"You know who attacked me from behind that night."

A statement. A fact.

He wasn't wrong, but I was surprised that it took him this long to ask. Isshin had been staying in my shop for two weeks now and not made a peep about the events that led him to living here, besides explaining how Masaki came to be under the process of hollowfication. I insisted on knowing that.

It was hard to say whether I was glad or not that it took this long. On one hand, I had gotten time to get to know his personality and organize an explanation accordingly. On the other hand, taking so long to come to asking such a question was a bit worrying. Aizen's an intelligent man and I can't have all of the few allies I have relying on me to have every last answer. It's important that they can think for themselves some.

"So who was it? Who's the traitor in the Soul Society?"

Time to test his thought process a bit.

"You don't suspect me? I know you didn't recognize me on sight, but you did recognize my name. You know why I was banished."

"Yeah, well, I did suspect you a little bit, but I really doubt you could do anything from here to keep that hollow off the radar beyond the deaths it caused. Besides, I get the feeling that if it was you who had hollowfied Masaki you would have taken measures to prevent soul suicide before I got here. You clean up after yourself and try not to grab the Soul Society's attention. A hollow-Quincy mix would definitely grab their attention."

I nod. He has at least been observing me enough to know that I'm good at what I do, and right now that's hiding from the Soul Society.

"I've been thinkin' and it seems to me that whoever protected that weird hollow is probably the real reason you're stuck here too. You're not like Kurotsuchi, taking test subjects against their will, so I don't think you attacked those officers a hundred years ago. What I do know is that at the very least you saved their lives by figuring out how to prevent soul suicide. So I'll ask again, who's the traitor?"

I can't help but grin. It may have taken Isshin two weeks to ask, but they were not two weeks wasted. He was taking the time to try and determine if I could be trusted, determine that I wasn't the cause in the first place.

"I doubt you'll believe me. No one did a hundred years ago. Well, except for Yoruichi-san, of course. The traitor is Aizen Sousuke, current captain of Squad 5. Though when I discovered that he was the lieutenant."

As expected, he looks absolutely shocked. To be honest, I was too when I first found out that night nearly one hundred years ago. It was why I didn't end up moving against him until he tried to finish off Hirako-san. I was too shocked, too interested in his explanation to move until that moment. At that time I had my suspicions about the causes of the disappearing souls, but I honestly wasn't sure who was instigating it. Before that night, if forced to guess I would have said Mayuri. He was the only one I knew of with the intelligence and lack of morals to do such a thing. Aizen's words still ring true: What's truly frightening is the treachery that can't be detected.

"Yes, I know it seems quite impossible, but it is the truth. Let me tell you the truth of what happened nearly one hundred years ago…"

"… and I haven't seen them since then. I don't blame them for cutting ties with me. There's a good chance Aizen-san furthered his research using notes from my own and I failed to save anything more than their ability to continue existing. They'll do as they please, but I'm sure that when the time comes they will fight against Aizen-san."

"I guess Aizen being the bad guy makes more sense now, but there's still something I don't get. Why start his hollowfication experiments again now?"

"Honestly, I doubt he ever stopped. Though it would likely be more accurate to say that he never stopped experimenting in creating more powerful hollows. After all, Soul Society wouldn't string together hollows with oddly powerful abilities as being related. Considering what you encountered, I'd say that Aizen-san is most likely planning the opposite of my original theory and will be working on the arrancar aspect."

"Arrancar?"

"A hollow who has removed its mask to become more like a shinigami. On very, very, very rare occasions hollows will destroy a portion of their own mask and gain a power that shares faint similarities with a shinigami. If a process similar to hollowfication, except with shinigami powers, were to be applied to the potential arrancars I'm sure a more complete version would emerge."

"That sounds pretty dangerous."

"Mmm. But you needn't concern yourself with it, Isshin-san. You won't have the power to participate in the battles to come for decades, if ever again, and I doubt you want to drag Masaki-san into it. So don't worry, live your new life in peace."

"Ah, yeah. Okay." He looks a little put down. Isshin's a good person, willing to throw himself into this fight with me when he barely knows me. If the time comes and his power is returned, I'll certainly take the help, but until then…

"Don't forget to sweep the front of the shop!~"

"WAIT, WHAT?!"

Author's Note

z for getting me thinking and semi-inspiring this chapter.

Please comment/review.