'King wake up.' Shiro's voice was adamant, I could feel the phantom sensation of him shaking my shoulder. The Old Man emanated a feeling of shock. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to listen to them, I had to push through the haze of sleep. My eyelids were heavy, not from exhaustion, but from something I knew I had felt before, though couldn't recall the name of. It wasn't a bad feeling, and I could recognize at least that it wasn't the result of any attack I was aware of. The feeling extended to my body, a pleasant sort of heavy. Not like being under the effects of Wabisuke, but like my body was satisfied with just remaining still. Though my hollow's voice had an urgency to it, and it would be stupid to ignore that, so I had to pull myself away from that. I was lying on something soft, again, there was a sense of déjà vu. I had laid on whatever this was before, I just couldn't remember what it was. There was a warmth surrounding me that was easily discernible as other bodies. Two, one at either side. One could be Kisuke, hopefully? The other was a complete unknown. They probably weren't an enemy? I had met some people crazy enough to see an enemy sleeping and lie down next to them, so it wasn't out of the question.

My eyes opened slowly, partially because my body was oddly still waking up, partially so whoever was at my sides wouldn't see me snap to attention and do something I wasn't prepared for. Purple and black hair filled my vision, two heads resting on my chest. I had to stop my breath from hitching. That was so painfully familiar, a sight I had missed for so long, but was it true? I got my hands to move, gently brushing my fingers along soft skin. Curves and dips exactly where I remembered them, firm muscle just underneath. I could see chocolate and pale skin. A small pulse of Pesquisa confirmed their reiatsu was the same, but Unohana's was slightly smaller? It wasn't much compared to how much she already had, but it was a noticeable amount. I pulled my eyes open wider, and caught notice of where we were. My room, somehow. My bed. But, it wasn't quite right. It was missing things. I didn't see Tatsuki's gloves, or Ikkaku's Lieutenant Badge, or my Shinigami Pass. I had a console I knew I had replaced due to receiving a newer model for my seventeenth birthday. None of the gifts I had from Yoruichi. There were posters I knew I had taken down. There weren't ones I knew I had put up.

Yoruichi and Unohana both began to stir, likely from my Pesquisa, it was a bit haphazard due to my fogged mind. This couldn't be a dream, Shiro pulled me out of sleep. This couldn't be from Visionary, ignoring that he's been long since dead, the details were too distinct to be something he recreated. Not Aizen, again because dead, but I had never been hit by Kyoka Suigetsu, and he wouldn't make such obvious mistakes when trapping someone in an illusion. I couldn't think of anything else that had could make a false reality, nothing that wasn't me trying way too hard to have this make sense, at least.

Wait, Kisuke. His time ball. The Jikan-Ken. That made more sense, but things still didn't quite line up. I had been aiming for my Bankai Training right before Rukia's Execution. Zangetsu and I agreed that was the most optimal point, to have the ability to kill Aizen immediately after he was outed while giving myself enough time to readjust after time traveling if necessary. Thinking on it, this definitely was my room in the first year of the Winter War. Well, there still were some details that weren't quite right, like how Yoruichi and Unohana weren't supposed to be in my bed right now. As much as it hurt so good I wanted to cry seeing them again, I was nearly having a heart attack because I only got with them during the Blood War. Yoruichi, as much as she loved teasing me and scaring the shit out of me by slipping into my bed while I slept, wouldn't reach that point until the second year of the Winter War. Unohana and I only started sharing beds about six months into the Blood War.

Yoruichi's body tensed, just the barest amount. If I hadn't known her so well, I wouldn't have even known she was awake. I knew she was listening to my breathing, seeing if I was asleep or not. Then, upon confirming through that alone, she cautiously tilted her head up, to look at me. She hid it immaculately, I could only see through her mask because I knew everything about her. Confusion, suspicion, trepidation, anxiety. It hit me like a hot iron bat trying to bash through my chest with sheer furious force. One of her hands, they were lying on my chest, slid down a minor amount. It was a small enough motion that no one would have given it any mind, and it perfectly positioned her hand to spear upwards behind my ribs to reach my heart whenever she felt it necessary. I could recognize that I was in my human body, so that would not in any way end the way she thought it would. But god it hurt seeing her not only not recognize me, but be ready to treat me as an enemy. I had to keep myself from shaking, because she would strike first and figure out why I was shaking after.

"Hello." She began diplomatically. I saw all of her years of being a stealth commander in action. No visibly threatening actions, no demanding responses, no negative reactions, slow movements to not get the unknown party to respond unfavorably. I swallowed the lump in my throat, employing all the training she had given me to keep my hurricane of emotions unseen.

"You don't recognize me." The words came out of my mouth. Her mind worked as fast as it could, immediately worried of how someone with unknown abilities would respond if she took too long to answer.

"No." She reached the conclusion that she didn't have nearly enough information to bullshit that she did. Try as I might, the best I could suppress my reaction to that was a very clear shuddering breath. Unohana reaching complete consciousness was a lot less hidden than Yoruichi's was. Her head twitched back as soon as she recognized the ex-captain across from her. It then twitched down, catching that they both were lying atop a body, before she turned to look up at my face. Like the werecat, the medic's eyes were filled with confusion and suspicion, but it lacked the trepidation and anxiety. As much as she hid it, the First Kenpachi would always remain, and with it, the confidence that, unless presented with evidence to suggest otherwise, she could win any fight she would find her way into.

"Hello." The captain greeted, one of her hands flexing. She was in a gigai? She clearly wasn't familiar with it, with how she was subtly stretching her body. "I…believe I am not the only one confused." Yoruichi's eyes darted to the other woman, before flicking back up to me. I felt the assassin's fingers straighten, ready to attack at the first sign of danger. Looking the raven haired woman in the eyes confirmed that she did not know who I was, either. I felt tears burn at the corners of my eyes, but I bit the inside of my lip hard enough to draw blood. The small wound automatically began healing, but the pain pulled me away from that whirlpool of despair. I was still teetering on the edge, I could still feel it pulling at my ankles, but I wasn't inside.

"N-no, it-" My breath caught in my throat as they both turned to me. "This-this doesn't…" The sheer emotional overload was causing my brain to feel like it was splitting in two. "Som-something's…wrong." I reluctantly pulled my hands away from them, and brought them upon the mattress to slowly pull myself into a sitting position. Unohana matched the action, Yoruichi possessing a hidden gratefulness that she could put some distance between herself and the two of us. Unfortunately, she was on my left side, so she couldn't have her back to the window for an easy escape. Neither of them gave a damn about the fact that they were naked, but both were clearly suspicious as to why.

"That is abundantly clear." The original captain agreed, her eyes flickering over to Yoruichi for only a moment. "The question remains as to what happened. I certainly have no understanding of how I could have found my way to the World of the Living."

"And I've got no clue how I ended up…wherever here is." The princess colluded. All of these were great questions, and one more might be able to clear everything up.

"What…what's the date?" The two of them became confused by my question, but the purple haired woman glanced to the side nonetheless.

"That digital clock is saying February 19th." That was absolutely not September 17th. And since my reiatsu wasn't dead empty, it couldn't have been because the Jikan-Ken didn't have the fuel to take me farther. Even further, then it definitely didn't make sense that either of them were in my bed, all three of us naked.

My head throbbed, the pain at the same time nearly dizzying and centering me from the sorrow. I bit back a gasp, my right hand flinching up slightly as I winced.

"So you've head pain as well?" Unohana narrowed her eyes in thought. "Can you say the same, Shihouin-san?"

"A little." She colluded. "Not a hangover, and I don't think the aftereffects of some drug. Not if this guy's feeling it too." Golden pools looked my way suspiciously. "It does get worse when I look his way, though."

"Almost as if we're looking at a missing puzzle piece?"

"Something like that."

'King, we've got a whole zip code in here covered in this weird ass white shit.'

'Why the fuck are you telling me about it and not fucking it up then?'

'To provide proper warning if anything untoward were occur.'

'I have the goddamn warning, then, deal with it!' Understanding of my rage, the zanpakuto was not offended. The head pain immediately got worse, myself unable to reign in the shout of pain as I dropped my head into my hands. Yoruichi was off the bed in the blink of an eye, her hands clenched into fists. Unohana remained sitting with a confidence, curiously bringing her hand up with Kaido glowing. Images and names seared through my mind, memories I now knew I had forgotten, somehow. The past few months since time-traveling, the talk with Yamamoto, the bad feeling I got about the Tsunayashiro's, being able to properly say goodbye to my Mom. I remembered everything before the time travel, in a weird sense. Everything prior to the first time I completed my Bankai training. I hadn't thought about it since waking up, so I didn't really know how I remembered it before, but I could tell that it had been changed now. Something that had been missing was back.

But something definitely caused my memories to be locked away. Something had messed with my head, and that of Yoruichi and Unohana's.

I tensed my chest and pushed outwards, my body falling onto the bed as my spirit body left, startling the two women. Something had made them forget me. Something had wiped their memories of everything that had happened. And that something was going to pay. I shoved my window open and lunged through it, streaking at full speed towards the Shoten. Kisuke would be able to figure out what was going on. My brain was nagging at me that this was familiar, Zangetsu immediately was on it, hunting through my Inner World for an answer. In no time at all, I was at the doors, and flung them open.

"Oh? Hello! Welcome to-" Kisuke was cut off by me grabbing him by his top and lifting him into the air. I recognized him grabbing Benihime.

"You don't know who I am, but you're supposed to." I announced.

"I'm certainly getting that impression, yes."

"Something removed me from everyone's memories, and took some of my own as well. You're gonna help me figure out what, and how to fix it."

"Other people have been affected?" The intrigue over something that could remove memories on a widespread scale immediately brought him to disregard that I basically threatened him to help me. "You say you personally have been removed from people's memories, in what way? Have the memories in their entirety been removed, or just your involvement in them? What if your presence is heavily intertwined with a certain memory or action? How does that affect the memory? What if it's removed in its entirety?" And of course with the questions.

"Imma make this real simple:" I growled, bringing him closer so he could see my eyes hollowfy. "I'm gonna kill whoever did this, and I need you to point me in their direction." I sensed Yoruichi, followed by Unohana, reach the shop.

"Hey!" The werecat shouted. "He's annoying on a good day, but he's still my friend! Put him down!"

"I'm not threatening him." I pacified.

"He's really not, actually, did you know memories of his existence has been wiped on a widespread scale? I wonder how far it extends?" Kisuke leaned his head to look at his fellow exile.

"I know you can figure this out, honestly I'll be surprised if you haven't built something just for a situation like this." I continued.

"Oh, so you do know me!" The blonde awed. "I mean, there was no reason to doubt, but that really does confirm it!"

"Do you have something ready or-"

'The twins!'

'What?'

'Homura and Shizuku.' I narrowed my eyes, feeling the stares of the three Shinigami, but not caring. The inventor was dropped on his ass, barely able to get a quiet 'ow' before I turned to the side, gripped the air in front of me, and pulled a garganta open.

"Did you just-" Yoruichi's words were cut off by me leaping through the portal.

'Where are they?'

'Still looking into that, but somewhere in the mid Rukongai.'

'We need a damn direction!'

'We should have that at least narrowed down by the time you leave the Garganta.' I snarled, drawing our sword, and wordlessly entering Shikai. A few more seconds, and I left the rip in between the worlds. 'South.' The group of Shinigami that all jumped in fear at my sudden entrance were disregarded, as I shot forward in Sonido towards South Rukongai. My instincts barked at me, and I blocked a sword with one of my own. A second one came around, and I blocked that too, before pushing them off me. Kyoraku hopped back a few meters, an analytical look to his face.

"I know you don't know who I am, I'm on my way to kill the assholes who caused that! I'm on your side, don't make me fight you!" I growled.

"You know I have no reason to believe that, Stranger-san." He hummed. "I don't have reason to think you're lying, either, but we're in quite hectic times right now. I'm sorry to say I just can't rely on faith at this very moment. It doesn't help matters that you came in through a Garganta." While he talked, several officers began to surround me, which I couldn't care less about. No one below captain-class could even sufficiently distract me.

"Goddamn it, just stay out of my way so I can solve all this before it becomes an even bigger problem!"

'They're somewhere in the 40's.' Shiro announced.

"Slowing me down is giving them time to catch word and hide away! I can find them right now, let me through!" I barked.

"I can tell you're invested in this, but please be understanding. You come out of a Garganta in the middle of the Seireitei, use a hollow technique to move around, and while you're not attacking us, I'd be hard pressed to say you're being nonaggressive right now." The flowery captain tried to reason. "Mix that with our R&D facing an issue that's hollow in nature, and it doesn't paint you in the best light."

"Well guess fucking what, we are connected!" I brought up a blade to point in the direction I was trying to go in, everyone in the vicinity twitching into ready positions. "By the fuckers I'm trying to hunt down that you're getting in the way of! And they're anxious little shits who are ready to bolt at the first sign of danger, so get out of my way before I make you!"

"Oh, dear, I'd have hoped we could resolve this-" Already knowing he was just buttering me up for a sneak attack, I lunged, a heavy horizontal swing with Shiro's blade. Knowing he was warry of trying to compete with strength that potentially matched my other shown hollow capabilities, a very small part of me felt satisfaction in getting him to jump up above the swing. He was probably expecting me to continue the fight, swinging down with his swords. Instead, his blades sparked against my back as I flowed with my momentum, rushing under him before stepping behind and rocketing forward at full speed.

Several Kido spells fired at me, most from behind. A Shokkaho angrily burned against my Hierro, I glanced at it for just long enough to peg that it was Nanao's before I continued ignoring it and charging towards the South 40's. As I closed in towards the Rukongai, poor Izuru came up from below, Shikai already active. Snarling, I brought Shiro's blade up above my head before slamming it down. I could see a hint of relief in the Lieutenant's face as he brought his blade around, edge up, to block my downwards swing. The zanpakuto blades collided, myself instantly feeling the weapon in my hand double in weight, but not caring. The blonde shot towards the ground from the power in my swing, and I saw his face contort in horror as he watched me seem unbothered by the change in weight then speed forward at full tilt. I soared outside the Seireitei, frustrated that I could only move so fast in Shikai as I crossed the Districts. Every second Zangetsu wasn't carving up those memory thieves was a second they could already be running away.

'District 44.' Ossan narrowed down. Below that, there was no specifying. Anything past the first fifteen didn't bother with street names or differentiating between residential and business areas. I was currently speeding through the early thirties, meaning there was nothing I could do but try to move faster until I was close enough for Spirit Ribbons to become relevant. At the very least, I didn't have to worry about anything this far out, no one short of Yoruichi or Yamamoto could catch up to me now.

Reaching the edge of 44, I flipped around so my feet were out and dropped to the dirt. My heels dug trenches in the ground. By the time I stopped, dust clouds obscured me from sight, though I could hear people shrieking in fear. Focusing, thousands of ribbons all appeared around me. Nearly all were white, a few dozen having the recognizable lavender tint of potential Shinigami powers. Less than a hundred red, two black that wrapped around a single red. Instantly, I stomped forward, ready to jump out from my landing spot towards the ribbons just a few hundred meters away. A sword uselessly thumped against my chest.

"Fuck off!" I howled as I kicked out, my foot pounding into the stomach of some nameless fodder and sending them somewhere. A baseball of blue energy struck my right shoulder, followed by another empty slab of spirit metal stopping against my armor. I flipped my Quincy blade around and punched the unseated Shinigami in the face, their body leaving my vision and therefore my ability to care. A yellow marble of reiatsu hit me, and I focused to see a trio in robes standing right in front of a bar. Two men and a woman.

"I'm not here for you, piss off!" I spat. One of the men gripped his forearm tighter and cast another spell, just as the woman's sword glowed a little before turning into an axe. The final guy just rushed me, and I felt his bones shift as I smacked him with the side of Shiro's blade. "I said-" The woman blindly screamed, the head of her axe glowing with yellow reiatsu as she came up on me. My smaller blade cleaved through her stomach. "PISS OFF!"

The guy that had been readying his next spell stumbled back into the doors of the bar, falling through onto his ass. With all the distractions out of the way, I crouched down and jumped, flying through the sky towards the pair of ribbons. They hadn't moved yet, which was good. I solidified a platform of reiatsu under my feet and kicked off of it, straight at the building they were inside. A boom signified my breaking the sound barrier, and I slammed through the roof and upper wall of the domicile. Controlled burst of reiatsu, and the air was cleared. They all were in front of me, Rukia to the left, Homura in the center, with her hand out towards Rukia, and Shizuku already rising to his feet on the right, panic on his face. Something guttural came from my throat as Shiro's blade screamed through the air, the lanky man just barely summoning his scythe and positioning himself in front of his sibling. Black zanpakuto met white spirit weapon, and Shizuku couldn't have hoped to hold his ground. His body collapsed through the wall, but Homura was able to finish reaching for Rukia and teleport the two of them away. I saw red.

'North-northwest, 500 meters!' Shiro called, and I fired myself through the wall. The dark haired twin appeared in my path, his scythe whipping around. Remembering it could phase through my zanpakuto and cut directly through my memories, I ducked under the attack, Ossan's blade darting forward. The brother, thin, malnourished, reliant on hollowfied strength, and having only fought against small hollows, could never have been able to dodge out of the way. The blade parsed through his chest, going straight through muscle, bone, and lung without difficulty. His body evaporated in smoke, and I sped through the cloud only to catch more fading whisps. 'Same jump!' My hollow informed, and I was already on top of the location. Shizuku, inexperienced with fighting through intense pain, was much more sloppy in defending his sister the third time. His swing much slower, I leaned to the side of the downwards strike and severed from the right side of his neck through his left bicep.

"BROTHER!" Homura screamed immediately, tears already prickling at her eyes and distorted reiatsu beginning to swarm her body. Shiro's blade stabbed through her throat and upper torso. Pushing forward, I pulled her away from Rukia and into the air. The twin's body slid slightly further down my blade, before I whipped my arm around, her corpse flying off and tumbling a few feet across the dirt.

Whimpers met my ears, and I looked over to see Rukia trying to crawl back away from me. Her eyes were wide with terror, and her own tears were already streaming down her face. I locked gazes with her, noticing that her body froze when I did. There was no recognition in her gaze, so I huffed to try to vent out some of my aggression and drifted my gaze away while flicking the blood off my zanpakuto.

"You'll understand in a few seconds, I'm sure. I remember now that it didn't take long for the effects of their power to go away."

"Understand what?" Her voice trembled, panic sparking off each word. "That you just killed a pair of children that didn't know better?" My body straightened, and I shifted back to look at the adopted Kuchiki. Her face hadn't changed.

"The full story will come back to you-"

"I remembered as soon as you killed Shizuku!" She cut off. There was a fury in her tone that was never in any of our play fights. "They were scared, trusted no one outside of myself, had been betrayed and hurt by almost everyone! You're the time traveler, are you saying you didn't know?!"

"Of course I did, so what?! They still kidnapped you, they still wiped the memories of your and myself from everyone!"

"Did you listen to a word I said?! They were terrified that Shinigami weren't to be trusted and would kill them again, and look what you did! You crashed into their home with your zanpakuto out looking for blood and hunted them down when they tried to run away!"

"They should've been scared of Shinigami hunting them down, look what they did!"

"All they wanted was to have names to call their own and someone they could trust, are you trying to pin the blame on a pair of scared children?!"

"We're preparing for a war, they should've acted smarter!" I defaulted.

"What's wrong with you?!" She finally screamed as she stood. But she didn't get closer. "They were children that scavenged in Hueco Mundo for survival! They knew nothing other than being helped by me and being killed by a Shinigami! They couldn't possibly know the Gotei is preparing for war, and moreover, they shouldn't have to work around that! They should've been cared for properly, given a chance to understand and grow! You knew what they went through! You knew what they wanted and needed! You had everything you needed to talk them down and correct their path! But instead you only validated their fears and slaughtered them! And for what?! What made you decide they were irredeemable and absolutely hadto be murdered?!" I stomped my foot in her direction, hunching my shoulders and my face curling into a snarl as I prepared to scream back, only to find I could come up with nothing. Nothing she could understand, at least. I spat at the ground.

"You wouldn't understand." I growled. Her hands clenched at her sides, and with her body shaking, she narrowed her still-crying eyes.

"Tell me." Rukia panted.

"I said-"

"And I said tell me!" She shouted.

"You won't-!"

"Stop putting this off!" She cut off once more. My teeth grinded against each other.

"They made Yoruichi and Unohana forget me!" Erupted from my throat. Her eyes widened for just a moment before they hardened.

"That's it?!" Rage burned inside my chest.

"'That's it'?" The sound came from a deep part of my throat.

"You murdered a pair of scared, innocent children over something you already knew was reversable?!"

"When I woke up this morning, I had forgotten everything since I had time-traveled! I opened my eyes after having watched the loves of my life die in front of me years prior and they had no idea who I was! Yoruichi was ready to attack me!" I defended. The petite Shinigami took a breath, before speaking quietly.

"That does sound like something horrible, that I couldn't understand the feeling of." She agreed. "But does that justify killing innocent children?"

"You don't-"

"Stop avoiding the question!" She stepped forward and slapped me across the face. "Does that justify killing innocent children?!"

I stood, my face barely having moved from her strike. My eyes were wide, shocked by her slap. We smacked each other around, but there was always an aura of playfulness, or of knocking sense into the other, when doing so. Her slap had been filled with nothing but hurt. There was…fear. She was scared of me. She didn't fail to recognize me because she had forgotten who I was. She failed to recognize me because I wasn't who she remembered I was.

"…I was angry." I breathed.

"Does that justify it?" She panted, breathing heavy from all the shouting.

"I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Does that justify it." She challenged.

"I just-I woke up, and it was right after the wars again, and-"

"Does. That. Justify. It."

"All I could think about was-"

"Justify it!"

"I CAN'T!" I screamed back. My arms trembled as everything went silent save for the echoes of my voice. My breath came shakily, my lungs shuddering with each inhale and exhale. My fists tightened until they hurt, until I was sure to have cracked my own bones, until my body forced myself to snap my hands open and drop my swords. I crumbled to my knees, my gaze falling to the ground as I tried to get a hold of my breathing. I opened my mouth, to say…something, only for everything I could say to feel wrong. No matter how much remorse I felt, apologizing meant nothing. What did promising to do better mean when I had already been getting better? Saying it was a mistake just felt like trying to shift the blame. Claiming I wasn't thinking clearly was an excuse. Saying I felt bad about it was just childish, begging for pity. I had killed two children, who didn't know any better, who deserved to have something good, only for me to rip it all to pieces. So I shut my mouth.

A group of Shinigami joined the two of us. Yoruichi, Unohana, Kyoraku, Urahara. Presumably, the four of them were able to recognize the tension in the air, as none of them spoke. They each just roamed around a little, silently investigating. Kisuke crouched down by Shizuku, looking over the boy's scythe.

"Kuchiki-san," Kyoraku tipped his hat, "would you mind informing us what occurred here?" I felt Rukia's eyes fall upon me, just staring for a long moment.

"…The two bodies are a pair of twins that wanted to hide away with me. They were afraid of Shinigami, and so used their powers to remove me from everyone's memories so that no one would come looking for me." She released a heavy breath. "Ichigo attempted to talk them down, but they wouldn't listen, so he was forced to kill them." My own breath hitched. The two captains and two ex-captains were silent once more, taking in her words.

"It's appreciated that you're willing to cover for him." Yoruichi announced. "But I know Ichigo was in no state where peaceful negotiation was a thought in his mind when he left the Living World."

"And I can certainly confirm he hadn't calmed down by the time he got here." The flowery captain colluded.

"I've been informed already that there were two unseated Shinigami casualties in this area." Unohana's frown was in her voice.

"…I know he's been given an official position as part of the Gotei 13." Rukia's voice was soft. "Is he going to be punished for this?" I didn't have to look to know Unohana and Kyoraku glanced at each other in silent conversation.

"I don't believe we need to." The captain of the 8th explained. "He's punishing himself enough as it is. As far as the official report is concerned, he did exactly as he said he was going to when he entered the Seireitei through a Garganta. The Shinigami casualties were from them antagonizing the wrong person, the culprits were dealt with, and the disturbance they caused has been resolved."

"…No." I mumbled. I felt everyone's eyes snap to me, but before they could protest, I continued. "The first person the twins targeted to test if they had sufficient control over their abilities was Kurotsuchi, who upon seeing he was in a horrifyingly unfamiliar environment as his personal laboratory, destroyed everything in sight. The destruction caused that monster to appear, it only temporarily stopped due to having just formed and lacking energy. It's liable to wake up sometime today and cause more havoc if someone doesn't destroy it." I sensed the collective blink from everyone around me.

"Oh." The second eldest present captain voiced.

After pounding my fist on the door, I didn't have to wait for a response all that long, one of the servants opening it after just a few seconds.

"Kurosaki-sama!" The servant recognized immediately. "You came at a wonderful time, both Tsunayashiro-sama and his wife are present!"

"Good." I grunted. They stepped aside, letting me in, before closing the door behind me and leading me towards where the clan head was. I was escorted to a study, where the servant knocked for me and informed Don-whatever that I was here. As the servant left, I heard some panicked shuffling inside before the green-haired man slid the door open. He was dressed as fancily as always, his hair neatly done, and all-in-all not looking like I had caught him in the middle of something. Then I peered past him curiously and was able to clearly pick out that some stuff had been thrown to the side in favor of some historical documents that I was able to quickly recognize as old MIA reports. Ah, Aizen stuff, probably.

"Kuro-Ichigo-san!" The man stumbled. "I'm so happy you visited today! I, unfortunately, was recovering a lost artifact the last time you came, so we could not go over matters with outing the years of manipulation by Sosuke Aizen's hands in Soul Society's history."

"You seem really enthusiastic about that." I grunted, not in the mood to put up a front for the noble.

"Well, of course! You mentioned that Aizen had been manipulating things in his favor for over a hundred years! To muddy Soul Society's history so, it's atrocious. Hence why it is my duty to clean it of his influence, to point out and show to the public my efforts! Anyone would be overjoyed to know of such a success, why, they'd be all the more eager to have me do even more, possibly request me to do the same for their families!" That set off like nine different sets of warning bells in my head. Ossan offered a suggestion for how to respond.

"What, like a commission?" The noble's eyes glistened with a certain light I knew all too well.

"Well, if they happened to offer rewards to me for something I am duty-bound to achieve, it would only be rude to refuse them, would it not?" He smiled. I nodded in understanding.

Yeah, now everything made sense. There was a unanimous feeling of unsurprise within me. Donyoku didn't give a damn about correcting the history of the Soul Society, he just wanted to have a claim to fame so that people would pay him to do stuff. Rich Prick wanted to be Richer Prick. Being a noble meant you were loaded, but it didn't necessarily mean you had an income, just that you innately had enough money to never care.

That didn't tell me what the wife's deal was, though. She definitely didn't care about money, since she had been hitting on me before I was hired by the Gotei. The servant had said both of them were in, so I figured now was a good time to talk to her. I mindlessly followed Donyoku into his study, Ossan listening to the noble's words and reacting appropriately. The green-haired man was waving the MIA reports around, which I caught were the Vizard's MIA reports. Idea.

"You know," I interrupted whatever unimportant money-scheme nonsense he had been in the middle of, "I got Yama to sign off on repealing all of their bans. Last I heard, Shinji, Rose, and Kensei were scheduled for captaincy interviews sometime this week to get their positions back. You could probably get on their good sides and have them spread the word about what you're doing." I shamelessly threw them under the bus. The clan head's eyes widened with glee.

"You said sometime this week? You don't have any specifics beyond that?"

"Nah. And, obviously, they have first-hand accounts of what really went down, so you'd be able to get the best possible reports. People would be climbing over each other to request you, knowing you were able to be so thorough with your information gathering." A bag was in his hands immediately.

"I hope you can forgive me, to willfully miss such an opportunity would be the greatest insult to the Tsunayashiro noble family and our duty to preserve Soul Society's history. For the sake of our pride, I must see if I can acquire the assistance of those wronged by Sosuke Aizen's hand." I waved it off like I cared in the first place.

"Totally understand. Hell, I'll do you a solid and stick around for a little bit." He was like a child on Christmas morning.

"Your efforts to assist me are greatly appreciated, Ichigo-san!" He called as he damn near ran out the door. I tracked his reiatsu until it was out the building, then I left the room. With notably more control this time, I sent out a pulse of Pesquisa, pinging the wife's location. She was by herself, and figuring there was very little I could do wrong with how aggressively she had been hitting on me, I wasted no time in sauntering to where she was. It was a mildly annoying reminder how obnoxiously huge the homes of the Four Great Noble Clans were, that it took a few minutes to reach the room she was in, which I realized was a bedroom. I knocked and shoved my hands in my pockets.

"Yes?" There was the slightest hint of suppressed annoyance in her voice.

"It's Ichigo." I called.

"Oh, just a moment!" I heard some faint noises, so I focused my hollow hearing, and distinctly caught the shifting of clothes. My reiatsu sense tracked her moving to the side of the room quickly, and I heard some running water. Once all the preparations were done, she came up to the door and pulled it wide open.

"I apologize for my state of dress, I was just getting ready for a bath." She projected a sheepish aura, with a nervous smile I knew she didn't actually feel. Her hair was undone, thrown over her left shoulder. Kyoei-I-forgot-the-rest-of-her-name was clad in only a silken robe, that was loosely done and exposing a lot more skin than was 'proper for a noble'. The right shoulder had fallen to her bicep, leaving it and a very generous amount of her right breast exposed. It was, of course, purely on accident that I was able to see the faintest edge of dark pink with the way her robe fell. The left side was also hanging open quite a bit, exposing a lot of cleavage and stomach. Below the belt that was intentionally a light breeze away from being undone, she stood in such a way that I saw a dangerous amount of inner thigh, to the point that I wasn't entirely certain I wasn't seeing glimpses of something else. "What do I owe the pleasure?" God, I so deeply wanted to punch her in the jaw.

"I had been doing some business with Donyoku, but he found out that some of the captains from a hundred years ago were coming back to return to their old positions and he, uh," I could feel the bile rising in the back of my throat at the words I was about to say, "left me a bit unsatisfied." A predatory gleam appeared in the noble's eyes.

"Yes, he has a bit of a habit of that, you would find." That better not be the reason she was coming onto me so much. "He's so much more focused on ancient relics," the woman shifted on her feet, her robe swaying and flashing her left nipple, "when he should be focused on polished and high-quality."

"Not that I disagree with that mindset," I absolutely fucking did, I've yet to find anything that tops Shakespeare's writing, "but I can't help but notice that you two don't seem to be a match for each other." She very clearly took that as though I was suggesting she and I would be a better match, by her salacious smile. Shiro and I wanted to shove our foot into her stomach at full force, Ossan was ensuring we did not act on that desire.

"I'll admit, when he and I first met, he seemed to be everything I was looking for." I pointedly noticed that she didn't elaborate on what she had been looking for. "But after we got married, I realized I may have…misinterpreted what our relationship would be." Green orbs sensually trailed over me. The right side of her robe finally 'failed' in its task, slipping down and fully exposing her right breast, as the entire right side sagged down in every way where it would be impossible to not notice it had fallen. She acted as though she was not aware of the change to her state of dress. "Since then, however, new opportunities have presented themselves. Ones that are much more appealing." She slid her right foot forward, each of her hands holding the frame of the doorway, presenting her body and getting her slowly-getting-looser robe to flaunt even more. The belt to her robe was doing an atrocious job of keeping the cloth shut, the coat open entirely and exposing absolutely everything.

"And what makes them so appealing?" Ossan was the only reason I wasn't physically either attacking or recoiling, my body remaining determinedly still as the noble took initiative to reach forward and brush the fingers of her right hand along the skin of the top of my chest.

"Well, for one, don't let him fool you, that man puts on more make-up than I do to look as young as he does, and he has the body to match." She sassed. "He also spends all of his time either in his study or searching for artefacts, neglecting everything else." That all sounded suspiciously normal, until… "He's practically a noble in name only, rejecting invitations to dinners and dances, not bothering to use his power to barter with merchants or his money to buy things befitting the status of the Head of one of the Four Great Noble Clans. But I can tell you aren't as foolish as he is, nor as meek. You're someone who can really take charge," she breathed the last two words as her hand came around to my bicep, "who gets what he wants, who can announce his presence without saying a word." Was…is this bitch really…

"You're someone who's strong, who has a presence, whose name carries weight." She leaned in to inhale my scent, shuddering as though she could smell the kind of person I was. Ossan let go, and I grabbed her by her sides then lifted her up. Her lips curled into something wide and excited, multiple types of thrill entering her system right before I threw her into the room. Her body dented the far wall, and she collapsed to the floor, gasping in pain.

"You're a shameless, vain, status-seeking skank!" I realized. "You married into the Tsunayashiro's because you thought you would be treated like a goddamn princess, then switched tracks to going after me because you realized everyone was talking about me!"

"I'm going to have you thrown into the Muken!" She shrieked, immediately realizing there was no way she was going to talk her way back into my 'good graces'.

"Good fucking luck with that, bitch! I've got more authority than Yamamoto in the right circumstances, and I ain't one of the trained dogs that plays dead when Central 46 threatens me! I got nothing to be afraid of from old geezers that can't do anything but yell at me from behind a desk!"

"Your age is showing, you brat! Walk out that door, and I'll make your life a living hell!" She hissed. I barked out a laugh and stomped away.

Next Chapter: Achieving Absolute Zero