The Noble Sort

A/N: I'm not going to keep repeating all the earlier information. Everything pertinent was included in the Prologue and Chapter 1.

I am sorry that it has taken so long to post these. Most of this story is written; the week or so between updates is my time to edit and make sure I haven't left any glaring holes in the story. But these past two weeks have been incredibly busy: my birthday, my sister's birthday, job interviews, prep for the GRE, and even a small contract job I've been doing the past week. Today is the first time I've been in front of my computer for more than five minutes in weeks. I'll try to never skip updates, but sometimes RL interferes.

Enjoy! And please, R & R! I'm not a review hog, but I post this on four different sites. If it isn't being read on one of them I'm going to take it down to save myself some time. Updating on four sites with two chapters takes hours of formatting.

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"The Noble Sort"

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She didn't even need to turn around; she would recognize that reiatsu anywhere.

Kyouraku-taichou had found her.

Everyone was silent. She could swear she felt three pairs of eyes burning into her. Her hands slowly came up, away from her sides, palms facing forward, in a position that made it obvious she wouldn't be fighting them. It was the universal "I'm harmless."

Or "I surrender." It worked either way, really.

"Aa, Minako-chan, it's been a long time." His voice was like silk on skin and in her terror it made her heart beat that much faster. He only spoke like that when he was pissed. It was rare to hear it, but she knew she would never forget that tone.

"Yes," she croaked, still petrified. At least he had stopped leaking reiatsu all over the place. "Are you here to arrest me?"

Ukitake-taichou's eyes widened comically, and his smile disappeared. Maybe I'll just be under house arrest for a few centuries, then, not in jail, she thought.

Now would be the time to be very happy about there being a positive change in her future circumstances, but she couldn't bring herself to feel one iota of joy. Not while three taichou were sitting in her tiny apartment, reiatsu still bearing down on her in a way she hadn't felt in decades.

"Of course not, Minako-chan. We're here to have a little chat," she heard her taichou say, the whimsical playfulness he was known for entering his speech. She could hear the steel, though, and knew he wasn't playing around.

"A—a chat?" she muttered. "I was under the impression you were here to take me to Seireitei."

There was still no way out of this. Her gaze flicked over to the man on her right, still blocking her hallway. He was standing there purposefully, so he most likely knew her zanpakutou was in her bedroom. All exits were still blocked.

If she could pull the tension level down, though, and perhaps diffuse the situation just a little bit…

"Can I—" she stopped, and cleared her throat. "Can I move?"

"Oh! She's right, Kyouraku!" Ukitake-taichou stood up, smiling once again. "Here we are, invading your house, and not even letting you out of the hall. Maybe we could go into your living room, then?"

She nodded, watching as he stood from his position at her table. It would have been funny at any other time, this very tall man crammed beneath her tiny café table. It had been a present but wasn't the most practical of furniture.

Furniture. She was thinking of furniture…

"It was terribly rude of us, I know, Minako-san, but we had no choice."

Did he think she cared about rudeness right now?

Then her brain kicked in, and she was turning slowly, seeing her taichou for the first time in almost eighty years.

To anyone else he would have looked normal, maybe even happy. She had known him too long, though, to not be able to read the subtle signs. He was pissed. His sakkat wasn't in front of his face, he wasn't actually smiling, and he was leaning against her door without actually leaning, something she once believed he had perfected to torment his subordinates on the rare occasion they did something he wasn't happy with.

It was a tell you learned early in the Eighth; if he looked like he was holding up a wall but wasn't, you ran for your life. You had done something that got the most laid back taichou of the Gōtei 13 upset so all bets were off. Your ass would be roasted soon.

Everyone thought he was so carefree, so unconcerned. They were wrong—they just didn't know him like his division did.

She kept her hands up and out, clearly visible, as she moved to one of the very large chairs against the closest wall. Ukitake-taichou had acted surprised about the idea of arrest, but she wasn't chancing it.

Ukitake-taichou stepped around her, shooting her another dazzling smile, and took a seat on her beige couch.

The stoic man in her hall moved toward the living room, barely stepping in and positioning himself next to her television. It was obvious that "getting comfortable" was just an empty phrase at this point; they were still making sure all avenues of escape were closed off.

Her taichou stepped forward, sidling to the left and taking a seat on the small wooden chest that served as a window seat for Ruri and Kiri. She worried his weight might break it, but she didn't dare say that to him.

She worried her lower lip, and her hands were very deliberately placed palm down on the arms of the chair. She wanted them visible at all times; all she needed was an accidental movement gaining her a kidō binding. If they saw that freak out she would never recover from the humiliation.

"Yare, yare, Minako-chan. You're a difficult person to find."

A small smile broke through, but it was only visible for a moment.

"You trained me well, taichou."

A look passed across his face at that, a shadow of the anger he was hiding under his carefree exterior. She knew her comment was bringing up memories better left buried, but she couldn't help it. It felt natural, like it hadn't been eighty years since she had called him that.

"Do you know why we are here?" It was the first time she had heard this unknown taichou speak; it was obvious he was nobility. He had that, that voice they have. Everything is calm and forceful at the same time. Like whatever they did was right and the rest of the world could just deal with it.

"Somewhat. I've talked to Urahara since your arrival in the human world."

They, all three of them, shared at look at that.

Did they really think he wouldn't tell me? Please. They can't be that naive.

"You're here to take me back. I know that," she said, her words rushed in her haste to just go ahead and get it said, get it out in the air. The tension in the room was choking her.

"Yes we are, Minako-san. Genryuusai-sensei has ordered us to bring you back to Seireitei."

Ukitake-taichou looked like he thought it would actually be that easy, that cut and dry. She knew better.

"I'll probably fight you all the way," she said, steel of her own in her voice. "I think I would now, but I—I think I'm in shock." The last bit was said with a hint of self-loathing, disgust in herself and her weak acceptance of her situation.

Her taichou gave her a look of disbelief. "Why, Minako-chan, don't say such things! Of course you won't. And we'd really all rather this go easy than be a major pain."

"I'm not lying. Do you understand? If I go back, everything will come out, and I'll rot in a cell for a couple of centuries." She looked at each of them in turn, knowing the one closest—and unknown to her—would be the largest problem.

"Oh, it's all right, Minako-chan. We're not going back right this minute. There are some things I'd like to clear up first."

She glanced at her taichou, apprehensive, and saw that he was no longer even feigning a smile.

Oh, shit.

"I don't think I have to talk to you. Even if I go with you," she said, sullen and petulant. She had an itch to put her arms across her chest, but she made sure not to move her hands.

"But you will." There was steel underneath his teasing tone, and she didn't say anything else. It would only dig her own grave with the mood he was obviously in.

One of the cats, Ruri, suddenly bounded into the room from down the hallway, tail in the air, and they all stared at the interloper. Did they have no sense? Obviously they didn't feel threatened by these strange new men, but sheesh! They could be smart enough not to come in here!

She bounded out just as quickly when she finally bought a clue and realized there were new people present, and the tension that had abated briefly with the odd animal's behavior returned, although it was lessened.

"You have a pet, Minako-san?" Ukitake-taichou asked, his face lighting up.

"Ah, two actually. Ruri, which you've now met, and Kiri. She's…well, she's skittish…probably won't come out."

He still looked delighted, and her memory was racing. He was always a bit of a soft touch, especially about animals and children.

But the moment was gone.

"Yare, Minako-chan. What do you have to say for yourself, then?"

She looked at her taichou, sitting awkwardly on the little wooden chest, with his hands clasped between his knees. His pink kimono was covering his shoulders, still, and she could even see the pins in his hair. It was almost too much, the flood of memories it brought on. How many times had she seen him like this? Too many to count, she was sure.

"There isn't anything to say. I left. Shinigami do it all the time; it's just that most of them get caught. I happened to have help in the form of the one person who seems to know how to get out and stay out."

She grinned.

"Those gigai of his are excellent."

He shot her a look, his big brown eyes crinkling at the edges.

"Don't be coy, now. We know what happened."

Her heart was racing.

He knew what happened? Or did he just think he knew? How much did he know? And how could she find out without spilling more information than needed?

"Then why are you asking me?" she said, defiant.

"Because. There are some things we don't know. You know it irritates me to only know part of the story; I want the whole thing." She looked up at the ceiling for a moment, lost in thought. "Perhaps I'm like my zanpakutou. Selfish."

She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Why don't you tell me what you know. Or ask me the important questions."

He glared at her momentarily, then sighed.

"Isane-san told us most of it."

She felt her heart drop to her stomach. She knew they had all heard the hitch in her breath, which only proved that what they had already heard was probably true; everyone knew Isane couldn't lie to save her life. But he knew exactly how to play her, how to get her to open up by giving just the right hint.

It has been way too long since I had to answer to someone else. I've forgotten how to lie!

"So I guess the most important question would be: who?" His voice had darkened with that last word.

"Who?" The innocent demeanor probably wouldn't help, but…

"Who was he, Minako-chan?"

"Who was who, taichou?"

"Minako-chan, don't play dumb now. Who was he?"

She looked down at her lap, and then over to her left hand. She could see him in her periphery, and his hands were tightening, the skin around his nails becoming white. She knew now was not the time to play with him, but she couldn't fathom telling him the truth. If she did, right now, it would cause too many problems in the near future.

Her eyes traced a tiny scar stretching from her pinky finger all the way to her left wrist.

She raised her head and looked straight at him, resolute.

"I won't tell you." He opened his mouth to interrupt, but she raised her hand—the first time it had abandoned position on the arm of the chair—to halt him. "I won't. There is a very good reason behind it, I promise. I won't say a single word against anyone until I've spoken to Gen-oji-san."

And if I have my way, I won't be, she thought. Maybe. Oh, hell, I don't even know what I want.

He looked upset by that, but nodded.

"Ok, then. How about this: you left Seireitei—" he stopped, swallowing around something, "when you left Seireitei, you were pregnant. I don't see any pictures of a child. There are no toys, no extra bedroom in this place. The kid could have grown up, but there would be some evidence it had existed."

He glanced down at the ground, his hands tightening to the point she could see the veins, a striking blue among the now-white skin.

This is why I didn't tell you. You were always a soft touch, too. Me, murder my child? You wouldn't have allowed it, no matter what had to be done.

"Where's the child?" he said, roughly.

"What child?" she asked, her voice the sound of perfect cluelessness.

Even Ukitake-taichou looked perplexed now.

"I mean it; what child? There is no child. I wasn't pregnant."

Ukitake-taichou's mouth was opening and closing slowly, as if he was trying to form words, and her taichou looked shocked.

"Isane-san said you were pregnant. That was the reason you left in the first place—"

"No," she interrupted, "no. We thought I was. We were wrong."

He still looked shocked, and a little disbelieving. "It isn't something you get wrong, Minako-chan!"

"It's not like they had pregnancy tests back then, taichou!"

The men looked at her, confused, and the dark one a little shocked over her yelling at her former taichou, but she wasn't about to explain the human method of peeing on a stick.

Scratch that, she wasn't about to explain any of the new knowledge on reproduction to them. They could buy a science book for all she cared; it wasn't her job to spread sex-ed throughout the male population of Seireitei.

"We were wrong. Believe me; no one was as surprised as me. But after a few months, it was glaringly obvious when I didn't get fat."

She spat the last word, as if 'fat' was a disease. Of course, it represented a multitude of bad feelings for her, that physical representation of pregnancy.

"But, Minako-san, if you were not pregnant, why did you not return to Seireitei?"

She turned to Ukitake-taichou. "Well, by the time I was sure, I was already in it up to my neck. But originally, I didn't go back because I was—well, I was confused." She sighed, once again staring at her lap.

"I was in pain, I was screwed up psychologically from everything that had happened, and I couldn't go back." She looked up at them, then, urgency written on her face. "I had just gone through three of the most agonizing days of my life! Only to find out, in the end, that I wasn't even pregnant! Something strange was going on—which I cannot tell you about until I talk to oji-san—and I had no one to turn to! I was alone, and scared—and I couldn't imagine going back and—So I did what I thought I had to. I went to Urahara and Yoruichi, and they helped me."

"No one to turn to? You could have come to me." He looked at her, but she kept her eyes down. "Why didn't you come to me, Minako-chan? I would have helped you."

She opened her mouth to interrupt.

"No. I would have helped you, even if it involved keeping information from Yama-jii. This would have been a personal matter, not an official one. He has no say over that."

"I would have helped you." He sounded so forlorn, so heartbroken, that she could feel her own splitting in two.

"I—I—" she stopped. Trying to defend herself would only dig her deeper.

"Is this even necessary?" she heard the dark man next to her say. "If she's to be taken back, this can be sorted out then."

No one spoke for a minute, and she could tell even her taichou was considering the man's words. Which boded ill for her; if she could get a little more time, she could at least try something.

She was ready to bolt then and there, just to escape the possibility that they would call for a gate right then, but Ukitake-taichou's words stopped her. She must have been displaying the terror she felt at the idea on her face.

"I think a little time wouldn't hurt."

He looked at her.

"It must be shocking, yes? Some time to adjust would be good, and time to pack anything you wanted to take."

Pack? She felt her stomach drop. I'm really going—pack?

It was suddenly all too real.

"I agree," her taichou said, his playful tone returning to his voice although anyone who knew him well could see the shadow of his darker thoughts still lurking in his eyes.

The dark one looked at them as if they had lost their minds, but he didn't say anything. And none of them moved.

Well, she wasn't gonna move first.

"I—" she cleared her throat of the knot that terror had put there. "Ok."

"Then it's settled!" Her old taichou said, his hands clapping against his knees. He stood, finally, and looked towards Ukitake-taichou. "Ukitake, why don't you go get our things from Urahara-san's? We'll be staying here tonight. We'll leave first thing."

Wha—here? Staying here? All of you?

The pale man nodded, giving her a small smile before crossing the living room and exiting her apartment. Her taichou just stood there, as did the other man.

She turned to him.

"I assume you are Kuchiki-taichou, considering you're the only one I don't know," she said dryly.

He nodded, sharply, not abandoning his makeshift post.

She sweatdropped.

Hard sell, then? Who is this robot?

"Well, I guess if you're staying," she said, slowly, "I'll just—" she motioned to the kitchen.

"Of course, Minako-chan. Just ignore us." She could hear the dark amusement, a rarity, in his voice.

Riiiight.

She got up from her chair, slowly, and moved into the kitchen. If she was actually going to leave, there were things that needed to be taken care of.

First, she made sure the cats were fed. The sound of shaking kibble brought both animals out of hiding and bounding down the hall into the kitchen. She cleaned this morning's dirty dishes, and slowly cleaned the counter.

Uncomfortable. That's what this is.

She felt eyes on her, even now while the two were conversing softly near the entrance to the kitchen, and she wasn't sure that a chance at escape was worth an entire night of this creepy-crawly feeling.

She just continued swiping the cotton cloth across the counter, trying to ignore the creeping feeling on the flesh of her spine.

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She could feel the burning, the pain as her body felt like it ripped itself into tiny shreds. There was only agony, as she writhed on the sand, as she felt the blade disappearing into her body.

Was it this bad when they had done it? Her mind said it wasn't possible but her body seemed to remember the pain, the aching of joints folding and bones turning to what felt like dust.

What was happening?

She was sure she had passed out about this time when they had forced her to go through this, and in this instant she was almost thankful that her body had given her some mercy, but she wasn't…because it wouldn't do so right now—

Kisuke. Urahara. She could hear him shouting something. It flashed in her mind and in her vision, which was gone, just specks of flashing light in a purple void.

Comprehension was nil.

The words didn't make sense; her vocabulary was gone with the white hot agony of her brain melting into mush. And it wasn't the only thing—she felt the desperation for oxygen circling through her body and her blood stream, felt pressure in lungs that suddenly weren't there, but she couldn't breathe without them.

She wouldn't live through this; she was pretty damn sure of it.

She could feel her body getting ready for something, some monumental shift on an elemental level, and that last bit of pain shot through the body that was no longer there, no longer solid, and she screamed as the agony of being engulfed in flames so hot they were violet hit her.

She could hear someone screaming, could feel the burn of the high level kidō spell as it settled around her and protected someone—she wasn't sure who right now, she was surprised she could even think. It hurt, so bad, and she just wanted it to go away—

And then the soaring started, the feeling of her body taking flight as it became lighter, faster, different. The pain was muted. It was background, white noise. It was fading away to be replaced with a new feeling she couldn't even describe. She could only compare it tasting color, to the texture of roiling fire.

She could see her zanpakutou spirit in front of her, the giant dog she saw every time she spoke to him, but knew he wasn't there, not really, it was just a silly illusion to help her pitiful brain process what was going on.

And in seconds she was being called back, told to stop, to stop it now, there was no telling what it was doing to her body—

She raised her hand, at least that's what she told her brain to do, and saw flame, bright orange and red and even blue where her fingertips once were.

She screamed, and screamed again when she felt her body start to change again—

"Minako-chan. Minako-chan!"

She could hear a voice, an old voice. It was from her past, and for a minute, when she had opened her mind but not her eyes, she was afraid the dream had finally taken hold and she would never escape it.

"Minako!"

But she sat up quickly, violently pushing the large hand off of her shoulder as she screamed at someone, anyone to turn on the light, now, just turn it on!

The room flooded with light.

And she saw her taichou, standing by her bed with his hand still outstretched, and Ukitake-taichou, near the light switch by the door with wide eyes. Behind him was Kuchiki-taichou, his eyes slightly only slightly wider than normal, most likely in shock and surprise—for him, at least. The man was an emotional wall.

"Minako-chan?" he said, as his hand moved to her shoulder again—

"I'm fine!" she shouted, jerking her body away from him, black hair flying around her shoulders. Her ponytail had come undone in the middle of the night, again.

This was precisely what she hadn't wanted, a freak out in front of these people, and now they had seen it and the humiliation flooded her.

She sat there, her chest heaving as she tried to curb the hyperventilation she could feel coming on. It always did when someone was witness to her little attacks. As if the fear wasn't bad enough; the embarrassment usually pushed her over the edge.

"Minako-san, you were screaming."

Her maroon eyes briefly flashed to his face before staring down at the sheet once again.

"I'm fine. Just—just give me a minute."

She clutched her hand to her chest, feeling her heart thud against her ribcage every millisecond, it seemed, and she focused on the here and now. She focused on the men in her apartment, on the cats that had just run out of her room, on the sound of the city outside.

You're here. The present. Not there.

She saw two faces fall into masks of sympathy in her periphery, and it started a whole new round of self-loathing. She hadn't realized she had said that out loud.

I had this under control! Damn it!

"It—I—every once in a while—" she stopped, her eyes closing as she sighed.

"We understand, Minako-san."

There was so much sympathy, so much of something so close to pity in his voice that she couldn't help but let the words burst out. She didn't need sympathy; didn't want it. And he didn't understand, they didn't understand, and she just had this burning need to let them know that they had no fucking clue. They knew nothing about her, or what she had been through, and imagining that they did would only piss her off even more.

"It wasn't what you think," she said roughly. "You have no idea what—what that was. And it wasn't what you think."

"That bastard hasn't had a hold on me for a long time now," she muttered.

She glanced upward, saw the return of stoicism to Kuchiki-taichou, the sympathy still written on Ukitake-taichou's face, and the misery on her old taichou's.

The anger was too much to hold in.

"Get out of my bedroom," she hissed.

A little over thirty minutes later she had sufficiently recovered herself after having a mini-breakdown in her bedroom, and she threw on the robe at the end of her bed, heading into the kitchen.

She knew they would still be awake; one of them had been awake the entire night but she could feel the sheer thinking power of the three men in her apartment.

When she opened the door their heads darted upward, all three of them staring at her as she made the silent walk into the kitchen to start the kettle. It was a little like living in a goldfish bowl, one that once had a shade up and was now clear as crystal to anyone that walked by.

The cats, sufficiently recovered from the fear induced by her screaming, wound around her ankles as she readied four cups for the tea.

What do I tell them?

It flashed across her mind constantly, a new mantra, and she found herself at a loss. There would be questions, she knew, and none that she had an easy answer for.

She was so tired of this! Just a week and a half ago her life had been normal, easy, and generally ok, even if she got a little lonely sometimes. Now she was answering questions about things no one had any right to know about, and she was answering to all these people as if they had some say in her life. Last time she checked, she was an adult, capable of making her own decisions and leading her own life.

But they were here, now, and the awkward feeling would only grow if she didn't answer. And she would need allies, even if they were only the type of allies that could say "yes, the prisoner cooperated."

She was snapped out of her musing by the whistling of the tea kettle, and she quickly fixed the four cups of tea, sitting them gently on the small tray.

She watched the ground closely as she went, knowing that Ruri or Kiri were likely to trip her, otherwise, and sat the small tray on the coffee table. She was trampling someone's futon, but she didn't care. It was technically hers anyway.

She handed each of them a cup and saucer, taking the last one for herself, and then held up the small sugar service, not sure if any of them took their tea in the western style. After a few shakes of their heads, she was satisfied that they did not, and she returned it to the tray.

The steam was curling up in the air, drifting across her face, and she was thankful she could blame it for the blush that was growing on her face.

"I'm sorry, I don't have much else. I rarely get company, so…" she trailed off, now even more embarrassed.

"It's fine, Minako-chan."

His voice was quiet, in the hush of the late night, and she nodded.

"At least it isn't green tea, right?" she said tentatively, a bit of a teasing tone in her voice. It was worth it once she saw his reluctant smile.

They sat there quietly, no one apparently willing to break the tenuous peace that had fallen over the party. Finally she cleared her throat when her cup of tea was almost gone, knowing she would have to be the one to start the conversation and feeling that the humiliation that lurked under her skin had at least gone down enough she could talk.

Three men, three very powerful men, looked at her.

"I guess it's times for some answers, huh?" she said.

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A/N: The Japanese Lesson has been incorporated into the next chapter.