Hey there and get ready for another chapter! Wheeee I'm bored sitting here waiting to take my geometry final.

Since I will soon be done with school, I will be today activating my beta account! Some people have already asked me to beta them so now I'll be able do so! Send a request if you want.

Unohana stood outside the barracks door, sorting some medical supplies carefully. As she moved a small glass syringe, a tall blonde walked by, muttering his own thoughts aloud. With a stutter, the third seat of squad four fumbled with his feet, tripping and falling forward. With a breezy ease, Unohana swept to the side, accustomed to her subordinate's behavior.

With a yelp, the man flailed his arms and crashed into the dish by Unohana's side.

"Be careful with that glass, you don't want to hurt yourself." The captain said sweetly as she left Ieuma laying in the broken glass groaning dramatically.


Toshiro's head felt fuzzy as he came back into consciousness. Taking a short look around, he breathed deeply and noticed the room was empty. An aching burned in his shoulder, and the boy tested it cautiously. Wincing, he groaned quietly as pain shot up his arm, branching to the rest of his body as he stirred.

Breathing deeply, he stilled again, calming down and trying to rest his aching head. As the door opened across the room, a warm light entered, and Toshiro winced as his eyes adjusted.

"It'sgood to see you're awake, Hitsugaya."

The boy turned steadily to see Captain Unohana walking through the entrance, setting a select pile of bandages and other medical equipment down on a small table. She advanced towards him, handling a small glass of water.

"Here, drink up."

Toshiro glanced at it skeptically. Somewhat shakily, he reached out and took it from the older shinigami, still looking worried. With encouragement from Unohana's sweet smile, he gingerly sat up a little, trembling a slightly more as pain shot through his body from the effort, and sipped it.

It was obnoxiously sour, and the boy's face screwed up in distaste. However, with one look at the other captain's frightfully innocent expression, he gulped down the rest.

"Thank you," Unohana said as she took the glass of medicine from him. "Now please do me a favor and sit up all the way. I'd like to change your bandages."

Toshiro gave her another incredulous glance. Changing bandages was definitely not something a captain would do. But he obliged wearily, his head pounding too hard and his body hurting too much to complain. As he tried his best to not fall back down, he sat up, pulling down the top of his robe to reveal the several bandages across his body.

Without another word, Unohana began unwrapping them, examining each wound carefully and carefully adding some clear liquid to them before covering them with fresh bindings. As she undid one nearest to the center of his chest, she glanced at his exhausted expression before cautiously proceeding to remove them.

The blood in that area had turned them black, and the wound over the chest had festered and was an ominous dark bruise.

Noticing the pause in Unohana's actions, he glanced downward. His eyes only narrowed slightly, though not too surprised by the effect of Aizen's cruelty.

"What he has done... it's just brutal." Unohana Retsu whispered quietly, reaching for some of the ointment she held, "I'm sorry if this may hurt a little."

Toshiro wasn't too keen on having anybody's sympathy. Especially no one as highly ranked as Unohana. But as she began to purify the dark bruise, pain that was horrifyingly similar to the type he felt under Aizen's savagery ran up his body, causing the boy to choke on his breath, wincing and clenching his teeth together.

Trying her best to continue though the pain was beginning to make Toshiro waver, his eyes tightening and threatening to close, Unohana had an odd countenance of tenderness, genuinely dissatisfied with hurting another.

As she finally finished spreading the medicine, the sensation still burned Toshiro's chest, and the boy's head spun as he continued to try to stay sitting up. Breathing unsteadily, his consciousness abandoned him, and the boy fell back downwards, landing in Unohana's thin ready arms.

She set him down gently, sighing as she quickly replaced the remaining bandages. When the last wound had been covered, she pulled his robes back up and moved the blankets over him.

Releasing another heavy sigh, she stared at him for a moment, suddenly reflecting on her own actions. Though she tended to have a motherly disposition, she was almost never this... She couldn't find the word to explain her odd behavior. On the other hand, she decided, almost everybody can't help but act differently about him. I'm so used to him being so hard and cold, and now that there's so much more of a story surrounding him, it feels like I need to do everything I can to help him.

With one last glance behind her, Unohana walked to the door, opening it to reveal a small girl, with a worried expression.

"Um..." Momo glanced past the Captain and over into the room. "May I?"

Without the will to deny the distressed lieutenant, Unohana nodded, and the girl squeezed past her and trotted to her friend's bed, almost immediately sitting in the same place for the past many weeks, grasping Toshiro's hand and staring sadly at the state of his health.

"How is he?" Came a male voice from behind.

Unohana turned slightly from her place leaning against the side of the doorway, aimlessly staring at the girl. The captain of the thirteenth squad stood above her, his eyebrows knitted in worry.

Heaving a small sigh, she responded with what had happened. "He didn't say a word, and his condition has barely improved at all over the past couple weeks, though he is becoming more conscious."

Ukitake joined her in a sigh. "That's not good, it's been so long already, I'd think he'd be at least fully awake by now."

"A lot had happened to him," the healer continued. "And everything is just piling up. It coukd be quite a long time befoe he recovers."

"And it's still not over yet." Ukitake finished. Both Captains reflected on the previous two Captain's meetings, and the lack of progress in decision making.

As much as they could press for another solution, with the rukongai souls already angry enough, execution was looking like the only option. Even if the majority of the captains voted against it, the amount of trust placed into the higher power of the soul society would fall drastically if they let Hitsugaya go unpunished as they desired.

His eyes regretful, Ukitake turned, and began to walk the other direction, not wanting to have to face the issues at hand. As he came to the corner, however, he was met with a sight he did not expect.


Toshiro stirred again an hour later, his head aching horribly. The pain in his head was there every time he woke up, and he simply couldn't figure out why. It was like he had a terrifying dream but couldn't remember it at all when he awoke.

"Lil' Shiro?"

The voice was soft and sweet, and Toshiro recognized it immediately. The sound of his childhood friend's concern made his eyes open, and he stared wearily at her.

Momo didn't smile softly as she normally would've. Her expression was tight with worry, and the boy slowly came to realize why.

Behind her, none other than the Head Captain Yamamotto stood, resting his hands on his staff and gazing at him through half closed eyes.

Sorry about the shortness, plot development and suspense is very annoying sometimes...

I really don't want to rush this whole execution part BUT GOD I WANNA FINISH MY ONE SHOT AND WRITE THE SEQUEL! AHH! I like the first chapter... lil' shiro-chan is so adorable...

I ordered a Toshiro plushie doll yesterday, I'M SO HAPPY! I can't wait for it to come and I can give him a huge hug for all the horrible things I have and will do to him... I luv u lil shiro... AND NO TWIN YOU KEEP THOSE SCISSORS FAR AWAY!

Well, if u care for a little story from lalulweeb's life, I took my geometry regents on the field outside my school on the grass because there was smoke in the auditorium and the power and plumbing was out and there were firemen and police everywhere, I was pretty epic. And, it marks my last day of school, I'M FREE! until september that is...

Anyway, make my day better, cuz I actually have to go horseback riding today and I really dont want to... and review me! I luv and appreciate all my reviewers! Thank you all, and keep going for the next four or five chapters left in this story! PLEASE!