Author's notes: As promised, a quick update to follow up the cruel cliffhanger, though I would think that you're used to those by now. XD Thanks again to my beta, PolarisAmane, without whom you would be suffering from more all caps stuff than there already is. Reviews are always nice. Wink, wink.
Btw, screw this website for stealing our asterisk section dividers! At some point, I shall have to go back and fix everything.
Disclaimer: I disclaim Bleach. Got it?
Chapter 7: True or False
"I trust you have a new candidate for me? Someone who isn't as pathetic as the one you sent us after last time?" Aizen addressed his guest with a dangerous edge in his voice that emphasized his dissatisfaction with the previous candidate.
The figure completely covered in the black of the Onmitsukidou uniform knelt humbly at Aizen's feet.
"Aizen-sama… "
"Well?"
"I apologize but the new list is missing."
"I see. And when did you realize this?"
"Just before coming here, I snuck into the office. I found the folder for potential bankai-capables, but not the list of those with questionable loyalty."
"Then she is on to you; and if she is, then there is no way you can remain useful for my goal. Gin-"
"NO!" the man threw himself on the ground. "Forgive me, Aizen-sama! I am certain I can still be of use! I am one of her trusted bodyguards and-"
"Not trusted enough that you have access to this missing list," the deceptively kind-faced man cut off neutrally.
"Wait!" the man stalled, once again kneeling and holding out both arms protectively in front of him. "There is one that I am sure is strong and skilled! Yoruichi-sama's student-"
"-is extremely loyal to her," Aizen finished impatiently. "You could not have picked a worse candidate. Gin," he beckoned again as he held his arm out and flicked his wrist. The white-haired boy stepped forward with an almost adorable child-like grin that turned into something much more sinister when matched with the blade he was now holding in front of him.
The hulking man looked around, wide eyed like an antelope that knew it was about to be devoured. He should have known that his plan to placate his lord with information about that brat wouldn't work. Aizen was absolutely right, she was little more than the Gundanchou's puppet and would never do anything unless Yoruichi-sama herself said so.
To anyone watching, it would have seemed odd that the man was trembling but otherwise still in the face of a boy that was surely going to kill him. But even if he knew he was an elite soldier, more than a match for a mere boy, it was difficult to put up a fight when he knew it was futile. A boy Gin may be, but only the powerful deserved to stand by Aizen's side; and any death the child could offer would be merciful compared to what he would suffer under Aizen's own hands.
Soon enough, in stark contrast to his earlier behavior, the man resignedly brought his hands down and bowed. Before the man's body was even completely bisected, it dissolved into spirit particles, leaving his executioner's blade swinging swiftly from the sudden lack of resistance.
Yoruichi's mind was reeling as she watched the golden tube materializing around Soifon's arm. It was tiny compared to those of the other captains, but she had no doubts that it could be just as dangerous. Indeed, with a mere pointing of her fingers, the girl seemed to be able to cause a tremendous amount of devastation. 'What awesome power! How fitting for an assassin!' the commander mentally praised. But despite how impressed she was, she couldn't find it in herself to be proud. If anything, she was cursing and wondering how things had degenerated so badly in two days that she was now watching her cute little student pulling off bankai. Of course, she knew she was deliberately ignoring the many things that had happened to warn her that something as unpleasant as this might happen, but she cursed and wondered anyway. It was easier to pretend that there was nothing she could have done to prevent this.
As quietly as she could, Yoruichi crept into a hidden crevice so she could think—interpret all of the events in light of this new discovery, then make a plan of action.
It had been a few months since the disappearances began—a shinigami here, and academy student there. The very first one had actually been the Third Seat of the Fifth Division. They were few and far between, so people simply assumed that they were all isolated incidents. But it had always bothered Yoruichi that people who were supposed to be under her protection as the head of a policing body were vanishing, and worse, that her men failed to solve every single one of those cases.
It was a month ago when she took over the investigations herself, taking files and pieces of evidence from each team in charge. It turned out that compiling everything was part of the key to understanding situation. The other part of the key was Yoruichi's access to information that was restricted because of the tremendous potential for misuse.
It turned out that each and every missing person was on the list of up and coming shinigami or students that might one day achieve bankai if they lived up to their full potential. More distressingly, all except for the Third Seat were on the shorter list of people who were in danger of being sent to the Maggot's Nest because of that combination of power and objectionable ideologies that made them a threat to Soul Society. If they went missing, they were either dead which implied that a vigilante was on the loose, or hiding—possibly together—meaning something terrible was afoot. Whichever turned out to be true, Yoruichi was sure of one thing: there was a spy in the Onmitsukidou.
It was like balancing on the edge of a knife, trying to root out the mole without alerting them that they were in danger of being caught. Yoruichi couldn't decide if it was a good or a bad thing that the old list had already been copied, relieving some of the urgency of the task of subtly protecting it. However, the updated list had just arrived, and as of two days ago, all she had determined was that the spy must have been ranked pretty high in her forces.
It would have been much easier to deal with the spy issue if she had brought the one Onmitsukidou member she trusted with her life in on the secret, but she thought that Soifon was too young and unprepared for the spy game that was bound to be much more dangerous than even regular Onmitsukidou troops were trained for. And so she resolved to keep Soifon out of the loop. That is, until she suddenly realized that the girl was a lot stronger than she seemed.
Yesterday, the Soushireikan had been fully prepared to meet with Soifon to discuss what she knew, but her plans were waylaid when she began paying attention to Soifon's progressively odd and questionable behavior. 'How could I have been so blind?' she began to ask herself when she considered the possibility that her protégé was a spy. But that was an easy question to answer; she was too fond of the girl who reminded her of herself, too easily taken in by her puppy-like expressions.
'Dammit, why did you have to be so adorable?!'
Since she had stupidly given Soifon complete access to her office and regularly forced her to spend a lot of her time doing the paperwork without supervision, Yoruichi had to find a way to protect the new information without alerting her to anything—hence her clandestine trip to her own office to kidou-secure and hide the sensitive information in plain sight. At this point, she was simply taking precautions for the worst case scenario, but she hoped to the gods that she was simply being paranoid.
This hope was shattered when she found the girl skulking in the shadows.
She had followed Soifon expecting to confirm her suspicions and to be lead to the spymaster. Instead, she was treated to the sight of the girl performing bankai. While she was now quite certain that the girl was a spy, there was no way that she could actually be Soifon. This begged the question of who was this person, and where was the real Soifon. Her blood froze when she realized she had no idea when the real Soifon had been replaced and more importantly, what had happened to her.
Yoruichi began to breathe shallower and shallower, quicker and quicker. 'Calm down, calm down. You don't know what happened yet, and the key to finding out is right here with you.'
The problem was that the said 'key' was currently in bankai, a particularly destructive one at that; and a battle in that state was best avoided, especially in a cave that masked the flow of reiatsu, preventing her from alerting the other captains. She was working out all of her possible options, when the girl's bankai oddly expanded then fizzled out, and she appeared to have been drained from her efforts.
'So she hasn't mastered it yet. Good,' Yoruichi thought with grim determination. And a plan formed straight out of the Onmitsukidou manual: 'Strike from behind while the enemy is defenseless.'
Yoruichi shot down from behind the boulder with every intention of incapacitating the impostor, only to witness the girl twitch and perform a flash step so fast that only she could surpass it. Yoruichi's foot drove deep into the ground where the girl used to be, sending up a cloud of dust and clearing a little crater. She stood in shock for just a second, then twisted quickly to scan the cave for her disturbingly skilled adversary.
Yoruichi frowned in confusion when she immediately spotted 'Soifon' standing in a loose defensive pose about fifty meters away. Her thoughts were running a mile a minute. She had underestimated the impostor, and now she had lost the element of surprise. The odd thing was that 'Soifon' hadn't hidden herself—hadn't run away at the first indication of being discovered by a captain. Nor had she taken advantage of Yoruichi's mistake and attacked while she dealt with her shock. Was it a sign of innocence, idiocy, or confidence in her ability to overpower a captain?
"Yoruichi-sama!" Soifon called out pleadingly. That brutal attack was way too harsh and dangerous for training, and the speed Yoruichi used was of a level she reserved for when she really meant business. Obviously, her commander had witnessed her second release and now, Soifon was understandably being suspected of something.
I knew I shouldn't have risked sneaking out to train before my shift! Now, how am I going get out of this without getting anyone hurt and without getting locked up?
"WHO ARE YOU?" Yoruichi bellowed.
"It's me, Soifon!"
"Tell me the truth, spy! And what have you done to the real Soifon?" she demanded, lowering herself to the opening form of her combat style.
Soifon hadn't run away because that was tantamount to admitting her guilt and that effectively tied her hands from altering the course of history. She had also foolishly forgone restraining Yoruichi for fear of hurting her. Now, she was in big trouble. Soifon's skills were captain level, but fighting Yoruichi in her prime when she seriously believed you were a threat was a very bad idea.
"Spy? What do you—" she shook her head, not understanding that accusation, before focused on what she did know. "It's the truth! I am Soifon! I'm from the future, but I. Am. Soifon."
She knew what she sounded like. A liar. A loon. That's what she would have thought if she had been in Yoruichi's position. She would have tried to make up something more believable, but it was nearly impossible to lie to the Commander of the Onmitsukidou, especially when she had been expecting the lie. Her only option was to convince Yoruichi she was telling the truth before she got even more irritated by her preposterous claim.
"I can prove it! If you just-"
"How?" Yoruichi questioned warily.
"Look, I'll put down my zanpakutou and then I'll-"
"Do it!"
Soifon nodded obediently and drew Suzumebachi, laying the blade down gently on the dirt floor of the cavern. As she was getting up, she began to explain, "You see, I'm from a hundred years into the future and-"
With her head still bowed and her guard down, Soifon never saw nor expected the neck chop she received in the milliseconds it took for the Goddess of Flash to get behind her.
"Bakudo 4: Hainawa!" Yoruichi chanted, binding the unconscious girl in unbreakable ropes of reiatsu and slinging her like a sack of potatoes on her left shoulder.
"Soifon from the future," the woman scoffed. "The first thing we teach in Onmitukidou is to trust no one." She flash stepped towards the center of the Seireitei when she suddenly alighted on the roof of a building and dropped to hide herself in the shadows of the Fifth Division.
As he and Gin walked home from the rendezvous, Aizen caught sight of Yoruichi landing on his division's roof hauling the tiny kidou-bound figure of—based on built, hair and uniform—what was likely to be the person his spy had suggested. Smoothly slipping behind a wall and pulling his companion along with him, Aizen's eyebrow perked almost imperceptibly. "Now, isn't that Interesting?"