Toshiro froze when he entered the eight-sided chamber. The smell of death was thick in the air. On the levels above him, forty-six elders of Seireitei slumped over tables and on the floors, all of them not just dead but long dead. The blood spray and gashes on the bodies made it clear they had been cut down with a blade and the way they had fallen where they sat; they had died before they had ever seen the attack coming.
"Well, aren't you early," Toshiro heard a far, far too familiar voice say, and he turned to see his father step into view beside one of the judges benches. "I say early, but I really think Tosen is late. If you ask me he ought to have had Rukia back at the Soukyoku Hill, ready for her execution, by now, but that's just me. I think blood in the streets is a bit over the top, but I think Aizen will be satisfied if even one person manages to kill a dear friend before his big reveal the truth."
"You did this?" Toshiro said, somewhere between a question and an accusation.
"Well, not all of it," Gin said, sounding offended by the suggestion. "Slaughtering forty-six people all on your own would take a while, and it's not even fun when all they do is sit there."
Toshiro looked over the bodies once more, forty-six innocent people who had not even been able to fight back; his father had killed them, and he didn't even care. He had no conscience at all, no pang of guilt or remorse. He felt nothing, not even hate; he'd murdered all these people for a purpose that wasn't even his own. He was worse than Aizen; at least Aizen had a reason.
"Do you feel anything at all?" Toshiro demanded. He realized, now, that his mother hadn't been the only one who had fallen for Gin's act because this was a shock. He'd thought he'd understood before, that his father really didn't care about anything, but even so, he'd never imagined him capable of this. This took a whole other level of not caring. To do something like this and not feel anything, Gin had to be completely empty.
"I spend quite a lot of my time bored," Gin answered. "But you should understand that, Shiro. It really is painful having to spend so much time with all those stupid people, don't you think? At least you're a bright one; didn't take too much after your mother. It was almost fun seeing how far I could push you. No matter how I-"
"Mom isn't stupid and she's never been boring, ever," Toshiro interrupted. The one thing Toshiro had always had to grant his father, no matter how angry he had been with him, was that he had some feeling for Rangiku, but this monster felt nothing for anyone. None of them had ever been anything more than toys to him. "She-"
"Alright, I'll grant you that one," Gin said, grinning that smile Toshiro hated so much. "Rangiku is always good for a bit of fun-if you can get all the damn kids to sleep."
"She loves you!"
"You're the one who claims she isn't stupid," Gin answered. His smile become even more forced, although Toshiro didn't notice. "This ought to cure her though; probably a bit much even for the ever-loving Rangiku to forgive, don't you think? Or maybe she'll take another apology; she does love me so much."
"No, she's not going to listen to you ever again." Toshiro pulled Hyorinmaru from its sheath. "Because this time I will kill you."
Gin smiled hugely as he drew Shinso. "I will enjoy watching you try."
"What happened here?"
Toshiro turned at the sound of her voice. Hinamori Momo stood in the doorway, looking over the bloodbath, an expression of horror growing on her face. And then, there behind her, he saw a tall, gentle-looking man appear, a man who should have been dead.
"Aizen!" he hissed. If Hinamori hadn't been between them he would have lunged forward with Hyorinmaru immediately.
She turned and an expression of wonder and joy filled her face. "Captain Aizen!"
Aizen smiled and set his hand on the girl's head. "Hinamori-kun, I'm back," his expression was so kind and his tone so gentle that even Toshiro did not expect the blade he thrust through the girl's chest.
Toshiro watched Hinamori slump to her knees and Aizen withdraw Kyoka Suigetsu and sheath the zanpakuto with the same calm, gentle expression on his face. His expression did not change at all as he raised his head to look back at Toshiro.
"Shiro-kun," he said with the same kind tone with which he had always addressed Toshiro. "Don't be so upset. I will be leaving Soul Society soon, and you know she could not survive without me."
Toshiro's rage was not an explosion of heat and fire; it was cold and hard, and far more controlled than any child had any right to be. "Bankai," he said, his voice hard and clear. "Daiguren Hyorinmaru."
Ice flowed out from Hyorinmaru to encase his arms and legs and great wings of ice grew from his back, raising him into the air.
Aizen calmly stepped past Hinamori's fallen form and smiled pleasantly up at Toshiro. "You are right to be proud, Gin-kun. His bankai is exquisite," he said, first addressing Gin but then he spoke to Toshiro. "Come, Shiro-kun, you don't want to fight me. We have been friends, haven't we, for many years?
"You are a brilliant, deeply gifted, young man. From the very day of your birth your potential has been obvious. You can be so much more than a mere shinigami. You're still a child and already you've reached the limits of a shinigami's power. Come with me, and we will find ways to expand our powers beyond these artificial limits. We can become so much more; Soul Society is a prison to those like us."
"And that's a reason to kill?" Toshiro demanded. "You think being better than them gives you the right to cut people down like they're nothing? You're never going to be great-you're nothing but a killer."
He brought Hyorinmaru down with a shout, sending out an enormous wave of ice, encasing Aizen and nearly a quarter of the room in ice. He knew it wouldn't be enough to stop Aizen, but as long as he could keep him from drawing Kyoka Suigetsu he had a chance.
Slowly he dropped to the ground, keeping his eyes focused on the frozen form.
There was only an instant between the moment Aizen stood frozen in ice and the moment Gin threw himself over the boy, knocking him back as he grabbed hold of him. Toshiro had no time to react to his father's sudden move before Gin's tight grip suddenly gave way, and he became a dead weight, falling forward into Toshiro.
The boy released Hyorinmaru, and caught hold of his father, sinking, with him, to the ground.
Aizen smiled, watching the blood spill down, soaking through the white of Gin's haori, and staining the boy's hands as he clutched at his father's sides. Only slowly was Toshiro beginning to comprehend what had happened. He did not see the slash across his father's back until he got him to the floor, and the blood by then was like a flood, spilling all too willingly from a wound that reached from his shoulder to his hip. The boy clutched at the loose fabric of his father's haori, pressing it against the gouge, as though it might somehow staunch the bleeding.
Aizen looked down at him, unnoticed. Toshiro, so strong and defiant only a moment ago, had transformed back into a small and frightened child. For a moment he considered cutting him down, leaving Gin alive but taking the son he had risked everything to save was a thought that amused him. The pain that Gin would suffer, but, no, the children were such wonderful chains, dragging Gin down, making it impossible for him to fight freely, and the fear he would face, knowing Aizen could take them at any moment, and there was nothing Gin could do to protect them would be the perfect torture for the traitor. And one never knew, Toshiro might still be useful.
The pale child was more red than white now, stained with his father's blood. He was sobbing and still fighting futilely to stop the blood flow. "No, Dad, please, Dad, Dad," he choked between sobs. He was nothing but a little boy.
Aizen left him without a thought. He had better things to do. He could feel Unohana and Kotetsu racing for the door. How lucky! They were in time to save poor little Hinamori-kun and Gin-kun. He smiled as he turned to face them.