Rabbit Goddess: REVAMPED

~~Human World~~

“So, Aizen is dead?” Hirako Shinji asked, looking somewhat dismayed and wary at the same time. He was a bit surprised when he received a message from Kisuke asking him to visit his store as soon as possible. Kisuke might have saved Hirako and his group from Aizen a hundred years ago, but Hirako wanted his group to keep their distance from Kisuke since they were different.

No matter what Kisuke said, they were different. Kisuke might have been exiled from Soul Society, but he was still a Shinigami while Hirako and his group were no longer Shinigami… At least, not completely. They were Visored. They were part Shinigami and part Hollows… No matter what happened, Shinigami were never going to trust them. It was another reason why Hirako and his group kept their distance from Kisuke.

Kisuke might have been exiled from the Soul Society, but Gotei 13 was still in contact with Kisuke. Whenever a new Shinigami was assigned to Karakura Town, they were sent to Kisuke to acquire all their accessories and resources…

Hirako did not want to ruin the arrangement between them. He may no longer care about the Soul Society or the Gotei 13 for abandoning him and his friends, but he is aware that it is better to have some sort of alliance or understanding, rather than having them as enemies. That is why he never planned to take revenge on Gotei 13 or something foolish like that.

“Yes” Kisuke answered simply, earning an unsatisfied grunt from Hirako.

“How did he die? Who killed him?” Hirako asked. Aizen was an arrogant piece of shit, but he did have the power to back up his arrogance. His Zanpaktou simply made things even more complicated as it gave the man an incredible amount of edge. He did not believe that killing Aizen would be impossible if planned correctly, but he did not think that killing him would be an easy task.

Even the old man was going to have a lot of trouble killing the man and the old man was the strongest Shinigami outside the Zero Division.  He may not have been the one to kill the bastard, but he still wanted to know who killed him and how they managed to kill someone like Aizen… He might go and shake the hands of the person responsible in the future.

“From what I have heard, it happened in an instant. He didn’t even had the time to fight back or struggle” Kisuke answered and Hirako’s eyes grew wide in shock. Was someone able to take him down by surprise? Now, that was interesting. “He wasn’t taken by surprise or anything, in case you are wondering that” Kisuke added when he noticed the look on Hirako’s face.

After all, he had also thought the same until Yoruichi explained the incident in detail and even after that, it took him some time to come to terms with what he learned…

For a moment, Hirako’s mind went blank… It took him almost a minute to finally realize what Kisuke was trying to say and it sounded ridiculous even inside his mind. However, he knew that Kisuke wouldn’t lie to him, not like this. Kisuke was many things, but he was unusually serious when it came to these types of things. “W-Who killed him? Was it the Zero-“ Hirako started to ask with a stutter.

However, Kisuke cut him off before he could finish. “No, it wasn’t the Zero Squad” Kisuke denied dismissively. “Did you feel a strange Captain like Reiatsu a month ago?” Kisuke asked instead.

Hirako frowned at his lack of answer but decided to play along for the time being. “Now that you mentioned it, yes. However, it disappeared pretty quickly” Hirako answered. They were never the first responders in such cases since they were part Hollows and since the Reiatsu disappeared, they forgot the issue. If the Reiatsu would have lasted for longer then they might have decided to investigate.

“Was it a new Captain or something?” Hirako asked sourly.

“No, she was neither a Hollow nor a Shinigami. She was something else. I suspect that she might have been a Youkai, but I can’t say for sure” Kisuke answered, earning an incredulous look from Hirako. “I know how it sounds, but it is the best I have. A month ago she appeared near the town and Yoruichi was the first to make contact with her…” With that, Kisuke started to retell the whole story.

“…So, let me get this straight… She appeared out of nowhere and you decided to teach her the basics so that she doesn’t end up killing all the humans in this town by simply existing and in return you asked her to accompany the kids to the Soul Society?” Hirako asked, earning a nod from Kisuke. Hirako felt a vein throb in his head and the urge to smack Kisuke was irresistible, so he went ahead and did that.

“…I deserved that” Kisuke mumbled while rubbing his head. “She was a complete novice, so I thought Yoruichi or the other Captains might be able to deal with her in case she tried something, but I was wrong” Kisuke grunted unhappily. “She turned out to be way more powerful than I ever imagined and now the Hogyoku is in her possession. Who knows what she is doing with the Hogyoku…” Kisuke finished with a scowl.

“So she beat the old man even though he was using his Bankai…” Hirako did not know what to think about that. That was something sounded almost unbelievable, but once again, he did not believe that Kiuske would lie about something like this. “That is not a nice ending” Hirako mumbled as he shook his head. He would have been happy if Kaguya had simply killed Aizen and left.

However, she took the Hoyoku and even defeated the old man to make an example… That was not a good thing and what was even worse was the fact that Kaguya knew about the Hogyoku and she specifically went for the Hogyoku…

“Do you know where she is, right now?” Hirako asked, earning a wince from Kisuke.

“Most likely Hueco Mundo” Kisuke answered once again Hirako felt the urge to smack Kisuke on the head, but this time he held himself back. He had never met this Kaguya woman, but since she ran off to Hueco Mundo with the Hogyoku, then her intentions must not be good. For all they knew, she went to Hueco Mundo to start off where Aizen left.

“What is the Soul Society planning to do?” Hirako asked grimly.

“Right now? Rebuilding” Kisuke answered. “However, I suspect, they will be preparing to invade Hueco Mundo as soon as her presence is confirmed. The Hogyoku is not something we can leave in the possession of an unknown and extremely dangerous variable” Kisuke answered in a grave tone.

“I see…” Hirako mumbled.

“However, the Captain Commander won’t give the order to invade Hueco Mundo… Ichimaru Gin had been surprisingly forthcoming with the information. According to him, Aizen had been building an army of Arrancars for quite some time. The Arrancars are dangerous, but they are not the priority” Kisuke explained and Hirako frowned at his words.

At first, Gin had been giving them a silent treatment, but as soon as Kyoraku sent Lieutenant Matsumoto to question him, he started to sing like a canary…

“Arrancars?” Hirako asked.

“Yes, Hollows who removed their masks and gained Shinigami-like powers” Kisuke answered noncommittally as he himself didn’t have all the details. “However, the Captain Commander would be forced to start preparing an invasion in case Kaguya is in Hueco Mundo” Kisuke explained. Like he said, the Arrancars were dangerous, but they were not the priority.

After all, without Aizen, they were completely toothless. Gin had revealed that there were only a few Arrancars they needed to be worried about. Only the Espadas posed any kind of threat to the Captain-level Shinigami, but even the Captains could beat them easily as long as they were not fighting in the Human world. As for the rest of the Arrancars, they could even be dealt with by the Lieutenants.

Kisuke wasn’t sure if Gin should be trusted and that is why Hirako was here…

“That is why I need your help” Kisuke revealed and Hirako immediately scowled. “Look, I know you want to get involved with the Gotei 13, but we need to know if Kaguya is there or not and we also need to evaluate these so-called Espadas and the rest of the Arranacars” Kisuke finally revealed.

Hirako wanted to deny the request, but he stopped himself… “What’s in it for us?” Hirako asked.

Kisuke smiled at the question. “Now that Gin is talking, he has revealed what Aizen had done to you guys that night. From what Yoruichi had said, the Captain Commander had agreed to review your case now that new evidence has appeared. With the Central 46 gone, your case is going to be judged by a lot more open-minded people” Kisuke revealed with a grin.

“Now, don’t think that your case is only going to be reviewed if you help us, but it will earn you and your group a lot of goodwill” Kisuke added after a moment.

This time, Hirako genuinely considered the options… It was true that Hirako wanted nothing to do with Soul Society or Gotei 13, but not everyone in the Visored felt like that. Some of the Visored still considered Soul Society their home and they wouldn’t want to miss the chance to return home. Even Hirako didn’t know what to think… If they were going to truly review their case without Central 46, then there was a good chance that they would be cleared of all the charges.

That would be probably the closest thing to an actual apology he could get from the Gotei 13…

“I-I need to think about it and talk with the others” Hirako said and Kisuke accepted his reasoning. While the news of Hogyoku being out there in the hands of someone like Kaguya was extremely unsettling, considering they had no idea what the woman might be getting upto, they were in no rush. Gotei 13 could not even prepare an invasion force at this time.

Right now, they were busy rebuilding and it was going to take them some time to recover. After all, Ichigo and the kids had caused a lot of damage and no matter what anyone thought about the Central 46, they had been an integral part of the working of Gotei 13. “Alright… Take your time, we are in no hurry” Kisuke waved with a cheeky smile on his face…

~~Three Days Later~~

“So… This is Las Noches. Looks different than I imagined” Kaguya commented as she laid her eyes on the massive structure in front of her.

“What were you expecting?” Nelliel asked as she took off her hood. It has been years since she had seen this place. For good reasons, obviously. To be honest, Nelliel did not blame Pesche and Dondochakka for how they decided to keep her unaware of her origins. They did it to protect her and they were probably right by not going to Aizen.

Before the betrayal, she would have trusted Aizen. After all, the man was improving their lives… He was giving them more power, but now that she was here, she was starting to suspect that Aizen never cared about them. He simply wanted some test subjects and expendable pawns for his plans.

Aizen loved to talk about big games and how he cared about them, but he never came looking for her or her Fraccion. Yes, Pesche and Dondochakka were running away, but someone of Aizen’s calibre could have surely found them, right? After all, Kaguya was a complete stranger and even she knew about her story… Kaguya was able to find her within a matter of weeks from what she had heard.

“Something a bit smaller” Kaguya answered indifferently. “Let’s head inside” Kaguya said as she started to fly toward Hueco Mundo. Las Noches might have been bigger than she thought, but it did not dissuade her from completing her objectives…