Back to reality ((Solo))

'Heh...sorry what?!' She barked in the man's face. He, unlike most, appeared unperturbed by the girl's sudden aggression. Perhaps he had been warned on the matter, but usually when Kaiyo got angry- people started to apologise. This particular man did not. 'You are being called to face the central 46 in a hearing against you for treason...' Time stalled around the Captain, tilting and exploding around her as she froze. An immovable object hit by an unstoppable force. The man continued to speak; his garbled words echoing like a distant dream. She couldn't hear him. Panic set in, sinking with worry to the pit of her stomach. Her eyes glazed, widening with harrowed thoughts that crawled around her eyes like dark shadows.

The montage reached it's crescendo; unleashing in an attack on her senses. The girl snapped back to the room. How long had he just been staring at her? Her throat choked out a breath, constricting her breathing as she croaked a feeble response.
'When?'

'Tomorrow morning...I'm to confiscate your Zanpakuto until then'

Her rattling heart skipped. At her hip, she could feel the comforting weight of her blade. Unwilling and unrelenting. A spark of golden light jolted around the girl. Fear flashed across the man's face for a split second. Clearly, he did not fear Kaiyo; he feared what she was capable of. A wise fear to have.

Her knuckles paled white as she clenched her fist at her side. Already the girl could feel her power welling inside her: roaring in angst. Praying to unleash. Silently quelling the power within her, she stared at the man. His green eyes began to quiver, darting away from her own piercing gaze just long enough for the man to breath again. She could smell the fear on him, dank and shameful: it filled her nose with a repugnant stench. The girl's face was tight with rage, pulled in to a cold glare. Kaiyo could feel her reiatsu rising; seeping out with aggression until the ground beneath her cracked under the pressure. The genuine thought occurred to simply kill the man. It would be easy enough. Clearly he considered himself as no pushover, and he'd gained rank working for the ruling government of Soul Society...but she was fucking Kenpachi.

Within seconds, the man dropped to his knees. His sweaty palms grappled at the broken ground as he clambered for my oxygen. Three more figures appeared behind him. Their expressions straining to remain serene. Kaiyo sighed, slowly uncurling her first as she capped her reiatsu once more. Flickers of pure gold sparked around her frame as the three men stepped forwards. Allowing their obvious subordinate to gasp more obviously as he fought off unconsciousness.

'You're Zanpakuto please, Captain'. The man ahead of her tugged out his hand; wavering in the air just inches from the girl. Kaiyo stepped closer to the man; glaring up at his tall stature as she snarled up to him. 'Trust me, I'm not the one who'll stop you...' For as angry and stunned as Kaiyo was, she could feel her Zanpakuto spirit, verging on a rampage and stammering to cling to their weilder. With a fluid and rehearsed motion; Kaiyo untied her blade from her hip. Twisting it around with a flourish, she flung the sword reluctantly to the man.

Irreverent of the little force she had actually thrown the sword with. The man was pinned almost instantly to the ground. The blade was sharp and thick with reiatsu; a practiced weapon on the edge of perfection. The girl scoffed a laugh as the man gasped and gaped under the weight. Removed from under it's crushing power with the aid of three other man. Kaiyo stood motionless as the man circled her blade. It appeared so placid on the ground. One man stepped forwards to pick it up, managing no more than inches away before a jolt of lightning exploded from the sword; throwing the man clean through the wall of Kaiyo's office.

'Yeah, good luck with that' she snarled, barging through the men as she stormed out. Clearly, she had some preparation to do for tomorrow. Especially if she planned on not being executed...

Despite her small stature, Kaiyo stood with an imposing glare; slowly tracing her bright eyes through the shadowy faces of her judges. She was making a conscious effort to control her heart beating too fast, she could do without her temper today. The short Captain had never been here before, despite her high rank, even for the Captains; it was probably a good thing that this was her first visit. The girl had been lead through series of confusing corridors until she'd reached her chamber. Like a giant pit, she stood in the single channel of light, encircled by towering desks that each held a hooded figure. The secrecy seemed a little juvenile to her, as if she wouldn't be able to recognise each of their reiatsu ever again. It was like a scent, unique to each soul and very hard to remove. She blinked out of her stare, it had turned to a more primal gaze, like she was tracking her prey. Not a great look for innocence.

A deep bell rang eerily around the room, echoing through Kaiyo's small frame. She exhaled slowly, in truth, she wasn't even sure what specific thing she'd done. Of course, there was a list, she was just hoping they didn't know about most of it.

'Please state your name and rank'

A curt voice, female. Her age was betrayed by the elderly croak to her voice. Kaiyo licked her lips slightly and replied. 'Kaiyo Saiyouko, Captain of the 11th Division' 

'And Captain is not a rank you've assumed recently is it Kaiyo?'

The direct use of her name irked her, and she bit back a reply. The girl shook her head in agreement, her golden hair swaying in the box of light where she stood. Kaiyo didn't feel comfortable here, she assumed it was on purpose but she didn't like it all the same. Taking in the brief silence, she blinked slowly, scanning her surroundings in the brief darkness. Her eyes sparked open when she felt her Zanpakuto nearby. The thick walls were particularly hard to sense anything through, but she was no novice and her sword desperately wanted to be found.

She drummed her fingers through the air, sighing gently as the whispers around her came to a halt. The hooded figure directly ahead of her spoke, a man; his voice was deep and rough. 'And you're aware that you're here to answer for crimes of treason...Do you know what treason is Captain?' She couldn't tell if he was asking sincerely or just being rudely sarcastic. Either way, she titled her head back to look at where she assumed his eyes would be. 'Betrayal'. Even in the shaded area of darkness above her head, she could see the slight nods from the council. 

'Good...Well i'm sure you're dying to find out why you're here...' He turned to the first female voice and she lowered her gaze, assumably reading the charges. Her chest constricted in the brief pause before she began, her calm was becoming increasingly unsettled.

'The ultimate law of Soul Society as you well know Captain is to maintain balance...We believe you have broken this'. 

Kaiyo had leant forwards to listen more intently, her mouth dropped ever so slightly ajar. She definitely hadn't been expecting that one. Her mind raced, staggering through her muddied past. In truth, she'd forgotten a lot of it, even her body had lost its scars. 'But, I don't even remember anything from before i came back'. 

'Exactly!' A voice screeched from over her shoulder, she spun around instinctively. Fight or flight was a tough reflex to kick, and she lowered her fists so quickly that she'd hoped none of them had seen. Louder whispers traced around the girl, pattering away in to the darkness as the man she assumed to be in charge spoke once more; silencing the council. 'I'm sure you will agree that you do not live strictly by the rules and laws we lay out for Soul Society.' She tried to interrupt, but his hand swiped away her motion. 'We have allowed you a certain amount of leniency, given your extreme power you are without a doubt, an asset to our world.' She could feel the But about to ruin this.

'However! You are known to previously affiliate with hollows! Superhumans and on occasion Quincy as well! The enemies of your world are your enemies as well Captain Saiyouko!' His voice had grown to a shout, booming down on the Captain with a ferocity she hadn't expected here. 'You have murdered souls, you have commited acts of treason by attacking fellow Captains and you have set an awful example for your subordinates by all of your actions and a callous disregard for your orders!'

He'd raised from his seat now, slamming his fist down on the desk as he reached his penultimate point. 'And you're revival from death is a worrying attack against the balance we live to protect'. The man slowly sank back in to his seat, audibly panting from his explosion. Kaiyo's expression had remained stoic, it was bad. She had to be careful here. The girl ebbed forwards, talking as much with her hands as her voice as she tried to reply. 'Well I can hardly live to protect this balance if i'm dead...' She could tell almost instantly that was not the right thing to say, her mind scrambled for more words to bring it back. 'Plus in case you didn't notice, I wasn't the one who asked to be brought back to life; I was dead. It wasn't my choice, it was yours!' Yes, her retort was clearly moving from strength to strength. 

'Captain, nobody here is denying how much you have done for Soul Society, but our decision to revive you was in fact a hung vote with a very small margin who changed their vote at the third attempt'. The woman was not making her feel any better, in fact, Kaiyo quickly caught on to the fact that likely half the room hated her, and didn't want her alive. Her temper was rising now though, she could feel her blood starting to boil as her reiatsu spiked. 'That's still not MY fault! Bloody hell just because you're all too scared to really help people and hide in your damn darkness so you can't make up your fucking minds!' So far, her defence case was going better than she'd expected.

Her fingers rolled through the air in to a gentle fist, she could feel the tension rising. The air was growing thicker with spiritual energy and not just her own. Her brow furrowed deep with anger as the man spoke again, apparently a bit calmer by now at least. 'Calm yourself Captain, it would be unfortunate if we had to restrain you' She stifled back a laugh at that comment, arrogance seeped through her eyes as she lowered he gaze with traces of shame. He allowed the silence to damped the rage of the room for a beat. 'Better' he announced, as if he were scolding a child.

'You are charged with treason, but given your unique state we have decided to be leniant, but this will be the last time. You will be under surveillance until further notice, you will report back to us with your status in one months time and you will never break our laws again or we will have you killed. Dismissed'

Her hand grappled against the fabric bundled around her bend knees, her head bowed. It was not out of respect, more a restraining matter, to stop herself from charging at the next uniformed goon who tried to lead her down another damn tunnel before her hearing. Kaiyo was annoyed. For the past month she'd been buried under paperwork and blue milk runs and she was fed up of having her Zanpakuto locked away from her; as if that would really stop her doing any damage. Still, she'd done what was asked, she'd been a good little Captain and not even visited the real world. It was a shame, she missed her various friends; the people who had always broadened her views and challenged her. Sometimes, she wished she'd been allowed to die; to avoid watching that fate for those closest to her, natural deaths were easier of course, but having lived through such hard times...Well, she doubted her dreams would ever be kind again.

'They're ready for you Captain'. The voice echoed across a speaker. At least they'd gotten the message not to approach her themselves, she'd had a worse temper than usual recently. She'd sent out more apology cards than she cared to admit. The short Captain rose slowly to her feet, allowing her white haori to sway down at her sides, it's yellow lining flashing into view with each step she took. Had it not been for her small stature, the girl would likely have looked quite intimidating. The white door slid open before her as she exhaled slowly through the archway. Same old setup. A box of light and high dark towers filled with seats surrounding it. Standing in what felt like the pit of the earth she shuffled uncomfortably in the brief silence that followed. Noting the lack of life in this cage; there was no smell here, no sound and only light for a metre around her; illuminating the cold steely ground on which she stood.

'Welcome back Taichou.'

A different voice was to lead the farce today then. The girl raised her head, staring up once again to only the area of the voice; she could not make out the faces. Outlines of a silhouette at most. 'Yeah...Thanks for having me' her voice trailed off with a bored tone, she wanted this whole stupid mess to be sorted out. Of course, she knew better. The entire situation was ridiculous, the made up charges were for leverage over her, perhaps just out of worry that she was beyond their control, or maybe they needed their personal killing machine for something in particular. Unfortunately, this kind of situation seemed to beg for the latter of the two.

'We have reached a verdict...' Here it was. Her finger dug deeply into her thumb, using the sting of pain to stop the rage that had already begun to bubble inside of her. The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she was. Treason: for fighting a Captain, she was the 11th Division Captain- of course she was going to spar with those strong enough to handle it! It wasn't like she'd killed any of them. As for the Quincy and Hollow relationships, she'd left no evidence in either case, so could only assume they'd made some lucky guesses, it didn't matter now. She'd been caught in a web of accusations and now faced a choice between her own death, or their chosen deed.

'Soul Society faces a new threat every year, our enemies grow stronger and our allies grow weaker! Now is the time to strike! Before we threaten our existence entirely!' Her eyes flickered with anger. Something pulsed through her body, like a wave of energy. The Captain spun on her heel, looking deeply into the darkness around her as her haori swayed back into place. The silence was her own to fill. She could sense it already, her Zapakuto being brought closer to her. A beat hit at the side of her mind, a thought; could she kill them all? Was she really such a monster to slaughter the Central 46. Of course they were corrupt but surely they didn't deserve death.

'We have assigned to you a task for your redemption...Something to re-affirm your loyalty to Soul Society.'

She'd known that was coming for a while, her answer didn't matter, they'd already tied her hands in this fact. But after a month without her blade, the girl's blood-lust had thrown her into a frenzy like an animal in heat. A distant light flickered for a moment, as a figure came into focus. Two figures. Six; three on each side, carrying a heavily armoured box. She smirked to herself. Glad that her own blade had been such a task for them. All the while the Captain remained oblivious to the overall idea here.

To remove any and all combat from such a soul, would drastically increase her urge for blood thereafter. They had her. Whatever cruel task they asked of, she would do it not only because she had to, but because her insatiable desire for adrenaline and power, and true death defying fights would be unstoppable after such a fast. The box was dropped at her feet as the masked carriers tried to casually scuttle off. Already a golden glow had begun to flow from the seams of the thick metal.

'We have located a rebel band of Superhumans in England. They have already killed three Shinigami and injured five more. Class A reiatsu: 5. Class B reiatsu: 12 and Class C reiastu: 38... Kill them.'

The words hummed just above the singing of her reunited sword. It's ridge crying to slice against skin. Kaiyo was not a monster, but usually she was able to control such primal urges, usually, she'd been allowed to even practise or train. But given the restrictions placed on her, she had been manipulated perfectly. The box crumbled away, disintegrated by the sheer power of her spiritual energy. It would be a massacre, and one that she truly couldn't avoid now. With a single flourish, her sword was tied at her hip, hanging with a comfortable weight for the Captain.

A twisted grin toyed around her mouth, sparking edges of golden light through her usually blue eyes. 'Heh...You want to send a message then right?' Already she could feel her heart racing; the small fries would serve as a good warm-up maybe, but she wasn't so tactful; she'd attack all at once, run in guns blazing and slash her way through anything with a pulse.

'Exactly...Send a message Captain Saiyouko. Tell them, never to challenge us again.'