Note: Sayuri is a character from my story "Reminders of Home". I liked how she turned out in that story so much that I didn't see the need to re-invent her.

Chapter 26: …Another One Closes

Sayuri watched the man who had intruded on her home from where she sat in the middle of the living area. She didn't have much spiritual pressure herself, but she didn't need it to know that this man was pure evil. He wasn't one of the souls in Rukongai, that much she could tell. He was well dressed and exuded power, even if the white mask he wore covered half of his face. She still couldn't help but feel that he was familiar, somehow. Beside her, the man and woman he'd brought with him sat quietly, frightened.

"What do you want?" Sayuri finally asked, tired of the stillness and the waiting. "Why are you here?"

"I'm waiting for your grandson," the man finally said, turning to face her. She tried not to flinch at the intensity of the gaze, but his smirk told her she'd been unsuccessful.

"What makes you think he's going to come?" she asked. "He hasn't been here in 5 years."

She knew, of course, that Toushirou had returned to Seireitei. She hadn't seen him yet, but he'd sent her a message telling her he'd come visit as soon as he could.

"I sent him a message," the man said. "He's gotten pretty close to these two," he added, running a finger down the woman's cheek. She tried to move her head back but he grabbed her hair. "I'm sure dear Toushirou-kun doesn't want any harm to come to them or to you."

The man came to stand in front of Sayuri. He looked down on her, and the scrutiny made her feel like a bug under a microscope.

"What do you want with him?" she asked.

"We have a score to settle," the man said and touched the mask on his face. "He owes me for this."

It was then that Sayuri realized who this man was. He was Momo's old captain, the one that had tried to kill Momo and Toushirou. Rage bubbled up to the surface and she was on her feet before she even knew she'd stood.

"You kidnapped Toushirou!" she yelled, grabbing him by the coat. "You tortured him for months, you son of a bitch. Leave him alone!"

Aizen swatted her aside and she went flying into the wall. She groaned as she slid down it, her breath knocked out of her. She struggled to get back to her feet but wasn't going to be able to do it in time. Before Aizen could get to her, however, the man that Aizen had brought stood in front of her.

"Don't touch her!" he yelled.

Aizen laughed. "Oh, how chivalrous," he said. "You really want to die for an old lady you just met?"

"Enough, Aizen."

The voice was older, deeper, but Sayuri would recognize Toushirou's voice anywhere. The man who had defended her helped her stand and she turned to stare at her grandson. He looked weary, the years away having taken their toll on him. He'd always been too mature for his age, but now he looked much older than his years. The light he'd had in his eyes before the incident with Aizen was still gone. Sayuri had hoped that the time away would put a little bit of it back. Rangiku, Toushirou's former vice-captain, stood beside him, her hand on the sword she wore on her belt. A man she had never met stood beside Rangiku, his white haori identifying him as a captain.

"Good of you to join us, Toushirou-kun. I've missed you. Oh, and you brought company. Kuchiki Byakuya, I didn't know that you and Toushirou-kun were close."

Kuchiki-taichou unsheathed his sword, stepping in front of both Rangiku and Toushirou.

"I have no issues with you, Byakuya. Walk away while you can. Remember what happened to your sister last time we crossed paths."

The captain's faced darkened momentarily, no doubt remembering whatever had happened. The man's resolve, however, didn't waver.

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Aizen disappeared, and then reappeared behind Rangiku. Before Toushirou or Kuchiki-taichou could react, Aizen struck Rangiku with a diagonal cut from shoulder to hip. Sayuri gasped in shock as Rangiku cried out and dropped to the floor.

"Matsumoto!" Toushirou yelled and kneeled beside her. He flipped her onto her stomach and prodded the wound, then took off her pink scarf and placed it over the wound to help the bleeding. "Hang in there, Matsumoto."

"Let's end this quickly before she bleeds to death, why don't we?" Aizen said.

"What do you want?" Toushirou said as he got to his feet and stood facing Aizen.

"Come with me willingly and I will let them go."

"No one is going with you," Kuchiki-taichou said.

"I beg to differ."

Someone stepped out of the shadows to Sayuri's left. She cried out, startled. She hadn't even noticed he was there. The man was tall, with blonde hair and what looked like a bandana on his head. He engaged Kuchiki-taichou, while Aizen engaged Toushirou.

Toushirou fought back as much as he could, but Sayuri could see that it was a losing battle. Aizen was toying with him, giving him the illusion that he was actually defending himself. The lines on Toushirou's face deepened as he fought with everything he had. Finally, Aizen knocked the sword out of Toushirou's hands. Toushirou tried to get away, but Aizen wrapped an arm around Toushirou's chest and held the sword to his neck.

"You're coming with me."

Toushirou's eyes met hers. He was terrified, but trying to hide it. Whatever this man had done to him still lived in Toushirou's mind. Sayuri couldn't recall ever seeing her grandson this frightened.

"No!" she yelled and rushed them.

She'd caught the man by surprise, which gave Toushirou a chance to break free of the man's hold. He grabbed her by the waist, picked her up, and headed outside of the house. He'd made it past the porch when something slammed into him from behind, making them both crash into the ground. Toushirou grunted in pain and looked dazed. He wasn't moving, which frightened her. His weight was suddenly off of her and she turned around to see that Aizen had picked him up as if he were a rag doll.

"Bad boy," he said as if scolding a small child. Toushirou still looked dazed, though he looked a bit more alert than just a minute ago. "You'll pay for that defiance.

"Let him go, Aizen," someone else said.

A fireball that was so close to Sayuri that she felt the warmth on her face followed the order. Aizen easily deflected the attack.

"You're too late, old man," Aizen said. "Let's go!"

The sky ripped open and Aizen, along with her grandson, disappeared into the opening. The other man followed, leaving them all starting wide-eyed as the rip closed and the sky returned to normal.

"Granny! Granny!"

Momo ran to Sayuri and helped her to her feet. Her granddaughter checked her for injuries and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't find any.

"Rangiku is hurt," Sayuri said. "She's inside."

"Unohana-taichou is with her," Momo said. "She's in good hands."

Momo walked her over to where the old man who had shot the fireball was standing next to Kuchiki-taichou and Ukitake-taichou. Kuchiki-taichou looked a bit worse for wear, his uniform sporting a few rips and bloodstains and a nasty-looking gash on his right cheek. The white-haired man acknowledged her with a nod as she walked past them. Moments later, the two people that had been inside the house also came to join them.

"What's going to happen to Toushirou, Momo?" Sayuri asked. "What is that man going to do to him?"

Momo was trying very hard not to cry. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears when she replied. "I don't know, granny. He's ruthless." Momo turned to the couple, a bit more composed. "Toshi is safe in Seireitei," she told them. "He's being guarded."

"Thank goodness," the woman said. "That man, he's the one that cost Toushirou-kun his powers?"

"Yes," Momo answered. "He's a former captain… my former captain."

"What's going to happen now?" the woman asked. "Are you going to go after Toushirou-kun? Can you create that rip in the sky?"

Momo looked miserable when she answered. "I don't know, Mai-san. I don't know."

The trip to Las Noches left Hitsugaya dizzy and nauseated. He fell in a heap at Aizen's feet only to be kicked brutally in the side. He choked as the air was knocked out of his lungs, while Aizen grabbed him by the front of his gi. The man brought Hitsugaya close so that he had no choice but to look at Aizen's now uncovered face.

"Take a good look, Hitsugaya," Aizen said. "This is what you did to me."

The half of Aizen's face that had been covered by the mask was deformed. The orbital bone had been brutally broken and haphazardly put back together without all of the original pieces. There were gaps in the bone, so that it looked like Aizen's eye sat in the middle of a void, and it moved around as Aizen moved. His cheek was similarly deformed, protruding badly from his face and connecting awkwardly with the jawbone that didn't quite sit where it was supposed to anymore.

"You brought it upon yourself," Hitsugaya said. "The new look suits you."

With an angry growl, Aizen threw him against the wall. Hitsugaya managed to position himself so that his feet hit first and then flipped onto the ground. He had never seen Aizen this angry, and he would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he was terrified. He wasn't going to let Aizen know that, however.

"Why didn't the Hougyoku heal you?" Hitsugaya asked.

"It couldn't heal me," Aizen said, the anger at the failure clear in his response.

"Well, I certainly can't heal you," Hitsugaya said as Aizen approached him. "Why don't you let me go back to Soul Society?"

"No," Aizen said as he put his mask back on. Now that Hitsugaya was paying attention, there were other parts of Aizen's body that didn't seem to fit quite the way they used to. His gait was off and he moved stiffly. "I wanted to find you and bring you here so that you could spend the rest of your miserable life in torment. I will break you once again, and then I'm going to let El Doctor experiment on you until you die. How does that sound?"

Hitsugaya repressed a shudder. "It sounds lovely, but I think I'll pass."

Aizen raised his right hand and a door Hitsugaya hadn't noticed before opened. Two burly, well-armed men entered and headed straight for him. Hitsugaya's first reaction was to run, but there was nowhere to go.

"Take him to the training grounds to learn his first lesson."

With those words, Hitsugaya was grabbed by the two men and led out of the room. They walked him through the large compound until they arrived at a large, almost barren room. The place had a dirt floor, patches of what looked like dead grass but was probably anything but, and a few of what passed for trees in Hueco Mundo scattered every so often. The room looked like it had once been a courtyard of some kind, but it had been deserted long ago. The two men let go of him once they'd walked him to the center of the room, and then stepped aside and to Hitsugaya's right. A door on the opposite side of the one they'd come through opened, and three more burly, well-armed men entered the room.

"No weapons will be necessary this time," Aizen's voice came over speakers placed throughout the room. Hitsugaya also noticed that there were several video cameras in the room as well. "He won't put up much of a fight."

The men complied, removing their swords and other small knives that they carried on their person. These men weren't arrancar, at least not now. They were probably just high ranking foot soldiers.

"Maim, don't kill," Aizen said. "Hitsugaya-kun, I do hope you enjoy the hospitality."

Aizen went silent, and Hitsugaya returned his glace to the men. If he'd had a weapon, five against one wouldn't be such a bad situation, but his sword was back at his grandmother's house. They had been instructed not to kill him, but Hitsugaya was sure that a lot of pain could be inflicted without killing him. He squared his shoulders and centered himself. He had no choice but to fight.

The men attacked him all at once and, as the first blow struck him, Hitsugaya realized that he was in way over his head.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichou, you need to go to the 4th division," Unohana-taichou said for the third time since they'd gotten back to the 10th division, but Matsumoto shook her head.

"I'm not going to be out of commission right now, not when Hitsugaya has just been taken again."

She tried to keep the anger in check, tried not to take it out on Unohana, but was failing miserably. She was angry with Aizen, angry with her own people for their failure in keeping Hitsugaya from being kidnapped again; most of all, she was angry with herself. She'd been cut down so quickly and efficiently that she hadn't even been awake to see what had happened. She had failed in her mission to protect her captain… her friend… again.

Unohana looked at the other captains gathered around as if asking them to order Matsumoto to go, but none of them did. Unohana sighed.

"Very well, but take it easy. Don't ruin my good work."

"What's going to happen now?" Sayuri asked the gathered captains. "Are you going to send someone after my grandson?"

The four captains looked at each other, and then at the old woman. Yamamoto was the one who spoke.

"We need to confer about what our next steps are," he said. "It's not easy to get to where Aizen took Hitsugaya."

Matsumoto could hear the platitude in his voice already. He was telling her enough to keep her from getting angry, but she had a feeling that he had no plan to send anyone after Hitsugaya. When he glanced in her direction she could see it in his eyes.

"What is there to confer about? You're either going to go after him or you're not," Sayuri countered. She walked right up to Yamamoto, he hands on her hips, and glared up at him. She should be intimidated, but the old woman held her ground. "After all he's done for you, after all he's sacrificed, you owe him that much!"

"Granny," Hinamori said, coming up to the old woman and putting a hand on her shoulder.

Matsumoto admired the woman for saying what she herself wanted to but couldn't. The woman had spunk and, not for the first time, Matsumoto wondered if Hinamori and Hitsugaya had both gotten their stubbornness from her.

"Ma'am, we will take everything into consideration, I assure you," Yamamoto said. "For now, stay here. Matsumoto-fukutaichou and her division will make sure that you are kept out of further danger."

He walked out of the office, Kuchiki and Ukitake going with him. Unohana gave them one last glance before she followed.

"They're not going to send anyone after Toushirou, are they?" Sayuri asked once the captains were gone. "That son of a bitch has already made a decision."

"We don't know that," Hinamori said, but Matsumoto could see that she had also seen through Yamamoto's platitudes. Matsumoto didn't blame the young woman for not wanting to upset her grandmother, though.

"Why are we here? Do you really think we're still in danger?" Toshi asked the room in general. He was seated on the couch with his parents, who both still looked pale and frightened from their ordeal.

"We don't know," Hinamori said, "Aizen has Hitsugaya now…" she trailed off, obviously heartbroken at the turn of events.

"Aizen has used you to get to Hitsugaya," Matsumoto said, "and, since we don't know his plans, we need to make sure that you're safe. I'll set you up with rooms here in the 10th division. If Aizen does come back, we won't let him near you."

"Will he come back?" Sayuri asked. "What does he want with my grandson?"

Matsumoto sighed. She knew that Sayuri would eventually ask, but wasn't really looking forward to giving her an answer. She didn't know how much of the story Hinamori or Hitsugaya had already told her. Not much, knowing them.

"It's a long story," Matsumoto said, "but he probably wants revenge."

"Revenge for what, for the battle where Toushirou got hurt?" Mai asked. "Why would that man want revenge for that when he was the one that attacked Toushirou?"

"Aizen is unstable," Hinamori added, "not thinking clearly. We need to get Shirou-chan away from him as soon as possible."

"Can you tell us what happened, Mai-san?" Matsumoto asked, changing the subject to something a bit more pressing. "How did Aizen approach you?"

"We were going about our business as usual," she said, thinking back to that day. "We were headed back home when this strange man approached us. Toshi tried to defend us but he was no match. The man, Aizen, then grabbed my husband and me and took us to your house," she said, pointing to Sayuri. "He told Toshi to come here and give Toushirou a message."

"Did he hurt you while you were with him?"

"No," Mai replied.

"Grandmother, can you tell us what happened?" Hinamori asked.

"I was also minding my business when Aizen showed up with Mai and her husband. I didn't know who he was right away, though he seemed familiar. It wasn't until he started talking about Toushirou that I made the connection. He said he had a score to settle with him."

The older woman was trying to be strong, but Matsumoto could see the stress of the last few hours. She was worried sick for her grandson, same as they all were. This was so far out of the realm of what she usually dealt with that Matsumoto was afraid for her health. She'd have to get Unohana-taichou to come back and do a cursory exam on the old woman, just to be safe.

"What do you think the captains will decide?" Mai asked, afraid of the answer.

Hinamori and Matsumoto exchanged a look that they hoped the other people in the room didn't catch.

"We don't know," Hinamori said. "Yamamoto-soutaichou will ultimately make that decision.

Hitsugaya lay where he'd fallen, unable to move. He coughed weakly and spit out blood. His entire body ached, and he was pretty sure that there were quite a few broken bones. He was right in thinking that a lot of pain could be inflicted without killing him. The men had been thorough in their beating. He was breathing, but he was barely able to hang on to consciousness.

He didn't know how long he'd been lying on the cold ground. The men had long ago left the room, and Hitsugaya hadn't been in a position to get to his feet. If Aizen wanted him moved, he was going to have to get someone else to move him.

Not long after that thought had passed through Hitsugaya's mind, the door he'd originally been shoved through opened. Two men, probably the same two that had brought him here, pulled him to his feet. Hitsugaya tried to put weight on his legs but his right leg collapsed. He would have fallen, if not for the goons holding him. As it were, their grip was aggravating his broken ribs.

"If you don't walk, we'll drag you," one of them said and pulled him forward, emphasizing the point.

With effort, Hitsugaya managed to get both legs under him and took a couple of slow steps forward. He wasn't going very far very fast, however, which infuriated his escorts. They ended up picking him up by the arm, one at each side, and carrying him to his next destination.

"Oh, good, you're finally here," El Doctor said as they entered a room that looked far too familiar for Hitsugaya's comfort. He remembered being here before; clearly remembered what they'd done to him in this room. Panic bubbled to the surface at the thought of going through that again.

"Strap him to the table," the arrancar said, and the goons holding him complied.

Hitsugaya was strapped to the metal table by restraints on his ankles, waist, wrists, and head. He couldn't move, couldn't even turn his head. The chill of the table seeped through his clothing and into his skin, spreading into his soul. El Doctor came to stand beside the table, a full syringe already in his hand.

"Shall we get started?"

*Evil Laughter*

Before anyone complains: Yes, that scene in Sayuri's house could have been better, but I am not good at writing fight scenes. Besides, it's Aizen. He always gets away with it.

Thank you for all the reviews. It's nice (and motivating) to know that there are people out there reading. Yes, the stats are nice, but it's not the same. I will go back to replying to reviews once life settles down a bit. I figured a chapter was more important. Until next time!