Bleach - Buyer's Remorse - Part Four
Feb. 16th, 2011 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dracoqueen22a/n: I don't know if I should call this an interlude or a part, but for the sake of simplicity, let's call it a part. *grins* I do hope you enjoy!
Characters: Ensemble
Rating: M
Warning: Non-explicit noncon, foul language, speculation, nonconsensual drug use, flagrant alcohol use, possible slash, het, or femslash, NO romance/no pairings
Description: For all he can't remember, this is something that he'll never forget.
(One)(Two)(Three)(Four)(Five)(Six)(Seven)(Eight)(Nine)
Retsu can't decide which infuriates and worries her more. That Hisagi-san is not chronologically the third victim but rather the second. Or that she hadn't known any better to think differently.
Guilt swamps over her. For not knowing to look. For not realizing that there are more, victims who won't say or do anything. Who'll just believe their experience is due to intoxication. Those who might not even realize they have something to be worried over.
Kurosaki-san's experience is terrible enough. And then to connect the dots later to Kuchiki-taichou's brush with death and Hisagi-san's “one-night-stand”, and Retsu realizes that there is a pattern right under her nose. A pattern of assault that makes her sick on the inside. Ill with rage and disgust.
And she knows she can't let this lie.
o0o0o
She only finds three people who can remember Kurosaki-san leaving his birthday party. Anyone else she questions can recall that he left at some point – without even accepting all of his gifts – but not when or how.
Their stories match. Kurosaki-san skipped out early. He left alone. No, he wasn't acting oddly. No, he didn't seem disorientated or even inebriated. No, he insisted on not drinking in fact, didn’t you know?
Her suspect list is a mile long. There’s the Gotei 13 itself. The Onmitsukidoh members. The Kidoushuu. Perhaps even the Vizard or those from Karakura with their exile now lifted. All of them have potential access. All of them have the knowledge and cunning if not necessarily the will to do this. And there are only a few she can exclude with any certainty. Kuchiki-taichou, for one. And now Hisagi-fukutaichou. But still, it’s such an enormous and lengthy list that it makes the reality of the situation all the more distressing.
She can't even focus on the people who Kurosaki-san talked to that night because it was his party, his birthday, his celebration. Everyone spoke to him. Everyone bought him a drink. Or tried to at least. Everyone brought him a present or shook his hand.
Around Abarai-fukutaichou's flat, no one remembers anything from that night. No one saw Kurosaki-san when he arrived. No one heard anything. There is no sign of someone dragging an unconscious, fully grown male into the building. The room Kurosaki-san used was clean, more so than all the rest. There's no reiatsu to track, no lingering traces of whichever Shinigami was within the four walls. Just small pulses of Kurosaki-san's own energy.
There are no clues. Nothing to even give Retsu the slightest hint of a direction. She only knows the details and that the perpetrator used a drug. Something that nearly any person in Seireitei can get their hands on. Her only certainty is that it hadn't been one of Kurosaki-san's human friends.
It's a small favor.
She hates that she can't give Kurosaki-san any answers. That all he has to show for this is a blank spot in his memory and the realization that he's helpless. That there's nothing he can do to make himself trust anyone ever again. Kurosaki-san is young, not quite a child anymore, but it still makes her blood boil. He is their ally, a friend to many of them. He has helped them with no thought to his own benefit, and this is how they repay his kindness.
More than that even, his reaction to it all is telling. This was something that should’ve at least been pleasant for him. Special. Instead, it was taken from him. Stolen. And in such a manner that he’ll never even remember.
Retsu can hardly swallow past the acid in her throat.
He doesn't come to Seireitei much anymore, and Retsu mourns that as well. For all he has helped them, he should feel safe here. He should feel like Seireitei is as much his home as the living world. Instead, Kurosaki-san avoids Soul Society as though it were little better than Hueco Mundo. He refuses speaking of what happened to anyone, save Kuchiki-taichou later on, and even then only sparingly.
It all makes Retsu feel just a little helpless herself.
o0o0o
When they bring Kuchiki-taichou in, barely alive and growing worse by the second, Retsu has no reason to connect his condition to Kurosaki-san's assault. She has no reason to think that they are similar or part of the pattern. She's too focused on keeping him alive, on figuring out what's wrong before she fails utterly.
If not for her lieutenant's realization, Retsu fears that Kuchiki-taichou might have lost his life. Even now, she still curses herself for not thinking of it sooner. She had been so focused on the possibility that someone had tried to kill the Kuchiki head that she hadn't considered alternatives.
It's only later, when Kuchiki-taichou is recovering, that Retsu sits to ponder the situation. When she stops to breathe, relax since he’s out of the danger zone, Retsu realizes the possible connection. But it's only a possibility, something on the edge of her mind.
She hopes that she's wrong. That it's just a series of incredibly strange coincidences.
Kuchiki-taichou is reluctant to talk, but he understands that he must. And when his story starts to resonate with Kurosaki-san's in familiar ways, Retsu feels the dread coil in her belly. So many details are similar, so similar they are exact. If not for the difference that Kurosaki-san woke up at a friend’s home and Kuchiki-taichou far from anything familiar, they'd be almost identical. Who could’ve guessed that Kuchiki-taichou would react poorly to the drug?
Once Retsu is certain he’s stable, she starts to investigate. Abarai-fukutaichou remembers leaving early from work that night, per his captain’s permission, with the intention of attending the lantern festival in the third district. It's a rather popular event, one that Retsu knows a good deal of the Shinigami aspired to attend. Abarai-san recalls that he left his captain alone, working on the remaining documents for the day and sipping a cup of his favorite tea. But that isn't an unusual routine for any captain.
Abarai-san hadn't thought anything out of the ordinary until he returned in the morning to find that his captain had left his haori behind. Certainly an odd behavior for him. One strange enough that if Kuchiki-taichou hadn't appeared shortly thereafter, Abarai-san would’ve perhaps even searched him out.
Retsu retrieves the teacup personally, but by the time she gets to it, the entire set has been cleaned and dried per Kuchiki-taichou's standing orders. She'd like to consider the division member who prepared the tea a suspect, but the man doesn't know Kurosaki-san all that well and hadn't been present at his party. Plus, he seemed oddly terrified of Retsu when she questioned him.
Kuchiki-taichou's sister, Rukia-san, doesn't recall him returning home the night of his disappearance. She doesn't remember seeing him at the festival either.
Retsu traces his steps to the best of her ability, following his spotty memory and the path she thinks he’s mostly likely to have taken. The gatekeeper remembers seeing him head into Rukongai but hadn't thought anything odd of it. A lot of Shinigami were going there because of the festival. Kuchiki-taichou wasn’t even with someone that he saw, but there was a good deal of traffic going in and out. The gatekeeper’s only task was to make sure that the right people left and the wrong people didn't come in.
After that, Retsu is at a loss.
There are over a hundred inns scattered throughout Rukongai in just the first five districts alone. She doesn't think Kuchiki-taichou woke in any of the further ones; otherwise, he would’ve collapsed sooner after such a long trek. And in his semi-delirious state, he would’ve been easy pickings for any ruffian. Had that happened, they could’ve been even now still searching for him.
Kuchiki-taichou can't recall where he woke up or which inn it was. He can't remember the direction he came from or even the general area. His journey back to Seireitei is a blur of sights and sounds and colors and rapidly fading senses.
Like Kurosaki-san, Retsu finds herself at a loss for direction. Her only clues are the presence of the drug and the similar circumstances. Things only helpful if this were to happen again. She hopes and prays that it won't, but deep in her heart, she knows that if this is a repeat offender it's only a matter of time.
She knows that Kurosaki-san is listening when she and Kuchiki-taichou talk, and Retsu pretends she doesn't because she knows both of these men. She knows they won't seek help otherwise. But maybe... maybe they will lean on each other. Particularly Kurosaki-san who's been rattled in ways that none of Retsu's vast experience can hope to help. She understands that for Kuchiki-taichou it is a matter of pride, but for Kurosaki-san it's something different. A matter of helplessness. Of being unable to do anything, especially with no face and no name.
Retsu is relieved when Kurosaki-san confides in Kuchiki-taichou and has his confidence returned. A part of her is warmed by the connection that blossoms between the two, a firm and healing friendship that no one could’ve ever expected. Another part of her hates that it has taken something like this to break that last wall between them.
She is there the day Kuchiki-taichou is released from the fourth division. It's not his vice-captain or his sister at his side, but Kurosaki-san who is there as support.
Retsu smiles at the sight; it's the only pleasant outcome of this entire mess. She may not be able to give them answers, not just yet. But they'll have each other, and that's a start.
o0o0o
Once is an anomaly, twice a coincidence, and three times a pattern.
Kira-san comes to her, hands twisting together, with a suspicion that Retsu wishes she can't confirm. She wishes she could tell him that he's mistaken so that he can walk out the door relieved and shoulders unburdened of guilt. But she can't, and when he returns within the week with Hisagi-fukutaichou in tow, Retsu feels her own guilt growing.
To know that Kuchiki-taichou isn't the second victim but the actually third, makes Retsu's stomach coil into nauseated knots. It makes her wonder who else she has missed. It makes her think that she's failing those who depend on her.
But most of all, it makes her angry. Furious even.
Hisagi-san won't admit to anything more than a drunken encounter, but the details he does remember match perfectly. So familiar that it sends a chill down Retsu's spine and all she can think is:
“They struck again.”
They because she's not even sure if it's a man or a woman at this point. She can't be positive either way. There's nothing left behind to identify the perpetrator. Despite Hisagi-san's insistence that it was a woman, Retsu can't be certain. At this point, she knows Hisagi-san will tell himself whatever it takes to shove the matter into the past.
She doesn't have the heart to force him to face the truth. She can't see where it will help, only do more harm. So she lets it lie, lets him believe that he'd drunk himself silly and made an unfortunate choice in a single night of pleasure. He seems all the better for it, and of the known victims, Retsu thinks that Hisagi-san will recover the fastest.
A part of her is relieved for that. The other half is filled with a vicious fury that such recovery is needed in the first place. A rage that is compounded by the fact Kira-san feels an unnecessary sense of blame. Thinking if only he had been watching his senpai closer, if only he hadn't chosen that night to let go.
Retsu tries to reassure him, to help him understand. But when he firms his jaw in that stubborn manner – one that interestingly enough echoes Hisagi-san's own resolve – she sighs to herself and stops pressing. If anything, she knows that Kira-san will be more vigilant now.
She hates that it has come to this.
Too much time has passed for Retsu to conduct a thorough investigation. There's no evidence left behind in his bedroom, and his friends were also intoxicated that night. They recall drinking, how they got home, and who they had brought with them but can't remember anything of their companions' deeds.
Ayasegawa-san, the only one to ever seem unfazed by alcohol, apologizes; he has no explanation either. He’d actually been taking care of Madarame-san, who apparently consumed one sake bottle too many. By the time the fifth-seat had returned to their raucous table, Hisagi-san was already gone.
Retsu has to admit with a growing disgust that this criminal is intelligent. Crafty, stealthy and smart enough to plan. To wait until the proper moment. To leave no trace. To do it in such a manner that the only witnesses won't remember come morning. It makes her physically ill. She wants nothing more than to catch the perpetrator with her own two hands and make them suffer in return.
Three times is a pattern, one that Retsu can no longer keep to herself. Three times and she knows the criminal will strike again. Now, it's only a matter of time.
o0o0o
The captain-commander looks tired, and the news Retsu has to give only makes him seem even older. He puffs on his pipe – a loathsome habit Retsu has long since stopped trying to convince him to surrender – and doesn't bother to hide the troubled gleam in his eyes.
“A captain and a lieutenant assaulted in less than two months and our very own substitute Shinigami as well,” he says and shakes his head with disgust. “This is worrisome indeed.”
Retsu inclines her head, hands folded demurely in her lap. “Whoever this is, they know what they’re doing. They take advantage of gaps in attention, and the drug only facilitates this. They haven't left any evidence, save for the details that connect all three men.”
“Do you have any suspects?”
By the gods does she wish she did.
“Only an endless list. I've no way to narrow it down either.” She sighs, knowing that the captain-commander is one of the few she can show her true feelings on this matter. “All three incidences occurred while the men were in public places surrounded by others. It's almost improbable that it could’ve happened at all unless you're familiar with the effects of the drug.”
Yamamoto-sensei's eyes are distant as he looks out the window. A small puff of smoke rises from the pipe and curls in the air.
“What do you suggest?”
“Tell the other captains,” she says and hopes that encouraging a better awareness is enough. “Keep names private, of course, but let everyone know that something is happening and that they should keep a close eye on their subordinates. Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe they'll make a mistake.”
He shakes his head. “I don't like the idea of waiting until they strike again,” he responds gruffly, though his tone is resigned. “Do you want a task force to investigate?”
“Without revealing the names of those involved, that would be impossible.” Retsu exhales softly. “No, it's best that I keep this to myself and my division. Yamada-san is already involved, and once I fill my lieutenant in on the details, she can help as well.”
“I'll trust your judgment on this.” Yamamoto-soutaichou lowers the pipe from his lips, eyes shifting back to her. “And I pray that you discover the name of the culprit soon. We cannot allow this to continue. And certainly not with so many outside forces breathing down our necks.”
“No more than I, sir. No more than I,” Retsu finishes, voice quiet as her own failures sit heavily on her shoulders.
o0o0o
Retsu is as vague as she can possibly be, while still remaining informative. She informs her fellow captains that something is causing memory loss among the ranks. She warns them to be wary, to keep a closer eye on their subordinates. She encourages them to report anyone who experiences a night of amnesia to the fourth division.
She hopes and prays that the increased vigilance is enough. Either to bring forth an answer or to cause the perpetrator to wise up and cease their despicable actions.
Retsu makes it a point to not look in Kuchiki-taichou's direction. And later, he inclines his head out of gratitude. She's more than pleased to notice that he's meeting with Kurosaki-san afterward for lunch; their friendship has only grown with the last several weeks. Kurosaki-san actually visits Soul Society now, Retsu is glad to discover. But he'll only drink what he's retrieved for himself, and he only stays at the Kuchiki manor, much to the chagrin of his other friends.
Frankly, Retsu can't blame him for his caution. It's perfectly warranted.
She hates that there's nothing more she can do. That she's hit a dead end in all her investigations. That she knows they’re going to strike again. She knows the perpetrator has tasted victory three times, that he or she is confident in their abilities and won't hesitate to try again.
And Retsu can only hope that by then she's put all the pieces of the puzzle together and put this bastard in shackles where he or she belongs. Or if she can get away with it, six feet under in an unmarked grave.
Whichever comes first.
*****
a/n: I love to read your theories. It lets me know what I'm doing right (or wrong if that be the case, *grins*). Feel free to keep guessing. Some of you are even on the right track.
As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.
Characters: Ensemble
Rating: M
Warning: Non-explicit noncon, foul language, speculation, nonconsensual drug use, flagrant alcohol use, possible slash, het, or femslash, NO romance/no pairings
Description: For all he can't remember, this is something that he'll never forget.
(One)(Two)(Three)(Four)(Five)(Six)(Seven)(Eight)(Nine)
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Buyer's Remorse
Part Four
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Buyer's Remorse
Part Four
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Retsu can't decide which infuriates and worries her more. That Hisagi-san is not chronologically the third victim but rather the second. Or that she hadn't known any better to think differently.
Guilt swamps over her. For not knowing to look. For not realizing that there are more, victims who won't say or do anything. Who'll just believe their experience is due to intoxication. Those who might not even realize they have something to be worried over.
Kurosaki-san's experience is terrible enough. And then to connect the dots later to Kuchiki-taichou's brush with death and Hisagi-san's “one-night-stand”, and Retsu realizes that there is a pattern right under her nose. A pattern of assault that makes her sick on the inside. Ill with rage and disgust.
And she knows she can't let this lie.
She only finds three people who can remember Kurosaki-san leaving his birthday party. Anyone else she questions can recall that he left at some point – without even accepting all of his gifts – but not when or how.
Their stories match. Kurosaki-san skipped out early. He left alone. No, he wasn't acting oddly. No, he didn't seem disorientated or even inebriated. No, he insisted on not drinking in fact, didn’t you know?
Her suspect list is a mile long. There’s the Gotei 13 itself. The Onmitsukidoh members. The Kidoushuu. Perhaps even the Vizard or those from Karakura with their exile now lifted. All of them have potential access. All of them have the knowledge and cunning if not necessarily the will to do this. And there are only a few she can exclude with any certainty. Kuchiki-taichou, for one. And now Hisagi-fukutaichou. But still, it’s such an enormous and lengthy list that it makes the reality of the situation all the more distressing.
She can't even focus on the people who Kurosaki-san talked to that night because it was his party, his birthday, his celebration. Everyone spoke to him. Everyone bought him a drink. Or tried to at least. Everyone brought him a present or shook his hand.
Around Abarai-fukutaichou's flat, no one remembers anything from that night. No one saw Kurosaki-san when he arrived. No one heard anything. There is no sign of someone dragging an unconscious, fully grown male into the building. The room Kurosaki-san used was clean, more so than all the rest. There's no reiatsu to track, no lingering traces of whichever Shinigami was within the four walls. Just small pulses of Kurosaki-san's own energy.
There are no clues. Nothing to even give Retsu the slightest hint of a direction. She only knows the details and that the perpetrator used a drug. Something that nearly any person in Seireitei can get their hands on. Her only certainty is that it hadn't been one of Kurosaki-san's human friends.
It's a small favor.
She hates that she can't give Kurosaki-san any answers. That all he has to show for this is a blank spot in his memory and the realization that he's helpless. That there's nothing he can do to make himself trust anyone ever again. Kurosaki-san is young, not quite a child anymore, but it still makes her blood boil. He is their ally, a friend to many of them. He has helped them with no thought to his own benefit, and this is how they repay his kindness.
More than that even, his reaction to it all is telling. This was something that should’ve at least been pleasant for him. Special. Instead, it was taken from him. Stolen. And in such a manner that he’ll never even remember.
Retsu can hardly swallow past the acid in her throat.
He doesn't come to Seireitei much anymore, and Retsu mourns that as well. For all he has helped them, he should feel safe here. He should feel like Seireitei is as much his home as the living world. Instead, Kurosaki-san avoids Soul Society as though it were little better than Hueco Mundo. He refuses speaking of what happened to anyone, save Kuchiki-taichou later on, and even then only sparingly.
It all makes Retsu feel just a little helpless herself.
When they bring Kuchiki-taichou in, barely alive and growing worse by the second, Retsu has no reason to connect his condition to Kurosaki-san's assault. She has no reason to think that they are similar or part of the pattern. She's too focused on keeping him alive, on figuring out what's wrong before she fails utterly.
If not for her lieutenant's realization, Retsu fears that Kuchiki-taichou might have lost his life. Even now, she still curses herself for not thinking of it sooner. She had been so focused on the possibility that someone had tried to kill the Kuchiki head that she hadn't considered alternatives.
It's only later, when Kuchiki-taichou is recovering, that Retsu sits to ponder the situation. When she stops to breathe, relax since he’s out of the danger zone, Retsu realizes the possible connection. But it's only a possibility, something on the edge of her mind.
She hopes that she's wrong. That it's just a series of incredibly strange coincidences.
Kuchiki-taichou is reluctant to talk, but he understands that he must. And when his story starts to resonate with Kurosaki-san's in familiar ways, Retsu feels the dread coil in her belly. So many details are similar, so similar they are exact. If not for the difference that Kurosaki-san woke up at a friend’s home and Kuchiki-taichou far from anything familiar, they'd be almost identical. Who could’ve guessed that Kuchiki-taichou would react poorly to the drug?
Once Retsu is certain he’s stable, she starts to investigate. Abarai-fukutaichou remembers leaving early from work that night, per his captain’s permission, with the intention of attending the lantern festival in the third district. It's a rather popular event, one that Retsu knows a good deal of the Shinigami aspired to attend. Abarai-san recalls that he left his captain alone, working on the remaining documents for the day and sipping a cup of his favorite tea. But that isn't an unusual routine for any captain.
Abarai-san hadn't thought anything out of the ordinary until he returned in the morning to find that his captain had left his haori behind. Certainly an odd behavior for him. One strange enough that if Kuchiki-taichou hadn't appeared shortly thereafter, Abarai-san would’ve perhaps even searched him out.
Retsu retrieves the teacup personally, but by the time she gets to it, the entire set has been cleaned and dried per Kuchiki-taichou's standing orders. She'd like to consider the division member who prepared the tea a suspect, but the man doesn't know Kurosaki-san all that well and hadn't been present at his party. Plus, he seemed oddly terrified of Retsu when she questioned him.
Kuchiki-taichou's sister, Rukia-san, doesn't recall him returning home the night of his disappearance. She doesn't remember seeing him at the festival either.
Retsu traces his steps to the best of her ability, following his spotty memory and the path she thinks he’s mostly likely to have taken. The gatekeeper remembers seeing him head into Rukongai but hadn't thought anything odd of it. A lot of Shinigami were going there because of the festival. Kuchiki-taichou wasn’t even with someone that he saw, but there was a good deal of traffic going in and out. The gatekeeper’s only task was to make sure that the right people left and the wrong people didn't come in.
After that, Retsu is at a loss.
There are over a hundred inns scattered throughout Rukongai in just the first five districts alone. She doesn't think Kuchiki-taichou woke in any of the further ones; otherwise, he would’ve collapsed sooner after such a long trek. And in his semi-delirious state, he would’ve been easy pickings for any ruffian. Had that happened, they could’ve been even now still searching for him.
Kuchiki-taichou can't recall where he woke up or which inn it was. He can't remember the direction he came from or even the general area. His journey back to Seireitei is a blur of sights and sounds and colors and rapidly fading senses.
Like Kurosaki-san, Retsu finds herself at a loss for direction. Her only clues are the presence of the drug and the similar circumstances. Things only helpful if this were to happen again. She hopes and prays that it won't, but deep in her heart, she knows that if this is a repeat offender it's only a matter of time.
She knows that Kurosaki-san is listening when she and Kuchiki-taichou talk, and Retsu pretends she doesn't because she knows both of these men. She knows they won't seek help otherwise. But maybe... maybe they will lean on each other. Particularly Kurosaki-san who's been rattled in ways that none of Retsu's vast experience can hope to help. She understands that for Kuchiki-taichou it is a matter of pride, but for Kurosaki-san it's something different. A matter of helplessness. Of being unable to do anything, especially with no face and no name.
Retsu is relieved when Kurosaki-san confides in Kuchiki-taichou and has his confidence returned. A part of her is warmed by the connection that blossoms between the two, a firm and healing friendship that no one could’ve ever expected. Another part of her hates that it has taken something like this to break that last wall between them.
She is there the day Kuchiki-taichou is released from the fourth division. It's not his vice-captain or his sister at his side, but Kurosaki-san who is there as support.
Retsu smiles at the sight; it's the only pleasant outcome of this entire mess. She may not be able to give them answers, not just yet. But they'll have each other, and that's a start.
Once is an anomaly, twice a coincidence, and three times a pattern.
Kira-san comes to her, hands twisting together, with a suspicion that Retsu wishes she can't confirm. She wishes she could tell him that he's mistaken so that he can walk out the door relieved and shoulders unburdened of guilt. But she can't, and when he returns within the week with Hisagi-fukutaichou in tow, Retsu feels her own guilt growing.
To know that Kuchiki-taichou isn't the second victim but the actually third, makes Retsu's stomach coil into nauseated knots. It makes her wonder who else she has missed. It makes her think that she's failing those who depend on her.
But most of all, it makes her angry. Furious even.
Hisagi-san won't admit to anything more than a drunken encounter, but the details he does remember match perfectly. So familiar that it sends a chill down Retsu's spine and all she can think is:
“They struck again.”
They because she's not even sure if it's a man or a woman at this point. She can't be positive either way. There's nothing left behind to identify the perpetrator. Despite Hisagi-san's insistence that it was a woman, Retsu can't be certain. At this point, she knows Hisagi-san will tell himself whatever it takes to shove the matter into the past.
She doesn't have the heart to force him to face the truth. She can't see where it will help, only do more harm. So she lets it lie, lets him believe that he'd drunk himself silly and made an unfortunate choice in a single night of pleasure. He seems all the better for it, and of the known victims, Retsu thinks that Hisagi-san will recover the fastest.
A part of her is relieved for that. The other half is filled with a vicious fury that such recovery is needed in the first place. A rage that is compounded by the fact Kira-san feels an unnecessary sense of blame. Thinking if only he had been watching his senpai closer, if only he hadn't chosen that night to let go.
Retsu tries to reassure him, to help him understand. But when he firms his jaw in that stubborn manner – one that interestingly enough echoes Hisagi-san's own resolve – she sighs to herself and stops pressing. If anything, she knows that Kira-san will be more vigilant now.
She hates that it has come to this.
Too much time has passed for Retsu to conduct a thorough investigation. There's no evidence left behind in his bedroom, and his friends were also intoxicated that night. They recall drinking, how they got home, and who they had brought with them but can't remember anything of their companions' deeds.
Ayasegawa-san, the only one to ever seem unfazed by alcohol, apologizes; he has no explanation either. He’d actually been taking care of Madarame-san, who apparently consumed one sake bottle too many. By the time the fifth-seat had returned to their raucous table, Hisagi-san was already gone.
Retsu has to admit with a growing disgust that this criminal is intelligent. Crafty, stealthy and smart enough to plan. To wait until the proper moment. To leave no trace. To do it in such a manner that the only witnesses won't remember come morning. It makes her physically ill. She wants nothing more than to catch the perpetrator with her own two hands and make them suffer in return.
Three times is a pattern, one that Retsu can no longer keep to herself. Three times and she knows the criminal will strike again. Now, it's only a matter of time.
The captain-commander looks tired, and the news Retsu has to give only makes him seem even older. He puffs on his pipe – a loathsome habit Retsu has long since stopped trying to convince him to surrender – and doesn't bother to hide the troubled gleam in his eyes.
“A captain and a lieutenant assaulted in less than two months and our very own substitute Shinigami as well,” he says and shakes his head with disgust. “This is worrisome indeed.”
Retsu inclines her head, hands folded demurely in her lap. “Whoever this is, they know what they’re doing. They take advantage of gaps in attention, and the drug only facilitates this. They haven't left any evidence, save for the details that connect all three men.”
“Do you have any suspects?”
By the gods does she wish she did.
“Only an endless list. I've no way to narrow it down either.” She sighs, knowing that the captain-commander is one of the few she can show her true feelings on this matter. “All three incidences occurred while the men were in public places surrounded by others. It's almost improbable that it could’ve happened at all unless you're familiar with the effects of the drug.”
Yamamoto-sensei's eyes are distant as he looks out the window. A small puff of smoke rises from the pipe and curls in the air.
“What do you suggest?”
“Tell the other captains,” she says and hopes that encouraging a better awareness is enough. “Keep names private, of course, but let everyone know that something is happening and that they should keep a close eye on their subordinates. Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe they'll make a mistake.”
He shakes his head. “I don't like the idea of waiting until they strike again,” he responds gruffly, though his tone is resigned. “Do you want a task force to investigate?”
“Without revealing the names of those involved, that would be impossible.” Retsu exhales softly. “No, it's best that I keep this to myself and my division. Yamada-san is already involved, and once I fill my lieutenant in on the details, she can help as well.”
“I'll trust your judgment on this.” Yamamoto-soutaichou lowers the pipe from his lips, eyes shifting back to her. “And I pray that you discover the name of the culprit soon. We cannot allow this to continue. And certainly not with so many outside forces breathing down our necks.”
“No more than I, sir. No more than I,” Retsu finishes, voice quiet as her own failures sit heavily on her shoulders.
Retsu is as vague as she can possibly be, while still remaining informative. She informs her fellow captains that something is causing memory loss among the ranks. She warns them to be wary, to keep a closer eye on their subordinates. She encourages them to report anyone who experiences a night of amnesia to the fourth division.
She hopes and prays that the increased vigilance is enough. Either to bring forth an answer or to cause the perpetrator to wise up and cease their despicable actions.
Retsu makes it a point to not look in Kuchiki-taichou's direction. And later, he inclines his head out of gratitude. She's more than pleased to notice that he's meeting with Kurosaki-san afterward for lunch; their friendship has only grown with the last several weeks. Kurosaki-san actually visits Soul Society now, Retsu is glad to discover. But he'll only drink what he's retrieved for himself, and he only stays at the Kuchiki manor, much to the chagrin of his other friends.
Frankly, Retsu can't blame him for his caution. It's perfectly warranted.
She hates that there's nothing more she can do. That she's hit a dead end in all her investigations. That she knows they’re going to strike again. She knows the perpetrator has tasted victory three times, that he or she is confident in their abilities and won't hesitate to try again.
And Retsu can only hope that by then she's put all the pieces of the puzzle together and put this bastard in shackles where he or she belongs. Or if she can get away with it, six feet under in an unmarked grave.
Whichever comes first.
a/n: I love to read your theories. It lets me know what I'm doing right (or wrong if that be the case, *grins*). Feel free to keep guessing. Some of you are even on the right track.
As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.
