The beast ran for its life.
The four-legged creature had only known hunger for its entire existence, hunger for the souls of those little people who seemed so plentiful.
But when he saw that even littler person, he felt something new, an overwhelming sense of dread.
He had frozen in more ways than one. The very presence of the boy dressed in black had caused a cold pressure to envelop the beast. He did not know who the boy was, but he knew what he was: death.
And so he obeyed his instincts and ran. But though he moved as fast as he could, that cold pressure did not diminish. It felt like he was running in place.
The beast came to a sudden stop as he saw the boy standing in his path, an impassive expression on his face.
A scream of terror died in the creature's throat as the boy reached over his shoulder and drew a sword. It watched as the boy swung the sword down.
And then it knew nothing.
'I've never had a hollow run from me like that,' Toshiro thought. 'They must be able to sense how much stronger I've become.'
He turned his attention to the hollow's intended victim, the soul of a middle aged woman lying on the ground.
"That-that thing was trying to eat me!" she said in horror.
"Don't worry," Toshiro assured her. "It won't bother you again."
He knelt by her side.
"I'm going to send you to a better place now, a place where you'll be safe from these monsters.
He touched the hilt of his sword to her forehead, performing the konso.
His job done, Toshiro stood up again.
'Now comes the hard part.'
Urahara Kisuke was not looking forward to this.
Toshiro was already sitting at the table in the front of his shop, eyes closed as if he was in meditation. He was in his Shinigami form with his zanpakuto sheathed on his back.
'This could get violent,' he thought.
Urahara stepped out from behind the door to the inner section of the shop and sat down across from the substitute Shinigami. Tessai had set out a cup of tea for each of them.
"So, here we are."
Toshiro opened his eyes and looked at Urahara. For the moment his expression was serious, but not angry.
For the moment.
"Before we begin," Urahara said, "I want to know one thing first. Did Aizen release his shikai when you fought him."
"No," Toshiro answered. "The difference between us was so large it would have been a waste of time for him to release his shikai."
Urahara breathed a sigh of relief. "It may not seem that way to you now, but that was a blessing in disguise."
Toshiro waited for Urahara to continue.
"Aizen's zanpakuto, Kyōka Suigetsu, has the ability to inflict what is called 'perfect hypnosis.' This means that it can control the five senses, what a person sees, what he smells, even the senses of taste and touch. Anyone who has seen the sword's release even once will be forever subject to the hypnosis. Aizen can control that person's very conception of reality.
"The fact that you did not see his shikai release makes you our biggest asset. You are the only captain-level Shinigami who is not subject to Aizen's perfect hypnosis."
Toshiro was not pleased. "There's no pressure there."
"Now, I believe you have a few questions for me."
"I do," Toshiro said. "I'll work my way up from least important to most important."
"Fair enough."
"This 'heavenly guardian' they are calling me in Soul Society, you knew about this, didn't you?"
"I guessed," Urahara admitted.
"And when did you make this guess?"
"Shortly after I detected a small child with a huge amount of spirit energy who suffered from nightmares involving a voice and a dragon. Your exploits after you met Rukia Kuchiki confirmed my suspicions."
Toshiro's eyes narrowed in anger. "You've been watching me for years."
Urahara almost expected the boy to reach for his sword then and there, but he continued with his questioning.
"And did you tell Yoruichi the real reason you sent us there? I know you didn't tell her the truth about me. She was shocked when she saw Hyorinmaru's true form."
"I did not. I was playing my hand pretty close to the chest."
"She's your best friend, maybe your only friend, and you couldn't even tell her the truth. How am I supposed to trust a word you say to me?"
"I have not lied once," Urahara declared. "I may leave certain things out, but every word I say is true."
"Hmph. Very well. Now tell me about the thing Aizen took from Rukia, the Hogyoku."
"The Hogyoku." Urahara Sat back in his chair. "It was something Aizen was trying to create a hundred years ago. A device which can break down the barriers between hollows and Shinigami, allowing each to take on the powers of the other."
Toshiro's brow furrowed as he considered which line of questioning to proceed with.
"You did something like that to me, didn't you?"
Urahara picked up his tea and began sipping it. 'Better to let him vent,' he thought.
"A hollow mask just happens to appear in the perfect place to prevent me from being sliced in half. Another me just happens to be in Hyorinmaru's world. And then that thing that briefly took over me when I was fighting Byakuya. I can put two and two together, Mr. Hat and Clogs. It's not a coincidence that I started training with a man who develops technologies to merge Shinigami and hollows, and soon afterwards I start developing hollow-symptoms! I can even pinpoint when you did it. Your little training regiment to get my powers back, when you cut my chain of fate right as I found Hyorinmaru. You wanted me to partially transform into a hollow then."
Toshiro glared at Urahara, who felt the temperature drop several degrees.
"It did give me an edge – it saved my life three times. But you had no right to do what you did. No right at all."
Urahara put down the tea cup.
"I thought we were talking about the Hogyoku," he said.
"I told you, the most important matters will come last."
'So the idea that he may have a monster growing inside him is lower on his list of priorities than the Hogyoku and what it meant for the Kuchiki girl,' Urahara thought. 'Interesting.'
"But on that subject, how did something like the Hogyoku get inside Rukia?"
"I put it inside her soul," Urahara admitted. "After I created the Hogyoku, I became afraid of what it could do. I attempted to destroy it, but nothing worked. I could not find a way to unmake what I had made. My only option was to get rid of it."
"By putting it inside the soul of a Shinigami?" Toshiro asked skeptically.
"I had developed a special kind of gigai that was not constructed from spirit energy. Such a gigai would consume the reiatsu of its wearer until they became completely human, undetectable to anyone in the Soul Society. That way, I hoped to keep the Hogyoku safe."
"You what?"
Toshiro's rage had finally reached the breaking point. He threw his tea against the wall, shattering the glass.
"Being a Shinigami was the one thing that gave Rukia's life meaning, and you took that away from her." His voice was almost a growl. "No wonder she was willing to die!"
"To make matters worse, you left her helpless when the Soul Society came after her!"
"I could have forgiven you if it was just me you had manipulated like this. But you just can't help yourself, can you? Your plan for Rukia failed, so you sent an eleven-year-old boy and a group of teenagers to do your dirty work for you. You sent a group of child soldiers into a warzone without bothering to tell us the truth about our mission."
Toshiro slammed his fist on the table. Frost and ice began to spread from his hand across the wooded surface.
"Everyone is just a pawn to you, even your own friends, even Yoruichi. Do you even care about the people you hurt along the way?"
"Believe it or not, I do," Urahara responded. "You're right about me, but your youth has given you a childish view of right and wrong. When you are dealing with someone like Aizen you have to make some sacrifices and hard decisions to win."
Toshiro opened his fist, but his eyes narrowed even further in an icy glare. "Despite everything, I do think that your intentions were probably good. That's the only reason I haven't drawn my sword. But your methods are despicable, and I will not be a part of them anymore."
"This is the end of our association," Toshiro declared. "I don't want to see your face ever again."
The table, now frozen along its center, split in two.
"And if you come near any of my friends ever again, I'll kill you."
Toshiro got up and stormed out, leaving Urahara alone.
Urahara looked down at his tea, which had spilled when the table was split.
"I have to admit, I didn't think the shop would still be intact when he left."