NOVEL NEXT Chapter 14: Retorta chapter 8
Yoruichi loses herself in her speed. She's good at handling weird; it comes with the territory as far as Kisuke is concerned, and she's been dealing with that for decades by now. This is an entirely new brand of what the fuck, though, and she has no idea how to handle it.
She heard Kisuke's explanation to Shinji, no doubt as he intended, and she, who practically raised him, hears what he's not saying. Or, well, he's actually being pretty straightforward for once, but she can hear the emotions behind the carefully modulated tone.
She never realized how little she missed the bleakness of his Rukongai youth until she heard echoes of it in his elder self. She doesn't want to know what managed to put it back, after the Onmitsukido and captaincy didn't even faze him.
She'd have killed Aizen herself, for that alone.
Yoruichi isn't his anchor anymore, either. The knowledge warms and discomfits her simultaneously. She'd sent him off to his captaincy in the hopes that he'd grow more able to stand on his own, away from her. Now he's literally returned from the future with a Shiba-descended partner who complements and strengthens him without taking away his agency, in a way Yoruichi had never been able to do.
She's a little jealous, actually, even though it's everything she'd ever hoped for her surrogate brother.
She missed it, when he finally grew up. She wonders if her older self stayed with him to the end. She hopes so. The Shiba is far too young to have been there for the entirety of their first exile. She doesn't like to think that Kisuke spent those years alone.
Yoruichi gives herself a little shake and picks up the speed a little, pushing herself closer to the top limits of her shunpo. The Gotei 13 is swarming like an anthill, Yamamoto directing things from the center. He's retreated to Division 1, sending all of Seireitei into lockdown. His headquarters has turned into a bristling fortress, the seated members of the division stationed evenly around the perimeter. Division 2 is out in force, patrolling Seireitei and hunting for the threats.
The captain-commander looks like he's preparing for war.
Yoruichi wants to laugh. If Kisuke wanted them all dead, they already would be. If the Shiba-- if Ichigo wanted them dead, this certainly wouldn't stop him.
She slips between two Onmi members--they're good, but she trained them; she's better --and into the large building serving as headquarters. She flits through security seals that haven't yet been adjusted to keep her out and perches high in the shadowy rafters above where the Soutaicho is holding his war council.
And make no mistake, it is a war council. The Commander stands at the head of the room, back straight, a blaze in his eyes that Yoruichi is too young to remember but recognizes from her grandfather's stories of the Quincy War. There is no frail old man in this room--only a hardened warrior. Shunsui and Juushiro flank him, looking uneasy but determined. The rest of the captains have fallen into rank, a pitiful showing without half of their members. Unohana stands apart, Shinji's little silver third seat at her side. He's clearly being interrogated. Discomfort is written harshly in the line of his thin shoulders, but he holds his head proudly nevertheless as he recounts the events of the Hollowfication and Aizen's demise. Yoruichi pushes down a little hint of pride and forces herself to pay attention. Gin would make a good assassin.
They're not covering anything Yoruichi doesn't already know, really. Just that Aizen was a dick. His zanpakuto created thorough illusions. He wanted to overthrow Seireitei. Tousen and Gin had worked for him--Tousen for some twisted idea of Justice, Gin in hopes of assassinating him. The reactions of the Gotei 13 to the deliberate hollowfication of the captains, the plans for the future, and Aizen's dealings with the Arrancar are all deeply amusing. They act as if they themselves aren't capable of atrocities. More concerning are the questions targeting Kisuke.
No, he never worked with Aizen.
Yes, Urahara was there the night of the hollowfication. He was trying to stop the hollowfied captains and lieutenants from changing fully into hollows.
Yes, Aizen framed Urahara-taicho for the entire thing.
No, he did not know how Urahara had killed Aizen. (A knife ta the brain seemed ta work just fine, Soutaicho, sir.)
No, he didn't know why Urahara hadn't killed him.
No, Gin had never seen the orange-haired man before today.
Eventually the questions run dry and the Soutaicho gives Gin a single, grim look.
"I cannot speak for the Central 46. But you have done great evil for a good that may never have come to be. I cannot condone this. But neither can I condemn it. I will place you on probation under Unohana-taicho's care until such time as you can have a proper trial."
Gin ducks his head briefly, his expression unreadable. But some of the tension drains out of his tiny shoulders when Unohana sets her hand on his head, and he steps back to stand at her shoulder.
The Soutaicho then turns to look at Kaien, holding Juushiro's place in line, and raises a questioning eyebrow. Kaien jerks back a little and visibly stops himself from flailing, raising both hands defensively.
"Hey, don't look at me. I've never seen him before in my life. If he's a Shiba, he's probably a bastard child or something. We don't have anybody with that color hair, not that I know of."
The elder Kuchiki gives him an incredulous look.
"You do not keep track of your clan members?"
Kaien gives a vague hand wave.
"Well, mostly? But we get a lot of bastard children, especially from the wander years. And nobody is going to be able to keep track of who slept with whom, not out in Rukongai. Stuff just… happens."
Dear god, his cheeks are faintly pink. Yoruichi wants to pinch them.
Ginrei splutters, looking absolutely scandalized, and then turns bright red when Unohana raises a calm eyebrow at him.
Oh, she has to know what's going on there.
Yoruichi shakes herself. Professionalism now, blackmail material later.
Yamamoto looks...tired. She half expects him to give an exasperated warning of, "children," but he says nothing, merely pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.
"So, we don't know if he's a Shiba. We don't know what sort of training that he's had. We don't know what weapon he uses. We don't even know if he's a Shinigami. All we know is that he's ridiculously powerful, and he likes Urahara-taicho. Or possibly dislikes-- disliked --Aizen-fukutaicho. We don't know anything , except that he showed up when Urahara-taicho was cornered, proceeded to break through the wards and traps around the Second Division as if they weren't there, and then vanished along with Urahara. We can presume, by now, that Tsukabishi Tessai and Shihouin Yoruichi have joined them, along with the hollowfied former members of the Gotei 13."
Soi Fon's tiny back goes absolutely rigid, betrayal creeping across her features, and Yoruichi wants to go to her, tell her everything , but she'll have to do that later, if Ichigo deems her safe enough to bring into the fold.
And my, what a telling thought that is, that she's accepted his strength and leadership in a way she hasn't since her father died--possibly since even before.
Either way, the war council is wrapping up. They've covered everything they can, changed guard rotations and heightened security, and they're sending out patrols under the watch of Shunsui and Juushiro, but they don't know anything, and they're starting their search outside of Seireitei proper, no doubt assuming the intruders had run, rather than holed up in their very heart.
Yoruichi is almost tempted to go talk to Unohana and Gin, really, but she's not keen on tempting fate with one of the only shinigami she knows could stop her in her tracks before speed even became an issue. She doesn't like not having anything to report back, though. It feels like a failed hunt, and her feline subconscious is highly displeased about that. Maybe she should go take a look around the fifth division, see if she can find anything Aizen was hiding that the Gotei might have missed.
Yes, she rather thinks she'll do that.