The moonlit night stood in a dim. Eyes, blinking at the taichou before her. What was Aizen-taichou doing out this late? Better yet, what was he doing out around the barracks? It almost made her heart jump out of her chest, thinking it was nearly Gin for a second. Her anxiety, calming down at the sight of the Fifth Division captain.

Sighing, she found herself able to utter some words despite her startled state, "A-Aizen-taichou." She breathed, her hand, on her own chest, still trying to calm herself down for a moment. Geez, she knows better than to get herself this worked up, especially since she was trying to keep everything in. She's letting herself get paranoid which is unlike her to be so.

"I'm sorry for startling you, Hozuki-kun." Aizen stated, keeping a small smile on his face, "It seems you've had quite the long night, but that is to say with all of us considering we are now in a war."

Avira blinked, taking a few deep breaths before regaining her composure finally, "Yes, it's grim to say that this has to settle with wartime orders." Something Shuhei had told her about, and she wasn't going to go back on her word with the Ryouka earlier in the human world when she had gotten helped out by them. She owed them and she hated being owed anything from anyone.

She had known Aizen since she was a fresh graduate out of the academy considering how closely he had worked with her grandfather and a lot of Central 46, it was no surprise, she had known him for a long time.

"I talked with your sister about it earlier this afternoon; I wanted to make sure you and she was okay during this; especially since your grandfather is in Central 46." Aizen told her causing Avira to blink and gasp quietly at that.

"Oh? Um...I'm alright, I mean, I guess it's only natural for me to feel the way I do about this whole ordeal honestly." She sighed, glancing down slightly at the ground for a moment, "It's...kind of hard. I thought grandfather was telling the truth when he told me he was against it, and I just...I guess I found myself confused about his actions when he changed his mind." Avira found herself shaking for a second.

Aizen was probably going to think she was crazy or something the way she was saying all of this.

She had to be careful of whom she trusts with this, and Gin's intentions scared her quite a bit to that he knew she was looking into the case herself and hell, she nearly backed down, but she wanted to know the truth. Why was the execution getting moved up to two weeks from now? It didn't make any sense. Rukia was an old friend, a former officer in the same division as her during her time as a thirteenth division member. Avira had been a tenth seat when Rukia had graduated.

There was a slight narrowing of Aizen's eyes. Fortunately, he made it look like as if he was merely blinking for the moment. She was getting herself involved in that he really cared, really. He knew that she had been suspicious and that was what exactly what he had wanted her to be. His outer appearance merely remained the opposite of his mirror. How foolish that not even the first division could truly see through his true identity. He didn't mind though, it made using them so much easier.

He reached to pat the female Shinigami on the head, smiling at her, "I think you're getting somewhere, Avira. I find all of the reasons to investigate to see if the Central truly made such a decent decision. The execution is being moved closer and closer. It strikes me as odd, as well. I have reason to believe that there is a traitor among us. I have a good wrap around who it is as well."

Avira didn't expect such a response from him. Much less, she thought her original thoughts would be the complete opposite. It wasn't.

She thought Aizen wouldn't been able to be aware of it, but she guessed she just underestimated him, "I'm surprised, but then again, I shouldn't be. I believe it's Gin. He's aware of me looking into the case and he feigned anything of telling me that he would've used that knowledge well. I don't even know why if he's the conspirator of this whole ordeal why he even leaves me to live after knowing such things?"

"You haven't connected the dots then." It was more to himself, "Perhaps Gin wants to use you as a pawn, perhaps you have something he wants as well. You don't know what he's truly after, do you?"

"Aizen-taichou, what the hell would I have to benefit Gin?" She wondered as Aizen shrugged.

"I'm not sure, but if he is aware of you looking into the case, be cautious. Gin will take an opportunity to kill you when he receives the chance. He could even pour the blame on you if he wanted to. In any case, be aware. I'm going to be confronting him and when I do, I will stop this whole execution" He hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I applaud you, Hozuki-kun. You are definitely a strong member of the first division. Have you ever considered yourself to feel underestimated by Yamamoto-soutachiou? You are more than capable of being his third seat. You have qualities of what Genshiro-kun does not have. You'd make an amazing co-seat for him. You're very intelligent and while your actions were not all the way figured out, you were going on the right track. Hozuki-kun, I'm sure even if Yaijime-Kun knew what you were doing, he'd feel happy that you're seizing justice of your own accord."

His words made her feel a little happier. She knew Aizen could be trusted just that she was a little worried about Gin being the way he was.

Still, she thought it would be a good idea for her to back off. She was hopeful that Aizen would take care of Gin and maybe, this whole thing could be over. Well no, because then things would be a lot harder to figure out, "Aizen-taichou do you know of Gin's plan?" Avira asked before Aizen chuckled.

"I had a feeling you were going to ask me. I believe the Sogoku is the thing he's after. With a power of all of those, he could do a lot. However, what for, is another story that I haven't even been able to figure it out myself. You won't have to worry about me. I'll be able to stop it. Just get some rest. I'm sure you've had a long day." Doing this with Avira was far better off. She didn't need her to get involved with what he was planning to do next, after all.

Avira sighed, "If it is the Sogoku, then that would be terrifying for someone to use against the entire Soul Society." No one could be able to stand against that.

Hell, she was worried that even Chojiro-fuktaichou and Yamamoto-soutaichou wouldn't be able to handle that power if it fell into the wrong hands. That had the power of over a million Zanpukto.

"Yes, I agree, Avira, you don't need to worry about that though." Aizen smiled at her, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I promise you, I will stop this before it escalates that far. I should be heading out now, but I just am glad to see you taking things in the right direction unlike most of your division." With that said, he takes his hand off of her shoulder and walks away, closing his eyes for a moment as Avira stared at him walking away until he was out of her sight.

She sighed, eyes glancing at the ground before looking back up. He was right, she had a long day and she needed sleep. She needed to rest and keep her energy up. Sometimes, she didn't care how tired she was, she kept pulling through and through. She was always a hard worker. It was in her bones. She decided to take Aizen's advice and head to rest in her room for the night. She needed to relax so she can meet up with Ukitake tomorrow morning.

XXXX

"So, Harui-chan, are you enjoying yourself?"

The blond member of the fourth division stopped in her tracks from the third division captain's question. She sighed, staring at him weirdly. She couldn't say enjoying herself healing a guy who got thrashed by a Ryouka, nearly thrown in prison because of no use, and seeing a whole head of wounds around was enjoyable.

However, it was her job to do all of this and she was perfectly capable. She stared at the redhead shinigami's wounds, still trying to make as much progress that she could. At best, she could be up till morning doing all of this stuff. It was normal for her not to sleep much and end up pulling all-nighters for these kinds of jobs. She just hopes that Renji was able to fight it out. She shrugged, deciding to speak to Captain Ichimaru finally, "Ichimaru-taichou, enjoying people getting beaten up isn't something I'd say is one of my hobbies.

However, taking care of the injured is." She couldn't help but remember what Kaguya said to her about Byakuya. Would he really come back and try to reason with her that he should be killed and not worked on? If anything, Harui would ignore that order for she was following the orders from her division captain herself and she would not do it.

She didn't enjoy watching these people hurt but it was the reason why she decided to become a part of the fourth division. When she was in the seventh division, she knew being a fighter wasn't just her thing. She needed something more, something way more than that. She found herself flashbacking to when Komermera encouraged her to join back when she was a mere third seat in his division.

Flashback

"Harui-chan, what are you doing in the meadows this late? Is something troubling you?" Sajin, her captain asked her, seeing her sit and looking down at the flowers.

She stared at him, jumping at the sound of his voice before looking up, blinking "Ahhh, Sajin-taichou, I didn't even sense you, my apologies." She tucked her hair behind her ear before calming her breathing down from being startled.

It was something she had been doing regularly and she knew it was bound to happen that Sajin would eventually be curious about her endeavors especially since it had been nature of all things she was watching. She had been the third seat for a while now and she found herself questioning if just the basic elements of a Soul Reaper were enough for her. She had been studying the medic area as of late. Heck, in her last mission, she was able to save another member of her own division's life by using a simple trick to extract poison. It was amazing how much she could help life with one little thing.

"Ah, not really troubling sir more like, something I've felt a little off with myself. It's nothing to be concerned about, I just found something of more interest." Harui admitted to the fox looking man, shrugging her shoulders at him.

"That does remind me, I was told that you helped your partner I assigned to the mission yesterday when you two had encountered a Hollow of poisonous type. I heard you did excellent. The fourth division even said that someone was able to extract all the poison from him. That, someone, had to have been you because you were the only one there that was trying to help one of our other unseated members out…"

"Sajin-taichou, with all, do respect, I was careless while fighting the Hollow. If it wasn't for me being careless, Jirou-san wouldn't have been poisoned. He wouldn't have had to have the pain of the poison in him and I wouldn't have had to use all of my spirit energy to defeat the Hollow if things did get that bad. I'm sorry, I acted crazy in my actions, and I was only trying to correct the mistake I made." She had been terrified in that regard of the poison. No one was around and she had no choice but to react the way she did.

"It's not selfish you know. I don't know why you would think such a selfless act would be selfish of the sorts, but it's natural for you to feel regrets, but that doesn't change that you saved a life and that's what is what ultimately matters. You were able to go something me and Lieutenant Testuzaemon wouldn't have been able to. I'm impressed in all honesty the way you handled the situation, Harui-san. You should look at the better side of things like that you were able to save Jirou-san. The Fourth divisions were also impressed by your abilities, even Unohana-taichou herself was."

Then, it suddenly hit her like a pile of rocks falling onto someone. The fourth division...how didn't she even think that?

"Umm...really? Unohana-taichou? But I am glad that Jirou-san will be back on his feet soon. I've only been studying medical info for about a year and a half now. I just haven't had a chance to use it until this happened. I've been pretty interested in it actually and I haven't felt out of place as a Shinigami ever since. Um...would you...ever be mad if I transferred to another division Komomura-taichou?" Harui asked, trying to find the right words to this, "It's nothing personal, I promise, I just think I could learn way more about this in Unohana-taichou's division and make myself a better Shinigami. I've felt...more at peace working so hard on these abilities since I was able to find out my Zanpukto can heal as well other than light powers."

Sajin blinked in surprise at her words and merely smiled, "You're more than welcome to return to visit anytime. If this is what you want to do then I don't think I can stop you. I think you'd make a suitable fourth division member honestly."

Harui couldn't help but smile and bow, "Thank you, Komerura-taichou."

-Flashback End-

Healing had slowly become a passion of Harui's, wanting to follow in the footsteps of her late mother after stumbling upon some old stuff around the time she was promoted to the third seat in Sajin's division, and slowly became a medic for them. However, it wasn't enough info for her in there. She needed more, more and more content about being a healer. That was the reason why she wanted to become a part of the fourth division.

"I'm honored, Ichimaru-taichou, to just help someone's life stay in existence is all." Laughter fell from her lips, wondering if the third division captain even comprehended such words from her mouth, "I'm glad you came in when you did for Renji-fuktaichou. Momo-fuktaichou and Izuru-fukachiou were scared of the sixth division fuktaichou's well being. Byakuya-taichou is...something else." She didn't wanna say anything partially rude about the taichou, but he was doing a lot of crazy things. Yes, while Renji-fuktaichou was reckless, it doesn't serve him the right to be thrown in jail. That was a little extreme.

"You should head out and rest. I'm more than capable of handling this." Wiping the sweat off of her forehead, the blond looked at Gin, "I will be able to stabilize him."

"Truly so, I don't underestimate you, Harui-chan, but I don't think you should be worrying about me for too long, especially when you have a patient you're working on at the moment." Gin kept that creepy smile he was known so well for on his face before turning away, "I trust you won't let that boy die." He hummed nearly happily before walking away, waving to the girl behind him before leaving, shutting the door behind her.

Harui was left panting softly, feeling as if she had already been working for hours and hours on end. Thankfully, she had been used to long shifts in the fourth division. She would hope this healing wouldn't take all night like it could've.

XXXX

The next morning went by and Avira found herself getting ready to see Ukitake.

Her tired green eyes, were still there though.

She hates the early morning quite a bit, especially since it was almost seven thirty am and she really hated being up before nine.

She was doing this for him and to help him out. She wouldn't get convince not to be up this early otherwise unless she had fourth seat duties to tend to. She opened the door, only to see her sister in the doorway. Blinking, Avira found herself able to utter any words for a moment before she was able to regain her surprise composure.

"Hi nee-chan." Kaguya waved, keeping the smile on her lips before running over to hug her sister. She was happy to see her running around and active especially in the craziness that was wartime orders. Safe to say, she was worried about Avira being put on the front lines, especially since first division members are generally stronger than what normal officers in the other divisions were.

Avira hugged her sister back, happy to see her. However, she was a little thrown off the unexpected visit, "Kaguya, how have you been?" She asked, letting go of the girl, grabbing her by the shoulders.

She smiled, "Well, I've been good. I'm here mostly for Hitsugaya-taichou and Rangiku-fuktaichou, but I did wanna see you. I was worried that Yamamoto-soutaichou would've ended up throwing you on the frontlines with the wartime orders that came out last night.

I'm glad you're not, really. I would be worried about your well being." Kaguya hesitated before shaking her head, "But, anyways, I talked to Aizen-taichou yesterday; he said something big was going on, and I wanted to talk about it with you."

Avira wasn't really surprised that Kaguya wanted to talk about it. It made sense, she probably saw things the same as she did. Aizen-taichou mentioned it to her last night after all, "Kaguya, I talked to him last night too. I know something is conspiring within the Gotei. Aizen-taichou is handling the situation so I don't think there's much to discuss honestly." Avira was merely speaking the truth because she knew Aizen could handle such a mission by himself.

He was just gonna handle the situation, and it'll all be okay. Hell, they could find out that Rukia would be free today if Aizen's mission was a success. It would be able to stop herself from having to do anything else and go back to her duties just worrying about being a proper fourth seat officer. Maybe she wouldn't feel so bad for having to go behind Yamamoto-soutaichou's back? Maybe she wouldn't feel about going behind her grandfather's back to?

"You think Aizen-taichou could've handled it all that easily?" Kaguya asked, wondering if it was actually possible for even Aizen alone, to be able to close a case in a matter of a day.

"Kaguya, you're not putting as much faith into him as you should. Aizen-taichou will be fine, he's strong enough to take a case he's been questioning on all this entire time. Even I know not to underestimate Aizen-taichou." She chuckled at the end of her joke, putting her hands on her hips, "Besides, you gotta think on the bright side like you usually do, sis. I'm supposed to be the down one, not you."

"I know, but…" Kaguya sighed, knowing she saw the state of Renji when he was, especially since he decided to be reckless. Her sister could've pulled the same thing if the Ryouka hurt her so bad. She would've had a reason not just Renji's pride that gets him into so many crazy situations sometimes. She knew though that Aizen-taichou could probably handle this better than the tenth division.

"But what, sis?You know better than to underestimate someone. Besides, I can't stand being the one that sounds like you. You do you better than anyone else." She laughed a little at her words, just trying to tease her sister and make her feel better. If anything, she wasn't going to tell Kaguya what she had been looking into. She understood that she was older now. However, she would protect her little sister no matter what.

The people she had encountered in the world of the living were just people that wanted their friends back, but now that they keep moving the execution up, it sensed that someone was possibly staging the whole thing, like Aizen-taichou said, and that it was Ichimaru-taichou from the intel she gained from him, but she doubt she would be able to not have to do a thing against Ichimaru-taichou himself since he was going to handle the situation.

"I guess you're right." Kaguya sighed, deciding to change the subject, "By the way, sis did you hear what happened to Renji? He was badly hurt and Byakuya-taichou wanted him court marshaled for failing. I heard him say that to me and that he didn't even care about Rukia anymore. How could anyone act like that to their own sister?" The nobles were never understanding to Kaguya and Avira.

Throwing around an adoptive sister into the family and not given her some mercy both set that fire into their eyes. It did anger Avira quite a bit. In the Rukougai district, they had nothing. The nobles had no idea how it was to see crimes, death, blood splattered and being poor. They had no right to treat anyone like that. If that was why Byakuya decided to act like that to his sister, then he had no right to call her his sister period.

"Yeah, I did." Came the response from Avira's lips, sighing, shrugging her shoulders, "I will never understand the Kuckhi clan at all. They say they are doing what the law orders, but they don't even care to disown someone in their family if they make such a mistake." A family was always over the law any day in Avira's eyes. In both of their perspectives, actually.

"Anyway, let's get off that topic. I'm going to go see Renji to see if he was doing alright. Harui was working on him and told me to leave last night. I hope he's stable now. I have no doubt he is. Harui is a great healer, and she should be able to handle Renji's injuries just fine. Do you wanna come with? It's been so long since you and I actually got to really hang out without having fireworks." Kaguya really wanted Avira with her. She could use the support and encouragement her sister gives her.

"I would usually accept it, but I'm seeing Ukitake-taichou today to catch up over a cup of my favorite tea. I don't see him around the barracks much so I wanted to see him before he goes off to the next taichou meeting." Avira responded with a sigh before patting Kaguya on the shoulder, "I'll be with you in spirit though, give Renji-fukutaichou my thoughts and let him know I hope he gets back on the battlefield." She found herself smiling before Kaguya's face brighten.

"Yes, of course. I wish you could join me, but I know you'll be with me in spirit, sis. I wish you the best of luck on your meeting." She flashed a smile at her sister, "In the meantime, I have to meet with Hitsuguya-taichou later this morning so I will be having to see you around. I'm glad I got to see you, Avira. Stay out of trouble, missy." She laughed while Avira found herself laughing along with her sister.

"You should stay out of trouble too. You may be the smart one, but you get yourself into trouble with your curiosity." She chuckled before Kaguya hugged her again before she patted her back, letting go, watching her run off. She couldn't help but smile at her sister as she left.

It was like they said, like older sister, like younger sister. They had been on the same details as well. It was a little worrying that Kaguya was also trying to nestle the case out. However, the tenth division had been quite good at investigating.

Still, she should head out now. Her old captain was waiting for her.

XXXX

"You think there's no looking into the case now, Hozuki-san?" Toshiro was looking over all the paperwork his third seat had prepared for him the night before.

Turquoise eyes, narrowing at the words he was reading. Was his third seat ridiculous? While Aizen-taichou was perfectly capable of handling such a thing, he certainly wished his third seat would've said something sooner about the situation.

"I'm not saying that Hitsuguya-taichou, I just think Aizen-taichou can handle Ichimaru-taichou if he steps a moment out of line, and if Aizen-taichou is truly going with this, I don't think there's nothing to worry about." Kaguya shrugged her shoulders.

There was a moment before Toshiro put the papers down before slamming his hand down on the desk, causing Kaguya to jump, "Kaguya, why didn't you tell me this sooner? You had time, did you not?"

You did. Kaguya could hear her Zanpukto say such things in her mind. You were too busy trying to figure out the details yourself.

Kaguya sighed mentally to herself, knowing Heibikikonte was right about such things. It was a little hard for her to swallow at first but wouldn't it all be? It was a betrayal in the Soul Society.

Stop overthinking such things, Kaguya. There have been traitors in the Soul Society, you know that. Her Zanpukto spoke again into her mind before she just blocked him out for the moment.

Sighing, "I know, I should've told you sooner, Hitsuguya-taichou, but I had to gather my thoughts on this whole ordeal. It's...hard to take in. I haven't heard of such a thing happening in a long time. A taichou, no less, being a traitor."

Hitsugaya sighed, sitting back in his seat, leaning back, "Forget it, Kaguya, I'm glad you reported this to me. Still, that can't rule out anyone else that could be in helping Gin with this whole ordeal. You do need to be reminded of that. I still wouldn't call this case to be dropped. Still, with these details, we still can't act until Aizen-taichou does what he said he would." Hitsuguya stated, "Are you certain that he did it last night?"

"Positive, nee-chan said he was doing it, and I don't think Avira would be the person to lie to me, Hitsuguya-taichou. She's been looking into the case as well." Kaguya nodded, knowing Avira had to be way more cautious about the whole ordeal. According to her sister, Yamamoto-soutaichou isn't one to believe things until he sees he's in the wrong. It makes her worry about her very own sister's safety if it gets out before she is able to prove such things.

"I see, Avira-san has been looking into it as well. I want you to report me any suspicious activity at all, Kaguya if you see it immediately. If Gin, drops, even a step out of line, I want you to be cautious and call for backup as soon as you can. Despite your skills, you don't stand a chance against Ichimaru-taichou alone. Look into the case as much as you can and report back. Don't do anything else, got it?" Hitsuguya wasn't playing around either. Even a single step out of line could cause their entire plan to go upside down.

Kaguya grinned innocently, "Hehehe, no worries, Hitsuguya-taichou, I'll get your information in no time." She shot a thumbs up at him happily, before turning away from him, waving a hand, "Besides, I'm one of the best investigators you have, and the best sniper to." She turned over to look at him again and winked before starting to walking out.

The only sniper he had. Toshiro mentally noted to himself. He was grateful, really that Avira had been looking into this as well. Aizen-taichou trusted her enough to pass the information along to her as well. That meant Avira had trusted her own sister with the information enough as well, but how much had she had figured out?

He would just have to get to the bottom of it himself. He watched Kaguya walk towards the door before hearing something from her very powerful hearing.

It sounded like a scream, and it was coming from outside. Kaguya's fingers tightly held the door. Her blue eyes, widening at the hearing she heard.

Noticing that suddenly stall in Kaguya's position, Toshiro looked back over at her, "What's wrong, Kaguya? Did you hear something?"

"It's Hinamori, I just heard her scream," Kaguya muttered before not even saying anything else before opening the door and running out of the room, towards the source of Hinamori's voice.

"Kaguya stop-" But Kaguya ignored her taichou's words and continue to sprint towards the outside barracks, trying to find Hinamori before whatever it was for her screaming about hurt her.

What was going on? Kaguya didn't hear anything from that distance earlier. She quickly walked past Rangiku, Iba, and Shuhei.

About a minute later, she ran past Izuru as well, hearing him ask her why she was in such a rush, but she just ignored it and ran out to see Hinamori on her knees crying.

"Hinamori…" Kaguya began, moving her hand to touch her shoulder before she saw blood on the ground a few ways next to her, causing her eyes to widen in shock, looking up to see the unthinkable.

Aizen-taichou's body was stabbed into the tall building, blood splattered all over the place around him, dripping slowly to the ground. It nearly made Kaguya wanna throw up at the sight of it. What the heck? How? How could Aizen-taichou even die? Be murdered, no less? This was...this was impossible.

What the heck was going on here?

How was...how was she supposed to tell the others what happened?

Her legs were shaking, the weight on her legs were begging to just give up, as if life itself had just fallen down in the depths of her realization on just how bad the situation has become.

She covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stop herself from crying. She needed to. They needed to get to the bottom of this. She never thought that Aizen-taichou, the taichou of the fifth division in the Gotei 13, would be murdered in general.