Part Two - Regression
Chapter Five - Is This Rock Bottom or Can I Go Lower?
...
For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to everyone that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still – John Maynard Keynes
...
"Momo, what are you doing?" Toushiro called after his sister as she ran down a corridor.
Momo didn't spare him a second glance, seeming to ignore his voice. Toushiro swallowed, fighting past the tight, uneasy feeling in his chest and followed her. They ran down a dimly lit hallway. There were no windows, only smooth grey stone and the occasional torch. The orange flames danced, in what wind he did not know, but they gave off no warmth as if they were merely decorations; their light didn't even reach the ceiling or even illuminate much of the corridor. Thankfully, the floor was smooth and Toushiro didn't have to worry about tripping over anything.
They ran for what seemed like ages; Toushiro was hot on Momo's heels. The soft padding of their footsteps was beaten into Toushiro's memory.
"Momo?" he called again. She refused to acknowledge him. "Where are we going?"
He sighed, his breath echoed along the hallway like a ghost's moan. Then Momo stopped so suddenly that he almost ran into her back. He reeled backwards, stumbling into the wall.
"Momo..." he tried again, but it was as if she could not hear him.
They had stopped in front of a heavy, steel door that looked like it was bolted shut. Toushiro frowned; whatever was behind that door could not be good. It was shut in there for a reason.
"Momo, I don't think you should open that door," he said, his voice trembled somewhat and the uneasy feeling he felt before began to seep into his bones.
Hinamori raised her hand and placed it against the door. She pushed; it was locked. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and her hand began to glow white with a kido spell that Toushiro wasn't familiar with. His eyes widened a fraction and he drew in a sharp breath.
"Momo, no," he shouted frantically and leapt towards the door. He grabbed her arm to pull it away from the door and cancel the kido with his own reiatsu. He half expected to go right through her as if he really was a ghost but instead his hand met her arm. He blinked in shock; she was cold to the touch and her arm felt as lifeless as the steel door she was touching.
Momo finally acknowledged him with a raised eyebrow and a look of annoyance.
"What are you doing?" he hissed, "That door has been sealed for a reason-"
She swung her arm into his chest. Toushiro grunted as he was shoved back into the wall. Momo's arm had felt like an iron bar; he was left winded and very much confused.
"What the hell, Hinamori?" he coughed as he rubbed his chest. "Is there something wrong with you?"
The door was opened with a resounding click, and just like that the hallway was consumed by a very familiar reiatsu, one that was supposed to have been locked away until its owner turned into dust. Toushiro's breath caught in his chest once again, his lungs felt like they were going to cave in from the sudden malignant pressure. He sunk to one knee and clutched his chest, trying to force oxygen into his lungs. The world was starting to spin around him and he raised a hand to the wall to steady himself.
There was a deafening screech as Momo pushed the door open and he raised his head in horror.
"Momo, no, don't do this, please," he pleaded breathlessly.
Momo spared him a look from over her shoulder. Her brown eyes were emotionless, glazed over even, but her mouth held a grim smirk. She turned around and entered the room.
...
Toushiro woke up as mind-numbing pain flared along his left arm and leg. He bit the edge of his blanket to keep for crying out and small, hot tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. He couldn't move, he couldn't think, he could barely breathe. It was as if his limbs had been freshly sliced off. He even had to turn his head to see if they were still there. His breath came out in short, shallow pants and he frantically tried to deepen them so he would not hyperventilate.
It's alright, Little One, Hyourinmaru mumbled soothingly, it was just a dream.
He let his cool reiatsu envelop Toushiro's body and bit by bit the fire in his arm and leg subsided until it was just a sharp twinge. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, but noticed that he was dizzy. Even lying down he felt the ground sway beneath him, as if he were on a ship. He raised his good arm to his face to cover his eyes and he let out a soft groan. What the hell was that dream, he thought. Momo had set Aizen free and he had stood right behind her and done nothing to prevent it. Of course he didn't, he chewed the inside of his cheek bitterly, just like how he had let her get away and knock him out with kido in the first place. Even in his dreams he messed up.
Hyourinmaru rumbled in slight annoyance. Toushiro sighed and pushed himself up. It was still early morning; the sky was just turning into a dusky grey in preparation for the rising sun, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. His mind was up and churning and his nerves felt frazzled. He grabbed his crutch from the floor by his futon and pulled himself to his feet. He wasn't shocked to discover that his body was trembling.
What's the matter? Hyourinmaru asked.
Toushiro sighed, Nothing, it was just a dream.
Was it Momo?
It was just a dream, Hyourinmaru. I don't want to talk about it.
The dragon sighed but receded to the back of his mind where he growled quietly. Toushiro ignored him and limped to his closet to change into his uniform. He paused for a moment before pulling on his haori; it felt heavier than usual. He didn't deserve it, not after he had let Aizen escape. There was a full-length mirror on the wall next to his closet, he used it to see if his uniform was in order, but this morning he couldn't bring himself to even glance at it.
He picked up his crutch again and decided to go to the office. He might as well start with the paperwork that he was sure would be piling up since he had to sort through the halted missions and assign new in-house work.
...
"Don't tell me you slept here, Matsumoto," Toushiro growled as Rangiku sat up on the couch and stretched.
"What are you doing here, Captain? What time is it?" she mumbled through a yawn.
"Around six o'clock." He limped to his desk and gratefully plopped into his chair.
Rangiku stared at him unimpressed then laid back down and covered her face with one of the cushions. "In the morning? You're insane, Captain," her voice was muffled, "go back to bed."
Toushiro sighed; if only he could. He opened one of his drawers and pulled out a thick file. It contained brief-sheets of all the missions the Tenth was currently assigned. He would have to go through all of them, match them to the full files, make reassignments, and distribute them to the other divisions. He looked glumly at the stack of papers for a minute before reaching into the top drawer for an ink pad and a brush. The first assignment had been a simple survey for the people of the Rukongai, he remembered one of his men's faces lighting up when he had placed him in charge of it, now he felt like a villain to take it away from him. He hesitated with his brush above the status area on the sheet. He glanced at the date it had been assigned, not even two months ago, and slowly wrote 'reassigned to another division'.
He chewed the inside of his cheek. He was going to have to do this to all of these missions, how could he possibly do this to his men? They had worked so hard for these jobs and now he had to take them away because of a stupid mistake on his part. He moved on to the next sheet. His men would hate him for this; that is if they didn't already hate him. He ran his left hand through his hair, grasping a handful and tugging until he felt a slight sting. If only there was a way that his division didn't have to pay for his inability to stop Hinamori... but he remembered the head-captain's face. Toushiro knew that Yamamoto was being overly cautious about his suspected involvement with Aizen's escape, and understood why his division was being trialled. But he also knew that many of his men would not understand why their work was being taken away and would resent him for it. He could explain it to them, but he knew that in this situation any words from his mouth would make it worse.
He made a separate pile for the missions he had already gone through and was about to start a new one when a steaming mug of tea was thrust under his nose. He looked up and saw Rangiku leaning across his desk, holding out the mug.
"Okay, what's bothering you?" she asked, watching as he took the cup and drank.
"You mean apart from having to reassign all our missions?" he snapped.
"You came to work at six in the morning; even by your standards that isn't normal."
He rolled his eyes. "I couldn't sleep, that's all. Might as well get an early start on all this work."
Rangiku sighed heavily, "Was it a nightmare?"
"It's nothing, Matsumoto."
"Captain, I know there's a lot going around in that big head of yours-"
"It's nothing," he repeated firmly, "please, just let me do my work."
She stared at him for a while, obviously disappointed that he didn't want to share his feelings, but he ignored her and went back to work. Eventually she moved away from the desk and turned to the door.
"I'll be back at eight, the time that we're supposed to be at work."
He clutched the cup of tea with his left hand and watched her leave. The hot ceramic burned his palm, but he did not let go.
...
It didn't take long for Toushiro to realise that there weren't enough in-house duties to satisfy the entire squad. He had made new cleaning and cooking rotations, even assigned new drillmasters for the newer members, but there just wasn't enough work to go around. There was only so many times he could assign a person to the laundry rooms before they started to rebel. He was pulling his hair trying to come up with more work for his men, but he was quickly running out of ideas and not even Rangiku's creativity could help.
The first leave of absence form came in three days after he unsuccessfully tried to reassign everyone. He approved it without a second thought. They came in by tens shortly after the first week and he gave Rangiku clearance to approve them as well. He wasn't shocked by the amount of people who wanted to leave, a part of him had expected it, but what really shocked him was the division transfer form that was bundled in with the leave requests. Rangiku had found it and silently placed it on his desk. He had let it sit there for the afternoon while he handled other work.
"It doesn't' mean anything," she said as she took his empty teacup from his desk. They were about to wrap up for the evening. "It's just one person. He's probably just annoyed that there isn't enough work for everyone."
Toushiro grunted, but he knew what the transfer meant; one soldier had lost hope in the division, in him. He had failed his soldier and he knew that it wouldn't be long before others would start to think this way as well.
He felt a twinge in his leg and he reached down to knead his thigh. Rangiku offered him a weak smile and patted his shoulder.
"You still have a session with Captain Unohana tomorrow. Try to get some rest between now and then, okay?"
He nodded and she left to put away his dirty mug. Toushiro eyed the transfer form once more and slowly picked it up. He vaguely recognised the name scrawled on the top; an unseated man, but he had been part of the division for some time. He scanned the page. Reason for wanting to leave; unsatisfied with squad atmosphere, Toushiro was sure that if there was an option for 'disappointed in the captain' the man would have checked it. He sighed and quickly signed his name at the bottom of the form and checked the box that said approved. He would force no man to stay if they didn't want to; he had lost his right to do so when he let Aizen escape. His leg twinged again and he growled in annoyance and tried to ignore it.
"Oh, by the way, Captain," Matsumoto said upon re-entering the office, "I got in contact with the outpost squad but something's off."
He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
She picked up a file from her desk and brought it over to him. "We sent out twenty-five men the first time and another ten for backup; thirty-five men in all, but I only got responses from the first twenty-five. I asked about the backup and they said that no one came. They are due back in three days, but I wanted to let you know beforehand."
Toushiro frowned. "Did you try to reach the backup squad we sent?"
"Yes, but I didn't get any response. Our records show them leaving but there's nothing else after that."
"Strange..."
"Yeah, and it gets even better." She pointed to a name on a list; it was circled, indicating a problem. "This one, Haruka Miyazuki, was sent with the backup squad but when I asked for names of all the members currently in the Rukongai she appeared with the rest of the squad. Even with her it still added up to twenty-five, so..."
"That is very odd, so someone went missing from the original squad and one of the backup took their place, yet no one heard from the backup squad since they left the Seireitei, or even reported a missing soldier? I don't like the sound of this, Matsumoto. I don't like the sound of it at all."
...
"Denied? What do you mean denied?" Toushiro spat as he glared at the paper that the messenger had handed him.
"You are not allowed to take part in any outside missions, sir."
"These are my men we're talking about, ten of them have gone missing and you're telling me that I'm not allowed to search for them?" Toushiro clenched his jaw and thrust his shaking hands behind his back.
"I'm only relaying the message, sir."
Toushiro dismissed him with a quick flick of his hand. "Very well, leave; your job here is done."
The messenger bowed and disappeared down the hallway. Toushiro slid the door shut and leaned against it. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. He felt worse, if that was even possible, after this news. He had requested permission to search from the missing men as soon as the outpost team had returned. It had turned out exactly like Rangiku had explained. None of the twenty-five men mentioned anything about the backup squad or the fact that Miyazuki was now part of their group. They acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary. He thought that such a special situation would trump the 'no-mission' order; he had guessed wrong. But still, they were his responsibility; they had gone missing under his orders and he couldn't just sit by.
He ground his teeth together as he hobbled to his desk. He needed a way around this, but the omnitsukido was watching his every move. If he snuck off anywhere they would report it to Yamamoto and he'd be carted off to Muken. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily, just what was he supposed to do?
There was a soft knock on the door and Toushiro recognised the reiatsu of Captains Ukitake and Kyoraku, Rangiku was also on her way, not too far down the hallway. Toushiro grimaced before he bid them enter; he wasn't in the mood to entertain anyone, especially not after he was forbidden to search for his men. But he knew that his fellow captains came with good wishes, so he would have to bury his frustration and be a somewhat pleasant host.
He sat with them on the couch and asked Rangiku to make some tea.
"How may I help you?" he asked once Rangiku had set a tea set on the coffee table between them. She left right after to give them some privacy.
"We just wanted to see how you were doing," Kyoraku offered. "We heard what happened with the head-captain."
Toushiro sighed, "It was expected after all; I mean, since I failed to apprehend Hinamori, all of this falls on my shoulders."
"There's no need to be so hard on yourself, Hitsugaya," Ukitake said with a small smile.
Toushiro laid his hands in his lap and looked down at his palms. "I appreciate your concern, but I can handle whatever punishment the head-captain wishes to place upon me."
"Now, now, we never said you couldn't." Kyoraku waved his hand in dismissal. "We just wanted to see how you were."
"Well, as you can see, I'm fine."
"Really? You mean there's nothing we can do? Nothing at all?" Kyoraku raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.
Toushiro knew then that they had heard the exchange with the messenger earlier and raised his eyes to meet the older men.
"You're willing to expend your own forces to help my men?"
"Any missing soldiers are a problem worth looking into," Ukitake said with a firm nod, "It doesn't matter whose division they are from. We both are more than willing to lend a hand."
Toushiro nodded. "Thank you. I'll send the report details to you tomorrow; there are a few things I want to go over first."
"Oh, which reminds me, Hitsugaya," Ukitake said while reaching into his sleeve. Toushiro prevented himself from groaning with difficulty. "I got these in a quaint, little shop and thought you might enjoy them."
The Captain of the Thirteenth Division held out a small, brightly wrapped package. Toushiro could smell the overpowering sweetness from where he sat. He forced a small smile onto his face and gingerly plucked the package of candy from Ukitake's hand.
"Thank you," he said again and wondered how soon he could pawn the candy off on the sugar-happy lieutenant of the Eleventh, Yachiru, without seeming terribly rude.
...
"Was that supposed to be one of your tricks?"
"One of the smaller ones. Trust me, old friend, I have many more things planned."
"I hope so, or this would turn out to be a very uninspiring game."
"Have any of our games ever been dull?"
"Ah, you've got me there."
"You must exhibit some patience, old friend. Besides, it's your turn now."
"Hmm, so it is."
Hope you all are enjoying this so far.
Drop a review before you leave, it'll make my day.
-Mymomomo