Bleach: Children of Traitors

Chapter 5: Abnormal

Juzo paced as he waited for word from Shizan. Usually examining and if necessary, dealing with new souls is a task typically left to one person. A team of three was assigned in this particular case, seeing as the target was the child of shinigami. They took turns observing and waiting for an opportunity to get close enough to get a reading. So long as the kid was normal, no harm would have to befall the child.

It was more difficult to get close since the incident from fifty years ago had not yet been forgotten. That child was also a target, but someone got to him first. Their team was good about covering up how abnormals die. Make it look like Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, make it look like an accident, or frame it on a known enemy of the parents. Either way, when they had to dispose of a target, they implied a cause and didn't leave any mystery. But fifty years ago... the child disappeared without a trace. Perhaps such a mystery wouldn't have drawn so much attention if it wasn't the child of a shinigami, not just any shinigami but a child of one of the four great noble clans.

'It's gonna be fine... the target is with her mother and not the Third Division Captain.'
He tried to settle down, but he had a bad feeling about this.

"Senior!"

Ku, another member of Central 46's Phantoms, came bursting into the room.
She had recently transferred into the Tenth Division for the sake of being closer to the mission without drawing suspicion.

Juzo's brows furrowed as he turned to her for a report.
"What is it? Has Shizan reported back?"

Ku shook her head. "He was ambushed."

"What?"

"Captain Ichimaru was lying in wait in Lieutenant Matsumoto's room when Shizan attempted to carry out the mission."

"How did he know?"

"I'm not sure... I've only caught pieces of conversation from the other shinigami. Uh- it-it sounds like he noticed Shizan's surveillance on the baby."

Juzo shook his head. "Not good. Not good... if he noticed Shizan, he could have noticed either of us as well..."

If the death of one of their Phantoms wasn't enough, Ku had more to report: "Several of the shinigami are speculating if Shizan was involved in the Kuchiki incident."

"Tch. Nonsense. Shizan didn't have anything identifiable on him, did he?"

"I don't... I don't know..."

"Keep a low profile... things are gonna be tough going forward." The senior team member spoke. He pinched the bridge of his nose. This whole mission was a mess. With Shizan dead, there was still no record if the target was abnormal or not. Did he find out anything, or was he killed on sight?

This paired with people speculating a connection with the Kuchiki incident meant more risk of exposure. He could only imagine the Sixth Captain would aid in the investigation in hopes of finding some closer as to what became of his son.

• • • • • • • • •

~ •86 years earlier• ~

Exiting Dangai, the trio could finally breathe easy without having to fret over erasure by The Cleaner. They cut it rather close this time, and of course doing so was all part of Lieutenant Aizen's intentions. Aizen wanted to collect part of the very essence of the cleaner to use in crafting a living weapon which he called, Requiem.

"You sure that thing is the best material for your project?" young Ichimaru asked. This was at least the third attempt. Gin was still relatively new to Aizen's following, he didn't have a full grasp of what was it that Aizen was trying to create.