Death and Illusion

Two days have passed since the Rukia rescue squad started to train before they executed their plan. With the acquisition of Lieutenant Renji Abarai, they have an even bigger chance of succeeding. Now, Captain Hono and Renji walk through the Seireitei.

"You're becoming stronger, lieutenant. I believe that you will be able to achieve Bankai by tonight," said Aoi.

"It's all thanks to you, sir. I have made these gains thanks to you. Training with a Yamamoto tier fighter is very helpful," said Renji.

"I may be very powerful, but you surprisingly made me sweat. That's impressive," said Aoi.

"I'm just really determined to save Rukia," said Renji.

"I understand," said Aoi.

"Sir, Ichigo said that you guys wanted to defeat Captain Aizen. He said that he would explain the situation to me, but he never did. Why is Captain Aizen a target?" said Renji.

"Sosuke Aizen is a snake. He has ulterior motives, but I don't know what they are. He was the one who was doing the Hollowfication experiments a hundred years ago. Ever since then, I have hated him. He has destroyed peoples' lives for his gain. I can't wait to see his face after we clobber him," said Aoi.

"It's shocking that he would do something like that. He seems so nice," said Renji.

"He pretends to be a nice guy to manipulate people. He loves to use people for his gain. He's a terrible person that needs to be taken down" said Aoi.

"If you know all of this stuff about him, why don't you tell head captain Yamamoto?" asked Renji.

"I would love to, but I'm currently stuck under Kyoka Suigetsu," said Aoi.

"What's that?" asked Renji.

"Kyoka Suigetsu is Aizen's Zanpakuto. It is a very powerful Zanpakuto because it puts the victim under perfect hypnosis. It's so powerful that even if you know that you're under Kyoka Suigetsu, you won't be able to break it. Practically the entire Soul Society is under Kyoka Suigetsu. Because Aizen is more powerful than me, if I was to try to turn him in, he would probably trick my senses into believing that he was Yamamoto and kill me," said Aoi.

"I didn't believe that he was that powerful," said Renji.

"He suppresses his power, so people won't catch onto his schemes," said Aoi.

"Are you sure that we can win? If he's stronger than you, I fear that we won't stand a chance," said Renji.

"You should always have faith in the people that fight with you. If we work together, we can achieve anything," said Aoi.

"You're optimistic," said Renji.

"I always like to look at the brighter side," said Aoi.

"Have you tried to recruit your lieutenant?" asked Renji.

"He's too loyal to Yamamoto, so I doubt that he would defy his orders and join us. Sajin views Yamamoto as a father figure," said Aoi.

"That's a bummer. He would've been a strong ally," said Renji.

"Unfortunately, life is never that easy," said Aoi.

"What will we do if we succeed? I doubt that we will be allowed to continue to do our soul reaper duties," said Renji.

"We will just go into hiding. The Soul Society isn't known to go searching for runaways in the living world," said Aoi.

"What if we fail?" asked Renji.

"Don't think like that. We won't," said Aoi.

The pair continue to walk until they hear a scream.

"Who was that?" asked Aoi.

"It sounded like Momo's, so something bad has to be going on. Let's go, captain," said Renji.

Renji and Aoi run towards the scream. They run for a couple minutes until they reach the Squad Five Barracks. They see multiple lieutenants staring up at the corpse of Sosuke Aizen pinned to the wall.

"Captain Aizen! No, this isn't real! Captain Aizen!" exclaimed Momo.

"What's going on here?" asked Aoi.

"I don't know sir. We heard Lieutenant Hinamori screaming and we ran over here," said Sajin.

"It looks like someone dealt with Aizen before we could," whispered Renji.

"Who is screaming so early in the morning?" asked Gin.

Everyone turns their heads to see the captain of the third division standing behind them. Momo remembers what her friend told her about Captain Ichimaru and charges at him.

"It was you!" exclaimed Momo.

Momo pulls out her Zanpakuto and tries to slice Gin, but Aoi grabs her blade before she could murder the captain.

"Captain Hono, why?" asked Momo.

"I can't allow you to attack a captain. I know you just had the shock of your life after you saw your captain's corpse pinned to a wall, but you can't take your anger out on others," said Aoi.

"Please move aside," said Momo.

"No," said Aoi.

"Please move, sir," said Momo.

"Stand down," said Aoi.

"What about "move aside" do you not understand!" exclaimed Momo.

"I said stand down!" exclaimed Aoi.

"Burst, Tobiume!" exclaimed Momo.

"Dammit," said Aoi.

As Momo's blade enters its Shikai state, it creates a small explosion. Momo jumps back while Aoi tanks the explosion. Even though the explosion didn't affect him, it destroyed half of his captain kimono.

"I understand that you're not thinking with your head right now, but you just attacked a captain! You won't be able to just get away with this because you're not in a good mental state!" exclaimed Aoi.

Momo doesn't respond and launches a fireball out of her Zanpakuto. Aoi easily ducks to dodge it.

"I don't want to fight you," said Aoi.

"Then move!" exclaimed Momo.

"Fine," said Aoi.

Aoi speed blitzes Momo and grabs the nerve on her neck, knocking her out. Before she can fall to the ground, Aoi grabs her. He turns his head and looks at Lieutenant Kira.

"Kira, take her to her room. She needs to rest," said Aoi.

"Yes, sir," said Kira.

Kira grabs the unconscious Momo and walks towards her room. Aoi turns his head and looks at Captain Ichimaru.

"Are you ok, Gin?" asked Aoi.

"I'm fine. You tanked most of the attack anyways," said Gin.

"I'll take Aizen to Unohana. You guys can go," said Aoi.

"Yes, sir," said the lieutenants.

Gin and the rest of the lieutenants except for Renji walk away. Renji walks up to Aoi.

"Do you think that he's dead?" asked Renji.

"It's possible, but I doubt that anyone in the Gotei 13 would want to kill Aizen except for Gin. I don't know how strong he is, but he may be stronger than Aizen," said Aoi.

"Maybe Aizen faked his death. His Zanpakuto allows him to manipulate peoples' senses, so he could have used it to fake his death, so he could plan in secret," said Renji.

"Good theory, but don't tell anyone about it. We don't want Aizen to know that we're onto him," said Aoi.

"Ok," said Renji.

Aoi jumps up and removes Aizen's Zanpakuto from his stomach. He grabs Aizen's corpse and jumps down. He flash steps towards the Squad Four Headquarters. He opens the door, surprising Captain Unohana.

"Captain Hono, what's going on?" asked Unohana.

"Aizen's been murdered," said Aoi.

Aoi places Aizen's body in front of Unohana. She starts to examine the corpse. Ten minutes pass before the examination is finally over.

"Is he dead?" asked Aoi.

"Yes. He's been dead ever since you pulled him off the Shyouheki. I tried to see if this was a puppet corpse, but it's the real thing," said Unohana.

"Who do you think would want to kill Aizen?" asked Aoi.

"I don't know, but we can't focus on that now. Return to your post and I will return to the front line," said Unohana.

"Yes, ma'am," said Aoi.

Aoi exits the Squad Four headquarters. He sees Renji sitting outside, waiting for him to come out.

"So, everyone thinks that he's dead, huh?" asked Renji.

"Kyoka Suigetsu is very powerful, so I'm not surprised that he would be able to fake his death. This means that everyone will have to train even harder. If Aizen is planning something, we have to be ready," said Aoi.

"We have twelve days left. We have plenty of time to prepare," said Renji.

"Aizen is starting to make moves. We have no time to relax. Rukia and the fate of the Soul Society lie on the success of this mission. Now, let's get to training," said Aoi.

"Fine," groaned Renji.