Hello my readers, Unknown entity328 is back with a new chapter! First off, I wanted to let you all know that this chapter may be a bit shorter compared to previous chapters. The reason being I couldn't find good reference material for me to use as a base and no one I asked were able to think of anything good. So I'd like to apologize in advance for the short chapter but hope you enjoy it either way. With that out of the way, on with the chapter!


Chapter Twelve: The Countdown Begins

Within the training grounds of the squad thirteen barracks, Toya stood surrounded by wooden posts. Each post varied in shape and size and were scattered throughout the training ground. Taking a deep breath, Toya unsheathed his zanpakuto and held it to the side. He let his spiritual pressure flare as his zanpakuto gained an ethereal electric blue hue. The blade sparked with electricity as a powerful gust of wind started to blow around the lieutenant. The blade became lightning followed by the handle and vanished from Toya's hand.

The lieutenant watched the sparks of electricity swirl around in the air before converging in front of him. He lowered his arm while the lightning began to take a form he was most familiar with. Towering over him now was his zanpakuto spirit, his most trusted partner, Raijinmaru.

"Are you prepared, master?" The zanpakuto spirit inquired, spreading his wings to their full length.

"I am." Toya nodded, his body tense as he took on a fighting stance and stared down the lightning dragon. "Come."

The zanpakuto spirit stared at the lieutenant for a moment before letting out a roar. Toya narrowed his eyes upon seeing Raijinmaru's body spark with electricity. Raijinmaru released bolts of lightning from his wings and Toya jumped back to avoid them. The lieutenant then ran around the posts, a hand up to use kido. Seeing this, Raijinmaru swiped his tail towards Toya, who ducked out of the way.

"Hado# 31: Shakkaho!" Toya generated and fired an orb of crimson red energy from his palm. Raijinmaru easily dodged the crimson orb and fired more bolts of lightning which Toya barely dodged. "Bakudo# 26: Kyokko!"

Raijinmaru was impressed when he saw his master vanish before his eyes. The zanpakuto spirit looked around the training ground to find his master. Strangely enough, Raijinmaru could smell Toya everywhere. He soon found the reason why, as on the ground were pieces of torn cloth.

Upon closer examination, the cloth seems to be one of Toya's older shihakusho he intended to throw away. The zanpakuto spirit thought it was rather clever to have something with Toya's scent to throw him off. The lieutenant also seems to be avoiding making any sound to not give away his position. This tactic would have worked on normal opponents, however, Raijinmaru is not normal. With a roar, thunder clouds began to form in the sky before bolts of lightning rained down.

Raijinmaru looked on as the lightning bolts randomly struck down, incinerating the wooden posts. Once the lightning stopped raining down, the zanpakuto spirit waited for the dust to settle. When it did, Raijinmaru caught sight of a blue inverted pyramid covered in cracks. The pyramid shattered, revealing Toya who was covered in dust and burn marks.

"Impressive, master." Raijinmaru praised as the thunder clouds dispersed. "You were able to cast Tozansho at the last second."

"I do have 40 years worth of battle experience, after all." Toya said in response, brushing off the dust from his shihakusho.

"And it shows with your quick decisions." Raijinmaru nodded agreement, his eyes narrowing as lightning built up in his mouth. "However, it will not be enough."

Toya's eyes widened and a bead of sweat trailed down his face before he flash stepped to a post that was still standing. He watched as Raijinmaru released a beam of lightning so powerful it left a large crater where he previously stood. Toya prepared to cast another kido spell when he jumped away from Raijinmaru's swinging tail.

"You are not quick enough, master." Raijinmaru swung his tail again, striking Toya into the ground. The zanpakuto spirit spreads his wings as electricity builds up in them. "As you are now, you have no hope of subjugating me!"

"I'm just getting started." Toya retorted, using a thumb to wipe away blood from the corner of his mouth. He got to his feet before flash stepping circles around Raijinmaru.

"A Flash Step like that is still too slow!" With a flap of his wings, Raijinmaru released numerous bolts of lightning towards Toya.

The zanpakuto spirit watched as the bolts of lightning rained down where his master next appeared. There was a resounding explosion with each lightning bolt that struck and debris flying in all directions. As the dust settled, Raijinmaru caught sight of white hair falling. The zanpakuto spirit's eyes widened in surprise when Toya vanished and was replaced by badly burned cloth. He then felt someone standing on his back and looked back to see Toya breathing hard and the right sleeve of his shihakusho missing.

"That was close." Toya admitted between breaths, his eyes wandering to the burnt cloth that crumbled into ashes. "To be honest, I didn't think that would work."

"That technique just now, what was it?" Raijinmaru inquired, having never seen his master move so fast as to create an afterimage.

"Stealth hoho Shihon #3: Utsusemi." Toya replied, holding his hand out towards Raijinmaru as he built up his spirit energy. He narrowed his eyes in concentration as he felt the palm of his hand starting to warm. "It took a while, but it seems I made some headway in mastering it."

"Impressive, master." Raijinmaru lowered his wings and folded them to his sides. He then suddenly let out a powerful roar. "But it is still not enough!"

The sudden roar broke Toya's concentration and was not prepared for when Raijinmaru's tail knocked him into the air. The lieutenant let out a gasp of pain before he was once again slammed into the ground. Raijinmaru then brought down a claw, effectively pinning down Toya. The lieutenant struggled to break free as the zanpakuto spirit built up electricity in his mouth. Toya gritted his teeth as his options were getting smaller by the second.

"Enough!"

Raijinmaru ceased charging his attack and looked to see who was interrupting their fight. Toya also looked to see Jushiro walking towards them with Sentaro and Kiyone by his side. Raijinmaru raised his claw in order for Toya to get up and dust himself off. Knowing that they were done for now, the zanpakuto spirit dispersed into sparks of electricity. The sparks once again converged and formed Toya's zanpakuto plunged into the ground.

"Captain Ukitake, why are you here?" Toya asked curiously, removing Raijinmaru from the ground and sheathing him. He got a look of worry as he approached his sickly captain. "For that matter, why are you out of bed, you should be resting!"

"How can he rest with all the spiritual pressure you were pouring out?!" Sentaro demanded, getting in Toya's face much to the lieutenant's discomfort.

"That's right, I thought half the squad was gonna pass out from it!" Kiyone added, also getting in Toya's face.

"Um, I'm sorry?" Toya sweatdropped, his response feeling more like a question as he was sure he was far enough away from the barracks.

"You were training for bankai just now, weren't you Toya?" Jushiro asked, a knowing smile on his face as he approached his lieutenant. Toya's eyes widening was all the response he needed to know he was right. "The only way you could have manifested Raijinmaru was if you were."

"Guess I got found out." Toya muttered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I figured this was the next step to getting stronger."

"True, but I believe you've done enough for today." Jushiro said, looking at Toya from head to toe. "After all, your top priority should be to stay in good health."

"Of course, captain." Toya nodded before turning Jushiro around and gently pushing him from behind. "Speaking of good health, you should head back and rest."

"Be sure to keep the training down, okay?" Jushiro chuckled, giving his lieutenant and third seats a back handed wave as he returned to the barracks.

Once Jushiro was out of sight, Sentaro gave Toya a stern look. "You didn't tell the captain about Rukia, didn't you?"

"I will, just not now." Toya sighed, adjusting Raijinmaru on his waist before walking in the direction of the barracks. "It was hard enough that I had a hand in bringing her in."

"What are you going to do?" Kiyone asked, giving the white haired lieutenant a look of concern.

"For now, everything I can do." Toya replied, not turning to face the third seats before vanishing in a flash step.


Once he left the barracks and changed clothes, Toya decided to walk around the Seireitei for a while. He was greeted by the occasional officer he passes, but he paid them no mind. He was too lost in thought over what he should do for Rukia. His options were very limited and can't move around freely. Despite being a lieutenant, his words don't carry much weight, especially compared to Central 46. Once they make a decision, not even the head captain can defy them.

While he knew Rukia committed a crime, Toya couldn't help feeling something wasn't right. Normally, capturing a criminal is left to the stealth force, not a captain and two lieutenants. That just made it even more suspicious to Toya, especially when he considered Central 46's behavior lately. Before, Central 46 usually didn't take action unless a situation that threatens the soul society is brought to their attention. However, they decided to act for an unseated officer giving their powers to a human.

No matter how much he thought it over, Toya couldn't see how that would be a threat to the soul society. He could easily think of a myriad of situations that would be bigger threats. Revolting captains, dangerous life threatening experiments, an invasion, etc. Compared to that, a single human having soul reaper powers seem insignificant. And yet they still acted, and the lieutenant couldn't figure it out.

'It just doesn't add up.' Toya frowned, looking up in thought and crossed his arms as he turned a corner. 'What am I missing to make sense of it all?'

Before he could dwell on it much longer, Toya felt himself collide with someone. The force of the impact wasn't enough to knocked to the ground, but it was for the person he collided with. When he looked down to see who he ran into, Toya saw Toshiro rubbing his head with an irritated look on his face.

"Toshiro, sorry about that." Toya said apologetically, reaching out a hand to help the young captain up. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"It's fine." Toshiro muttered, taking the hand and Toya pulled him to his feet. He dusted himself off before looking inquisitively at Toya. "What were you thinking about so deeply, Toya?"

"It's nothing, probably just overthinking it." Toya shook his head, resting a hand on Raijinmaru's handle.

"You sure, it seemed important if it distracts you." Toshiro pointed out, crossing his arms and giving the lieutenant an appraising look.

'It's always this guy, how does he do it?' Toya turned his eyes away from the look Toshiro was giving him. 'How can he be so perceptive when it comes to me?'

"Toya." Toshiro said sternly, raising an eyebrow seemingly indicating he knew something was bothering the lieutenant.

Toya tried not to show a reaction to the sternness in the young captain's voice. He tried to look anywhere but Toshiro, but eventually faltered and groaned. "Alright, I was thinking about my last mission involving Rukia."

Toshiro didn't say anything for a moment, just nodding his head in satisfaction. "Go on."

"I just thought it was a bit weird." Toya admitted, running a hand through his hair and started to pace back and forth. "Why did Central 46 act on this case when there are others that warrant their attention?"

"Are you asking that as Rukia's friend, or as a lieutenant?" Toshiro asked, taking in everything that's bothering Toya.

"Both." Toya stopped pacing and facing Toshiro. "Let's say you were a member of Central 46 for a moment, which issue would you prioritize?" He reached into the folds of his shihakusho and pulled out a shogi piece. "A single human with soul reaper powers?" He reached into his shihakusho again and this time pulled out a handful of shogi pieces. "Or an invasion the size of Hueco Mundo?"

"I see your point." Toshiro said thoughtfully, mulling over the example Toya gave him. The young captain then looked Toya in the eye with a stern look on his face. "However, that isn't happening, and doesn't change the crime Rukia committed."

"I'm not saying it does." Toya let out an exasperated sigh, putting away the shogi pieces. "I'm just saying that something feels a bit off with Central 46 lately."

He resumed pacing as he thought over everything he knew about Central 46. During his time in the academy, the lieutenant made sure to study everything about the thirteen court guard squads. Central 46 was a subject he couldn't find much information on, but persisted.

Toya knows that Central 46 is composed of forty wise men, gathered from all over the Soul Society, and six judges. These men are in charge of trying all soul reaper crimes, whether they were committed in the soul society or the world of the living. Central 46 are also within their jurisdiction to order the use of deadly force by the thirteen court guard squads, the stealth force or the Kido Corps. What he found most troubling is that once a decision has been made, it is rarely overturned.

With his current position of lieutenant and Rukia's friend, Toya has no hope of meeting Central 46, let alone overturning their decision. However, he couldn't give up on Rukia, the one person who took him in and treated him like a brother. He owed both her and Renji his life for everything they did for him when they met. There was no way in hell Toya was going to sit back and let anything bad happen to Rukia.

"I hope you're not planning something stupid, Toya." The lieutenant jumped at Toshiro's voice and saw the young captain had his arms crossed and gave him a stern look.

"Wha, of course not!" Toya was caught off guard by Toshiro's comment. "Toshiro, do I look like someone who would do something stupid?"

"Yes, you do." Toshiro deadpanned, giving Toya a look that dared him to say otherwise. His eyes then narrowed in irritation that sent chills down Toya's spine. "And I told you many times to call me Captain Hitsugaya."

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Toya groaned in exasperation, letting out a sigh before walking past the young captain. "I'll see you later."

"Where are you going?" Toshiro questioned, noticing that Toya was walking towards the Hakuto gate.

"Just going for a stroll in the rukon district." Toya replied, giving the young captain a backhanded wave of his hand.


Once he was in the rukon district, Toya just wandered around ignoring the looks he was getting from the residents. He didn't blame them for looking, after all, the only other soul reaper they socialized with was Jidanbo. While they were wary of him, Toya made enough visits to at least not cause the residents to panic. He remembered when he first visited the first district of west rukon, all the residents avoided him by not leaving their houses. However, now they just stare at him, wondering why he was visiting.

As he walked through the district, Toya would occasionally stop at a few shops to see their wares. He would even play with the children brave enough to approach him. It seems that's always enough for the rest of the residents to relax and go about their business. Once he was done playing with the children, Toya continued his stroll around the district. He eventually found himself sitting outside a dumpling shop sipping on a cup of tea and eating dango.

His thoughts wandered back to his conversation with Toshiro and the feeling he had that something was amiss. Over the years, Toya learned to follow his instincts as they were usually right and saved his life on more than one occasion. And right now, his instincts were telling him that something suspicious was happening. What it was, he didn't know, but he's determined to find out.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of children screaming and looking in the direction it came from. What Toya saw was a mantis hollow towering over a group of children. The lieutenant saw in the hollows mouth was the arm of a child hanging limply and blood trailing down its chin. Toya got to his feet and had a hand on Raijinmaru's handle as he ran towards the hollow.

The hollow raised one of its sickle arms over its head, much to the children's horror. Just as it was about to bring its arm down, Toya jumped over the children and unsheathed Raijinmaru. He swung at the sickle arm and cut it clean off, causing the hollow to howl in pain. Wasting no time, Toya then brought down Raijinmaru on the hollows head, splitting it in half. Once Toya's feet touched the ground, he swiped his zanpakuto to the side to remove excess blood as the hollow disintegrated.

"Are you all alright?" Toya asked the children, sheathing Raijinmaru and surveying them for injuries. He counted five in total as they all nodded, three boys and two girls.

"M-Miko." The youngest girl amongst them sniveled, looking at the disembodied arm the hollow dropped.

"Miko?" Toya looked down at the disembodied arm then to the children. He gave them a sympathetic look as he knelt down to their level. "Was that your friend's name?"

"Yeah." The oldest boy nodded, trying to stay strong, but Toya could still see the tears building in his eyes.

"I see." Toya closed his eyes for a moment before getting to his feet and approached the disembodied arm. He ripped off the right sleeve of his shihakusho and knelt down to wrap it around the arm. 'I'm sorry I couldn't save you.'

Once the arm was fully wrapped, Toya picked it up and gestured for the children to follow him. He led them through the forest until they arrived at a clearing with a large tree in the center. The children took notice of numerous mounds of dirt surrounding the tree. They also noticed that each mound had a stone on top of them and flowers at the base.

Underneath each mound were the remains of a soul Toya failed to save from a hollow attack. Since he lives in the seireitei, he has no way of knowing what's happening in the rukon district until it was reported. And because of that, many souls lost their lives, it doesn't matter whether it was a hollow or another soul that took them. To at least give them a proper burial, Toya decided to make this clearing a burial site. It was very little, but it brought a form of comfort for their loved ones.

Toya directed them to the base of the tree before kneeling down and setting the wrapped arm to the side. He then started digging a small hole with his hands. Once the hole was deep enough, Toya picked up the wrapped arm and gently set it in the hole. After burying the arm, Toya got to his feet and moved to the side for the children to say good-bye to their friend. He watched as the girls held each other as they cried and the boys tried and failed to not join them.

It was a sad sight, one that Toya hoped beyond hope to never witness again. It's always emotionally scarring when someone you care about dies. It's especially true if one witness said death like the children in front of him. Toya was no exception as he still has nightmares about Kaien's death.

'Kaien, did we make the right choice?' Toya wondered, recalling all the hollows he's killed as well as the souls he failed to save. He shook his head and rested his hand on Raijinmaru's handle before approaching the crying children. 'Too late for second guessing my choices, I just got to do my very best.'


Once Toya returned to the seireitei, he decided it was about time to pay Rukia a visit. After leaving squad four, he was informed that squad six would be detaining her until her sentence was decided. Whatever sentence she gets, Toya just hopes that it wasn't too severe. However, the lieutenant knew that was wishful thinking on his part.

When he arrived at the squad six barracks, Toya got in easily as he frequently visits to hang out with Renji. He was greeted by the squad members as he walked through the halls to the prison ward. Knowing Renji, Toya can guess he's already talking to Rukia and losing his temper from her goading. Even after forty years, the both of them haven't changed since Toya met them. Upon arriving at Rukia's cell, Toya was surprised that Renji wasn't there and Rukia's face was unusually blank.

"Hey, Rukia." Toya greeted, stepping into the room and approached until he was in front of his friend. He frowned when Rukia's face remained the same and looked around. "I thought Renji would be here before me."

"He just left." Rukia said softly, turning her back to Toya and lowering her head. "Why are you here Toya?"

"I came to see you, obviously." Toya's frown deepens with how distant Rukia was being. He placed a hand on his hip and looked at Rukia with slight worry. "You're awfully quiet, I was expecting you to tear into me or something."

Rukia didn't dignify him with a response, which worried Toya even more. Instead, she just walked over to the only chair in the cell and sat on it. Normally, Rukia would give him a snippy response before trying to get a rise out of him. In all honesty, Toya didn't like the Rukia in front of him. It was almost like she lost all the fight in her and resigned herself to her fate.

"Rukia, did something happen between you and Renji?" Toya asked carefully, suddenly feeling anxious and had a sense of foreboding. Again he was met with silence, which didn't help his anxiety one bit. "Come on, I'm trying to help here, and I can't unless I-"

"The soul society has decided." Rukia finally said, cutting Toya off mid-sentence and the sense of foreboding intensified. "Twenty-five days from now, I am to go to the central execution grounds."

"What?" Toya's eyes widened in both shock and disbelief, feeling as if he was knocked off balance as he took a step back.

"This will probably be the last time we see each other, Toya." Rukia continued, looking over her shoulder to look at Toya one last time. "So I want you to know that I enjoyed the time I spent with both you and Renji."

"Don't talk like that!" Toya shouted, swinging an arm to the side in frustration. "Are you really okay dying like this?!"

"It is out of my hands." Rukia stated, facing forward again and looking down at her hands on her lap. "I knew this would happen when I gave Ichigo my powers."

"Rukia, you-" Toya couldn't finish his sentence, unable to bring himself to finish it. He tightly shut his eyes and gritted his teeth before turning his back to Rukia. "Have it your way."

Without another word, Toya left the squad six barracks in a flash step and returned to the squad thirteen training grounds. The moment Toya's feet touched the ground, he clapped his hands together and concentrated deeply. The area was soon surrounded by a pale blue dome that vanished moments after appearing. This was a kido Toya developed ten years ago with help from Momo. Anyone inside this barrier has their spiritual pressure masked, essentially cutting them off from the rest of the world.

Toya rarely uses it as he is still working on it and can't use it in combat. The barrier can only remain erect for a limited amount of time. Until he perfected it, Toya tended to avoid using it during training. However, after what happened earlier, the lieutenant assumed he could make an exception this time.

He unsheathed Raijinmaru and held it to the side. He let his spiritual pressure flare as his zanpakuto gained an ethereal electric blue hue. The blade sparked with electricity as a powerful gust of wind started to blow around the lieutenant. The blade became lightning followed by the handle and vanished from Toya's hand.

The lieutenant watched the sparks of electricity swirl around in the air before converging in front of him. He lowered his arm while the lightning began to take a form he was most familiar with. Towering over him once again was Raijinmaru, who looked down at him with appraising eyes.

"You wish to continue, master?" Raijinmaru inquired knowingly, already knowing his master's answer and the reason why.

"Yes." Toya nodded, entering a fighting stance as he glared at his zanpakuto spirit. "I'm out of time."


Now it's time for my favorite segment, Review Corner, where I reply to your reviews and answer any questions you have without giving spoilers.

BuddhaBuddha: Yes, I'm aware of that, and thank you for pointing that out. Truth be told, I wanted to do something original with the previous chapter, but myself and a few others who helped with the chapter couldn't think of anything. Thus we decided to keep that part fundamentally the same, which is deserving of your disappointment, I won't deny it. I assure you, if you're still reading this, future chapters will have some originality to them to make up for my failure to do so previous chapter.

Shadowknight1121: First of all, it's always a pleasure to hear from you, and I hope you're doing well. Secondly, Thank you for your praise, despite the chapters lack of originality. Yes, I wanted Toya to at least have some kind of interaction with Ichigo before the soul society arc. I hope this chapter meets your expectations and I hope to hear from you again.

XenoLucifer: You have made valid observations, and to answer why Toya was weaker than Ichigo and was nerfed, it's because lieutenants and captains have their powers limited when they go to the world of the living. Due to this limitation, I threw a few ideas around about how this would affect Toya's healing capabilities. Because healing is part of Toya's powers, I decided to have those be limited as well, hence why he wasn't able to fully heal himself. Yes, I agree I unnecessarily gave Ichigo more plot armor, but that was unintentional. Like I stated in my reply to Shadowknight1121, I wanted Toya to interact with Ichigo at least once before the soul society arc. I hope that this explains everything about why the previous chapter was written as such.

Guest: You made a valid point, and I'm going to be honest with you, I was thinking of having Toya use kido in the fight. However, as I was writing, nothing about the fight felt right to me. Either the fight was too one-sided, or ended too quickly, nothing I wrote went the way I wanted it to. So, as much it pained me to do it, I had to make the fight fundamentally the same despite knowing it would disappoint my readers. Rest assured, future fights will have more originality than the previous chapter.

wolf354 zxc: I understand your disappointment, and I plan to rectify it in future chapters. All I ask is that you bear with me until then.

DragonBladeB5: Thank you, I honestly didn't know there were readers who remembered when I first joined the fanfic website. I greatly appreciate that.

And that's it for Review's corner, I look forward to reading your future reviews as your opinion and criticism is what helps me make my chapters the best I can make them. Until then, take care and stay safe my treasured readers!