"Captain Kuchiki did not tell me what this was about." Toshiro said.

"He doesn't know, himself." Misa Yagami said. "I figured it would be easier to get his approval for a general request than to go into specifics."

"So what am I here for? I don't much like being back in the academy."

"An old friend wants to talk to you."

Toshiro stopped.

"I was called away from my squad because a student wanted to talk to me?"

Misa smiled. "I see you already know who I'm talking about."

"There's only one person it could possibly be."

"Men." Misa sighed. "I'll never understand the need of your kind to handle everything yourselves instead of confiding in friends."/

"Whitey!"

Hinamori had practically jumped on Toshiro when she saw him.

"Hina.." he breathed. "Mori…cho…choke…"

She let go. "Sorry, but it's been so long! Why didn't you tell me you were here?"

Toshiro massaged his throat. "For one, I value breathing."

Hinamori smiled. "I couldn't believe it when I heard my little Whitey had already graduated and become a seated officer."

"And as a seated officer," Toshiro growled, "you can't call me 'Whitey' anymore."

"Force of habit. I'm going to slip every now and then."

Toshiro sighed. "Is that all. I don't have much time. I'd better get back to my squad."

"But you're only a fifth seat! How much work can you possibly have?"

"I'm effectively the lieutenant in all but name."

Hinamori was confused. "How does that work?"

"The Sixth Division doesn't have a lieutenant, and I'm the next most powerful officer after the captain. So I get the most dangerous missions, the paperwork, and anyone who has a complaint brings it to me to bring to the captain."

"So why does Captain Kuchiki keep you as the fifth seat? Why doesn't he promote you to lieutenant, or at least higher?"

Toshiro shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he feels I'm only as strong as a fifth seat level and won't promote me even though I'm the best he's got. I don't know how I compare to other officers or lieutenants, seeing as how the only person from another division I've fought so far wasn't even a seated officer.

"So how has your fourth year been going so far?"

"Oh, it's been great! I'm top in the class at kido, and I've already got my Zanpakto! Her name's Tobiume."

"Really? It was much closer to the deadline before I got mine."

Toshiro looked away at the mention of the process by which students claimed their Zanpaktos. It had only been nine months since the death of Kusaka.

"Toshiro…"

He looked back at her. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry about your granny. I cried so much when I heard."

He did not respond.

"Please, Toshiro, don't blame yourself."

"What?"

"It was really hard for me, but I can only imagine what it's like for you. With you being here at the time, it wouldn't surprise me if you felt guilty for not being home with her. I felt that way when I thought you were wandering Rugunkai by yourself."

Toshiro turned around. "I've got to go."

"All right. But come back to see me every once in a while!"/

"You're back earlier than expected." Captain Kuchiki said. "That is good."

"What's happened, Captain?"

"We've just received orders from the First Division. A menos has appeared in the world of the living, in Europe."

"A menos!"

"Yes. A joint team from the Sixth and Tenth Divisions is being sent to deal with it. I was just about to send for you."

"Understood, sir. We'll take care of it."

"There is one more thing, Hitsugaya. Because of the location of the appearance of the menos, it is feared that one of the souls that have become a part of it is becoming dominant. It may be on the verge of becoming an arrancar."

"So time is of the essence."

"Yes. If it transforms before it can be destroyed both squads are ordered to retreat back to the Soul Society."

"I'll see to it that doesn't happen, sir."/

Toshiro and his men had to wait at the gate to the world of the living for a while before the Tenth Squad finally arrived, led by the same orange haired woman who had found him in the village.

"Hey, you! Long time no see!"

"This is not the time for pleasantries. We were supposed to have left ten minutes ago."

"Sorry. It's very hard to keep the squad organized without a captain."

Toshiro turned to the kido corps members in charge of the gate. "We're ready. Open it up."

He and the woman took the point into the precipice world. Their subordinates followed two by two.

"When I found you I sure didn't expect us to be working as equals so soon." she said as they ran through the dimension between the Soul Society and the world of the living.

"You're also a fifth seat, Matsumoto, is it?"

She nodded. "Rangiku Matsumoto. Though I'll be a lieutenant soon."

"Really."

"I'm strong enough, though I wouldn't bother if Gin didn't go to the Third Division instead of ours."

"You call Captain Ichimaru by his first name?"

"Sure. We've been friends forever. Though I owe him a good kick in the backside for not wanting me in his squad."

'So she's at the level of a lieutenant.' Toshiro thought. "Have you fought a menos before?"

"Once, a long time ago."

"Then I'll differ to you."

"Heh. It went horribly the last time I did this, so I doubt that counts for much. Of course, I am much stronger now."

"So what's so special about this place, Buchenwald?"

When she did not answer he asked again.

"Well, you see, there have been many times when humans go and kill each other for no reason. A lot of people were butchered there. We think that maybe this menos is there because the spirit that is taking control was killed there. It's been so long since the killings that there's no longer any souls around to eat, and the nearby living population is not large enough to attract a menos compared to other areas like New York or Tokyo. It's weird. It hasn't moved very much since it appeared."

"So the spirit taking control is there for revenge?"

"Possibly. Though there's no one there to take revenge on anymore."/

Toshiro had never experienced anything like that reiatsu. Several of their weaker subordinates had actually fallen to their knees upon feeling it.

"That thing's got to be on the verge of transforming." Rangiku said.

"Agreed" Toshiro said. "We have to move quickly."

"All right!" Rangiku called out to the men. "I want everyone behind the menos!"

"Use the highest level restriction bakudo spell you know to keep it in place!" Toshiro finished. "Full incantations; don't sacrifice the power of the spells."

"Once it's restrained Toshiro and I will take it from there."

"Yes ma'am." "Yes, sir!"

The men flash stepped away to get around the menos. When they were alone Toshiro said "In the future call be by my title. It's hard enough earning their respect with my height."

"Sorry. Slip of the tongue. By the way, I hope your Shikai is up for this, because mine is kind of useless against a foe that big."

Toshiro's mouth dropped. "You're joking."

"Nope. That's its weakness. Large opponents aren't affected much."

"Great." Toshiro gripped the handle of his Zanpakto. "So it's up to my Shikai, unless one of us wants to risk getting up close and personal with a cero blast."

"Yup. If we could get to the head neither of us would need our Shikais, but that attack is just nasty."

The menos screamed as a string of light entrapped it.

"Here we go."

More spells appeared around the menos. Soon it was being held down by chains, lights, barriers, and a host of other enchantments.

"Time to go!" Toshiro yelled, kicking off the ground towards the menos.

He held his sword high as he flew towards the overgrown hollow.

A burst of wind blew him back.

The menos glowed as it squirmed, the bonds around it breaking.

Rangiku caught Toshiro before he hit the ground.

"You all right?"

"Don't worry about me! We're too late! It's transforming!"

'Dammit.' he thought. "I hesitated with the Shikai too long!'

The menos shrunk, and Rangiku called out to the men. "Fall back! Come on, Toshiro!"

"Wait."

"What?"

"Let's see its transformation first."

"Are you nuts! Our orders were to retreat if this happened! It's going to be stronger than both of us combined!"

"You said their was no one for it to get revenge on." Toshiro said.

"Yes. So?"

"And it hasn't attacked anyone, even though it was just a mindless menos."

"What's your point?"

"I don't think it's going to hurt anyone."

"Toshiro…"

The winds died down, leaving a cloud of dust where the menos had stood. As it cleared, it revealed the form of a teenage girl, physically not much older than Hinamori. She had a hole in her chest and a piece of a mask over one of her eyes.

"A vasto lordes." Rangiku breathed.

The new arrancar looked around worriedly. "Shmuel?" she called out. "Shmuel?"

"She still remembers her past life." Toshiro said. "Her need to find what she's looking for must be overwhelming."

Stifling a gulp, Toshiro sheathed his sword and began to step cautiously towards the girl.

"Who're you?" she panicked when she saw him. "Where's my brother?"

Toshiro held out his hands, showing that he meant no harm. "Calm down. I may know where your brother is. Tell me what happened."

"They put us in two lines. Men in one, women and children in the other. I told my little brother to go with me, that I'd look after him, but…but…"

She broke down.

"It was the women and children they killed." Toshiro said.

"Yes! I killed him! I killed Shmuel!"

Toshiro frowned. The souls that became hollows almost invariably lost all sense of self control, assuming they were good people to start put with. By the time one became an arrancar, it would have long been conditioned to think of humans as nothing more than cattle to be slaughtered and eaten.

But this one's grief and guilt were so great that they overrode the basic instincts of the hollow species.

"Listen," Toshiro said, bending down to speak to her from a comforting position, "it was not your fault. You did everything you could for him. But there are times when there's nothing any person can do."

She looked at him with eyes red with tears.

"I'm dead, too, right? I remember dying."

"Yes. You are."

"So are you an angel?"

"Yes." Toshiro answered. "I'm an angel of death, meant to help souls that are bound to this world pass on."

"Pass on?"

"Yes. Your brother is in a better place right now. The reason you did not pass on from the beginning is because you had such a huge regret it bound you to this spot. If you pass on now you can see your brother again."

"Really?"

"Yes. Close your eyes. I promise it won't hurt."

She complied, and Toshiro drew his sword. He hesitated, but not out of fear.

There was a philosophical debate in Soul Society that had been raging as far back as anyone could remember and beyond.

Was it just for the souls of hollows that had consumed people to be admitted to the Soul Society upon their destruction via Zanpakto?

In this case, Toshiro knew the answer was yes.

"Nice going." Rangiku said when it was over.

Toshiro did not look at her as he passed. Rangiku stared after him, concern showing on her face.

"You sounded a little too serious about being an angel of death, though."

"I did not expect to be killing the innocent in this job."

"I know. This is a very rare occurrence. It happens at most once every few centuries."

"I had forgotten that hollows were once people, too."

"That happens to us all."

'But you saw that there was something still human about this one almost from the start.' Rangiku thought as he summoned a portal back to the Soul Society. 'Not one Soul Reaper in a thousand has enough empathy to ever take the time to consider a hollow as anything other than an enemy.'

"We do everything we can." Toshiro said to himself. "But sometimes even for us it's not enough. These things just happen."

"This isn't the only thing you feel guilty about, is it, Toshiro?"/

It'll probably be a few days before I can update again. If the streak breaks tomorrow I apologize.