Tessai set aside the last dish he needed to wash and sighed at the sound of raised voices coming from the spare bedroom; he’d warned Kisuke that Griffin wouldn’t take his abduction well, no matter how polite they were to him. And then he’d seen the morning newspaper and he’d known things were going to turn rough.

They’d gotten a known hero declared a traitor and destroyed the man’s support base with a single, unthinking act, forcing the man into the unenviable position of either allying with the enemy or striking out alone. Only the staunchest of allies tended to stick around once Aizen made up his mind to slander someone, and there was little evidence that Griffin had allies like that.

(It certainly didn’t bode well for their future interactions with him…)

(Who would trust or work with the cause of their disgrace, anyway?)

He dried off his hands and made his way to the guest room, sliding open the door a few finger-widths to better hear what was going on inside. Kisuke could take care of himself but… he’d rather prevent a fight from breaking out if at all possible.

“—situation you were sending your subordinate into?” Griffin was saying, voice sharp.

“No!”

“Reports indicate you were worried from the beginning,” Griffin plowed on, not letting Kisuke say more than a single denial. “Did you have a premonition, a hunch, or any indication of the exact danger at hand?”

“No! Something just felt wrong about the whole thing!”

“‘Felt wrong’ how?” Griffin snapped, voice accompanied by the soft susuration of feathers against feathers. “If you are attempting to twist my questions—”

“I’m not. There was something strange about the whole affair from the beginning. Heroes just vanishing? Leaving behind nothing but a strange mix of their hero and civilian outfits? I didn’t… I didn’t know what was happening, but the chance that it was a targeted attack against heroes was too high for me to simply ignore!”

“And you did not bring it to Intelligence’s attention because…?”

“I didn’t know who to trust, okay?!”

Tessai frowned and slid the door open a bit more, peering into the room; Kisuke never willingly spoke of the night that changed everything for them, so why—

Griffin’s eyes darted to him as soon as Tessai moved, bright golden and glowing with power, sharp as a predator on the hunt and just as ruthless. The shock of it pinned him in place and froze his tongue despite the tiny voice in his head urging him to offer an excuse, a reason, something to avoid pissing the hero off any further than Kisuke already had.

(Instincts were very annoying.)

“Tessai Tsukabishi, one of your close friends who assisted your escape,” Griffin recited as his gaze slid back to Kisuke. “Somehow, I’m not surprised the two of you remained together. Should I be expecting the exiled Shihoin heir to appear next?”

“There’s safety in numbers,” Kisuke said pointedly, leaning forward a bit and gesturing with one hand as his tails swished lazily across the floor. “If we work together—”

“If nothing,” Griffin cut Kisuke off before the man could make his offer. “Do you understand what you have done by abducting me the way you have? No. Don’t answer that. I don’t want to hear any more of your false truths.”

‘False truths?’ Tessai wondered as he watched Griffin rise to his feet with all the innate grace of those born with their hero forms already a part of them. There was no wasted movement, no betraying twitch of his wings or tail, just easy motion and the natural, prowling walk of a feline on the hunt.

Griffin paused a few feet from him, golden eyes sharp and bright, and asked, “Tessai Tsukabishi. Were you aware of, party to, or otherwise involved with the hollowfication experiments for which you were sentenced to death?”

Tessai blinked down at younger hero in surprise. “No, I was not. I assisted Urahara-san in stabilizing the eight surviving heroes we found, but I was unaware of it before that point.”

“Hm.” Griffin canted his head and gave him a considering look, then nodded sharply and said, “I will take your words under advisement. If you will excuse me.”

Tessai stepped aside as Griffin swept out of the room and down the hallway towards the front of the building, tail lashing in agitation and everything about him screaming frustration. He glanced over at Kisuke and had to tamp down his amusement at how dejected his old friend looked; if he hadn’t already suspected Kisuke’s crush on the hero, that look alone would have convinced him.

Still, they didn’t have time for his amusement or for Kisuke’s moping, so he cleared his throat and asked, “Are we just letting him go?”

Kisuke scowled as he rose to his feet, giving the untouched tray of food a completely unwarranted look of disgust as he did. “What else can we do?” he grumbled as he let his hero form fade away. “He’s convinced his superiors will believe him over Aizen.”

“So we need to be ready to rescue him,” Tessai concluded with a sigh, already wishing he’d thought to tag Griffin with a tracking spell. It would make the inevitable prison-break significantly easier…

“We… might not have to,” Kisuke said hesitantly. He chewed on his lip for a moment then glanced over at Tessai, brows furrowed and eyes alight with curiosity. “I think… I think his powerset extends to more than just being able to see through my illusions.”

“His profile lists him as a midrank hero: enhanced speed, strength, eyesight, ability to fly, and minor control over wind,” Tessai reminded Kisuke with an arched eyebrow. Though honestly he’d believe Kisuke’s hunches over anything officially published by the Intelligence office. “We already concluded that seeing through your illusions was simply his enhanced eyesight allowing him to pick up minute details you overlooked.”

“I think that’s what the Intelligence office wants everyone to believe,” Kisuke agreed as he slipped past Tessai and stared down the hallway as if he wanted to chase after Griffin. “I think that’s all correct, but I think they left something very important out of their report. Something that Aizen will never tolerate existing anywhere near him in a position of respect and power.”

“You think Aizen’s move wasn’t as unexpected as it seemed.”

“I think Griffin is able to sense the truth of things, and I think Aizen figured it out.”

Tessai thought back to glowing eyes and pointed questions, precise in ways few people tended to be. Thought back to angry words about ‘false truths’ and accusations of ‘twisting the questions’…

“That, is going to be trouble,” Tessai decided with a grimace.

Kisuke laughed, bright-sharp-vengeful, and gave Tessai a smile that was all teeth. “But what delightful trouble I expect it to be.”

Tessai sighed and shook his head.

(Kami save him from lovestruck fools.)