"Agito Diabolos, do you hereby take charge the duty of being the fukutaichou of the Third Company?" I was knelt to the floor, my head bowed in respect.

"I do hereby take charge the duty and responsibility of that which being the fukutaichou of the Third Company will bestow on me. The right of life I shall protect," I stated.

"Rise, Agito Diabolos-fukutaichou of the Third Company. Congratulations." I rose to my feet and walked up to the Soutaichou.

Yamamoto-soutaichou handed me the badge and I received the badge with a bow. It as a small ceremony with no fuss. Ever since eleven high ranking shinigami in various offices up and disappeared from Seireitei, the Gotei Juu-san have been in a scramble to promote the best candidates for replacements.

I had the honor of being placed as a fukutaichou.

I walked outside of the soutaichous office and looked down at the wooden plate. The kanji for three, just three horizontal strokes one above the other, sat above the imprint of the marigold right below it. Marigold ... the symbol of grievance. A rather dark symbol.

The Third Company was renown throughout Seireitei as one of the Companies never to spar against. We weren't trained for assassination like the Second Company, executions like Eighth, or even have a lust for constant battle like the Eleventh. Our curse was to be known as 'The End' Company. Because whenever we spar, it's always in a ruthless way that begged no mercy.

I loved it.

But with my promotion came darker thoughts than marigolds. Ever since that night where Aizen Sosuke proved himself to be a power hungry lunatic, Rue and Tristan hasn't spoken a word about what happened. I haven't either, but I would have expected them to seek comfort. A shared traume usually brings people closer together. I have never seen it silence them.

Beside's that, Aizen has been keeping his distance but I'm patiently awaiting the moment where I can run him through with Michael and end this once and for all.

"Lady." I stopped my walking and turned around. Tristan stood as emotionless as he's always been but the difference between now and two months ago when he was used as a hostage was striking. Now, the boy looked like a freshly killed zombie.

"Tristan," I greeted, "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer me. He just stood there as silent as a scarecrow.

"Come," I said, giving him permission to shadow me and he did. We went the the Third Company Head Quarters. With the new fukutaichou badge strapped to my arm, the officers who actually witnessed my arrival scurried away to gossip with others. I walked into the Third Company office and bowed respectfully at the old woman taichou, seated at her desk reading through papers.

Shuzuki Kubo-taichou was Roujuurou Outoribashi-taichou's old superior when he was a fukutaichou. She retired peacefully but when the hollowfication incident happened, she was brought back as a temporary taichou. Roujuurou-taichou was indefinitely missing and with five other Companies in need of taichous, it was apparent that new taichous would come out of the woodwork.

Like me. I was the Third Seat of First Company and now I was misplaced into fukutaichou of the Third Company. Now, I was to be trained by the previously retired taichou of the Third Company so that when I'm ready, I will take over all taichou duties.

"Agito Diabolos reporting for duty."

"You're the new fukutaichou?" she asked while standing to her feet. The woman, though elderly, was absolutely a taichou. The way she stood, shoulders back, spine straight, chin up so that she always seemed to look down on everyone just immolated her own status. She had pitch black hair brought up to a glamorous top bun with an elegant white and pale pink kanzashi hair ornament keeping it all together. You can tell her age by the obvious wrinkles in her skin and white strands of hair from her temples but retirement didn't do much to tame to authority she radiated like divine right.

"Yes, Ma'am." She circled around me. I knew when I was being measured.

"Clearly, we have much work to do," she said scowling at my recent haircut, a slicked-back mohawk. My sides were shaved hella close to the skin and compared to her elegance, I must look like a delinquent. "And who is this?"

I turned to look back at Tristan, still hovering at the door.

"Tristan. He is my protege and is a member of the First Company. He will only come on set times and dates that I give for training purposes only." She nodded her head before pointing to a desk with piles of paperwork.

"You can get started on that. Send the boy away. You won't be moving from your chair until every piece of paperwork is filled out and filed." Tristan immediately left to return to his Shinigami duties. I sat at the desk and started to work.

The responsibilities of the fukutaichou is to do the work the taichou shouldn't be worried about. Work such as making sure that all members of the Company are in tip-top shape and are the best they can be. All reports and complaint of people within the Company are to be reported to me and I deal out the punishment for any members that tarnish their title as Shinigami, such as committing a crime. I also have to conduct different training regiments and make sure that each squad is fully prepared for any and all orders given by either the taichou or the soutaichou.

As I worked, the only sound in the room was of papers turning, paint brushes gliding across the papers and the stamping of sheets. It wasn't uncomfortable and I would admit that I enjoyed the silence while it lasted. But silence is golden and this world is broke.

"Aizen-taichou, I believe that you never informed me beforehand that you'll be gracing the Third Company with your presence," stated Kubo-taichou. It was a complete surprise to me that he would appear here, now, in front of my taichou especially with that creepy smile on his face. But he was smart. I can't murder him in front of my new taichou without questions.

And yes, he was made into a taichou of the Fifth Company. Ever since his own taichou, Shinji Hirako, became missing after undergoing hollowfication, the old fukutaichou immediately put himself as the shining model of taichou as a replacement. Yamamoto-soutaichou had to be blind not to do so.

But I knew who he truly was. Evil.

"Forgive my intrusion but I want to speak to your fukutaichou for a moment," Aizen requested politely.

Her frown, her natural expression, soured but she still waved a dismissive hand.

"Don't keep her too long," she said, "There's too much backlog to slag around."

"Excuse me, Kubo-taichou," I said before leaving the office, putting a hand on the hilt of my zanpakuto just in case the opportunity to kill Sosuke Aizen presents itself. Just outside the office, in full view of the grounds and everyone passing by, Aizen presented me to someone.

A young boy. Well, young compared to me. I might look to be in my late teens but this boy looked to be smack in the middle of it. He was grinning wide, eyes closed and relaxed and it reminded me of those old stories of kitsunes.

"Hiya!" He greeted, a slight accent in his voice.

"Agito, this is Gin Ichimaru. He will be your new protege."

"He will, will he," I snap, not likely the fact that he's giving me orders when I want to gut him from his asshole up to his clavicle, dig my hands through his guts, grasp his still beating heart and eat of it.

"Yes," he said voice firm and ice cold, "He will." I couldn't fight this. The lives of two people I most loved were on the line and I can't toe the line. I looked back at this Gin Ichimaru, grin still in place and looking as though the world was at rights when clearly the show before him was not.

"Do you have shikai, boy?"

"Hai! First thing I learned in the Academy."

"You've been training your shikai for six years?" I asked.

"Agito, Ichimaru-kun is a genius. He graduated the Academy in a year," Aizen said with clear pride in his voice. Why? Why was he prideful?

"Barely a year then..." I mused. If I had to train the boy, formally take him under my wing, then clearly I had the best student to do so. Aizen had clearly chosen well but this could also be a trap.

"Nee, sensei, when're we meetin' up?"

"What Company are you sworn under now?" I asked.

"Fifth Company with Aizen-taichou." Shit, this isn't a trap. It's a test. If I spitefully fail the boy just to get back at him, he would know immediately and correct my errors.

"I train my other student three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You? I will train Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I will still be acting as a Substitute Sensei for the rest of Gotei Juu-san so you will never be bored with finding sparring partners. I expect you to practice jinzen everyday.

"I'm not going to hold your hand. I refuse to make an exact copy of my own zanjutsu style within you. I expect you to further educate yourself in all forms of combat, find a few specialties and completely master them. My training will only act as a guide. You have all the power necessary to grow on your own. You're dismissed until tomorrow morning at dawn."

I don't know how it was possible but his grin seemed to grow even wider with delight.

"Hai, Diabolos-sensie ma'am!" he saluted before bowing his head and fleeing.

I turned back to Aizen with a nasty expression on my face.

"Don't get used to ordering me around, Aizen," I growled, "Take one misstep and I'll make sure it'll be your last."

"You should be used to orders," Aizen said and his snide comment was so smooth it took me a while to understand exactly how underhanded his snark was, "All you need to learn now is to obey."

I might have known how truly backstabbing that remark was but I had the instinct enough to bare my teeth and storm away, my fingers itching to draw my blade and use it to butcher him. I went back to the taichous office, barely stopping myself from slamming the shoji doors.

"What a frightful expression on your face," Kubo-taichou said, "Get rid of it."

"Sorry," I said while trying my best to wipe away all expression on my face. I didn't want my new taichou to believe I was so crass as to let my anger control me and I didn't want personal matters to upset my professionalism.

"What's got you so irritated?" she asked, standing to her feet and making her way over to my little desk in which I sat.

"Nothing, taichou," I said.

"Is that so?" Suddenly, there's a sheathed zanpakuto under my chin and I freeze.

A taichou level shinigami has her sheathed zanpakuto under my chin. What the hell was I to do other than freeze? Did she not like me? Did I do something wrong?

"You're good," she said, "Controlling your anger and facial expressions to complete blankness. A good foundation for sure. But incomplete."

"Wha-" She tapped my chin up before swinging her zanpakuto to push my shoulders forward.

"Sit up completely straight. Shoulders back but set. Do not elongate your neck, it'll give you elegance but for a person like yourself, you need power."

"Kubo-taichou?" I glanced over at her, unsure what the hell my new taichou was saying.

She was smiling sadistically, like Yamamoto-soutaichou when he's about to teach me something extremely unpleasant.

"Finally," she said, "A student I can teach structure.

"You are grasping for control and have been taught by both the Head of the Kuchiki Noble House and Yamamoto-soutaichou. I've read your file and while both are excellent teachers, they would never be able to teach you the real lessons."

"Real lessons?" I asked cause curiosity was eating me.

"They are men. Men are born into their entitlement. They believe the whole world is theirs. Them teaching you how to control your spirit is like a lion teaching a wolf how to howl. But don't worry, I will correct that."

"You think you're a wolf?" I asked. Not because I didn't believe her but because she seemed to believe we were equals in terms of power and character.

"No," she said, "We're women.

"Men teaching women how to control themselves, HA! It was we women who taught them that. You will do better training under a different sensei."

"You."

"Me," she agreed, "I already see the fire within you. The refined control Kuchiki and Yamamoto tried to train in you. Bu it's wrong. They tried to make you into a porcelain sculpture. Refined, beautiful, but decorative." She stepped closer and took my chin in her hand, jerking my head around to look up at her steel grey eyes.

"I will teach you true nobility, Diabolos. If you agree, I will teach you how to be the most feared woman in the world and you wouldn't have to say a word."

Oh, now I understand.

Kubo-taichou is nobility. She was probably trained in painstaking details how to be a Lady. She lives and breathes absolute control and power. Since she's already teaching me how to be a taichou, she'd might as well teach the rest. How to be a taichou without a word. How to command without a title.

"Hai, Kibo-sensei," I agreed and she dropped my chin, her smile turning pleased.

"Good. We can immediately begin. Sit up straight, pull your seat up to your desk, it's disgraceful to even lean over your work. Are you working or is the paper working you? Elegant, graceful women will slope their shoulders to look like swans. You will do no such thing. Square those shoulders out, you are not a princess, you're in the military. Droop your head a little bit back, chin up. Look at everything with disdain. Make everyone work for your approval.

"We will work on your calligraphy later. You will master the Tea Ceremony. I will be inviting you to every Noble event I go to and I expect you to study the body language of other Nobles as well as the sharpening of wit. I will not leave the Third Company until you have sharpened your tongue into a masterful blade, until you emmulate nobility with every breath you take, until you know without a shadow of a doubt that you will always be better than whoever you meet.

"Now tell me, have you started your bankai training yet?" she asked.

She's been talking so fast that I wanted to bring out a separate sheet of paper to write notes. Her question threw me off because now she wanted me to answer.

"I haven't."

"Start now. The faster you gain bankai, the more time you have to master it. It is not expected of you to fully master bankai before you become a taichou but since you're a Rukongai street rat with a few lady parts, you will have to work twice as much to go just as far as everyone else. The world is sexist. You better learn how to kill the world before it kill you."

I couldn't stop my fingers from clenching because ... bankai. I have to gain bankai.

I thought I had years ... not months. And now that I'm here, not six months away from the last who questioned my bankai, I can only think that maybe Aizen planned this. I can't figure out why and maybe it's my paranoia speaking but ... I was afraid.

I was very afraid.

"What's wrong?" asked Kubo-taichou.

"Nothing."

"Lie better next time. You're pale. Tell me what's wrong."

"I just-" I didn't have a lie in time so I told her the truth, "I'm afraid to gain bankai."

Kubo-taichou gave me such a look. It was so unimpressed that it was a near art form. So full of disappointment that I couldn't stop the furl of shame that sprang up in my stomach.

"Afraid?" she questioned, "There is never a good excuse to be afraid when there is something in need of being done. Do what is needed. Fear is a useless emotion. Get over it and do what needs to be done. The world will not wait for you to grow a pair of balls."

It was, by far, the rudest wake up call I've ever received. But already I could sense my courage slowly igniting. Yes, I am afraid now. But I need to do something and I will.

...

The next morning in the field I've chosen to train all of my students, I glanced over them and announced, "Today will be the first day of my entire teaching career that I will allow you to have a free day."

"Yes! Yahoo!" cried out a unseated Sixth Company member who had rather lackluster motivation.

"But I do expect you to practice jinzen with me for a full hour as we normally do. After the hour is completed, you may do whatever. You can leave. Or you can stay around and spar. Train with each other. I will not be available to answer any questions."

"What will you be doing, Diabolos-sensei?" asked a rather inquisitive Tenth Company member.

"I will be in jinzen for a full four hours. Longer if I cannot be awakened after the four hours has passed."

"Four hours?!" My three temporary students cried out. I turned to look at my two permanent students. Tristan was already sitting down and practicing jinzen. Just the other day he caught a glimpse of his zanpakuto spirit and though he didn't see the other, the other spoke in its hiding place. Gin ... his eyes were slightly opened and his grin wasn't so wide.

"Are you seeking bankai, Diabolos-sensei?" he asked because he's a genius and I hated him a little bit because soon Aizen will know.

"Yes," I said to everyone, "I will be laboring towards bankai. Today will be marked as my first day. I expect that only today will I need some overdue time with my zanpakuto spirit but as for tomorrow and the rest of the week, I won't be slack in your training."

"I'm leaving after this!" cried out the lackluster Sixth member.

"You can stay," I said, "-and train yourself with your peers."

"...That was more of an order than a suggestion, wasn't it."

"I have no clue what you're talking about. But let's all start with jinzen." I sat down on the damp grass and not really caring about if my students were following my instructions are not, I closed my eyes and fell backwards into the deep.

I breathed in and out.

Inhale.

Exhale.

My heart beating-

Ba-thump

Ba-thump

Tingling in my fingers.

What's my heart rate per minute?

One ... Two ... Three ... Four ...

Inhale.

Exhale.

Do you smell something burning?

~~~