a Madarame Ikkaku, and a Renji-san, and a Rukia-san - they'd know there really had been a Kurosaki-san.
They were going to wonder what happened to him.
Assuming she didn't find the perpetrators first of course.
The captain glided into the office, asked to speak to the headmaster and was immediately ushered into his office.
"Captain Unohana? What a surprise! Tea?"
"Yes headmaster, if you would be so kind." The lady captain settled to the floor, carefully laying Minazuki beside her.
"Girl," called the headmaster, "tea for myself and my guest please."
Unohana smiled gently. "Really headmaster, you shouldn't address your subordinates-"
Unohana stopped when the child came in with the tea service. Her kimono was beautiful, pink and flowered.
"My granddaughter," smiled the headmaster. "The child always dresses up when she comes to see me."
The little girl performed a very adequate tea service for them.
"Thank you dear," said Unohana. "You're very skilled."
"Shoo, little one," said the headmaster. "You may go play now."
The solemn child bowed and padded out.
"What a beautiful child."
The headmaster smiled. "My youngest's youngest. She makes me feel so old sometimes." He sighed. "How may I help you Captain? Dare I hope you'd like to resume your duties with the sixth form healing group?"
"Possibly later," replied Unohana, "but unfortunately I'm here on more pressing business." She pulled the manga from her sleeve, placed it before the headmaster.
"The Substitute? Is this-"
He looked at her, aghast.
"Surely you're not saying-"
Unohana nodded. "Sasakibe-san found this on academy grounds this morning. He took it to the Captain Commander. Yamamoto has asked me to find the source of it."
The headmaster looked over the shabby manga with Abarai Renji on its cover. "Do you have any suspects?"
"None yet, unfortunately."
"We'll search the dorms," growled the headmaster. "Starting with the first years. They're most likely to be involved in this foolishness." He shouted for one of his aides.
"Please headmaster," counseled Unohana. "The students here would have no idea that Kurosaki Ichigo has been declared anathema. You cannot blame them for something they didn't know."
"Be that as it may," growled the headmaster, "this is the shinigami academy, they shouldn't be wasting their time with this rot."
One of the aides entered the room. "Sensei?"
"I want the dorms searched. Any copies of this," the headmaster held up the manga, crushed in his hand, "are to be seized and burned. I want it announced that this-this Substitute book is henceforth banned and any student caught in possession of it will be expelled!"
Unohana said "Headmaster, you can't suggest that, that will only make the problem worse, the students will want to know what they're not allowed to read. Ban the book from campus, threaten some minor punishment, but please, we should work to contain the damage rather than allowing it to spread."
"Wait," the headmaster stopped his aide, turned to Unohana. "Forgive me Captain, you're right. We cannot allow this to become a challenge for the students."
Unohana smiled. "A drawback of my profession headmaster, I see everything in a healer's terms. It's safer to lance the tumor while it's small then risk letting it grow."
"Search the dorms, every room," said the headmaster. "Seize any copies of this 'The Substitute' periodical and bring them to me. I'll arrange disposal."
"Please make a note of any students found with copies," said Unohana. "The Captain Commander wants me to trace the problem back to its source and deal with it there. We'll cut off the snake's head headmaster, just as soon as we find it."
"Meanwhile I'll see that anyone caught with a copy going forward wishes they hadn't been."
Unohana bowed her head in thanks and finished her tea.