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Masquerade Between Hell and Justice	By : Karmira Category: Bleach > General Views: 3498 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Vocabulary: Hime - princesss

Chapter Two: The Room of Sealing

The white walls of Seireitei are a place of secrets. It has always been this way, buried in the archives, locked away in codes within the research facilities of 12^th Division, stored away in the Captain Commander’s mind. Secrets whispered in shadows, details outlined in paper, even deals sealed in blood and deceit, the line between justice and order is as thin as water. Weighed and controlled by the noble houses, the Onmitsudou or Stealth Force, the Captain Commander, and the ominous voices of those selected to Central 46. Fear of secrets allowed Aizen to nearly destroy the Gotei before his ascent into Hueco Mundo, and even now, they have yet to disappear….

Or the consequences that follow…

________

Yumiko Ryouma's room was hidden deep within first division. Tall walls echoed with the sounds from outside. Light shone in from a window high above onto the futon below and cast shade from the screen in one corner, where her silent attendant tended to her daily needs as called on during her other rounds. The room itself was sealed using a combination of clever architecture, a series of sliding doors disguised as walls or windows, and layered Kido spells.

The young noble traced the patterns on her obi, silver silk with embroidered drifting sakura petals, to remind her of the spring, something she had long been unable to see. She tilted her head, listening to a snatch of birdsong far above her head. Yumiko didn't know where the window was, only that it allowed her to feel the passage of time through the warmth of the moving sun and the cool embrace of the longer moonlight.

Born with a deep well of reiatsu at a young age, she had been sealed away for waking a rare water zanpakuto which could reflect any zanpakuto power within a certain radius around her, called Mizue no Kagami (Water Mirror). Reflect but not control… something she had found out one birthday night long, long ago. The young woman had stopped counting the days, the months, and then the years after her family had bid her farewell and she realized her time away would be much longer than she had at first believed.

Shaking her head slightly, shifting the silken ebony blindfold over her eyes, Yumiko pushed that train of thoughts away. She had awoken this morning to the pungent scent of a jasmine blossoms in her room. It meant that she would be having a visitor later on, and she didn't want to appear sad. And...

She spread her arm outwards to retrieve her book from last night. Feeling for her cloth bookmark, she turned to her last page in her newest Kido book. She smiled to herself and traced the raised drawings, picturing the image in her mind. Thanks to these books, she didn't need to see to keep at her studies. Even if she could only memorize, it was enough. Enough for now.

She would leave here. Someday. They had promised.

Unconsciously Yumi rubbed at her right wrist. The cuffs were heavier this morning and her eyes itched.

_________

Two figures paused at the first trick wall hiding the sealed room. The leader in a bright pink kimono covered in flowers stretched and then ran his finger down a certain crack. The door slid open. They passed through and it slid back, a wall to anyone else.

On the inside, Shunsui yawned. "Don't those old farts have anything better to do than to lecture me on every article of our laws? You'd think they had nothing better to do than tell me how to do my job.” He gave a sideways glance to his lifelong friend, Juushiro on his right. “Am I not qualified?"

"It can't be helped," the white-haired captain replied, reaching for the nearly invisible rope that opened the next wall. It slid upwards. "With Sousuke on the loose again, they're nervous." He paused. "What about the matter you wanted to bring up?"

The new Captain Commander sighed. "Sousuke's situation makes hers even more precarious. It was hard enough getting her freedom when he was a prisoner, now they are trying to use every loophole to keep her where she is. All because of that first time and reflecting the power of Ryujin Jakka.”

Juushiro set a hand on his shoulder. "At least we haven't given up, which is what they want."

Shunsui chuckled. "If I gave in, Yama-jii would find a way to tan my hide from his grave," he muttered.

He frowned deeply. "This has gone on long enough. She’s been a secret here for decades, known only to a few nobles, the commander, and Central. I’m tired of it. The next time we visit will be the time I break the seal placed on her." He halted and turned into the disguised open hallway.

"When say it like that," Juushiro commented as he reached into a 'mirror' for the key," you remind me of Sensei." He handed the slender key to his friend.

He took it, eying the near-transparent form, shared a look with his friend, and let it fall it into the lock on the floor. As they waited for the lock to dissolve the wall in front of them, Shunsui answered his friend.

"If I can't do that, I have no right to persuade Tsukiro Ashimitsu to take on a division. That boy is too clever to stay a third seat." He chuckled. "If I have to work, I think he should too." The key melted away and the doorway was clear.

Layers of Kido wrapped this final hallway. Line upon line of silken strands, the web of spells wrapped and warped the shady, sun-lit surroundings. "A prison shouldn't be this beautiful," the captain commander murmured and continued forward. The Kido webs faded into the background.

"It wasn't always such," Juushiro responded quietly. "First, it kept her safe." He ran his hand down the nearest wall. “If it weren’t for her being gifted with that much reiatsu, Ryujin Jakka’s reflection would have killed her. There was no telling what would have happened next.” The Kido spells flashed at him. His eyes narrowed imperceptibly at the information given him. He didn't like altering the barriers to better entrap her growth. Another article on her confinement by Central.

Shunsui halted and turned around to face his friend, eyes dark with sadness. "I am going to quote Yama-jii here, Juushiro. Your kindness isn't letting you see the whole picture....

There are other ways we could accommodate this inequality of power and age, but due to the current atmosphere, Central is only going to consider the absolute. Neither her age, heritage, or latent talent will protect her. That is why...

".... she will be lonely no matter what," Juushiro continued repeating their old master's words with his best friend, "and we do what we can to alleviate the ache our actions create."

A small smile formed on his face. "We've never stopped doing that, at least."

Shunsui was silent for a few minutes, eventually reaching into his kimono and pulling out a book with thick hand-sewn uneven pages. He ran his fingers over the cover and winked as his friend's smile brightened. "I'm done being the bearer of bad news," he declared, holding it aloft. "Let's focus on making Yumi-chan smile again."

Juushiro nodded and joined his friend at the double doors sealing the outside world from the wonderful girl inside. Together, they spoke the series of Kido seals braided into the entrance, pushing the doors open after a faint blue light surrounded the outlines….

Yumiko started at the nearly completely muffled creak of the doors. "Ukitake-san?" she called out, voice shaking despite her attempt to compose it. Over the years, even if she could not communicate with her zanpakuto her sealing had been adjusted to allow her one shikai ability Sazanami or Ripple. It allow her to view her surroundings through the reiatsu picked up by the blade in a sort of mental map. But until they left the doorway, she could not 'see' clearly, not past the wards in place, and she couldn't help the disquiet that mixed with hope every time the doors opened.

Juushiro and Shunsui exchanged glances at her voice. Shunsui's eyes darkened in anger for a moment and then he stepped away from the entrance, brandishing his gift. "Not just him this time, Hime," he called out in a loud jovial voice.

Yumiko blushed and smiled. "Kyoraku-san, you know I'm not a princess." She slid the cloth bookmark in its place and set her Kido book aside. "Thank you for taking the time to come here."

Juushiro chuckled as his friend frowned. "He's pouting now, Yumi. He can't stand not being able to use his pet name for you." He moved past his friend and pressed his lips to Yumiko's forehead affectionately. "It's a beautiful day outside," he greeted quietly. "The sky is an endless blue and there are more clouds drifting on the breeze today."

Shunsui rubbed the back of his head. "What Juushiro isn't telling you," he paused dramatically, "is that you're prettier than the sky outside," he finished and swirled into a large bow.

Listening to both his words and his kimono rustling, Yumiko blushed again and covered her face with her wide sleeve. "Kyoraku-san..." she protested weakly. She couldn't stop smiling though.

Juushiro smiled as her pale cheeks filled with color at Shunsui's silly antics and sat down on one side of her. "The clown over there also has a gift for you," he said gently.

"Juushiro," Shunsui whined, sitting on her other side, "did you have to tell her my secret?"

"Was it a secret?" Juushiro asked in turn.

Yumiko frowned slightly, her hand automatically rubbing at the cuffs on her wrists. "But I haven't finished the latest book yet," she whispered, and lowered her head. "I'm not ready to progress to the next level," she admitted in an even lower tone.

The Captain Commander in pink frowned. It was true that the rate at which she was learning had slowed over the past decade or so. And there were many reasons to that. Among them the chaos that had nearly cut her off from most contact. Chaos she could only feel the repercussions to and wait to end.

Setting the new book aside, he took her hands in his large ones. "There is no reason to apologize or feel embarrassed, Yumiko," he murmured gently. "Each book is a new level in difficulty."

"You have made great progress, Yumi," Juushiro continued, voice reassuring. He reached out and laid her current reading on her lap. "What number are you at again?"

She set her hand on the book cover. "55, 56 in Hado, 50 in Bakudo," she stated hesitantly. "There are some gaps," she confessed a moment later.

Shunsui nodded and set the new book on top of the first. "You are already much farther than most of your peers, Yumiko, and you're an excellent student," he said firmly. He hesitated, reading the slight trembling in her hands, the way emotion escaped through her attempt to remain calm, indifferent. He closed his eyes. "You have no need to worry," he declared in a low confiding tone.

"That's something he would say..." Yumi lisped, hands shaking, eyes itching without the tears. Then, Yumiko Ryouma took a slow, deep breath and her hands were still again. "I miss Yama-jii," she said quietly, voice cleared of all negative emotion.

Juushiro closed his own eyes. It was yet another great injustice that the binding had robbed her of the ability to cry. It made the shell around her feelings even tighter. She hated to show the fact that the cuffs bothered her, and trembling from strong feelings was attached to that. "We all do," he said slowly, voice low with his own grief.

Shunsui made to reply when the door opened again, revealing her silent attendant and a tray of refreshments. After setting it down, she bowed and offered him something he did not want to see, the token to beckon him back to his office. He raised an eyebrow at his friend who had likewise seen the unfortunate piece of wood. Juushiro gave a slight shake of his head. Shunsui turned back to Yumiko, who had returned to maintaining a serene image. "I must depart, Yumi-hime," he called out. "Unfortunately, I don't have as much time on my hands as I used to."

Yumiko didn't react this time, though she felt her cheeks warm. "Thank you for coming, Kyoraku-san, and..." she paused, then folded her hands over the books in her lap, "for the books you found. I will use them well," she stated, finishing her proper farewell.

Shunsui nodded and set his hand on her forehead. "I'm sure you will," he replied. It was his little secret that she didn't know that each book was hand-crafted for her by him, an idea which had started with Yama-jii. He turned around, following the attendant out to the hall.

Juushiro waited until the door had closed, knowing that Yumiko would be following the sounds of their departure as long as she could. Then, he poured the tea and set a cup in her folded hands. "Let's enjoy lunch," he said lightly, smiling, "and then go over your Kido as long as you are able."

Yumiko nodded. "I will be fine," she responded, tone even. With that last phrase, she knew her teacher would be altering the bindings on her cuffs today, but that did not mean she would let it tire her out. He wouldn't let her teacher waste his time.

. . . . . .

Juushiro finished his tea and set the tray aside, knowing the attendant would get it, and looked down, Yumiko passed out on his lap. He stroked the dark auburn hair from forehead then narrowed his eyes. She had fallen asleep before he had finished the final two seals on her now glowing cuffs. Even if he wove his Kido in with her lessons, it happened every time. He sighed. He'd stay here a little longer.

"I am sorry, Yumi."

In the next chapter, we finally see Aizen and his plans start to take form…
- 2
- 3
- 4
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Masquerade Between Hell and Justice