Summary: To keep Nemu safe, Shunsui is going to have to come up with a plan to counter Mayuri's legal maneuvering.
Kyōraku Shunsui left Nemu's side to stand next to Mayuri.
"Defense respectfully would like offer rebuttal, council members." He requested.
One of the nameless voices of the council voiced their permission. "You may do so."
"Captain Kurotsuchi sure does paint a scary picture." He casually drawled. "However, ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about only one child. There were thousands of quincys all over the world during the crisis. I can't see one baby creating those same conditions. Council members, the precedent in cases like these is clear. Lieutenant Kurotsuchi should simply be banished to the real world to raise the child in peace."
"That would be a huge mistake." Mayuri countered. "Nemu will be fertile for many years to come. Given her apparently wanton and lascivious appetites, I have no doubt the one baby will quickly be joined by a dozen more."
Shunsui was careful to keep up his laid back, unconcerned pose.
"That may be." He conceded in a cool, relaxed voice. "That's still not cause for alarm."
"Not in this generation, perhaps." Mayuri said. "But what about the next? What if they have a dozen children each? And the next has a dozen? In a couple hundred years, we could be right back where we started!"
The murmurings from behind the council's screens rose again. Captain Kurotsuchi was making some excellent points.
"You are assuming the children will all inherit quincy powers." Shunsui replied. "Some hybrids do developed strong spiritual powers, but many do not. Most live their entire lives never realizing their heritage. How do you know this child's life won't be the same?"
"How do I know?" Mayuri asked while stroking his chin. He began to pace back and forth before the council as he went into lecture mode. "How do I know? You bring up very good point, Captain Kyōraku. With a regular shinigami/human hybrid, we are well aware of all the various ways their heritage can be expressed. Allowing them to grow up in the real world poses little danger. But this child may be something entirely different. A hybrid with powers unlike any we have ever seen or recorded before. How can we know such a child's capabilities? How can we ensure the safety of the world and allow this potential threat to live?"
He stopped dead center before the council seats and held up a finger.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the council, it occurs to me that the ideal solution to this disturbing problem, if we are remove execution from our options, is to release Lieutenant Kurotsuchi to my custody. I have the means to both ensure her bastard child poses no threat and will be able to precisely measure whatever abilities it may develop."
"No!" Nemu gasped in the background. Shunsui held up his hand in reassurance to quiet her.
"That is an interesting solution, Captain Kurotsuchi." He smoothly allowed. "Unfortunately, as defense, I do not find that acceptable. A child of the living has certain rights that may not be taken away, such as freedom of choice and free will. I believe your solution deprives the child of those rights."
"Rights must be balanced against the greater good." Mayuri declared.
"The greater good in this case is debatable." Shunsui countered. "It would be better to err on the side of justice and allow the child a chance of a normal life."
"If the child turns out to be a monster, there may soon be no life for anyone!" Mayuri argued.
"Enough!" declared the council. "Prosecution and Defense will stand aside. Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, step forward."
Mayuri and Shunsui retreated back to their respective sides. Shunsui gave Nemu an encouraging smile and a wink as she walked past. It helped calm the butterflies in her stomach as she walked up to the council.
"Lieutenant Kurotsuchi. You have heard the charges your captain has leveled against you. Are they true? Did you deliberately allow yourself to be impregnated? Is this part of a plan to bring back the quincy?"
"No council members." She said. "It's not true."
"Liar!" Mayuri shouted. "It was impossible for you get pregnant without removing the toxins in your body first! You HAD to have done that on purpose! How did you do it? When did you do it?"
"Objection, council members." Shunsui protested.
"Sustained. Captain Kurotsuchi, you have had your turn to speak. You will refrain from these outbursts. However, he does raise some interesting questions. Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, how do you respond?"
Nemu shook her head. "I do not know council members. I do not know how the toxins were removed. I too thought I was unable to conceive. Had I known this was possible, I would have taken precautions."
She placed her hand over her abdomen. "Since it has happened, I do not regret it. I want this child. I want to give it the best life possible. I will gladly give up my seat as an officer of the Gotei 13. I will give up my powers as a shinigami and become a mortal. I will even give up my life if I must for this child."
"Why did you do this Lieutenant Kurotsuchi? As an officer of the Gotei 13, you knew the risks of engaging in a relationship with a mortal. What motivated you to take these actions?"
Nemu paused for a moment, considering her answer.
"Love." She said quietly. "I did it because I love him. He makes me feel special. Make me feel whole. I am not the person I was when we met. He has helped me to be stronger, shown me how good I can be. I would not take one second back from our time together. Nothing but good has come from knowing him, no matter what consequences I face today."
Her statement generated more whispers and rumbling from behind the screens. It went on for a long time. After it died down, another voice took up the questioning.
"Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, your defense has stated you seek banishment to the real world as your punishment. What reason can you give us to justify this?"
"It is as Captain Kyōraku says." She replied. "My child belongs in the world of the living. He has the right to live in the real world and experience mortal existence. I would choose this even if I must raise him alone. I cannot allow him to be under Mayuri-sama's care."
She cast her eyes downward as she continued. "I have great deal of respect for my father. He is a talented and accomplished officer. I am grateful to him for giving me life. However, if I my child and I cannot be allowed to live in peace and freedom in the real world, it would be better for us both to die."
This caused a great deal of disturbance behind the council's screens.
"Are you telling us you would prefer execution to living with your own father?"
"Yes." Nemu declared, raising her head up high. "I don't care what happens to me, but I will not allow harm to come to my child. Oblivion would be a greater gift for him than the life of a test subject."
The murmuring went back and forth, raising and falling in pitch. Eventfully, they slowed and stopped.
"We have much to think about." The council declared. "We will need time to deliberate. You are to wait outside until you are summoned. Dismissed."
Bowing low, Nemu returned to Shunsui's side. He led her to the exit, Mayuri giving them a sour look as he left using a door at the opposite side of the chamber.
"Good job out there, Nemu-chan." Shunsui quietly said.
"I'm not sure if I made a difference." She replied
"It's hard to tell what's going on with those screens in front of their faces." He admitted. "Still, you'd have to be a rock to not be a little moved."
Nanao rushed up to greet them as they entered the hallway.
"So how did it go? What's the verdict?"
"Can't say it went well." Shunsui replied. "Mayuri-kun was cleverer than I expected. I fell right into his trap."
He explained to Nanao how Mayuri had called for Nemu's execution as a bluff, using it as an opening bid towards his real goal; gaining control of Nemu and the baby for experiments.
"Surely they won't rule in his favor?" Nanao exclaimed.
"It's possible." Shunsui admitted. "They don't know him like we do. Still, there's nothing we can do now but wait."
"I'll go get a chair for you Nemu-san." Nanao said "A woman in your condition shouldn't stay on her feet so long."
Shunsui's eyes lit up. "While you're out Nanao-chan, do you think you could bring me…"
"I am NOT going to bring you back any saké!" She barked.
"But Nanao, I can't leave here." Shunsui whined. "They may call us back at any minute."
"I don't see how that's my problem." She said over her shoulder as she walked away. She turned a corner and was gone.
Shunsui sighed, head down, shoulders slumping.
"Ah well." He said to Nemu. "Looks like I have no choice."
Reaching deep into his sleeve, he pulled out a small silver flask.
"Fortune favors the prepared, eh?" He told her with a grin as he uncorked the bottle.
It was a solid hour before they were summoned back into the chamber.
"Captain Kurotsuchi, Captain Kyōraku, you have both made your positions in this case clear. We feel this is too complicated to make a ruling at this time. We are giving you three days to come up with presentations and witnesses to reinforce your claims. This is a serious matter that we will not judge rashly."
Both captains bowed low as they accepted the decision.
"Understood, council members." Shunsui said.
"Yes." Mayuri echoed. "Understood."
Glancing over, Shunsui saw Mayuri looking confident and relaxed. He wasn't upset by this decision. He probably felt more time was to his advantage. Shunsui was going to make sure that overconfidence cost him.
"What's going to happen now?" Nemu asked as they exited the chamber.
"Many things Nemu-chan." Shunsui replied. "I have a lot of ideas on how to proceed."
"Can I help?"
"You're going to be involved, certainly." Entering the hallway, he took out his phone. "Right now, I think I'll have Ukitake meet me to talk strategy over dinner. If his schedule's free, I could really use his help in the library."
The Great Spirit Library was the repository of all the knowledge and history of Soul Society. Any shinigami action of significance was recorded there. If an answer could be found anywhere at all, it could be found there. If you had enough time.
Captain Kyōraku was deep into the early history of the shinigami's interactions with the quincy. At times cooperative, at times hostile, even these early accounts showed the friction that would lead to the quincy's extinction. He had taken enough notes to write a book himself and it seemed like he'd barely scratched the surface. He had to find at least one good argument to knock down Mayuri's accusations. He had to prove Nemu's child was no threat. He was sure the answer was here somewhere. With so much history to sift through, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. It wasn't his only avenue of attack. Captain Unohana was examining Nemu closely to see if there was a medical solution. Captain Hitsuguya was researching the real world to see if an answer could be found there. Everyone in Soul Society who knew about the case did their best to help. Still, Shunsui couldn't shake the feeling that the answer was somewhere in the books and scrolls on the shelves before him.
Several rows away, Ukitake tried to call out to him. "Shunsui. Coff. Coff-coff. Can you come over here?"
"You found something?" Shunsui called back.
"Maybe."
Shunsui hurried over. Ukitake was taking the opposite direction researching the quincy's history timeline, starting from the most recent and working his way backward.
"What have you got?" Shunsui asked as he approached.
"There seems to be a pattern over the last two hundred years or so."Ukitake said while holding out his notes. "I noticed that from the time of the crisis until very recently, the twelfth became increasingly involved in monitoring the quincy. As the quincies died out, Captain Kurotsuchi's people eventually became the only ones watching them."
Shunsui nodded. "That's how I remember it."
"Here's the odd thing I noticed." Ukitake said pointing to figures and diagrams he had worked out on his notepad. "As the twelfth division gained more responsibility, the quincy died out faster."
"Hmm?" Shunsui said raising an eyebrow. "I though they died under normal conditions. Disease, old age, hollow attacks and such."
"They do." Ukitake replied. "It's just that the number of deaths seem to accelerate under twelfth division's jurisdiction."
Shunsui furrowed his eyebrows. "None die while being monitored by other divisions?"
"Some, in the beginning of this period when others were involved." Ukitake said. "But as time goes on, that number grows smaller and smaller. Then, about one hundred years ago, the twelfth division takes over completely. The number of deaths by hollow attacks goes up dramatically. Quincys dying young and pregnant women miscarrying also go up."
"That sounds strange." Shunsui said rubbing his chin. "When the crisis was over, we were only supposed to monitor them. This makes it sound like someone was actively interfering with them."
Ukitake nodded in agreement. "That's what I thought too. The next logical step would be to review twelfth division's reports from that period. They should be in this stack. However…"
He waved his hand to indicate the empty shelf beside him.
"I have the volume numbers right here." Ukitake continued holding up his notes. "Unless they were illegally removed or destroyed, they must be stored in one of the library's restricted areas."
Shunsui nodded. "Let's take this back to Nanao-chan. This sounds like a job for that newfangled computer she's using."
Both men had long been captains before the strange modern devices were installed and neither felt comfortable using them. They had to admit they were pretty handy sometimes and encouraged their subordinates to use them. Nanao was deep into her own search on the library computer when they requested her assistance.
"That's strange." She said.
"Hmm?" Shunsui murmured.
"I'm being denied access." She said pointing to the angry looking warning on screen.
"Perhaps you don't have a high enough clearance." Shunsui suggested. "Maybe it'll let me in."
"Do you remember your login and password?" she asked staring at him.
He reached under his hat to scratch his head. "Er…um…"
"Never mind, I already know it." She said turning back to the computer.
The big red warning came up again.
"Is there a way around the restrictions?" Ukitake asked.
"I can try a specific topic search." She offered.
Still blocked.
"This is strange," Shunsui said looking over her shoulder. "What would they restrict from someone at my level?"
"I'm not done yet." Nanao declared pushing up her glasses.
She tried every trick she could think of to get around the restriction. Sweat began to bead on her brow as she typed in password after password, probing and testing the software's defenses. Always the result was the same. Access Denied. While Nanao was furiously typing in her latest attack, the screen suddenly went dark.
"What?" she exclaimed.
"Did you break it Ise-san?" Ukitake asked.
"No, of course not Captain Ukitake." She replied as she flipped the power switch and checked the power cord. "It suddenly shut off. I can't explain it."
Suddenly , an onmitsukidō riteitai, a special forces courier, appeared before them. He knelt down on one knee and bowed respectfully,
"Captain Kyōraku and Captain Ukitake. I have been sent to relay the Captain-Commander's orders. He directs that you come to his office immediately."
The two men looked at each other.
"I don't think I did anything this time." Shunsui said.
"Are you sure." Ukitake asked.
His friend shrugged. "Pretty sure anyway.
They both followed the courier out of the library to comply with their orders.
"Don't worry Nanao-chan." Shunsui called out over his shoulder. "We'll be back before you know it."
They found Captain-Commander Yamamoto standing with his back to the door, looking out from his balcony, hands on his walking stick.
Ukitake bowed low as his superior turned around. "Good evening Sensei."
Shunsui was a more casual, though respectful in his own way. "You wanted to see us Yama-ji?"
"Kyōraku Shunsui."He intoned as he turned around. "It has been brought to my attention you have been searching for information on the twelfth division's involvement with the quincy. I am ordering you to stop."
Both the younger captains were shocked.
"You were the one who set up those blocks?" Shunsui asked.
Yamamoto nodded. "What happened all those years ago can be accessed only by my authorization on a need to know basis. You do not have a need to know. It is not necessary for your research."
"Sensei, how can you say that?" Ukitake asked. "As the representative for defense, Shunsui needs all the information he can get. Who is to say what information might help. Lieutenant Kurotsuchi's life is at stake."
"I am well aware of what is at stake." Yamamoto replied. "Just as I am well aware of what is in the logs and files you seek. There is nothing there that can help you. As for Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, she would not be in this predicament if she had obeyed our laws. She brought this fate down upon herself. She will have to face the consequences. I have no sympathy for her."
"That's mighty cold Yama-ji." Shunsui said. "Rules don't fit every situation. That's why we have these trials. If I want to look at myself in the mirror I have to be able to tell her I did everything I could."
The Captain-Commander frowned. "Hmph! This case looks open and shut to me. No amount of digging into the past is going to change the fact that Lieutenant Kurotsuchi performed an illegal act."
"But Yama-ji…" Shunsui pleaded.
"Enough!" Yamamoto said striking the ground with his stick. "If you continue to seek information on the twelfth division, you will be banned from using the library entirely! Ukitake, I expect you to keep Kyōraku from being tempted to stray from this directive. Both of you, dismissed!"
The Captain-Commander turned his back on them. The two captains looked at each other with similar looks of disappointment and distress. They didn't understand why they had been ordered to ignore what may be a key part of their research and they didn't like it. Unfortunately, this was a direct order. What could they do? They both bowed to the old man's back.
"Understood, Captain-Commander." They confirmed.
They showed themselves out. Yamamoto did not turn around to watch them leave. They did not talk until they were well away from his office.
"So what now?" Ukitake asked. "Try researching in another direction?"
Shunsui shook his head. "We're not going back to the library. Information isn't stored only in books."
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed. "Hello Nanao-chan? No, don't hang up! I'm not going to do that again, this is serious this time. Nanao-chan, can you meet me at the sixth division cell block? I think I need to talk to Nemu-chan."
"You needed to see me?" Nemu asked as she sat down in the interrogation room. Shunsui, Nanao and Ukitake were already seated at the table.
"We'll try not to keep you too long." Nanao said. "It's getting late and a woman in your condition needs her rest."
Nemu nodded. "I will do my best. Please tell me what you need."
"This is about what happened from around one hundred years ago." Ukitake explained. "It involved the twelfth division. It probably involved your father. It may even involve you. Are you comfortable talking about that."
Nemu shook her head. "No. I am not supposed to talk about twelfth division affairs to outsiders. I am not supposed to speak about Mayuri-sama when not in his presence. That is how I was taught. That is Mayuri-sama's rule."
"So you won't answer our questions?" Shunsui asked.
"I will" Nemu replied. "Mayuri-sama's rules are not as important as my child. Comfortable or not, if it will help, I will answer to the best of my ability."
Shunsui smiled. "That's the spirit." He said. He took off his hat and put it on the table. Reaching across the table, he took Nemu's hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze.
"I do not mean to pressure you Nemu-chan." He said. "I don't know where these questions will lead. I want you to know before we start that I will stop anytime you want me to. OK?"
Nemu nodded. "I understand. You may begin."
Shunsui took a deep breath. "Nemu-chan, what can you tell me about the time your division took over exclusive monitoring of the surviving quincy one hundred years ago?"
Nemu figured that was what they were going to ask. It was time. She would finally be able to start paying back Uryuu's people for the terrible crime her father had done to them. She had rehearsed over and over in her mind what she would say if she was ever in a situation where she could talk about the massacre of the quincy. It was going to be painful. She was not going to leave anything out, not even her own involvement. The shame and horror she would endure would be a heavy price. She was willing to pay it. She owed Uryuu that much and more. And it would be a relief to unburden herself after all these years. She opened her mouth to speak. Nothing came out.
"Nemu-chan?" Shunsui said
She tried again. She had to tell them. She had to give them the information they needed. A rasping croak came out of her throat. She tried again. This time, a sharp pain stabbed through her head. It started around her eyes and quickly spread. It was as though a thousand razors were cutting into her brain.
"Nemu-san, are you alright?" Nanao asked.
Nemu couldn't answer. The pain was blinding. She stood up and clutched at her head.
"Captain Kyōraku, do something!" Nanao begged.
Nemu fought against the now omnipresent pain with all her might. She had to tell them. She had to tell them!
Shunsui and Ukitake sprang up from their chairs and dashed around the table. They were too late. Nemu gave a piercing, high pitched scream, sounding almost inhuman as she twisted and pulled at her hair with shaking, claw-like hands. Shunsui was just in time to catch her as she fainted dead away.
Captain Unohana gently shut the door so as not to disturb her patient.
"How is she?" Shunsui asked.
"She's sleeping peacefully now." Unohana replied. "Her body has taken quite a shock. You must never allow that to happen to her again. The strain could kill her."
"What did happen?" he demanded. "One minute she was normal, the next screaming in agony. How could asking her a question cause that?"
"It's a powerful form of post-hypnotic suggestion." She explained. "It seems she is blocked from telling anyone about twelfth division's classified information unless that person has the proper clearance or prior knowledge of the operation. If she tried to pass on information to an unauthorized party, her own body punishes her. I tested her by asking about several high value projects on which I had oversight. She could speak freely about them once she knew my level of involvement."
"How hard would it be to unblock her?" he asked
"It could take a day or two, it could take weeks." She replied. "It depends on how deeply Captain Kurotsuchi implanted the suggestion. I'll get started right away, but there is no guarantee it can be done quickly."
"Hmm." Shunsui said stroking his chin. "So if you know about it already, she can tell you, but if you don't know about it, you can't ask. Tricky."
He pulled the brim of his hat down low over his eyes and turned away, walking down the hall.
"Take good care of her Captain." He said. "I have one more source to check before I call it quits."