Bleach - Buyer's Remorse - Part Seven
Mar. 30th, 2011 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dracoqueen22a/n: Today, I bring you the name of the perpetrator. Today, some questions are answered. But not all of them.
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)
It is past lunch by the time Retsu runs into her vice-captain. Isane has spent most the morning patching up the eleventh division from many scrapes, bruises, and sword wounds. Apparently, there was one huge bout of one-up-manship amongst them the night before, and many of their members came out much the worse for wear.
Isane looks tired. She was called in early that morning to help deal with the influx of patients since Retsu had been busy with Ukitake-san and Iemura-kun never deals very well with the eleventh. At least, not since the last time they taped a sign to his back that everyone and their brother with an intelligence smaller than a weasel's decided to obey.
“Unohana-taichou,” Isane greets with a weary smile as she holds a few files to her chest. Her shoulders are hunched as always, no matter how often Retsu encourages her to stand up straight. “How is Ukitake-taichou feeling?”
Retsu bites her lip. She can’t tell if it’s genuine concern or something else entirely. She’s made sure that Ukitake-san's presence in the fourth division is no small secret, though she has also declared it to be a result of his illness. It will be easier on his pride that way, and really, she wants to save him as much embarrassment as she can.
“It was just a small flare up,” Retsu replies, trying to act casual even as her insides quiver with conflicting emotions. “But you know how Kyouraku-san is sometimes. He was very worried.”
A tinge of red colors her lieutenant's cheeks. “Kyouraku-taichou cares very much for him,” she agrees. “I'm glad that he's recovering. How long before he'll be well enough to return to the thirteenth?”
“By tomorrow, I imagine,” Retsu says and steels herself, one hand drifting to the bead in her pocket. “Speaking of which… the last time I sent you to check up on him, how was he feeling? I know he sometimes likes to hide the smaller spells.”
Her vice-captain blinks. “What are you talking about, taichou? That was weeks ago. You've done the checkups for the past month, don’t you remember?”
Retsu feels the last of her hope crumble to dust. It falls like so many ashes to the pristine floor of the fourth division. A reiatsu signature wouldn’t last so long, especially one treated to the constant weight of Ukitake-san's powerful energy. But there has to be another explanation. Any other explanation. Something. Anything at all. Anything to explain this away.
But there isn’t, and the truth sits like a hot and heavy weight on her soul. Burning like Ryuujin Jakka and twice as terrible. Retsu wants to cry. She wants to scream at Isane. To demand the truth then and there. To force it from her and try to understand why – why, damn you! – she’d do such a horrible thing.
But Retsu does none of that. She just closes her eyes for a heartbeat and swallows down the ashes.
“Have I?” Retsu says, and she can't fight the chill in her tone. “I thought for sure that I sent you last week. Or perhaps I’m confusing you with someone else.”
Isane frowns, and for the first time, a flash of discomfort flits through her gaze. There’s something to the way she shifts her weight. Something telling. But Retsu can’t discern what it says. She honestly doesn’t care at this point.
“No, taichou. I'd remember if you had.” Isane pauses and tilts her head to the side. “It's not like you to forget. Are you feeling alright?”
“Yes, I’m just tired.” Retsu takes in a slow, steady breath. She reaches out, gently grasps her lieutenant's free arm, and does her best to act calm. “Would you come with me please, Isane? I've paperwork that needs to be delivered and a matter we need to discuss.”
She doesn't want to cause a scene. Not here in the middle of the fourth where any number of patients could bear witness or her own subordinates could see. She couldn’t bear for them to watch this. For them to see what Isane has done. For them to witness what she allowed herself to become.
And maybe, just maybe she wants to shield herself from it, too. To hide the fact that she knows Isane best of all but didn’t know this. Didn’t see it until reality smacked her in the face and demanded that she finally pay attention.
Wariness touches Isane’s eyes. Her tongue darts out to wet her lips as she gestures with the folders in her unoccupied arm.
“I still have patients to visit, taichou.”
“I'll have Yamada-san take them over,” Retsu replies firmly. “This is rather urgent. It can’t wait.”
For a moment, she thinks her vice-captain is going to bolt. The muscles in Isane’s arms tense, and she chews on her bottom lip. But finally, she nods.
o0o0o
The silence in her office is stifling. Retsu can't completely control her emotions, and the sight of Isane sitting across from her, shoulders hunched, makes her stomach churn. It seems so much like Retsu is wrong, and maybe it's all such a big coincidence. Perhaps she’s so desperate for an explanation that her mind is playing tricks. That she’s jumping to conclusions.
But the bead is heavy in her pocket. More weighted than its mass should ever allow. And the truth is heavier still.
Retsu wants to be calm and rational about this. But after so many weeks – months even – of fruitlessly investigating this case, she has no more patience left within her.
“Unohana-taichou, you said you had some paperwork?”
Isane’s voice breaks the silence but doesn’t cut through the tension.
Retsu flexes her fingers, draws in a steady breath, and then reaches into her pocket. She pulls out the golden bead and sets it on her desk with a tiny click. In full view of Isane, it is a perfect match to the ones already decorating her small braids.
Isane just watches her movements, staring at the bead. Her expression is puzzled. Like she can’t quite understand what’s happening.
Retsu wishes that were genuine. But now, she doubts everything she sees with Isane. Doubts everything she knows. This woman has been her second for nearly a hundred years. Has been in her squad for almost four centuries before that. Retsu has watched her grow and mature and become lovelier every day. She’s nurtured and cared for her and loved her as only a mother can. She’s even entertained ideas of retiring, of giving her division over to Isane when the war is over. Isane deserves it after all, and her division would be in good hands, the best.
But maybe that’s a lie, too. Retsu can no longer tell what is. Perhaps all of it. Maybe none of it.
Not knowing is worse than any perceived betrayal.
“Taichou?” Isane questions softly, so softly, too softly.
Retsu nearly crumbles then and there. Somehow, she holds together with only fine cracks.
“I found this in Ukitake-san's bedroom,” Retsu says then, leaving no room for argument. “And only because I searched for reiatsu.”
Isane pales, her face turning sickly and wan. “I hadn't even noticed it was missing,” she comments weakly, and her hands twist together in her lap. “I must have dropped it a few weeks ago.”
“Isane, you and I both know that isn’t the answer to this riddle,” Retsu corrects, and there is steel in her voice. She stares at Isane and asks the question that has been riding on the back of her mind ever since finding the bead. “Why? Why would you do this? Why would you ever do such a thing?”
Grey eyes fall to her lap. Isane doesn’t look at her. She doesn’t look at much of anything, and that says it all right there. That says everything even if Isane won’t.
Retsu feels the cracks in her soul widening ever-so-slightly, and there’s nothing she can do to stop it.
“Why?” she asks again, hand snapping out to grip Isane’s arm. “Why do this?”
“You wouldn't understand, taichou,” Isane murmurs, and it's all the admission Retsu needs to make her belly twist and her soul die with utter disbelief.
“No, I don't,” Retsu agrees, her voice a fierce and forceful sound, but it’s also broken. “I could never understand why you did this. Why you thought it was acceptable to do such a thing.”
She shakes her head, glad that she silently put a barrier over her door. The last thing she wants is for anyone to walk in on this. The last thing she needs is for them to bear witness to her lieutenant’s disgrace and Retsu’s own rapid loss of control.
“This is a crime, Isane!”
“I know that,” Isane retorts, and there's something fierce in her tone as well. Something that makes her eyes light with fire as she whips her eyes up. “Which is why you'll never understand why we did it. Why I had to do it.”
We.
Retsu has suspected that may be more than one criminal. It almost seemed too much for one person, no matter how meticulous, to accomplish alone.
“Who?” she demands with narrowed eyes and a grip that makes her knuckles white against Isane’s sleeve. “I know you didn't think of this all on your own. Who is it?”
“We did it together,” Isane says with a certain degree of stubbornness. Her shoulders, for once, are straight and tall. “Don't think I'm so weak-willed I'd go along with anything. She may have come up with the plan, but I supplied the details. I knew exactly what I was doing.”
Retsu is at a loss for words. There aren’t words for this. For forcing someone against their will. For drugging them. For stealing hours of their life.
For sounding proud of it.
She can only stare at Isane in disbelief. She can only feel something in her tremble and die. She can only wonder where it all went wrong.
“You will tell me everything,” Retsu orders then because she honestly has nothing else to say.
But for once, Isane just looks straight back at her. For decades, Retsu has tried to help her find her own inner worth. For her to realize the strength she has.
What a way for her discover it now.
o0o0o
Telling the captain-commander is hard. He stares at her. Actually stares for a full minute before taking a long and almost shaking puff from his pipe. Retsu can’t tell if it’s from nerves or something else though.
He doesn’t even need to tell her what Isane’s fate will be. She attacked two captains, a vice-captain, a member of the Kuchiki clan, and a trusted ally. The death they give her will be far more merciful than what the others would choose to do.
As for Yadomaru-san, they can’t punish her on their own. Not without losing support from the Vizard at large. Retsu doesn’t want to embarrass the victims even more, but she has no choice in giving the truth.
Telling Hirako-san is even harder. But she can see it in his eyes that he believes her the moment the words leave her mouth; he doesn’t even need her carefully displayed evidence. It’s too outrageous to be a lie, and he’s never gotten anything but the truth from her in the years they’ve known each other. And she can tell that no small part of him is willing to believe this of his comrade. The Vizard have witnessed the worst of each other after all; Retsu only wonders if this is something he’s seen from Yadomaru-san before.
Telling the victims is the worst. Kurosaki-san goes white as a sheet, and the Kuchiki siblings aren’t much better off. The three of them just sit in silence until she leaves. They don’t demand answers or ask any questions. They simply sit there and stare at each other as if trying to wake up from this unending nightmare. Kurosaki-san is horrified. Kuchiki-taichou is embarrassed. But Kuchiki Rukia… she merely nods as Retsu readies herself to leave. Her face is blank, but her eyes are hard.
All three of them finger their swords.
Hisagi-san doesn’t want to know and seemingly doesn’t care. He just asks for his picture to be returned and washes his hands of the entire mess. Kira-san is the one to ask questions, and Retsu gives him as much as she can. But it’s not enough and never will be.
Ukitake-san takes it well on the surface. He’s the only thing that keeps his best friend from running out of the room and seeking his vengeance, but there’s a tremor to his hands. A shakiness to his smile as he serves them tea. But Retsu can practically see the wheels turning behind his eyes. Can see him revisiting every interaction he ever had with either woman and wondering where he went so wrong. Wondering how he could’ve misjudged both of them to such a large degree.
Isane has visited his house as a healer countless times before. And Yadomaru-san was attached to her captain’s hip when she still served him. Retsu wouldn’t be surprised if she’d once had her own room in Ukitake-san’s house.
Kyouraku-san though… It’s awful for him. As horrible as it was for Retsu. Neither of them are the victims here. But it feels like they are. Yadomaru-san was to him as Isane is to her. Someone trusted and well-loved. Something of a daughter, though their ways of showing it differ. Even worse, Kyouraku-san’s best and dearest friend, his closest comrade and partner, was harmed in the process. He vacillates between fury and despair heading into guilt. He clearly doesn’t know what to do. He wants revenge, recompense for this crime. But at the same time, he knows that he’ll never be able to claim it.
That only leaves their two perpetrators. Kotetsu Isane and Yadomaru Lisa. Both will be punished in secret by their own groups. It’s the only way to keep from dragging the victims through the mud. The only way to keep Seireitei from falling apart at the seams.
Hirako-san will deal with Yadomaru-san. Isane is left to her captain.
o0o0o
One day, Retsu and her lieutenant go out into Rukongai. Only Retsu comes back. She tells no one the truth of what happened, but the captain-commander knows, and it’s clear that the others involved in this debacle do, too. They don’t ask, don’t question, but their relief is clear to anyone who knows to look.
Isane is proud until the end. She doesn’t beg. She doesn’t plead. She just looks out over the meadow that Retsu has chosen as her grave. It’s beautiful here. Full of flowers and the scent of the distant pine trees on the wind. The silence stretches between them for what could be hours, and Isane doesn’t look at her until she moves to unsheathe Minazuki.
“I’m sorry, taichou.”
Retsu looks at her for a heartbeat. She thinks to say something. To tell Isane that she loves her. That she will think of her always. That she’s forgiven.
She says none of it.
“I’m sorry,” Isane repeats, but there are no tears in her eyes.
Not as there are in Retsu’s own as she swings Minazuki. Her strike is clean and true, and she spends the rest of the day digging Isane’s grave by hand. Her eyes remain moist, but her face stays dry the entire time. She doesn’t stop working until her task is complete and she stares at the freshly turned earth surrounded by flowers that glow in the dying sunlight.
“No…” Retsu finally whispers. “You’re not.”
Then, she walks away.
Somehow, she makes it back to Seireitei and to her room, but Retsu honestly can’t recall how. She just accepts it as truth and crawls into her bed fully clothed, and there, she weeps so hard that she can’t breathe. Cries until there are no more tears and she can only lie there in the dark.
A week later, Yamada Hanatarou is promoted to the second seat of her division. They share a drink in her office, and he actually dares give her a hug before he leaves. That night is the first one since Isane died that she doesn’t cry herself to sleep.
o0o0o
For Shinji, this could quite easily be the worst day of his life. At the very least, it ranks up there with being turned into a half-Hollow monster and then spending agonizing weeks trying to regain his normal good looks. It’s certainly worse than the day that he made Aizen his vice-captain and ranks right up there with the evening Hiyori kicked him in the privates right before his hot date with Ichigo’s cute little friend.
He walks her out to a spot in the middle of nowhere, a place he might not even be able to find again. He wonders if Kisuke has even noticed that he took the power-binding cuffs. Shinji hopes not. Too many questions to answer that way. He’s already had to hedge on the truth to the rest of their group too much as is. He tells them the barest facts and names no names, only says that Ichigo had been hurt in the process.
Hiyori, Rose, and Love don’t want to believe him, not when it’s a Shinigami’s word versus that of Lisa. Kensei is oddly silent on the matter, but his eyes are a tad too astute. Mashiro believes from the outset, as does Hachi. Those two both know firsthand how nasty Lisa can be. So does Shinji. He was the one to see her conquer her Hollow. Saw what she’d tried to do while under its influence. He doubts she remembers much, if any, of it. But he knows Kisuke still has the marks and that he’s always very careful not to show her his back. Even decades later.
He wants to believe that it really was an accident. But Shinji always had his doubts. It seems like they’ve only been confirmed.
The pair of them walks until Shinji finally thinks they’ve gone far enough. He hasn’t said anything the entire time, and Lisa has only whistled. For the rest of his life, he’ll never think of that song the same way. A shame since it’s his favorite. But the bitch probably knows that.
“Ready?” he asks as he reaches for Sakanade.
Shinji isn’t sure if he’ll need shikai or even bankai to finish this. It’s hard to say with all the weird shit going on with their kind. He isn’t even sure he’s strong enough to kill her cleanly either. Which will definitely make this day suck even worse for the both of them.
“Ready?” Lisa repeats it back like she didn’t understand the question. “Does it matter?”
He won’t play this game with her. He won’t.
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” she says then. “You should just let me go.”
Shinji sighs, but it’s mostly to cover his annoyance. Can she at least sound a bit sorry over all this?
“Ya know that I can’t do that,” he retorts nonchalantly but means every word.
Lisa fixes him with a stare behind her glasses. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” she tells him. “It’s not like I hurt anybody. Not really. It was all in good fun.”
His eyebrows lift into his forehead as he looks at her dumbfounded. She can’t actually believe that. Can she? She can’t really think that it’s okay to force herself on someone, right? That it’s okay to randomly drug everybody and their sister and have her wicked way with them? That she can fuck with one of their own and not have to face the consequences?
“Ya hurt one of us. Ya hurt another Vizard.”
He says it like it’s obvious, and it is. It should be. They are Vizard. They are both Shinigami and Hollows. They have to stick together. Even though Soul Society has seemingly welcomed them back, that’s no excuse to turn her back on them and use Ichigo like a fucktoy. Much less for her to go out and do the same to other people. Kuchiki-hime. His lovely sister. Kensei’s fanboy. And fuck, even Ukitake!
It’d be one thing to do this to someone like Aizen. Or to the bastards who tried to kill them. But none of her conquests were even involved in that. Most of them were either kids or hadn’t even existed at the time.
He says as much to her, but Lisa doesn’t even bat an eyelash. Shinji feels like tearing his hair out in frustration at her completely uncaring expression. Or maybe he should just throttle her. It’d be easier in the long run, and she deserves it. For Ichigo. For the others.
“Gods be damned, Lisa,” Shinji can’t help but say then. “Ichigo’s just a kid. We both remember when he was born; it sure as fuck wasn’t that long ago.”
“He isn’t a kid. Not anymore.” She shrugs. “And besides, he enjoyed it. I didn’t hurt him at all.”
He honestly can’t believe his ears. He’s known her through the best and worst of times, but this is beyond what even he thought of her. It’s so over the top. So fucking ridiculous.
What the hell is wrong with her?
“Why even fucking do this?” And he can’t keep the heat from his voice. “Was it just another conquest? More tallies to add to your bedpost?”
“It didn’t mean anything. Not to me.” Lisa sniffs. “I was just bored.”
Shinji feels his hand tighten around Sakanade’s hilt. He ends it a second later, ends it before she can say more and he decides not to make this quick. A kidoh takes care of her until she’s just ashes. The only thing Shinji buries is her sword, and even that will dissolve into spirit particles soon enough. When he’s done, it’s impossible to tell what happened there, save for perhaps a few stray scorches.
Shinji looks over the scene for a minute. Then, he sticks his hands in his pockets and heads for the nearest bar. But he doubts he can wash away the foul taste in his mouth no matter how much he drinks.
o0o0o
“Is it done?”
The old man asks that question the second Yoruichi flashes into existence in his office. His face is a mask, impossible to read, but she can tell that he only wants good news.
“Yes. Shinji and Unohana-san both did their duty.”
She stretches her arms over her head and massages at the crick in her neck. It wasn’t easy following either of them, a task only for the best, which is why Yamamoto asked her in the first place. Still, she has to wonder if one or both knew she did. Knew that she was there to witness and confirm the deaths of two criminals. Yoruichi can’t say she isn’t satisfied by the outcome, however. Not after all that she’s learned in the last several days. She isn’t sure how she missed it in the first place. Either Unohana-taichou is very good at keeping secrets, or Yoruichi is just getting old.
Maybe a bit of both truth be told.
Yamamoto just puffs at his pipe at her news and gives a final nod.
“Has anyone else come forward?” Yoruichi asks, shifting her weight in an ongoing effort to ease the cramping in her legs.
“No,” the captain-commander answers. “And it is unlikely that anyone will.”
Yoruichi arches one brow. “Or maybe there are no more victims.”
“We can only hope,” Yamamoto says tiredly, a puff of smoke rising from the end of his pipe. He then turns to other matters like he hadn’t confirmed the deaths of a vice-captain or one of their Vizard allies. Or maybe he’s just trying not to show his satisfaction.
“Yamada will be the new lieutenant of the fourth. It’s already arranged,” he informs Yoruichi then. “It has only to be announced.”
She considers that for a moment. Turning the possibilities and explanations over in her head.
“Will there be a memorial for Kotetsu? They’ll ask questions if there isn’t one.”
He dismisses her concern with a wave. “Her sister will undoubtedly arrange something.” Yamamoto takes another draw of his pipe.
“It’ll help her find closure if nothing else,” Yoruichi comments idly. “She still doesn’t know what happened to her captain, and I’d say that it’s probably better this way.”
“The Vizard woman,” he begins then, “Yadomaru, was it?”
“Yadomaru Lisa,” Yoruichi confirms, but she isn’t fooled by his act for a single second. “What of her?”
“What will they say happened to her?” he asks, and there’s something to his tone that says everything and nothing. “She has become something of a fixture in Seireitei.”
Yoruichi tilts her head. “That she’s gone back to the living world. And later, Shinji will say she was killed. Everyone will make assumptions from there.”
“Good, good.” But Yamamoto almost says it distractedly as he rises to his feet. “Very good. Well done, Shihouin-san. You have our gratitude.”
Yoruichi follows him with her eyes but says nothing. She would’ve done the deed herself if given the chance, and she knows that the old man would’ve, too.
She just watches as he dons his haori and reaches for his cane. He steps are steady, almost light as he heads for the exit.
“Off to see, Ukitake-san,” Yoruichi calls after him.
Yamamoto pauses with his hand halfway to the door. She can’t see his face, but she’s shrewd enough to guess his expression. Even with his ironclad control, the old man’s still human underneath it all. Kotetsu might’ve been Unohana’s beloved lieutenant, and Lisa might’ve been Shinji’s friend, but Ukitake and Shunsui will always be the old man’s sons. And nobody gets away with hurting either of them. Much less both.
Nobody.
Yamamoto inhales but doesn’t turn to glance at her. “Yes,” the old man says, and his voice is strong as ever, “he’s been quite unwell lately. A visit will do him good.”
She watches him leave before turning for the window. After all, she hasn’t seen Byakuya-bo for a while. Maybe it’s time for that, too.
*****
a/n: I know what you are all thinking. WHY??? Well, those answers come in the next chapter, where we finally get to hear from our antagonists.
I hope you enjoyed and I welcome any feedback. Thanks for reading!
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 Seven
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Buyer's Remorse
Part Seven
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It is past lunch by the time Retsu runs into her vice-captain. Isane has spent most the morning patching up the eleventh division from many scrapes, bruises, and sword wounds. Apparently, there was one huge bout of one-up-manship amongst them the night before, and many of their members came out much the worse for wear.
Isane looks tired. She was called in early that morning to help deal with the influx of patients since Retsu had been busy with Ukitake-san and Iemura-kun never deals very well with the eleventh. At least, not since the last time they taped a sign to his back that everyone and their brother with an intelligence smaller than a weasel's decided to obey.
“Unohana-taichou,” Isane greets with a weary smile as she holds a few files to her chest. Her shoulders are hunched as always, no matter how often Retsu encourages her to stand up straight. “How is Ukitake-taichou feeling?”
Retsu bites her lip. She can’t tell if it’s genuine concern or something else entirely. She’s made sure that Ukitake-san's presence in the fourth division is no small secret, though she has also declared it to be a result of his illness. It will be easier on his pride that way, and really, she wants to save him as much embarrassment as she can.
“It was just a small flare up,” Retsu replies, trying to act casual even as her insides quiver with conflicting emotions. “But you know how Kyouraku-san is sometimes. He was very worried.”
A tinge of red colors her lieutenant's cheeks. “Kyouraku-taichou cares very much for him,” she agrees. “I'm glad that he's recovering. How long before he'll be well enough to return to the thirteenth?”
“By tomorrow, I imagine,” Retsu says and steels herself, one hand drifting to the bead in her pocket. “Speaking of which… the last time I sent you to check up on him, how was he feeling? I know he sometimes likes to hide the smaller spells.”
Her vice-captain blinks. “What are you talking about, taichou? That was weeks ago. You've done the checkups for the past month, don’t you remember?”
Retsu feels the last of her hope crumble to dust. It falls like so many ashes to the pristine floor of the fourth division. A reiatsu signature wouldn’t last so long, especially one treated to the constant weight of Ukitake-san's powerful energy. But there has to be another explanation. Any other explanation. Something. Anything at all. Anything to explain this away.
But there isn’t, and the truth sits like a hot and heavy weight on her soul. Burning like Ryuujin Jakka and twice as terrible. Retsu wants to cry. She wants to scream at Isane. To demand the truth then and there. To force it from her and try to understand why – why, damn you! – she’d do such a horrible thing.
But Retsu does none of that. She just closes her eyes for a heartbeat and swallows down the ashes.
“Have I?” Retsu says, and she can't fight the chill in her tone. “I thought for sure that I sent you last week. Or perhaps I’m confusing you with someone else.”
Isane frowns, and for the first time, a flash of discomfort flits through her gaze. There’s something to the way she shifts her weight. Something telling. But Retsu can’t discern what it says. She honestly doesn’t care at this point.
“No, taichou. I'd remember if you had.” Isane pauses and tilts her head to the side. “It's not like you to forget. Are you feeling alright?”
“Yes, I’m just tired.” Retsu takes in a slow, steady breath. She reaches out, gently grasps her lieutenant's free arm, and does her best to act calm. “Would you come with me please, Isane? I've paperwork that needs to be delivered and a matter we need to discuss.”
She doesn't want to cause a scene. Not here in the middle of the fourth where any number of patients could bear witness or her own subordinates could see. She couldn’t bear for them to watch this. For them to see what Isane has done. For them to witness what she allowed herself to become.
And maybe, just maybe she wants to shield herself from it, too. To hide the fact that she knows Isane best of all but didn’t know this. Didn’t see it until reality smacked her in the face and demanded that she finally pay attention.
Wariness touches Isane’s eyes. Her tongue darts out to wet her lips as she gestures with the folders in her unoccupied arm.
“I still have patients to visit, taichou.”
“I'll have Yamada-san take them over,” Retsu replies firmly. “This is rather urgent. It can’t wait.”
For a moment, she thinks her vice-captain is going to bolt. The muscles in Isane’s arms tense, and she chews on her bottom lip. But finally, she nods.
The silence in her office is stifling. Retsu can't completely control her emotions, and the sight of Isane sitting across from her, shoulders hunched, makes her stomach churn. It seems so much like Retsu is wrong, and maybe it's all such a big coincidence. Perhaps she’s so desperate for an explanation that her mind is playing tricks. That she’s jumping to conclusions.
But the bead is heavy in her pocket. More weighted than its mass should ever allow. And the truth is heavier still.
Retsu wants to be calm and rational about this. But after so many weeks – months even – of fruitlessly investigating this case, she has no more patience left within her.
“Unohana-taichou, you said you had some paperwork?”
Isane’s voice breaks the silence but doesn’t cut through the tension.
Retsu flexes her fingers, draws in a steady breath, and then reaches into her pocket. She pulls out the golden bead and sets it on her desk with a tiny click. In full view of Isane, it is a perfect match to the ones already decorating her small braids.
Isane just watches her movements, staring at the bead. Her expression is puzzled. Like she can’t quite understand what’s happening.
Retsu wishes that were genuine. But now, she doubts everything she sees with Isane. Doubts everything she knows. This woman has been her second for nearly a hundred years. Has been in her squad for almost four centuries before that. Retsu has watched her grow and mature and become lovelier every day. She’s nurtured and cared for her and loved her as only a mother can. She’s even entertained ideas of retiring, of giving her division over to Isane when the war is over. Isane deserves it after all, and her division would be in good hands, the best.
But maybe that’s a lie, too. Retsu can no longer tell what is. Perhaps all of it. Maybe none of it.
Not knowing is worse than any perceived betrayal.
“Taichou?” Isane questions softly, so softly, too softly.
Retsu nearly crumbles then and there. Somehow, she holds together with only fine cracks.
“I found this in Ukitake-san's bedroom,” Retsu says then, leaving no room for argument. “And only because I searched for reiatsu.”
Isane pales, her face turning sickly and wan. “I hadn't even noticed it was missing,” she comments weakly, and her hands twist together in her lap. “I must have dropped it a few weeks ago.”
“Isane, you and I both know that isn’t the answer to this riddle,” Retsu corrects, and there is steel in her voice. She stares at Isane and asks the question that has been riding on the back of her mind ever since finding the bead. “Why? Why would you do this? Why would you ever do such a thing?”
Grey eyes fall to her lap. Isane doesn’t look at her. She doesn’t look at much of anything, and that says it all right there. That says everything even if Isane won’t.
Retsu feels the cracks in her soul widening ever-so-slightly, and there’s nothing she can do to stop it.
“Why?” she asks again, hand snapping out to grip Isane’s arm. “Why do this?”
“You wouldn't understand, taichou,” Isane murmurs, and it's all the admission Retsu needs to make her belly twist and her soul die with utter disbelief.
“No, I don't,” Retsu agrees, her voice a fierce and forceful sound, but it’s also broken. “I could never understand why you did this. Why you thought it was acceptable to do such a thing.”
She shakes her head, glad that she silently put a barrier over her door. The last thing she wants is for anyone to walk in on this. The last thing she needs is for them to bear witness to her lieutenant’s disgrace and Retsu’s own rapid loss of control.
“This is a crime, Isane!”
“I know that,” Isane retorts, and there's something fierce in her tone as well. Something that makes her eyes light with fire as she whips her eyes up. “Which is why you'll never understand why we did it. Why I had to do it.”
We.
Retsu has suspected that may be more than one criminal. It almost seemed too much for one person, no matter how meticulous, to accomplish alone.
“Who?” she demands with narrowed eyes and a grip that makes her knuckles white against Isane’s sleeve. “I know you didn't think of this all on your own. Who is it?”
“We did it together,” Isane says with a certain degree of stubbornness. Her shoulders, for once, are straight and tall. “Don't think I'm so weak-willed I'd go along with anything. She may have come up with the plan, but I supplied the details. I knew exactly what I was doing.”
Retsu is at a loss for words. There aren’t words for this. For forcing someone against their will. For drugging them. For stealing hours of their life.
For sounding proud of it.
She can only stare at Isane in disbelief. She can only feel something in her tremble and die. She can only wonder where it all went wrong.
“You will tell me everything,” Retsu orders then because she honestly has nothing else to say.
But for once, Isane just looks straight back at her. For decades, Retsu has tried to help her find her own inner worth. For her to realize the strength she has.
What a way for her discover it now.
Telling the captain-commander is hard. He stares at her. Actually stares for a full minute before taking a long and almost shaking puff from his pipe. Retsu can’t tell if it’s from nerves or something else though.
He doesn’t even need to tell her what Isane’s fate will be. She attacked two captains, a vice-captain, a member of the Kuchiki clan, and a trusted ally. The death they give her will be far more merciful than what the others would choose to do.
As for Yadomaru-san, they can’t punish her on their own. Not without losing support from the Vizard at large. Retsu doesn’t want to embarrass the victims even more, but she has no choice in giving the truth.
Telling Hirako-san is even harder. But she can see it in his eyes that he believes her the moment the words leave her mouth; he doesn’t even need her carefully displayed evidence. It’s too outrageous to be a lie, and he’s never gotten anything but the truth from her in the years they’ve known each other. And she can tell that no small part of him is willing to believe this of his comrade. The Vizard have witnessed the worst of each other after all; Retsu only wonders if this is something he’s seen from Yadomaru-san before.
Telling the victims is the worst. Kurosaki-san goes white as a sheet, and the Kuchiki siblings aren’t much better off. The three of them just sit in silence until she leaves. They don’t demand answers or ask any questions. They simply sit there and stare at each other as if trying to wake up from this unending nightmare. Kurosaki-san is horrified. Kuchiki-taichou is embarrassed. But Kuchiki Rukia… she merely nods as Retsu readies herself to leave. Her face is blank, but her eyes are hard.
All three of them finger their swords.
Hisagi-san doesn’t want to know and seemingly doesn’t care. He just asks for his picture to be returned and washes his hands of the entire mess. Kira-san is the one to ask questions, and Retsu gives him as much as she can. But it’s not enough and never will be.
Ukitake-san takes it well on the surface. He’s the only thing that keeps his best friend from running out of the room and seeking his vengeance, but there’s a tremor to his hands. A shakiness to his smile as he serves them tea. But Retsu can practically see the wheels turning behind his eyes. Can see him revisiting every interaction he ever had with either woman and wondering where he went so wrong. Wondering how he could’ve misjudged both of them to such a large degree.
Isane has visited his house as a healer countless times before. And Yadomaru-san was attached to her captain’s hip when she still served him. Retsu wouldn’t be surprised if she’d once had her own room in Ukitake-san’s house.
Kyouraku-san though… It’s awful for him. As horrible as it was for Retsu. Neither of them are the victims here. But it feels like they are. Yadomaru-san was to him as Isane is to her. Someone trusted and well-loved. Something of a daughter, though their ways of showing it differ. Even worse, Kyouraku-san’s best and dearest friend, his closest comrade and partner, was harmed in the process. He vacillates between fury and despair heading into guilt. He clearly doesn’t know what to do. He wants revenge, recompense for this crime. But at the same time, he knows that he’ll never be able to claim it.
That only leaves their two perpetrators. Kotetsu Isane and Yadomaru Lisa. Both will be punished in secret by their own groups. It’s the only way to keep from dragging the victims through the mud. The only way to keep Seireitei from falling apart at the seams.
Hirako-san will deal with Yadomaru-san. Isane is left to her captain.
One day, Retsu and her lieutenant go out into Rukongai. Only Retsu comes back. She tells no one the truth of what happened, but the captain-commander knows, and it’s clear that the others involved in this debacle do, too. They don’t ask, don’t question, but their relief is clear to anyone who knows to look.
Isane is proud until the end. She doesn’t beg. She doesn’t plead. She just looks out over the meadow that Retsu has chosen as her grave. It’s beautiful here. Full of flowers and the scent of the distant pine trees on the wind. The silence stretches between them for what could be hours, and Isane doesn’t look at her until she moves to unsheathe Minazuki.
“I’m sorry, taichou.”
Retsu looks at her for a heartbeat. She thinks to say something. To tell Isane that she loves her. That she will think of her always. That she’s forgiven.
She says none of it.
“I’m sorry,” Isane repeats, but there are no tears in her eyes.
Not as there are in Retsu’s own as she swings Minazuki. Her strike is clean and true, and she spends the rest of the day digging Isane’s grave by hand. Her eyes remain moist, but her face stays dry the entire time. She doesn’t stop working until her task is complete and she stares at the freshly turned earth surrounded by flowers that glow in the dying sunlight.
“No…” Retsu finally whispers. “You’re not.”
Then, she walks away.
Somehow, she makes it back to Seireitei and to her room, but Retsu honestly can’t recall how. She just accepts it as truth and crawls into her bed fully clothed, and there, she weeps so hard that she can’t breathe. Cries until there are no more tears and she can only lie there in the dark.
A week later, Yamada Hanatarou is promoted to the second seat of her division. They share a drink in her office, and he actually dares give her a hug before he leaves. That night is the first one since Isane died that she doesn’t cry herself to sleep.
For Shinji, this could quite easily be the worst day of his life. At the very least, it ranks up there with being turned into a half-Hollow monster and then spending agonizing weeks trying to regain his normal good looks. It’s certainly worse than the day that he made Aizen his vice-captain and ranks right up there with the evening Hiyori kicked him in the privates right before his hot date with Ichigo’s cute little friend.
He walks her out to a spot in the middle of nowhere, a place he might not even be able to find again. He wonders if Kisuke has even noticed that he took the power-binding cuffs. Shinji hopes not. Too many questions to answer that way. He’s already had to hedge on the truth to the rest of their group too much as is. He tells them the barest facts and names no names, only says that Ichigo had been hurt in the process.
Hiyori, Rose, and Love don’t want to believe him, not when it’s a Shinigami’s word versus that of Lisa. Kensei is oddly silent on the matter, but his eyes are a tad too astute. Mashiro believes from the outset, as does Hachi. Those two both know firsthand how nasty Lisa can be. So does Shinji. He was the one to see her conquer her Hollow. Saw what she’d tried to do while under its influence. He doubts she remembers much, if any, of it. But he knows Kisuke still has the marks and that he’s always very careful not to show her his back. Even decades later.
He wants to believe that it really was an accident. But Shinji always had his doubts. It seems like they’ve only been confirmed.
The pair of them walks until Shinji finally thinks they’ve gone far enough. He hasn’t said anything the entire time, and Lisa has only whistled. For the rest of his life, he’ll never think of that song the same way. A shame since it’s his favorite. But the bitch probably knows that.
“Ready?” he asks as he reaches for Sakanade.
Shinji isn’t sure if he’ll need shikai or even bankai to finish this. It’s hard to say with all the weird shit going on with their kind. He isn’t even sure he’s strong enough to kill her cleanly either. Which will definitely make this day suck even worse for the both of them.
“Ready?” Lisa repeats it back like she didn’t understand the question. “Does it matter?”
He won’t play this game with her. He won’t.
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” she says then. “You should just let me go.”
Shinji sighs, but it’s mostly to cover his annoyance. Can she at least sound a bit sorry over all this?
“Ya know that I can’t do that,” he retorts nonchalantly but means every word.
Lisa fixes him with a stare behind her glasses. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” she tells him. “It’s not like I hurt anybody. Not really. It was all in good fun.”
His eyebrows lift into his forehead as he looks at her dumbfounded. She can’t actually believe that. Can she? She can’t really think that it’s okay to force herself on someone, right? That it’s okay to randomly drug everybody and their sister and have her wicked way with them? That she can fuck with one of their own and not have to face the consequences?
“Ya hurt one of us. Ya hurt another Vizard.”
He says it like it’s obvious, and it is. It should be. They are Vizard. They are both Shinigami and Hollows. They have to stick together. Even though Soul Society has seemingly welcomed them back, that’s no excuse to turn her back on them and use Ichigo like a fucktoy. Much less for her to go out and do the same to other people. Kuchiki-hime. His lovely sister. Kensei’s fanboy. And fuck, even Ukitake!
It’d be one thing to do this to someone like Aizen. Or to the bastards who tried to kill them. But none of her conquests were even involved in that. Most of them were either kids or hadn’t even existed at the time.
He says as much to her, but Lisa doesn’t even bat an eyelash. Shinji feels like tearing his hair out in frustration at her completely uncaring expression. Or maybe he should just throttle her. It’d be easier in the long run, and she deserves it. For Ichigo. For the others.
“Gods be damned, Lisa,” Shinji can’t help but say then. “Ichigo’s just a kid. We both remember when he was born; it sure as fuck wasn’t that long ago.”
“He isn’t a kid. Not anymore.” She shrugs. “And besides, he enjoyed it. I didn’t hurt him at all.”
He honestly can’t believe his ears. He’s known her through the best and worst of times, but this is beyond what even he thought of her. It’s so over the top. So fucking ridiculous.
What the hell is wrong with her?
“Why even fucking do this?” And he can’t keep the heat from his voice. “Was it just another conquest? More tallies to add to your bedpost?”
“It didn’t mean anything. Not to me.” Lisa sniffs. “I was just bored.”
Shinji feels his hand tighten around Sakanade’s hilt. He ends it a second later, ends it before she can say more and he decides not to make this quick. A kidoh takes care of her until she’s just ashes. The only thing Shinji buries is her sword, and even that will dissolve into spirit particles soon enough. When he’s done, it’s impossible to tell what happened there, save for perhaps a few stray scorches.
Shinji looks over the scene for a minute. Then, he sticks his hands in his pockets and heads for the nearest bar. But he doubts he can wash away the foul taste in his mouth no matter how much he drinks.
“Is it done?”
The old man asks that question the second Yoruichi flashes into existence in his office. His face is a mask, impossible to read, but she can tell that he only wants good news.
“Yes. Shinji and Unohana-san both did their duty.”
She stretches her arms over her head and massages at the crick in her neck. It wasn’t easy following either of them, a task only for the best, which is why Yamamoto asked her in the first place. Still, she has to wonder if one or both knew she did. Knew that she was there to witness and confirm the deaths of two criminals. Yoruichi can’t say she isn’t satisfied by the outcome, however. Not after all that she’s learned in the last several days. She isn’t sure how she missed it in the first place. Either Unohana-taichou is very good at keeping secrets, or Yoruichi is just getting old.
Maybe a bit of both truth be told.
Yamamoto just puffs at his pipe at her news and gives a final nod.
“Has anyone else come forward?” Yoruichi asks, shifting her weight in an ongoing effort to ease the cramping in her legs.
“No,” the captain-commander answers. “And it is unlikely that anyone will.”
Yoruichi arches one brow. “Or maybe there are no more victims.”
“We can only hope,” Yamamoto says tiredly, a puff of smoke rising from the end of his pipe. He then turns to other matters like he hadn’t confirmed the deaths of a vice-captain or one of their Vizard allies. Or maybe he’s just trying not to show his satisfaction.
“Yamada will be the new lieutenant of the fourth. It’s already arranged,” he informs Yoruichi then. “It has only to be announced.”
She considers that for a moment. Turning the possibilities and explanations over in her head.
“Will there be a memorial for Kotetsu? They’ll ask questions if there isn’t one.”
He dismisses her concern with a wave. “Her sister will undoubtedly arrange something.” Yamamoto takes another draw of his pipe.
“It’ll help her find closure if nothing else,” Yoruichi comments idly. “She still doesn’t know what happened to her captain, and I’d say that it’s probably better this way.”
“The Vizard woman,” he begins then, “Yadomaru, was it?”
“Yadomaru Lisa,” Yoruichi confirms, but she isn’t fooled by his act for a single second. “What of her?”
“What will they say happened to her?” he asks, and there’s something to his tone that says everything and nothing. “She has become something of a fixture in Seireitei.”
Yoruichi tilts her head. “That she’s gone back to the living world. And later, Shinji will say she was killed. Everyone will make assumptions from there.”
“Good, good.” But Yamamoto almost says it distractedly as he rises to his feet. “Very good. Well done, Shihouin-san. You have our gratitude.”
Yoruichi follows him with her eyes but says nothing. She would’ve done the deed herself if given the chance, and she knows that the old man would’ve, too.
She just watches as he dons his haori and reaches for his cane. He steps are steady, almost light as he heads for the exit.
“Off to see, Ukitake-san,” Yoruichi calls after him.
Yamamoto pauses with his hand halfway to the door. She can’t see his face, but she’s shrewd enough to guess his expression. Even with his ironclad control, the old man’s still human underneath it all. Kotetsu might’ve been Unohana’s beloved lieutenant, and Lisa might’ve been Shinji’s friend, but Ukitake and Shunsui will always be the old man’s sons. And nobody gets away with hurting either of them. Much less both.
Nobody.
Yamamoto inhales but doesn’t turn to glance at her. “Yes,” the old man says, and his voice is strong as ever, “he’s been quite unwell lately. A visit will do him good.”
She watches him leave before turning for the window. After all, she hasn’t seen Byakuya-bo for a while. Maybe it’s time for that, too.
I hope you enjoyed and I welcome any feedback. Thanks for reading!
