A/N: Here is it! Review Responses:

PartyPony2: You'll see in this chapter. And I guess I'm not that good at hiding things.

marsreikosan16: Like I said. Thanks for your support, Sister Dear.

skylark dragonstar: You're welcome. The reason I updated the Substitute Arc so fast was because I had the entire arc on DVD, or my sister did. I just borrowed them.

Shiro Neko: I'm really glad you like it. And I do too. And yes, Isshin does know Toushirou's real identity. For reference, check Chapter One.

550: Thank you. Here is the next update.

Musical Ninja: Thank you for the compliments. ^^

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

~12~12~12~12~

Chapter 12: The Worst Sentence of All

Renji walked back to the prison the next morning.

"Hey, Kurosaki, still being insubordinate?" Renji asked Toushirou.

"I'm not being insubordinate," Toushirou countered.

"Well, if you're not being insubordinate, then why do you refuse to eat?"

"Maybe, I'm just not hungry. Does that bother you, Mr. Lieutenant?"

Renji got irked at that. "Whatever, kid...listen, I just came to tell you something."

"Tell me what?" Toushirou looked back at Renji.

'First reaction I've seen in him ever since he got here...' Renji mentally noted. "I've come to tell you, the Captains have started your hearing..."

"'Hearing'?! What the hell did I do?!" Toushirou burst out with anger.

"I don't know, kid! I was just following orders, and my orders were to bring your here. I don't know why our superiors make the orders they do. It's just our job to follow them, not to know the reason behind them!" Renji retorted.

"Geez, I'm sorry I asked," Toushirou said sarcastically.

"Hey! It's not my fault that you're in here! You probably did something when you were here last time. Or maybe Central 46 has a reason that's unknown to even the Captains. We don't know. None of us do!"

"Seeing as you're the Lieutenant of this Division, I had thought that you had the answers I seek."

"I'm sorry, kid. I wish I did have them all, but I don't," Renji softly said. "Sorry I yelled."

"You have no right to apologize to me. I'm the prisoner here, not you," Toushirou softly countered. "I'm the one who should be apologizing."

Renji said nothing.

"So...a hearing, you say?"

Renji nodded. "Yeah. Together the Captains will come up with a solution to whatever problem with you they're dealing with. You had a lot of friends in the Captain ranks. I'm sure at least one, if not all, of them are pleading for your favor. I would."

"Really?"

"Yeah. To be honest, kid, just speaking as a person, I don't see any fault in you. Absolutely nothing. There's nothing in the law that says that you must kill a reborn Shinigami, just because they survived."

There a small silence.

"Thank you, Abarai."

"Huh?"

"It's nice to know that someone is on my side."

Renji did not smile, nor did he say 'You're Welcome'. Instead, he merely sadly gazed at the prisoner in front of him, feeling sorry for him that he was the one who had to go through this.

Ichigo, Chad, Uryuu, and Orihime had all stepped out onto the streets of Rukongai, panting heavily. Yoruichi, the cat, merely stepped forward.

"Man...what a rush..." Ichigo said between breaths.

"That was close. That cleaner could've killed us for sure," Chad said.

"Yeah...you took too long though, Kurosaki," Uryuu said.

"What?! You're the one who had that ugly cape!" Ichigo counter-attacked.

"Both of you calm down," Yoruichi said. "Let's go and find the Shiba House like Kisuke told us to do."

"Right."

Renji came back in after lunch to bring Toushirou some food also.

"Hey, kid. I got you some food. You hungry?"

"No."

"See? You're being insubordinate!"

"Am not! I'm just not hungry! I'm too nervous..."

Renji paused. 'Oh. So, that's why he refuses to eat.'

"I see now. Forgive me for calling you insubordinate."

"It's alright..."

Neither said anything for a long time.

Komamura Sajin, Seventh Division Captain, stomped on the ground and rose his voice to a booming level: "He is guilty of all charges!"

"And what charges do you see against him? For I see none!" Ukitake Juushirou, Thirteenth Division Captain, argued.

"He is guilty of the same charges that he was executed for long ago!" Yamamoto, Soutaichou, bellowed.

"What?!" Kusaka Soujirou, New Tenth Division Captain, retorted. "You're executing him just for surviving his previous execution?! He survived his first execution, and so you're executing him again?!"

"I see the logic behind Kusaka's reasons," Kurotsuchi calmly said. "If you were to kill this boy again, he would come back. Again, but this time as a Shinigami."

"This isn't about logic, Kurotsuchi!" Kusaka retorted once again. "I just think it's unfair to have him go through this a second time."

"I agree on that!" Ukitake said.

"I agree on that as well," Aizen Sosuke said calmly. "I too believe it is unfair for the boy to be executed again."

"Oh, come on, Aizen," Ichimaru said. "The boy has amnesia, remember? He won't remember what he was executed for the first time."

"That is the problem," Kuchiki Byakuya spoke up. "He may have amnesia, but he is starting to remember things that he has made contact with in his previous life. Once he sees or feels it, he will remember. I beleive he is remembering things through nostalgia."

The room was silent for a minute.

"I see. Thank you, Kuchiki, for bringing up that piece of information. It may be small, but it holds great value to us. And to him," Yamamoto said. "Nevertheless, I shall end this. And I shall end this now. Those in favor of execution, raise your hands."

There was a significant amount of hands.

"Those against execution?"

There was also a significant amount of hands as well. But there was one problem.

"It is tied," Yamamoto announced. "We have no choice but to bring the matter to Central 46. This meeting is adjourned."

"I see," Kusaka walked toward the door. "But remember this: If anyone makes that prisoner spill blood before his sentence, I will personally have their head."

Kusaka's gaze was murderous.

Yoruichi had easily got them past the two giants the Shibas called guards. Well, he is Yoruichi.

"Follow me..." Yoruichi said. "Shiba Kuukaku...you are well?"

"Yoruichi...is that you?" Shiba Kuukaku looked up. "Well, it is."

"Good evening, Kuukaku, my friend."

"You two, Yoruichi..."

"W-Wait a second...KUUKAKU'S A WOMAN?!"

"Don't be so surprised, Carrot Top," the woman said.

"Will everyone stop calling me that?! My name is Kurosaki Ichigo!"

Kuukaku stopped. "Kurosaki, you say?" Ichigo nodded. "You must be related to that Kurosaki Toushirou kid."

The group's ears perked up.

"You know Toushirou-kun?" Orihime asked.

"Of course. Who doesn't? But I just heard the worst..."

"What do you mean the worst?" Uryuu asked her.

"I mean...the Shinigami just gave the poor kid the worst sentence of all..."

Kuchiki Byakuya had returned to the prison after the second meeting that day, where Renji was still there, giving Toushirou company.

"'Hitsugaya Toushirou is hereby sentenced to be hanged twenty-eight days from now. This decision of the Central 46 is final and absolute. No exceptions'," Byakuya read.

"You mean...?" Renji asked.

Byakuya wordlessly nodded.

Toushirou couldn't believe his ears.

"The sentence...of death..." Kuukaku finished.

Ichigo couldn't either.

~12~12~12~12~

A/N: Well, we now know who the Tenth Division Captain is and what Toushirou's fate is. But Ichigo knows too! What will he do? What now? Will Kuukaku help them? Review!