How am I going to tell Hiro-chan? Shunsui thought as he walked back to the barracks. How did this happen? I knew something felt off last night as I returned. I should have gone with her to help. No, that would have belittled her and Hiyori-chan. I didn't know it would be this bad. What was Urahara-san thinking?
He returned to Lisa's room to find Hiromi sitting on the futon with her knees pulled close to her chest. He had not seen her look like that since her early days in the division, when Lisa first started bringing her along for everything. He couldn't bear that look. He walked over and sat next to her. She raised her eyes to him, expecting good news. He put an arm around her shoulder.
"Hiro-chan..." he started. He suddenly got up and kneeled in front of her, his forehead touching the ground. "Please forgive me Hiro-chan! There was nothing I could do! Please forgive me for failing you!"
Hiromi gaped at him. "What happened? Where is Lisa-chan?" She managed to squeak out.
He raised his head to look at her. "Lisa-chan is gone, she is not coming back."
"What do you mean?" she asked slowly.
"It seems Captain Urahara has been conducting experiments with hollows. The results of his experiments have turned four captains and four vice-captains into hollows, including Lisa-chan. It has been ordered to exterminate them as if they were regular hollows.
He explained what happened, but by the end of the explanation Hiromi's eyes had glazed over. "Hiro-chan? Say something? Can you forgive me? I have failed you, but you must forgive me!" The girl made no response. He rose up and folded her body against his. She offered no resistance and was limp in his arms. "Hiro-chan...I am so sorry." he whispered into her hair.
This can't be happening. Hiromi thought. Lisa-chan would never leave me. She has to be fine. I'm sure of it. Why doesn't she just come home? She wouldn't leave me, ever. She promised she would never leave. She said she wasn't like everyone else. That's it! I will go look for her. Maybe she is lost.
Hiromi ignored her zanpakuto's protests and stated. "I've decided I am going to look for Lisa-chan. She must be lost." As she tried to get up, strong arms held her securely in place.
"Hiro-chan...she's not lost."
She looked at her captain, "Let me go! I have to find her! Then it will be all ok! Don't you see? She's just lost! I need to find her!" She struggled against the man, but was unable to free herself. "Why won't you let me go? Do you not want me to find her?" She continued struggling for a time. "You bastard! Let me go! This is your fault!" On the verge of exhaustion from struggling, she collapsed into tears. She could feel the captain pull her closer to him while whispering to her.
"It's going to be ok, Hiro-chan. You are a strong woman, and we will get past this." He murmured. "I hope someday you can find it in your heart to forgive me." They remained that way until late into the afternoon. Hiromi had long since cried herself to sleep.
Shunsui picked her up and set her down on Lisa's futon. As he was leaving, he caught an unseated member of the division. "You mind watching this door? If a girl comes out or goes anywhere let me know right away, ok?" He asked. "I will be in my office." The boy nodded and set up post outside the door.
Hours later, Hiromi woke up. She opened the door and peeked out, she saw the boy outside of the door was fast asleep. I'm not about to sit here and do nothing. I have to look for her. She focused her thoughts and sought out Lisa's reiastu. She knew there should be traces of Lisa where she was last. After a few moments, she came across a trace of Lisa's reiastu. But it felt different, Hiromi was puzzled, she knew it was Lisa. She quietly sneaked past the sleeping boy outside of the door.
She traced the reiatsu to the place where Sokyoku rested. She luckily never had a reason to visit the hill before. It was an opposing place, the Sokyoku sat on the hill undisturbed during her entire time in the society. It was said the Sokyoku held enough power of a thousand zanpakutos. As she entered the area, she looked up at the large blade. It was easily several hundred feet high, currently sealed. It was only unsealed when an execution occured. She pondered for a second how many executions had taken place there, but quickly moved on. She could feel Lisa's reiastu nearby.
Hiromi caught movement on the far side of the hill. She flash stepped closer and caught a glimpse of the activity. First thing she noticed was a small pile of soul reapers. As she looked closer, she recognized them as the ones that were missing. Captains and vice-captains alike, were among them. She had trouble picking them out as they all wore masks and appeared as hollows. She gasped as she caught sight who she was looking for. Lisa lay among them with a mask covering her face. She knew why her reiastu had felt different, it felt more hollow than shinigami.
At that moment, she also spotted Captain Kisuke Urahara. From what she had heard, he had conducted experiments that hollowfied her best friend. He was with the leader of the Kido Corps as well. Hiromi realized they were trying to escape with her friend and comrades. She could also feel a triple layer barrier had been set up and barrier of that strength would be impossible to penetrate. She considered this and realized she had to use her bankai. She would be able to reach through the barrier with it.
They will not escape. Hiromi vowed. "Captain Urahara, I suggest you stop what you are doing and turn yourself in right now. I cannot let you go after doing what you have done." She looked at Lisa again. "How could you? How could you do this to them? They were good people, you had no right to hurt them like this! I cannot forgive you for this!"
"I'm afraid I can't go with you, Oshima-san."
"You give me no choice then." Hiromi pulled out her zanpakuto. "You will come with me whether you like it or not. Bankai!" She increased her reiatsu and was surrounded with a burst of black power that was outlined with blue. Despite her anger, she kept her reiatsu at a manageable level, she did not want it all to leak out. Her blade coalesced into a wider dark blue blade. It had hooks and jagged serrations along the blade making it asymmetrical. She pointed it at the captain, this man would pay for what he had done.
Before she could use her ability, the captain, along with the others disappeared. Hiromi blinked at the empty space. She saw his face so clearly as he winked out of existence. He looked sad and mouthed something that almost looked like 'I'm sorry'. She could feel her anger rising and struggled to calm herself. She had failed; she let him escape and failed Lisa. She knew she had to find out where they went and go after them; she would not let them get away.
Hiromi felt someone appear behind her and swung around, her sword aimed for the kill. She found the tip of her sword almost touching her captain's chest. Her eyes widened in surprise, then shock as she felt a burning pain in her chest. She looked down and saw the end of a blade protruding through her. Unable to stand she collapsed losing consciousness.
Shunsui caught Hiromi as she fell, his eyes widening in shock. He raised his eyes and looked behind where the girl had been standing. He spotted the young vice-captain Gin Ichimaru. He had a wide smile plastered on his face, a familiar look for the boy.
"Oh, Captain Kyoraku, I thought she was going ta kill ya. She had her sword pointed at ya chest, how scary it was. I had ta take action, ya see."
"I see, you took action to save my life, no doubt." Shunsui replied. I doubt that, he thought, this boy is dangerous. I don't trust him at all.
"Of course" the silver haired boy replied. "You should really do something with that." He pointed to Hiromi. "She could die." He then disappeared.
He looked down, "Hiro-chan? Can you hear me?" He frantically realized she was bad shape and pulled her close to him. "Don't leave me yet Hiro-chan, I can't lose you too." He whispered as he flash stepped to the fourth division barracks, they specialized in medical needs.
"I need some help here!" he called out as he entered the barracks.
Captain Unohana appeared before him and smiled. Her eyes rested on Hiromi. "Oh dear, what happened?"
"There was an incident on Sokyoku Hill and Hiro-chan was caught in the middle. She tried to apprehend Captain Urahara by herself." Shunsui replied sadly.
"Alone? Why on earth would she think she could take them on by herself? In any case, follow me, you can put her in this first room."
Shunsui set Hiromi down on the bed inside the indicated room. He was promptly shooed out of the room and the door closed in his face. He began to pace up and down the hall, lost in thought. Why would she go alone after a captain, not to mention the leader of the kido corps? She's not stupid, she would have known she was outmatched. And what was that blade? Was that her shikai? I've never actually seen her use it, never asked about it, she is plenty capable without using her shikai. Suppose I could ask her about it.
He was interrupted from his thoughts as Captain Unohana emerged from the room. "How is she?" he inquired.
"She will be ok, but she is resting. She is lucky you got her here as fast as you did. Much longer and she might have died. Did Urahara attack her?"
"No, it was Gin Ichimaru. He was on the scene and thought she was going to attack me." he replied.
"I see. Well, she should rest here for a couple days to regain her strength. You can go in if you like."
Shunsui nodded, "Thank you, Unohana-san."
She smiled and nodded as she disappeared down the hallway. Shunsui turned and entered the room where Hiromi laid. She was pale and her brown hair, normally in a ponytail, was splayed around her head. He mused that he had never seen her hair down before. He took a seat on the chair next to her bed and lets out a sigh. "I've failed you again, Hiro-chan." He reached out and picked up some of her hair, he slowly pulled his hand through and watched as it cascaded through his fingers. Her hair had lost some of it's sheen. He leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I'm so sorry, I don't know how I could have let this happen."
A few hours later, he woke to the opening and closing of the door. "Ukitake." He said without turning around, as he could tell it was his childhood friend.
"How is she?" Captian Ukitake asked. He sat next to Shunsui on the bench.
"She is going to make it."
"Has she woken?"
"No, not yet."
"You plan on staying here 'til she does, I assume. I brought you some food." he said as he held out a bag of food.
"Thanks, Ukitake." Shunsui pulled out a rice cake and munched thoughtfully on it.
"It's not your fault, Shunsui. This was all unavoidable, we lost a lot of good people to this." Ukitake said.
"I just feel I have let her down. Lisa-chan was everything to her. And now she is gone, I don't know if I can fill that void, or if she would even let me."
"I got the impression that you and Oshima-san were quite close. I can tell she cares as much for you as she did for Lisa-san."
"You can? It's just that Hiro-chan took a long time to open up to Lisa-chan and then to me. But I can't compare to Lisa-chan, not in her eyes. And after this, I don't know if she will forgive me." Shunsui continued. "Maybe I shouldn't have sent Lisa-chan to help. I was sure it was something she and the others could handle. I did that for Urahara's benefit. He seemed so upset, was it an act? I have a hard time putting some of these pieces together."
Ukitake's eyebrows knitted together in thought. "He did seem genuinely upset about Hiyori-san going. He's either a great actor, or there are larger forces at play here. But sadly, it is done and there is nothing more we can do."
"You're right, I just need to figure out how to make it up to Hiro-chan somehow."
"I will be back later if you need anything." Ukitake placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Things will be ok. They always have a way of working themselves out."
Shunsui nodded. "Thanks." Left alone with his thoughts, he pondered ways to make it up to the girl. Later in the afternoon a messenger came by to inform him he will need to pick a new vice-captain by the end of the week. "This is too much to think about." He mumbled and he placed his hand on top of hers then laid his head on the edge of the bed. Soon he was fast asleep. Hours later he woke up to movement. He felt a hand move away from his as he lifted his head. Hiromi was awake.