"Blanks. It's a rather unimaginative name but it's basically what those white spirits are." Urahara said as Tessai placed a cup of tea in front of each of us. "Sometimes Konsō does not work properly and the souls do not reach Soul Society. Instead they end up lost in Dangai and then get sucked into the space between the dimensions. This causes them to lose most of their spiritual pressure and become devoid of any memories, losing all of their identity unlike the souls in Rukongai who kept their identity even if they end up forgetting their lives in the living world. They basically become 'blank' spirits if you will."
"So, you're telling me that you Shinigami, whose only reason for existing is to guide the souls to Soul Society, can't even do that properly?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, ignoring the glare being sent my way by Soi Fon.
"Don't be so harsh. Even though it's considered to be the most basic function of a Zanpakuto, Konsō is actually incredibly complex you know. Making a pathway between the living world and Soul Society and send a spirit through that path while also transforming them into a Rukongai denizen, a spirit with no chain of fate, and many other things of various difficulties is done at once. That's Konsō, the fact that it has over a ninety nine percent success rate alone is amazing, especially considering how many Zapakutos there are in existence." Urahara huffed. "And it's not even always us, most souls don't actually need a Shinigami to use Konsō for them to go to Soul Society. It is mostly them that get lost between dimensions and become Blanks."
"All I hear are excuses." I said with a roll of my eyes. "Still, today is not the day for us to discuss the many failings of you Shinigami; we can do that any other time. What we need to focus on is that those Blanks actually tried to attack us. Which I'm guessing is not their usual act."
"No, and the fact that they appeared in a place where only us three and that Bount woman were is even weirder." Yoruichi said as she licked her paw. "Blanks rarely appear in the World of Living and when they do, they appear in heavily populated areas; attracted to masses of memories. Kind of like a reverse vacuum, the empty space moving towards the air instead of the other way around. Except the empty space is Blanks and the air is people with memories."
"Yet they attacked us in a huge swarm. Is there anyone who can control Blanks?"
"None that I know of." Urahara said with a frown as he shut his fan. "In the first place, the Blanks originate from the space between dimensions, it's not exactly the kind of place someone can live in."
"Fine, then how do we get rid of them?"
"Under normal circumstances, the Blanks would be drawn towards Shinenju; an object made out of the gathered memories of Blanks that appear on the World of the Living. Except, as we have already surmised, this situation is anything but normal." Urahara said with a sigh.
"...let's leave the Blanks aside for a moment and focus on our other problem." I said before taking a huge gulp from my tea, gyokuro. "The Bount woman, you have her restrained properly?"
"She won't be waking up till we remove the seals, she's not strong enough to deal with them with her own power." The shopkeeper said with a grin as he flipped his fan open and waved it in front of his face.
"I shall take her with me." Soi Fon suddenly declared. "We will interrogate her in Soul Society and learn what she has to do with Blanks."
"She doesn't have anything to do with them." I said with a roll of my eyes. "She was just as surprised at seeing them as we were, she has no idea what they are. Not to mention if we let you take her then she will just end up on Kurotsuchi's butcher shop and we won't get any information from her."
"So you realized it too." Yoruichi said before Soi Fon could try to rebuke my words. Shame, would have been fun to bully her more. "That there are probably more Bounts around."
"She did look surprised when we said souls, and the way she lured that man into secluded place rather than just hide the body haphazardly like with the ones before? She might be a mosquito, but she is not the mosquito we are looking for." I said with a sigh. Of course I knew that there were already more Bounts but it would have been nicer if we didn't have to deal with them.
"All the more reason for her to be interrogated." Soi Fon insisted and I nodded in agreement, making her eyes widen.
"Yes, she needs to be interrogated. Just not in Soul Society." I said and then held up my hand to stop her from interrupting. "Taking her there loses us time and I still do not trust you people to keep her out of that clown's hands, even after Old Man Genocide put the fear of him in that moron." I said with a chuckle. "Not to mention that if we are right, then she hasn't killed anyone yet. Letting you people kill her over a single attempted murder is too much." Cause that was definitely what they were going to do.
Bounts were the result of an experiment gone horribly wrong. Their mere existence was living proof that Soul Society could make mistakes. The Vizards had faced death penalty for being experimented on, Bounts would have no chance.
Sure, perhaps Genryuusai having the reigns with the Central 46 being dead would mean a more lenient sentence but I was doubtful.
"No, all the answers we need; we can get right now." It was about time I had a talk with the female Bount whose name I still could not remember.
----------
For those who like my stories, please check out my Patreon where one can become a patron and get the right to vote for which of my stories will get a guaranteed update for the next week or even vote for which one of my snippets will become proper stories and now even get to see my Patreon exclusive lewd short stories that will come out at least once a month! Not to mention every patron is a sign of support for my, in my opinion, subpar stories to get better! Also you guys can get to see my new patron only story, Imprisoned.
patreon.com/user?u=25343580