So Rukia's birthday tomorrow, though I'll probably be busy paying attention to sportsball, if my team wins... I'm probably going to lose it. (It's the packers for those who are wondering)
Rukia sighed as she looked ahead at the senkaimon of the thirteenth division.
Today was the day. Karin was evaluated to be fully recovered from her injuries, and as promised, Rukia was going to see if she was ready to be a proper substitute shinigami.
She could feel her nerves. The memory of her horribly burned arm reminded her of the risks that came with this job. Rukia was perfectly fine when it was her life on the line, and she respected the decisions of her subordinates to do the same. Karin though… Karin was family, she was a younger sister and every fiber of her being wanted to keep her out of this.
That would disrespect her decision, however. Karin chose the life of a shinigami, and it would be an insult to both Karin and herself if she got in the way. Her job was to ensure she was ready for the perilous road ahead.
"Lieutenant, your departure has been logged," Rukia nodded as the technician for the senkaimon spoke. Soon a hell butterfly fluttered into view.
Rukia stretched out her hand and let it perch on her finger. The black and red creature resting on her hand.
Soon the senkaimon opened, and the butterfly fluttered away into the gate, and Rukia followed.
Yoruichi was back in Soul Society, her unofficial excursion into the living world had thankfully gone unnoticed.
"You're finally back, how was the vacation?" Or at least so she had thought. The coy voice of the head captain came from the kitchen where he was helping himself to some of her spirits.
"Good enough, Seoul is quite the place, has enough booze to keep you satisfied that's for sure," Yoruichi spoke with a venomous bite in her voice. This was her home, and he was in it without invitation.
"Well, I guess I'll have to see that for myself eventually," He then took a sip of the drink in front of him. It was a clear drink and she didn't see the bottle before he put it away.
"Mind if I ask why you're here, head captain?" Yoruichi made her displeasure known with her backhanded deference.
"Tsk, so acerbic, I just want to hear about your unsanctioned jaunt. I know you don't like being cooped up, but you wouldn't leave unannounced without good reason," The head captain spoke playfully, making the sting of his words that much sharper.
"I found a lead, and I didn't want Tokinada to know," Yoruichi relented. They were supposed to be working together, and she did flaunt some of the rules she agreed with to chase this lead.
"So Yugure is still alive," This didn't surprise Shunsui. He had seen the MIA report and Tokinada's subsequent appointment of her replacement. She was a clever girl, just as clever as her father.
"Yes, she was aware of the Tsunayashiro conducting experiments on fullbringers, but had assumed it was all above board," Yoruichi relayed her findings. taking a seat at the table.
"Convenient, but I won't question good fortune," The one eyed captain considered everything. Anonymous testimony of foul play would be enough to get Central 46 to back a search of the visuals department. Shunsui didn't doubt her innocence, he had always kept a close eye on her from a distance, and to say Soul Society never did such things officially would be a massive lie.
"The fact that they were conducting experiments on humans though…" That was damning. It could lead to the entire house being disgraced, not that it mattered since most of the clan was dead anyway.
"Yup, and remember Ginjo?"
Shunsui nodded in affirmation. How couldn't he, his crimes were well recorded.
"The thirteenth weren't the ones who attacked him that day," Yoruichi gave him a moment to pause and consider that.
"How do you know?"
"Inference based on gathered evidence," Yoruichi changed her posture. "Tsukishima and I have been casing out the Visuals Department security structure, we found out that they maintain duplicate uniforms of every organization in the Seireitei except the Onmitsukido."
Shunsui didn't need her to explain the rest. The pieces were all there and were plain to see. Combine that with Ukitake's denials that he had sanctioned such an attack… It seems the Tsunayashiro had intended to kill the original Xcution to take their souls in for experimentation.
"How does this connect Tokinada to the current iteration of Xcution though?" Shunsui looked at this and saw how it all contradicted the current evidence.
"Don't know, but we have something substantial now," They had the clan nailed to the wall, but not Tokinada. If he cooperated while also conveniently hiding his deeds in the living world, the clan would be sanctioned but he would face no punishment, as in Soul Society, following orders was a legitimate, and effective, defense.
"Keep me updated, we're now in the phase where we need to be careful, now more than ever," Whatever it was Tokinada was doing, they were getting close. One wrong move and everything would spiral out of control.
Karin had just finished another day of pre-season practice. it surprised her how quickly the summer went by, one day she had just found out that due to her oaf of a father she was nobility, the next she had been a substitute shinigami in training for the better part of three months.
Time just seems to fly sometimes. Now she was going to the Urahara Shoten to undergo an exam to see if she was ready to drop the 'in training' bit of her current title.
Karin wasn't entirely sure if she was ready. Sure, her father had been teaching her the clan fire magics, Tessai had been teaching her kido, and her swordwork was being refined by a teacher with the temperament of a feral chainsaw, but the last hollow really hammered home the dangers of the job.
She winced at the memory of her left arm being absolutely torched. Apparently, kido didn't do that and this was a unique 'feature' of Shiba clan fire magic. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to do that ever again.
Thankfully the pay was really good.
Karin soon found herself in the tucked-away alcove that the Urahara Shoten was located in. After a short walk up to it she knocked on the door and then opened it.
"Hey, it's me," Karin announced her entrance as she walked in. As she did so she noticed a familiar short silhouette by the counter.
"Good to see that you're here, we'll begin your exam shortly," The grinning face of the woman whom Karin had come to see as an older sister finally came into focus as her familiar alto spoke.
"Rukia! I Thought Shino or…" Rukia raised her hand to stay Karin's words.
"It wouldn't sit well for me to have you tested by anyone else, I would trust their judgement, but I wouldn't know for certain if you were ready," She then turned to move to the ladder to the training ground beneath the shop. "This way I know you're ready."
Urahara was minding the shop as Rukia went about her testing of Karin's abilities. He wanted to give the lieutenant her space, even though she insisted he was welcome to observe.
Kisuke sighed. He didn't know if he was really doing it for her sake or his at this point. Rukia was the final student of his late friend and mentor, the reason he still had something resembling a conscience.
To be a scientist among the shinigami is to be a monster, and no man was more painfully aware of that than Kisuke Urahara.
He'd be the first to admit he did some terrible things, hell, you don't make a hogyoku without some blood on your hands.
And yet the one thing he can't forgive himself for doing was dragging his friend's protege into his and Aizen's personal war.
Rukia was too pure, she had forgiven him almost out of hand as if he wasn't the reason she almost died, almost lost her powers permanently, and had become a target for Aizen in the first place.
Kisuke chuckled sardonically. What good was someone else's forgiveness if one couldn't forgive themselves?
That was when the phone started ringing. it wasn't the phone for calls from Soul Society, that was in the back rooms. No, this was his landline. Who would call him at this hour?
He let the call ring out and go to the answering machine. He wasn't going to indicate that he was here, just in case.
When the answering machine beeped and started its playback he was shocked to hear the voice that came over the speeker.
"Kisuke Urahara, It is Aura Michibane of Xcution. I would appreciate it if you got back to me about setting up a time we could chat in person. I feel we may be of use to each other," The beep signifying the end of the message almost went unnoticed. He hadn't been reached out to like this since before he made his hogyoku. This was highly unusual, and risky.
He considered his options carefully. Why would Michibane reach out to him of all people? Sui-Feng had used his shop as a headquarters for the raid on her previous headquarters, and while he didn't know what motivated the strike, it was clear she had gotten the attention of Soul Society.
He also remembered Yoruichi investigating Tokinada. He intentionally avoided asking any questions and kept himself in the dark about what was going on as he knew he was watched closely by the Visuals Department.
The likelihood of them being connected was high enough to be considered.
How much did Michibane know about him?
Karin was panting heavily. Once again Rukia had dismantled her in a spar, hell, she even pulled out her saya like Shino would on occasion in the hopes a second weapon would help. None of that mattered however. Rukia's cold and calculating style, her precise defense and swift offense was simply too deft for her to weather.
"You did much better than last time," While to Karin it may have seemed she had made no progress in her zanjutsu, Rukia noticed the subtle improvements. Her edge alignment was more proper now, her swings were swifter, and that little wrinkle of using her saya, a mark of Ikkaku Madarame's style, was entirely out of left field for her.
"Doesn't feel like it," Karin was also absolutely gassed. They had spent the entire spar moving at Karin's full speed, it still exhausted her quite quickly.
"That's because I'm ahead of you by over fifty years. You've only just started, and you're still growing at an impressive rate," Almost as quickly as Ichigo, though Rukia kept that thought to herself. Was such growth in power this rapid normal for them? Was it because they were quincy? Or is it the combination of all of their traits?
"Really?" Karin sat down, then laid down, allowing her body to relax.
"In three months you have reached a level where I'm confident in your ability to handle solo patrols. That takes years for even the best shinigami to reach," Three months. That was how long it took Ichigo to reach a similar level. She wondered if Karin's explosive growth would continue, or if it would plateau as she became stronger than everything she would be reasonably expected to deal with.
"So I passed?" Karin was cautiously optimistic.
"Yes, though you are still to continue your training and your joint patrols with Shino," Rukia sheathed Sode no Shirayuki with practiced grace as she finished her duties as a commanding officer. "However, you should rest until then," Rukia smiled lightly, proud of Karin's progress.
"No arguments here," Karin spoke hoarsely as she raised a thumbs up into the air before letting her arm comically fall limp.
Rukia chuckled at the display. She really wished she could hang around with her and Yuzu more often. She liked being an older sister, but she had her obligations, and she was expected back soon.
No, not before she sent Karin off.
Aura Michibane was waiting for Urahara to return her call. She didn't expect this to work out. Kisuke, while a wildcard, was not one in the way Tokinada hoped. He could not be easily swayed and trying to deceive him would never work.
She had carefully poured over his files. History, phyche, skills, and associations.
The only wedge she could find was his open admission of how Soul Society was rigged.
That wasn't good enough. His opposition against Aizen, his continued support of the same broken status quo, it did not point to a man who was uncertain of the math of changing that system. It spoke to him being a man who has done the math over and over again, and finding that the broken status quo was the best option from his perspective.
And then there was Hikone.
Aura chuckled. She didn't know what Tokinada's plans for the child was, but every time she asked he gave her an unsettling smile and a sing-song 'you'll see' that only made her assumptions worse each time.
At this point she was certain he saw them as an expendable tool. Her only question being why did that bother her? Hikone was a tool at the end of it all. A mouthpiece for their new order. That's all they were ever supposed to be.
The ringing of her cell phone shook her out of her thoughts. She smiled as she checked the number. It seemed that Urahara wished to parlay after all.
The plot moves forward and Karin has now officially earned her badge. I hope you all enjoyed and any comments are welcome.