Chapter 20:

-A few hours later-

Toshiro had woke up with a start and practically jumped off the ground as he began remembering the events that had just transpired not so long ago; 'Wait...where the hell am I?' he thought as he focused his eyes in the gloomy room.

Then his eyes settled on eight figures laying around him, intently making his eyes go wide, 'No...they all have...do I?' he thought, bringing his hand to his face.

It had felt normal until he reached the top left part of his fore head, 'No...damn! He wasn't able to reverse it? Shit!' Toshiro thought clenching his fists.

'Wait, how did we get here?' he questioned as he looked around further and settled his eyes on another figure that was sitting in a corner, "Tessai." Toshiro whispered to himself.

But he was only met with a silent snore, to which he lightly smirked and continued looking around but saw no one else. Then he heard a very loud snore; "Tch, figures." he said in a whisper once again.

He followed the sound of the snoring till he found a rather small room, and sure enough...Kisuke was sleeping at his desk, snoring quite loudly; "Hmph, loud as ever Kisuke." he said sarcastically.

Then he lowered his head, "Sorry I couldn't beat him Kisuke, but thank you for saving...all of us." he said in silent thanks, then turned around and walked out of the room.

He came up to the exit but stopped himself before his hand reached the door; 'I got to get this thing off my face.' he thought as he gripped the fragment by the horn.

'This is probably going to hurt...a lot.' he thought as he tugged on it as hard as he could, it held on for a few brief yet agonizing seconds, but it gave way nonetheless.

As it did, blood instantly began running down his face, he held his hand on his wound to try and stop the bleeding, but did next to nothing for it, 'Damn...the stupid thing was attached to my skin...shit that hurt!' he thought angrily.

His hand then began to glow a light green color from his healing kido, and as he did this, he picked up and sheathed Hyorinmaru with his free hand. He began walking to the exit once more; "Should I go to the First and expose Aizen and those other two traders, or should I go to Yoruichi first?" he asked himself.

Just as he finally finished healing his head he suddenly went completely wide eyed remembering the 'other thing' he had almost forgotten. He slowly tilted his head down to his chest, pulled his uniform out of the way and reveled his hollow hole, 'Damn, I guess I really am an...arrancar.' he thought lowering his eyes sadly.

'If anyone finds out I'll be executed on the spot...then who'll inform the Head Captain of Aizen's betrayal, unless Kisuke already did...but knowing him he would have helped us before going to anyone, and by the looks of it he hasn't gone anywhere yet.' he continued.

He looked back at his hollow hole and sighed, 'But how am I going to hide this?'

Then after a few moments, he came up with an idea, but slightly sighed again; "I just hope this works." he said as he brought his hand up to his chest and began to focus his energy into it.

'If I can make an ice clone without using Bankai...I can sure as hell make a replica of a small part of my chest.' he thought as ice began to form inside of the hole, and within moments the the hole seemed to disappear.

He looked himself over and nodded as he seemed satisfied, as the hole now looked to be non existent. He looked completely normal, he sighed in relief; "I think I'll see Yoruichi before I do anything else...she really needs to know what's going on." he said beginning his exit.

'Especially if Kisuke wasn't able to kill Aizen.' he added mentally.

As he stole one last glance around the room, a saddened look coming up on his face; "I'll be back as soon as I can." he said before disappearing in a shunpo.

A few moments later Tessai awoke, and noticed instantly that Toshiro was gone, his eyes went wide immediately; "Where is he? Damn, if he isn't stable then they'll-" but he cut himself short as he noticed all the other figures.

Tessai sighed sadly, "Damn...we failed." he said lowering his head just as Kisuke walked in and noticed everything he did, except in reverse.

"Damn...I guess we were just too late, but I just hope that Toshiro isn't parading around, if we weren't able to stabilize him...it would be very bad for him." he said with a concerned look on his face, as he stared at the door.

But then he slightly smirked, "But he's smart, I'm sure he isn't about to go running around the Seireitei causing an uproar. Then again when has he ever?" he said turning around and heading down a hallway; "I'm gonna go get some air." he said with a sad sigh.

-Second Division-

"AIZEN?" Yoruichi practically yelled loud enough for anyone passing by to hear, but because of the earliness of the morning, no one heard.

Toshiro merely nodded his head, but Yoruichi crossed her arms and put on an angry pout; "This is why I wanted to go with you...at least together we would have stood a better chance in killing him." she demanded rather angrily.

Toshiro sighed, "Sorry Yoruichi, but I didn't want to you to end up like...me." he said lowering his head

She looked at him with a rather confused face; "What do you mean?" she asked raising a brow.

He looked at her with saddened eyes, something she had not seen in many years; "I...I've been turned into a...an...arran...arrancar." he said in such a low voice that she almost didn't catch what he said...almost.

Her eyes went wide, her mouth hung open and she backed away from him as if he just grew an extra head, "A...what?" she managed out in surprise.

Toshiro closed his eyes and turned around; "Sorry...I...I think I should go check on Kisuke and the others." he said as he tried to walk away.

But he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, "I-" he started, but was cut off when Yoruichi spun him around and hugged him, "It doesn't matter what you are, cause I know who you are Toshiro, and trust me...you are far from anything that could be considered a hollow." she said, tightening her arms wrapped around his neck as if he would slip away from her.

Toshiro smirked from in between her breasts and slowly hugged her back, "We've been friends for how long? And you really think that I'm just going to abandon you? Ha, you know me better then that, Toshiro!" she claimed hugging him even tighter.

Toshiro closed his eyes in content, pulled away from the hug and reopened his eyes, "I forget who I'm dealing with sometimes." he said still with a slight smirk.

She smiled at him, "Yeah well, don't go forgetting it anytime soon, alright?" she said as a demand, but still with a large smile on her face.

Toshiro nodded, "Ok, but right now I think we should go and check on Kisuke, he should be awake by now; then we'll all inform the Head Captain about Aizen's betrayal." he suggested, Yoruichi nodded and they both headed out.

But before they made it all the way to the Twelfth, they saw a group of Onmitsukido leading Kisuke and Tessai towards the Central 46 chambers, "Damn, don't tell me they're blaming them!" Toshiro said as he and Yoruichi ducked behind a roof.

'That can only mean that they failed to kill him as well. Aizen really thought this one through.' he thought with a low growl.

"Looks like we're going to have to bail him out of this, eh?" she said with a smirk, Toshiro looked back at her and nodded in understanding.

"We have to make a quick stop first, so we better move fast...before they sentence them." he said glancing at the doors to the chambers, but then turned his attention towards the Twelfth Division once more.

-Inside the Central 46 Chambers-

"What exactly is this about?" Kisuke asked as he tested his hands in the bind that they had put himself and Tessai in.

"Did we give you permission to speak? You're here to be interrogated, you are not permitted to speak unless it is to answer our questions, now consider the situation your in, Captain of the Twelfth Division!" one of the central members said.

'Interrogated? Are we under suspicion for something?' Kisuke wondered looking around the darkened room, save for the two spot lights shinning on Tessai and himself; "My apologies." he said lowering his head.

"Where were you around midnight last night?" another member asked forcefully; "In the Sixth district forest forest of western Fugai." Kisuke answered.

"Was it for your Hollowfication research?" yet another asked, causing Kisuke's eyes to become wide and his head to snap up; "Whoa, hold on a second! Who told you that I-?" he started but another member interrupted him.

"You went to Fugai to see the results of your evil Hollowfication experiments on eight people of captain-level strength, starting with the Fifth Squads Captain. Is that not accurate?" Kisuke's eyes widened further as he recalled Aizen's words from last night; "You truly are...the type of man I believed you to be."

"Who was it?" he questioned with anger in his voice, "You have no right to ask questions!" one of the others shot back at him.

"Was it Lieutenant Aizen?" Kisuke pushed, looking up at each of them for an answer; "This is your second warning, Twelfth Division Captain! Do it again and we'll add it to your list of crimes!" was the only thing he received.

"But he's the one who did all this! We went there to save Hirako and the others!" he declared.

"Your lies are so outlandish that they're almost funny. The Lieutenant of squad Five never left the Seireitei last night." one said, "What?" Kisuke asked wide eyed, in disbelief.

"We have one hundred and twenty four witnesses plus one captain who'll attest to that. There's no way you can place the blame on him." he had continued as Kisuke's eyes became even wider, "That's impossible!" he said as a member of the Reversal Counter Force arrived in a shunpo.

"I'm here to report in! We've found evidence that indicates that he was conducting Hollowfication experiments in the Twelfth Squad's research facilities!" he had told the Central 46 members.

"It's decided then. I shall declare your sentences! Captain of the Kido Corps, Tessai Tsukabishi! For using forbidden techniques; you shall be jailed in the level three underground prison for high felons! Captain of the Twelfth Division, Kisuke Urahara! For researching forbidden material and carrying out experiments on it, deceiving your comrades, and seriously injuring them; you will will your spiritual powers drained from you and be banished to the Human World for all eternity. And finally, the poor Fifth Squad Captain and the rest of the eight victims of your heinous research shall be exterminated as if they were hollow, immediately!" the head of the Central 46 declared.

"No way, just let me explain!" Kisuke begged when suddenly the entrance doors opened and revealed a shadowed figure standing in the door way.

"Who's that?" one demanded, "Who gave you permission to enter the Diet Building during an interrogation?" said another, "And who are you?" many asked angrily as another shadowed figure appeared in the door way.

"Leave right this minute, you low-life's!" the head member demanded, just before both intruders came into the room with extraordinary speed, freed Kisuke and Tessai from their hand restraints, and disappeared within seconds.

"Get them, their bandits...its there anyone out there?" many of them yelled out, not knowing that all the guards outside the door and the surrounding area had already been knocked unconscious.

-At Sokyoku Hill hidden training ground-

"Thank you Yoruichi...Toshiro." Kisuke said looking over at the two with a thankful look.

But he stopped on Toshiro, whom he noticed no longer had the mask fragment on his face, nor any sign of a hollow hole; "But...how did you...?" he asked staring at him in amazement.

"I didn't...I'm still an...I just hid the hole with ice and I ripped the fragment off." he said in a slight sigh.

"And don't worry about the 'thanks' I'll slap you later for not getting me when you guys got back." Yoruichi said with a sigh of her own.

"We brought all eight of them here." Toshiro said pointing to the eight unconscious 'visorads' a few feet away.

"We also brought all of the new giagi's you've been working on. Now start talking...I want whatever strategy you thought up for the worst-case scenario back when you first heard about this whole situation from Hirako." she asked with a somewhat suspicious look on her face.

Now Kisuke was really smiling, "So you've completely seen through me...what a sneaky woman." he said laughing as Toshiro crossed his arms; "Like your one to talk." he said almost seriously.

"Tessai, could you freeze time for Hirako and the others? And then put level two and three barriers around this area. Within the next twenty hours, I'll make giagi's for the two of us and then for the eight of them, ten giagi's that will completely cut off our spirit energy." Kisuke started.

"Yoruichi? Toshiro?" Tessai asked, Yoruichi smiled; "Don't worry about me, I can always get away on my own." she replied in confidence.

As they all looked at Toshiro, they noticed a rare smirk on his face, "I plan on staying." he said without a doubt, causing all of them to look quite shocked.

"But Toshiro, if they-" Yoruichi started, but stopped when he raised his hand; "Someone needs to keep a close eye on Aizen, Tosen, and Gin...they're up to something big...something that involves Hollowfication, and I plan to find out what it is. I'll watch them, and try to figure out what their up to." he said as if he had made up his mind the moment he woke up in the Twelfth, which in fact...he did.

"But what if they tell everyone what you are?...Or if someone figures it out?" Yoruichi questioned almost desperately.

Toshiro just lightly smirked; "Don't worry, if that's what he wanted, he would have mentioned me to the Central 46 and from what I could hear...they didn't say my name at all." he said rather suspiciously of his own words.

They each nodded at his explanation, "Alright, Tessai and I will go to the human world and try to discover a way to reverse the Hollowfication, Toshiro will remain here to figure out what he's planning from this side, and Yoruichi..." he started but stopped when he waited for her answer.

"I'll go back and forth between the worlds, see if I can dig up any useful information for you guys." she said smiling, and then they all nodded in agreement as if they were deciding the future of the all three worlds between themselves.

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