Ichigo quietly advanced towards the squad thirteen barracks, wondering to himself whether or not Ukitake had returned yet. It had been hours since the captain made his way to the meeting that was called, and Ichigo was getting tired of waiting.

He wanted to know what was going on. If something important was being told about Toshiro, or anything that has to do with Aizen for that matter, he craved to know more immediately. He had sort of hoped that he would be let into the captain's meeting again, but apparently his audience was unnecessary.

With a heavy sigh, Ichigo turned another corner, not seeing the hyper-active orange haired girl in front of him.

"Ichigo!" Orihime yelped after she stepped away, fingering a small bruise on her forehead. Her gaze fell to the floor, where the teenager had crouched, holding his head in pain.

"Oh!" She gasped as her hands fluttered to her mouth, "I'm so sorry! I didn't see you, and I just- Oh are you okay! I could-"

Ichigo weakly looked up at her. "I'm fine, Orihime."

The girl blinked a couple times. "Oh, okay."

"What are you doing here, though?" He asked as he stood, still rubbing his head. "I know I'm skipping, but don't you have school?"

Orihime grinned happily. "We decided to come help you! Urahara told us that Toshiro had been taken by Aizen, so we figured that you'd probably end up going to Hueco Mundo to get him back, and we don't want to be left out!"

The substitute shinigami stared at her blankly for a couple moments. "What do you mean by 'we'?"

"Oh!" She smiled again. "Chad and Uryu are here too, but they're inside. I came out to look for you. We've all come to help!"

"Uh.... oh... Okay." Ichigo blinked awkwardly, his head fuzzy. "Wait, am I really that predictable that you knew I would go to save Toshiro?"

Orihime stared back at him without a word.

"Right. Okay I get it." The teenager grumbled. "Let's get inside, is Ukitake there?"

Nodding, the girl responded cheerfully. "Yep! I just passed him a second ago, but he looked pretty tired."

"Well, we should go see what's going on."


Momo hugged her knees to her chest, burying her face in the white cloth of the fabric she wore. She hadn't expected it to be this frustrating, this... devastating. She had never realized how good it was that Aizen allowed Toshiro to be in the same quarters as her, but now she was falling into sadness. Without knowing what was happening to Toshiro, Momo felt insecure and irrational. No matter how much she tried to sway her mind to other topics, her friend's pained face came into her mind. It was hard, not knowing what was happening, if Toshiro was alive, was he being hurt, what has Aizeen been doing to him... She had no way of understanding any of it.

And yet, she tried very hard to not feel sorry for herself, and to focus on Toshiro. It seemed that, while selflessness came to Toshiro easily, selfishness was a natural habit of Momo's, and breaking it was by no means an easy task.

Rangiku had told her that she had faith in her. She asked Momo to take care of him. But now how was she supposed to do that? At this point, there was nothing she could do to help him, nothing at all.

Momo gazed into the blackness, trying to think. Toshiro would find something. Toshiro would figure something out. If their positions were switched, he would never sit the way she was, helpless and pathetic. No, he would never give up in saving her, just as she shouldn't give up in saving him. Never.

She racked her brain, desperately trying to find a way, any way, that would help her friend. Anything.


Ukitake sighed heavily as he shook his head. "I'm too exhausted for this..."

Ichigo had just entered the room, and everyone was staring at Ukitake expectantly. He had hoped to be able to rest when hr got back from the stressful captain's meeting, but that was definitely out of the question now.

"Come on, just tell us if there's any news." Ichigo pleaded, his face serious.

"Well," Ukitake gave in, taking his seat behind the desk of his office. The faces of Uryu, Chad, Ichigo, and Orihime continued to wait in tense silence. "If you want the good news first, the Head Captain has ordered that Hitsugaya may be rescued."

There was a small breath of relief from Orihime and Ichigo.

"But we have also discovered a disturbing fact about his connection to Aizen, and the Hogyoku." As everyone else present remained still, Ukitake explained the situation with Hyourinmaru's power, and the possibility that Aizen may not know of it. Unohana had asked that that information not be shared to anyone outside of the captain's circle, but the Head Captain allowed Ukitake to tell Ichigo after he had requested it.

Ichigo's eyes were wide by the time Ukitake finished the story. "...But if Aizen uses Hyourinmaru to break the Hogyoku's seal, then what will happen to Toshiro?"

Ukitake's face was grim. "He'll probably die. The amount of energy it takes to break it will be too much for him, especially since his abilities are still immature, so his death is almost certain."

"Dammit..." Ichigo's eyes narrowed in rage. "And Aizen didn't even know this when he first captured him... so what reason did he have in the first place?"

Uryu answered quietly from the couch. "He probably just wanted to scare the lower Soul Reapers, so they saw what kind of power they were up against, weakening them."

"And to some degree," Ukitake spoke, "just for entertainment."

"Entertainment!?"

The captain of the thirteenth squad nodded gravely. "Aizen may be patient, but he must find himself somewhat bored just waiting for the winter war. To him, maybe tormenting Hitsugaya brings him some satisfaction."

Ichigo's hand clenched in rage. "What kind of a sick and twisted person would do something like that? How can he get satisfaction out of something that horrible?"

"But I wonder..."

Everyone turned at the sound of Orihime's sympathetic voice. The girl looked sadly at the floor, her eyes glistening with confusion.

"I don't believe that anyone is born evil. I have to wonder what could have happened to Aizen to make enjoy such a thing."

Everybody looked away, unknowing of any answer. None of them cared to consider Aizen's past, but there wasn't much to know of.

"Orihime..." Ichigo stared up at her. "It may not be possible for a person to be born evil, but it is possible for a person to be born lusting for power. And if you take the wrong road in that desire, as I believe Aizen did, you'll eventually go too far, and find yourself so immersed in that lust that you truly are evil. Eventually, one thing can lead to another, and Aizen probably ended up becoming this twisted, enjoying other people's suffering."

Orihime gazed at the floor softly. "But maybe there is still a heart somewhere in him."

Ukitake stared sympathetically at her. "I don't think so. Aizen probably never had anything tragic happen in his life, and he probably gave up his heart a long time ago when he dedicated himself to gaining more power."

"I'm sorry, Orihime," Uryu continued, "but not everybody has an emotional weakness. Aizen certainly doesn't."

"And I don't see how anybody with a heart could do something as horrible as he's done." Ichigo commented angrily.

I'm sorry the theme of this chapter was a little weird, but I felt that I had to do a little bit of explaining for Aizen. I'm much too lazy to give him a sad past or anything, so I did the only other thing that came to mind, which I believe is totally true as well. Nobody is born evil.

Except my twin... of course she's not actually human so that doesn't really count for her. She's mostly devil spawn

I know Ichigo said all those things about how horrible Aizen is being to Toshiro... but... errr... it still gets worse... I spent all day today thinking about hings that are going to happen in the sequel.... painful... painful... I truly am horrible... poor poor Toshiro, doesn't deserve the fate given to him...

Well if you could plz review me that would be super nice... I mean I got nineteen reviews for my last chapter which is pretty impressive, but, what can I say, I'm greedy. GIMME MORE! Plz? (Lil Shiro-chan comes out) plz review and make us both very happy. Toshiro needs some happiness.