“I remember what Urahara said. ‘I made no miscalculations. That was my greatest miscalculation of all.’ And just like he predicted, the worst-case scenario came to pass. Man, we sure owe a lot to them. To Urahara, and also to Aizen, an’ all. Let’s go.” — Shinji Hirako.
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The rebels had been stopped dead in the tracks of whatever rebellion they had thought up. And as many Captains and Shinigami were quick to notice, the nature of the threat itself was not as dire as the Central 46 made it seem. If not for the overall pride of the Noble Families then the Captains and their squads would have had an easier time putting a stop to it rather than letting fester to the point it had become.
The inclusion of the Bounts had been the true surprise but they too had been quickly taken care of by any Captain they ran into.
The nature of the rebellion itself wasn’t that surprising, which was a weird thing to say, instead it was the presence of the Bounts that had been the most unnatural thing.
How did the Bounts gain connection with the Noble Families when they had never stepped foot in Soul Society for a thousand years?
It was strange in a way if anyone could take a few minutes of their time to think about it. And some did.
Shunsui found Itachi sitting on the ledge of the Sōkyoku Hill, an execution cliff, both eyes closed with one of his fingers over one of his closed eyes.
“Fancy seeing you here. Got something on your mind?” Shunsui said as he sat beside Itachi, enjoying the view from where he sat
“Something is very strange about this rebellion.” Itachi said after deciding he had seen enough.
Shunsui’s face hardened a little bit from Itachi’s words before going back to the happy-go-luck persona he was known for.
He sighed tiredly. “Damn, I really don’t want to, but I think this is something we can’t just ignore.” Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to come here after all.
“Aizen.” Itachi simply said.
Shunsui raised a brow at him. “Aren’t you giving him too much credit? This is the Noble Families we are talking about. I doubt he can easily manipulate them to do what he wants.”
“Not them. The Bounts.”
“Hmm.” Shunsui rubbed his chin, nodding slowly as he did. “I thought it was weird too. They came from the World of the Living so them getting in contact with those miscreants from the Noble Families smelled fishy. But if, hypothetically, he was the one who sent them to keep us busy then he got what he wanted for a day and a half.”
“Which is more than enough time to do what he needs and get his hands on something very crucial to his plans.”
Shunsui’s eyes opened, finally realizing the byplay. “The Hōgyoku.”
Itachi nodded.
He looked over the vast expanse of the Seireitei from atop the Sōkyoku Hill and asked. “If that is so then what are you doing here? I doubt this is the time you usually take to admire nature.”
Itachi remained silent and Shunsui pressed him no further. If the ever-serious guy was taking a break then who was he to tell him otherwise?
“Captain Komamura just finished dealing with one of the Bounts. One of my clones caught the last one.” Itachi finally said as he got up, prompting an unsolicited chuckle from Shunsui.
“Nothing. Let’s go.” The slothful man’s tone was humorous as he followed behind Itachi.
They arrived at the Head Captain’s office, Isshin and Komamura arriving shortly after they did, with the latter looking more battle-worn while the former only had a little bit of soot and dust on his clothes.
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“So? I am not the only one thinking something isn’t adding up, am I?” Isshin, standing beside Jūshirō, voiced his suspicions.
Standing opposite him was Mayuri, who scoffed. “Is that the only thing you noticed? Not the uncanny similarity between them and the Quincies on how they molded Reishi?”
That got the Captains attention. All of them had noticed the unusual volume of Reiryoku the Bounts possessed, which almost rivaled the Captains, and how easily they manipulated Reishi to strengthen their Doll.
“If they had a bit more time to get used to their abilities I doubt you all would have had it as easy as you did.” Mayuri finished with a derisive eye roll. He huffed when he saw his words did nothing to rile up the Captains.
Sajin Komamura raised his hand, immediately drawing the attention of all the other occupants of the room.. “Captain Kurotsuchi, you said the way they manipulated Reishi was uncanny, how so?”
“Because none of the Bounts, as I remember, could do this when they were created. The only thing you need to know is that under normal circumstances they wouldn’t have been able to do that, artificial souls as they are.” The soft humming steely voice of Yamamoto replied to Komamura’s question.
“I see. Then wouldn’t that mean they were influenced or had some kind of help?”
Instead of answering the question, Yamamoto’s eyes drifted to Itachi, causing Unohana and Isshin to do the same.
Taking that as a clue, Itachi said something that completely surprised the Captains.
“They are no different from Shinigami. The synergy between them and their Dolls is almost a complete mirror of a Shinigami and their Zanpakutō. It wouldn’t surprise me if they could fuse it with a Zanpakutō.”
“Aizen?” It was more of a statement than a question but Itachi nodded nonetheless.
“Then we can’t waste anymore time.” Yamamoto said and banged his cane against the floor, the sound causing some of the Captain’s to flinch and stand ramrod straight.
“Captain Uchiha, Captain Shiba, Captain Kuchiki,” the three Captains called looked at Yamamoto, “the three of you are to leave for the World of the Living and contact Shinji Hirako’s and Kisuke Urahara’s cohorts. I will have word with them at the earliest convenience.”
The Head Captain’s words brokered no further explanations or questions. The three Captains assigned acknowledged the other with a look and immediately walked out to the door, with Unohana and Itachi sharing a certain look before he crossed the door.
The three of them wasted no time and immediately left the 1st Division and soon crossed the Senkaimon.
“Isn’t that just ominous?” Isshin grimaced. The first thing they had picked up were the lingering Reiatsu in the air. Obviously there had been a fight here, and a serious one at that.
“Can you find them, Captain Uchiha?” Kaien’s question was laced with worry but no one said anything about it.
Isshin had brought Kaien along with him this time around while Itachi brought Junpei who was out of his ROOT gear and appeared as a normal Shinigami.
“I’ve located the Visored. Captain Shiba, will you and Captain Kuchiki and Lieutenant Shiba meet up with the Visored while I search for Kisuke Urahara? They must’ve changed locations since I can’t sense them.”
Isshin thought about it for a second before agreeing with Itachi’s suggestion and soon after left with Byakuya and Kaien, leaving Itachi and Junpei alone.
“So how do we find them if they are in hiding?” Junpei asked as they stood in the sky.
“They’ll come to meet us.” Itachi simply said and stood in silence with Junpei who was looking around for anything to help stage off his boredom.
It didn’t take long before Itachi and Junpei picked up on a resonating Reiatsu signal that when they traced to its source they found Yoruichi who looked like she’d gone through a rather violent scuffle, having a few wounds and scratches to show for it.
“I look like crap, I know.” She breathed out a sigh and gave Itachi and Junpei a subtle once-over.
“This is your boy? Good job.” She gave Junpei an approving nod, leaving the young man flummoxed.
“Yoruichi…” Itachi stepped up to her. His voice was as calm and even, as utterly bland as Junpei always remembered, but even he couldn’t miss the tint of worry (or was it concern?) in Itachi’s voice as he said her name.
“I’m fine.” She said with an empty chuckle and beckoned on them to follow. If she was surprised that Junpei could somewhat keep up then she didn’t show it.
Before Itachi could ask, she started giving a summary of what happened a while ago.
At the end of it, Itachi and Junpei realized that things weren’t as they hoped, instead it was on a path that they very well would rather prevent.
Lilynette and Miyako Shiba were taken to Hueco Mundo. Kensei Muguruma and Love Aikawa were killed. Hachigen Ushōda was fatally injured.
And not only had Aizen publicly blamed the deaths of the two Visored on Kisuke’s reluctance to handover the Hōgyoku, he also took Miyako and Lilynette to force the Visored and Starrk against Kisuke to pressure him into handing over the Hōgyoku.
“Where is Starrk?” Itachi asked.
“You mean the Vasto Lorde Arrancar who is tethering on the edge of a rampage? He’s with Kisuke and Tessai.” This time she really did laugh but the humor that came with it was twisted. “It’s ironic that the Hollow is the one who is holding himself back from attacking us on sight. Normally you’d think it’d be our former comrades.”
Itachi could only speculate how the discussion between the three Shinigami and the Visored were going. Out of cold habit, he couldn’t help but think that Isshin and Byakuya would be fine even if the Visored attacked them as they were down two Captains – he quickly dispelled the heartless thought and instead focused on how to deal with Starrk. Somewhere in his heart, he knew he had failed the kind Hollow in a way.