((Hello, all readers who enjoy my writing and know I don't ever steal ideas or writing from another, please go straight down to the chapter, thank you! Now, to the ones who don't like my writing and the GUEST who wrote that nasty review I got earlier today, if I may, I would like to ask where you saw this story or similar idea from, because I just cannot find it anywhere besides the three areas I have posted it in: AO3, my website Mina's Orange Rose, and of course here on fanfiction. But if there is another place that this story is in then I would certainly like to know, because I DO NOT PLAGIARIZE and that means my work is being stolen. My work is mine! Granted, some credit goes to Kubo-sensei and of course to the person who requested this and came up with the idea, in this case SakuraYuri89. But I came up with the words on the page and I don't care for people who say I steal or have stolen from me. I work very hard to write these, I stay up all night sometimes, work through migraines, and even sometimes put off school work to write and update. So, if you can prove to me that I have stolen this story before the date I published it, or if my work is somewhere else not listed, then by all means come and tell me. I'd like to see it with my own eyes. But if you can't prove it, then be quiet and stop accusing me of doing something I did not do! Okay? Thank you.))

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My eyes are closed and I can feel Inoue's healing power all around me, it's warm and calm. Although, calm is not really a word I'd use for Inoue. So, it's odd to feel this sensation around me but honestly I don't care because I could almost fall asleep because of it.

Almost…

I can hear the shinigami run around though; it must be chaotic all around me with all the injuries. They're healing and moving everyone that was injured through this mess with Aizen Sousuke.

Aizen Sousuke…

I don't understand him, even though I just met him. He's on the hollows' side, I could feel and hear the anger and intent in his voice by the way he explained…but those eyes.

His eyes looked so sad, so…lonely, as if betrayed. But he's the one who betrayed Soul Society.

"I don't understand…"

"Kurosaki-kun?" I hear Inoue say softly, making my eyes open and look to her. "Is there something the matter?"

I shake my head gently, not wanting to worry her. "No, it's nothing, Inoue."

I can see her frown worriedly before I close my eyes again. She wouldn't understand it; it's a difficult and confusing thing to think about.

How can that guy feel betrayed, when he was the one who did the betraying? Why did he have that look in his eye? Why did he look so sad, angry, and lonely? What does he intend to do with the hogyoku?

I don't understand any of it. It's all so confusing..

I can tell I'm losing awareness as everything sounds muffled. This must be my body's way of telling me to stop thinking and give it a rest. I can talk with the others later, perhaps the fukutaichou that was under Aizen's command.

I should rest, I'm tired…

X-X-X-X-X

My eyes open slowly; they're still a little heavy from sleep. But I can see I'm not on that hill that I saved Rukia on anymore. And, I'm not being healed by Orihime, but I do have bandages on my torso, from what I can feel.

I look around and I see I'm in a room that's all white and it feels cold. Is this the healing center that Hanatarou is from? If it is they need to turn up the heat or something, why do these places always have to be so cold?

I pull the blanket up a bit to ward the cold off as I think. But my thoughts all seem to go in circles as someone moves closer to me, making my eyes shift towards them.

"Ah, Ryoka-san, you are awake," says a smiling woman with long black braided hair. "Or should I call you Kurosaki-san?" She adds, making my brows furrow.

"How did you kn—" I try to ask how she knows my name, I didn't tell everyone here my name yet, but she interrupts me.

"Your friends told me your name. They are quite concerned for you, Kurosaki-san."

"Oh," So, that's why; I should get up and check on them. They were injured too while trying to help me rescue Rukia.

I try to get up but the healer stops me, making me scowl at her. "Look, I'm fine, uh…" I don't think I know this healer's name yet.

"I am Unohana Retsu Taichou," She says, her smile kinda turns dangerous looking. "I cannot let you leave yet, I have to do a final check up on you then you may go, understand?"

A sweat breaks out on my face as I look at her; she is definitely a dangerous taichou to argue with, maybe more so than Kuchiki Byakuya. I just nod at her and let her go about doing her check on me so I can leave.

"Uh..Unohana-san?" I ask, thinking she must know who Aizen's fukutaichou is and where I can find them. I think if I talk to them I'll be able to understand Aizen Sousuke a little better.

"Hai,"

"Who is Aizen Sousuke's fukutaichou?"

I can see her frown deeply, which makes me worry a bit. "Hinamori Momo," she answers, "She was Aizen's fukutaichou."

"Can I talk to her?" I ask, blinking slowly at her.

"I am afraid not, she isn't conscious yet. Aizen Sousuke badly injured her with the intent of killing her. And, there is no telling when she will be conscious."

Her answer makes me frown deeply. He tried to kill his own fukutaichou? Why would he do that?

"Uh, is there anyone else that I can talk to about Aizen?"

I can see she seems to be almost done with her check as she writes in her folder. "Perhaps his squad, but I have a feeling that you will probably get more information from the other fukutaichous, such as Abarai Fukutaichou and Kira Fukutaichou."

My eyes widen slightly. "Renji knows about Aizen Sousuke like this Hinamori-san?"

Unohana nods and smiles softly. "Hai, Kira, Abarai, and Hinamori were all under the command of Aizen at one point so each should know a great deal about him."

I realize I can't really waste time in bed. I have to talk to Renji and see what he knows about Aizen.

I get up quickly and ignore the dizzy feeling I get as I put on my clothes. "Ah, arigatou, Unohana-san." I call as I flash step out the door.

I try to sense Renji's reiatsu but dammit, do I suck at reiatsu sensing. It's even worse since I'm not familiar with his like I am with the others. I flash step in and out of the hospital rooms until I come to a stop at Byakuya's door. I can see he's lying down on the bed with his face turned towards the window.

"What do you want, Kurosaki Ichigo?" He asks, startling me. How did he know I was here? I sigh softly, I guess it's too late now to try to go back.

"Yo, Byakuya, do you know where Renji is?"

His head turns towards me, his eyes staring at me before looking out the door. "He is across the hall from this room. I am unsure if he is awake yet, though you could try. But do not wake him if he is resting."

My head tilts a little to the side as I look at him. Why does he look do sad now too? Is it because of his battles with Renji and me? Or is it because he didn't realize he was being used as the rest of Seireitei by Aizen?

His eyes look back at me. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing really, I was just curious as to why you look so glum but I guess I don't really need to ask." I answer him.

His head turns back to look out the window. "No, you do not... Just leave me be, Kurosaki Ichigo." He tells me.

Poor guy, he looks kinda lost right now. I hope Renji or Rukia can help him out. It seems like he really needs one of them right now. I turn to walk out the door, but I look back over my shoulder before I leave the room though. His eyes are now closed and I can see a hint of regret etched upon his features but I don't comment on it, he doesn't need to feel any worse than he already does right now.

I move to knock on the door of Renji's room before I enter it. I laugh softly at the sight of him, he's eating about as fast as he can get it down his throat. "Yo, Renji!"

He looks up at me, chewing more slowly on the rice. "Oh, Ichigo, should you be walking around?" He asks, after swallowing.

"I feel fine," I assure him, sitting down in a chair next to his bed. "Better than Byakuya anyway."

Renji frowns and sets the nearly empty bowl of rice down on the table. "Oh…I was going to go see him after I ate." He says, looking down at his hands in his lap. "How is he?"

"I think he needs someone who's close to him." I tell him honestly.

He lets out a half-hearted chuckle. "Yeah, someone that isn't me." His eyes trail out to the window. "He'll probably send me to another squad after this."

"Why?"

His face quickly turns to me. "What do you mean 'why?'?" He yells. "Because! Because I betrayed his trust and I wasn't there for him when he really needed me! That's why!"

I gaze at him apologetically. "Then maybe you should show him that you won't betray him again."

Renji rubs his hand over his face before letting it go back to behind his head for it to rest on. "Yeah, how should I do that?" He asks, looking over at me.

My face twists into a scowl. "How am I supposed to know? Just do things like you would before, only not as an aim to get back at him."

Now his face drops into a dark scowl. "Are you telling me to just act like nothing happened?"

"No!" I snap a bit roughly. "Of course not, I mean to try to get him to understand you won't betray him like he did with his sister or like Aizen did to the rest of you."

"Bastard…" I can hear him mumble while crossing his arms over his chest.

Oh yeah…

"Renji?" I ask.

"What?" He says, still a bit pissed off.

"Uh, what can you tell me about Aizen Sousuke? Like, how was he like when you were in his squad?" I ask him, blinking slowly.

He looks a little surprised that I know he was in Aizen's squad at one point. "How do you know that?"

"Unohana-san told me…can you tell me more about him?"

"Uh," Renji looks a little dumbfounded now but he seems to recompose himself after a minute or two. "I guess."

I give him a few minutes to think while he rubs the back of his neck. "He was actually quite nice," he finally says. "He was kind, really strong, and from what I thought, he seemed to have a good heart. But he was firm and far too firm for me when I was there. I was raised in one of the most dangerous places in Rukongai so he couldn't really keep good control of me."

"So, what happened?" I ask, leaning back in my seat a little.

"He sent me to another squad. I was in squad eleven before I was promoted to Kuchiki Taichou's Fukutaichou."

"Huh," I muse aloud. "Really? So you were kinda like Ikkaku and Kenpachi?"

Renji chuckles at that. "Ah, not quite but close enough to be there-in that squad, I like fighting but I don't have a death wish like they do."

"So what else happened when you were under Aizen's command?"

He thinks for a minute then shrugs. "I don't really know that much about Aizen Sousuke." He admits. "I wasn't there long enough to get to know him like Hinamori was. She's the real person you should be asking. And if it wasn't her I'd say Ichimaru Gin, but as you can see he betrayed us too."

"Great," I sigh, raising my hand to scratch the back of my head absently-mindedly.

"What?" Renji asks.

"Hinamori-san isn't awake yet." I tell him. I can tell he's a little saddened by it too. "Unohana-san told me she doesn't know how long she'll be unconscious either."

Renji sighs and runs and hand through his hair. "I guess that is to be expected. She really looked up to him. I bet she's going to take this harder than anyone else here."

"She liked him that much?" I ask, frowning.

"Well…" he says, shrugging. "Yeah, even when we were still studying to become shinigami, she looked up to him. Hell, we all did. We were in the same class and we had a field challenge and Kira, Hinamori, and I were all on the same team. So when we were in trouble with a real high level hollow, he came to rescue us. And it was like he said before; he thought he could use us then when we were let into the Gotei Thirteen."

He huffed slightly. "But apparently I was too troublesome for him to be of good use."

I smirk at him. "Yeah, I know you wouldn't let someone use you that easily."

"Of course not," He smirks back.

"Oh yeah…" I say, thinking. "Who is this this Kira person?"

"Kira Izuru is Ichimaru Gin's fukutaichou." Renji answers, his expression now serious. "I'm sure he was used just as much as Hinamori was."

I frown. "Do you know where I can find him?"

Renji stands up slowly as to not agitate his injuries too much. "Ah, he came by earlier. I think he said he was going to go apologize to Rangiku-san."

"Rangiku?" I wonder.

"Oh," Renji says, chuckling as he moves around me to get dressed in a fresh uniform. "Matsumoto Rangiku is Histugaya Toshiro Taichou's fukutaichou." He explains. "She's blonde and perky, but she was close to Ichimaru so I'm sure she's a bit down right now too. I think you'll find her at the Tenth Division office."

I stood and brushed the back of my legs for any lint. "Ah, arigatou, Renji."

"No problem." He says good-naturedly, making his final adjustments to his uniform and putting his hair up in a high ponytail. He turns to me when he's done. "I'm going to go visit my taichou, if what you say is right then he needs someone, anyone right now… Plus I need to prove myself to him again."

I smile at him; he and Byakuya will get through this. I follow Renji out the door and watch as he knocks quietly on Byakuya's door. I can see faintly that Byakuya's large grey eyes seem to have a tiny spark in them as Renji walks in.

"How you doing, Taichou?" I hear Renji ask as I walk away and down the hall.

Kira Izuru...I wonder if he knows more about Aizen, if not… I'll just have to pray that Hinamori Momo wakes up soon so I can get some info from her.

X-X-X-X-X

((And, I'm ending it there for now since its 2:40am. Hehe.. Not my best work ever but eh…I like it anyway. It flows pretty well too. (And, it's longer. :)) I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully I'll get the next up soon.))