The Day After

The next day...

Eren: "Are you sure you should be walking so soon, captain?!"

Levi: "Eren, I'm fine. I'm well enough to be up and moving again. Just not ready to start doing too much work. And by the way, thank you for taking care of me while I was sick."

Eren: "I-It was nothing, sir. Heh-heh. So... Why are we heading to Squad 10 again?"

Levi: "I wanna know what's going on. There was a lot of commotion over here yesterday and I just wanna see if everything is ok."

Eren: "Probably just someone being stupid and picked a fight with Vegeta."

Levi: "I hope that's all it was."

Levi and Eren arrived at Squad 10's office shortly. The older soldier knocked a few times before opening the door.

Levi: "Hey, Toushiro. (Starts opening the door) I heard a lot of noise over here yesterday. Is everything-"

But what Levi found in the office wasn't Toushiro, but an unknown man with his back turned to them as he was putting on a Squad 10 haori. This immediately didn't sit well with either soldier.

Levi: (A little annoyed by what he's seeing) "Excuse me."

The man turned around and noticed his visitors.

Levi: "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Riku: "Humans? What are you doing here?"

Eren: (A little annoyed himself) "We live here."

Riku: "Really? Living humans living in the Soul Society? Huh... (Slightly under his breath) Maybe the Soul Society is in worse shape than I thought..."

Eren: (Whispering to Levi) "I don't like this guy, sir. He's giving me a bad vibe."

Levi: (Whispering back) "You and me both."

Riku: "Who might you two be?"

Levi: "Levi Ackerman. Captain of Squad 9."

Eren: "And I'm Eren Yeager. Second Lieutenant of Squad 9."

Riku: "A human fulfilling the roll of squad captain? How pathetically sad."

Eren: (Purposely out loud) "And just like that, I don't like you."

Levi: (Purposely out loud too) "Double that. Now who the fuck are you and what are you doing in Toushiro's office?"

Riku: "You mean my office."

Eren: "Your office?!"

Levi: (Now angry) "Where's Toushiro Hitsugaya?!"

Riku: "Who knows. I told him to leave at once after I beat him in a duel over the captain position of Squad 10."

Eren: "You what?!"

Vegeta: "Levi? Eren?"

Vegeta arrived just before things had a chance to go south.

Riku: "You know these two weaklings?"

Vegeta: "*Snarl* They're my friends."

Riku: "Ah! Well then be a good little saiyan and inform them properly of the situation."

Vegeta: (Pissed) "Oh I'll inform them alright..."

And Vegeta collected Eren and Levi and took them both somewhere private. Once somewhere private, the two soldiers wasted no time hassling the saiyan prince for answers.

Levi: "Vegeta, who the fucking hell is that guy?!"

Vegeta: "Obviously you're feeling better, Levi. His name is Riku Kora and... *Sighs in disgust* He's the new Captain of Squad 10."

Eren: "We got that much already! What exactly happened and where's Toushiro?!"

Vegeta: "First of all, please tell me you two already hate his ass!"

Levi and Eren: "Very!"

Vegeta: "Thank god! At this point I'm hoping that if enough people hate him, he can be forced to leave!"

Rangiku: "You said it."

And Rangiku joined the three of them once she heard Levi and Eren's voices.

Eren: "Rangiku?"

Levi: "Ok... Please tell us what's going on here?"

Rangiku: "Here's the rundown..."

Rangiku explained everything to Eren and Levi while Vegeta just leaned against the wall in his famous pissed off manner, grumbling on occasion. When the busty woman was finished, both soldiers were not happy.

Eren: "Before I just hated the guy. Now I really hate him!"

Rangiku: "Trust me, I'm not liking it either."

Levi: "Why on earth would this guy want to resume his old position after so long anyway?!"

Vegeta: "We don't know."

Levi: "Do you guys know where Toushiro is by the way?"

Rangiku: "No. Vegeta and I have been busy tending to the squad. Everyone is upset about the whole thing."

Eren: "I've never even heard of this Trial by Combat method?"

Levi: "Nor have I and I'm a captain myself."

Rangiku: "It's a method that's not used a lot or very favored. A lot of captains see it as barbaric. Only Squad 11 exclusively uses this method to pick a captain."

Levi: "For them it makes sense. But why this guy?"

Rangiku: "Because he's crazy."

Eren: "You can say that again. The guy's gotta funny way of introducing himself."

Levi: "But it sounds like anyone can use this method to obtain the rank of captain."

Vegeta: "Damn right. And I've got a good mind to take matters into my own hands! Naive... I'll show him how 'naive' I can be with my strength!"

Rangiku: "For once I don't think anyone's gonna wanna stop you from doing so either."

Levi: "Well if you guys need any help, let me know. I'll gladly offer whatever help I can lend."

Rangiku: "Thank you, Levi. We deeply appreciate it."

Eren: "I sure hope Toushiro's ok..."

Miles away, in the living world, Toushiro was all alone. The youth looked miserable. It had been a hard and lonely night for him. Within 24 hours he went from a highly respected squad captain that was adored by his men and comrades to an outcast with nowhere to go. Well, that wasn't completely true. He did have somewhere to go. He was confident that any one of Vegeta's friends or family would take him in, that much he was very sure of. The youth was already heading to Goku's House. He thought about going to West City, but decided against it for the moment. Vegeta's family treated him like family, so he decided to wait until he could figure out just how to explain this to them without causing so much grief or panic. Walking up the familiar path, Toushiro spotted Goku's home. With a deep sigh he ventured up to the door and knocked, standing back a few steps as the door swings out and Chi-Chi had a bad habit of flinging it open without a second thought when she was in a mood. This time, however, the door opened casually and Goku appeared. The earth saiyan was more than surprised to see Toushiro at his doorstep all by himself.

Goku: "Hm? Toushiro? What're you doing here?"

Toushiro: "Hey, Goku... Would it be alright if I came in? I've had a rough night."

Goku: "Of course. C'mon in."

As Toushiro stepped into the warm house full of friends, Chi-Chi came over from the kitchen to see what was going on.

Chi-Chi: "Toushiro? What happened?! You look like you slept outside last night?!"

Toushiro: "That's because I did."

Chi-Chi and Goku: "You what?!"

Gohan: "Dad? Mom? What's going on?"

Chi-Chi: "Gohan, go get a warm blanket and change of clothes for Toushiro."

Gohan: "Yeah, sure."

While Gohan went to collect the stuff, Goku and Chi-Chi sat Toushiro down on the sofa. Grimmjow came in with Goten just as Gohan returned with the blanket and a spare set of clothes that Toushiro could ware. The youth was thankful to get out of his cold and dirty kimono and changed quickly. Goku sensed something was wrong and immediately started making some phone calls while the prodigy changed.

Goku: (Talking to the phone) "Hey, Gin? It's me. Listen, could you come over here like right now? (Short pause) It's serious. Toushiro just appeared on my doorstep, alone and stating that he spent the night outside. (After another short pause) Yeah, I'll get a hold of Ichigo and the others. You just get here."

After that the saiyan hung up and started making other phone calls. He got a hold of Ichigo and then Krillin, asking them to get in touch with any of the others as they usually were located around the route from their places to here. Grimmjow got a hold of Ulquiorra his own way who said he and Piccolo will be there shortly. In no time at all, Gin Ichimaru arrived at Goku's place.

Gin: "Hey. How is he?"

Goku: "A little better after getting cleaned up. Where's Bulma or Trunks?"

Gin: "I came on my own. Didn't want them to know incase something has happened to Vegeta."

Goku: "Good idea. He's in the living room."

Gin went to see Toushiro while Goku waited for the others. They had all agreed to wait until everyone arrived so that Toushiro didn't have to explain himself more than once.

Gin: "Hitsugaya... Are you alright?"

Toushiro: "Not really, Gin..."

Not even a minute had passed before most of the others had arrived. Ichigo was going to be the last to arrive as he was the furthest away and had said that Rukia was coming over just a minute after Goku called him with urgent news. He promised that he'd come on over as soon as they were done. They'd explain what happened to him once he got here. But first...

Goku: "Alright. What happened, Toushiro?..."