Shouniaisha Taicho
~Phone Home~

Matsumoto sat in the tenth division office. The aura of the room felt warm, rather then the nice cool that she was used to. A large stack of papers was to her right, slowly growing as she filled them out. A bottle of sake sat on the desk and she felt a few tears fall down onto the paper as she did each one.

Every so often she would take a sip, but never her usual gulping sound. She wished that there was something that she could do for her small taicho, but at this point she could only feel an asking feeling about how she couldn't feel like she was losing him by the minute. To her utter surprise, Hinamori popped into the room, causing her to knock over the sake bottle.

"Momo-chan. Whatever is the matter?" she asked.

"Shiro-chan is with you, right?" Momo glanced around the room, looking for her small childhood friend.

"No... he's..." Matsumoto closed her eyes.

"Where is he! Please tell me!" the girl blurted out, hurrying over. "Is he in bed?"

"No. He..." Rangiku set her brush down. "He's been with Aishadou taicho. Other then that, I don't want to get into the details of."

"What.. no," Momo suddenly clasped a hand to her mouth. "Then the rumor going around might actually be true."

"What rumor," Matsumoto's head shot up. "Please tell me!"

"Shiro-chan... he attacked Aishadou with a zampaktuo," Hinamori had a few tears trickling down her pale cheeks. "This is Aizen all over again."

"This is not Aizen all over again," Rangiku snapped, causing the girl to take a seat in a chair in front of the fukutaicho's desk. "Last time I checked, Taicho wasn't carrying his zampaktuo."

"But... I don't know," Momo picked up and began to crumple the paper from the finished pile, only to have Rangiku grab it from her. "To me, it is like Aizen all over again. I think Toshiro, not being able to stop Aizen that time, went after Aishadou because of that."

"While that might explain his strange behavior as of late..." Matsumoto found herself quickly interrupted

"See! He may have done something stupid again! Let his temper get to him! They are saying it is treason!" Hinamori's arms shook.

"Look... we haven't received an official letter," Rangiku sighed, pushing forward her sake bottle. "Drink."

"I don't drink," Momo bubbled out.

"I insist," Matsumoto stated pulling out her soul phone. She watched as the small fukutaicho took her advice, only to have her head crash a few minutes later from the alcohol As soon as she saw that Hinamori wouldn't overhear her conversation, she flipped open the phone. She heard it ring for a few minutes.

"Hello?" came a voice that definitely wasn't her small taicho's.

"Kuchiki-san?" Rangiku gasped out.

"Matsumoto Fukutaicho. Why are you calling my phone?" Rukia stated on the other side.

"Gomenasai! I thought I was calling my taicho's," Matsumoto stated firmly, hanging up. She called again, and someone picked up.

"Matsumoto-san, it's still me," the small shingami stated. "I think that we accidentally switched our phones when he was here earlier today."

"With Aishadou Taicho," Rangiku clasped a hand to her mouth. "Look, Rukia, I need to go and find out about some things going on here."

"What is going on?" Rukia asked.

"Momo just told me that taicho may have attacked that man," Matsumoto muttered out. "I'll talk to you later." She then shut the phone, placing a hand to her mouth. Her face was deeply pale.

M

Rukia sat in the back of Urahara's shop, just in time for Ichigo to slide into the room. "I checked in on my sisters."

"How are they?" the adopted noble blurted out.

"Karin's met Toshiro, and she saw him yesterday. She knows something is wrong. I didn't go into detail about it. Shit. I can't focus on school work!" Ichigo ruffled his own hair. "I want to be doing something. How much longer is my dad going to be training."

"Your father was right about having a plan. That is one of your weak points. You just head into the whole thing without paying any attention to it." Rukia stated firmly. "I could call my brother?"

"No offense Rukia, but your brother is a bit daft in the head on certain things, and this is going to be one of them. So, what else are we going to do?" Suddenly Rukia's phone rang. "Hello? … Matsumoto Fukutaicho. Why are you calling my phone?"

Ichigo saw Rukia close her phone. "What was that about? News about Toshiro?"

"No... she thought she was calling..." Rukia blinked a couple of times. "Oh my gosh. Hitsugaya Taicho switched phones with me!"

"How do you know?" came the question, as the substitute shingami perked up. However, Rukia's phone rang again.

The small shingami's response was rather weird. "Matsumoto-san, it's still me. I think that we accidentally switched our phones when he was here earlier today." After a short pause, Kuchiki spoke again. "What is going on?" She then hung up the phone.

"So, what is going on?" Ichigo asked.

"Apparently Hitsugaya Taicho attacked Aishadou Taicho," Rukia stated. "I'm going to make a few calls." She dialed something, then put the ear to her phone.

"Hitsugaya Taicho? What the hell are you calling me for? I am not going to get your bratty little but out of the mess that you've gotten yourself into this time. Do you hear me! Hinamori gets upset enough as it is," came the irritated voice.

"Wow Renji, you actually check the phone number before you pick up," the small female let out a sigh of irritation

"I thought I did..." the fukutaicho of the sixth sighed. "You're brother and I have been trying to call you Rukia."

"Hitsugaya Taicho switched phones with me earlier and I hadn't noticed," the girl breathed out.

"That little brat. What ever did her do that for?" Renji then paused. "No... don't tell me. I don't want to know."

"You seem to be rather mad at him," the small female stated.

"That would be because the idiot went and attacked Aishadou. We've got a few shingami clamoring for his arrest, but Unohana Taicho has him locked up in the forth." There was another pause. "You wouldn't happen to know something?"

"Ichigo... what should I tell him?" Rukia saw Ichigo wave for her phone, and then she handed it over.

"Hey... Renji," Ichigo asked suddenly.

"What is it," the boy stated. "I happen to have been talking to Rukia."

"I think the best way to put it Renji, is if Unohana is saying not to release Toshiro, then there is something big going on. I can't tell you, as it is rather sensitive, and it is really something that Toshiro should be telling people," the young man stated firmly. "We have to go."

"Poor Hitsugaya Taicho," the small female stated.

"Rukia... how did your and Toshiro's phones become switched?" Ichigo asked.

"I caught him playing with them. If I had seen something like that earlier, I would have known something was wrong. He doesn't goof off," the female stated.

"What if Toshiro has something on his phone that would help us," the young man stated, opening up folders. "Are you sure about not goofing off? He's got tetras on his phone, with a rather high... level."

"What is it Ichigo," Rukia got up and peeked over his shoulder. "It's SOS. That's what he left?"

"That can't be it. Toshiro wouldn't have left something this simple. He might be a scared little kid, but that doesn't change the fact that he is a child genius" The orange haired teen clicked through a few more things. "Here! We've got it, I am sure."

Rukia was knocked over as Ichigo sat up. "What is it?"

"Toshiro encrypted a file!" the young man stated. "Urahara!" He disappeared around a corner.

"Why the pervert?" the girl let out a sigh. Ichigo poked his head back

"Because the freaky captain is an even bigger perverse man, and we need someone with lots of brains to figure out how to open this, because I certainly don't know how." He then disappeared again.

M

Rangiku showed up to the forth division, only to find that the whole place with people patrolling. One of the males spoke up. "I am sorry mam, only forth division members are allowed in."

"Wait... she's with me," Isane stated. "I am positive that Unohana Taicho would want her to see Hitsugaya Taicho. Let me take her to see our captain?"

"Sure. Just don't leave her alone," the man stated, saluting her.

"What is going on?" Matsumoto stated, confusion in her voice. She followed the tall fukutaicho until they came to a room.

"Unohana Taicho, Soifon Taicho... Rangiku-san is here," the woman stated.

At that, Unohana stepped out of the room, and ushered Rangiku into the room next to her, while Isane stepped into the room. Rangiku's face paled. "What is going on?"

"I can't tell you..." Unohana stated.

"Rumor is going around that taicho... that Toshiro attacked Aishadou Taicho," the woman stated.

"There is some truth to that, but only a partial truth," the woman sighed. Her face had a high level of sadness to it.

"Why can't you tell me what is going on?" Rangiku stated.

"Hitsugaya's medical condition is being kept secret except for a select few," Unohana stated.

"And I'm not allowed to know." The woman paused. "This is one of those issues that you need to be a family member, right? It has to do with the fact that he is a minor?"

"Something like that, but not exactly. It's more... how has your relationship with your small taicho been?" the small female taicho asked.

"He hasn't trusted me, to tell me that something was wrong," Rangiku stated.

"I may eventually tell you what is going on, but right now, I want him to be able to have the chance to tell you himself, as part of the healing process. All I will say is, he is badly hurt," Unohana stated.

"I have an idea... that some abuse was involved," Matsumoto glanced at the ground. "No. You're right. I'm not his mother, so I don't need to know the details. Our relationship is built on him telling me things when he's ready."

"You can see him, but... he's most definitely not himself. It may be a very long time until he is," Unohana gave her a weak smile.

Rangiku gave her a small smile, then slipped into the room. She saw her small taicho curled up into a fetal position, shaking rapidly. "Poor baby..."

She walked over and sat in a chair near him, watched by the other three women in the room She reached her hand out carefully to brush some hair away, only to have a rather scared sound escape the small taicho's lips, then to have him bury his head into the pillow. "Don't worry. I am going to be patient." This didn't though, erase the sadness in her eyes.