"So what happened to your powers anyways?"

I hadn't seen his shinigami form at all in the past three months. Not since he saved me from that big head hollow while I was butt naked for some reason. I'm not even really sure where we were for that or how I lost my clothes and then woke up back in the clothes I was wearing when I lost consciousness at Ryuu-chan's mansion.

He looks surprised that I even asked. A little nervous too, like he didn't know how to answer. Now I was really curious.

"Ah, well, I, uh… I got kicked out of the Soul Society!" He says it as if he couldn't get it out fast enough. Somehow it doesn't sound right. A lie maybe? "That's right, I screwed up pretty bad on a mission, so they took my powers and kicked me out." He nods his head sagely as if it were a natural thing, not a major punishment. But what mission? It wasn't…

"You didn't get kicked out because of me did you?"

"What?! No! No. It has nothing to do with that!" He waves a hand as if to shoo away the thought. "I made my own mistake and paid the price for it." That rings a bit more true. Not the total truth, but close.

"Oh? But if they took your powers how'd you save me from that head hollow?" I smugly ask. His, well not a lie, but not the truth either, ready to come unwound by the question.

"Ah, um… it took a while for my powers to disappear!" There's more nodding like he's trying to convince himself and not just me.

"I was a captain, you know, and captains aren't known for being weak. We're the strongest in all of the Soul Society." He lectures. I believe him. If I hadn't gotten that hollow in close enough for a clean headshot that night, I would have lost, been killed. He fought with it long enough for me to feel them fighting, argue with Ryuu-chan, and run all the way over there. He is strong. Or rather, was strong.

"So what happened on this mission that got you kicked out?"

"Ah, well, you see…"

It was a quite a story. An escort mission with a powerful noble ending in terrible disgrace for the noble while his life was saved. The noble then taking vengence for the disgrace by getting Isshin kicked out on an old, obscure law. (Apparently the government of the Soul Society is big on following laws, even when broken for good, life-saving reasons) It was a tale of thrills and breavery.

It was also a lie.

I could tell by how grandiose he was being that it wasn't true, or at least a highly exaggerated version of some other story he knew of. In the past three months I'd gotten to know him and one thing I noticed is that when he felt like he was in trouble and wanted to cover his tracks he got extra eccentric. Isshin likes to goof around, be silly, (I think it's probably a trick to get his subordinates to treat him like a person when he doesn't need them to strictly follow orders) but when he's got something to hide, a lie to tell, he goes a bit overboard with the eccentric personality.

I don't like that he's lying to me about why he lost his powers. It feels like he doesn't trust me, but I forgive him. For some reason I just can't stay mad at him for it.

I guess, to me, they're just… unimportant lies.

Author's Note

Masaki's viewpoint for this one. I really kind of like Isshin's lines about how he lied to Masaki about how he ended up living in Karakura, that she probably knew it was a lie, and that it didn't matter anyway, so this explores that. I also think for that lie to even have a half a chance of being effective means Masaki didn't really know about her hollowfication or how Isshin was stopping it. She didn't need to know that to live, so he could be her silent guardian. It's extra romantic that way. Well, I think it is anyway.

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