NEW INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Hello to all readers of Part 1 of my story if your reading this! This is the last ten Chapters that were originally in Part 1, reuploaded from the first story so as to make the seperation of story events make a lil more sense. The original chapters are gone from Part 1, so as to make sure there is no confusion. For all old readers, just skip to Chapter 10, or Chapter 11 once it comes out if you already read the first 10. Sorry for any confusion this may cause, the story will go on as usual, this is just to solve my ever increasing headache with my computer.
Well, new notes are over, read on! (btw, please favourite, review and subscribe if you can, this part is new, so it's just going to cause confusion if theres nothing on it lol)
Yoshirou woke up looking at a rather unfamiliar ceiling, and in a much too hard bed to be his own. …eh? Where am I exactly? Looking about, he couldn't guess at all, until he could smell the room. Sterile? Ah… I'm at the Sougou Kyuugo Tsumesho, they must have dragged me here after I fell unconscious when we were going down the Soukyoku hill stairs. Why on earth did I fall unconscious?
Except for the gaping huge wound? You seem to forget that holding that kind of wound closed requires reiatsu; your body hit its limit so it shut down. They had to start emergency treatment on you again since I couldn't hold the wound closed fully, far as I could tell it was touch and go for a while. We were lucky Unohana stayed back to help rather than continue with Byakuya ahead, without her help you could have died there and then on the stairs.
Wow, talk about all the dramatic stuff happening whenever I'm not aware. Looking down at his chest, he saw that the bandages had been changed while he was unconscious as well, and judging from the thickness, they had increased in number as well. Also he had been swapped out of his shihakshou, instead wearing the normal robes for patients in the 4th squad. Never liked these tacky things. Looking about the room he realised something odd. Why are there chairs set up over there?
Perhaps you had guests while you were asleep? I couldn't tell, the vast majority of my abilities aren't usable while you're unconscious.
Oh? Well it's possible. Yoshirou thought as he carefully started to test his limbs. Finding that they all responded reasonably well, he picked himself up from the bed, looking about the room for his usual robes. It was about this moment that a new person walked in. "Y-Yoshirou-san! Y-You shouldn't be up yet!"-Hanatarou cried out as he walked in, waving his hands franticly. "Oh, morning Hanatarou. Do you know where my stuff is?"-Yoshirou asked the panicking Hanatarou. "I-It doesn't matter Yoshirou-san, please! J-Just lie back down before your wound opens again!"-Hanatarou cried out at him, worry obvious in his voice. Yoshirou just laughed back-"Stop worrying, now I'm awake and reasonably recovered, the wound won't hurt or open again, and even if it does I think I can close my own wounds fine enough."-Yoshirou reassured. It still didn't do anything to stop Hanatarou's flapping attempt, until a different person stepped into the room. Uh oh, perhaps I don't get to leave after all.
"Ah, Yoshirou-kun, it is good to see you've recovered well enough to be up and about."-Unohana said as she strolled in. "I would have thought after yesterday you would have learnt about limits of impetuousness, but apparently you haven't. You should still be resting and recovering, alike the far more reasonable Byakuya, who is yet to make any attempts at escape like you are." Yoshirou stopped his attempts to get out immediately, knowing defeat was only inevitable with Unohana here. "However, you have been requested by another Captain to aid him, he came by earlier to find out if you had awoken or not, but I had to send him away due to your condition. However, since you seem so eager to ignore our advice, you might as well make yourself useful and present yourself to him. He is waiting in a different room in the hospice, I shall guide you there once you are properly ready."-Unohana explained. Yoshirou was quite taken aback by the change in situation, one second he was about to be barred, next he was been given an excuse to get up. "So was he the one who was waiting in here?"-Yoshirou asked as he continued to hunt for his clothes, finding them folded beneath his bed, having been cleaned and repaired as he slept. He also discovered much to his chagrin that the sleeves were restored, probably assumed a casualty of battle. He promptly ripped them back off again.
"Oh, I'm surprised you would have noticed you had guests. And no, he did not come in here, so he wasn't the guest. Yoruichi and Soi Fon were the two who stayed here, Yoruichi wanted to be available in case your situation deteriorated in the night, Soi Fon didn't explain why she stayed to me." Oh, so that's who it was Yoshirou thought. "Both left earlier when I confirmed you were completely in the safe zone in terms of risk of death from your wounds, you have surprisingly good regeneration abilities, far faster than I've seen in normal Shinigami, I would dare say given two weeks there won't be anything left of that wound even without healing techniques."-Unohana explained as Yoshirou changed in front of her, for some reason completely oblivious that she was in the room with him. "…Yoshirou-kun, you do realise your supposed to wait until people leave the room before you get changed, correct?"-Unohana asked, making him jump and quickly finish covering himself. "S-Sorry, just slipped my mind for a minute."-Yoshirou hastily answered embarrassed that he had done something that stupid. It earned him a light laugh from Unohana. "You always prove that you can't always expect the normal from a person, Ken-Shin-Tai-Chou."-Unohana said, pronouncing each syllable, knowing the name would annoy him. However, the bigger reaction came from Hanatarou behind her. "Y-Y-Yoshirou-kun is a Captain? H-How? I-Is he replacing one of the… other Captains?"-Hanatarou hesitantly asked.
The atmosphere in the room seemed to die in a heartbeat. Both Yoshirou and Unohana didn't want to be reminded about the affair, Unohana was still affected by their betrayal, and how many people had been harmed by their actions. On the other hand Yoshirou, although he didn't fully realise it, was still feeling the sting of a complete and utter defeat by Aizen, one of the people he had always believed in. Hanatarou quickly realised he had brushed upon a painful topic and fell silent. Yoshirou was the first to recover, quickly changing topic-"Well, I'm ready now, who exactly wanted to see me?" Unohana was only too glad to answer him. "Ah, that would be Hitsugaya-kun. Apparently he wanted to see you after something he had overheard Kurosaki talking about. He believes you may be able to help him somehow; I'll take you to the room he is at."-Unohana finished, leading him out of the room.
After a few minutes of walking together, Unohana having to stop every now and then to deal with her own squad members, they finally reached the room in question. Rather than being in the room, Hitsugaya was hanging around outside the room, a distant look on his face, not having noticed their approach. Unohana stopped before they reached him however. Turning to Yoshirou, she quietly said-"You have to be careful of what you say now, the person you are going to see will not be Hitsugaya, but rather his friend inside. Whatever Hitsugaya-kun decides to do, don't question him, he is in a very precarious emotional state at the moment, so would you be if a person you cared for is in such a state. He is also recovering just like you from a massive defeat by Aizen, you probably had it easier, Hitsugaya was toyed with before being defeated in a single deadly bow, I would not bring Aizen up with him." Yoshirou nodded, before Unohana turned once again, saying-"Now, I have some business to attend to, Byakuya will probably require his bandages changed by now so I shall be on my way." Unohana then walked away, leaving Yoshirou to confront Hitsugaya alone.
Walking over to Hitsugaya, he noticed Hitsugaya's eye flick to him before staring off into the distance again. Taking this as a sign that he should wait, Yoshirou stood beside the short captain. He didn't have to wait long though-"Yoshirou, I would like to request your aid again. I overheard from Kurosaki, the Ryoka, that you may have some ability to help others from the inside. He spoke that a Zangetsu had met you inside his inner world, assuming Zangetsu is his zanpakuto, I also would assume that you can contact the inner world of an individual through your own powers. I'm not sure under what circumstances you would have done this with the Ryoka, but at the moment it no longer matters since their names have been cleared." Yoshirou was rather confused as to where Hitsugaya was going with this, and surprised that the short captain had been able to so clearly deduce one of his abilities from so little information. After all, such an ability was rather unbelievable, yet Hitsugaya had not only decided that was what Kurosaki was on about, but had decided the ability was a true one without question.
"As you probably know, Hinamori is in a rather unstable condition, and she is unable to awaken from it. Right now, I can't ask anybody to help me with this but you. Unohana already told me she awaits somebody to call her, but I can't do that quite yet, not until my own heart has recovered. Nor am I asking you to, your heart suffers from the same trauma that mine is. I just want to be sure that she is at least recovering, since she doesn't seem to be responding to normal treatment, perhaps you may be able to learn something with your own ability."-Hitsugaya finished asking. Yoshirou was slightly off put by all the melancholic terms he had used, but got the gist of what he was asking. "So you want me to try and discover if she is faring well or not simply put?"-Yoshirou asked. Hitsugaya seemed to sigh irritably at the way that he had put it, but nodded in agreement anyway. "Well, I'm not sure if I'm going to find any answers that you want, all I can do is inspect the conditions of the inner world and the psyche of the zanpakuto, I'm not going to be able to tell whether Hinamori is recovering or not."-Yoshirou quickly explained, still unsure as to how this was supposed to help. However, it seemed enough for Hitsugaya. "Just see if there is anything there that might help her recover."-Hitsugaya asked. Yoshirou sighed in annoyance, before continuing into the room. However, he stopped upon realising Hitsugaya wasn't following him. "You're not coming in?"-Yoshirou turned and asked. Hitsugaya just slightly shook his head, not looking at Yoshirou or offering an excuse. Remembering Unohana's words, Yoshirou didn't pursue the subject, instead heading over to the set up bed.
To his eyes, it didn't look too good. Hinamori was covered in bandages as far as he could see, and was hooked up to a machine that he had never seen before. Some new kind of technology? I'll have to ask Unohana about it. Yoshirou thought as he looked at the young Vice Captain before him. Just like Hitsugaya had said, it seemed she was in some kind of coma. Well perhaps I can find out why she isn't waking up at the least. Yoshirou thought as he prepared to start. I don't think doing this is going to mess with any of the equipment here, but just to be on the safe side I'll only use the minimal amount I can to determine this. Carefully channelling his reiatsu, with a little refinement from Taiyou, Yoshirou placed a tiny amount of his reiatsu into his finger tip. He then carefully touched the bandages about her body since he was unsure as to where the wound was on her, he had to make sure he didn't accidentally aggravate it.
However, he was met with a surprise; there was some kind of resistance against him. Resistance? From an unconscious person? Yoshirou wondered, before he could sense more. No, it's not resistance, its more like the path is too scrambled for my reiatsu to get through clearly, what on earth could that mean? He carefully reconstructed his reiatsu, trying to more clearly follow whatever path her reiatsu was taking. Eventually he was met with success, as he felt his mind blur slightly. Okay, so now we find out what's up.
However, he was met with a surprising scene; it was if her inner world was alike to a tiny island, being torn apart by a tornado, being torn apart by a voracious force and scattering into nothingness, rock by rock. What the hell! This is definitely not normal! Yoshirou thought as he looked about, feeling the gale force pulling him around. He eventually saw what he wanted, but was surprised at the sight. The form of the zanpakuto spirit reminded him of what it was like meeting Taiyou for the first time, it seemed like a dark cloud of colours, but he could sense the raw emotions spilling out from it, trying to consume his thoughts. Quickly clearing his mind, he called out "Hey, what's happening in here?" towards the cloud. He could more feel the apparition turn to him, and he could feel its panic and fear. He also sensed some kind of concern directed towards him as well. As he noticed this, he suddenly felt himself forcibly expelled from the inner world, as if the zanpakuto had thrown him out. However, at the last second a female voice had said.-This world is falling apart, deteriorating, you need to save my Aruji! Find a way to stabilise the soul before she is lost!
Returning to his own consciousness, he realised he was on the floor, with someone beside him. "Why did you suddenly cry out? What happened? Answer me!"-Hitsugaya was demanding to know. Yoshirou turned to see him, before realising his vision was blurred. Tears? He thought as he wiped his eyes. What did the Zanpakuto mean? The world is deteriorating? That's what happens in hollowification isn't it (1)? Yoshirou realised as he quickly leapt to his feet, surprising the small captain. He quickly formulated a plan to do what the zanpakuto had asked of him. "Hitsugaya, is there any supply rooms nearby, quickly!"-he barked out. Hitsugaya seemed taken aback by being ordered, but hearing the urgency in Yoshirou's voice, quickly dispelled his need to go back at him. "Yes, there's one three rooms down I believe."-Hitsugaya quickly responded. Yoshirou quickly dashed out, searching left and right for the room he needed. Seeing it, he immediately shunpo'd to in front of it, running in and looking about all of the equipment for what he needed. Shit, they mightn't have any in a supply station! Yoshirou realised as he searched the shelves, Hitsugaya running into the room behind him. Wasting no time, Hitsugaya also went to the lower shelves, asking-"What are we looking for?" "Kaikyō Kotei." (2) Yoshirou quickly said as he continued searching. Hitsugaya froze for a second in surprise, before he continued to search, unsure as to what Yoshirou intended with such a tool.
It was Hitsugaya who found them first, hidden behind some Gikongan supplies, his hunch that the items would be stored alongside real world equipment proven correct. "Here!"-Hitsugaya said, pulling a rather strange set of equipment out, before handing them to Yoshirou, who had procured a knife from a different shelf. Taking the prong ends of the device, he cut the prongs until a bare half centimeter remained on the end of each piece. While he was doing this, Hitsugaya asked "What exactly do you intend with those? I can't understand what would require the Kaikyō Kotei to be used." Yoshirou quickly muttered out some words-"Need em… to fix… soul disturbance… dunno if… it'll work…but all I can… think of right now, there finished!" Yoshirou announced as he threw the knife into a nearby shelf, leaving it quivering stuck up to its hilt into the shelf. He quickly shunpo'd back to the hospital room.
"Hold open her robes!"-Yoshirou said to the quickly appearing Hitsugaya as he fixed the bracelets to his arms. "Wh-What!"-Hitsugaya stuttered out, surprised by the request. "STOP HESITATING! She's got bandages all over her torso; you can't see a damn thing!"-Yoshirou ordered as he quickly hefted each of the spikes in his hands. Hitsugaya shut up, doing as he was ordered and pulling apart Hinamori's robes. Yoshirou quickly hooked each prong into the area about her Saketsu, arranging them into a diamond about his guessed location. After finishing arranging them, he once again pulled on his own reiatsu, pushing it into the bracelets and down the attached ropes. When they met the spikes about her body, he once again felt the same resistance as earlier; however, as he continued to put out his own reiatsu, he felt the confused reiatsu align to his own flow, calming down from what it had been. As he continued to supply the reiatsu, he more felt than saw her body relax, it wasn't so much a physical relaxation as a mental one, but he could sense it none the less. "Right, I think that might have done it."-Yoshirou said, now calmed down that he had met with success.
"Now will you explain why you were trying to order me around, Yoshirou?"-Hitsugaya asked irritably. "Simple, in medical situations, even the Sou Taichou's wishes become second to the attending healer, and since that would be me, you had to respect my orders Hitsugaya, nothing personal. Now as to what I was so hurriedly trying to do, her soul was destabilizing at a rapid pace, your god damn lucky that you called me, another few hours without being discovered and she could have reverted into a hollow."-Yoshirou explained. The last revelation had Hitsugaya having to hold onto the bed for support. "…revert…into a hollow?"-Hitsugaya asked, shocked as to the implications of what he had just said. "Yeah, but I don't get why Unohana never noticed it, even the simplest of medical techniques should have told her something was wrong, her reiatsu pathways were completely out of sync."-Yoshirou said, half to himself than to Hitsugaya. However, he suddenly realized what it could have been. Using his senses, he attuned his sensing ability to Hinamori's own reiatsu, searching for any anomalies. He found it nearly immediately, near her stomach there was a huge amount of a familiar reiatsu, which was what led to the destabilization effect.
I don't believe it… that's Aizen's reiatsu… If this is Aizen's reiatsu, then that's why it was hidden from Unohana, but not me. I'm partially resistant to the effects of his zanpakuto. The bigger question is why on earth would he have done that? Yoshirou thought as he tried to ignore the questioning stares from Hitsugaya. Let me think, he attacked her in the Central 46, leaving her half dead…had it not been for what medical treatment had been done, she would have converted about half an hour after the injury I'd say, it was only whatever life support machines are here that have allowed her to hold on for so long. What's the connection… no… he couldn't have planned that… Yoshirou continued to ponder. To hold off Hitsugaya's stares, he said-"I just have to concentrate on maintaining a steady reiatsu flow for a minute, give me some time." …there's no other idea that I can think of…that bastard…he was going to use her as a final weapon, for in case he had never been discovered. She would have converted into a hollow, wreaking havoc about the Central 46. He would have left far before then, hopefully having obtained that Hougyoku Kurosaki talked to me about from the successful execution of Rukia. When anybody went to check the Central 46, they would have found dead bodies everywhere, and one out of control Hollow. He would never have been discovered, that bastard! Yoshirou concluded internally, forcing his face to stay in a complacent look so as not to alert Hitsugaya to his discovery. I can't tell this to him; god knows what effect it might have on him…
Yoshirou kept silent, instead carefully vamping up his reiatsu, controlling it so as Hitsugaya could not detect it. He then pushed it down the ropes once again, this time forcing it throughout her body until it reached the wound, wherein there was a kind of internal struggle, his own reiatsu clashing against the reiatsu left by Aizen. However, as strong as Aizen was, this was merely the reiatsu in a wound, and Yoshirou soon enough overpowered the reiatsu, erasing it with his own. Slightly tired from the forced expenditure, Taiyou helped him carefully retracted the huge amount of reiatsu he had placed in her body, redirecting it back to his own so as to not damage her body. Sighing, Yoshirou unclipped the bracelets from his wrists, rubbing them to get the blood flowing properly again. He then turned to Hitsugaya, who was now starting to look rather irritable at not being told exactly what he had been up to. "Okay, I think I've stabilized her soul now, I'm just going to do a check on her inner world, I might be able to learn more about what caused it there-." "It was Aizen, wasn't it?"-Hitsugaya asked coldly, questioning Yoshirou. Yoshirou hesitated for a second, telling Hitsugaya all he needed to know. The young Captain turned about, preparing to leave the room, before turning to Yoshirou again, an attempt at a smile on his face, although his taut features showed that he was still thinking on his anger towards Aizen. "Thank you once more, I am glad that I chose to support you, everything you have done has shown me that you are more than worthy to be a Captain alongside us, perhaps more worthy than many of us are…" Turning back, he walked out of the room, his rigid movements betraying the anger inside his mind.
Crap… Yoshirou thought as he realized he had just added more fuel to the fire of the young man's anger. Well, I did all I could Yoshirou thought as he turned back to the girl, carefully unhooking the spikes from her bandages. But her soul was nigh on completely gone, recovery is going to be very long, and I don't know if she will be the same person by the end. Yoshirou thought as he prepared once again to try and enter her inner world. This time he felt no resistance as his soul form walked into her own world. The place still looked a mess, barely a small island within the all enclosing darkness around it. However, as he strayed to the edge, he could see that very slowly, the edge was building upon itself, trying to recover. Welcome, friend the same voice from earlier called out. Yoshirou spun about, trying to find the source, but unsuccessful. "Err, hello. I'm guessing your Hinamori's zanpakuto then?"-Yoshirou called out, trying to pinpoint the voice's location. Yes, my name is Tobiumethe voice called once more. Yoshirou then finally honed in on its location, and was very surprised. In the middle of the island, there was a tiny seedling. Wait, Tobiume is flying plum tree, so the zanpakuto spirit is literally a tree? Never seen a spirit that takes a plant form before.
I'm not sure why you have come here, but I am grateful that you succeeded in stopping the deterioration. I could not find the origin of the effect so I was powerless to stop the destabilising of the soul.
"Well that's to be expected, it was Aizen again, his ability lies in using complete illusions to fool every sense of an individual. I'm partially immune to its effects, I'm guessing since he wasn't directly here, the illusion had no effect towards me."
Aizen? I don't understand how such a man did all of this, I never assumed that he perhaps had another intention towards my Aruji, I should never have been blinded by Hinamori's emotions, I failed to protect her.
"Don't take it so hard, nobody expected him to go traitor, everybody failed to protect anyone that day. I was very nearly killed by him, his power is beyond unbelievable, I never once detected his full power which confuses me as well. Perhaps if I had been less distracted during those days, I may have found out the truth far sooner…"
What do you mean?
"I already said I'm partially immune to his illusions, if I had just gone to pay respects to his body, I would have seen through the illusion immediately, and perhaps stopped all of this."
I think not, to be fully honest with you friend. I could sense your power when you tried to save my Aruji, twice. When she was unconscious before her friend Hitsugaya and his enemy, I could feel a new reiatsu appear, unimaginably powerful, yet peaceful and calm as well. This reiatsu quelled both of the enemies before it, Captains of immense power themselves. And just now, I felt the same signature from you as you tried to stop whatever caused this effect. However, as powerful as you may be, you still lack behind the monstrous power I felt when Hinamori was stabbed by Aizen, you could have done nothing against that power, do not feel so bad about what happened.
"Maybe, maybe not…Still, is Hinamori going to recover all right now?"
It will be a long process, but as you can see before you, the seed is planted; when it grows it will become the tree from whatever seed was planted. She will recover as the same person as before, as long as I hold my own identity, hers will become it's original as well. Also, I will grow stronger as she recovers, my true form is not a tiny sapling. However, her heart is still unstable, she needs somebody to take over for the huge gap that Aizen has opened, she needs Toshiro to support her or it will simply fill with feelings that she neither needs nor wants.
"I don't know whether that's going to be so easy or not, he also is in a bad shape and I think he might not be able to support her…"
He must, there is no one else Hinamori can trust, not her allies from her squad, not her friend Kira, not you who saved her soul, not anyone but him. I'm sorry to say it as such, but you cannot help her in this.
"Yeah I get it, well I better be going anyway, I need to tell Unohana about all of this. I hope you recover soon, as much as you say she needs Hitsugaya, he may need her more."
I understand, farewell friend.
(Back to Yoshirou)
Yoshirou returned to his own body, feeling the slight pang of pain from his wounds before his own reiatsu once again stabilised the pain. Beside him, he could see that Unohana was watching quietly. "I'm assuming that Hitsugaya told you about how she was un-reactive to treatment then?"-Unohana asked. "Did you perhaps discover the source?" Yoshirou stretched as he said "Yep, one helluva nasty goodbye present from Aizen. You couldn't tell because his illusion seems to stretch over where he left his reiatsu. Don't worry, I purged the reiatsu from her system, she should start responding better to whatever you try now." Unohana nodded, as if she half expected this. "I thought it may be something to do with him, since the treatment worked fine at first, it wasn't until later it started becoming less effective until just an hour ago where all treatment ceased to work." Indicating the machine beside Hinamori, she continued-"This is designed to do exactly what you succeeded in doing, purging foreign reiatsu from the body while sustaining the life systems of the body. However, either Aizen's reiatsu proved too strong for it, or the illusion meant that the machine could not pick it up. If it was the latter, then I am very worried, it means he can fool technology with his illusions as well."
Yoshirou shook his head, before replying. "I think it was the former, there was a lot of reiatsu massed in the wound, unless that machine can top captain class reiatsu, it had no hope of removing it, the action slightly tired me and it is simply leftover reiatsu from the wound." Unohana seemed to think for a second, before asking "Is there any chance he tried the same trick with your body?" "None, Taiyou can repel any foreign invasion of reiatsu, no matter how powerful it is from my own body. Aizen seems to know a lot about my abilities, he was even able to predict my techniques, and found a way to short out the blade edge, I think he was fully aware such a trick would not have worked, or he would never have tried to finish me off."-Yoshirou trailed off, still unsure as to how Aizen could have learnt about his abilities. After all he had never written them down, nor told anybody else of the full list of his abilities, he didn't even know there was a way to dispel the Hi Kiwa like Aizen did. "Anyway, it seems she will make a full recovery health wise, but her mental state might become bad, her zanpakuto told me that she will need support from Hitsugaya, perhaps you might have some luck persuading him to see her."-Yoshirou explained. Unohana seemed slightly surprised about what he had said, but didn't question the validity of what he had told her. She also decided that questioning him about the device in his hands was also pointless. Instead, she simply nodded before saying "Byakuya is awake now if you want to see him."
(5 minutes later)
Yoshirou was still caught up in his thoughts when he walked into the room Byakuya was in. However, he quickly realised he had interrupted something when he literally felt an angry reiatsu in the room opposite Byakuya. Turning about, he saw that Renji was sitting there with a block of wood in his hands, looking at him in a particularly bad mood. However, before Renji could voice whatever objection he had in Yoshirou's presence, another even louder interruption bellowed in from the window, making Yoshirou nearly jump out of his skin. "RENJI!"-Kurosaki bellowed in from the window, practically making Byakuya's hair sway with the volume of his shout. In a flash, Renji was at the window exerting his anger upon the newer of the two interruptions. "SHUT UP! What do you want, you jerk! I was just about to say something cool here!"-Renji shouted in Kurosaki's face, nearly making Kurosaki lose his grip on the windowsill. "Erm…sorry?"-Kurosaki replied. Renji backed off a little to give Byakuya some room, as Kurosaki asked-"Do you guys know where Rukia is?" "What? What's wrong with Rukia?"-Renji asked concerned. "N-Nothing, its okay if you don't know."-Kurosaki quickly assured him. He turned to ask something of Yoshirou, but was suddenly interrupted by a new presence at his arm.
"Any luck, Kurosaki-kun?"-Inoue asked, receiving a surprised look from Kurosaki. "Is Kuchiki-san here?"-Inoue repeated, Kurosaki just looking dumbfounded at her. "…how exactly did you get up here…? Oh well."-Kurosaki said, before turning to Yoshirou. "I doubt you would know, but doesn't hurt to ask, do you know where Rukia is either?"-Kurosaki asked. "Well, I don't but I can search for her if you want."-Yoshirou replied. "Yeah, another person looking might be handy."-Kurosaki said, looking confused at Yoshirou as he laughed at him. Concentrating, Yoshirou tried to pick out her reiatsu. "…that's odd, she's outside of the Seireitei…not too sure where, but roughly South East I'd say."-Yoshirou said, pointing in the relevant direction. Kurosaki seemed surprised that he had succeeded so fast, before thinking for a second. He seemed to realise what Yoshirou was talking about, before saying "Sorry Renji, Byakuya, I'll be off now, thanks for the help Yoshirou!" Inoue also replied "Excuse us Renji-kun, Byakuya-san, Yoshirou-kun!" -kun? Since when was she that friendly with me? Yoshirou wondered as the duo disappeared from the windowsill. Must be because I still look pretty young, she's talking to me like a normal human. Renji leaned out the window, following their progress. Byakuya however looked a bit pensive. "What's wrong Taichou?"-Renji asked. "Surely that man doesn't intend to keep calling me by my first name?"-Byakuya mused.
"What's wrong with it, Byakuya?"-Yoshirou asked, receiving another glare from Renji. "He mean's you too, he's a Captain, call him by his title!"-Renji growled at him. However, Byakuya looked at him, interrupting his oncoming tirade. "Yoshirou is a captain as well, he is not required to call me by title, it should be you who is more polite to him."-Byakuya stated calmly, catching Renji off guard. However, he recovered quickly, surprising Yoshirou by bowing to him, although the action was not without some annoyance. "So it seems you were telling the truth, Kenshin-Taichou."-Renji said, further annoying Yoshirou, although from the way he spoke, Yoshirou realised it wasn't intentional like Unohana had been earlier. "Just call me Yoshirou; I'm really going to get a headache if people keep calling me Kenshin-Taichou. Just hold off on your need to go on about perverted conquests and we can be equal."-Yoshirou said, watching Byakuya for a reaction. Sure enough, Byakuya looked at his Vice Captain with a trace amount of interest as to what Yoshirou had meant. That's what you get for taking the piss out of me about Yoruichi. Yoshirou thought as Renji's face turned the same colour as his hair. However, Yoshirou did not expect the sly grin that suddenly formed on Renji's face as he replied-"I'm sorry, I thought your success with Yoruichi was something to be commended, my apologies Yoshirou."
Uh oh Yoshirou thought as Byakuya slowly turned his head in his direction. "Perhaps you would like to elaborate, Yoshirou?"-Byakuya calmly asked, although from years of experience, Yoshirou could tell that Byakuya was already planning a million way's to use this newly gained information against him."Suffice to say she's still as free spirited as before, it wasn't exactly an intentioned experience."-Yoshirou explained. Byakuya seemed to accept his explanation, although something in his gaze still promised a lot of trouble when he was out of the hospital bed. Yoshirou shot a vengeful glance at Renji, whose face was now showing that he was enjoying himself once again. Yoshirou was tempted to throw his smug face out of the window, but decided against it in the end. "So, you told her everything then?"-Yoshirou asked. "Yes, she knows everything about her sister now, she seemed curious to know about your connection with me, apparently you said you regard her as a sister as well?"-Byakuya asked. Yoshirou just laughed lightly "Well, as much as a git you have been, your about the only thing I've had akin to a brother, so any sister of yours I'll take care of the same."-Yoshirou explained. Renji was still half shocked by what Yoshirou was saying; especially in the completely free tone he spoke to Byakuya, and the fact that Byakuya said nothing wrong with it.
"Well, I have one request for you, Yoshirou. She has expressed an interest in furthering her Kido abilities, and you are by now known as the foremost expert in Soul Society. She may approach you asking for lessons; I must ask that you refuse her requests."-Byakuya asked, confusing Yoshirou. "Err…refuse? You doubt I could teach her or something."-Yoshirou asked. "No, I already know you have successfully taught Kido abilities to those in your squad, and even to a fellow Captain. Your ability to teach these skills is not what is in question; it is just that I do not wish her to learn them. As it is now, she is an unranked within her squad, but she already has skills that would put her at 3rd seat level."-Byakuya explained, comprehension dawning on Yoshirou. "You don't want her to become strong enough to become a Vice Captain then? You're trying to keep her off the frontlines?"-Yoshirou asked. Byakuya nodded slightly, looking out the window. "Well, I can see what you mean, all right then. But are you sure?" Byakuya once again nodded slightly. However, he suddenly drew his head back when a hell butterfly flew in, surprised to see one flying about. Renji put his hand out for the butterfly, but it seemed to ignore him totally, instead settling on Yoshirou's shoulder. "Seem's I'm being called by Yamamoto-san again."-Yoshirou complained as the butterfly left. "Well, might as well go see what he wants. You better hurry up with healing mind; I don't fancy having to walk into a hospital every time I want to talk with ya."-Yoshirou said as he walked out, curious as to why he would be summoned this time. Perhaps I may finally get my answers…
Well chapter done, as always please review or suscribe if you want to.
(1). I know you guys know what this is, what this note is saying is that Yoshirou discovered the research notes on the effects of Hollowification made by Tessai alongside the various documents hidden inside his personal research cache, although the research never indicated the identity nor survival of the test subjects.
(2). Kaikyō Kotei-Realm Boundary Fixation-Used in the manga as an extensive way to stop the turbulent flow of the Koryu within the Dangai Precipice world, the boundary between Soul Society and the Human realm. Normally such a method is completely irrelevant to stopping the soul from disintegrating, there should be no way to actually intervene, or Urahara would have stopped Ichigo from turning into a hollow, rather than saying we kill him if we fail. However, Yoshirou is an exception to the rule, he could make it work, the reasons why will be explained later (This is another of the reasons why Aizen wanted to kill him BEFORE he learnt his past.)