Hello my beloved readers, it's time for the ninth chapter of A Shinigami's Journey! Before we begin, I would like to apologize for my long absence. Real life problems have really thrown a monkey wrench on the time I could spare to write my chapters. With work, school, and the occasional writers block, I try my best to get these chapters out as soon as possible. I also would like to thank those who have been patient and stuck around for when I do manage to update any of my fanfics. Now then, I think I've kept you waiting long enough, on with the chapter!

Chapter Nine: Visit to the World of the Living and the Substitute Shinigami?!

One month has passed since Toya discovered the abandoned lab and found the file on himself. To say that he was shocked wouldn't even begin to describe how he felt after regaining consciousness. When he realized he was relocated, Toya backtracked to the cave to see that it had collapsed and reluctantly returned to the seireitei. Day after day, Toya would return to the collapsed cave and dig his way through in hopes to reach the lab deep inside. His efforts were in vain, however, when no matter how much he dug there was no end to the rubble. Knowing that he wouldn't find anything, Toya gave up his search and instead focused on the images that flashed through his head. He still couldn't make out what any of the images were as they were too dark to make out and the only thing he could distinguish were agonizing screams.

Toya and Renji were then made lieutenants of squads thirteen and six respectively and both found adjusting to their new positions a little difficult. Toya because he's left in charge of the squad due to Jushiro's illness and has to try extra hard to keep Kiyone and Sentaro in line. Renji because he was now in squad six with Byakuya Kuchiki, Rukia's adoptive brother, the man he strives to surpass one day. The two eventually got used to their new positions and found it got easier with each passing day. Even though he was a lieutenant now, Toya still treated his fellow squad members the same as he always did but now had to get used to them calling him lieutenant from now on.

"What did you say?" Toya asked, not sure he heard the person in front of him correctly as his eyes widened in shock. He was sitting on a deck with two stacks of paper to his left and right and a brush in his right hand.

"Did I stutter?" The person was Renji, pacing back and forth the squad thirteen captain's office with a look of anger on his face. He stopped pacing and looked Toya in the eye as he crossed his arms. "Rukia is under suspicion of giving her powers to a human and you're to confirm this."

"Renji, that's crazy." Toya said, setting down the brush he was holding and got to his feet to walk around the desk. He guided the squad six lieutenant to a couch and gently set him down before taking a seat on the couch across from him. "This is Rukia we're talking about, there's no way she would do something like that."

"I know, but a member of the stealth force went to investigate her." Renji sighed, rubbing the back of his neck to ease his anger. "He said that he encountered a human claiming to be a substitute soul reaper fight against Grand Fisher."

"Wait, Grand Fisher?" Toya interrupted, holding up a hand as a frown formed on his face. He crossed his arms in thought as he processed his red haired friend's words. "As in the hollow that has eluded us for fifty years Grand Fisher?"

"The one and the same." Renji replied, nodding his head in confirmation before his eyes narrowed slightly. Toya noticed and knew there was more so he uncrossed his arms and gave Renji his full attention. "He also reported that this substitute managed to injure Grand Fisher and made him retreat."

"He actually injured Grand Fisher?" Toya's eyes widened in shock, having trouble believing his red haired friend's words. The white haired lieutenant has read the reports about Grand Fisher, a very crafty hollow that used his lure as a distraction to either devour his prey or escape. "That's impossible, every soul reaper that faced against Grand Fisher couldn't even leave a scratch on him."

"I wouldn't believe it either if it didn't come from a member of the stealth force." Renji said, resting his hands on his knees and slightly leaning forward. "But enough about that for now, the head captain decided to send you to the world of the living, Toya." The squad six lieutenant noticed his white haired friend's shoulders tense a little and knew he was devoting everything said to memory. "After you confirmed that Rukia has given her powers to a human, then captain Kuchiki and I are to apprehend her and bring her back."

"I'm guessing they chose me because she'll drop her guard around someone she knows." Toya sighed, lowering his head and running a hand through his hair making it a mess of short spikes. When he didn't get a response from Renji, Toya looked up at the squad six lieutenant to see that he was staring intently at him. "What?"

"This is going to be off topic." Renji leaned forward slightly as he continued to stare at Toya, much to the squad thirteen lieutenant's discomfort. "Toya, did you know you kinda look like captain Hitsugaya?"

"Huh?" Toya blinked at the sudden question as Renji leaned back into his seat. Toya pinch a few strands of his hair and stared at it for a moment before turning his attention to Renji. "You're the third person to mention it." He looked up in thought as he lifted up a finger for each person that mentioned his similarity to the squad ten captain. "The first was Momo and the second was Rangiku, they said I look like Toshiro if he were our age."

"Do you think you two could be related?" Renji asked, getting a shrug from Toya as the squad thirteen lieutenant didn't feel anything familiar about the young captain.

"I thought we might be." Toya replied, crossing his arms and looking up in thought as he remembered all his encounters with the young captain. "We do have a few things in common now that I think about it."

"Like what?" Renji raised an inquiring eyebrow at the squad thirteen lieutenant's words.

"Well…" Toya leaned back slightly as he thought the similarity between him and the squad ten captain. "We both like watermelons and amanatto, don't like dried persimmons, we're both pretty skilled at top spinning, we're protective of those close to us, and we're both pretty hard workers."

"That sounds like more than just a few." Renji commented as his white haired friend blew his bangs away from his eyes. "If not for your differing personalities, I'd think you were an older clone of captain Hitsugaya."

"Yeah, except I have gold eyes and he has turquoise." Toya let out an amused chuckle at the thought of being a clone of someone shorter than him. His amused thoughts, however, came to a stop when his thoughts trailed back to the abandoned lab he discovered. He thought back to when he saw the test tube and computers and wondered what they were for. 'Were they trying to create something?'

"You okay, Toya?" The white haired lieutenant broke out of his thoughts when Renji started to wave a hand in front of his face. "You spaced out for a moment there."

"Sorry, just thinking about something." Toya said, filing his previous thoughts away for later contemplation before putting on his serious face. "Back to what we were talking about earlier, they want me to confirm that Rukia gave her powers to a human?"

"Yeah." Renji nodded his head, being equally serious as his white haired friend. "After you confirm it, captain Kuchiki and I will take it from there."

"I still think they're jumping to conclusions." Toya let out a sigh before getting to his feet with Renji doing the same. "But I can't refuse if it's from the head captain."

"Yeah." Renji reached into the folds of his shihakusho and pulled out a few sheets of paper before handing them to Toya. "The department of research and development has confirmed she's attending a school in the world of the living as a cover. You're to infiltrate that school as an exchange student and these papers hold what will be your background when you arrive."

"Alright." Toya gave a nod in acknowledgement as he took the papers and looked over what was written. When he reached one part of his background, his eyes widened slightly in surprise before looking at Renji. "This is my background while I'm there?"

"Surprised me too." Renji shrugged his shoulders at the surprised look on the squad thirteen lieutenant's face before leaving the office with a backhand wave. "We'll be on standby until we receive your report."

"I'm not even sure I should." Toya muttered under his breath, giving his background papers another glance before placing them in the folds of his shihakusho. He left the office and began to walk through the squad thirteen barracks, greeting any squad members he passed, before stopping in front of the ugendo and knocking on the door a few times "Captain, it's Toya, may I come in?"

"Of course." At hearing permission to come inside, Toya slid the door open to see his sickly captain sitting up on his futon with a cup of tea resting in his hands. Once Toya stepped inside and took a seat beside him, Jushiro took another cup from the tray beside him and poured some tea for the white haired lieutenant. "What can I do for you, Toya?"

"I just got an assignment from the head captain." Toya took a sip of his tea to gather his thoughts and Jushiro waited patiently knowing that what his lieutenant was about to say would be hard on him. "Rukia's under suspicion of giving her powers to a human and I'm to go and confirm it."

"Rukia?" Jushiro's eyes widened in surprise when Toya nodded his head and the two just let silence fill the room. Jushiro can see that Toya has mixed feelings about this assignment as it decides the fate of one of his closest friends and reaches over to rest a hand on the squad thirteen lieutenant's shoulder. "Toya, tell me, do you believe Rukia would do something like that?"

"Of course not." Toya shook his head, momentarily forgetting who he was speaking to, before adding softly. "At least, not unless she had no other options."

"Like being injured in a fight?" Jushiro inquired, removing his hand from his lieutenant's shoulder and resting it on his lap. When Toya nodded his head, the sickly captain looked down thoughtfully for a moment before turning his attention back to the white haired lieutenant. "Then might I suggest you get the full story from her?"

"I think I'll do that" Toya nodded his head, taking another sip of his tea before setting it down in front of him. "It would be better than jumping to conclusions."

"Very true." Jushiro nodded in agreement with his lieutenant's words before he also took a sip of his tea. "Well, Toya, where do you think Rukia would be?"

"She should still be in Karakura town." Toya replied, remembering arriving when his friend received her assignment. He reached into the folds of his shihakusho to pull out the papers Renji gave him. "All we know is that she's attending a school as a cover." He held out the papers to his captain who took them and his eyes skimmed over what was written. "They want me to infiltrate this school with that as my background."

"This is your background?" Jushiro looked up from the papers to raise an inquiring eyebrow at his lieutenant. "Why would they decide on this?"

"I was surprised too, captain." Toya said, taking the papers from his captain and placing them in the folds of his shihakusho once again. "I think they decided that because I have no surname and I'm a close friend of Rukia's."

"That does make sense." Jushiro said, mulling over what Toya said and when he saw his lieutenant's false background. "I'm just surprised that he went along with it."

"I doubt he was the one who suggested it, that's for sure." Toya finished the last of his tea before bowing to his captain and getting up to his feet. "I better get going now, captain."

"Have a safe trip, Toya." Jushiro gave his lieutenant a small wave which he bowed in return before leaving the ugendo. Once Toya was out of sight, the sickly captain lowered his hand with a worried frown on his face. "I hope nothing bad happens to him or Rukia."

As he walked through the halls of the squad thirteen barracks, Toya politely greeted any subordinates he passed while his thoughts were elsewhere. Try as he might, the squad thirteen lieutenant couldn't figure out what was going on in his petite friend's head. Why would Rukia give her powers to a human? Why break the law knowing the consequences? Many unanswerable questions began to fill Toya's head as he reached his room and slid the door open. He walked over and reached for his zanpakuto that was resting on the wall in the corner before setting it in its usual place on his waist. Adjusting it slightly, Toya quickly left the barracks to make his way to the senkaimon that would take him to the world of the living.

"Master." Toya looked down at his zanpakuto when he heard Raijinmaru's voice. "You seem conflicted, is it about this mission?"

'Yeah.' Toya nodded in confirmation as he continued his trek through the seireitei to his destination. 'I just can't figure out what Rukia was thinking.'

"Indeed, it is unlike her to do something like giving her powers to a human." The white haired lieutenant could hear the thoughtfulness in his zanpakuto spirit's voice. "Perhaps she was in a situation that left no other option."

'I'm hoping that to be the case, Raijinmaru.' Toya rested his hand on his zanpakuto's handle when the senkaimon came into view and a black butterfly fluttered beside him. 'I'll have my answers when I find Rukia and ask her myself.' The doors of the senkaimon opened as he approached and walked through, the black butterfly staying close to him. 'Until then, I'll treat this as any other mission.'

"Very well, master." Raijinmaru could sense that his master was conflicted about this mission as a low rumble echoed throughout Toya's inner world. Small gusts of wind push the thunderclouds in a circular motion around the zanpakuto spirit whose eyes are on the center of the swirling clouds. "Just know that I will be by your side no matter the decision you make."

Toya looked down at his zanpakuto that rests comfortably on the left side of his waist and gave it a small, grateful smile. He gently placed his right hand on its handle to feel it was vibrating as proof of his zanpakuto spirit's loyalty. 'Thank you, Raijinmaru.'

Meanwhile, in the world of the living, Rukia was walking down beside a river on her way to school. Her thoughts tracing back to the last few days as a series of events happened. First, she and Ichigo Kurosaki, the human she gave her powers to, have received numerous reports of hollow activity. However, just as they arrived at the location of the reports, the hollows seem to have vanished into thin air. Then they met a human named Uryu Ishida who calls himself a Quincy, a race of humans who destroy hollows thought to have been extinct.

This encounter resulted in a duel between him and Ichigo to see who can kill the most hollows. Rukia thought such a duel was foolish and placed the people of Karakura in danger, and she was proven right when a Menos Grande suddenly appeared. It was her first time seeing one outside of a textbook, but even she knew that she couldn't handle a Menos Grande even with her full power.

'And yet.' Rukia's grip on her school bag tightened when she thought back to the previous day. 'Despite only being a soul reaper for over a month, Ichigo took on a Menos Grande's Cero and forced it back.' The scene of that day played back in her head as she watched Ichigo bravely block the Cero with his enormous zanpakuto. 'Ichigo, you're no ordinary human.'

Her thoughts then wandered to the soul society, wondering what they were going to do. Most likely they learned of her giving her powers to a human and making him a substitute soul reaper. Such an action is a major offense and punishable by death or life imprisonment if she was lucky. Rukia could just imagine the reactions of her oldest friends Renji and Toya if they learned of what she did. Renji would be outraged and most likely do something reckless while Toya would try to understand her actions. Now that she thought about it, ever since Toya appeared in their lives, he always acted as the mediator when she and Renji had an argument.

'Speaking of Toya.' Rukia looked up to the sky as the clouds floated carelessly on by as she thought of her white haired friend. 'While in the academy, he always talked about ways that the soul society could have helped the Quincies.' She cracked a smile as she remembered hearing her white haired friend ramble on about ideas that might work in theory. 'Knowing him, he'd probably follow through with his ideas if he met Uryu."

"Hi, Rukia, How are you?" Rukia snapped out of her thoughts and looked back to face the person who greeted her. Walking behind her was a girl wearing the same Krakura uniform as her. She had long orange hair with a pair of snowflake-shaped pins and big brown eyes.

"Oh, hey there, Orihime." Rukia greeted the other girl as they continued to walk down the path. "I'm fine."

"Can I walk with you?" Orihime asked.

"Of course you can." Rukia smiled at the orange haired girl. "I didn't know you were an early riser like me. Do you always come to school this early?"

"No, I'm usually late." Orihime replied as she stopped walking with her hands and legs fidgeting. "But with summer almost here, I get so excited I can't sleep!" She stopped fidgeting as she raised one hand and the opposite leg with flowers and sparkles surrounding her. "And every morning I pop out of bed all sparkly!"

"Right." Rukia let out a small chuckle as she watched the excited girl. 'I have a feeling that she and Rangiku would get along quite well if they meet.'

"Summer's just the best season, isn't it?" Orihime said, her hands behind her back as she leaned forward slightly. "What are you doing to do on your vacation, Rukia?"

"Uh." Rukia dragged out before smiling brightly in her rehearsed cheery girl persona. "Oh, I have no idea."

"There's a fireworks festival in August." Orihime said, smiling brightly as she explained what she had planned for the summer. "And Tatsuki and a bunch of us are going. You should come along with us, Rukia, we go every summer and it's always really fun, what do you say?"

"A fireworks festival?"

"Mhm." Orihime nodded as she and Rukia continued their walk to school. "In fact, we should ask Ichigo to go with us too." She turned to walk backwards as she faced Rukia. "It'll be just like the time we all went to see Don Kanonji together, now that was fun."

"Oh yeah, that certainly was interesting, wasn't it?" Rukia gave a nervous smile as she knew the event Orihime was talking about and what really happened.

"Mhm." Orihime gave another nod, turning to walk forwards again before looking up slightly in thought. "Of course, Ichigo came along that time because his family was going. He can be so thoughtful sometimes." Rukia looked at Orihime in surprise before closing her eyes with a small smile. "And his family is so fun. Sometimes, I wonder how he's related to them because he's so serious all the time." Once again, she turned to face Rukia, pointing to her eyebrows as she formed a small frown. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it's almost like Ichigo has a permanent frown on his face."

"Yes, I know what you mean." Rukia said, smiling at the orange haired girl in front of her. "Funny though, I always thought you didn't like Ichigo very much, Orihime."

"Well." Orihime replied thoughtfully. "Let's just say when you take a good look at him, he has a really interesting face." Rukia was so amused by her reply, she couldn't help a giggle that came out of her throat as Orihime looked back to the raven haired girl. "I hope you come to the festival, you'll have fun, I promise."

"Alright, I'll think about it." Rukia replied, looking down to the side to avoid looking at Orihime. 'Though something tells me I won't be able to attend this festival.'

"Uryu!" Misato Ochi, a young woman with rounded glasses and long brown hair tied back in a ponytail exclaimed in shock. Standing at the door of the classroom was a bespectacled teenager of average height and slender build. He has straight, chin-length black hair framing both sides of his face, and is fair-skinned with blue eyes. What shocked Misato was that both of his hands were covered in bandages. "What in the world happened to you?!"

"I, um…" Uryu replied, pushing up his glasses as he thought of an excuse to explain his bandaged hands. "Fell down the stairs."

Silence filled the classroom as none of the students believed his excuse as even they knew it was a lie. Despite having no medical knowledge, everyone knew that you couldn't get injuries like those just by falling down stairs.

"Hmm, whatever you say." Ms. Ochi replied, not believing the bespectacled teen's excuse, turning to face the board as she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder as she looked through the textbook in her hand. "Well, take your seat and turn to page 110."

'Sakuya could have came up with a better excuse.' Rukia thought as the bespectacled teen took his seat. She turned her attention to the orange haired teenage boy sitting next to her who was looking towards Uryu and knew what was going on in his head. "Don't let it bother you, Ichigo." The teen, Ichigo, looked at her curiously as she looked at her textbook. "His injuries aren't your fault." Ichigo let out a small noise as he tensed up. "He brought it on himself, besides, it would have happened anyway."

"You've gotta be kidding." Ichigo turned his head away from Rukia as he rested his chin on the palm of his hand with an irritated look on his face. "I'm not the least bit worried about Uryu."

"Interesting, I never suggested you were worried about him." Rukia said with a smug grin on her face. "If you recall, all I said was don't let it bother you."

"Agh!" Ichigo turned to face Rukia again, who had her textbook up to cover half her face, and brought up a fist as a dark aura surrounded him. "Why you…"

"Do you think he was in a fight?"

"Uryu? No way."

"I can't believe he came so late, and in the middle of third period?"

"Alright class, quiet down." Ms. Ochi said, clapping a couple times to get the classes attention. "It slipped my mind earlier, but today we have an exchange student joining us." Her words filled the classroom with students chattering amongst themselves at the sudden announcement. "It's only for a few days, so be on your best behavior." A sudden knock on the door got the attention of everyone present as Ms. Ochi looked at the door. "Ah, that must be him now. Come in and introduce yourself."

"Yes, Ma'am." Rukia's eyes widened slightly when she heard the mysterious student's voice as the door slid open and he walked in. The student walked until he was standing next to Ms. Ochi before picking up the chalk and began to write his name on the blackboard. Once he was finished, he put down the chalk and turned to face the class with a friendly smile. "Hello, my name's Toya Kuchiki." He bowed politely to the class who all looked to Rukia when they heard his last name. "I look forward to learning with you all even if it's only for a very short time."

"Toya?!" Rukia couldn't help the look of shock on her face as she jumped up to her feet and placed her hand on her desk. Her reaction got many curious stares which she ignored to focus her attention to her white haired friend. 'What's he doing here?!'

"Hm?" Toya looked in Rukia's direction before smiling and giving her a small wave. "Hey Rukia, it's been a while."

"I take it you two know each other?" Ms. Ochi inquired, looking from Toya to Rukia and back as she watched the two interact so familiarly.

Toya looked towards Ms. Ochi and nodded his head in confirmation. "We're cousins."

"Oh." Ms. Ochi blinked a couple times and shrugged her shoulders before turning to the blackboard again. "In that case, you can take the seat behind her."

"Yes, ma-" Toya was cut off as Rukia ran across the classroom and grabbed his arm before dragging him out, getting curious glances from everyone as they ran down the halls. "Rukia, hold on, class is still in session!" His pleas were ignored as Rukia continued to drag him up the flight of stairs before opening the door to the roof.

After checking to make sure they were the only ones up there, Rukia finally let go of Toya and turned to face him. "What are you doing here, Toya?"

"Well, hello to you too." Toya said sarcastically before letting out a dramatic sigh, resting a hand over his chest with a faux pained expression on his face. "Is that any way to greet your cousin after so long?"

"First of all, drop the act, Toya." Rukia's eyes narrowed as Toya gave her another faux pained expression before chuckling in amusement and lowering his hand to rest on his hip. "Secondly, what was all that about calling yourself a Kuchiki and saying we were cousins?"

"Don't ask me, I didn't come up with the background." Toya replied, holding his hands up in surrender. He began to tug lightly on the knot of his tie when it started to be difficult to breathe. "Man, how can humans wear these things and not have trouble breathing?"

"You haven't answered my question, Toya." Rukia risked a side glance to the roof's door to see it was still open but didn't see anyone. She turned her attention back to her white haired friend who loosened his tie a little. "Why are you here?"

"What, a friend can't drop by and say 'hi'?" Toya shrugged his shoulders with a laidback smile on his face. Seeing that his oldest female friend didn't believe his reason for coming, his expression became serious and addressed the elephant in the room. "There was a rumor going around the Soul Society about you giving your powers to a human."

"I didn't think you were the type to believe rumors, Toya." Rukia mentioned, trying not to show how tense her shoulders were as a single bead of sweat trailing down her face.

"Normally, I'm not." Toya nodded in agreement before slowly approaching Rukia and leaned forward to look her in the eyes. "Which is why I came here to hear it from you directly."

'He's serious.' Rukia could see the conflicting emotions hidden under her white haired friend's serious eyes as he placed a hand in his pants pocket, seemingly clenching something tightly. 'Toya doesn't want to believe I gave my powers to a human.'

"Well, are you going to explain yourself, Rukia?" Toya's eyes narrowed slightly when one of his oldest friends remained silent. "Or should I take your silence meaning the rumors are true?"

"You should know me better than that, Toya." The white haired lieutenant blinked in surprise at Rukia's response. He leaned back to stand straight, his eyes never leaving Rukia's as she stared back unwavering. "You should have sensed the increased number of hollow activities the moment you came here."

"You're right." Toya nodded in confirmation, breaking his stare down with Rukia to look up to the sky. "There's so many, I can understand why you didn't return after your month-long assignment ended." He then turned his attention back to his fellow squad member and closest friend with a small frown on his face. "But I digress, I know there's something you're not telling me, Rukia."

"There isn't." Rukia crossed her arms, walking over to the metal fence of the school roof to look over the rooftops of the many buildings she could see. She gripped on a bar of the fence with a hand before looking from the rooftops to the sky. "I can't in good conscience return until I can discover the cause of the increase in hollow activity here."

"It could be the humans here." Toya theorized, moving to stand beside Rukia as he too looked over the rooftops. "Ever since I came here, I sensed quite a few strong spiritual pressures." He gave his longest friends a side glance to gauge her reaction to his next words. "More specifically, the orange haired teen in the classroom, he has the strongest I've sensed in a human."

It took all of Rukia's willpower not to show any outer reactions while inside she knew where her oldest friend was going with that observation. She wasn't stupid, she knew that Toya's aptitude in sensing spiritual pressures was better than her's. She also knows that he can see spirit ribbons if he concentrates enough. If he saw that Ichigo's spirit ribbon was red, then there won't be hiding that she did give a human her powers.

'If Toya says he'll report to the soul society, one of two things are sure to happen.' A single finger twitched as Rukia subtly gathered as much of her depleted spirit energy without Toya noticing. 'Both I would like to avoid, for the sake of everyone involved.'

"I'll just cut to the chase." Toya's hand on her shoulder pulled Rukia out of her thoughts as he leaned his head next to hers to whisper softly in her ear. "Because you're a close friend, I'll wait three days before giving my report." When he pulled back, Rukia turned her head to face Toya who already had his back turned to her as he made his way towards the roof's door. "If you can prove that you still have your powers by then, then I'll just report that you're staying because of increased hollow activity."

'We both already know the verdict of your report, Toya.' Rukia's hands that still held onto the fence tightened their grip, She let out a sigh as he released her grip and walked over to the door. 'Sorry to dash any hope you had, but I've long since made my decision.'

"Have you learned anything yet?"

"I need more time, Renji." Toya leaned his head against the concrete wall of the school building while holding a cell phone-like device called a Soul Pager by his ear. It was now lunch period and he took this opportunity to call Renji to give a small report on what he found so far. "I'm giving her three days to prove her innocence."

"Still think she didn't give her powers to the human?" Renji asked, having heard the hesitance in Toya's voice. "Toya, I don't want to believe it either, but we still have to do this."

"I know." Toya nodded despite knowing Renji couldn't see it on the other side of the line. "Rest assured, I'll be truthful and serious when it's time to give my report."

"I know you will." Toya reached into his pocket to pull out a toy dispenser, which has the head of a dog wearing a scholar hat, and stared at it as he listened to Renji on the other end. "Don't forget, no matter if Rukia's our friend or not, we still need to apprehend her."

"Doesn't mean I'm not giving her a chance to prove herself." Toya looked around to make sure he was still alone before pocketing the dispenser. "I'll monitor her for a little while longer and report back in three days."

"We will wait until sunset." The squad thirteen lieutenant's eyes widened upon hearing the calm, monotonous, tone instead of his red haired friend. "Any later and we will apprehend you along with Rukia as an accomplice."

Toya bit hard on his lower lip to stop the protest that wanted to leave his throat as he tried to control his conflicting emotions as he replied. "... Understood, captain Kuchiki."

After hearing his response, the squad six captain hung up and Toya flipped his soul pager close before pocketing. He took a deep breath before turning to punch the wall he was leaning against. Even after forty years, Toya still couldn't believe the man he was just talking to was the same person who adopted his friend he saw as a sister. If he looked up the word 'emotionless' in the dictionary, there would be a picture of the man where the definition should be.

'He doesn't even give Rukia the time of day.' Toya removed his fist from the wall to see he made a small fist-shaped dent in it. He raised his fist to see it was bleeding from how hard he punched the wall. 'If only Renji and I were stronger back then.' He raised his other hand over his bleeding fist and began to use kido to heal it. 'If only I stayed and told Rukia to reject their offer to be adopted and stay with us, maybe things would have been different.'

Toya's thoughts were interrupted when he heard what sounded like snicker and turned around to face the source. On a tree branch, Toya saw what looked like a stuffed lion toy standing on two legs with one paw on the tree for support and muttering to itself. The white haired lieutenant sweatdropped at the sight of a stuffed toy moving and talking on its own before looking over to where it was staring at.

What he saw was Rukia and a few other girls from their class hanging out as they talked to one another. Toya resisted the urge to burst out laughing when he saw Rukia spit out the chocolate milk she was drinking when one of the girls seemingly asked her a question. Making a mental note to tease her about it later, the lieutenant turned his attention back to the stuffed lion and slowly approached the tree to hear what it was muttering about.

"My dear sweet Rukia and Orihime, the time has come." The lion muttered, letting out a disturbing chuckle as he watched the girls in question interact with the other girls. "My last attempt may have failed, but nothing will stop me from doing it this time."

"Stop you from doing what?"

The stuffed lion jumped at the sudden question and slowly turned its head to look behind it. Sitting behind the stuffed lion was Toya staring down at it with a less than friendly smile on his face. The two continued to stare silently at each other before one thought crossed the stuffed lion's head.

'I've been spotted!' The lion quickly began to sweat profusely as Toya continued to stare at it. 'Calm down Kon, maybe it's not too late to trick this guy into thinking you're a normal stuffed animal!' With that thought, the stuffed lion, Kon, went still and fell back to lay innocently on the tree branch. 'Please be stupid, I'm just a cute toy whose battery just ran out!'

"It's useless to act now." Toya said, smile still in place as he reached down and gripped tightly on Kon's head before bringing him to eye level. Kon continued to sweat profusely as Toya closed his eyes as small sparks of electricity traveled down from his head to his arms. "Now then, what exactly were you going to do to the person I see as a sister and her friend?"

'Holy crap!' Kon frantically thought as he tried to think of a way to escape. 'How can a calm, friendly smile be so utterly terrifying?! Who is this yahoo anyway?!'

"I suggest you answer quickly." Toya's grip on Kon's head began to slowly tighten as he continued to smile. He slowly opened his eyes and if Kon were human he would have wet himself with how terrifying those golden orbs stared at him. "Otherwise, there will be nothing but ashes left of you."

"I wasn't going to do anything!" Kon exclaimed, flailing his arms and legs to hopefully wiggle his way out of the white haired lieutenant's grip. "I just wanted to be hugged by Rukia and Orihime!"

"Orihime?" Toya tilted his head in confusion, slightly loosening his grip on Kon before raising his free hand with his index finger pointing up. "Oh, the orange haired girl with the snowflake hair pins!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's her!" Kon quickly nodded his head on agreement, relieved his head wasn't getting crushed anymore. "I just wanted them to cuddle and hold me tenderly in their valleys of soft pillows!" The stuffed lion let out a gasp that quickly died in his throat when he realized too late what he just said. 'Oh crap!'

"I see, I see." Toya said as he nodded his head, his grip in Kon tightening again much to the stuffed lion's horror. "I had a feeling that might be it." With his free hand, Toya reached into his pocket and pulled out a small rectangular device. "Tell me, are you familiar with the Department of Research and Development?"

"O-o-o-of course I know of them." Kon stuttered out as Toya flipped the device open to show it was a small computer with a small indent in the corner. "W-w-why d-d-do you ask?"

"I sometimes help them with their field research." Toya replied and Kon couldn't stop shaking at how casually the white haired lieutenant was talking. "So they gave me this computer to save and edit data I gather for them."

'I have a bad feeling about this.' Try as he might, Kon couldn't free himself from Toya's grip as the white haired lieutenant typed away at the computer. 'How is this guy so strong?!'

"And done." Toya nodded his head in satisfaction before turning his attention to Kon. "I know you're a soul candy, so please cooperate and spit it out."

"No way in hell!" Kon exclaimed, placing his paws over his mouth in hopes to keep his pill form safe. "I don't know what you're planning, but I'm having nothing to do with it!"

"That's funny." Toya gave Kon a perplexed look before giving a friendly smile that wasn't so friendly. "You make it sound like I'm giving you a choice." The stuffed lion could do nothing but cower in fear as Toya's free hand reached towards him. Kon gave one final struggle to escape but could do nothing to free himself from the lieutenant's grip. "Relax, it's just a harmless scan to see how you can be placed in a stuffed toy."

Kon ceased his struggling when he processed Toya's words and looked to the lieutenant with hopeful eyes. "That's it?"

"Nope." Toya said cheerfully, plunging his hand into Kons mouth before the stuffed lion had a chance to close it. Kon let out muffled screams as he looked up at Toya with fear in his eyes. "I plan to do something else on top of that."

"Hm?" Rukia looked to the side only to see nothing and continued to look around the area for a moment.

"Something wrong, Rukia?" Orihime asked, noticing Rukia's behavior and getting the attention of the other girls.

"It's nothing, Orihime." Rukia replied, her cheerful smile in full effect as she took a sip of her chocolate milk. "I just thought I heard something." Satisfied with that response, the girls went back to what they were previously doing, not noticing the thoughtful look on Rukia's face. 'I thought I heard Kon screaming just now. But it can't be, he's at Ichigo's house right now.'

Toya rested his hand on the handle of his zanpakuto as he watched the people go about their day from his position on a power pole. Shortly after dealing with Kon, Toya used the excuse to need to use the restroom to exit his gigai and let his soul candy take his place in his classes. He slowly closed his eyes in concentration as his spirit energy began to steadily rise with each breath he slowly took. Toya's grip tightened on his zanpakuto as the undeniable howl of a hollow was heard and quickly suppressed his spirit energy.

When he opened his eyes, the white haired lieutenant looked up to see flying in the sky was a hollow resembling a bipedal komodo dragon. It's body was brown covered in white chainmail-like scales and it's mask had red markings.

'Now to wait.' Toya thought as he continued to suppress his spirit energy until it couldn't be differentiated from other humans. He jumped off the power pole and into a dark alley as the hollow released another howl. 'Will you come Rukia, or the one who has your powers?'

While he waited for Rukia to make an appearance, Toya kept a close eye on the hollow that started to look around for its prey. The white haired lieutenant was reluctant to get any innocent bystanders involved, but he had no choice if he wanted immediate results. Initially, Toya planned on using spirit ribbons, but was curious about the skills of the substitute soul reaper. Despite what he thought, Toya decided to lure in a hollow for the substitute to fight and gauge their fighting capabilities.

Toya didn't have to wait long as the hollow decided to devour the people below it and descended down to a woman looking at a scrap of paper. Having seen this, Toya moved to deal with the hollow until the sound of a shout caught both the attention of him and the hollow. Running across the street was a teenage boy with orange spiky hair wearing a shihakusho wielding a zanpakuto the size of his body.

"That must be him." Toya muttered under his breath as the teen jumped up to the hollow and swung his zanpakuto at its head. The hollow raised an arm to block the blow and sparks flew when the blade made contact. "Those scales are tough, he'll need to get around them to land the killing blow."

"Ichigo!" Toya looked to where the teen came running from to see Rukia close behind. She was looking around the crowd of humans with a critical eye. 'Where's Toya, he would never ignore a hollow when it appears.'

'So, it's true.' Toya thought sadly, his eyes turned back to the teen, Ichigo, in time to see him jump back when the hollow retaliated with its other arm. As he watched Ichigo fight the hollow, Toya took notice that the teen's spirit energy was leaking out of him in large amounts. 'It doesn't take a genius to know this kid's an amatuer in controlling his spirit energy.'

"Idiot, don't just swing your sword around!" Rukia shouted as once again Ichigo's attack was blocked by the hollows arm. The teen continued to swing his zanpakuto at the hollow but grew frustrated when it continued to use its arms to block any attacks aimed at its head. "The scales on its arms are too tough for you to cut through!"

"Then what am I supposed to do?!" Ichigo shouted back, bringing his zanpakuto up to block a swipe of the hollow's claws. "This thing keeps blocking me!"

"She didn't teach him much it seems." Toya muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowed slightly as he continued to watch the fight. Ichigo pushed the hollows hand back and swung for another shot at the head only for it to be blocked. 'If I was him, I would use kido to immobilize the enemy before going for the kill.'

"Damn it!" Ichigo shouted, jumping up to avoid another swipe of the hollow's claws before finally seeing an opening. Toya saw the opening as well when the hollow's attack left its back exposed and Ichigo quickly acted. "Take this!" Before the hollow had a chance to recover, the teen swung his zanpakuto, effectively splitting the hollow's mask clean in half. As the hollow dissolved, he sheathed his zanpakuto and turned his attention to Rukia. "All done, let's head back before everyone gets suspicious, Rukia."

"Right." Rukia said distractedly, her eyes still surveilling the area for any signs of her white haired friend. She knew it was a soul candy occupying Toya's gigai when he came back from seemingly using the restroom. 'Was he distracted by another hollow?'

"Something wrong, Rukia?" Ichigo asked, having noticed the petite soul reaper's behaviour.

"It's nothing." Rukia replied, moving past the teen but still keeping her guard up. "Let's head back."

'Well, I have my answer.' Toya let out a small sigh as he reached into the folds of his shihakusho and pulled out his soul pager. He flipped the communications device open and pressed a button before bringing it to his ear. "Toya reporting… Yes, I have confirmation." He hesitantly looked over to Rukia who was slowly disappearing into the crowd of people along with Ichigo. Taking a deep breath, Toya turned his attention back to the person on the other line. "Rukia Kuchiki…"

As the words left his mouth, Toya thought back to his time spent with Rukia and Renji. The time they first met, Renji giving him his name, their time in the academy, all of it. He even remembers the time he spent with his surrogate brother and sister after they became soul reapers. When both he and Kaien helped Rukia unlock her shikai, the drinking contest that Renji forced Toya into competing, Toya consulting with Rukia in possible kido combinations. Every memory that he had continued to play in his head and nostalgia filled him until he was brought back to the present.

"Rukia Kuchiki… is guilty of all charges against her."

I hope this chapter was well worth the wait, now on to the reviews!

Karsap: YachiruXToya? That's true, there's not that many of them, I'll think about it.

Shadow knight1121: I hope you're prepared to see another update, cause here you go. Yup, he's a lieutenant now.

minato: You asked for an update? Well, I'm happy to oblige with your request with this latest chapter.

PopperPaper: No need to worry, as you have read, Toya is completely fine.

Iria Stars: I'm happy to hear you love my story and worry not, I have no intention of abandoning this fanfic.

With that said, till we meet again my readers.