Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Of Demons and Death ❯ Aizen's Motive ( Chapter 12 )

Once again, I DO NOT and WILL NEVER own any part of Bleach or Inuyasha. I merely beg the forgiveness of the authors for twisting their characters and ideas to fit my sick needs.

 

NOTE: NO INUYASHA CHARACTERS WILL BE DEPICTED IN THIS WORK! I MERELY TOOK SEVERAL IDEAS TO SUPPLEMENT MY OWN!

 

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT FINISHED THE SOUL SOCIETY ARC AND THOSE WHO HAVE NOT BEEN READING THE NEW CHAPTERS IN THE MANGA! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

 

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“Reijin-san, are you feeling okay?” asked Orihime, snapping me out of my trance.

“Yeah.” I said as I shot her a smile and took another bite of rice. “Just thinking.”

“About what?” asked Zaraki, the sour look on his face probably the product of a massive hangover.

“Nothing.” I said as I waved it off.

“Tell us. Maybe we can help.” said Orihime with a big smile on her face.

“No, it's nothing.” I said, hoping that would be enough to deter them.

“Come on!” said Orihime, her curiosity obviously peaked.

“Okay, if you really must know I was wondering why now.” I asked, referring to Aizen's actions.

“Why what now?” asked Ikkaku, thankfully swallowing his mouthful of food before speaking.

“Why is Aizen moving now? What is different now than back then?” I asked as I looked back down at my breakfast. “It doesn't make any sense.”

“Aizen's dead.” said Zaraki crossly.

“Yeah, didn't you know?” asked Yumichika, a little sickly looking.

“He's not dead.” I said without looking up, still racking my brain for a motive.

“What's a hogyoku?” asked Yachiru, rice all over her mouth and chin.

“Why would you ask that?” I asked as I looked over at her.

“You kept saying it last night. I heard you when I got up to get a drink.” said Yachiru before taking another big bite of rice, something in my brain clicking.

“That's it.” I said before jumping to my feet. “That's it!”

“What's it?” asked Orihime, apparently shocked by my behavior.

“That's his motive! Aizen has found the method to create the hogyoku!” I said, my eyes sweeping the floor as everything fell into place.

“What's a hogyoku?” asked Yachiru, a little cross that I had forgotten about her question.

“It's a substance Captain created before he left that strips away the barrier between the Hollow and shinigami parts of the soul.” I said as I looked up at her, my heart pounding. “He used it to save Captain Shinji and the others from turning into Hollows. Aizen must want it to further his Hollow research.”

“Didn't they confiscate everything at the Institution?” asked Yumichika.

“No, they just carted all his research on the subject off to the Central 46. It was deemed to dangerous to leave lying around for anyone to find.” I said when my train of thought hit a road block. “But then why fake his death? Unless…”

My insides turned to lead when I suddenly realized how stupid I had been.

“Son of a bitch!” I cursed angrily and everyone jumped, Zaraki mainly because of his headache. “I'll kill the bastard myself!”

“What?” asked Orihime weakly.

“Captain… fuck…” I said as I ran my free hand through my hair.

“Spit it out already!” said Zaraki crossly.

“He hid the hogyoku inside Kuchiki.” I said bitterly, more angry at myself that I hadn't realized it until now.

“Is it dangerous?” asked Orihime, the look on her face telling me she was afraid that it might do something to her friend.

“No, but she's in deep shit.” I said as I slid Honorable Ruler into my obi. “Aizen must have figured it out. Fuck!”

“Quiet.” snapped Ryuujin from the back of my mind as I ran my hand through my hair again. “You are acting like a child. Now that you know his plan you must attack while his focus is on the girl.”

“You're right.” I said as I straightened and took a deep breath. “You're right. Let's go.”

“Wait!” said Orihime as she jumped to her feet. “What about Ishida-kun, Sado-kun, and Ganju-kun?”

“We'll pick them up on the way.” I said as I turned to her.

“Not without us.” said Ikkaku as he and Yumichika stood up, their usual cocky grins on their faces.

“What about your hangover?” I asked with a grin and Yumichika waved it off.

“I'll take some aspirin.” he said as he brushed back part of his hair. “Besides, we can't let you go alone.”

“How chivalrous. What about your brave Captain?” I asked as I looked over at Zaraki.

“What? Stay here and miss all the fun?” asked Zaraki with his usual grin as he stood up, Yachiru jumping onto his shoulder.

“Yay! Ken-chan!” shouted Yachiru excitedly. “Big Booby, ride next to me!”

---

“Do you even know where we're going?” I asked as I ran along side Zaraki, Orihime hanging onto his back for dear life.

“Left, Ken-chan! Left!” shouted Yachiru.

“Yes, I think it is left.” said Orihime.

“Left it is!” said Zaraki as he hung a hard left, nearly running into me.

“Good morning, Captain Zaraki!” shouted two men holding brooms as we straightened out, obviously surprised that we had caught them slacking off. “Thank you very much for giving us the honor of sweeping this street clean! We're working really hard to clean this place!”

“And now?” asked Zaraki once we were past the slackers. “Which way do we go now, woman?”

“Um…” said Orihime as she lifted herself so she could peer over Zaraki's shoulder. “It's probably…”

“This way!” shouted Yachiru as she pointed in the opposite direction of Orihime, slamming her head into the teenager's.

“Ouch! What was that for Yachiru!?” asked Orihime, tears of pain in her eyes as she rubbed the side of her head. “You're mean!”

“Right!?” asked Yachiru, apparently oblivious to what she had done to Orihime. “Ken-chan thinks we should go this way, too. Right?”

“It's best if we leave it to Reijin-chan and Orihime-chan to decide.” said Ikkaku as he, Yumichika, and Aramaki caught back up with us. “You have a helplessly bad sense of direction.”

“Shut up, marble head!” said Yachiru angrily as she spit on Ikkaku's head.

I had to turn away to hide my smile as Yumichika nursed Ikkaku's wounded pride.

“Nuisance.” said Zaraki. “I'll decide myself!”

“Yay! Go Ken-chan!” shouted Yachiru and I couldn't help but shake my head.

“I hope Zaraki plans on going right or we'll never get to the 4th Division on time.” I said as I looked over at Zaraki.

“Shut up.” said Zaraki as he shot me a look and just gave him a big smile.

“You're welcome.” I said as I looked forward again.

It didn't take us too long to reach the 4th Division, or even where Captain Unohana had put her charges as Zaraki merely knocked everyone out of his way.

“Why are you…!?”

“He's gone mad!”

“Iyaaaa!”

“What do you think you're doin'?” asked Zaraki as I positioned myself in front of him.

“Making an opening!” I shouted back as I gathered a little reiatsu in my hand. “Destructive Spell #4: White Lightning!”

I released the kido, screams of surprise coming from inside as the wall collapsed. The 4th Division shinigami all stared at us as the dust began to settle, a few of them clutching their clipboards to their chests.

“Where are the ryoka?” I asked and a large majority of people pointed at the stairs.

“They're downstairs.” said a rather shell-shocked nurse.

“Thank you.” I said as I gathered more reiatsu in my hand and released another White Lightning into the floor. The floor collapsed beneath us and I could hear the three men scream in surprise as we came crashing down on them.

W-What happened? What happened?” asked Ishida, Ganju sounding like he was in hysterics.

I felt movement beside me and turned to see Zaraki walking out of the cloud of dust, his appearance bringing Ganju back to his senses.

“You… you're… Za Za Za Za Za Za Za Za-Zaraki Kenpachi! Captain of the 11th Division!” screamed Ganju as I waved the dust away, a sneeze escaping me. “And...” he screamed as the dust settled revealing the rest of us. “You're that self-absorbed guy with the sissy hair style!”

“Excuse me, do I know you?” asked Yumichika, the vein in his temple throbbing as he held up his zanpakuto, snapping it out of its sheath with his thumb. “I'm sorry, but I tend to forget about people who are ugly.”

“What are you talking about!?” asked Ganju loudly as he pointed a finger at Yumichika. “Everyone says that I look cool with the bandages! Plus, with all these bandages, it's normal not to be able to recognize me, stupid!”

I put my hand on my head as I sighed, instantly regretting the decision to break them out. Looking over I could see Orihime struggling to pull herself up.

“Ishida-kun! Sado-kun! Ganju-kun!” shouted Orihime excitedly as she managed to prop herself up on Zaraki's shoulder. “You're all safe! I'm so glad!”

“In-Inoue-san!?” asked Ishida in surprise, the other two looking surprised at Orihime's appearance as well.

“Am I invisible or something?” I asked as I dropped my hand.

“Oh, Reijin-san!” said Ishida as he looked at me.

“Now he sees me.” I said, unable to hide a little smile. “Hurry up. We don't have much time.”

“Are we going to save Kuchiki-san?” asked Chad.

“Of course.” said Zaraki with a wild grin on his face.

---

I could feel my patience rapidly declining as we ran into yet another dead end. While he had listened to me at first, Zaraki had quickly returned to listening to Yachiru to keep her from pulling on his hair. The rest of the group was taking it rather well, though I could see Ikkaku wasn't far from making another comment about Yachiru's lousy sense of direction.

“Ah… um… trying to find one's way around here really needs a lot of luck.” said Ishida weakly, Yachiru looking extremely put out.

“Yes! It's quite normal to run into dead ends every 10 to 20 meters!” said Orihime as she clapped her hands together.

“See!? I told you this would happen!” said Ikkaku, the three teenagers turning to look at him as Yachiru immediately straightened. “This is why I hate letting the Lieutenant lead!”

I let out a sigh as Yachiru launched herself at Ikkaku, biting his head in anger.

“Ah! Stop! That's disgusting!” shouted Ikkaku as he tried to dislodge her.

Careful to make it look nonchalant, I rested my left hand on Honorable Ruler as I monitored the four suppressed reiatsus that were following us. Zaraki shot me a glance and I nodded at him to let him know I knew we were being followed. Yumichika seemed to notice as well as his head suddenly snapped up and he walked up on Zaraki's other side.

“Captain.” he said quietly, a note of urgency in his voice.

“Yeah.” said Zaraki calmly before calling out to our stalkers. “You are shameless to sneak around like that, boys! Get the hell out of here! Cowardly hiding reiatsu and stalking others isn't something that Captains should do!”

“You sure speak with authority. Do you know what a foolish deed it is that you are doing?” asked Tosen as he, Komamura, Iba, and Hisagi appeared on the rooftop in front of us. Everyone but Zaraki and I froze at the sight of the two Captains and high level Lieutenants. “Where are you taking the ryoka to, as well as a convicted criminal? Zaraki, did you lose your pride and righteousness when you lost that fight?”

“Ca-Captain Komamura… Captain Tosen… Lieutenant Iba… and Lieutenant Hisagi… no… no way… four… Captain-level people… at once!” stammered Aramaki and that seemed to knock Yumichika out of his trance.

“Stop panicking, Aramaki!” said Yumichika as he turned his head. “Based on the number of people we have the upper hand!”

“Th-That's not the problem… if we stay here, we'll…” stammered Aramaki.

“Shut up!” I snapped and he stopped his whimpering. “Are you a man or not!?”

He didn't answer as I glared at him over my shoulder so I turned my attention back to the matter at hand.

“Hirameki Reijin, why have you returned to Soul Society?” asked Tosen and I couldn't help but smile.

“You know perfectly well why, traitor.” I said casually as I snapped Honorable Ruler in and out of his sheath with my thumb.

“How dare you call a Captain a traitor!” bellowed Komamura his gloved hand resting on his zanpakuto.

“What are you going to do about it?” I asked as I tossed my hair back. “Especially since it's the truth.”

I couldn't help but let out a little laugh as Hisagi and Iba drew their zanpakutos and launched themselves at me. Without moving I slipped into flash step, knocking them back towards their Captains without doing any real damage. When I slipped back out in the same place they were sprawled out on the roof, stunned that they had been knocked back.

“I was trained by the goddess of Flash herself. You cannot beat me.” I said simply as the two Lieutenants recovered themselves. “Now, I'm only going to ask this once Tosen. Where is Aizen?”

Tosen's face remained blank and my rapidly depleting patience ran out. I drew Honorable Ruler from his sheath and held him point down in front of me.

“Bankai.”

The ground exploded around me as my reiatsu surged, giving me a huge adrenaline rush. I slashed at the dust cloud with my sword, clearing it as I glared up at Tosen.

“All encompassing Honorable Ruler. First level, Sword of Heaven.”

“Wow.” I heard several people behind me say.

“It looks just like Honorable Ruler's outfit.” said Orihime as I let my reiatsu surge into my sword.

“Second level! Sword of Earth!” I said loudly as my sword changed into its second form and I rested it over my right shoulder. “Now talk Tosen or I will make you talk!”

“Impressive bankai, but...” said Zaraki as stepped forward, his reiatsu beginning to surge in excitement. “Who said that you're going to fight?” I glared at him as he grinned at me before looking at the enemy. “Four versus one… that's not even enough to test my sword with!”

“Four versus one you said?” asked Komamura as they jumped down so they were in front of us on the ground. “In other words, you want to fight all four of us alone? I know about your strength… however you think too highly of yourself, Zaraki Kenpachi!”

“Blah! Blah! Blah! You're noisy!” said Zaraki as he drew his zanpakuto and pointed it at his opponents. “Just come on and fight already! It's best if all four of you come together. If you four surround me and attack at once, maybe one of you will actually wound me.”

“Uh… Captain Zaraki… what should we do?” asked Aramaki hesitantly and I barely resisted the urge to punch him. This guy was this weak and whiny and he was still in the 11th Division?

“Shut up! Go away!” shouted Zaraki crossly as he made a gesture with his sword.

“Go on ahead. I'll take care of these idiots.” I said as I turned to Zaraki, not really hearing what Yachiru was saying behind us.

“And let you have all the fun?” he asked as he cocked his head in my direction.

“Ken-chan! Reirei-chan! We'll go search for Ichi!” shouted Yachiru and I looked over my shoulder at her. “Catch up with us soon!”

“Yeah. Be right there.” said Zaraki without looking and I watched as Yachiru started running off.

“Okay! Let's go! Big Booby! Big Bear! Wrestler Guy! Pencil Guy! Moustache Guy! Let's go!” shouted Yachiru happily as she started dragging Orihime along.

I couldn't help but let out a little laugh as I watched them run off, Yachiru leading the group. My attention was turned back to the matter at hand when Tosen started speaking again.

“'Be right there,' you said?” asked Tosen. “Are you taunting us? Or do you really think this is possible? Either way, you didn't merely lose your pride; you seem to have lost all common sense Zaraki.”

I was about ready to shoot off a counter-attack but Zaraki beat me to it.

“Hah! `Common sense?'” asked Zaraki as his reiatsu surged. “Worthless things like those… I never had them as long as I can remember!”

Silence reigned for a few minutes before Hisagi and Iba stepped forward, gathering their reiatsu.

“Captain, this here…” started Iba.

“Please let us go first.” finished HIsagi.

“You wanna try this again?” I asked incredulously, a loud laugh escaping me. “This time I won't be so nice.”

“Idiots…” scoffed Zaraki. “I told you to come at me all at once. I knew it… you do look down at me.”

“In that case, for our side…” started Yumichika as he and Ikkaku appeared in front of us, sounding extremely pleased with himself.

“We have no choice but to go up first Captain!” said Ikkaku.

“Wait, why didn't you two leave with the others?” I asked as I cocked my head to the side.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Listen up!” shouted Ikkaku, completely ignoring me as he started on his rant. “You two are just Lieutenants! Don't think that our Captain even wants to bother fighting you! The two of us are more than enough to deal with you!” shouted Ikkaku before turning to Zaraki and giving him a thumbs-up. “Right, Captain?”

“Come on. Let `em do it.” I said as I looked over at Zaraki.

“Fine, you can have them but fight elsewhere. If you get in my way I'll chop you up first.” said Zaraki, a little miffed that he had lost two opponents.

“Roger!” shouted Ikkaku as both his and Yumichika's reiatsu flared.

“Geeze… don't want to `bother'... `more than enough to deal with you'…” said Iba before letting his reiatsu surge. “It's been a while since we last saw each other. You're insulting mouth really got sharper, Ikkaku.”

“Oh, look who's talking. The guy who left our Division because he couldn't become Lieutenant! Being scolded by someone like you is really unjust, Iba!” shot back Ikkaku.

“Ikkaku…” said Iba, spitting it out like it was something disgusting.

“Let's talk later. We need to get out of here first. I don't want to get chopped up by my Captain.” said Ikkaku, now dead serious.

“I agree.” said Yumichika. “Mind if we move away?”

“Whatever you want. It makes no difference.” said Hisagi before all four of them slipped into flash step and disappeared.

“Finally… now we can fight happily, even though the number got cut in half. It was a request from my men. I have to honor it as their Captain. But now at least it's still good enough for a morning exercise.” said Zaraki, looking a little pissed that only Tosen and Komamura were left.

“What about me?” I asked as I shifted my grip on my sword. “I need a warm up too.”

“Nah. Go on ahead. This'll only take five minutes.” said Zaraki with a grin.

“I find that extremely unfair.” I shot back playfully.

“Get outta here.” he growled back at me, grin still in place.

“Fine. Just one more thing.” I said before turning back to Tosen. “Where's Aizen hiding?”

“Aizen Sosuke is dead. He was most likely murdered by you.” said Tosen and I couldn't help but laugh.

“That's cute. Did he tell you to say that?” I asked as I brushed a stray hair out of my eye.

“How dare you mock his memory!?” bellowed Komamura.

“Can it, Helmet Head, or I'll rip that thing off your head and shove it up your ass.” I shot at Komamura. “I'll talk about him how I damn well please.”

“You're so hot.” whispered Zaraki and I couldn't help but swat at him with my free hand.

“Knock it off. This is semi-serious.” I said, trying to keep a smile off my face and hoping that Zaraki wouldn't turn this into a battle of innuendos.

“Enough of this farce.” said Tosen. “This will end now.”

“Why? Are you going to answer my question now?” I asked as I turned back to him. “Or am I going to have to beat it out of you?”

“I sense him!” hissed Ryuujin.

“What!?” I asked, my heart rate picking up as I searched for any traces of Aizen's reiatsu. “Where!?”

“There!” shrieked Ryuujin as I felt the bastard's reiatsu spike in the direction of the Central 46.

“Hey.”

I snapped out of my conversation with Ryuujin to see Zaraki staring at me with a funny look on his face.

“What?” I asked, trying to act as though nothing had happened.

“What are you doing!?” screamed Ryuujin and my ears started to ring. ”Do you want to lose him!?”

“You know what, I'll take a rain check on that beating.” I said before turning back to Zaraki. “Have fun.”

“Where're you going?” asked Zaraki, a little shocked by my sudden change in attitude.

“To kick some ass.” I said before slipping into flash step.

“Faster! FASTER!” shrieked Ryuujin, her excitement making me giddy.

I could feel my blood rush through my veins as I practically flew to the Chambers of the Central 46. A part of me felt a little guilty for just leaving Zaraki to fight alone, but the rest of me knew that's how he wanted it. Why did I feel guilty in the first place? Why was I worrying about him? Why am I thinking about this now?

“Concentrate!” hissed Ryuujin.

“I am!” I hissed back, angry at myself for getting distracted.

Looking up I saw that I was standing at the entrance of the Chambers of the Central 46. I was here.

 

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Sorry this one took so long. Thanks again to SweetYuya and anihana for their reviews. SweetYuya even called me hon. I'm tickled pink. I really don't know why, but I am.

 

Day_of_Judgement out.