As the captains stepped out of the hall, no one could miss Lieutenant Ise standing very still and alone on the balcony outside. Her face showed no sign of distress; in fact, it showed nothing at all. She could have been carved of stone, she held herself under such tight control. Only her eyes betrayed her. Desperation was all too clear in their dark depths as she scanned the group.

"Lieutenant Ise, you were ordered to return to the Eighth and await your captain there," Yamamoto said in some annoyance.

"Yes, sir," she said, and even her voice was emotionless. Toshiro was impressed, and he had to say, he really agreed with Kyoraku; this was not a woman who lashed out emotionally. She'd attacked Hinamori for a reason. "But as he is here already, I thought it simpler to meet him as we might then walk back together."

"That's nice of you, Nanao-chan," Kyoraku said, before Yamamoto could respond. "I always like a pretty face to look at while I'm walking."

That Nanao did not respond with some sort of icy comeback was clear proof she wasn't doing well, and Kyoraku sighed. "Well, come along, Nanao-chan," he said, setting a hand on her shoulder. "We've got things to take care of."

Nanao relaxed visibly at his touch. "Yes, sir," she agreed.

Toshiro shunpoed directly to the Fourth the moment he heard that. He was probably overreacting, but he couldn't really put it past the two of them to do something stupid. They both clearly believed Hisagi was innocent, and after the whole thing with Rukia he knew better than to believe Captain Kyoraku was above thwarting the justice of the Gotei.

He hurried down the halls, ignoring the way the poor shinigami scurried to get out of his way. He had to make Hinamori see what she was doing and he had to do it now.

He didn't realize how angry he looked until he stormed into Hinamori's room, and she yelped and cowered back in the corner of her bed.

He stopped and took a deep, calming breath. Then he carefully closed the door behind him before turning to Hinamori once more.

She looked awful. She had bandages on her hands and arms and across her chest and even one on her cheek. Even the fringes of her bangs were singed. Nanao had not been messing around. She had really meant to kill Hinamori. Hado 90 would have done it too. If Kira hadn't made it in time--

Toshiro drew another deep breath. "What happened?" he asked finally.

Her eyes dropped to her bandaged hands. "I don't know why he attacked--"

"No," Toshiro interrupted. "What happened?"

"I was practicing and he attacked--"

"No," Toshiro interrupted again.

Hinamori raised her eyes to meet his. They were swimming with tears. "I was practicing," she protested miserably.

"Momo, you have to tell me the truth," he said. "You are hurting so many people right now. You want to help Aizen, fine, go join him in Hueco Mundo, but don't do this. Don't let them torture Hisagi for answers he can't give them. Don't destroy his family. Nanao loves him just as much as you love Aizen. What gives you the right to destroy the man she loves for the man you love?"

"I don't love Captain Aizen!" Hinamori protested with blushing cheeks. "I admire and respect--or I did." Her voice faded, and her head bowed once more.

"You believe in him. Whatever he's told you, you believe it. I get it. I'm not even going to try to argue about it. It doesn't matter. He wasn't there this morning. You were. You knocked Lieutenant Hisagi out, and you made it look like he'd attacked you first. You are the reason he has been arrested and is being questioned. You are the reason Lieutenant Ise looks like someone carved her heart right out of her chest, and you are the reason Aiko's daddy isn't coming home. You need to fix this."

Hinamori was sobbing by the time he finished talking. "I'm sorry, Shiro!" she said between sobs. "I'm so sorry."

He sat down next to her, and she threw her arms around him, hugging him like a child with a teddy bear, he couldn't help thinking. Her tears soaked into his shoulder as she apologized and told him it was all her fault over and over again, and he waited for her to calm down.

It wasn't until she fell silent that he finally spoke, "You're a good person, Momo. You made a mistake. It doesn't matter who's on what side of anything. You're not the sort of person who would ever let someone else suffer because of something you did. You are going to do the right thing."

Hinamori sat back and wiped the tears from her cheeks with the backs of her bandaged hands. "It was an accident. I was practicing. Hisagi-san, he tried to talk to me about--about--" she fell silent again, and her eyes dropped.

"It doesn't matter. Just tell me what happened."

"He scared me, and I--I already had a kido prepared so I just turned it on him--I didn't mean to hurt him, Shiro! I swear I didn't! But I couldn't feel his pulse and I thought I'd killed him, and I thought how Rukia hadn't done something nearly so bad and they were going to execute her, so what would they do to me? So I got Kazeshini, and I--I cut myself."

"And Lieutenant Ise?"

"I think she saw me drop Kazeshini--I never attacked her, though, not once," Hinamori added quickly.

"You know you have to tell Yamamoto the truth."

She nodded slowly. "Everyone's going to hate me now."

"No they're not," Toshiro said. "They'll understand like I do. You made a mistake, but you're willing to fix it. That's what matters."

She nodded. "Will you go with me?"

"Of course."

She smiled weakly at that. "Just give me a minute to get dressed, ok?"

Toshiro left the room willingly, but he wasn't an idiot. He kept a careful eye on her reiatsu. He wasn't about to let her run now.