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Chapter 395: Chapter 357

And really, his own confusion and uncertainty only diminished once that other Captain appeared.

She came with a purpose in her steps, her sword still seemed released and it was clear she was still very much in combat mode. "Ryoka!" She hissed, holding up her...gauntlet, claw finger blade pointed thing at me.

"Now, now, Sui-Feng, how about we all calm down." Shunsui stepped between us, trying to calm her down.

"Captain Kyōraku, step aside. I\'m going to arrest these two Ryoka, immediately for questioning."

"Just hold on a moment –"

"Aizen is Dead! We were attacked by Four Captain level combatants! This is beyond talking, Shunsui! Either assist me or I will report that you have defected and betrayed us." She growled.

"Two of which we handled. Helping you." I commented. "Just thought I\'d throw that out there."

She snapped her gaze at me, looking rather eager to punch me in the face if she could.

"I would also like to add that this Captain Aizen of yours isn\'t dead." Izzy also added. And when Captain Sui-Feng looked at her, she deflated slightly, but still noticeably. "Atleast, that body over there isn\'t real." She walked over to where he was impaled.

All three of us shared a glance.

"Sui-Feng, they did help us." Shunsui expressed his stance once more.

The woman scowled, looking like she was warring with herself mentally. "Explain the body." She crossed her arms with a grunt. "His Reiatsu is still there, lingering around his fresh corpse!" She spat out in annoyance.

"Can spirits have corpses?" I asked, the sudden question just coming to mind.

"Clearly!" She screamed at me, pointing at the fake body.

"Alright, let\'s all calm down." Shunsui tried to ease her down again. "I\'d also appreciate an explanation, Miss...?" He looked at Izzy.

"You can call me Izzy." She said dismissively. "As for an explanation, it\'s simple. This....thing never once housed an actual soul. It certainly mimics what facilitates life for you spiritual beings, but it\'s but a hollow husk."

"A Gigai?" Shunsui furrowed his brow. "They shouldn\'t be this...detailed or be able to trick someone like me." He scratched his head. "What do you think Sui-Feng?"

"I think you\'re still missing the fact that his Zanpakutō is sitting right there!" She pointed out.

"Ara, that also raised a question..."

"Also fake." Izzy chimed in. "Once more, a hollow husk. It has never housed a proper spirit like both of your weapons do."

"And we\'re just supposed to believe you!?"

"Would it perhaps be possible to ask how you know this?" Shunsui asked, still being rather respectful.

"I simply do." Izzy shrugged. "I am intimately familiar with death and spirits."

"How convenient." Sui-Feng scoffed.

"That\'s going to be hard to convince someone else..." Shunsui sighed. "Is there anything I can have that proves it?"

"I have nothing but my words. You are free to check for yourselves. If you can\'t discover what I can see after a thorough investigation, then you are simply helpless. However, if you wish proof, then should I point out the difference between the sword you held in your left hand opposed to your right?" Izzy replied.

Shunsui stiffened. ".....okay, I believe you."

I raised an eyebrow at that. Did Izzy know something she shouldn\'t know about him, hmm?

"What –"

"Sui-Feng, please, don\'t question it. Just.....trust me for now. At the very least, it\'s obvious they aren\'t our enemies, and it wouldn\'t be a good idea to get on their bad side while we apparently have real enemies hiding in the dark."

Sui-Feng looked at him with a strange look before her shoulders sagged. "Fine. But how the hell did this even start in the first place? Why were those people chasing after Aizen?"

"I believe that may be my fault." Izzy spoke up again. "He aggressively attacked the children I was accompanying. I did not wish to sour relations, so I chose a method of removing him without harming him too much."

"....how did that end up with...?"

"I put him in the shadows below this Soul Society. I noticed people down there, I just never fathomed that you would be unaware of a group of people hiding in your basement." She deadpanned.

"....what?"

"Are you saying that these people are.....hiding in the shadows of Soul Society!?" Sui-Feng\'s eyes widened.

"So it appears." Izzy delivered without much emotion.

Welp, I think she\'s broken now, cause she looked ready to have a minor breakdown at that little revelation.

"Seems like they had a whole Alphabet theme going, don\'t know what that\'s about, but pretty good odds they had quite a few more people around that same strength." I also helpfully added.

Shunsui then had a blank stare as he processed that information.

"Kind of weird schtick in all honesty."

"Oh, that\'s probably due to the parasite that someone attached to their souls." Izzy spoke up again.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"That one over there has the piece of another\'s soul attached to him. I believe it to be the source of his power and the way they were so blatantly showing off....." She trailed off, but connecting the dots was not difficult.

"Huh."

"I don\'t know if I should be happy with this information or not..." Shunsui admitted rather depressingly.

"I made sure that nothing could happen to it, so you are free to investigate at your leisure."

That was nice of her.

"Great...I\'ll pass that message along..." Shunsui sighed. "Alright, We better.....send our reports, Sui-Feng."

She glanced at us. "Everything?"

"I already spoke to the Old Man, we\'re good for now." I assured them. "Oh, just a heads up, there is actually a Quincy with the kids that came with us. I\'m like 99% sure he has no relation to the people who just attacked."

"How sure are you?" Shunsui questioned.

"Well, he seemed to think he was the last of the Quincy, bar his own parents."

"...right, I\'ll make sure to pass that message along as well." He shook his head. "What a mess this turned out to be." He let out a long breath before perking up. "And here comes Ukitake and...Gin, it seems."

"Oh, squinty eyes." Ichigo called him that and I liked the nickname.

"Pffft." Shunsui held back a laugh.

"Tussled with him before, should probably head out before that causes any problems." I mentally looked into my ring before taking out a Talisman. "Here, take this." I said, tossing it to the Shinigami I was quickly becoming friends with. "Just rip it in half and it\'ll alert me and I\'ll come on after if you need anything important."

Similar to the one I gave the kids, but without the whole defensive properties attached. Basically just a beacon to reach me.

"Handy." He mused. "What\'re you going to do now?" He asked with only a hint of interrogation.

"Struck a deal with the Old Man, going to fulfill it, more or less. I\'ll keep a lookout if those people pop up again, but otherwise, back to business."

There was no argument on their part, so I took that as a cue to get away before things became more complicated. I could understand their own position and sympathized with them a little even if I was divorced from this whole thing beyond my personal choice of helping the kids.

Oh well, it wasn\'t my problem.

I shared a look with Izzy and we quickly made ourselves scarce.

[***]

"What do you think?" I asked Izzy, finishing my masterpiece.

"I think it\'s a horrible reflection of your daughter and I\'m also wondering if this is the time to be doing this." She said rather dryly, with a paint brush in her hand, making her own little picture on the wall behind me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, admiring the mural I painted of Kunou running around with Sir Wiggles.

I missed my familiar.

I knew he was doing good at the moment, but nothing beyond that. I didn\'t want to stick my head back into that world-line until I had another talk with Gramps about what was going on. The last thing I need to do was cause more problems over there by leaping before looking.

"I mean.....we just got out of a fight. And this Soul Society just experienced an invasion."

"Three Invasions in a month, I wonder if this happens to them a lot."

"And you were involved with every one of them." She deadpanned.

"Technically, the third one was your fault." I gave her a look. "Miss; trying to blame me for it."

"How was I supposed to know they were ignorant about supposed enemies literally next door!?" Izzy threw her hands up.

"That\'s fair, I guess. But to answer your question, this is exactly what the deal I made with their leader was."

"Painting graffiti on their walls?" She said sarcastically.

"No, well, yes." I touched up the colors on Kunou\'s eyes. "Specifically, we\'re supposed to act as a nuisance, an annoyance, and otherwise cause problems without actually doing anything damaging. I noted the patrol times, and I took a picture of who was slacking off and what-not. And I\'ll be making a detailed report on every movement we made to get here." Which was the center of the Sixth Division. Like, their gathering point for their barracks.

I was also going to point out the vulnerabilities I saw. Granted, most of the people running around were complete and utter trash, but at the very least, they could be useful if properly positioned in a situation like this.

It seems like the blanket reaction was to run around like chicken with their heads cut off.

Made me really question how much training they had with dealing with attacks.

"You don\'t feel compelled to help them?"

"I mean, with what? Those Quincy are gone, no sign of them. I guess we technically know where they are as you can access that place with ease. But.....it\'s not really our business, is it? The only reason I\'m here, and you by extension, is because I felt bad about the kids." I shrugged, continuing what I was doing. "Do you really care?"

I do have a few things I nicked off the Quincy that appeared that I was going to play around with later.

"Not really. I\'m still deciding on how to feel about this place. I\'m only helping because you are." She confessed without any reservations. "And a different question. Why do you have paint? It seems like a random thing to have."

"I\'m a hoarder." I freely confessed.

"I should have guessed." She snorted.

"What was that about Shunsui\'s sword? You said something and he looked like you just kicked his puppy."

"Oh, only one of his swords was his Zanpakutō. The other was...concealed or some other nonsense. It seemed to deflect my probing, which was interesting, but I didn\'t really push it. I think it was some manner of Divine Weapon, which raises some questions."

"Neat."

"Quite."

"Do you –"

"One moment." Izzy\'s eyes glowed ominously. "No." She intoned, a wave of pressure cascaded outwards, and everything went deadly silent. "Sorry about that, you were saying?"

"The fuck?"

"Oh, just someone attempted to probe me and take that parasitic soul piece back from that person I captured. I left a little surprise there in case someone did something." She said nonchalantly.

"Well alrighty then."

"This looks nothing like Kunou." She peered over my shoulder, pressing up against my back.

"It\'s called artistic interpretation."

"I think Kunou would have done a better job if she was finger painting."

"I hear your criticism and allow me to retort." I booped her nose with my paint brush.

She looked at me, raising a single eyebrow. "I see. Then allow me to provide you with assistance." She held her own brush and smacked me with it, right on the side of the face, slowly pulling it down. "How do you like my artistic interpretation?"

"Hmm, I think I see some room for improvement." I turned around.

"Don\'t you dare!" She took a step back.

I started swinging my paint-soaked brush at her, flinging paint everywhere.

"Y-you despicable –" She let out a cute squeal as she tried to cover herself with her arms.

Honestly, I think I got more on myself than her.

She was pouting as she peeked through her fingers. "Look at this mess."

"The mess was the point, I think."

She pursed her lips, flinging her arms with still wet paint flying off in small droplets. "Was this the point, huh?"

"Hey, don\'t dish it if you can\'t take it."

She huffed, walking over to the can of paint I had on the ground, and she dipped her finger in it before turning back around and pushing it against my nose. "There, we\'re even." She said proudly.

"Even, huh?" I pushed my head against her, the side that had a big glob of paint still running down the side.

She made more cute noises before I finally pulled away. "Alright, now we\'re even."

"You\'re a child." She flicked off what paint she could with another huff.

"Yup."

She looked at me again and flicked the paint my way.

"Hey, foul, foul!" I covered myself.

"Look at my clothes!"

"I\'m looking. You still look as beautiful as ever."

"\'Hush, you." She huffed once more, hands flinging at me with renewed vigor.

"Peace!"

"Hmph." She crossed her arms, trying to look annoyed, but it was hard with all the paint splattered on her. "Well, at least your painting looks better."

"You keep throwing shade at me, let\'s see what you got going on over on your side, huh?"

"By all means, look at what real talent is." She gestured over to her side.

I took a look, and paled a little. "It\'s alright, I guess."

"Admit defeat."

"I wasn\'t aware it was a competition."

"We both know it would have been had you thought you had any skill in painting. Now, admit defeat."

"I think I should get bonus points for actually trying something difficult."

"Literal stick figures would have been better."

"You just painted Pac-Man!" Admittedly, it was fairly good. But it\'s not like it\'s something hard to paint.

"And you know what it is without any indication from me. That makes me the winner by default."

"Why Pac-Man though?" I asked.

"It was the first video game I ever played. I remember when it was first created and I spent hours and hours in front of the arcade machine. I –" She paused.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No, you were going to say something."

"I....used my powers to keep playing...even after they closed." She looked away.

"That\'s hilarious, and I\'ll be making fun of you in the future because of this."

She slapped my shoulder.

I chuckled, walking to the side and taking a seat. Izzy followed sliding down against the wall next to me. "I wonder what the Shinigami are gonna think when they see this."

Izzy blinked, and we both shared a look before breaking out in laughter.

Maybe it was just the utter ridiculousness of the situation. We were literally just fighting some people a few hours ago, and now we\'re repainting the Shinigami\'s barracks.

As we stopped, Izzy leaned in her head resting against my shoulder. And I found myself putting my arm around her, almost unconsciously.

Neither of us said anything to ruin the pleasant moment.

[***]

Non-Canon omake: All according to plan.

Ichimaru Gin POV

"Heya, bossman."

"Gin, you\'re late." Aizen was moving around some stuff, didn\'t know what it was.

"Sorry was dealing with the fallout of whatever the hell happened. Heard some stuff, but still kind of confused. Can ya fill me in on the blanks?"

"I\'ve had an interesting day. What do you want to know?"

"I heard ya got beaten up?"

"I did not get beaten up." He scoffed.

"Really? Heard from some sources that you got slapped pretty hard."

".....it was all according to plan."

"Right...." He didn\'t sound too confident. "Heard you found a bunch o Quincy?"

"Yes, I discovered a secret hiding spot of our sworn enemies. A gathering of significant power that we\'ll need to take into account with our own forces."

"And I heard you got shoved there...by the woman who beat you up? The interrogation from the Quincy we got said you were running around their base while they shot arrows at ya?"

"Yes, it was all according to plan." He nodded.

"Right-o then, boss. Whatever you say." I was getting skeptical at this point. "And you did the whole \'dying thing\' with the fake dead body, yeah?"

"Yes." He said rather proudly. "It took considerable effort to create a body that would fool –"

"Yeah, the same woman who beat ya up saw through it. Told everyone it was fake."

"...all according to the plan." He twitched.

"Really?"

"Yes. You see, it was merely a distraction. To lure away the sights of our enemies, to draw their attention and redirect it from our true goal. For you see, what I really accomplished –"

"All your plans have been right fucked, haven\'t they?"

"Completely and utterly." He immediately admitted.

....I wonder if it\'s too late to switch sides?

[***]

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