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Chapter 28:

-The next morning, Tenth Division office-

"They defeated Renji!" Matsumoto said in surprise as she stood next to Toshiro's desk with her eyes wide; "I never imagined that one of them would be that strong...what do you think they're after?" she asked glancing over at him.

He leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes, "I'm not sure, but my guess is that they aren't here just as Rukia Kuchiki is about to be executed by some sort of coincidence." he noted.

She nodded her head in agreement, "So they're here to rescue Rukia? But what is their motive for it?" she asked, bringing her thumb and index finger up to her chin.

"Perhaps...one of them is the human that she gave her powers to, but how would they be able to reach the Soul Society in the first place? They would need a-" but Toshiro cut himself off with realization, 'Damn it Kisuke! I knew you were reckless, but this is just...Damn it!' he thought standing up from his chair.

Rangiku turned and faced him with slight surprise, "What is it Captain?" she asked raising a brow in question, he turned to her, opened his mouth for a reply, but was cut off by a sudden scream from far away.

They both turned in the direction the scream and narrowed their eyes; "Go see what that was, I'll be right there, I have something I need to find out!" Toshiro ordered.

"Yes sir!" she said before shunpoing away.

Toshiro stood there for a few moments in deep thought, 'If I'm right about how they got here, then all three of them are in on whatever is happening here and now. But what is it? And why didn't they tell me about it before this even happened? Damn it! Things just keep getting even more complicated by the minute. And what if Aizen makes his move? No one will ever notice because of the ryoka. Plus everyone is suspicious of Gin, and it'll be a perfect time for him to start his plans. Has time really run out?' he thought, narrowing his eyes and suddenly disappeared in a shunpo.

-Eastern Great Sacred Wall-

"Snap! Tobime!"

"Raise your head! Wabisuke!"

But just before they clashed, Toshiro jumped in, kicked Hinamori's sword down and through the floor boards and blocked Izuru's sword with a frozen claw; "Are you two seriously going to fight? When your first priorities should have been to get his body down from there." he said calmly looking from one to the other.

"But...Captain.." Momo started but never finished.

"Take these two away and lock them up." he commanded as the two were detained by Rangiku, Iba and Hisagi, then taken away to the holding cells.

Toshiro turned away and looked up at the dead Aizen body, but took a glance at Gin as he walked up; "I'm so sorry Cap'n Hitsugaya, I apologize that ya had ta go an' correct one o' my own." he said with a wide grin.

"You know Gin, I can't help but feel that Aizen isn't really dead...and I'm almost amused that he's appearing to be dead right now...I wonder where he would have gotten an idea like this?" Toshiro said, now turning completely around.

"Well I mus' say myself that it does seem ratha amusin', eh Cap'n?" Gin asked actually seemingly to be on the verge of laughing.

"Hmm, but I do have a question, were you about to kill Hinamori?" Toshiro asked in a voice that seemed to turn the very air to ice.

"Oh I wouldn' dare." Gin answered widening his smile.

"Hmph, well let me give you a little more advice Gin, if you spill one drop of Hinamori's or Rangiku's blood, I'll kill you." he said narrowing his eyes at him.

They stared at each other for a few moments, and when a few other members from a near by division came running up asking what had happened, Toshiro merely told them to get Aizen's 'body' down and began walking away. But as he passed by Gin, he held a severe glare on him the whole time just for good measure; "Remember what I said Ichimaru." he said just before shunpoing away.

Toshiro continued on his way towards the prison that he knew Momo would be held at, 'Damn it...I am such an idiot, now all eyes will be off Aizen and he has a perfect opportunity to fulfill his plans!' he thought as he came up to the cell that Rangiku was still standing in front of.

"Hinamori..." he started as he stopped in front of her.

"Shir-I mean Captain Hitsugaya..." she answered rather weakly.

Toshiro closed his eyes, sighed and reopened them; "You need to control your emotions Hinamori, I know that Aizen's death is a tragedy but acting the way you did was absolutely unprofessional." Toshiro said with slight venom in Aizen's name.

"But Captain...you saw the way he was grinning, he had to of done it!" she all but yelled.

Toshiro sighed once more, "Damn it Hinamori, he is always grinning, he does not spare any glance for his enemies...nor much for an ally, he did not change in that incident Hinamori...you did. And I'm sorry for your loss, but we are in the middle of high alert and this is no time to be fighting against each other!" he said as an order, but also trying not to raise his voice.

She looked at him slightly wide eyed, then lowered her head, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...I'm sorry." she said sadly.

Toshiro just shook his head, "Don't worry, I'll be sure to find Aizen's killer...and we'll make sure they receive maximum punishment." he said attempting to cheer her up.

Oddly enough it did, she looked up, nodded her head and slightly smiled, "I'm sorry for accusing your friend Rangiku." Momo apologized bowing her head.

"Oh don't worry, Gin has always been a suspicious character!" Rangiku chuckled mostly to herself and waving a hand at the young girl in assurance.

'Even though it is true that Gin has always been the top of everyone's suspicion list, I know the real Gin and I know that he would never kill an ally; he just wouldn't...would he?' Matsumoto thought to herself, with a glance at her captain.

Toshiro met her gaze, "Lets go, we have an investigation to get to." he said turning around and beginning to walk away with Rangiku following close beside him.

"See you later Hinamori, we'll be back to visit after our investigation!" Rangiku called back with a wave.

Hitsugaya glanced back at Momo and gave a small wave himself, but just as they were exiting the building, he suddenly felt a very familiar spiritual pressure near by. Once he identified whom it belonged to, his eyes widened then narrowed, before looking in the direction of the source; "I need to go some where really quick, can you handle the investigation till I get back?" he asked looking over at his Lieutenant.

She smiled at him, and gave him a quick nod and wink, "Just be careful alright." she said with a hint of concern in her voice.

He just smirked at her, "You to." he said with a nod, and they both disappeared going in separate directions.

-On the bridge leading to the Senzaikyu-

Toshiro arrived on top of a roof, where he saw Byakuya, Rukia, Hanataro, Ukitake, Ichigo, Ganju whom was knocked out on the ground, and lastly... Yoruichi, in her human form; 'She doesn't appear to have changed much.' he thought with a small smile curling his lips up.

"Yoruichi, you came to help me, didn't you? Thanks, but I need you to move outta the way. I have to take that guy down." Ichigo said holding his sword in front of him in a fighting stance.

"Take him down?" Yoruichi started, glancing over her shoulder at the orange haired teen; "You? Take him down?" she continued with a questioning tone.

Just as she was about to speak again, Toshiro decided to make his presence known by flaring his spirit energy about a tenth of the way. But it appeared more then enough to bring Ichigo, Rukia, and Hanataro to their knees, while Byakuya, Ukitake and Yoruichi cringed from it; "You would have no hope of defeating Byakuya right now." he said, as everyone turned to look at him.

Everyone except for Ukitake had very or fairly widened eyes; Byakuya's were slightly wide, because his mentor was possibly going to fight. Ichigo, Rukia, and Hanataro had very wide eyes, from the shock of having so much power suddenly dumped on their bodies. But Yoruichi was wide eyed from sadness, because she had already broken her promise to see him under better conditions then the last time; "Toshiro..." she whispered.

As Toshiro stared down at them, he began to step forward through the air and used it as if a set of downward steps; "Even if by some miracle you did, how would you expect to defeat Captain Ukitake...or for that matter, me?"

Ichigo fell silent and began attempting to bring himself back to his feet, but he failed miserably; "I..won't..give..up!" he claimed sounding out of breath.

Suddenly Yoruichi turned and struck Ichigo in his stomach with her bare hand; "Wh-What are you doing? Yoru-" Ichigo started but never finished as his eyes rolled in the back of his head and fell unconscious.

Yoruichi stepped forward and lifted him up and onto her shoulder; "Medicine? Piercing Point or Collapsing Point, you pounded some kind of powerful anesthetic directly into his internal organs. What are you going to do with him, Yoruichi?" Ukitake asked her with a slightly raised brow.

Yoruichi looked over at him, "Ukitake..." but then Byakuya stepped forward; "Whatever you are going to try, it is useless, you cannot escape from here." he stated firmly with a glare.

"Tch, like you can really catch her." Toshiro said as he finally stepped his ice covered feet on the bridge, then closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"If you don't mind me asking Captain Hitsugaya, what brings you here?" Ukitake asked with a raised brow.

"Well I was on my way here to help defeat the ryoka...but I can see that you already have him in custody, so I suppose I'll just go straight to the interrogation." he responded with a glance at the unconscious Ganju.

"Interrogation?" Byakuya asked raising a brow in confusion.

"Yes, Captain Aizen has been murdered...so I'm here to ask each of you where you were at the time of his death...and I suppose since your here I'll ask you as well, Yoruichi." he said with his breath visible in the air when he said her name.

They all shared a look of shock at Toshiro's news, but Byakuya seemed to recover from it first, "It'll have to wait for now...I have some unfinished business with this woman!" He claimed as he stepped forward.

Yoruichi looked back at him just before he disappeared and came up behind her, but then she also used shunpo and appeared behind him. They shunpoed around each other a few times before Byakuya seemed to finally catch her, "Do you think you can escape with such sluggish shunpoes?" he asked just before he swung his sword at her.

As the sword made contact with her skin, she began to bleed heavily and fall backwards in seemingly great pain. But suddenly her body disappeared and a few orange pieces of cloth were left in her place and she suddenly appeared on Byakuya's right arm. "Did you really think that you could capture me with such sluggish shunpoes?" she asked mockingly and shunpoed towards the building that was right in front of them.

But she stopped mid-way as she saw Toshiro standing just five feet from of her; "Maybe he can't...but I can." Toshiro said narrowing his eyes, as Yoruichi's became bigger.

"T-Toshiro?" she said in surprise, completely in disbelief that he was actually stopping her.

"You are considered a traitor of the Gotei 13, I cannot allow you to get away so easily." he said with his breath visible in the air once more.

Her look of surprise became even more shocked as she was at a loss for words; "B-But Toshiro...I-" she started but Toshiro suddenly disappeared from her sight.

Yoruichi never saw a thing before she felt a hand on her chest just above her breasts, she was barely able to notice the white fluff of hair before she was suddenly thrown at an incredible speed straight by Byakuya and Ukitake. But as she tried to steady herself she felt another hand on her back, and as she turned her head, she saw Toshiro giving her a cold stare. Her eyes became even wider and was about to say something to him but then he leaned in towards her ear; "Go!" he whispered, causing her to look even more shocked at first but then a small smile appeared on her face.

She then saw Byakuya shunpo right out in front her and readied his sword, she glanced back at Toshiro and nodded. He gave a slight nod as well and then brought his leg up for a fake kick. Byakuya swung his sword across to finish her before Toshiro could; but right at the last second, she shunpoed out of the way and onto the roof she had aimed for before. She turned around to see Byakuya's blade still hurling through the air, but it was now headed straight for Toshiro, whom had stopped his kick and brought his leg back to the ground. Yoruichi almost gasped when Byakuya's sword came within inches of Toshiro's chest, but he had brought an icy hand up and caught it with ease.

Yoruichi sighed in relief and as Byakuya recovered his sword from Toshiro's hand he turned around to face her with narrowed eyes. She looked at Toshiro and gave a smile and a wink, then looked over at Byakuya with a slightly smaller smile; "Three days...within three days, I will make this boy stronger then you Byakuya. Selfish as it may be, until then, we will take leave from this fight; follow us if you wish, but Goddess of Flash Yoruichi...is still far from being caught by the likes of you!" she claimed, and just before she disappeared she stole one last glance at Toshiro as a thanks.

Byakuya started walking away in disappointment after she did so, "Hey, where you going? Aren't you going to arrest the ryoka?" Ukitake called out to him.

But he never turned around; "I have lost interest, do with them what you will." he said as he finally disappeared around a corner.

"Hmm, what about your interrogation?" he asked turning to Toshiro.

"Tch, what interrogation?" the white haired captain said turning around with a slight smirk on his face.

Ukitake smiled in understanding; "I'll leave you to it then?" Toshiro asked looking at Rukia and the others, to which Ukitake nodded.

-Yoruichi-

'He he, I guess he learned a few tricks...I would really like to know how you got that strong and fast...you were moving just as fast, if not faster then me, that in itself is extremely impressive. Thank you Toshiro, I owe you one...well I'm sure that by now I owe you more then just one.' she thought to herself with a slight giggle as she shunpoed across the roof tops of the Seireitei.

'I need to get to the under ground training area, it'll be the best place for him to learn how to achieve Bankai.' she thought when she saw her destination in sight.

"Alright, I just need to wait till he finally wakes up...its too bad Toshiro isn't here, I'd just splash some really cold water on his face!" she said smiling, landing just outside the entrance of the secret training grounds.

'If what you said was really true about Aizen, I get the feeling that he's making his move now. Just make sure that you don't go getting yourself killed alright, I made myself a promise that I'd see you again and I intend to keep it...besides, I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to my little Ice-Prince.' she thought with a smile, as she glanced back at the Seireitei before walking through the entrance.

-Toshiro-

'Well that went well.' Toshiro thought to himself with a sigh.

He walked over towards the Fifth Division barracks still with Yoruichi on his mind; 'So is that really what your here for? To rescue Rukia? Hmm, I just hope you got my message; Aizen isn't dead and we need to be ready for anything.' he continued.

Then as he walked through the gates he saw a group of Onmitsukido members outside Aizen's quarters, as he came closer he noticed Soifon among the group; "Soifon! Have you found anything?" he asked gaining her attention.

She turned around and faced him, "Not yet Captain Hitsugaya; we have practically torn through every inch of this place and we've come up dry." she responded kneeling down in front of him.

Toshiro slightly sighed at her, but then turned to the door of the barracks; 'I looked for a hundred years...of course your gonna come up with nothing.' he thought to himself.

"What do you recommend we do Captain Hitsugaya?" she asked very formally still on her knee.

He looked back at her and slightly raised a brow; "Though I appreciate your formality, but you don't need to keep call me by my title...or kneel in my presence." he said, with as much of a friendly tone as he could muster...which in his case wasn't really a whole lot.

"I know, but you are more of a senior Captain then I. I apologize Captain Hitsugaya...I have made it a habit of doing this." she said sounding rather sheepishly as she stood up.

Toshiro slightly smirked; "My Lieutenant and I will finish up the investigation here, I want you to go to the Third for an inspection, I'm sure that Ichimaru will be more then willing to comply. After all...he is the top suspect." Toshiro commanded.

Soifon looked at Toshiro with a hard stare but nodded; "Alright, You four! You'll come with me, we're going to the Third for an investigation!" she ordered, and the four members she called forth straightened up and said, "Yes Ma'am!".

Toshiro nodded, glanced over at the inside of the room and saw Rangiku searching inside one of the drawers of Aizen's desk, he let out a sigh before turning his head back to Soifon; "Go!" he said and they all disappeared from sight.


And so it continues, Aizen's 'dead' and the two friends have met once again, but unfortunately it was under even worse of circumstances then before. How is the rest of Rukia's execution going to play out? Please review.