Rangiku stared up at the sky. High above Seireitei a strange globe had collided with the barrier, and she watched with horror as it, impossibly, smashed through, only afterwards shattering and sending beams of light and reiatsu in four separate directions. Alarms went off throughout Seireitei.

As fast as she could she strapped Yuki into a sling across her chest and grabbed Kin-chan by the hand. The boy protested loudly, but she didn't slow even slightly, completely ignoring the trail of ink falling from the boy's brush as they raced from the room. Shoes on and then it was a quick shunpo to the First Division, where the captains meeting had just been called.

They were already getting out. She passed Captain Zaraki on the way, and the others were scattering toward their own divisions.

Rangiku stopped, looking around frantically. She couldn't sense Gin. Where the hell had he gone this time?

"Mom? What are you doing here?"

Rangiku looked down to meet Shiro's bright eyes narrowed at her in annoyance. "Did you see the explosion?" she demanded, pointing toward the sky.

"Captain Unohana said you have to rest," Toshiro answered firmly. "You almost fainted at Kuchiki's, and now you're doing shunpo? Are you trying to hurt yourself?"

There was the sound of a distant explosion and Rangiku swung around to face the noise. A faint cloud was rising in the far distance.

"Apparently Dad didn't manage to kill the Ryoka, and now they've broken in-but that looks like the Eleventh's territory. They won't last long."

Gin had failed to kill a Ryoka? Rangiku could hardly believe it. The Ryoka would have to be-he would have to be almost as strong as a lieutenant just to survive a single hit. Was that possible?

"What do they want?" she asked, feeling an awful sort of sick horror.

Could a Ryoka really be that strong-or had Gin let him live?

"You don't need to worry about it," Toshiro said forcefully. "We can handle it. You need to go home. Come on." He took her arm and turned her back toward the division.

"You have to stay home, Mom," Toshiro added as he led her away from the First Division. "I can't believe you heard the alarms, and you still brought Kin-chan and Yuki outside. What were you thinking?"

"We'd be safer with Gin," she answered, and she glanced back over her shoulder, wondering, once more, where her husband had gone.

"You know if there's any real danger he'll come to you," Toshiro told her, but Rangiku caught a note of doubt in his voice.

"Where is he, Shiro-chan?" she demanded, suddenly, not even partially managing to hide her rising panic.

"He has work to do," Toshiro said firmly. "So do I. That's why you need to stay home. We need you to stay safe so we can deal with this, alright? Can't you understand that?"

Rangiku nodded. He was right. She was in the way. A mother with a baby was nothing but in the way. Her hand tightened on Kin-chan's, and she stepped away from Toshiro. "We're going home, Kin-chan," she said firmly. "Thank you, Captain, but you don't need to bother to see us home. We will be quite alright on our own."

"Shesh, Mom, just let me see you home, ok?"

"Fine. Alright. Just-I'm sorry to be so much trouble."

"You're always a lot of trouble," Toshiro answered. "I'm used to it."

Gin thought the situation was quite humorous. He was following Kaien, who was really following so close behind Renji that the idiot should be demoted for not noticing, and he expected Kira and cute little Hinamori would be following as well any moment now. All the little lieutenants were terribly amusing.

Unlike the rest of the Gotei, Renji, and Captain Kuchiki, although he supposed not even any of the captains would have the guts to ask him about it, knew the Ryoka's reiatsu and would be able to track him down without too much effort. So while Zaraki was running all over Seireitei like a chicken with its head cut off, Gin and Kaien were both following Renji directly to the strange, orange haired Ryoka.

Gin wasn't much interested in the fight after Ichigo was able to take the first blow. Aizen had clearly been right; the boy was able to improve rapidly in the face of opposition. What really interested him was the way the head of the Shiba family was being so careful to stay out of Renji's sight even after the fight had started. Shouldn't an ally offer some sort of support or at least call out encouragements?

Instead, Kaien kept looking over at the Ryoka's two companions with a mixture of annoyance and disbelief. Gin thought it must have to do with the larger man's absurd outfit which included large Shiba family seals on his pants. He had to agree with Kaien if that was what bothered him; the man did look pretty silly.

But then when Renji finally went down, Kaien ran out across the open ground with his hands raised, open palms up.

"Ganju, you idiot! Are you trying to get killed?" he demanded, even as the other two ran to their severely injured friend.

"Nii-san!" Ganju nearly shouted in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here, you moron!" Kaien answered, striking him on the side of the head. "You should have come straight to me!"

Then he looked down at the Fourth Division healer and the bleeding Ryoka. "Can he be moved?"

"Ne-san didn't want us to bug you," Ganju was protesting. "You could get in trouble."

Yamada raised his head, finally noticing the lieutenant of the Thirteenth. His eyes grew to the size of saucers. "Sir?" he squeaked.

"Kuchiki Rukia is my subordinate," Kaien declared, lifting the bleeding boy. "And my responsibility-I'm taking this one to the estate. You think you can find your way?"

"Uh-"

Kaien vanished before Ganju managed any sort of answer.

The healer looked up at the much larger man. "Which estate?" he asked softly.

"Shiba, you moron! That was Shiba Kaien, head of the Shiba family and my big brother!"

"Oh, that's nice."

Gin had to hold back laughter as he watched the two of them vanish back into the sewers. These were the allies Urahara had managed to find to help with Rukia's rescue. He really wasn't impressed. He supposed he would have to go over to the Shiba estate to see if anything more effective might be happening there.

In the end he ended up doing one quick favor for Kira before he went on to the Shiba estate. It really was a pleasure giving the orders to the Fourth to patch Renji up. It wasn't often he got the opportunity to cross Kuchiki. He really hoped someone told Kuchiki it was him who had done it-they probably would if only to cover their own asses. He was happy to help.

Then it was on to the Shiba estate and a simple bit of shunpo and reiatsu suppression, and he was laying comfortably on the roof above the porch where Ichigo was being treated-how nice that Ganju and-what was that little guy's name?-had managed to find their way here.

"Nii-san, are you sure we should be here?" Ganju asked yet again.

"Don't be silly," Miyako answered. "We're family. We would want to help you even if we didn't know Rukia at all, but Rukia is just as dear to us as she is to you. We were already determined to find a way to help her even before you came to Seireitei."

"See, I told you," Kaien said. "You should have come straight here."

"That's what I intended before we were all separated," the cat said.

Gin frowned. A talking cat was strange enough; he'd never known anybody to manage that before, but the fact that the cat seemed to be in charge and the additional fact that they seemed to be calling the cat Yoruichi which he could swear was Urahara's ninja girlfriend's name really was beyond him.

"I'm a little worried about the other three," the cat added. "They're not as strong as Ichigo. They'll be in trouble even if they run into a third or fourth seat."

"I don't know about that. The Fourth Seat of the Seventh had gone missing earlier," Kaien said. "Everyone was pretty sure one of the Ryoka had gotten him."

"Yeah?" Ganju said. "Guess those guys weren't so bad after all."

"We still need to find them before they find themselves face to face with a lieutenant or worse. Then we need to work out a more sensible plan. If Ichigo keeps running straight at that tower all he's going to do is end up getting himself killed. Everyone who wants a piece of him can line up and take turns," Yoruichi said.

"Zaraki Kenpachi will be the first," Miyako said. "I passed him three times today, looking for the Ryoka. I'm glad he had no more luck than I did, but you're right. Once he hears where Ichigo fought Renji it won't be difficult to guess where he'll go next."

"We should wait," Kaien said. "We'll locate the other kids and get them here, and then we need to wait. I don't know what Urahara was thinking, sending you all here, but we still have almost got two weeks. That's plenty of time for us to find a way to save Rukia without any outside help."

"There is more happening than you're aware of, young Kaien," the cat answered. "You're only seeing what they want you to see. This isn't a simple miscarriage of justice. Kuchiki Rukia's execution is the culmination of a century of planning. Our enemy has already anticipated our every move and made plans to counter them. Ichimaru Gin's appearance at the gate just when we arrived is proof he had even anticipated Kisuke sending the Ryoka. I'm not sure-"

"What do you mean? How was Gin at the gate a part of the enemy's plan?"

Gin smiled. Aizen hadn't wanted poor little Ichigo to get killed the first moment he stepped foot in Seireitei. Any other captain or lieutenant who might have come to deal with the invader probably would have finished him off-clever little cat!

"Shiba Kaien," the cat said coolly. "You are aware of the accusations Kisuke made against Aizen Sosuke at his trial one hundred years ago, are you not? He named Ichimaru Gin and Tosen Kaname as co-conspirators. What is happening now is nothing more or less than a continuation of AIzen's plot. If you still doubt Kisuke I don't think we will be able to work with you. Thank you for the place to stay, but we'll be going as soon as Ichigo wakes up."

"I'm not doubting Urahara," Kaien said quickly. "Maybe I'm naive, but I cannot believe he would have done what Gotei accused him of. He's not like Kurotsuchi; he wouldn't risk the lives of others in an experiment without their knowledge, but Aizen, I can't believe it of him either. If the enemy's bankai is the creation of perfect illusions then couldn't he, whoever he is, be using Aizen's form as a disguise? How can we be sure he is in fact Aizen?"

Gin considered that. He supposed he really was the only one who could say for sure, as he was the one and only person who had seen Aizen as the monster he was long before he ever met him in the Gotei. What a nasty little problem that must be for them all.

"Ichigo and his friends are immune to Aizen's illusions," the cat answered. "Because they have never seen Aizen's false bankai. We can use them to expose any illusions he may may attempt to distract us with."

Gin sat up abruptly. Then he was racing back to Central 46. He hadn't thought about that. Even the new graduates could be used the same way. Suddenly Aizen's convoluted plan seemed less like a game and more like necessary steps to his goal. He would report their intentions immediately, but he wondered what his next task would be. He hoped eliminating the Ryoka wouldn't be his job. He really detested killing children.