Short Stories and Oneshots

Sorrowful Tears of the Moon - Part 3

Captain-Commander's Office, 1st Division Barracks, Soul Society

Yamamoto looked at the young man seated across from him. Amber eyes stared back calmly, showing no sign that he was affected by the old man's reiatsu. The Captain-Commander could see a proof of his power there, as most Shinigami were unable to look him in the eye without going into shock. They sat there for a long time, never turning away from one another, occasionally taking a sip of the tea which their reiatsu kept warm for them. There was only calm in the younger man's posture, his muscles completely relaxed as if he believed that Yamamoto would never do anything to harm him. Had they grown so close in the future? Had someone uttered such a ludicrous idea a few days ago – a few hours, even – earlier, Yamamoto would have sent them scramming with a mere pulse of his reiatsu and a glare, but now...

He sighed and put his cup of tea down, Ichigo following his lead and looking up at once.

"What happened?"

"Aizen escaped through a Negacion beam with Tosen and Ichimaru. He stayed put for a few months, building up his army of Arrancars. The top ten were called the Espada, and held unbelievable power. After a while, the Research and Development Bureau deduced that he was trying to create the Oken, and so a team was sent to protect Karakura Town. It wasn't enough in the end. The war escalated, and we had to seal off the Living World to prevent the fighting from spreading down there." He paused. "Things were going pretty well for us, actually, until he managed to create an Arrancar, Wonderweiss Margera, whose sole use was to negate your power. You were killed by a mere Numero."

There wasn't the slightest hint of malice or mockery in his eyes, just a deep sadness and regret. Yamamoto frowned slightly in thought: did the boy feel guilty? It made no sense, he most likely had other things to deal with at the time, and the mere idea that he'd even been involved with their war while still alive was...

"It all went downhill from there. I was elected Captain-Commander, but for every enemy we fell, two more appeared, even more powerful than the last. He used the time we were fighting to experiment with Hollows and Shinigami prisoners, and let whatever he'd managed to create loose as soon as he deemed it bloodthirsty enough. It was a massacre."

His hands lay on his lap, a perfect picture of composure, though they were far too white to be natural.

"In the end, we set up an assassination. Shihoin Yoruichi, Soi Fon, Yadomaru Lisa and Muguruma Kensei were the ones chosen to infiltrate Las Noches and kill Aizen. We got them back in pieces."

Yamamoto's eyes widened slightly. The best assassins the Soul Society had ever seen had been destroyed so easily? How was that possible? And what exactly was the part of the exiled captain and lieutenant in all this?

"By then, most of the captains were dead, and the Soul Society was reduced to a bloody field of ruins. Hollows were running rampant all around Rukongai, and we had gathered the survivors of the districts in Seireitei for some protection, but it didn't last long. They managed to break the barrier and get inside, and that's when Urahara Kisuke sent me back."

Short, and concise. Yamamoto nodded to himself. This was military. This was experienced. This was the attitude of a true commander. He could see how attached to his friends the younger man had been, but there had been no trace of that in his narration, which had been more of a report than anything else.

"What of Ichimaru Gin?"

Ichigo pursed his lips. "Ichimaru was a double agent, though nobody knew of this. He had known of Aizen's plans for a very long time, before he even entered the Academy, and had planned accordingly. By getting close to the traitor, he would learn his weakness, and so he did, except that when he turned against him, Aizen had become too powerful and destroyed him."