Author's acknowledgement to the unknown reviewers:

To unknown reviewer known only as 'AfroThunda'

…awesome name…

I mean thanks for the comments. I'm glad you like the story, though if I'm close or out of character I don't think I'll ever know. Working on chap. 15 so she MIGHT be making an appearance in 17/18 maybe?

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Blackout2010: To the thousands

Everyone else: And thousands! [haven't hit a million yet]

Blackout2010: of you out there: Thank-you for reading!

Ichigo: I thought you said Don Kannoji wouldn't show up.

Blackout2010: I don't recall saying that…oh wait. (ahem) For those of you out their this actually chapter 13, so go back one to read the real chapter 12.

Senna: What do you mean?

Blackout2010: I'm glad you asked Senna-san, you see when I did chapter replace with the real chapter 12 I didn't send an email out alerting people so someone out there probably hasn't read it yet. I don't know gotta be safe and spoiler free.

Rukia: Now that you've gotten that out of that out of the way on with the plot.

Blackout2010: On with the plot!

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Ch. 13 Footsteps of a traitor and the sting of betrayal

(Senna)

After picking up her body from under the trailer with Rukia they walked Don Kannoji behind an alleyway and used the memory replacement feature that Rukia's hollow alert had installed in it. They knew it would be for the best since Don Kannoji had practically been bawling his eyes out from the event, but for more importantly Rukia having put the camera down back in the mess hall and being unable to go and get it since that according to him would have given him the academy award.

After the memory replacement Senna and Rukia dragged the unconscious form of Don Kannoji back to his trailer and placed him down on the couch. Senna deciding to further make things more believable went to Don Kannoji's calendar and wrote the words canceled on today's show and wrote call Senna on the next available date, which was in about three day, for another scheduled showing to help in the lies fabrication. Seeing that their task was done, the two women exited the trailer allowing the sleeping man to his rest.

"Alright, let's hurry to Keisuke's shop and collect our pay." Rukia said, feeling more like a bounty hunter with each second. Then again in her eyes they certainly earned it after all of that.

The two girl's left to the shop when they caught up with Uryu who was also on route to the shop, though he coldly refused to walk with them back to the shop, the girls however did manage to convince him to at least walk a few feet ahead of him so they could act like strangers going the same way.

As they arrived back at the shop, Uryu walked up to the door before returning his gaze back at them before reluctantly invited them inside so as to wait for the return of Ichigo and his uncle. The girls entered inside following the man back to the room with the circular table and sat down at the table, while he walked into the kitchen and started to make some hot chocolate for them to drink in the meantime.

"Hey, Uryu…" Senna called from the table to the youth in the kitchen, in an attempt to strike up a conversation now that they weren't at each other's throats anymore "I…ahh wanted to ask you…ummm how long have you been able to-

"See spirits?" the navy haired boy roughly guessed, as he poured some milk into the drinks he was making, his eyes still remaining on his task "Always have."

"I get that, but I wanted to know was if you could see spirits then-

"How come I never told you specifically?" he interrupted again, turning back around to face the girls "Simple. Unlike you Mrs. Kurosaki, who blatantly stated on her first day of school you could see spirits I prefer to only say things when they are moderately relevant and don't make me look like an idiot." He said condescendingly, as he walked over to the table and handed both the girls a drink

Senna huffed up in annoyance by her classmate's attitude but didn't say anything instead drinking her hot chocolate, letting the drink wash down the unsavory word she might throw out. Rukia took a quick sip and spoke up next "Tell me Ishida-san, why you were hanging around that abandoned hospital tonight."

The boy's eyes moved over to the other dark haired girl "You make it sound as if I'm some kind of delinquent. But if it will keep you off my back, I was using the abandoned hospital as my shooting range." When the girls narrowed their eyes in disbelief, he sighed and explained "The long dark corridors of the hospital provide a good unobstructed target zone for myself, in addition the place also provides for me a more life-like simulation of sudden hollow attacks. Since we live in the city there are times when attacks can come from anywhere, I was merely preparing myself should something like that befall me as I stated with my grand-uncle."

Uryu took a quick sip of his own drink and turned an eye to Senna "Now that I've answered your question it's fair that you answer mine. Senna while I know of your spiritual awareness I find it highly unlikely that you've been a soul reaper this entire time, which leads me to ask when you had attained these powers."

The girl lowered her head meekly "A little over a week ago…maybe ten days at most"

'I thought as much.' Uryu lazily looked over at Rukia "And how many of you are there running around? It couldn't just be you two correct."

The silence gaze the pair gave the Quincy was all the answer he needed. Uryu sighed as he went into contemplation 'I don't get it. There should be more Soul Reapers running around the city. Sending only two is completely irresponsible as they can't watch the entire city by themselves, there must be something more their hiding.'

Uryu was about to ask them his question when the door to the living room opened and Ichigo and Kisuke walked in, former behind the latter. "Well, it's nice to see that even if you don't like Shinigami grand nephew you can still treat the ladies right." The blonde shopkeeper exclaimed jovially at his anti-Shinigami nephew

Uryu pushed his glasses up as he then took a quick swig of his hot chocolate "They aren't a threat to me at all, so why shouldn't I be hospitable?" he stated logically ignoring the death glare he was getting for his rude behavior "Besides they are your guests."

"Yes, yes, always to the point. Rukia-san may I please have your hollow alert so I can put your money into it while I take your boss to the back."

"Here." The small girl handed over the pager to the man, who started to press a few buttons trying to bring up the payment/bank balance that was specifically built into the device. A few more beeps and alerts and the blonde man said he'd be back momentarily and walked out the room with Ichigo stalking behind him; unknown to the rest of them minus Kisuke that Zangetsu was ready to be quick drawn.

(Ichigo and Kisuke)

After exiting the dining/living room, the pair walked silently through the dark shops hallways. Ichigo kept an eagle eye on the man who betrayed Soul Society in case he tried to make a break for it.

The ex-Shinigami glanced back to his 'watcher' and sighed "You don't have to be so uptight. I'm usually a man of my word, so you don't have to worry about me cheating you out of some pay…usually."

"It's not the money, it's the girl." Ichigo clarified as he examined the surroundings around him to make sure he wasn't leading him to a trap of some kind

Kisuke stopped walking and opened the door to his right and proceeded through it, Ichigo close behind him "So what may I ask has she done to you?" he questioned, trying to remember if Yoruichi-chan had ever mentioned a tall strawberry blonde man with a cleaver-like sword as long as his body "You seem to be a strapping young man did something happen?"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, noticing that Kisuke was trying to pry information out of him. "My reasons are my own." He quickly denied the man, his very existence meaning nothing in comparison to 'her'

The man having been denied started to laugh up a storm from the vibrancy in the guy's answer "Hahaha! I bet your one of her ex-boyfriends that she left behind when she got bored aren't you!" he joked

"Of course not!" the strawberry shot back, unable to believe how joking this guy could be.

They started to proceed down some stairwell and ended up in what Ichigo assumed was the back office, where it seemed most store managers would put the safe or money deposit in. The manager walked behind the desk Hollow Alert in hand and pulled open one of the many drawers and got a strange device in another hand. Keisuke started to press a few button and tossed the Hollow alert back at Ichigo.

"There you can tell Rukia-san, that the money has been transferred without a problem." He explained to the Shinigami who put it away for the moment "However since store hours are closed right now, you'll have to come back another day if you want any supplies."

"Stop stalling Keisuke." grunted out Ichigo, his temper starting to flare up in agitation. Keisuke sighed and muttered about hot-headed ex-boyfriends as he got up from his comfy chair and walked back up the stairs. They proceeded through the shop again and went up to the second floor and arrived at another door.

"Ok, Kurosaki-san this is where the person you seek is." The man said emphasizing the word seek, in such a way so it sounded perverted, which annoyed the already agitated Ichigo further.

Ichigo pushed open the door and flipped the light switch, when he expected to see the woman sleeping on the bed at this time of night; he was surprised to see that the room was empty and devoid of life. On the small table in the center of the room was a small sheet of paper laying face down, Ichigo walked over to it hopeful that it had some clue as to the location of 'her'

Went out sightseeing no idea when I'll be back. Later

Yoruichi

P.S. If anyone touches the Tuna again…

Ichigo eyes hardened at the note that had a paw print mark on the bottom left hand corner in almost a 'this message is approved' fashion. 'So I missed 'her'.' He angrily thought to himself. After stopping to think for a moment he shook his head 'No. This is good news, now that I have her location; once I get back I can relay the information to Soul Society that I found the two traitors. They'll be locked up in maggot's nest for the time being and we'll be able to finally get rid of a huge threat to Soul Society, because from what Shaolin told me Keisuke Urahara was always a thinker and ex-captain of twelve.'

Thought man, walked over behind Ichigo and read over the paper in his hand "hmm. So you missed her too bad. She can sometimes be gone for days on end. I guess you'll have to try again later."

Ichigo turned his head to look at the man behind him, his gaze hardening again. "Hey don't look at me; I didn't know she was gone either." The man said pleading his innocence on the knowledge of her outing, when he was away fighting the Centipede hollow that was trying to eat the group of Shinigami his nephew was with

"Fine. Let's go back before they begin to worry" the man said with a sigh as he pocketed the letter, as proof for his claim when he returned back home

Walking back outside the room, they went back down the stairs and returned to the dining room area where the three were deep in conversation. Well Uryu was just listening for the most part throwing in the occasional nod of the head, while Senna and Rukia did most of the talking. "Well what do you know, just a little while ago you were at each other's throats again and now you're talking like your best friends." A wide grin soon broke across the face of Kisuke "or maybe they're falling for the Urahara family charm, hehehe."

Uryu lazily moved his eyes back to his uncle from his slouched position over the table "Keep telling yourself that Uncle. Did you fulfill your promise so that they can leave now?"

"Yes, yes." The man answered, pointing to the scowling face of Ichigo who had pulled out the hollow alert and handed it back to Rukia for safe keeping.

"Good, since I stayed up with them you can walk them out, as I am tired." The Quincy said decisively as he got up from his chair to exit the room. Once he was at the doorway he turned back to the Shinigami's and his classmate "By the way even though I could have handled myself tonight, your assistance" saying the word with much disdain "was greatly appreciated." And promptly left the room, wanting nothing more to do with them since he had promised to stay out of their way if they won the hollow contest in the hospital to which they did.

Seeing that his Nephew was going to go to bed, the shop keeper decided to walk them out. The two girls finished their drinks before joining the third member of their team on route to the exit. As they walked back the mood between the men was rather awkward since they both knew that Kisuke was the traitor of Soul Society but couldn't do anything since in Ichigo's case he wouldn't be able to beat him straight up, while Kisuke would lose customers and would end up killing the human Senna, which he wouldn't do since she was a just a victim of circumstances.

Sliding the front door open the team walked out of the shop "Oh, just wanted to let you guys know." Kisuke said as he pushed his hat back so they could see his eyes "Tomorrow is golden week (1) so we won't be open for a day or two, so I hope that doesn't inconvenience you guys."

Ichigo turned back to face the man, a cold look on his face, while his voice held hostility in it "It depends, will you and the shop still be here when it reopens?"

'Wow, someone doesn't like me…' the blond thought having heard the subtle accusation of the man "Yes, I'm very loyal to my customers. I'll be open and here waiting for you."

Seeing that his apprehension was confirmed Ichigo turned back around and stalked off, his thoughts drifting back to Grand Fisher.

"Ahh, thanks for everything Kisuke-san." said Senna, trying to be the respectful one of the group, while she pondered why Ichigo was so upset. 'Did something happen between them?'

The man waved his hand "Not a problem. Remember: 'The Urahara Shoten is the place you'll always be goin' once you've shopped with us!" giving his shops slogan/advertisement to the girls, to which they bowed before taking off following the strawberry-orange Shinigami.

After catching up with Ichigo who remained very quiet during the trip back the girls decided to find out what was bugging the man since he was never that hostile to anything. "So…umm Ichigo." Senna started getting the man's brief attention "You feeling ok? You've been acting…weird? For a while now…"

The man turned his eyes away from her and back to the dark streets in front of him as he slowly drifted back to Grand Fisher, knowing that he may have just missed his only opportunity in killing the monster, which caused him to bare his teeth in anger "It's nothing." He barked out, causing the girl to flinch from being snapped at so quickly.

"Look Ichigo she's only worried about you! You don't have to cop an attitude." berated Rukia

Ichigo looked back over to his partner and sighed, knowing he shouldn't take out his frustration on Senna. His thoughts then drifted back to his Mother Masaki, and he frowned knowing she would probably have called him out on it too. "Sorry Senna." He apologized in a low tone

"It's ok, I probably shouldn't have put you on the spot like that." answered the girl, feeling a bit awkward over the situation. 'Does it always feel like this after surviving a near death experience?' she mentally asked herself

"Senna I was wondering if you could tell me something."

"And what's that Ichigo."

"Tell me do you have a nearby cemetery?" he asked the local born woman, who gave an odd look at the man's request "There's someone I want to pay my respects too, since I haven't done it in a while."

"It's not nearby but…we could visit it tomorrow since we'd have to take the bus north out of town and it's not running at this hour."

"That'd be nice." The Shinigami replied with a bitter sweet smile on his face, which Rukia saw since he had turned away from Senna.

'I wonder what's bothering you.' The powerless Shinigami pondered, since Shinigami hardly visited graveyards, which meant it must have been someone very important to him

(Soul Society: Soifon)

'Geez, another meeting? We already had one earlier today. ' The female captain of two huffed to herself in annoyance while walking towards the Taicho's meeting. She didn't have anything against the meeting being called to order since it was part of her job to attend the affairs, it's just she had only now figured out what to give Ichigo on their anniversary, and didn't want to forget it. "I wonder what this is about though." She muttered to herself

"Ah, it is good to see you, Soifon-Taicho." The voice of Retsu Unohana called out to the strolling woman as she emerged from one of the many maze-like corridors of the Seireitei, also on route to the Taicho's meeting

"The pleasure is mine Unohana-Taicho." The smaller woman, corrected as she slowed down so the woman could walk with her "Tell me do you by chance know what this sudden meeting is about?" she asked her senior Taicho

"Unfortunately no, Soifon-Taicho. I only just received the hell butterfly's message mere moments ago. Though if I had to speculate it must be for something rather important if it is enough to warrant the Taicho's to congregate once again." The coil haired Taicho replied to her junior, who merely folded her arms across her chest as she started to return her gaze back to the squad one barracks just up ahead and let out an audible 'hmm'. "Not to change the subject so readily, but may I inquire as to how things have been since the departure of Kurosaki-san?" asked Unohana

Soifon let out a sigh of annoyance as she placed her hand over her forehead to fight off the oncoming headache having remembered how things had changed a bit since his departure back into the human world "I suppose it is quieter in some regards, since I don't have to hear Omeada's and Ichigo's constant bickering back and forth, which only recently went to very new heights." She said venomously having remembered that infernal book, the abominable fat ass wrote, which was still in her custody.

Hearing the bitterness in the young Captain voice, the healer decide to derail the line of questioning slowly "As a fellow Taicho, I do feel that you should intervene lest unfortunate…consequences occur."

"Hmph. You don't have to tell me that Unohana-Taicho. I've been training fuka-taicho Omeada." The raven haired girl explained, feeling delight having remembered their constant sparring after practice, since he wanted her attention so badly now he got it "and given him a healthy dose of reality by letting him into the maggot's nest with the inmates for a few days, toooo" she extended looking for an appropriate way to justify it "quicken his reaction time."

"I will be sure to have a bed ready for him then when he finishes…" The serene woman informed the girl, who seemed to be relishing whatever may have befallen the man during his new found training regiment

"A coffin will suffice, Unohana-Taicho. I'll send Subaru over later for the exact measurements needed." The girl replied as she opened the door and they entered into the Taicho's meeting hall, ending the conversation between them as they shifted back to formal business mode.

"Squad two Captain, and current leader of the Stealth and Punishment force: Soifon reporting in." the woman announced, as she bowed to the Sou-Taicho, who was standing in his spot at the end of the hallway.

"Captain of Squad four: Retsu Unohana also reporting in." said the taller woman with her gentle smile firmly in place, also bowing to the serious looking head captain

"I understand, take your places Taicho's." the Sou-Taicho answered in a very hard voice, which told the women the gravity of the situation. Quickly the woman went between the line of semi already assembled Taicho's and stopped and stepped back into their place amongst the lines beside each other.

A few moments later the handsome Taicho of six, Byakuya Kuchiki arrived with the battle loving Taicho of eleven, Kenpachi Zaraki, closely in tow so he wouldn't get lost by his adoptive daughter Yachiru's poor directional skills which made the stoic captain wonder why he would follow the directive of a child after the continuously same results proven through much trial and error.

The Sou-Taicho, seeing that everyone was present with the inclusion of Jushiro Ukitake, banged his cane against the wood ready to address the latest development that he found only this afternoon. "Taicho's I have convened this meeting on a very urgent matter that was brought up anonymously to me earlier this evening."

"What pray tell could be so important that you had to drag us from our offices and duties for a silly little meeting that could have been done by hell butterfly!" demanded the demented Taicho of twelve Mayuri Kurotsuchi, hating every minute that the longer this blasted meeting lasted the more it cut into his important research.

"I do apologize for it cutting into your busy schedules, but I bear grave news." The old man apologized, keeping order within the room "It has recently come to my attention that Soul Society has traitors and usurpers among them."

This got everyone's attention as they all immediately shifted their attention from the person in front of them to the Sou-Taicho listening intently to every word he was about to speak, as Usurpers in Soul Society would threaten the very balance in the afterlife and needed to be eliminated as soon as possible.

"Sou-Taicho, allow me to send a squad to find and destroy the fools who threaten us." requested Soifon, her mind already picking out the best team for the job.

"It is not that easy, Soifon-Taicho" the aged man spoke up to the young upstart, he let out a sigh as he got ready to drop a very big bomb unto the children before him "as our enemy is none other than Masaki Kurosaki herself."

"That cannot be!" immediately yelled Unohana as she broke from her spot in the line, refusing to believe for a second that her Teacher was a traitor to anyone.

"I must agree with Unohana-Taicho, Sou-Taicho. Ichigo Kurosaki had visited me nearly a year ago and he was genuinely grief stricken over the loss, I sensed it inside his soul." Commented Kaname Tosen, getting a small smile from Unohana that someone was being sensible

"Let me finish!" the old man roared over the crowd releasing his spiritual pressure to prevent any further out bursts "I will show you the inconsistencies pointed out to me." Seeing that the other's were holding their tongues he continued "According to the events of her death, she was supposedly killed by a SINGLE hollow, known only as this 'Grand Fisher', whom we have very minimal data on, which leads me to wonder why did it stop? If it could defeat Masaki why did it not consume everyone else within that district? Why is it that we were unable to sense the struggle occurring between them?" he seemingly questioned the Taicho's who all lowered their heads in contemplation, to question themselves and figure out a reasonable answer "I have one answer so far that leads to another and another. The reason I believe we couldn't sense her was perhaps because of the red gem that you had found earlier that year, Soifon-Taicho."

Soifon looked down at the ground after the statement, as she tried to remember the incident "Oh. Yes I do remember that Gem." The woman recalled having dislodged it herself back in February of last year "But I thought it was destroyed on your orders Sou-Taicho."

"Yes, I did order it however; it was stolen a few months back. I would have authorized a full scale investigation but I decided against it, since the only ones who would know it's use would be Mayuri Kurotsuchi, You Soifon-Taicho, Third Seats Taiga and Kujo, and lastly recently fourth seat Kurosaki all of whom are loyal…or so I thought which leads me to suspect one of you might be the culprit since you would know what it looks like and what it does."

"That is absurd Sou-Taicho, none of my men or myself had anything to do with the repossession of the object!" objected Soifon, refusing to allow the finger of blame to be pointed at her friends, when she knew they were innocent

"I said let me finish!" the man demanded again releasing a bit of his spiritual pressure directly on the woman causing her to lean over a bit from the strength of it, any more and it would have sent the woman to her knees "The reason I suspect your group of individuals is based on these facts. One, I have been overseeing all of squad twelve's activities since the incident, so I know for certain that Kurotsuchi-Taicho as well as all his subordinates are not responsible. Two, Hitsuguaya-Taicho and Matsumoto-Fuka-Taicho could not be the culprits even thought they were present on the grounds that you had allegedly removed the device before they arrived meaning they couldn't have known what was occurring inside. The third reason I suspect your group, is because Ichigo Kurosaki, is the son of Masaki Kurosaki, who was an ex-Taicho and the only one not inside the Seireitei to be able to enter and exit as she pleases, so theoretically given her skills she could walk into the twelfth and take the gem back after the incident, if this was premeditated."

"Pardon, my interruption Sou-Taicho" The captain of fifth division piped up, with a contemplative look on his face "But there is something in all of this that bothers me."

"And that would be?"

"If Masaki Kurosaki was an ex-Taicho, why was she allowed to retire to Rukongai?" he asked getting a mix of suspicious and curious glances

"What are you sayin' Aizen-Taicho? You almost make it sound like it's something sinister…" Gin commented almost unconcernedly, his normal grinning face turned into a thoughtful look of wonderment

"When I was at the academy, I always wanted to be a Taicho, so I made sure to always read up on the duties and mentality needed to become one. What I had learned in my studies was that not a single Taicho in history has been able to 'retire', any previous Taicho's minus the ones who went missing during the incident involving Kisuke Urahara have either gone to the royal guard in service to the Spirit King, or have been put into the maggot's nest. So I do find the fact that Masaki-san was just let go without so much as having a spy placed nearby her to monitor her a bit strange even more so since it was done without the approval of the central forty six." The bespectacled man explained to the congregation, his words casting certain doubts about the dubbed 'Miracle Worker' "And then there is the fact of the sword marks that line the hallways and walls of the house Masaki lived in."

"What is so strange about these slash marks Aizen-Taicho?" questioned the masked Taicho of seventh division, Sajin Komamura "In a fight of survival, one would use anything necessary to stay alive."

"Yes, I know, Komamura-Taicho, however it clearly stated in the text books about previous Taicho's that Masaki Kurosaki's Zanpaktou was NOT a combat type but rather a healing type. As I'm sure Unohana-Taicho could vouch for." The brown haired man said, casting his gaze over at Unohana who nodded her head and said that the statement was true "Which means…"

"Are you implying that the blade strokes didn't come from her Aizen-Taicho?" interrupted Byakuya slowly sifting through all of this information "But if not her then whom?"

"Perhaps an accomplice of sorts. While I hate to say this I've seen Mr. Kurosaki's Zanpaktou and it is clearly capable of cutting, if they were truly working together the incident is possible. After all no body was found of either Grand Fisher or Masaki Kurosaki, only evidence that matches the description of Grand Fisher. Then there is the matter of escaping, if Grand Fisher had gotten away why didn't we feel it as it left the vicinity? Surely whatever that red gem does couldn't affect all of Rukongai. So this leads me to question as well if Masaki is 'dead' or actually trying to over throw the Soul Society as Sou-Taicho Yamamoto is saying."

"This is madness." retorted a frowning Unohana, unable to believe that they were trying to paint her Sensei and her son as a conspiracist or usurpers for the very place they had both defended.

"I have to agree with Unohana-Taicho on this one. That doesn't seem like Masaki-san at all…" Said Kyoraku, a suspicious look gracing his rugged face, as he eyed the room, his eyes looking into the face of all the Taicho's seeing looks ranging from suspicion, sadness, to anger or neutrality.

"There is perhaps always the possibility that she never was who she said." The deep voice of Sajin bellowed out from under his mask, knowing first hand that people could be like two very different people, showing a certain face to the public and one in private.

The room soon erupted into a flood of arguments, with each Taicho casting their opinions and giving their theories. The room fell silent when the meeting doors opened and in entered the fuka-taicho of Sou-Taicho Yamamoto, Chojiro Sasakibe.

The man dropped down to one knee and bowed his head to all of his superiors "A thousand apologizes my various Taicho's for interrupting your important meeting, however I have found very startling evidence at the crime scene, left by our anonymous person." He quickly dug into his jacket and pulled out a black tape recording device "I found it left in Masaki-sama's room, when I investigated the premise as you ordered Sou-Taicho."

Before anyone could move Soifon had flash stepped over to the man and roughly grabbed it from his hand, throwing a cold look to the man letting him know to get out, which he got the hint and bowed before quickly exiting. 'I trust you Masaki-sama, please don't fail me.' the girl prayed, as she closed her eyes and pressed the play button located at the top

A small static sound was heard for a second before it finally kicked on. Everyone's eyes opened when they heard the undeniable voice of Masaki speak up "Look, I know things may seem great but it's not. Soul Society isn't what it seems, it has become corrupt and weak from the fact that they would ostracize those that are different, they shunned the work of Kisuke Urahara and his break through work in finally eliminating the hollows by crossing the barrier."

"Shh! You shouldn't say such things out loud mother!" a male voice called out, which made some of the Taicho's in the room release an audible gasp of air and caused Unohana, Hitsuguaya and Soifon's blood to run cold, as they were the most familiar with that voice. "You never know who might be listening."

"It is only the truth Ichigo." The woman shot back, before a sigh was heard from the recording "I just want to make the world better by starting anew but we can't do that, unless we do something about the way things are currently run."

"What exactly do you have in mind?"

"It is extreme but perhaps necessary, we need to kill the Spirit King." answered the voice of Masaki, confirming to the assembled mass the truth of her and Ichigo's betrayal. "But how exactly are we to do it?"

A pause of silence soon fell over the recording…which made the Taicho's in the room believe that he was trying to think up an answer for her question.

"A force transfer of power." The voice of Ichigo answered, which got interested and hateful looks from the Taicho's "I have a friend who once taught me how to transfer our powers to humans, we could get a few people together and they could transfer it to humans. The human can remain in the human world while the Shinigami return and re-gather their strength and maybe we can eventually have enough man power to fulfill the plan."

'No…this can't be real…' thought the unseen teary eyed captain of two, her heart once again stabbed by the sting of betrayal by not only a friend but also her lover, whose dark shadow extended back to 'Her'

'Sensei isn't like this at all…she wouldn't…would she?' questioned the fourth division captain, her resolve starting to crumble after hearing such damning information about her sensei

'Unohana…' worried the sick form of Jushiro Ukitake, who was deeply depressed that one of their own would do such a thing, especially someone who had been such a role model for others

Softly Aizen walked over to Soifon and took the device out of her hand and pressed the stop button on it, not wanting to hear anymore. He turned back around, with a sad frown on his face as he gazed at the others who were either angry that someone thought to over throw Soul Society, sad at finding out the kindest woman in existence wasn't what she really was, or contemplative over all the detail and figuring out what to make of this development. "(Ahem) I…propose that we send a team to the real world quickly. To…at least try and disprove such claims, maybe this anonymous person was setting this whole thing up as a hoax." He proposed, his frown mixed with hints of disgust over all of this

"I will leave immediately." Said Byakuya answering the call to duty, in bringing down these traitors who he feared may include his sister Rukia, if she was indeed his friend and possible accomplice.

"Agreed you will leave tomorrow morning, so as to prepare a special limiter on you, so you can fight at half strength to bring down these traitors should they encounter you, however verify the situation first before making any actions. We don't need innocent men and women condemned." Said Yamamoto banging his cane against the wooden floor, ending the meeting before it could lead to anymore dissention within the order of Seireitei or possible violence from heated tempers from the bitterness of knowing one of the oldest and most respected of Taicho's was undermining Soul Society law. After being dismissed the Taicho's left the room some opting to use the door, while others choose to flash step away from the room as fast as possible.

(Aizen and Gin)

The pair appeared out of flash step a few miles away from the building, and looked at each other. Their once depressive faces turning back into a look of smugness.

"That was quite a bit of acting with Kyoka Suigetsu, Aizen-Taicho." The silver haired man said, his grinning face growing so much more wider, now that things were getting so much more interesting to him.

"Those fools, can't stop me now. They fall for such a fleeting distraction so quickly, and they unknowingly cut their own throats by getting rid of the only one to escape Kyoka Suigetsu who had a chance to oppose me." replied Aizen as he walked back to his office to prepare for his ascension to god-hood, knowing plan C sending a captain to dispose of Ichigo would be transgressed without flaw.

(Unohana)

"Something is completely off." muttered one unhappy Unohana after she exited the room, and started her journey back to the fourth division "I know exactly how Sensei was, she believed that by working together were people able to come to a better world, not some radical extremist. There must be something more that I'm missing." The woman sighed as she crossed her arms over her ample chest, adamantly refusing to believe that recording of data 'Perhaps I should see how Soifon-Taicho is taking this, probably badly considering her trust issues'

The healer stopped her walking and changed direction to go see how the other female Taicho was taking this event.

(Soifon)

Coming out of her flash step, Soifon landed on one of the nearby buildings close to the squad two barracks. Her eyes were welling up with barely restrained tears from anger at knowing that she had allowed herself to be fooled once again by someone else who claimed to never wish to hurt her, sadness that knowing the one time she put her heart into something it yielded these results again, and shame…shame for having fallen in love with a traitor and meant it.

I promise you, that when I come back, you'll be in for the surprise of a lifetime.

Her eyes glazed her with hate, as her fist smashed into the wall of the building. 'How could I have missed that? His request to have no spies on him, all his of his ambiguous words, bringing his mother to my division…getting close to me. It all meant nothing.' She slammed her hand back into the crack she made again

"Damn you Kurosaki…damn you to hell." The woman cursed to the man who was once her 'Yojimbo'. The woman flash stepped inside her office, and let loose her spiritual pressure to call Shinjiro and Subaru to her side as she took her chair behind the desk. Within moments a sweaty and tired from training Shinjiro and calm Subaru appeared before the enraged woman, both of them curious and puzzled as to why their sister would use the distress call when she wasn't in danger and why she looked so angry.

"What is the matter, Shaolin?" questioned the female spy, wanting to get right to the heart of the matter, since it was already established the distress signal was not for on the whim use

"We have a new threat to Soul Society." Spoke the captain, her voice quivering while her eyes hardened to fight against releasing the tears behind them

"What's wrong sister." demanded Shinjiro, as he saw shades of her falling back to when 'she' had left them behind, quickly taking one of the chairs in front of her while his beloved took the other

"Ichigo Kurosaki…has betrayed Soul Society and plans to kill the Spirit King."

"What!" the two third seat shouted as they rose from their chairs, the disbelief resounding in volumes in their voices at such an unreal claim.

"It is true I heard with my own ears."

Shinjiro looked at his wife who looked back at him clearly not seeing how this came about "Are you kidding me?" he questioned turning back to face the Taicho "You think he would do such a thing? I mean it's Ichigo we're talking about! He's one of loyalist men I've ever met!"

Shaolin shook her head in a no "Apparently it was all a lie. Originally orchestrated by Masaki Kurosaki herself."

Subaru pulled down her face mask and gave a questioning look at Shaolin "I…don't think that they would do such a thing. I have a rather accurate profile about Ichigo and he doesn't strike me as a traitor in fact he would actively take the blame for others in incidents that occur, and while I may not have one about Masaki-san, she seemed like an open and welcoming person. Actually you would know yourself having met the two for a good year surely you wouldn't believe such a claim!"

Shaolin lowered her head as her eye lids dropped about halfway, her mind taking a moment to calm herself down and re-evaluate everything. She started to go over everything that happened and the accusations made against them and she started to rethink on everything that she had done with Ichigo. Slowly things started to build before her on the one hand was all the things damaging that said he was a traitor but on the opposite side, she remembered all the memories of the times they had laughed, fought, cried, kissed with each other, all the virtues and good qualities he possessed and showed her on his stay with her, and in the center was the dark shadow casted from 'her' slowly trying to bind the two together, to bridge the gap of being a traitor.

"I don't know what to think." The captain admitted, trying to slow herself down before she made such a sudden jump to conclusion. Her mind drifted back to what Aizen had said about sending Byakuya down to verify if the situation was truly what it was.

"Well…typically sis, when someone tries to use people, they do try to get along with them." Answered Shinjiro, hoping to shed some light on the situation "but they only try to keep it professional, not get intimate with the betrayed. See if you get too close to someone then it gets harder to betray the person as you have loyalty to them."

The girl behind the desk lifted her head up a bit silently listening to Shinjiro's words, as the man continued "So one of the things that people do when they have to do it regardless of their feelings, is that usually but not always they ask the person to either come with them or they tell them to avoid being in certain places or events, so as to lessen the pain."

"So what you're saying is that something isn't entirely right?" the twin banded woman questioned as she interlocked her fingers and rested her head above the intertwined hands, her mind working out different scenarios as she slowly started to have faith returned back into 'Yojimbo'

"Well…it's more like it seems weird" interjected Shinjiro. Whose face suddenly lit up having remembered the thing she pointed out to him by reading something on pure fluke "Hey Subaru tell her about that thing you saw."

"Ahh, thank-you for that Shin." The reminded girl thanked, who turned to look back at the other female officer "I also noticed that in the various reports from Ichigo recently that had a small inconsistencies, which were small and easy to miss"

"Inconsistencies?" Soifon repeated, the word slowly turning this crazy situation into perhaps something more

The female third seat nodded her head in affirmation "Correct, in one of the reports I had read on your desk the stating of the name of who had filed the report had the words 'Ichigo Kurosaki' on it not 'Yojimbo' his squad two codename."

Shaolin narrowed her eyes for a few reasons: one of which the field reports were for Taicho's eyes only and she would need a reason as to why Subaru had read it. And the second was the report that the woman mentioned. "Before we continue on, Subaru: I will need you to tell me the reason why you were reading the report that only I am allowed to read."

"Ahh, well you see when I had come to deliver some more reports when you weren't in the office; I walked over to place them on the desk when I saw Ichigo's name at the top of the paper. I had thought it was a love letter of some kind since it's standard procedure to use your codename for reports, so when I read it to hang over your head later" at this point Soifon had to pinch the bridge of her nose to stave off the headache from her sister's antics "I soon learned it was a field report. I then checked all of them and every single field report of recent all say the same thing 'Ichigo' not 'Yojimbo'. I had thought you allowed it given your relationship but perhaps you over looked since you were no doubt thinking about him when you were trying to get him an anniversary gift."

The captain leaned down to the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out the most recent report and saw it indeed said Ichigo at the top, she then tossed it to the side and pulled up the next one again Ichigo 'Ichigo…Ichigo…Ichigo. Ichigo. Ichigo!' she read flipping through the paper.

The woman dropped the reports back down against the desk before leaning back into her chair brain storming all of this information. Her mind working over why she herself hadn't spotted such an inconsistency earlier, since while he was no stickler for the rules unlike her, he did follow the ones that applied for the greater good. Which further begged to question if the man was as guilty as he seemed or was something going on around him.

"Tell me how was this information discovered and what are they going to do about the situation?" asked Subaru knowing that Shaolin was definitely listening to reason now, and was beginning to question the strangeness of it, since if he was in a rush to not put his codename, than why didn't he just use his communicator. While it was true that he didn't have access to the screen room as the code was changed he still had that handy.

"The person's name was never said nor do we know if the person is giving good information or not. As for the situation itself, Sou-Taicho Yamamoto has seen fit to dispatch Taicho of sixth division Byakuya Kuchiki to eliminate the possible threat."

Subaru, after crossing her arms and processing the information on the: who, how, and what, spoke up interrupting the woman "I don't think things are all that bad than. Byakuya Kuchiki-Taicho is a calm man who wouldn't make such rash decisions, if they had sent in Kurotsuchi-Taicho or Zaraki-Taicho; I would be immediately afraid and ask that perhaps they send you in. Hmm, now that I think about it I do believe one Rukia Kuchiki is with Ichigo, so assuming the name isn't as common as I think that would make the two related somehow, which would increase the hesitance of Byakuya in making sudden decisions."

Knock, knock, knock. The gentle hitting of the door leading into the Taicho's office alerted the group of Shinigami that they had an unexpected guest.

"It is a private meeting, leave at once." barked out Soifon, not wanting to be interrupted by some pathetic grunt trying to deliver some paper work to her.

"Soifon-Taicho, it's me." Spoke the voice of Retsu Unohana from the other side

"Forgive my rudeness, please enter Unohana-Taicho." The woman corrected, since having someone else discuss this might help in figuring out this disastrous scenario.

The door opened, and Unohana walked in, while Shinjiro got up from his chair and gave it to Unohana, who thanked him for his kind gesture. The healer turned her attention to Soifon, who had a poker face on, though she could tell there was some kind of internal conflict going on inside the young woman. "Are you alright, Soifon-Taicho?"

The woman sighed as she nodded her head "For the moment, I was discussing things over with Shinjiro and Subaru, and perhaps I'm getting a bit ahead of myself over such a thing. I've decided to wait until Kuchiki-Taicho returns with his evaluation of the situation before flying off the handle again. I have faith in Ichigo, like you have with Masaki-san."

Unohana's eyes softened significantly at the mentioning of her sensei's name "It is good to know that. Rest assured, this is perhaps a big misunderstanding or a hoax like Aizen-Taicho had said, things will start to look up soon."

"Umm, me and Su, we'll just step out then if that's ok. So you guys can have some privacy." The male third seat offered which was met with a nod from Shaolin's head.

The pair quietly exited the room, and closed the door while the Taicho's inside began to talk more privately of the strange inconsistencies that had recently come up. As Shinjiro and Subaru walked down the hallway, Shin spoke "Subaru."

"Yes, I know." She replied, her mind already knowing what he was going to say "We shouldn't jump to any conclusions as well, it was a good thing we were able to make most of that up on the fly." She shook her head guilty for deceiving her sister in all but blood "I don't think Shaolin could have taken it."

"Agreed. But I think we should get the whole story from Ichigo first." stated the Samurai, as he crossed his arms with a frown on his face for this sticky situation "Kohai would never lie to us."

The pair continued walking down the hallway, unaware of the events that would soon unfold to their good friend.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

1. I really don't know when Golden Week actually happens I just know of it

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Blackout2010: And so ends chapter 13

Soifon: Can Kyoka Suigetsu really do that?

Blackout2010: Well...it does say absolute hypnosis so I'm guessing it would work on a recording device against those already hypnotised

Ichigo: First time we see Lin-chan this whole arc and then this happens

Shinjiro: Relax it could be worse

Subaru:...it does...get worse Shin-kun...

Shinjiro:...sorry Kohai

Rukia/Senna/Don Kannoji: Till then may the spirits always be with you! Wahahaha!