I can't let anyone interfere

[lawlietschiffer]

Since the day Midgar had fallen, L had been busy.

He'd salvaged everything he could from Shinra's computers, had broken into their security systems, and had quietly and systematically erased all trace of Aizen and the Arrancar, if not outright prevented them being noticed in the first place. Orochimaru's death had been a footnote to his day; he'd barely left the computer except to inform the relevant people.

The following days had been similar. L had slept little, picked over sweets and extremely sweet tea, and divided his time between actually going through all the information he'd taken from Shinra, making arrangements to have someone brought to the Palace, and trying to find out more about the Ryoka and his allies that Grimmjow's party had run into.

The Ryoka were always an anomaly that popped up on his proverbial radars and then dipped under them again with some degree of frequency. He'd mostly heard about Nel's team's encounter from hearsay around the Palace, but he'd looked into it regardless.

From the reports it seemed there was at least one new one among them, but what really had L trying to track them down was the possibility that this one hadn't been encountered before because he was the Ryoka mentioned in Shinra's science and technology division's files. He made a thoughtful noise and bit his thumb as he read over the information about the Ryoka that Shinra had got their hands on. It seemed they hadn't managed to hold onto him for too long, but they'd still managed to gain some potentially useful information.

To hand that information over to Aizen or not, now that was a question. Aizen may want it, and it would certainly be useful for the Arrancar since they kept running into Ryoka, and this one in particular had managed to keep pace with Ulquiorra, who was highly ranked among them, but some bone deep part of L was reluctant to just hand Aizen useful information. It wasn't a question that required an answer now, however; Aizen was still away, and would be for some time yet.

The Berserker and his allies had moved on to Rabanastre, for the time being, but L couldn't be sure if they planned on staying there or moving on once travel got back to normal with the disruption to the airports. He needed to get in touch with his Rabanastre contacts to find out more.

His hand drifted away from his mouth as he reached for the sweets he had on his desk. They were little biscuits, in the shape of animals, and L picked one up and bit its head off without taking his eyes from the screen.

Comments

[shoottokill]

Gin watched L trail after his angered nephew through slitted eyes. He stayed where he was, listening to the beginnings of a conversation he had no hope of understanding. At the first sign of violence he pushed himself off the desk he had been leaning on and turned to face the computer that L had so foolishly left on. He hadn't included this most fortunate of oversights in his plans, but he certainly wasn't going to turn down such an opportunity to investigate.

Computers weren't foreign to Gin, for Gin knew rather a lot about many things that he made no mention of. It made committing crimes like this easier if people didn't think you capable of them due entirely to ineptitude. He dropped all pretence of expression as he sought out files related to the red-haired Ryoka.

Gin quickly established that L had no record of Axel prior to either hearing about the fight from the Arrancar or getting his hands on Shinra's files. Good. He poked about for a little bit longer, looking over files that didn't relate to Axel or the Ryoka directly. Well, information was never to be sniffed at, especially from a source he didn't usually use. Even so, he didn't linger unnecessarily. When he had pushed his luck on timing and gathered all that he needed, and a little more, he closed down L's abandoned computer. He could consider that a favour.

When his work was done and the screen was black, he straightened up and made his way out of the library much more slowly than he made his way in. He looked at the unconscious L and then at Nel, his expression bemused.

"Oh my," was all he said.

[declaregamuza]

Nel was still baffled by what she'd witnessed. It was unusual for Ulquiorra, and L....

They weren't the types to get into a scrap over nothing. Ulquiorra butted heads with plenty of people, he was an arrogant swine when he wanted to be, but never with L.

And Ulquiorra had felt so angry.... And in so much pain.

She knelt down to L, checking his pulse, which was weak, but steady, and then lifted his eyelids. He seemed to be breathing all right, but he was definitely out for the count. Concussion, or something else, she couldn't tell.

When Gin exited the library she looked over at him. "What in the name of all that is holy happened?" She asked him, although it was somewhat rhetorical, because she didn't expect Gin might know any more than she did.

She needed to get L down to the infirmary, too. Szayel was being kept very busy in there at the moment.

[shoottokill]

Gin dragged his slitted eyes from the unconscious lump that was L and shrugged at Nel's not unexpected question. He affected an expression of smiling bemusement, as though he had absolutely no idea what had gone on, or why, without sacrificing his usual mask to do so.

"Must be something in the water," he said, referencing the other instance of subordinate-on-Member discord a scant few weeks earlier. "I did hear whispers of an argument," he admitted, shrugging, "but I couldn't understand a word."

That, with these two, could mean only one thing.

[declaregamuza]

Nel frowned again, half thoughtful, and half worried. "Orochimaru was just a matter of time," she said, quietly, her tone a shade dark. She was half glad Nnoitra had finally had his shot at him, but with the number of times that creepy old man had put the badtouch on an Arrancar and started a fight, one of them taking him out was almost inevitable. "He'd done plenty to deserve it," she said.

"This is a bit more unexpected," she said, after a moment. They'd argued in Rozarrian; she'd heard some of that, and she'd caught what L had asked, and Ulquiorra had replied before he walked away. "I'm not sure I want to know what this was about," she admitted, "because it's going to be Gongaga again."

And Ulquiorra hurting someone over that, leaving L alive with the words 'I'm not like you', really only meant one thing. "Oh, I hope Szayel doesn't work out what's happened."

Szayel would delight in that information, because Ulquiorra was the favourite little bootlick, and he'd done something very, very wrong.

"What will they do to Ulquiorra?" She asked Gin, realising that, much like Nnoitra, he'd just put himself in a very bad position.

[shoottokill]

Gin had given the subject of Ulquiorra's fate only brief consideration. In truth, Gin didn't care much whether the boy lived or died, but he knew that Aizen would be irritated should Ulquiorra have to pay for the crime of attacking a member of Clan Khamja, especially one as useful of L, with his life. Should L say anything concerning Gin's ... involvement in the incident, he could incur Aizen's wrath directly. He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then shrugged. Ulquiorra having attacked L did have one saving grace.

"Likely nothing," he said. "Blood is thicker than water."

It had worked for Ulquiorra in the past, and it had obviously worked for Nnoitra. After what had caused this little disagreement, Gin was fairly confident that L wouldn't do or say anything that would result in anything bad happening to his nephew.

[declaregamuza]

Nel frowned, trying to suppress some dark and slightly mean thoughts that she couldn't help right now. She'd never viewed Ulquiorra as a child, but she'd seen him break over Gongaga before, and it had revealed a vulnerability few had expected.

And Ulquiorra had been stood there, at Aizen's side, while Midgar fell. That, followed by this, and Ulquiorra's inner world could easily be in turmoil. She could only hope he'd be all right, having to contend with a nasty bastard of a Hollow into the bargain.

She picked L up, as gently as she could as she could manage under the circumstances; he hadn't fallen in a good position, but she was pretty sure there were no neck injuries to worry about since she'd seen him standing just before unconsciousness claimed him. It felt like there were broken bones, so it was best to get him checked out before she did anything else.

"I hope that's an opinion they both still share," Nel said, quietly, sparing Gin only a quick glance before she moved off to deliver L to Szayel.