The world was nothing but fuzzy images for a few moments while Ichigo blinked back to consciousness. The first thing he saw clearly was a tuft of intensely red hair and for a moment he expected to see Renji but when he tilted his head he realized it was the shop boy, Jinta.
"Finally! You sure do like to sleep." He didn't waste any more time with Ichigo and stomped out of the room calling for someone.
"Would you like some water?" Ichigo jumped at the timid voice, he hadn't even seen Ururu standing in the corner.
"Ah, yes, thanks." He accepted the glass and sat carefully. The wound in his gut was well bandaged but it had not been closely examined. Ururu seemed to notice his stare and explained.
"They've been trying all night to save him. There wasn't much time to heal you once your life was out of danger."
Ichigo stiffened and clambered to his feet. Ururu yelled protests at him but he stumbled half naked down the hall until he heard voices. He pulled open the door and Orihime's tired face looked up at him in surprise.
"Ichigo." She smiled at him but it was a sort of sad smile and he looked down at the small body underneath her hands.
"I don't understand. You can heal anything."
"It's the poison. I can heal the damage but not remove it. I have to wait until it passes out of his system, otherwise it will just attack him all over again."
Ichigo slumped to the floor on the opposite side of the captain. Uryu and Chad were sitting off to the side too, the quincy also heavily bandaged for his wounds in the back. His eyes fell back to Toshiro.
"You sure do cause a lot of trouble."
"We're all in trouble now." Uryu's voice floated to him. Ichigo was tired and didn't want to think about their troubles beyond this room but he looked up, waiting for the rest of the grim pronouncement that was sure to come. "Toshiro was right. If Aizen wakes up more soul reapers, he could start using them to kill each other just for his own amusement. Or he could send them here. Whatever he choses, it won't be good."
"Maybe he can't wake them up yet." All eyes turned to the deep voice and Chad continued in his slow but well thought out manner. "He knew where Captain Hitsugaya would be. He chose to wake up the captain and the lieutenant of squad twelve first for a reason."
"They were the closest to his target." Ichigo added. "So he had to be selective. That means maybe its taking a long time to brainwash the zampakutos."
"But I thought Toshiro said he saw them all being experimented on." Orihime added.
"Maybe experiments, but this was the first real success and its taken him more than a month to get this far." Ichigo was hopeful but then he met Uryu's gaze.
"But now he has the process perfected. Sorry Ichigo, it may not happen as quickly as we feared, but its happening. We may have a day, we may have a week, but soon enough more soul reapers are going to wake up."
"Then we have to get to Heuco Mundo as soon as possible." Ichigo sighed but he didn't have long to dwell in his thoughts. The door slid open behind him and Tessai entered with a tray of medical supplies.
"Ichigo. Jinta told me you were awake, you should be resting, I will tend to you soon."
"What is that?" Ichigo asked, completely ignoring the instructions from the only adult in the room.
"I believe this will neutralize the poison and allow Captain Hitsugaya to finish healing."
"Really?" Orihime exclaimed breathlessly. Her hands were shaking slightly but the golden orb remained firm.
"Yes miss." He knelt next to Toshiro and pushed a needle into a large vial and pulled back on the plunger, sucking all of the liquid into the syringe.
"Are you sure you can put that much in him?" Ichigo asked, his medical heritage kicking in.
"I could not identify the poison exactly. This will counter almost anything but it requires a large dose. I'm afraid he may not feel very well after but he will no longer be in danger."
Without further explanation, Tessai pushed the needle into Toshiro's only arm and Ichigo winced as he watch all of the liquid disappear. It took a few minutes but soon Orihime's face brightened and the small figure in her sphere of light stirred.
"I can feel it, his body is healing more rapidly now." She continued pouring her power into the boy and soon the wound on his shoulder closed and eyes began to flutter open. He just got them focussed when he felt the most incredible sensation on his left side and looked to see his own arm reappearing.
Orihime dropped her hands in utter exhaustion but her face glowed with joy. She'd kept the captain alive and even restored his arm.
"Orihime," Toshiro's voice was soft but he reached up to her with his freshly healed hand. She took it and smiled.
"I'm glad you're back." She nearly wept and he smiled appreciatively at her before his eyes shut again and he fell asleep. She gently dropped his hand.
"Who's next?" she asked looking between Uryu and Ichigo but both boys held up their hands in protest at once.
"No way Orihime. You need to rest, then you can worry about us."
She tried to protest but there was no denying how tired she was. Chad helped her to her feet and lead her to a room to rest. The danger passed, Ichigo allowed Tessai to guide him back to his room to have some more healing before he too drifted back to sleep.
Something brushed past Toshiro's leg. He opened his eyes and sat up to find a black cat with deeply intelligent eyes staring back at him.
"Youruichi? But I was sure you were in the Soul Society when Aizen attacked."
"She was."
"Then who are you?"
"How can you not know me? You are my master's captain."
"Haineko?"
"You must save us."
"I'm trying."
"They'll take her next. What will you do? Will you fight my master? Would you kill your own lieutenant to save the humans? You chose them over your own kind already."
"No. They'll revive once I unfreeze them."
"What if it had been Rangiku. What if it had been any other soul reaper that couldn't survive."
"I did what I had to do."
"You chose humans over us."
"Why are you saying this?"
"When you come to Heuco Mundo will it be to save us, or destroy us?"
"Haineko..."
The black cat morphed before his eyes into his lieutenant. Rangiku leaned in close to him, half seductive, half threatening, just like a cat.
"Will you destroy me captain? Will you take away all that I am just to get your revenge on Aizen?"
"No, to save everyone."
"To save the humans you mean."
"Rangiku–"
"Shh." she placed two fingers on his lips and leaned so that her mouth was just next to his ear. "I know your heart better than anyone. You can't lie to me. The only reason you might have to destroy us all is because you're too weak to do what you really need to do: kill Aizen. If you could do that you could save us all, humans, soul reapers, no more tough decisions. But you can't, can you?"
Toshiro shoved the woman off of himself and stood.
"Who are you?"
"Captain I'm hurt." But the voice was not Rangiku's, not really. His lieutenant would never act like this.
"Get out of my head."
"But that's precisely the problem. This is your head, your thoughts, your imagination. You dreamed this, because you know that it's your weakness that is preventing you from doing what is necessary."
Toshiro suddenly felt a terrible rage at the woman before him but if her words we true then the rage was really directed at himself. He calmed down and shut his eyes.
"It doesn't work that way Captain. Even when you wake up, it will all still be true."
Toshiro's eyes shot open and he sat up in the dark room. It took him a second to realize what was coming and he ran out of the shop just in time to hurl in the bushes. It took a long time for the nausea to pass and he sat back shaking when he'd finished. He couldn't see much on the cloudy night be he felt the presence of the human.
"Tessai gave you something to counter the drugs but he said it might make you sick." Chad bent and offered Toshiro water which he took and gulped down immediately to sooth his raw throat.
"Thanks."
The teen nodded and sat down a respectful distance from Toshiro. The small captain could not decide whether he was going to be sick again or not so he stayed put for the time being.
"You were talking, in your sleep."
Toshiro had let his head sink against one knee but he looked up at the unexpected comment. He waited for Chad to continue but he didn't.
"What did you hear?"
"Some things I did not understand. But I did understand your plan for when you get to Heuco Mundo."
Toshiro had two plans, one he'd shared with Ichigo, and one he had not. There was no doubt in his mind which one Chad was talking about.
"So now you think I should tell Ichigo? Or have you told him already?"
"No. Its not up to me what you decide."
"Then what?"
"You aren't weak."
Toshiro felt himself flush a little. "Wh-what?"
"It takes courage to sacrifice yourself but even more to risk your friends, even when you know its right. But there is something you haven't considered yet."
"I have considered it but the answer is no."
"It would take the same courage and you would risk fewer friends."
"Its not your risk to take."
Toshiro stood up in an attempt to put an end to the conversation but as he tried to walk away he felt another wave of nausea and disorientation. Before he hit the pavement however, one strong arm caught him by the front of his robes. Chad was still sitting, and holding Toshiro by his collar like that it looked for all the world like he was threatening him, but instead he spoke calmly, solemnly.
"Its always my risk to take when friends lives are on the line." He righted the boy but kept a firm hand on each shoulder. "If your plan fails, please let us take the risk, before you take the last resort."
Toshiro didn't respond. Chad's hands slid from his shoulders but he just stood there, staring down on the quiet teen. His dream rang through his mind as well as Hyorinmaru's words and he knew that boy had reason. How long had the other captain's been telling him that Ichigo was the only one who could stop Aizen because he was the only one who hadn't seen the power of his zampakuto? And yet the whole shop was full of people who had never been exposed to that power, people who could see Aizen for who he really was.
Toshiro dropped to his knees.
"I can't ask them."
"You don't have to. They'll volunteer."
"No." Toshiro looked up at Chad. "Not until we have to. Not until I have no more options."
"You don't." The voice came from the shop door and Uryu came out. "Whatever path you chose, Aizen will still be there, you will never know when he'll attack. He could wipe out the whole Soul Society while they're defenceless. Killing him is the only way. And we are the only people who can help you do it."
"This is insane." Toshiro murmured.
"Look at your left arm. Now tell me you don't need us."
The captain raised the hand before his eyes. The healing had been flawless. Chad and Uryu thought he would relent but his eyes flashed in the cold moonlight and the hand became a fist.
"No."
"Toshiro–"
"I said no! You think just because we have the will we can defeat Aizen? You are children and he, he is a monster! There is no more time to lose, I must get the zampakutos before the monster can become even more powerful."
Toshiro jumped to his feet and disappeared before their eyes.
Ichigo shivered as he got closer to the pond. He knew this place from when he was a child but he'd never seen it quite like this, especially when it was still summer. Frost covered everything, the grass crunched beneath his feet and everything shone white and bright against the black of night. He squatted down next the trembling captain who sat at the water's edge, staring into its obsidian surface. He was clearly still suffering from the effects of Tessai's antidote.
"Chad and Uryu told me about your conversation earlier."
It had been a few hours. At first they had all feared Toshiro had run off to Heuco Mundo by himself but they'd quickly pinpointed his unstable spiritual pressure, unmoving and not far. Ichigo had waited until Tessai had finished healing him to make his move.
"Are you alright?" Toshiro asked hoarsely. Ichigo guessed he'd been sick again.
"I'll feel even better in a day or so but I'm alright. You?"
A sigh was all he got as a response.
"Why Toshiro? Why are you denying the only chance we have."
"I'm not. I know it might come down to that in the end but Ichigo, the chances we'd succeed–"
"We aren't stupid, we know."
"No, Ichigo, they don't. Maybe you do, you've fought many battles by now, but how can you expect Orihime, Chad, those children from the shop, to understand what it means to die in battle, to face the worst sort of evil and be cut down by it? If its between them and the world, of course we must try. But you know Aizen, you know his strength. We can't just go after him, we have to neutralize his hold in the soul reapers first. Then, if we die, at least we'll have restored the balance and there will still be hope."
"I guess."
"Ichigo. You've won so many impossible battles and your friends have good reason to believe in you. But we cannot take the risk of falling to Aizen and leaving him with an army of soul reapers. I have to know you understand that. I have to know that you won't go off to fight Aizen instead of doing what we really need to do."
Ichigo let out a long breath but nodded. "I won't. We'll save the soul reapers, but then you know we'll have to face him. He won't leave us alone after that."
"I know."
"Then when do we leave?"
"As soon as I can. I'm sorry Ichigo. I can't wait now that they're reviving."
"Toshiro–"
"Ichigo, I would take you with me, but Aizen will find us as soon as we go through."
"Tosrhio–"
"There's no point in–"
"TOSHIRO! Just watch." Ichigo straightened his back and breathed in. Small ripples formed on the surface of the water and soon miniature waves were lapping at the grassy shore. Toshiro's frost lifted and floated in the air, swirling around them. Then all was still and silence rang through the night. Ichigo opened his eyes and smiled at the little captain who stared back at him amazed. The shock faded into a satisfied smile and Toshiro stood up grinning wryly.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, you may just be the most stubborn soul reaper I've ever met. I'm glad you'll be at my side."