Exiled

Traitor:

"I knew you were a traitor." His voice broke through the heavy haze clouding Kariuzu. She struggled to force her eyes open, the force of the pain in her head, made her want to keep them closed. She groaned, forcing herself to bare it.

"I'm not a traitor." She muttered as her eyes focused on the man standing in front of her. She could recognize the presence of him, but not his appearance. His hair was dark as night, and his eyes were hard and calculating. 

"Really, but here you are. Dressed as a soul reaper." He snarled.

"Doesn't mean I'm a traitor."

"Lies." His voice was dark and angry. "Who are you really?" 

"I'm Kariuzu Shiba." She muttered, silently struggling aginst the robes around her wrists. 

"Shiba, from the clan." He surmised. 

"Listen, Taki, I'm not a traitor, I was just trying to find a neutral solution to the problem." She grumbled. 

"There isn't one! The soul society needs to pay for what happened!" He shouted. 

"Why?" she asked, and he stopped. "You don't have an answer. You want the soul society to suffer because we followed our orders, to protect the entirety of the world. Soul reapers have one main role, to protect the balance in the world, how were we going to do that if we had all died?" 

"The virus was spreading too fast, and we had no way to go against it, Taki. We had no fight against it because anyone we sent in died. We didn't think it would leave survivors, we didn't have another choice." Kariuzu explained. "We did this to protect everyone."

"You did it to protect yourselves." He responded. 

"You are so lost in your hatred for us, you can't see the bigger picture." She replied, exasperated. "The virus would've spread, taking out everyone, every soul reaper, and every citizen. Then with this place empty, the very few soul reapers in the world of the living would've been it, and they would've had no backup or assistance and they would've died. Then only the hallows would've been left, to devour all the souls, and the soul society would've crumbled and so would the world." She explained as she felt the others in the room. 

"You are telling me, we should've put the lives of 2000 people above the lives of EVERYONE?" She finally asked. "This entire time, I felt guilt eating at me for being apart of it, I fought relentlessly against the Head Captain's orders, he even set me on fire. I understood the reason behind the orders. Because that was my job as a captain of the 13 court guard squad. I knew what my job was, I knew that orders are orders. But I hated it, and I hated myself. Which is why I tried to help you all for so long, once I found out who you were, and what had happened, I tried." She explained with a sad sigh. 

"Taki, maybe she's right," Chozo whispered. 

"Don't fall for her lies. They killed the others." Taki demanded. 

"No, we didn't. They are in prison for desecrating the graves of fallen soul reapers." Kariuzu replied. 

"Taki, what is she talking about? You said they were dead." Chozo demanded. 

"They are dead!" He shouted. 

"They aren't, Chozo. I spoke to Jo in the cell. The new head captain isn't going to kill them. He just wants to avoid war." Kariuzu added, annoyed. 

"You lie!" Taki said, getting ready to attack her.

"That's enough, Taki!" Chozo shouted, slamming Taki away. "We will offer a trade. You for them." Chozo supplied. 

"They won't. Because they really don't want a fight." 

"We don't either, only Taki does." Chozo supplied. He looked at the unconscious leader and sighed. "You and Taki for the others, and we want to stay." 

"Which district are we in?" Kariuzu asked. 

"We are in the 1st district, by the South gate." Chozo supplied and she nodded.

"Tie him up and let's go. I know who is guarding that gate. Don't say anything, they might be angry that I was kidnapped." Kariuzu supplied as he untied her and tied up Taki. 

"It's been 4 days." He supplied and they left the old shack and headed to the gate. She looked up at could make out the white-haired captain. 

"CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA!" She shouted, waving her arms, and the young captain jumped from the top, landing a few feet in front of her. 

"Lady Shiba!" He called out and looked behind her, his hand twitching to his weapon.

"Don't Captain."She held up her hands. "They are supplying me, and Taki for their other companions, they do not want to fight us. They want to live in peace." She supplied and he looked at her and nodded. He summoned a Hell Butterfly and spoke into it. Within moments, Shunsui was at the gate looking at her. 

"Are you hurt, Kariuzu?" He asked, touching her shoulder lightly. 

"No, Shunsui." She smiled at him and gestured to Chozo, who held a tight grip on Taki.

"Shunsui, this is Chozo." She directed her hand to the man, "Chozo, this is the head captain, Shunsui Kyorako." She stood back and waited.

"So Chozo, I hear you have a request," Shunsui asked, his voice kind.

"Captain Kyorako, I am turning over Taki, because his need for vengeance isn't what we want. I do understand that the other did severe damage to your graveyard, but we would like to have them back." Chozo supplied, "And we would like to stay in the Soul Society, we are not meant for the Land of the Living."

"That seems to be a reasonable request, Chozo," Shunsui said with a pensive look, stroking his chin. Kariuzu knew he was doing it on purpose. She knew that look well enough. 

"Head Captain, Sui-Feng is here with the prisoners." Captain Hitsugaya stated as the woman in question arrived with her prisoners.

"Chozo?" Jo called out in confusion. 

"Well, I don't see why not," Shunsui said with his charming smile. "Make yourself at home. And Sui-Feng, go ahead and take this gentleman from our new friends here, and take him to the underground cells." 

"Yes, Sir," Sui-Feng responded, affectively doing the trade, and taking her new prisoner. The group began to disperse as Shunsui reached out for Kariuzu. 

"Our friend, Shinji has been beside himself after your disappearance. You might want to settle that." He supplied with a smile.