Rukia sat waiting for the assistant to be done pouring the tea. After leaving she waited until the first sip had been taken. "What is a soul smith, headmaster?" The headmaster set down the fragile teacup. "Why are you here Lady Rukia?" She frowned. "I saw Ichigo in full reaper uniform." Yamamoto closed his eyes in thought. "What else?" Rukia shook her head. "You know more than what is being said. Who are the Soul Smiths?" She said it without using his title.
Yamamoto chuckled. "You also are keeping secrets, Lady Rukia." A knock came at the door. His assistant opened it gently. The High King's messenger was bowed in. Rukia became uncomfortable immediately. She did not like the man, yet she got up and bowed to him as did the headmaster. "Your pardon I did not realize you had such lovely company." He smiled. "Are you getting married headmaster?" Rukia's face became a deep red. "I am much too old for Lady Rukia." The messenger coughed embarrassingly. "I merely meant it in jest. Though if I may I would like to ask Lady Kuchiki's advice." Rukia paled.
"Oh, nothing serious my lady. I have my niece and nephew's birthday coming up. I merely thought I would do some local shopping for the gifts, but I know so little of the artisans in the area. Would you help me, my lady?" Rukia blinked and then merely nodded. "But what of your business with the headmaster?" The messenger looked at the headmaster. "It was about the Soul Smith, the order has changed. The High King only wishes to have them captured and researched to assess if they are a threat or not." Yamamoto frowned. The High King was not in the habit of changing his mind. "Why would the High King change his mind on such a serious order?" Yamamoto inquired. The High King closed his eyes and smiled. Because it would get him what he had always desired his own zenpakuto and a Smith for a High Queen. Shauni had always been a beauty, which only left one small problem. Byakuya Kuchiki. The messenger opened his eyes. "He has decided to not waste a very possible powerful ally by making them an enemy. One we would have trouble defeating." Yamamoto nodded. "I shall send the order out immediately. I pray it will not arrive too late."
A servant found Byakuya in the garden. "My lord Captain Zuraki is at our door asking to meet with you privately. Shall I let him into your study?" Byakuya frowned. That insane excuse of a reaper captain had never darkened his door before, what would make the man do so now. "No keep him at the door I will see him there." The servant bowed and went off to do his bidding. He arrived to an agitated captain without his Lt. "We will go to my office." The man frowned. "No." Byakuya frowned back in response, studying the man in front of him. "Then out here is where we will talk." Zuraki narrowed his eyes and nodded. "I met the Smith last night. Can't remember who they were or what they looked like, but I know what I was meant to remember. The high king has nothing to worry about they don't want the throne, he can keep it. They have no intentions of ever coming back. They called the high king grandfather. Do you understand what that
means, we were sent out as the high king's assassins. Not because the Smiths were a threat to our world but to the High King's personal rule." Byakuya studied the reaper. "Why can you not remember who they were or what they looked like but know what they said?" Zuraki frowned. "I don't know. In the morning I was at the table with Steven and Sam passed out and the only thing I could remember of the .... she, it was a woman at least one of them was.... that doesn't matter. I don't like being used as someone's assassin. This isn't like Ichigo's invasion of the Soruti. And I'm the last one to refuse a good fight, but I'm a reaper captain not an assassin. I thought that you should know just who these Soul Smiths are to the High King and the threat they pose to him."
Byakuya was surprised by the man's actual smarts. "I shall look into this and thank you for informing me." After he seen Zuraki out he went to his library. His memory remembered a slight book, worn and aged.
A knock came at the headmaster's door. "Come in."
Byakuya laid the book on the headmaster's desk.
Picking it up Yamamoto paged through it. "It is as I remember it. She said she hid it somewhere she believed it would be safe. How is it you came across it?"
Byakuya frowned. "It was in my library. How did it get into my library? And how do you know of it?" Yamamoto sighed. "The author is the reason I was able to create the Sorute. They believed in the need for it but refused to become a part of it." Byakuya narrowed his eyes. "They are distant descendants of those that survived the demise of the Soul Smiths. But they themselves are not."
"Are not?" Byakuya asked. "The name is known to us as Kurosaki."
Yamamoto chuckled. "You also are keeping secrets, Lady Rukia." A knock came at the door. His assistant opened it gently. The High King's messenger was bowed in. Rukia became uncomfortable immediately. She did not like the man, yet she got up and bowed to him as did the headmaster. "Your pardon I did not realize you had such lovely company." He smiled. "Are you getting married headmaster?" Rukia's face became a deep red. "I am much too old for Lady Rukia." The messenger coughed embarrassingly. "I merely meant it in jest. Though if I may I would like to ask Lady Kuchiki's advice." Rukia paled.
"Oh, nothing serious my lady. I have my niece and nephew's birthday coming up. I merely thought I would do some local shopping for the gifts, but I know so little of the artisans in the area. Would you help me, my lady?" Rukia blinked and then merely nodded. "But what of your business with the headmaster?" The messenger looked at the headmaster. "It was about the Soul Smith, the order has changed. The High King only wishes to have them captured and researched to assess if they are a threat or not." Yamamoto frowned. The High King was not in the habit of changing his mind. "Why would the High King change his mind on such a serious order?" Yamamoto inquired. The High King closed his eyes and smiled. Because it would get him what he had always desired his own zenpakuto and a Smith for a High Queen. Shauni had always been a beauty, which only left one small problem. Byakuya Kuchiki. The messenger opened his eyes. "He has decided to not waste a very possible powerful ally by making them an enemy. One we would have trouble defeating." Yamamoto nodded. "I shall send the order out immediately. I pray it will not arrive too late."
A servant found Byakuya in the garden. "My lord Captain Zuraki is at our door asking to meet with you privately. Shall I let him into your study?" Byakuya frowned. That insane excuse of a reaper captain had never darkened his door before, what would make the man do so now. "No keep him at the door I will see him there." The servant bowed and went off to do his bidding. He arrived to an agitated captain without his Lt. "We will go to my office." The man frowned. "No." Byakuya frowned back in response, studying the man in front of him. "Then out here is where we will talk." Zuraki narrowed his eyes and nodded. "I met the Smith last night. Can't remember who they were or what they looked like, but I know what I was meant to remember. The high king has nothing to worry about they don't want the throne, he can keep it. They have no intentions of ever coming back. They called the high king grandfather. Do you understand what that
means, we were sent out as the high king's assassins. Not because the Smiths were a threat to our world but to the High King's personal rule." Byakuya studied the reaper. "Why can you not remember who they were or what they looked like but know what they said?" Zuraki frowned. "I don't know. In the morning I was at the table with Steven and Sam passed out and the only thing I could remember of the .... she, it was a woman at least one of them was.... that doesn't matter. I don't like being used as someone's assassin. This isn't like Ichigo's invasion of the Soruti. And I'm the last one to refuse a good fight, but I'm a reaper captain not an assassin. I thought that you should know just who these Soul Smiths are to the High King and the threat they pose to him."
Byakuya was surprised by the man's actual smarts. "I shall look into this and thank you for informing me." After he seen Zuraki out he went to his library. His memory remembered a slight book, worn and aged.
A knock came at the headmaster's door. "Come in."
Byakuya laid the book on the headmaster's desk.
Picking it up Yamamoto paged through it. "It is as I remember it. She said she hid it somewhere she believed it would be safe. How is it you came across it?"
Byakuya frowned. "It was in my library. How did it get into my library? And how do you know of it?" Yamamoto sighed. "The author is the reason I was able to create the Sorute. They believed in the need for it but refused to become a part of it." Byakuya narrowed his eyes. "They are distant descendants of those that survived the demise of the Soul Smiths. But they themselves are not."
"Are not?" Byakuya asked. "The name is known to us as Kurosaki."
