The Noble Sort

A/N: Notes for this week's update can be found in Chapter 33.

Enjoy!

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"The Noble Sort"

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Monday Night

There was a knock at the door.

"Minako?"

The slender woman turned in her chair at the desk, immediately minimizing the window she had pulled up on her laptop. She doubted Akane would be interested in the document, but it was better not to tempt it at the moment.

"Yes?" she replied, a teasing tone in her voice as she flipped her long ponytail back over her shoulder.

"I just got back. How did yours go?"

She sighed, turning back to the computer and pushing the screen down. It was this conversation, then. She gestured to the bed, and Akane sat gingerly, her formal kimono obviously making her uncomfortable. She didn't even bother the sleeping dog on the other side. He just huffed and rolled a bit.

"Fine, I guess. Who knows? I go back tomorrow morning for the last round now that all of you have given your versions. They'll probably drill me for any inconsistencies." She shrugged. "I'm not worrying about it at the moment."

"But this—they'll decide what happens, right?" Akane asked in a worried tone, frowning.

"Yeah. And?"

"What is wrong with you?" Akane asked, her frustration showing as she ran a hand through her short red hair. "You aren't even fighting this."

"Last lesson I'll probably ever give you, Akane—know when to stop fighting." She turned, digging in the desk drawer, before pulling out a sealed envelope and tossing it to the bed. Akane stared at it warily. "No matter what I say, Central already made their decision. This is all a formality. I'll either be free or go to jail—no reason to fight anymore."

"Then why—but Saturday—"

"All the evidence wasn't in Saturday. I had no idea what I would be facing then. Now I do," she said dryly, her eyes not leaving her protégé.

"You've never just stopped fighting. Something's going on and you won't tell me what," Akane spit out.

Minako sighed.

Akane knew she had met with the leader of Zero, and she knew what everything had been about. But Minako hadn't filled her in on all the details. It was better that the girl continue to think she had a chance in this—she did, really, if oji-san's machinations worked out, but she didn't want to let the girl know everything she had learned.

So she had helped her organize everything they had found Saturday night, but that had been the last of her resistance against Central. It wouldn't matter any further.

"If Zero-taichou is right, they want to make an example of me. If oji-san is right, I'll be let off because he made his position clear to enough of Central's members. There isn't anything I can do to change the proceedings now."

"And this?" the girl asked, picking up the enveloped and tracing the seal with her fingers. It was literally bulging at the seams.

"That is every yen I had on me when I visited the bank before we came. It's enough to get you out of the country and safely hidden with Rin and Mori." She looked the girl in the eye, serious. "I'll know by tomorrow night how this will go down—Central doesn't like to drag things out. If I tell you to, you use that last bit of juice on the cell phone to get Isamu and Kenta to meet you somewhere in Rukongai and you go."

"But Minako—"

"No," she said, her voice hard. "If I get thrown in jail I want you safely away from Seireitei. You know where the emergency kits are. You grab one of yours and you go. Rin and Mori are well hidden, they know how to help you do the same. I'm not going to see you go to jail after the fact because Central wants to keep it all under wraps."

"I haven't looked at all that stuff in years—what if Zero has it all?"

"They don't. You know where the key and information for the lock-box at the bank is; there are three more identities for both of us in there. And your name was put on the accounts—if anything should happen, you can clean them out and run as far as you need to." She grinned at the girl's surprised face. "Please—you didn't think I had everything in the house, did you? I've been hiding almost a century now; I'm not that stupid."

"But what about you?" Akane asked plaintively. "You're just gonna let them throw you in jail?"

"I might not have any choice. Don't worry—if I go to jail, I won't be staying there long. You know me better than that. But I'd like you safe and gone when I make my move, if I have to."

"All this because of Ethiopia? Are you sure you're not just being too paranoid?"

"Please," she said, turning back to the computer and lifting the screen. It was black, a small window asking for the password she wouldn't give until Akane was out of the room. "It's more because they need someone to take the fall for what happened, even if it's the victim. It can't be neatly tied up and put away without a scapegoat. And you can never be too paranoid."

"It's stupid."

"Maybe." She turned to look at the girl over her shoulder. "You should get to bed; I know you'll be up and out with us in the morning."

Akane nodded, lifting herself from the bed awkwardly in the formal kimono; it was why Minako hated them—restricted movement. She reached over to muss Hidaruma's black fur once before dragging her feet on the way to the door, obviously not wanting to leave.

"You need anything?"

"No. Hikaru will bring me a cup of tea in a moment and I'll be fine until bed. You go get some sleep." She turned back to the computer, hearing the door shut softly as the girl let herself out of her bedroom.

If it should be as bad as you think, they will care for her.

I know, shishi.

Do not be so upset about it. She is not your pup, onna.

Might as well be. She sighed. Feels like she is sometimes. She acts enough like me to be my child.

But she is not. You have done all you can to prepare her for what might happen. Rest assured that your training and your friends' protection will be enough.

She stared at the black writing on the screen, her teeth digging into her lip sharp and tangy with the copper taste of blood.

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Minako looked at the elaborate kimono spread across her bed. It really was a gorgeous garment. But still—she hated kimono with a passion.

And this was ending today.

She glanced longingly once, twice at the new clothing Akane had brought back from the real world trip on Saturday. That was her now; hell, even before she didn't wear kimono unless forced. Did she really want to go through this as someone else?

No.

She grabbed the standard black skinny jeans, tall black boots, and two of the shirts Akane had brought. Not the least bit formal, but the oversized sleeveless sweater-jacket was nice enough to be "dressy." And the top was black—all her normal.

Akane would be pissed since she was in kimono, but she'd get over it.

It's me they're trying; it's time they see who I really am now.

Hidaruma grinned on the floor.

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There were more people than normal milling about in the courtyard of the Central buildings.

She could see a few taichou, even. Oji-san and Kyouraku-taichou weren't surprising in the least, but she also saw her former lover, the taichou of the Second, and—she couldn't remember his name at the moment, but she just called him "brick wall." She remembered meeting him three years ago but couldn't get the name to come to her.

There were clerks everywhere, too. Not surprising.

The two Zero members that had been her escort yesterday and today were ignoring the attention, continuing on towards the large doors that blocked the actual chambers from the courtyard and offices. She did the same, but she was ignoring her uncle's obvious frowning at her clothing instead of the bustling people.

Seriously, she was not going to be sorry today.

And then the doors opened, they passed through into the crowded chamber that would once again mean she was the focus of everyone in the room, and she forgot those outside. They weren't important anymore.

The doors slammed shut and the Zero members split up, each guarding a side of the doors. As if she would try to run now.

Please.

She strode quickly but confidently to the chair and table in the middle of the floor—she didn't even glance at the men and women in the balconies in front of her. Everything was still there, still organized exactly how she had left it the night before. They hadn't even touched her evidence—a surprise.

Hell, it was surprising they had learned something from human legal practices. It was mind-blowing that she was even allowed evidence.

There was a loud bong, like someone hitting a cymbal or a drum, and then the apparent leader of the Central Forty-Six, a man she did not know, stood from his seat in front of her and declared the session open.

They talked without her for almost an hour, debating different information, allowing or turning down different questions members wanted to ask her. She felt the need to stand up and ask if she needed to be there but pushed it down.

She fingered the hilt of the sword at her hip—at least she was being treated with some dignity and allowed her weapon. Not that she could use it.

Finally they came to some sort of decision, as the room got quiet and the man—leader, whatever—once again stood and looked straight at her.

"Everything has been taken into consideration. All members have been allowed to view the evidence presented and posed their individual questions, which have been compiled into a master list. You will answer and then be released until we have made a decision."

She nodded, her red fingernails tapping the table rhythmically.

"You have sat in front of this tribunal previously—you know you must verbally reply, Yamamoto-san," he said, his voice sharp.

"Yes, sir. I understand."

"Very well." He shuffled through some loose papers before him, then glanced back at her. "Why did you choose not to report the original attack upon your person?"

She sighed.

"I've already told you, I did. If reporting it to the sou-taichou did no good, why would I go to someone in the Fourth about it?" she said, exasperated.

"You reported the incident to the sou-taichou as a family member, not as a shinigami."

"He could have prodded me to make a criminal report; he did not. I assumed I was supposed to drop it. And technically I did report it to someone in the Fourth, I just opted to have them keep it private as part of patient privilege."

"Indeed. Isakawa-san, your question."

A man in one of the back balconies stood, his grey hair and white beard immediately reminding her of her uncle.

"Can you honestly testify that you were in the company of Matsuno-fuku-taichou for over twenty years, periodically, without noticing his reiatsu or zanpakutou?"

"He was Zero—he hid it. Well," she bit out.

"Katara-san."

"You were in the human world almost a century; we have asked for a complete report on every movement. I will admit the report you gave filled in the timeline more than I believed possible, but there are still gaps of time where you cannot account for your whereabouts."

"I cannot remember every place I went," she said, shrugging. "I know you want to be sure I wasn't wreaking havoc all over the globe, but I can't dredge up eighty years of memories and evidence in the few days I was given. I've accounted for everything I could remember—Zero filled in what they could from my records. If there is a particular time you are concerned about—" the man shook his head, "then all I can give you is what you already have."

"Ayama-san," the leader said, and a middle-aged woman near the front stood, her face stone.

"It would take an immense amount of planning to assassinate three members of Zero, even with the resources of the Gōtei divisions and the sou-taichou. Some of the equipment found on your person is distressing—you expect us to believe you were able to pull this off alone?"

"Not totally alone, no," she admitted. "You know that Katsumoto Akane was serving as my protégé during my voluntary exile. She helped by serving as a messenger, which you also already know. The rest I did alone—I have many contacts in the human world with former shinigami that are able to get their hands on what I have already admitted was forbidden technology."

"Reiatsu inhibitors are very hard to get, Yamamoto-san."

"And I paid a high price for them, much more than they cost the Second to get made," she forced out.

"I would like to clarify how you received these items, Yamamoto-san."

"I was told I would not have to implicate any other defectors or exiles during this trial."

"You do not—both of the reiatsu inhibitors in your possession were models that I find it hard to believe have made it to the real world already. They have only been in use inside the secret corps. for a few decades. You must have gotten them from a connection inside Seireitei."

"I won't implicate anyone. I was told I wouldn't have to."

"If we have a security leak inside the corps., we must know, Yamamoto-san. I understand your previous ties could have given you the chance to keep legitimate connections inside Seireitei. While your loyalty is commendable, their loyalty is obviously in question. "

"And if they were gotten from an exile? All I will say is that I did not get them from someone inside the corps., so I cannot give you a name."

Frustrating! These were all questions she had answered when they spent five hours drilling her the day before.

She looked at the main speaker still seated in front of the central dais—he was once again silently reading a paper in front of him.

It's now or never.

"This has all been covered. Why don't you just ask me what you want to know?"

There were murmurs and muttering from many of the men and women seated in front of her, but she ignored their hisses. She wanted to get this all over with and just be until they decided her fate. She was tired of the entire situation.

He gave her a long, hard look.

"Very well."

A man stepped out from the shadows behind her, and she resisted the urge to turn and face whoever was coming up behind her. But Zero-taichou was right beside him, now, so this had been planned. They were just going to wait until the end to get to it, apparently. Figures.

"Yamamoto-san, you can well guess that there is one incident we wish for more information on. Unfortunately, all you can give us is your version of the events that occurred in the human region of Ethiopia in 1974." The speaker gestured to the man accompanying Zero-taichou, and the unnamed shinigami raised his zanpakutou.

It immediately turned into a very long needle, and a shiver of apprehension sped down her spine.

Shit.

"I have been informed that you are familiar with memory zanpakutou."

"Yes," she said, eyeing the new man warily. That thing looked nothing like her old friend's zanpakutou.

"This shinigami works solely for Central. His zanpakutou gives him the ability to look into your mind and read your memory, at which point he will report back everything he sees about the events you have described, down to your emotional state throughout the events in question. If even one piece of information should vary from what you have previously reported, we will believe you have lied to us and you will receive the maximum sentence."

Maximum sentence—for killing a human, what was it again?

Her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Two centuries of imprisonment, Yamamoto-san. Per human."

Ah. Well, could be worse. A sentence measured in centuries was nothing next to Aizen's sentence.

"You have the right to refuse, although I would not recommend it," the speaker said with dark amusement, and she shook her head.

"I'll let him—this won't, well it will probably hurt, but not, you know, bad?" she asked, looking at the unknown shinigami.

He shook his head. She could see his eyes shining through the hooded mask, but that was it. He was completely unidentifiable.

"Nothing permanent. You might not feel well for a few hours, though. Depending on how deep the memory is, you may be rendered unconscious."

She nodded.

Did forty years, give or take, count as deep for a shinigami?

He stepped toward her, the needle-like zanpakutou coming to rest at her temple. Zero-taichou stepped in front of her, his hands on her shoulders, holding her in the chair, and she only had a moment to panic before she felt it pierce the skin. Then, there was a sharp, quick pain in her head and a flash of blurring lights in front of her eyes.

She couldn't say how long they sat there, the man relaying information as he worked. Everything was fuzzy in her mind—it really felt like someone had thrown her brain into a blender and put it back into her skull right after. Her hearing, vision, even the shishi was different inside her head. Things weren't working like they usually did.

Time was relative. She could have been there minutes or hours, she wasn't sure.

Eventually the man pulled back, and she felt the needle leaving her head, although she was pretty sure it was never actually inside her head. It was all awkward and jumbled.

She sat there, shaking her head to try and clear the fog. She barely heard the speaker's last words.

"That should be all. We'll recommence tomorrow morning with our decision."

She felt Zero-taichou helping her up, but her legs were jelly and he had to literally support her until the two Zero members that were her escorts came over, each grabbing an arm. They took all her weight, gently pulling her up and out of the room.

Almost as soon as the huge double doors shut behind them, she heard Akane's voice and saw a flash of vibrant red hair, but she couldn't speak. She blinked, trying to focus her vision. Nothing was working right.

"What the hell did they do to her?" she heard Akane exclaim, and she could barely hear Zero-taichou, behind her now, fire off an answer. It was odd, hearing a voice where there was no person. But was there no person because she couldn't see him or because of a cloak?

Ow. Thinking hurt.

"Forcibly viewed her memories."

"What? They can do that?"

"They can do things we can't dream of, I'm sure." That was taichou, she thought, but she couldn't be sure. Everything was jumbled. She felt drunk.

"Suck'd—ow." It was the most she could get out at the moment. Although—she looked up at the Zero member on her left, who was a very nicely-scented male just a little older than herself—she was pretty sure she might be able to manage a pick-up line. Maybe. Possibly.

"Pretty," she purred, and the man barely smothered a grin.

She heard her taichou laugh as Zero-taichou scoffed at her comment. The two supporting her just hoisted her further up, carrying her back to the estate while ignoring her delirious rambling.

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"That was so not like it was in the Matrix," she moaned, rubbing her head and brushing her hair back as she sat up.

Akane jumped in the chair at the desk and scurried across the room, immediately helping her sit up. She leaned against the pillows and headboard, her head falling back. She had a headache the size of China. The girl thrust a glass of water towards her and she gulped it down gratefully.

"Not feel well a few hours my ass," she growled.

"Yeah, you were pretty much out after we got you changed."

"We?" she asked, fearing the answer. "Who's we?"

"Hikaru and I changed you, don't worry. Although it wouldn't have mattered much—you just about started stripping the moment you entered the house. Poor Zero guy couldn't stop grinning…sensei?"

She burrowed further under the covers that she had pulled up and over her head.

"I'll come out sometime next year, okay?"

"Oh, don't be a drama queen," the girl laughed, "everyone could tell you were totally out of it, sensei. Don't worry about it."

"Not helping, Akane." She grumbled underneath the blanket. "I've been doing nothing but spreading my humiliation since all this started. I'm sick of it."

"Oh come on. Like you haven't made a fool of yourself before? I've seen you much worse, you know." The girl grinned, her eyes lighting up. "Like that time we tried to go up against Kenta and Isamu in rugby and you hyper extended your knee—the drugs had you drooling and you offered to have the doctor's babies—"

"Enough," she warned, her head barely peeking out of the security of the duvet.

She heard the door creak open, then, and she pulled the duvet down just enough that she could see her uncle and Hikaru come in, one looking somewhat stern while the other was carrying dinner.

Food sounded somewhat good, actually.

Hikaru had everything set up quickly, then the older woman left, dragging Akane behind her. Obviously, this was going to be a private conversation. She could remember testifying that morning, and she could remember someone—things were still a bit blurry about the last part of her day—saying that they would have their decision in the morning.

No doubt he wanted to talk about her time in front of Central—not even he had been allowed in the chamber other than to give his own short briefing to the members of the committee.

She took a sip of the hot tea on the tray and a quick bite of the rice before looking directly at her uncle.

He opened his eyes and grinned at her under his mustache.

"What?" she asked testily.

"Propositioning members of Zero now?"

She felt the blood rush to her face and just knew she was blushing. Her cheeks had to be beet red.

"In my defense, I don't remember much of what happened. That was some trick they pulled."

"The members of Central are still in chamber at present. Whatever today revealed, it has given them much to think about. The benefits might outweigh your embarrassment. Do you remember what was said?"

"No," she murmured. "Everything was blurry, even sound. It was the most disconcerting experience I've ever been through. Good idea, in theory, but the practice sucks."

He nodded, and she continued to eat as he stared off into the distance. Something was on his mind—he had something he wanted to say to her but he wasn't sure how to word it. Perhaps he feared ruining the tenuous relationship they had been able to mend, although she doubted it. Most likely he was just uncomfortable about the subject.

"Even if you are found innocent, there will most likely be a choice to make," he said gruffly, his eyes meeting hers.

"Jail or return, right? I had that much figured out, thanks," she said, just a hint of sarcasm evident.

"I assume you have already made your decision, then." She nodded. "There will be a period of time where you will be in limbo—I am not sure where you will be placed. There will most likely be testing, examinations…"

"I know," she murmured. And she did. But anything was better than jail.

"If you had hoped to return to your life in the human world—"

"I just don't want to be in jail, Gen-oji-san. I can deal with anything else happily."

He nodded absently.

She knew what he really wanted. He wanted her to come out and say that she wanted to be here in Seireitei, that she had wanted it all along. But she didn't rightfully feel she could give him that; she wasn't sure what she would actually choose if the choice was presented. Almost a century of living like a human could endure you to the real world. While she missed so much of her former life, it still sometimes felt like she was trying to climb into someone else's skin.

She pushed the tray off of her lap and set it to the side; she had eaten all she could at the moment. The heavy discussion was affecting her appetite, which hadn't really been all that big to begin with. Too much going on in such a short amount of time.

"What else?"

He faked a cough and fingered his long beard.

"I know there's something else—just say it."

"I do not wish to be involved in this," he muttered, and she fought not to grin at the unusual discomfort he was showing. "Juushirou wishes to speak with you—"

"No."

"Minako, he cannot have said anything worse than I have—"

"No," she said forcefully.

"You children try my patience," he muttered, and she sent him a smirk. It was their job—someone had to give him as much trouble as he gave everyone else.

"I don't want to talk to him. I don't even want to see him," she said emphatically.

"You were raised to be gracious when someone comes to apologize, Minako—stop acting like a spoiled child." She frowned, her arms coming up to cross in front of her chest. "You should know he is very persistent—he will not stop until he has spoken to you."

"Maybe I'll choose jail, then," she muttered, and he scoffed.

"Spoiled."

"I thought you didn't want to get involved," she said petulantly.

"I have no choice; whatever the two of you are fighting over has disrupted my life now. The boy is as nervous as a skittish rabbit around me. Tonight is the first he has spoken to me since you were released from the hospital."

"Imagine how much peaceful solitude you'll get from this arrangement! He won't talk to you, I'll be out of your hair somewhere...if you can get someone to knock off taichou, you might be able to get some peace and quiet for once in your unbelievably long life."

"Minako—"

"I refuse." She shook her head, her ponytail flying about her shoulders. "Not just no—hell no."

"You moped about this house as if your favorite pet had died for days, and now—so suddenly—you are angry? You make no sense, gaki."

She scrunched her nose up at him and turned to face the other direction.

She heard him sigh as he got up from her desk chair, his eyes once again closed as he moved to the door. She barely heard him muttering under his breath as he shut the door and left her in peace, but his last word made her sink that much further into the covers, face set into a scowl and her arms wrapped tightly around her.

"I'm not spoiled, I'm pissed," she hissed into the silence of the room.

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A/N: R & R guys!