The warm light of a candle illuminated the room, fending off the encroaching darkness from the night outside. Inside his office, Lei leaned casually back in his chair, thinking about his encounter with Ichigo the day before. The thin frame of the protagonist lingered in his mind as a ghostly silhouette.
"Hah - this really puts it in perspective." Brushing his hair back with his hand and following the momentum, his chair creaked backwards until it was standing on two legs, the precarious balance mirroring the internal anxiety that Lei felt. Combining both his previous and current life, he was nearing a century year old - depending on a teenager to save the world felt almost sacrilegious. The marks of his progress in the Bleach world, the curse seals on his back and his Zanpakuto at his side, rather than provide the gravity of safety like they used to, now felt heavy with guilt.
"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
"What the -" *CRASH*
Scrambling up from the ground and quickly catching his bearings, Lei looked through the window towards the direction of the shrill scream. Years of laying low instinctively guided his hands towards the panels, but just before he closed them, a certain silhouette appeared in his mind again. Two eyes stared out into the night air, doubtful and conflicted. And as the minutes passed, just as a passerby would have concluded that nothing would happen, a leg appeared on the window sill.
"...I have a terrible feeling I'm going to regret this." Pushing off, Lei rushed into the night towards the source of the disturbance, leaping over the white walls of Seireitei. After a short while and turning a final corner, he paused. There, in a collapsed position on the ground, lay his former friend Momo bitterly crying, surrounded by several other lieutenants. Everyone was staring at a nearby wall.
"Hey - what's going on? Are you -"
"Captain Aizen!!! Why did this happen to you?" Momo cried out, not paying any heed to the newcomer. If the group did pay attention though, they would have noticed Lei immediately stopping in approach, rapidly fading in color, and suddenly having cold sweats. Slowly, deliberately, he raised his eyes to look in the direction Momo was focused. The first splattering of blood gave way to a growing sense of unease, and as his eyes creeped upwards, he saw the final point: Aizen's corpse.
Ice ran through his veins. "Holy. Shit."
Since he became 11th division lieutenant, Lei had meticulously avoided Aizen like the plague. Yet somehow, despite the constant excuses and hiding, Aizen still managed to cast Kyoka Suigetsu on him. The most frightening thing in the world is the unknown, and Lei had no idea how Aizen got to him.
"Breath, Lei, breath. It's okay - I have a contingency for this." Fighting the urge to hyperventilate, Lei focused inwardly on his internal reiatsu flow. Almost 50 years ago, he had created a back up against falling under Aizen's hypnosis, and now was the moment of truth. Sinking deeper, the steady thrum of his kido flow beat along like a heart beat, every full circulation announcing its natural highs and lows in a faint hum. When the circulation went through his crown acupoint, a small hitch sounded out like a canary in a coal mine. Focusing further, there was a small patch of foreign reiatsu inhibiting his regular rotation, so small that it would have been impossible to detect unless he was deliberately looking for it. Calmly, certainly without any panic, Lei vigorously directed his flow to rub the spiritual pathogen out of existence.
Wipe.
Wipe. Wipe. Wipe.
Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe.
As soon as the blot was completely removed, a faint shattering occurred, and when Lei opened his eyes again, the wall in front of him was clean. A broad smile grew irrepressibly on his face.
"What's so funny?" A devilish voice spoke over his shoulder.
"Wha-" Jumping out of shock, Lei glared at Gin. Stuck in the euphoria of the fruition of a plan from 50 years ago, he had been obvious to his surroundings.
"I feel that the death of Aizen would be a sad event, definitely not something to smile about. Could it be that we have a trai-tor on our hands?"
"...Lei?" Before Lei can figure out how to answer, a questioning tone interrupted. Gin hadn't lowered his voice, and the accusation lay heavy in the air, attracting attention like a magnet. Looking at Momo, Lei can see the seed of doubt behind her eyes. Although they were friends, 30 years of no contact had done much to reverse their original familiarity.
"I mean, we all knew that Lei was Captain caliber. His fights in the 11th division are famous. But he must have felt stuck for so long that he couldn't be promoted unlike his friend Toshiro... Why not assassinate a weaker captain and create a vacancy that he could try to fill?" The voice of Gin echoed like the devil's temptations.
"That's - that's absurd! If I wanted to be a captain through combat, there are other ways of going about that! And besides, weren't you the captain on bad terms with Aizen?"
"...bad terms? What do you mean?"
Realization struck Lei like lightning. Due to his interference, Ichigo never beat Ikkaku, Renji, and Zaraki, so there wasn't an impetus for Aizen and Gin to stage a fight like in the original timeline. In fact, the two captains were actually known to be close.
"Damn..." Unconsciously, a whisper escaped his breath.
"...LEIIIII! Bankai - Moeru Bairin (Burning Plum Forest)!" Furiously, Momo stabbed her Zanpakuto into the ground in front of her at the perceived betrayal. A series of giant plum trees rose behind her, their branches cradling flames the color of blossoms. Swinging her sword, patches of fire drifted towards Lei, their seeming gentleness a sharp contrast to their sheer velocity and force, triggering small explosions in their wake.
BOOOOOM
Out of the smoke, Lei jumped out slightly shocked at the escalation, but mostly unharmed.
"Wait, Momo. I didn't - " Gin appeared behind him, quickly interrupting his thoughts.
He didn't jump the other way?
"Yare yare - I guess I should help apprehend a traitor shouldn't I? Shoot to kill - Shinso."
"Choose Your Fighter - Super Smash: MewTwo! Teleport!" In the face of Gin's killing intent, Lei immediately chose to release his Zanpakuto and teleport. The spearing blade pierced his previous location, continuing onwards and into a nearby building like a knife into tofu. Wiping the code sweat on his forehead, Lei's back suddenly burned as a onslaught of fireballs homed in at his new location.
"Shit! Bakudo 81 - Danku!" A clear wall of reiatsu appeared before Lei, trembling slightly as each fireball collided with it in a booming explosion.
"Wowwwww - such a high level bakudo... You really hid yourself well." Jumping towards Lei, face twisting in growing malice, Gin doggedly pursued the lieutenant with Momo close behind in support. Explosions rang out, littering the walls and grounds with craters, and slabs of Seireitei concrete fell like cut ham as Lei protested and played a defensive hand. A triumvirate of purple energy, a massive fireball, and a divine spear collided, separating the three parties and creating a brief interlude. It was at this moment that Hitsugaya arrived in a flash next to his childhood friend.
"Momo! What the hell is going on?"
"Toshiro! Lei killed Captain Aizen - you were right all along to suspect him!"
"What in the world are you talking about?"
"Look behind you!"
Shock ran through Hitsugaya's face when he saw Aizen's corpse pinned to the wall behind them. Questions flashed in his mind, the foremost being whether or not Lei was really the criminal. He rejected that premise almost immediately. Paranoid and distrusting of Lei as he was, Hitsugaya had observed Lei's actions in the 11th division multiple times. Begrudgingly, he had to admit that the work done was meticulous and nearly without fault. And accusing any logistical talent, even if it was perhaps the person he disliked the most, of this type of sloppy, easy to discover crime was a little...
"Look, Momo. You know I don't like Lei, but this is a heavy accusation to make. And say it was Lei, never mind how much of a commotion two captain level combatants fighting would have, do you really think that he is the type of person to leave the evidence lying around like this?"
"Shut up Toshiro! If you won't support me, then get out of my way!" Swinging her sword to Lei and directing several volley-ball sized fireballs, Momo re-entered the fray, leaving the 10th division captain behind.
"Yare yare Hitsugaya-san. Is there trouble in paradise?"
Hitsugaya's face darkened at Gin's inappropriate remark, but the man continued as if he didn't see it.
"But to be fair, you weren't here to see the fight just now. Lei was holding himself up against both Momo's bankai and my shikai very well."
"Defending against the both of you? He's supposed to be at most at the beginner Captain level... were you perhaps not being serious?"
"Haha - I was surprised too. He hid himself well. Very. Well." Silence rose between the two as Toshiro looked at Gin with an obviously disbelieving stare. "Yare yare, words probably won't convince you. Please feel free to stand by while I help your little girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend!" The words were left in the wind as Gin shunpo'd into the fray and continued the triple fight from earlier. Examining the fight, Hitsugaya's face went through a variety of emotions: disbelief, questioning, and then shock. Somehow, Lei was indeed holding up against two Captain level combatants, and from the looks of it, even gaining a slight advantage.
"Toshiro! Are you helping or not?!" Being blown back by a particularly nastily timed kido, Momo shouted in frustration.
"I..." Looking between the three parties involved in the conflict, Toshiro finally stopped hesitating. "Lt. Captain Lei, please stand down and cooperate with our investigation!" Unfortunately, Lei was never the instigator, and without someone to rein in the murderous Momo, there was no way he would stop defending himself. "Hah - this situation sucks, but I have no choice. Sit Upon the Frozen Heavens, Hyōrinmaru!"
A confrontation between 2 Captain level combatants would have attracted attention never mind 4, and various captains quickly showed up. 4th division captain Uhohara. 8th division captain Shunsei. 11th division captain Zaraki. 13th division captain Ukitake. Except for Zaraki who ignored everything else and was just clearly eager to join the fighting, the other captains were shocked: partly from the body pinned against the wall, partly from how a lieutenant was standing even against 3 captain level combatants, one of which had even released her bankai.
"STOP! What the hell is going on?!" At Shunsei's roar, everyone halted. Hitsugaya and Lei wiped cold sweat off their forehead in relief, Gin had a mischievous smile like a boy who got his play time interrupted, and Momo was the only one clearly reluctant.
"Captain Shunsei! Lei killed Captain Aizen!"
"That's insane - I've been saying this entire time it wasn't me! Don't believe her Captains!"
With several hundred years of experience as a military officer, one thing Shunsei did not lack was an almost schizophrenic paranoia. Aizen being assassinated without any notice stinked. Lei having clearly hidden strength stinked. A ryoka invasion happening at the same time stinked. An unusually harsh judgement for the sole living relative of a seated captain stinked. Glancing between the parties, trying to ascertain guilt, the captain stopped briefly on Lei. Who unfortunately at this time gave a... smile? Internally, staring at the too-wide, too-scarred smile of Lei, the imaginary balance immediately swung towards the guilty verdict.
"Lieutenant Captain Lei Zhang, please surrender into custody peacefully! This is not a declaration or admission of guilt, but the situation is suspicious. We promise you that we will perform the utmost due diligence in our investigation."
"Wha-"
"No! What if he escapes? Don't forget that he's been hiding his capabilities for so long!"
"Momo - stop! This is the best outcome. Captain Shunsei is right."
"Hahaha! You should listen to the 10th division captain little girl. Otherwise, I'm happy to join in the fight!" Zaraki chortled, belligerence ready to blossom as he subtly positioned himself to better assist Lei.
"Yare yare - what a mess this has become. I'm fine with this, but I wonder what the person at the center of this thinks?"
Staring between the parties, a well of exhaustion and bitterness rises within Lei. Eager Momo. Disapproving Hitsugaya. Grinning Gin. Suspicious Shunsei. Even Zaraki, who he knows would be the one person on his side, he saw gave a subtle shake of the head. Zaraki's battle crazy, but contrary to what others believe, he's not dumb. A 2 v 6 battle, especially considering three of the six were advanced captain level, is not a smart fight to pick. Sighing deeply, Lei deactivated his shikai, the surrounding tension quickly dissipating like air from a popped balloon.
Stepping forward, Shunsei quickly took the yielding opportunity to place reiatsu cuffs on the suspect. Locks snapping shut, Lei suddenly felt like Atlas, his power sealed, relegated to dragging his limbs under a celestial chain. Looking up from his crumbled form, he gave a grudging and bitter final look to the surrounding captains as they proceeded to cast sealing bakudo to finalize the restraints.
The last thing he saw before his vision went black was the taunting smile on Gin's face.