Chapter Text
Well, one good thing that would come out of this whole mess; he reflects as he runs through the void between dimensions, is that Kyoka would be back with him. It would make several undertakings much easier. He was looking forward to their reunion. While he wasn’t dependent on her presence, she was a part of his soul nonetheless. A crucial part, as he’d learned the hard way when he’d decided to discard her.
An error.
One he wasn’t keen on repeating, preferably ever.
Not that they’d tell each other that, which was more than alright with the both of them. Their bond was a complicated one, fraught with tension. As one has with their most powerful weapon, but, well, as long as they both agreed Ichigo’s well-being is and will always be the most paramount priority, they would always manage to find common grounds for cooperation. That doesn’t mean he’s looking forward to the oncoming temper tantrum however….
He drops right outside Seireitei in case the Gotei had decided to activate the Shakonmaku Barrier in his short absence and immediately reaches for her spiritually through their bond. He can sense she’s nearby as she sends him a curt acknowledgement and then, he shunpos towards her. They will meet halfway. As he travels faster than anyone could see, he notes that the Seireiheki has not been brought down yet. They really did want him to get in. Did they think he wouldn't realise it was a trap? How much were they underestimating him? Obviously, they had no idea about his level of power at all, but this was an affront to his intelligence. Not that the Sekkiseki would have stopped him, not anymore. The Soul King’s Reishi played by different rules that anyone from the Gotei or Central could fathom. No matter.
Next, he contemplates just killing Gin again and been done with it. The urge to strangle him for daring to lift a finger towards Ichigo was constantly present; it was a distraction he didn’t need when he should remain absolutely focused on his goals. He unfortunately suspects it will be for a while… but well murder would have to be reserved as the last resort. Unfortunately. Maybe he could maim him a bit without repercussions… but no, he must resist the temptation and keep himself on track. Kuchiki’s potential instability is much more threatening to them at the moment. This is without considering that she might break and spill everything if he wastes too much time. The interrogators of the Jinmontai are not lenient or merciful to say the least. But Kuchiki had been a Captain of the Gotei, a competent one. One who had managed to survive three wars.
She was durable and he trusts that she wouldn’t jeopardize Ichigo, but…. (and this truly was his husband rubbing off on him), he may possibly felt somewhat responsible for her situation…
He rationalizes it by telling himself she can be another useful chess piece.
He wasn’t too concerned about the security breach of his other associate. Gin wouldn’t come clean about the betrayal and openly switch sides until he has some guarantee that he could take him on. And win. Which, to be fair, was a more elusive dream than it had ever been. He wouldn’t give him the chance to even consider.
He meets Kyoka Suigetsu in District One, somewhere near the Western Gate. One look at her reproachful face and Sosuke knows that he is in for a… strongly worded tirade. As expected. However, for the briefest moment, there is a look of relief on her face which he chooses not to call attention to. He puts it in the back of his mind nonetheless; something to quietly replay in his memories later.
“Hello again.” He greets, holding out his hand, “Come back to me now; we don’t have time to dawdle. I’ve secured Ichigo, since you weren’t able to. We no longer need to be separated. There’re other pressing matters we need to take care of. Shall we proceed?”
“YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!” He winces a bit at her loud volume, at least he was the only one being subject to it, any who would lay eyes on her would automatically come under her thrall, it sure was convenient, “I know I wasn’t able to get to Ichigo but I had my reasons, throwing it in my face serves no fucking purpose, you know that.”
“Really now, this isn’t the time to be throwing tantrums… it’s unbecoming.”
“Unbecoming?! I am unbecoming? And what about you? You! Who fucking left me in the middle of enemy territory with not so much as a single word. You don’t think that's unbecoming you pathetic unappreciative excuse of a master?!”
“There were extenuating circumstances–”
“Do you have any idea–” She bites out furiously,” –how much pain I was in. How much fucking agony?! I thought I was going to be erased; the echoes of your suffering were so intense. And that wasn’t the worst part; you know what the worst part is? I didn’t fucking know. I didn’t know anything. Not what was happening to me. To you. To Ichigo. All I was able to do was fucking lie there until you were done. And when I was coming to you, out of my fucking mind. You know what happened? You fucking vanish. You abandon me. ME! HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING FROM THE PAST?!”
“Are you quite done?” He questions, “Because like I was telling you before you interrupted– there were extenuating circumstances. Securing Ichigo is our first priority, dear Kyoka. Always would be. You know that. You’re important. Ichigo is more important than my own life, however. I would sacrifice unimaginable things to see him well. To see him safe. A part of my soul included.”
She can’t dispute that. He knows it. They both know it.
“But for what it’s worth…” He offers, “...I apologize for the delay in picking you up, however necessary it was.”
He can sense her grudging acceptance before she speaks again in a grumbling tone, “Was it the Hogyoku? I keep telling you that thing is an abomination that causes nothing but trouble.”
“It was two Hogyoku. And you don’t have to worry about it; I’ve taken care of it. Now we just have to tie up some loose ends. So come along.”
Finally, she nods reluctantly as she dissolves from her material form and returns to him. She is able to see all that has happened instantaneously as soon as they merge; there is no need for words. He senses a brief, reluctant apology being sent his way, now that she’d seen that there hadn’t been any other viable option.
“Now.” He mutters, “Onto our rescue.”
He bypasses the Guardian of the West Gate so quickly that no one sees him or senses him. Kaname’s marker (bless his soul) ensures he doesn’t even need to expend energy and waste time and reiatsu using Pesquisa throughout Seireitei to sense the young Kuchiki.
Sosuke cuts a straight path towards the tracker which leads him to a grey nondescript building somewhere right in the middle of the forests that hides the Onmitsukido and the Second Division headquarters. He commends their intelligence in picking somewhere understated. He would have checked the obvious locations first. Their foolishness however was not realizing that Kaname was long gone and immediately switching locations.
He would say it was unlike Soi-Fon to overlook such details, but the Gotei weren’t exactly expecting another one of their captains to go rogue and she probably had her hands full with Kuchiki’s unexpected resistance.
Briefly he stops to admire how heavily warded they’ve made the place; he can feel the reishi of the layers upon layers of additional seals and wards all the way over to where he’s standing. It really was a shame that Sosuke could now simply brute force his way through the seals; it would have made for a stimulating challenge had he not been in a hurry.
The gates to the facility abruptly slam open as Soi-Fon storms out with a particularly furious expression on her face.
Ah, he surmised, amused, Kuchiki must have proven more troublesome than she’d imagined.
But well. He’s not one to let such opportunities slip by. He waits till she has walked a bit farther from the facility before he speeds his way in, slowing himself just enough that the guards catch the barest glimpse of Kyoka required to put them under Hypnosis.
He bypasses all the alarm triggers and unlocks the seals that Kaname had briefed him about, the ones he doesn’t have the tools to unlock he simply breaks. Liberal use of Inemuri ensures that everyone in the inner halls is too unconscious to bother them on the way out. They won’t be here for long. Soi-Fon could be back any minute and while she wouldn’t be a problem to deal with, she definitely would have the foresight to send an advance message to the Gotei.
He really didn’t want to kill any more people than necessary this time around. It would be… inconvenient.
‘Of course, you’re refraining from murder because it would be inconvenient’, imaginary Kisuke in his mind chides.
‘Gods above’ Sosuke doesn’t roll his eyes but it’s a near thing, ‘Can you not for two minutes? I’m trying to do something ‘noble’ here. And it’s not like you have room to talk.’
‘I hate to point this out to you, but I am a figment of your imagination. This is you judging yourself, really.’
Imaginary Kisuke has a point.
Annoyingly enough, he almost always does.
Sosuke concludes it must be the lack of intelligent conversation getting to him. He will not even under pain of death admit that he… maybe… perhaps missed having borderline non-antagonistic and intellectually stimulating talks with Kisuke.
He finally arrives at the cells where they keep Kuchiki.
Hm. Four interrogators. And Kuchiki’s reiatsu which has been sealed.
He unlocks the door and walks in. A wave of his hand has them all fallen asleep as they turn to look at him. Interestingly enough, Kuchiki doesn’t; her breathing remains unchanged even as her eyes are shut.
He gives her a critical once over. She’s been stripped naked and hung from the ceiling by her hands. There are contusions and wounds of varying severity and cause all over her form as water drips over her head steadily.
He’s marginally impressed; Soi-Fon worked fast. It hadn’t been all that long since he left. Truly, she was an expert in her trade. The masterful blending of the psychological and physical components of torture tactics would have anyone but the most resilient Shinigami break in a matter of days. Too bad they didn’t even have hours.
She still doesn’t open her eyes as she speaks, her words slow and slurred.
“Took you long enough.”
A smile automatically curves at his lips as he realizes what she’s trying to do. Clever girl.
“Hisashiburi-da.” He greets her with the titles she would go on to earn in the future that won't come to be, “Jyuu-San-Ban-Tai-Taichou. She who slayed one of the Seven Kings of Hell. The Demon of Frost. Kuchiki Rukia.”
————————————————————
She will never, ever admit it but the moment she hears the bastard’s voice something uncoils in her and she relaxes minutely.
“I would apologize for the delay, however I was held up while securing Ichigo. I’m sure we both realize what took priority.”
No shit.
“Oh no, it’s perfectly fine. I assure you.” She drawls sarcastically even as her head feels like it’s been stuffed with cotton, “As you can guess I’ve been getting gold star treatment here. It was an unwinding experience even. Peachy, see?”
“Mm, I can in fact see. Allow me to guess in order…..”
“Showing off? Really now? Alright then. Let's hear what you’ve got.”
“They stripped you, followed by alternating Ling Chi and electroshock to test how effective pain would be and when you proved more stubborn than they’d thought…. Hm… they would have decided to move onto psychological methods. First by stringing you up, administration of barbiturates and of course, the finishing touch of Chinese Water Torture.”
She was impressed at how accurately he’d predicted the events and the order in which they happened but instead she just says, “You missed one.”
“Oh?”
“Waterboarding.”
“Tch.” She can practically hear the annoying ass smirk in his voice, “Unfair, Kuchiki. You’re already drenched; it would be an easily missed inference for anyone.”
“I thought your whole thing was being a cut above the rest.”
“Your remarks have been duly noted.” He says dryly, “Now shall we get out of here? Preferably before Soi-Fon comes back?”
And without actually waiting for an answer, she feels the seals keeping her reiatsu contained break at the same time as she feels the chains being cut.
The disorientation and lack of sight make her lose her balance a little as she drops down.
“Ow– Motherfucker.” She curses as she slams her toe against something hard, a hand comes up to her shoulder to steady her, and she moves away, “I’m fine! I’m fine. I don’t need your help.”
She hears Aizen let out a tired sigh.
“If I offer you Kyoka Suigetsu’s blade, will you open your eyes?”
This is obviously a trick and a lie. Her brain tells her immediately; she repeats it to him verbatim out loud.
“Look– ” Whoa, Aizen sounds tired, she wonders what’s been going on since he and Ichigo came back for him to sound like that, “ –I’m going to put it simply alright? I’m not doing it free of cost; I want your cooperation in my future endeavours. Consider this a down payment for the services you will be rendering.”
“I’m not killing or maiming anyone.” She tells him immediately, before amending, “Well, other than people and creatures who need to be killed or maimed.”
“I’m perfectly capable of doing my own killing and maiming, thank you very much. And besides I have other, more competent subordinates I can outsource my killing and maiming to if I absolutely must.”
She thinks it over for a few moments. There’s always a chance that Aizen could be lying. But he didn’t exactly have any need to. Kyoka Suigetsu was the most powerful weapon in his arsenal but not his only one. He outclassed…. pretty much the whole universe as of now. Even if she was immune to Kyoka Suigetsu’s influence, it wouldn’t make much of a difference. Not like any of them could go up against that power couple.
On the other hand, if he makes her immune, she would be more amenable to cooperate. It wasn’t like she had a choice; the entire Gotei had already branded her a traitor.
“Fine.” She sighed, “I suppose I don’t really have any other choice for now.”
She hears the sound of a blade being unsheathed and then she senses it’s right in front of her. Cautiously she extends her hand and presses her fingertips to the blade, holding them there for a few seconds before withdrawing.
Finally, she opens her eyes.
It’s a bit of a mindfuck looking at him, especially since he looks like a normal regular shinigami. Like he had, before they’d learned of his betrayal. He even had the stupid glasses on. Images of him at Karakura, the Quincy war and the Hell war all overlay each other. Her mind still hadn’t assimilated fully but then again; she supposed over 40 years' worth of memories wouldn’t be subsumed in such a short while.
“Well?” He asks.
“I dunno, you could always just be lying about giving me Kyoka Suigetsu’s blade and just handed me some random Shinigami’s.” She points out.
Instead of growing annoyed, he just smiles, condescending and amused, “I am pleased to see that the Hogyoku has imbued you with a sense of caution at least.”
“Fuck off.” She grumbles before she finally realizes what had been nagging at her, “Where’s the Haori?”
“Serving a much better purpose.” His voice takes on a warm tone that only ever comes out when he’s talking about Ichigo.
“Is he alright?”
“As safe as can be, I assure you.”
Yes. She can be assured of that much, at least.
“Now then.” Aizen claps his hands, “Shall we move?”
And without actually waiting for an answer, he grabs her with one hand and slings her over his shoulders in one clean swoop like a potato sack. She yelps in surprise.
“Put me down, bastard.” she snarls, “I am capable of walking at least.”
She is so fucking weak right now. Her protesting and struggling not helping in the least after the damage she had sustained. So, she resorts to the most basic form of resistance. Flailing her legs to kick him in the chest and pulling at his hair for good measure.
He waves his hand in front of her, probably only for shits and giggles.
Motherfucker, she thinks mildly annoyed as sleep overtakes her.
And then there is only darkness.