All right, a new story. This will be a fighty, destroy-the-soul-society fic, and I'll try to fit in some pairings as well. Right now, I'm not sure where it is going, but oh, well...

Disclaimer: I ownzor not the m4ng4/4n1m3 B1each, Tite Kubo does.

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Somewhere in the soul society, the dreamer weaves his weave. With great skill, he twists and turns, a genius at work. They all dance to his tune; he plays them all for fools. He means to show them all that danger, sorrow, despair, chaos… all these things are nowhere near as far away as they think. Though well nigh two decades has passed, the legacy of the great deceiver remains, in his shape and form. He does what his predecessor never did, he rules where he could not. But the dreamer, too, is played the fool, for little does he realize just how much devastation his machinations shall bring upon his kind. For now, he lays still and… dreams.

A full seventeen years had passed since the apocalyptic events of the final battle against Aizen. It was a legendary tale, now, embroidered and added to by the rank-and-file soldiers of the new generation who would tell it, but there were several solid facts no-one got away from. The battle had consumed a majority of all the arrancar Aizen had created, though not all had died- some fled; others had remained in Las Noches. In the end, the arrancar had all learned the hard way what comes of serving a man so consumed by his own ambition as Aizen, as they all had been left behind whilst he, Gin and Tosen opened the gate to the kings palace.

It had turned out that the king's key could be manufactured in more than one way, and Aizen already had forged it when the battle began- how, no one was sure, but Urahara later theorized that he had been gathering human souls for decades before his treachery, and finally had harvested them in the last week before the final battle.

Yes, it had been bloody and brutal, with great losses for both sides. The captains Komamura and Hitsugaya had laid down their lives that day, Komamura dying in an attempt to stop Aizen, and Hitsugaya being rendered comatose to this very day by Halibel.

The army of numeros, including their commander Barragan, had been destroyed that day.

Yamamoto Shigekuni-Genryuusai had been defeated for the first time in his life, left for dead by Aizen.

For all his efforts, however, Aizen would not have succeeded in going as far as he did were it not for the intervention of the vindictive vizards. They had struck, slaying scores of shinigami, and had aided in the massacre of the royal guard that protected the king.

Somewhere at that point, though, Aizen had failed and died, a few feet short of his goal. Few knew how, or what had happened, only that the substitute shinigami (or as he was known these days, Kurosaki-taicho) had something to do with it.

The signs of devastation were evident even almost two decades later, the gotei juusantai still recovering. The arrancar, as well as the vizards seemed to have vanished off the face of existence, barely ever showing themselves.

It was in this reality that the Kyuubantai taicho, Abarai Renji, walked towards the fifth division. Though he had worn a captain's robes for almost a decade, he still felt uncomfortable in them, as if he was not fit to wear them- in more than one sense. What else, wherever he went he would be stared at with awe and reverence, and in some cases pure hero worship. He was not the only one suffering from this problem- anyone who could boast 'I was there that day' was immediately put on a pedestal of admiration. Captains and vice-captains had always been admired, but those who had fought in the war were admired beyond sensible limits. As he passed one of the streets, he saw fifth seat Hanataro sweeping the street- or rather, he was trying to, but half a dozen fresh-out-of-the-academy girls were swarming around him, swooning and flirting shamelessly. Renji smiled to himself. Hanataro had it easier and harder at the same time. Easier because fifth seats needed do less work than the other 'veterans' who were now mostly captains or vice-captains, harder because fifth seats (especially timid ones) were more accessible than captains. A captain was oft so well respected that rank and file soldiers would hesitate to address them, but fifth seats? Not so much. Not that having girls throw themselves at you could be a disadvantage, Renji figured.

He shrugged, and walked on towards the fifth division.

Finally there, he had to take a detour just to get to Icigo's office. All the other captains had their offices located I roughly the same place- all divisions had the same architecture, if you could find your way in one division you could find your way in the lot of them- but trust Captain Loose Cannon to put his office at the most inconvenient place possible. Hell, even Kenpachi was easy to find.

Finally, he came upon a small room, where Momo sat, doing paper work.

"Yo." He said, greeting her unceremoniously. "Is Ichigo in?"

Momo gave a yelp, jumping a little at the sound of his voice. Apparently, she had been so absorbed by her work, she hadn't noticed him.

"A-abarai-taicho. I didn't notice you, you startled me."

"That's Renji to you" he shot back. "It's bad enough that everyone below fifth seat can't look at me without their jaws dropping, do you have to be formal too?"

"Sorry." She said. "But you are a captain. Shouldn't I address you properly?"

"Momo, the next time you call me 'Abarai-taicho', I won't answer. Now, is Ichigo in?"

"Yes, but he is doing paperwork-"

"He never does paperwork. He's worse than Kyoraku-taicho." Renji said, kicking open the door to Kurosaki Ichigo, Gobantai taicho's office.

Ignoring Momo's protests, he walked in.

"What do you want, Renji?" Ichigo said, sounding slightly annoyed. He had been napping, since doing no work at all can be really exhausting.

"You got mail." Renji said, producing a letter from his shihakusho.

"Yeah? If they need a captain to deliver it personally, it must be important."

"Naah. Truth be told, I was getting bored beating my subordinates around in the sparring ring, and paperwork sucks, so I decided to take a walk. And then, Ukitake-taicho asked me to give you this. It's a news bulletin, and a few personal messages. Want me to read it to you?"

"Would you?" Ichigo said, pointing at his eyes, covered by a strip of white cloth.

"I wonder" Renji said. "Do you ever regret gouging your own eyes out? Being blind can't be much fun."

"True." Ichigo returned. "But it's not all bad. Out of necessity, my reiatsu sensing skills have become extremely sharp. I'll never be able to enjoy a piece of art, though." He said the last part with a little sadness.

"Well," Renji said, feeling it best not to dwell on that issue "the news is more or less the same as always- new recruits, a few arrancar sightings that can't be confirmed, et cetera, so on and so forth. There is one thing, though. There is a captains meeting in two hours, presence mandatory."

"I imagine the last part about presence is directed at Rangiku. Her attendance is horrible." Ichigo said with a snicker. "What else?"

"A personal note from Ukitake. Since you are infamous for your horrible administrative skills, he wants to send a few archivist specialists to help organize the horrible mess that is your division."

"Hey!" Ichigo growled. "I'm not that bad."

"Yeah, you are. And what's worse, because you won't do your workload as you should, Momo strains herself."

Looking a little guilty, Ichigo muttered something about being blind and not being able to do paperwork properly.

"Don't even try to blame your blindness" Renji scolded. "Tosen may have been a traitor, but he ran his division smoothly, and he was as blind as a mole."

Before the conversation could steer towards becoming an argument, a black globe on Ichigo's desk began to glow, and a loud voice declared:

"Six Adjuchas sighted in the rukongai, district eight, positions 39-4, 38-4, 37-4. I repeat…" the voice proceeded to repeat several times over the same message.

"We are the closest." Ichigo said, grinning. "Wanna go kill some hollows?"

"We-ell, I should be getting back to ninth to whip the recruits in shape and do mounds of boring paperwork..." Renji said, tapping his chin. "Besides, there are plenty of tings you could do rather than fight. It's that gung-ho attitude of yours that has your division in trouble, y'know."

"Oh, quit pretending. Swinging a sword feels way better than sitting on your ass."

"Yeah, who am I kidding?" Renji said, his face splitting into a big grin. "That was actually hard to say with a straight face."

The two of them took off, flashing towards their destination. They were in for a surprise, though- the report had said six, when there had to be over twenty. Not that either of them were discouraged, they were captains facing mere hollows after all. Problem was, the lot of them were fast, and they didn't know when to quit. Ichigo had already donned his hollow mask. In the end, after a half an hour or so, the two of them were slightly bloodied. As Renji brought Zabimaru down on the last one, they walked towards a rock, and sat down, panting. Ichigo took off his mask, leaving it to rest higher up on his head.

"Why do you like to use that mask so much?" Renji asked. "It's not like you need it to slice through a few menos."

"True. But I think I told you why just the other week?"

"The hell you did. You are always so secretive about them hollow powers, anyway. You hardly tell anyone about 'em."

"I did too tell you the other week."

"No."

"Whatever. Since you appear to have gone senile, I'll tell you again: I'm blind, remember?"

"Duh."

"When I use the mask… I can see. A hollows distorted view, but I can see. That is why I have worked so hard on mastering my vizards skills. For vision. And as a side effect, firing off a cero is a piece of cake."

"Oh." Renji stayed quiet for a minute, then spoke again. "Hey, Ichigo?"

"What?"

"Why did you give up your life to be a captain? You had a whole life in the world of the living. Right now, you could have had a wife, kids, a job…"

"You ask a lot of questions today, Renji." For a moment, Renji thought he had gone too far, but then Ichigo continued. "I was needed here. Things were falling apart, seireitei needed captains. Besides, it's not like I don't visit my friends back there. As for the wife part… I lost all interest in that for a long time after Orihime died."

Yes. She had died. He had fought and defeated Ulquiorra, cast him down and killed him, but not before he had sunk his blade into Orihime's heart.

The two of them stayed silent for a while, remembering times past, dead comrades, until Renji realized they would have to get going if they were to make it in time to the meeting.

Rangiku was all too pleased to notice that not only was she on time, she had over two minutes to spare. She felt positively filled with glee when she noticed that both Renji and Ichigo were running late. When people always criticized you (though subtly) for being late, it was hard not to indulge in a little schadenfreude when it happened to someone else.

What really bothered her about the trouble she got for her infamous habit of being late was not the criticizing stare of her peers as much as the reputation she had about her since her days as a vice-captain; easygoing Rangiku, lazy Rangiku, drunkard Rangiku…

Well, it was captain Rangiku to them all, now. She had earned her position a decade or so after Hitsugaya's 'demise'. And now, she had to deal with people who couldn't see that running a division without a vice-captain, visiting your friend and captain in the hospital and training yourself whenever you had time to spare often led to an extremely busy day- it was a wonder she made as good time as se usually did.

Finally, captains nine and five arrived, with one second to spare. The both of them looked a little worse for wear, with small wounds here and there, and slightly torn clothes. In contrast to their appearance, the two looked rather happy. Inwardly, she sighed. The two of them had probably been sparring again, with real swords, and had taken it too far. It was strange how funny men thought it was to harm each other, she thought.

"You are just in time." The sotaicho spoke. "I was afraid we would have to wait for you. Looking at you now, I wonder if we won't have to after all. Do you need medical attention before we begin?"

"Sir, no sir!" the both of them said in unison.

Rangiku resisted the urge to snicker. The two of them would have to sit through a long, dull meeting with those wounds. Served them right for losing track of time.

"Very well, then. Let us begin the meeting. Are all divisions present?"

"Third and seventh are unrepresented, Yamamoto-sama." Soifon said. "Their vice-captains are far too busy working to attend."

"And Ukitake-taicho is sick again." Unohana added.

"I see. Soifon-taicho, see to it that all divisions without representation are briefed as soon s this meeting is concluded."

"Now" he continued, not pausing to wait for an answer, "to the matter which I summoned you all for. As you may or may not know," He cast a glance in Ichigo's direction "the central forty-six has been completely filled again. Up until now, my influence has been greatly increased, as something akin to martial law- my law- has been the highest executive power.

I am naught but pleased to once more accept the decisions of the eldest and wisest of souls."

He made a slight pause, letting them process information. Shunsui, Unohana and Soifon were unfazed, the rest looked rather puzzled. Most of all Ichigo, whose grasp of politics was poor, to say the least.

"Their first decision, which I support whole-heartedly, is one to ensure the Aizen incident is never repeated."

Oh, so it was an incident now? Ichigo mused. That would be the understatement of the century.

"The decision of the central forty-six goes as follows" the sotaicho continued "a new force will be founded, its members drawn from neutral, unbiased sources. Their purpose will be to maintain a never-ending watch on all seated officers, particularly those of 5th seat and upwards. All captains and vice-captains will be watched over at all times, to make sure that law is enforced at any and all times. The members of this new corps will not be subject to any authority save that of the central forty-six. For the purpose of co-operation with captains, official officers will be instated. Otherwise, the identity of the officers will remain a secret.

This new corps shall carry the name Surveillance and Law Enforcement Corps. Furthermore, all captains and vice-captains will be required to wear medallions such as these" he gestured to a set of medallions lying on a table next to him. "at all times. They contain a reiatsu reader and tracker. Removing a medallion without a clear permit from an officer of the SLE corps is equivalent to treason."

When he once more became silent, there was more than one murmur of protest.

"What'll happen if we refuse?" Kenpachi asked.

"The Secret Mobile Corps will hunt you down and execute you on the same grounds as that of a traitor." Yamamoto replied.

"This is outrageous." Kuchiki Byakuya, this time. "This shows complete distrust in us from their side. In the name of the Kuchiki, and the sixth division, I protest."

"Duly noted." Yamamoto replied.

"Yamamoto-sama." Soifon spoke this time, surprising them all. When it came to dog-like loyalty, not even the late Komamura had her beat. (A/N: No pun intended.)

"I feel this is an intrusion on my duties. Finding, reporting and killing possible traitors and deviants has ever been the job of the SMC."

"No one is stopping you from doing your job, commander." The sotaicho replied, stern as ever. "The new force will simply be given a greater amount of resources, specialized towards eradicating treacherous behaviour."

"Don't you think this is a little much, Yama-jii?" Shunsui said. "I get the idea, but each of us is being treated like a possible traitor. Do we really need to be so suspicious?"

"I shall have no further protesting!" Yamamoto said firmly. "This is the decision of the central forty-six, and it is final. Before the sun sets, you must all wear those medallions. Dismissed."

It was with a general feeling of unease that the captains left the meeting. The idea of their every move monitored and observed appealed to no-one.

"This is bullshit." Ichigo said, as he and Renji walked towards their respective divisions.

"Meh. People watch us wherever we go already. How's this so different? Besides, it's for a good purpose, right?" Renji replied.

"I'm not that comfortable with my privacy invaded." Ichigo argued. "They said at all times, and when old Yama says something, he usually means it."

"Hey, so long as those new force members doesn't interfere with my work, it's fine, I guess. I got nothin' to hide."

"Untrue." Ichigo said. "Everyone's got something to hide, small or large. That's the beauty of privacy. Besides, I don't like the feel of these medallions. I have a good mind to take a trip to the real world and have Kisuke take a look at it."

"Well, whatever." Renji said, seeming much less disturbed by the whole thing than Ichigo. "See ya. I'ma go beat the shit out of some more recruits now, that never gets old."

Ichigo smiled at that. Ninth or not, Renji still was an eleventh at heart.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri was quite busy. The design for the medallions he and Nemu had to wear was familiar, yet utterly alien. If anyone thought he would not dissect and analyze them, they were sorely mistaken.

"Odd." He murmured to himself. "No, very odd. Nemu, get over here!"

Suddenly, a dozen figures wearing gray robes appeared around him.

One of them, apparently their leader, pointed their finger at him, and said:

"Treason."

Aaaand end chapter. If anybody reads this, please review.