Revelation of Deception

It had been three days since Lilith Blake had been handed back the mantle of Captain Commander, and three days since Kaito had been made aware of something important that had been kept from him and her.  He didn’t plan to keep it from her any longer than he had already, though truth be told he wasn’t sure this was the time; she had a lot on her shoulders as it was.  Lilith was a strong woman, but everyone had their weaknesses.  Kaito had resolved himself already though as he strode through the halls of the First Division.  He came to the doors of the office and a heavy, solid knock echoed through the chamber of the Captain Commander’s office.  He poked his head in when he heard an answer from the other side.
“Lilith, you got a bit?  Need your help with something,” he said as he walked in.

Three days and Lilith was still deep in paperwork, so the office was her home for a while. She had visitors every now and then, normally here to congratulate her or ask about certain affairs the Gotei would be dealing with. When the knock echoed in her office, Lilith quickly got up and hurried over, opening the door to see Kaito.
A big smile came on her face, "Finally, someone I actually don't mind seeing!" Her smile dropped some when she noticed his tone. "Yeah, of course. Everything okay?" she said, closing the door behind him. "Check this out." Lilith went and sat on her wheeled desk chair and spun, then slid around the room before stopping back at her desk. "You ever seen one of these? I still used a regular chair back at the Eleventh. Where did J find this kind of thing?"

Kaito gave Lilith an easy smile at her comment, and followed her into the office.  Lilith seemed easily distracted, bored, and overworked in varying measures as she glided across the floor on the rolling chair.
“What is these days?” he asked as an off-handed answer to Lilith’s question and a bit of a deflection.  To her next question though, Kaito chuckled.
“When in doubt, blame your son,” he commented about the chair.  He took a look over the office for a moment.
“You haven’t managed to pry yourself out of here since the meeting, have ya?”

"I'ma ask him to get me a new one." Lilith said, spinning again. The wheels slipped on the tile floor and Lilith went tumbling back. With a quickly placed hand, she caught herself and pushed herself back to her feet without hitting the ground. She nodded, "It's been exhausting. I need something to do that isn't paperwork or listening to the complaints of brats with too much time on their hands... I can't wait until this crazy shit is over."

Kaito nodded along, chuckling when Lilith nearly hit the ground.  As she clarified what the last few days had been like for her he gave another nod.
“Well then, care to accompany me?  I need your take on something just outside the Edge.  Can have the Senkaimon in the Tenth drop us off, so we won’t keep you out for too long,” he offered.  For the conversation he needed to have, some privacy and space from others would likely be for the best.  For everyone involved.

"Hm." Lilith watched him for a few moments, trying to read him. "I can go with you, and yeah, let's take the Senkaimon." She grabbed her Captain's haori, kind of under the assumption that he needed help with something huge, like maybe that dragon Arrancar he told her about.

After a short change of scenery, the two made their way to the Tenth Division and slipped through the Senkaimon.  The endless expanse of the White Desert stretched out from the glowing Crimson Edge.  Kaito waved at some of the guards on the other side and made his way off into the desert a short ways.  Once he judged he’d put enough space to yield them privacy, he came to a stop.  He nodded once to himself and he got himself settled for what was coming.
“Got some news I think you should hear Lilith,” he said, turning back to face her.  While he was usually one with an easy smile, he was stoic and serious now.
“Apparently J. found something of interest when he cracked the Vault open.  A diary of sorts.  From Fuu.  J. wasn’t thinking much, or maybe too much, and handed the thing off to Ryoko.  It had some tough things in there,” he said, obviously skirting whatever it was he was getting to.  He let out a huff of a breath.
“Lilith, Fuu took someone from you.  He took your child from you Lilith.  From us.”

Once the two reached Hueco Mundo, Lilith took in a deep breath as if the air was fresher than the Soul Society. She looked around and saw nothing of interest. 'Must be farther in.' she thought as Kaito stopped. She looked up to the man and raised an eyebrow at his expression. "Why so serious?" she asked with narrowed eyes. He explained and Lilith stared for a solid minute with no change in expression. "One moment." Lilith turned away and summoned four Hell Butterflies. Once they were sent off, she turned back to Kaito, clearing her throat.

With a swift movement, she grabbed her zanpakuto and swung it outwards in the same motion a samurai would swing blood from his blade. In that moment, it shifted into the red spear she was known for. "You've done your research, but you're a fool if you think something like this would work. Kaito would never play such a cruel joke. Though, tell me, Arrancar... How many of those insects did you have to use to take control of someone like him?"

Kaito was not sure exactly how Lilith would react to the news he had delivered.  Anger, disbelief, denial, tears; any of these were potentials.  Given the week they’d all had, all of them was an option as well.  He didn’t press his case or rush her, he gave her the silence she needed.  The White Desert was many things and it lacked even more, but it had silence in spades.  After a minute Lilith asked for one more moment, which got a raised eyebrow from Kaito.  He gave a nod as she turned around, calling forth a small kaleidoscope of Hell Butterflies.  She spoke quiet words, and Kaito turned his attention off out to the Desert.  Quiet or not, this was still technically dangerous territory.  This close to the Edge and his own fortifications though, it would take a very brazen Hollow(or worse) to make a pass at them.  Lilith cleared her throat, and Kaito looked back.

Her reaction was not what he had expected.

Kaito blinked a few times as he put together what he thought Lilith must be thinking.  He got a very confused look on his face for a few moments before he put it together.
“Lilith, I’m not playing a joke.  And I’m not being controlled.  If I was, why would I bring you all the way out here?  I could cause MUCH more damage back in the First Division while trying to take you out,” he said as though one of the single most powerful beings to walk the realms wasn’t pointing a dangerous weapon at him.

"This could be a capture mission, a reason to avoid the Gotei surrounding your strongest asset, or a way to take me out while keeping him under your control, and therefore infiltrate the Gotei without much suspicion." In one hand, Lilith spun the spear, kicking up bits of sand. She continued spinning it and kicking up sand. While she did this, the little bits of rock struck her spear, loading it with energy. She spun the weapon fast enough that the sand created a small cyclone that circled the path of each end of the spear. "So, what's the story? That rat bastard, Endo, somehow stole and killed our child without even being pregnant to begin with? Who the hell would believe that shit?"

“Yes, because these is such a long line of Shinigami that have the possibility of hurting you, let alone taking you out.  However, will we solve such a mystery?” Kaito groused, giving Lilith an annoyed look despite this situation.  He was one of the few Captains that likely knew what Lilith’s zanpaku-tou did and he knew what each tap on that blade meant.  He hadn’t expected this to come to blows...or, well, not in this way at least.  Lilith continued all the same.
“From what the Ryoko said, the journal read that your memory had been ‘sealed’ and anyone else who knew about it had been handled the same way.  The child was sent into the Rukongai; apparently we found the line even that bastard wouldn’t cross.”

Spin, spin, spin... And then the spear came to a stop. There were a few more quiet, contemplative moments there. Every time her mind reached out to grab at anything that could help his story. Her expression followed the line of confusion, curiosity, and anger until she closed her eyes and lightly shook the thought away. "No." she muttered, glaring at him. "Enough of this!" Lilith yelled, enraged. She slid one end of the spear through the sand for a final collection of energy before rushing toward Kaito. She stopped short, swung her spear, aiming to slam it into his side. At the top of her swings arch, she released the collected energy in the form of her own explosion. A wave of force burst outward to bludgeon and push back anything within the next fifty feet, a strangely deep warping sound echoing out as far as the wave went, doing nothing but representing the power behind her swing. "Kaito and I never. had. a. child." she said, angry, but with a hint of something else...

He knew this wasn’t going to go well, but he hadn’t expected it to go quite this far.  As Lilith dragged the spear through the sand and brought it up to him, he shifted his stance.  If it had been just about anyone else, he would have simply let them throw strikes at him until they’d worn themselves out to see reason.  Lilith was one of the few who could throw a strike and make him feel it; he didn’t have that luxury here.  She rushed him, swinging her weapon while she all but spitting out the words.  He pushed himself backwards to avoid the actual strike, crossing his arms and taking the oncoming wave of force; he let himself be carried farther back with the force, planting his feet in the sand.
“That’s what we though Lilith, but instead we had a child stolen from us!” he called back, shaking off the damage as best he could.  He didn’t want to fight her, but if she kept coming at him like this he wasn’t going to have much of a choice.
“Your memories stolen, me either getting the same treatment or just kept out here beyond the Edge long enough to not know any better,” he said, trying for reason once more at the small crack he saw in her anger.

Lilith was ready to raise the spear again. She was ready to attack, to knock him out, and bring him back to the Fourth for examination, but his words kept ringing louder in her head. Her mind kept digging for a memory that wasn't there. She was pregnant? When? When did this happen? Trying to find some evidence in her own history that even a piece of what he said was true only angered her more. She stared in his direction, in seething anger, but she wasn't looking at him. Her gaze shot through him, her concentration years, and years back. "WHEN?" her mind screamed again and again, yet found nothing.
Lilith dropped her spear and brought her hands to her face, one hand digging her nails in, the other gripping her hair desperately, pulling a few strands from her scalp. Her eye unfocused, barely seen through her fingers. "When? I should remember this... How did this happen?" she whispered intensely, tears running freely down her cheeks, "When? I was never pregnant. I was never pregnant. Who did this? Why? Why did this happen?"

Kaito watched, waiting for the next attack to come.  As Lilith stared though he recognized that she wasn’t really watching him.  As her gaze became more unfocused, her grip on her spear loosened until it dropped to the sand at her feet.  Kaito eased slightly, physically anyway, as Lilith began to break down.  After a few moments he began to make his way over towards her, not wanting to rush lest he trigger some kind of fight reflex in her at a sudden appearance.  He came to a stop in front of her as she spoke, mostly to herself.
“I am unclear on the details myself.  Ryoko was...reluctant to let the journal out of her grasp.  Perhaps she will let you see it with your own eyes, however,” Kaito somberly responded to her first questions.

Upon hearing his voice again, Lilith calmed and looked up to him. She stepped away from him, and let herself fall on her ass, a low "woosh" coming from the sand she sat in. She counted on her fingers. "They're an adult. They're not a child at this point. We haven't done... anything in... years, unless those were taken too. You don't know who they are? Or where to look? ...After this long, I doubt they'd even want to meet us..." Lilith held out her hand, the spear slowly moving toward her. Once it was in reach, she grabbed and resealed her shikai. "We had a baby... Psh. Why does every dream I have get taken from me?" Lilith hissed as she stood up and kicked angrily the sand. "Agh! And people wonder why I am so damn clingy to Gen. I will DIE before someone takes him from me, including that little brown-haired pipsqueak that weaseled her way in as his Lieutenant." It was obvious that Lilith was half-joking. She even pushed up a chuckle before sighing. She was trying to lighten the mood after what happened.

When Tsubine received the Hell Butterfly, he was thankfully alone. Because he started sprinting towards a Senkaimon. It took a moment before he realized he could get there much, much quicker with a Garganta. Once again, he set off alarms in the 12th Division as he barreled through the black hole. He emerged behind the two... and he immediately drew his Zanpakutō. Kaito, who had been warned was compromised, had her in one of his patented bear hugs of no escape it seemed. And so, Tsubine charged at Kaito—slashing at his back and bellowing. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!"

Kaito tilted his head slightly as she stepped back, letting he fall to the ground and start talking.
“Definitely an adult by this point.  I am unsure if my own memories have been modified or to what degree.  From what I heard, and little I got to read, they were sent into the Rukongai in the care of one ‘Otaha’ but I’ve got nothing else.  I’ve not had much time to look into this; I only found out two days ago, the day of the last Captain’s meeting,” he supplied.  He let her grouse for a few moments, just looking down at her quietly.  As she winded down he reached out and scooped her up in a tight hug.
“We’ll sort this out, Li-” he started to say, pressing all the reassurance he could into the words when something tickled at his senses.  He was one of the few who knew what the opening of a Garganta felt like, and he felt more than heard the oncoming of something at his back.

A red line of pain traced its way down his back, and his response was more instinct than reason; wound up by his nerves from the last several days and the last several minutes.  He spun, lashing out with a backfist strike as he carried both himself and Lilith with the motion.  It took his brain a moment longer to catch up with both the words and energy that had come with the strike, but by then it was too late; either the strike had connected or it had missed.

Lilith was swooped up into a hug. No matter what, Kaito always helped her feel small and a bit dainty. She rested her head on his shoulder for but a moment when he was cut off. She watched Kaito strike something and a moment later her mind realized whose voice it was. "Ahh, shit. That was Tsubine. Is he dead?"

Tsubine's life flashed before his eyes. He expected to do something to Kaito, but the next thing he knew... he was almost elsewhere. There was a ringing in his ears as his broken nose healed itself with tiny crackles of white lightning. "Fuck, that hurt." He spit out blood as he shakily stood back up. He was not as far away as his spinning vision made him think. "I said to..." Tsubine saw Lilith, staring back with a hand over her mouth in the obvious look of Oof, that hurt. "...are you good now?"

Kaito blinked as the form flew away from them, crashing into the sand a bit away.  There were a few moments of quiet from him as Lilith spoke, and he looked at her then back to the form of Tsubine as he began to stir and get back up.
"Well, he ain't dead," Kaito commented, shooting a look at Lilith as her mind caught up to something.
"Did you call in backup against me?" he asked with a strange mix of mocking and false affrontery.  "I guess I'll take that as a compliment," he said with a small flash of a smile before looking back towards Tsubine.
"I do think there has been a misunderstanding.  Uh...hmm.  Lilith, who all did you call?"

Lilith sighed in relief as she watched Tsubine get back up. She continued her princess hold onto Kaito, kicking her legs like a happy "little" school girl. To be fair, she looked little there... She turned back to Kaito as Tsubine was coming back. "Of course, I did! I can't hurt you!" Lilith said, poking a specific spot on his chest, over where his heart would be, "Or do you not remember? Someone else was gonna have to crack you on the head if you were gonna get knocked out." As Tsubine got closer, Lilith turned back to him. "I'm okay, are you? He popped you one good..." She turned back to Kaito. "Mifune... I sent one to the Fourth and your Division's senkaimon just in case, but otherwise, the only back up I expected were Tsubine and Mifune."

Tsubine didn't sheathe his sword as he slowly walked forward. "I will be in a few hours, but..." He gestured at them fervently. "Can you EXPLAIN why you called me out here just to get punched?!"

"Well, found out we have a baby!"

Kaito went to respond, then Lilith blurted it out.  Well, that at least made things more straightforward if nothing else.
"She had...trouble...believing me at first.  Apparently, she believed I'd instead been taken over by the infestation."

Tsubine looked between the two. "Lilith, you told me you couldn't have children. So I can't blame her for thinking that... but is this like a 'we're having a baby' or a 'there's one nebulously out there' kind of thing? ...Wait, wait wait..." He thumbed back toward the Seireitei. "Ryoko actually told you about that? I was honestly expecting to have to break the news myself."

Kaito blinked once or twice at that.  "Yes, she told me.  When did she tell you?" he asked, partly accusatorily but mostly just confused.

A little angrier... "What he said."

"Lilith, remember when you were in the hospital and Ryoko came to visit you... and she took me aside to talk? Yeah, she told me then. I told her that it was either she tells you or I would. It wasn't my place to say anything... and I think you'd trust me less than you did with Kaito here."

"Oh, I would have killed you. No doubt. You're right. Good call."

Kaito gave a small shrug.  "I feel you would have given him the benefit of the doubt," he said, turning back to Tsubine.
"Well, she seems to have heeded your warning and brought it up to me.  I had to take some time to figure out how to bring it to her, and believed somewhere out of the way would both give some privacy and enough space for her to blow off any steam she had with...minimal structural damage.  Or alarms."

Tsubine had a dubious expression to Kaito's defense on his behalf. "I doubt that."

Kaito looked back to Tsubine.  "While you might have a crass sense of humor at times, I'd believe you'd have some restraint around such a subject.  Enough so that there would need to be some other explanation at least; this doesn't mean she wouldn't beat you within an inch of your life to find out what that explanation was."

Lilith nods. "He's right. I likely would have done something similar. Though, I wouldn't have needed back up with you. I would have just knocked you out myself."

Tsubine just sighed. "So you two are good?" Once he got confirmation, Tsubine opened the garganta. "You owe me, Lilith." He waved as he left through the black void.

Mifune spoke up, having arrived several moments earlier.
"Well, it seems things have quieted down here yes?" He asked.  Once given confirmation, he nodded.  "I will pass that information on then.  Hold up," he said, turning and following Tsubine through the black gate back into Soul Society.

With the back up having left, Lilith takes a deep breath and pats Kaito's hand so he'd let her down. Once she was on her own two feet, turned back to Kaito and hugged him back. Though she wasn't as strong as him, he could tell she was holding on pretty tightly. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

Kaito hugged her back.
“It’s okay.  I understand the absurdity of it all, but I could think of no other way to tell you short of dragging Ryoko to you with the journal.  We will figure this out.”
Kaito gave a small wince.  "Prehaps after I have the Fourth tend to that," he said, referring to the gash along his back.

Lilith chuckled. "Well, at least Tsubine has something to brag about. I can see it now." Lilith clears her throat before going into her impression of Tsubine. "'I bet I've done something you haven't. My blade struck the Tower and made purchase. There aren't many who have joined that club.'"

"Indeed," said, rolling a shoulder as he released Lilith.  "He's got a stronger swing than you'd expect."
Kaito trailed off for a moment before filing away a thought.  He'd bring it up with him later.  For now, he turned his attention back to Lilith.
"I'd suggest maybe getting ahold of Ryoko and trying to get a look at the journal.  It may be tough to read, but it will also likely have any answers you want.  Then...well, maybe we can see if anyone we know can start looking into this apparent memory sealing kidou."

"I don't need to ignite anything there with Ryoko. Knowing the child, she feels horrible enough... Besides... You said Otaha was a part of this... I know exactly where she is, and I'm going to be paying her a visit very, very soon." As Lilith went on, her tone became darker and more threatening.

Kaito raised an eyebrow, giving a nod before offering a word of caution.
"Remember who it was that did this; he may well have turned the kidou on her as well.  It is worth keeping the journal in mind at the very least."

Lilith closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before nodding in agreement. "I'll keep that in mind."