Aizen leaned to the side on his throne as the five Arrancar entered with a guest.
"Ah, welcome," he said in a pleasant tone. "This is Las Noches, our palace."
"Your name is Orihime Inoue, it that correct?"
"Yes," Orihime answered nervously.
Aizen's throne was raised far above the rest of the throne room, allowing him to look down at the Arrancar while they were forced to look up at him.
"I'm sorry to rush you, Orihime," Aizen said, "but I'd appreciate it if you showed me your power."
Orihime nodded.
"Of course, there are some who are not happy with my decision to bring you here to Hueco Mundo." Aizen looked down at the four Arrancar who stood in front of Orihime. "Isn't that right, Luppi?"
The black-haired Espada looked down and to the side in frustration. "Yes, of course I don't like it. All of our battles meant nothing. It was all nothing more than a diversion so that we could bring this girl here! It just makes me disgusted with her."
"It must be frustrating," Aizen said, "to have faced such weak opponents and failed to kill a single one of them. Did you know that the girl who froze your arms was not even a ranked officer?"
Aizen sat up. "Oh, I know what we should do. Orihime, demonstrate your power for us. I want you to heal Grimmjow's left arm."
Orihime turned to the blue-haired Arrancar, who was standing in the back as befitted his status below the Espada. She had healed him completely earlier, but the scars he had received in his first fight with Toshiro remained and his arm was still missing.
"Impossible!" Luppi yelled. "That's crazy, Lord Aizen. It can't be done! Director-General Tousen reduced Grimmjow's arm to ashes. How can she possibly heal something that doesn't exist? She's not a god!"
Orihime walked over to Grimmjow and looked at his empty sleeve.
"Soten Kishun."
Two fairies appeared from the pin on her head, dragging an orange force field around Grimmjow's shoulder and side.
"Now I … I reject … "
"Hey!" Luppi yelled at her. "Are you listening, girl? If you're putting on an act in a pathetic attempt to save your life, you might as well give up now."
He pointed at her in a threatening manner. "Should I see proof that you haven't any power, then there's no reason to keep someone like you – "
Luppi gasped as the top part of Grimmjow's sleeve began to become filled
" – alive?"
A forearm, powerful and muscular, was sticking out of the sleeve now. Within moments, Grimmjow's hand and fingers began to regrow as well.
Grimmjow raised his reformed arm and stared at it in disbelief.
"How?" Luppi demanded, a hint of fear entering his voice. "This goes beyond mere healing. What sorcery is this? What did you do, girl?"
"Don't you understand?" Aizen spoke softly, but his voice carried as if he had screamed. "Ulquiorra thinks that it's temporal or special regression."
"But that's impossible!" Luppi protested. "No human can have such advanced power!"
"While both ideas are interesting theories, it is neither one, temporal or special," Aizen continued. "It rejects all forms of phenomenon."
"Her power limits, rejects, and negates what has happened to an object. She has the power to return things to the state they existed in before events changed them. It exceeds temporal or special regression. Effortlessly, it overcomes the limits of all established phenomena. It knows no borders or barriers. In fact, it overcomes the limitations set by gods."
Grimmjow was not paying attention to his leader's explanation. He continued to examine his new arm. It felt exactly the same as the one he'd lost.
"Hey girl," he said, pointing to a scar on his back, "come heal one more thing."
Luppi gasped as Orihime rejected the scar, revealing a large tattoo of the number six on Grimmjow's back.
"Just what do you think you're doing, Grimmjow?" Luppi demanded in a gravelly voice.
Grimmjow turned to Luppi and leered.
He lunged at the Arrancar who had replaced him as the sixth Espada and plunged his reformed hand into Luppi's chest.
Luppi spat out blood. "You … you bastard …. "
"Your days are done," Grimmjow taunted. He raised his right hand, which was glowing red with the energy of a cero.
"Goodbye, ex-mister sixth Espada."
Grimmjow released the cero inches from Luppi's face.
Orihime reflexively closed her eyes. When she opened them, she saw the bottom half of Luppi's body fall to the ground. The rest of it had been completely vaporized.
Orihime looked in horror at the surrounding Arrancar. None of them reacted at all to the cold-blooded murder which had just occurred within their ranks, and Aizen was smiling.
Grimmjow laughed maniacally. "It's back! My power is back! The sixth Espada is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez once more!"
Toshiro slumped against the wall and collapsed to the floor. Chad stood next to him
Captain Ukitake and the rest of the Shinigami quickly entered the living room to use the giant screen to contact the Soul Society. Rukia was about to enter last, but she stopped in the doorway and looked down at Toshiro.
His arms were wrapped around his knees, pulling them against his chest.
In all the time Rukia had known Toshiro, he had never looked smaller than in that moment.
She bent down in front of him.
"Don't worry," she assured him. "We'll get Orihime back."
Toshiro looked at her, and Rukia was shocked at the fear in his eyes.
"I pointed my sword at Orihime," he said softly. "I almost killed her."
Rukia almost recoiled in shock. Chad did recoil. When they found Toshiro all he had said was that Orihime was gone.
"Why?" Chad asked.
Toshiro looked away.
They looked up as Ukitake opened the living room door.
"The Head Captain wants to speak to you."
The Shinigami stared intently as Toshiro entered the room with his head bowed down and his shoulders slumped.
'I've never seen him like this before,' Renji thought, 'not even when Captain Kuchiki stabbed him and left with Rukia. He looks completely defeated.'
Toshiro stopped in front of the large screen, not bothering to look at Head Captain Yammamoto's face.
"Toshiro Hitsugaya," Yammamoto said, "I want you to tell me everything that occurred during your confrontation with the Arrancar known as Grimmjow Jaegerjaque."
Rukis saw Toshiro's fist clench tightly before he began his explanation.
"I encountered Grimmjow over the city. He was missing an arm, which I assumed was cut off by Aizen as punishment for disobeying orders. When I saw that I sought to capture Grimmjow so he could be brought back to the Soul Society for interrogation and examination. Using my Bankai, I struck him with a sustained burst of lightning until he could no longer fight back, and imprisoned him in ice."
Toshiro stopped and took a deep breath. He had already left out the detail about his mask.
"Do not stall!" Yammamoto said angrily when Toshiro did not continue. "Do not try to hide Orihime Inoue's treachery from us!"
Chad's eyes widened Rukia gasped, and Toshiro gritted his teeth at the head captain's accusations.
"Captain Ukitake examined the scene of your fight. He founded traces of Orihime Ionue's reiatsu and was able to determine that she had used her healing powers. Since you were uninjured the only person she could have healed was the Arrancar!
"Admit it. She attacked you, freed and healed the enemy you had defeated and captured, and then left with the enemy!"
"Head Captain!" Rukia protested. "Forgive my interruption, but I can't subscribe to your interpretation of these events! I know Orihime, and there's no way she would ever do such a thing. There must be an explanation."
"That's your defense," Yammamoto asked, "your friendship with the girl? Why don't you ask your captain about his friendship with Sosuke Aizen?"
Rukia looked at Ukitake for support, but he looked away with a sad expression. "It's true. I thought of Aizen as a close friend. I never could have imagined that he or Tousen would betray us."
Renji stepped forward. "I understand what you're saying, Head Captain. Therefore, as a member of the advanced troops, and because I am the lieutenant of Squad Six, I will head to Hueco Mundo to bring the traitor Orihime Inoue back to her senses."
Toshiro and Renji looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes. Renji's idea was their only chance to salvage anything from this situation.
Yammamoto slammed his cane on the ground. "You must not!"
"With this new information, we now know that the Arrancars are ready for battle. In addition, for the last month Captain Ukitake's advanced squad has been based out of the home of a traitor. You cannot remain there. All members of the advanced squad are to return immediately and defend the Soul Society."
"Are you saying that we are to abandon Orihime?" Rukia asked.
"I am. We cannot put the safety of the entire world at risk just to go after one simple human."
"With all due respect, Head Captain," Rukia said defiantly, "I cannot follow that order."
"Unfortunate indeed," Yammamoto said. "I thought that this might happen when I heard Captain Ukitake's report, so I'm glad that I have prepared for it."
A wooden gate appeared at the back of the room, the same gate which the Shinigami had taken Rukia through the night they captured her.
The gate opened, and Byakuya Kuchiki and Kenpachi Zaraki stepped out.
"Don't fight us," Byakuya said. "We have been ordered to take you back by force if necessary."
Renji and Rukia sighed in defeat.
"And you, Toshiro Hitsugaya," the Head Captain said, "I must order you as well not to attempt a rescue mission. We are going to need your help in the coming battle, and I won't allow you to throw your life away for nothing."
Toshiro finally looked up and glared at Yammamoto.
"I'm not one of your subordinates, Head Captain. You can't order me around."
He looked around at all the Shinigami in the now-cramped room.
"Sorry to disappoint you, kid, but we're not risking our necks for anyone who isn't one of us." Shinji said.
Toshiro glared at Shinji for what seemed an eternity.
"Then I guess I'm not one of you."
Orihime looked down at Grimmjow with a sad expression.
"Shun'ou…Ayame. Soten Kishun. I reject."
An orange energy field enveloped Grimmjow. Almost immediately, the burns Toshiro had inflicted on him began to heal and disappear, and the hole in his hand began to close.
"If there's one thing I've learned today, it's that I can't count on anyone but myself," Toshiro declared.
Ukitake closed his eyes in sadness, Rukia looked away guiltily, and Chad looked at Toshiro with a horrified expression.
"Go," Toshiro told the Shinigami. "Get out of here."
"All right," Kenpachi said, "let's get moving."
All of the Shinigami began to file into the gate. Rukia entered last.
Before walking through, she turned to Toshiro one last time.
"I'm sorry," she said as the gate closed.
The screen turned off as the gate disappeared, leaving Toshiro and Chad as the sole remaining occupants of the living room.
Chad stared at his small friend for several tense moments of silence.
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
"I don't know," Toshiro said softly, not bothering to look at Chad.
"Toshiro?"
"I DON"T KNOW!" the boy yelled. "Just leave me alone."
Chad looked down.
"I see," the large teenager said.
He turned to leave, taking one last look at Toshiro before exiting the house.
Now all alone, Toshiro collapsed to his knees again and buried his face in his hands.