Toshiro had never felt so stupid. Aizen was behind everything. Of course, it was obvious when he thought about it. Who else would be pulling his father's strings? Who but the man who'd taken him under his wing and trained him and advanced him so rapidly through the ranks, brought him to a position of power as a captain-and Tosen, too, his other protege, another captain. Aizen had always been known for finding and training the best. So many of the senior officers had been chosen by him and trained by him. Even Toshiro, himself, had studied kido and pushed his abilities with ice and cold under Aizen's guidance, and so now, with all the evidence piled up against Aizen, he still had to fight the loyalty that Aizen had built within him to accept that the man he had trusted so completely was his enemy.

Who else was there? Hinamori would never accept Aizen was her enemy, even if she wasn't a part of his plot like Tosen and Gin. Then there was Kira; he probably wouldn't willingly turn against Soul Society, but he would be easily manipulated by Gin and Aizen, both of whom he trusted absolutely. And Hisagi, the man worshipped his captain, and had also been one of Aizen's prize picks; Kyoraku might be sure he would side with them if it came down to it, but he could easily be mistaken. And Captain Komamura was much like Hisagi; he'd served under Aizen, and certainly felt some level of loyalty to him, but his loyalty to Tosen was absolute. Of the others who'd trained under Aizen there probably wasn't too much to worry about. The other lieutenant, Renji, would be for them because Rukia's life was at stake, but he would have at least as much difficulty as Toshiro seeing Aizen as the enemy.

Kyoraku had returned to the Eighth, and Ukitake had gone to bed, and Captain Kurotsuchi had appeared to scold his daughter for her uselessness. Even Unohana had returned to her work. Every one of those captains knew the danger that was facing Soul Society and every one of them had agreed that for now all that could be done was to watch and wait and prepare. Only Toshiro wanted to take action.

He wandered the Fourth, trying to decide if it was just childish impatience that made him want to act now or if it was something more. He felt like Aizen had been preparing for a century, and no amount of preparation now on their part could possibly stop him if they allowed him to follow his plan, only if they did something big to disrupt it, did Toshiro feel they had any chance of stopping him-only Urahara hadn't told them why AIzen needed Rukia to die, so they didn't even know what exactly it was they were trying to stop!

The sound of laughter interrupted his thoughts. And then he heard the familiar voice of the Third Seat of the Eleventh swearing loudly. "Damn, Ichigo did a number on you, Captain! You look worse than I did yesterday!"

Toshiro took a step back and looked into the room. Captain Zaraki Kenpachi was wrapped in an impressive number of bandages, but he was chuckling. "He sure did," the captain agreed, getting slowly to his feet, so he towered above his two senior officers, Ikkaku and Yumichika. He scratched idly at one of his bandages for a moment, before speaking. "Think I'm about ready for a rematch-you boys about ready to go home? This place is damned boring."

"Yes, sir!" Ikkaku agreed enthusiastically, and beside him Yumichika shrugged.

Kenpachi turned toward the door, noticing Toshiro for the first time. "Hey, Chibi-captain Ichimaru, what brings you to the Fourth? You're not looking too banged up."

Toshiro frowned at the title, but didn't bother to object. Knowing Kenpachi, if he didn't put up with that nickname he'd start using Yachiru's nickname for him and somehow 'Captain Snowflake' seemed even worse. "I came to hear what Captain Unohana learned from Aizen's autopsy. Then Captain Ukitake had another attack so I stayed to make sure he was alright."

Kenpachi made a sour face at that. Toshiro knew Kenpachi didn't think much of getting taken down by illness, it had none of the glory or honor of battle wounds, but could kill you just as dead. He had about as much intention of letting an illness get him as he had of lasting long enough to let old age bring him down.

"Shit," Ikkaku muttered. "Think I'd rather take a one way trip to Hueco Mundo than live like that."

"That's 'cause you're a coward," Kenpachi told him.

"The hell I am!" Ikkaku protested. "I've never backed down from any-"

"Fuckin' terrified of an enemy you can't fight. S'alright, we all are, pretty much, Still-least you aren't like Yumichika-who the hell gives up 'cause their hair gets messed up?" Kenpachi demanded, reaching out and lifting the wig from Yumichika's head.

"Captain, please," Yumichika protested, although he could barely be heard over Ikkaku's near hysterical laughter. "I would rather die than be seen like this."

"You got some fucked up priorities," Kenpachi told him, but he smashed the wig back down over the frizz.

Then he turned back to Toshiro. "What about you, Chibi? What are you most afraid of?"