Bridge ficbit – Orihime 8

~ crossovercreativechaos

“That last is rare. Most spirits have to be born with the ability.”

Given the hints Isshin and Yoruichi had dropped of how few souls were actually born in Soul Society…. “The captains tend to come from the noble clans. People the Chamber of 46 feels it can deal with,” Loki concluded.

“Mostly.”

Loki frowned at him. “There’s something else?”

“There are holes in our history.” Urahara’s gaze turned distant, looking at old memories. “I didn’t realize it until after I shared a few nights drinking with Isshin in this world, but there are mentions of shinketsu in the rules and regulations that don’t make sense. Unless….”

Loki waited.

“Two possible reasons,” Urahara said briskly. “First, avoiding ritual contamination.”

Loki nodded. It was one of the odder things about living in Midgard’s Japan; this idea that anything remotely tied to death might somehow contaminate a person’s honor. Anyone suggesting Odin All-Father might need ritual purification after gathering war-dead before he dared address his own court would have been laughed out of Asgard.

Though Mother has suggested he bathe, first.

“Second, and bear in mind Isshin was very drunk….” Urahara sighed. “Quarantine.”

“What?”

“It doesn’t make sense to me, either.” Urahara tugged down his hat. “I haven’t been able to get any more details out of Isshin. Or Yoruichi. And that bothers me.”

There was something Urahara lacked details on? Loki would have bet his birthright it did far more than bother the exiled shinigami. “So you’re hoping a second pair of ears might hear your answers.”

A flamboyant shrug. “It’s worth a try.”

Which meant there were likely half a dozen other reasons Urahara wanted him to find out. “Why ask me now?” Loki inquired, drawing himself up to his full height. “Why not years ago? Unless – the children seem well-”

“Oh, our Hollow-hunting youngsters are well. All of them. Including a shinigami who’s just gotten back her sword, after more than a month.” Urahara gave him a look askance. “That shouldn’t happen.”

Loki frowned. “You’re worried because Ichigo’s friends are too healthy?”

“Close exposure to high-level shinigami power can injure or kill weaker souls. I’ve seen it myself.” A closed fan appeared from Urahara’s sleeve, waving to emphasize his point. “Exposure to Ichigo seems to be doing exactly the opposite. Why? Is their increase in power as stable as it seems to be? Could it be harmful in the long term, to them or those around them? Would it be, if you hadn’t taught them to take other forms than human? Youkai are neither wholly of the living world nor of Soul Society; is the use of that power protecting Ichigo from an illness we don’t even know exists?” The red fan snapped open. “So many questions.”

“And you haven’t had this much fun in decades,” Loki said dryly.

“Why, Loki-san!” Perfect victory waved in his face. “What a thing to say!”

24 thoughts on “Bridge ficbit – Orihime 8”

  1. And out of all that fun, fun Chekhov gun planting, the line that got me? The one about his Mother(especially contrasted with how he describes Odin).

    Looking interesting.

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  2. Of course, he’s happy. About having such a complex and tangled up mystery and science! to unravel. I do think while he is very twisty, kindness is not his default mode, and needs to the occasional thump to remember what being sensible is, Urahara does, in his own fashion, give a damn about the others.

    Mmm . . . since Shinigami pretty much have to born with the ability to acheive bankai and the powers of the Soul Society – aka the idiots – have been doing their best to make that already rare ability even rarer . . . the bunnies and I just had the distrubing thought that Aizen doesn’t have do a damn thing to destroy the Gotei 13 – the Central 46 and the Nobles are doing it for him. All his actions have done was execlrated the process. Because even under ideal conditions, even Captain-class Shinigami don’t live forever and they aren’t making enough of that caliber of Shinigami to replace them.

    And the though that Byakuya has probably been getting a lot of pressure from the Noble Clan Elders, including his own, to marry again, preferably to someone of “appropriate” station and spiritual power in hopes that he’ll breed more Captain-class Noble Shinigami.

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    1. There’s a fanfic I read where Nanao is reflecting that if Aizen really wanted to take over, all he had to do was slip Yamamoto some poison, and/or wait. Because he was already in the perfect position to be the next Captain-Commander – everyone trusted him. Throwing that away was foolish.

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      1. Aizen may have been on a schedule due to what wiki calls the ‘thousand year blood war arc’. Yamamoto being extraordinarily resistant to murder wouldn’t be surprising. Good luck having a poison that Retsu and Mayuri couldn’t CSI their way through.

        What Aizen wanted to do was replace the Soul King, who is now dead from someone else’s plot.

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      3. That has it’s own series of challenges . . . as mentioned by Satoyama, he primarily wanted to be the Soul King . . . and he could have gotten impatient about waiting . . . or there is something going on. Perhaps not in canon but for Bridges, maybe some of our antagonists should be linked.

        Now I doubt Thanatos and Aizen are working together – both of them are too egologistical for that and Thanatos is guano crazy . . . but maybe there is a link between Aizen and Asgard? Maybe his sword’s illusions and/or delusion-causing leeches that was proposed earlier, are augmented by sorcery?

        Not saying that there has to be a connection but if the Soul Society was having Asgard and it’s big players monitored by people like Yoruichi, then perhaps Asgard was doing something similar. And Odin probably won’t be adverse to an spy / agent deciding to bring the whole thing tumbling down – or that was part of the mission perimeters. And who is to say that while on this long mission said agent decided that those perimeters weren’t enough? Why stop a toppling a kingdom when he could rule it? And then, the universe! Mwa-ha-ha!

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    2. Urahara cares. To quote a Teen Wolf fic, “He’s kind of a sociopath, isn’t he?” “It shouldn’t be as surprising as it is, it’s just easy to forget because he loves *us*.” And, ‘Derek finds it easy to believe that Stiles only cares about a handful of people, because he cares about them to a completely insane extent, and there’s no way he could manage it for a crowd.’ That’s Urahara. Unfortunately for the world, science is one of those people and Urahara does not do so good in denying the science. Its like he gets so caught up in the science he doesn’t really grok the consequences until they’re exploding all over the landscape. One hopes he’s learned something in that regard after the Visored, the ‘helping Aizen’ debacle, and the however-you-spell-it-soul-gem-thingie-of-DOOM!, and also inflicting Ichigo on Soul Society, but he probably did think that last through and laughed the whole time he did it.

      And remember the zanpakuto wandering! That may be why the Academy has the Captains visit and the noble families are so willing to take in even Rokungai trash, because they hope to have compatible/susceptible souls ‘catch’ the ability to achieve bankai. And, going by what we’ve seen, this fic bit, and the absolutely *adorable(sarcasm)* bunnies in my head, Ichigo could be in the process of building a Soul Society Clan, and be another explanation for separating out the Districts, besides classism. If a powerful soul could actually strengthen the souls of those around him, so long as he cares enough or is protective enough. But we know that too much power is inimical to weaker souls. (Could be a case of ‘killing intent’ or it could be the press of foreign power that just doesn’t care. Lovecraftian, in a way.) So, as a way of protecting souls, the Districts were set up to keep the Academy students, presumably not able to control their spiritual pressure enough to keep from either accidentally binding or killing weak souls, away from the general population, and then classism was a knock on effect, with the original reason forgotten.

      We could also postulate that it needs to be compatible power, and that the protection of not being dead/human bodies allows non-compatible souls the time to adapt and overcome, or at least not die. Because we didn’t hear of any humans dying because of spiritual pressure during the Aizen-Karakura battle that I recall. There must be some insulating power inherent in having a body, particularly your own.

      Byakuya being urged to marry again, and to a more appropriate spouse, are depressingly high. However he did manage to get his way the first time around, and he probably was the driving force for adopting Rukia, who is proving to be a very powerful addition, with connections to powerful movers and shakers. Literal and figurative movers and shakers at that.

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      1. Hmm. Most of the humans were moved out of and protected from spirit pressure during that fight, though.

        I wouldn’t call Urahara a sociopath. Just… not very attached to most people!

        *Facepalms* And now my bunnies have an image of Loki proposing to Byakuya that he get to know Yuzu. That should scare off the elders for asking for a marriage….

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      2. It’s also possible that the quarantine is because the souls around the shinketsu are getting stronger. A close-knit group, loyal mostly or only to their own, that is growing in power (at high speed, to boot) is competition to the already established groups around them. People in power rarely take kindly to anything that might destabilize their power base.

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  3. Wait isn’t Thanatos literally in love with Death? IIRC that gives him a big reason to interfere with the shinigami and even a reason to kill the soul king if there are legends of him being married to death (though the last time Death loved someone Thanos cursed him immortality so they couldn’t meet).

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    1. Yes, I do recall Thanos having a romantic thing for the embodiment of Death… But it was for the Marvel’verse’s version of the Grim Reaper. If Soul Society ever blipped on Thanos’ radar, I figure one of two reactions: Destroy it all, or shrug of amusement.

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      1. Personally my favorite incarnation of Death ever was Death of the Endless. Though DEATH of Discworld is also infinitely charming.

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      5. Death had a near Mr. Black encounter. (Make a Wish by Rorschach’s Blot in Fanfiction) One Of the best crack fics I have ever read. It’s hilarious that Harry (Potter) just wanted a vacation and became the bad guys boogeyman.

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  4. A fun question is if in the aftermath of Rukia’s kidnapping, Urahara finds out just why Ichigo and co are developing powers. potential for Bankai etc, will Yamamoto change the laws of Soul Society? I mean it won’t be hard as the 46 are dead and the Gotei 13 are basicily running the place.

    Because sure you might get more Shinigami with captain-potential but The Captain-Commander might not necessary want that. After all, it’s a lot easier to keep order when any trouble-makers can simply be crushed via superior power when it comes down to it. If a whole bunch of Shinigami have bankai and suddenly decide not to follow his commands, they might cause a lot more damage before being put down.

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    2. >OTOH, yes, a bunch taking it into their heads to revolt would be tricky.>
      Particulary when these new whippersnappers with swollen heads (they think that just because they have Bankai they have the right to speak, they aren’t even 500 yet) have the utter gall to go around saying that the traditions and laws that have served Soul Society for thousands of years, might need updating.

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