A naughty thunderstorm interrupted me in the middle of writing this chapter…

Gin Ichimaru strode silently into the small chamber where a certain silver-haired boy slept. Sliding the door shut behind him, his slanted eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light. With a short look around the bare room, Gin gave a small sigh.

Coming forward, he gently placed a blanket found on the shelf on the other end of the chamber around the small form of Hinamori, who had curled up on her seat, still clutching her dear friend's hand.

The older shinigami took a seat on another available chair, and took to aimlessly staring at the boy across from him. Gin had yet to come into the room when Toshiro was conscious, and was once again left to gaze at the unresponsive boy, breathing deeply with heavy bags under his eyes. Five weeks. It's been so long, and yet the Head Captain is yet to make a decision, Toshiro is yet to recover, and time seems to just stand still, expanding over weeks and weeks while everything remained deathly steady.

Shifting his weight in the chair, Gin found it difficult to become accustomed to the shinigami robes he hadn't worn in a long time. After so much time spent under the command of Aizen, being a normal shinigami again felt odd, but still comfortable. He had missed it dearly, and he could never show enough appreciation for the strings that had been pulled for his sake.

Across the room, a small release of breath and a low sigh brought Gin back from his thoughts. With a start, the man sat up as Toshiro stirred. Not long afterwards, one teal eye opened, and then another.

"Toshiro?"

The boy turned at his name, pain passing through his eyes momentarily as he turned his neck. His eyes widening slightly as Toshiro recognized Gin immediately.

"I- Ichimaru… are you…" Toshiro winced slightly as his voice failed him. Coughing, he was about to start again when Gin answered the broken question.

"I'm fine," He stood from his seat and walked to the bed, "Are you able to sit up?"

Giving a small nod, the boy slowly pushed himself up, eyeing Momo and the blanket still around her.

"She's been here for several days, the only time she left is when you were speaking to the Head Captain and when Rangiku made her get some more… comfortable rest."

The boy nodded slowly, shifting his gaze to the man standing above him. After a moment, he remembered what felt so wrong about having Ichimaru by his side. Breathing deeply, he found his voice once more. "And the Soul Society? What did they do about you?"

Ichimaru's mouth tightened into a bit of a frown before responding quietly.

"They cleared me of all charges."

Gin felt a twinge of guilt as he saw the surprise in Toshiro's eyes. While Ichimaru had much more of an understanding of Toshiro's feeling than most, he didn't understand how the boy wished to die, having the strength to let others protect those he held dear. The two soul reapers had been through very similar situations, and Gin could not understand that at all. He believed Hitsugaya still had a strong will to live inside.

Nevertheless, he explained his status to the boy, his eyes slanted though his smile gone.

"Technically, they have no proof that I ever killed anyone. What they released into Seireitei is that my motives were, overall, forced upon me. And to that degree, they have no proof that I wasn't working for the Soul Society from the beginning."

Toshiro's glare fell to the side of his bed, understanding fully what Gin spoke of. The Soul Society didn't have the most fair justice system, and if Gin had ever slain full villages of people, Aizen hadn't made him let his face show. All of the Soul Society knew of Toshiro's wrongdoings. It was impossible for him to get out of his situation as Gin did.

"Toshiro, I-" The door opened, cutting off the words of sympathy that Toshiro would've brushed aside anyway. Both Soul Reapers turned as another two guests walked in, surprise crossing their faces when they saw Toshiro sitting up.

Ukitake spoke first, his voice full of comfort.

"It's good that you're awake, Toshiro."

While the man's words were kind, his face was grim. By his side, Ichigo too seemed morose, any usual greeting not coming to his mouth. Between them, in the hand of the thirteenth squad captain, was a small pack, wrapped several times over in white cloth.

Both still looking grim, they walked in, and Ukitake placed a hand on Hinamori's shoulder. After a second, the girl awoke and took a quick look around, frightened suddenly by the look on everyone's faces.

"Have… have they…"

Her words were silenced by a shake of Ukitake's head. "Us captains haven't made a decision yet, Toshiro…" The man's glum expression only deepened as he brought the white cloth bag to his front and began unwrapping it. "You're not going to like this."

"We found it when we were clearing the area in Hueco Mundo after that battle." Ichigo continued, no trace of sarcasm or anything to come to his face the entire time. "The higher authorities didn't care what happened to it, and we thought it should be destroyed…"

Ukitake finished unwrapping the object, and what revealed made the boy's heart rate sky rocket as his eyes widened in fear.

"But we thought, at least, you should be the one to do it." Ichigo completed solemnly, seeing the look of terror in the boy's eyes.

In Ukitake's hands sat a black menace, very little light glinting off of its smooth surface, the device of Aizen's power.

Toshiro failed to notice himself backing away in the bed, Momo's eyes widening, and her grabbing both of his arms. The world seemed to blur, leaving Toshiro's eyes glued to the ominous object, the fear that he had buried rearing its ugly head.

It was until Momo had buried him in an embrace, blocking his sight to the object and enclosing him into a warm sense of comfort, that his breath began to slow. For what could've been several hours or several seconds, the boy worked only on calming himself, his sensible part recently becoming more and more dominant.

"Are you mad? Get that thing out of here!"

Toshiro came back into reality to hear Momo yelling at the others, and the two that entered sounding taken aback.

"No, it's… it's okay…" Toshiro took a deep breath and suddenly noticed sweat beading his forehead, and that his hands had clutched Hinamori's robe so tightly his knuckles were white. He gently pushed away from Momo, who had jumped onto the bed in her rush to help him. Sitting up, he eyed the room cautiously, using all of his will power to control himself. They weren't going to use it on him. They weren't going to hurt him.

"Toshiro… we're sorry… we just thought that…" Ichigo looked horror-stricken that he had caused the boy so much fright.

"It's fine." Toshiro responded, surprised his voice was so calm. "It is the kind of thing I would normally appreciate."

"Well," Ukitake's eyes still reflected regret. "we should-" The man covered the object once more, getting the hint that Toshiro was not ready to do such a thing.

"No." The voice came from the other end of the room, where Gin hadn't moved a muscle since the other two walked in.

All heads turned to Gin, who was stepping forward as he drew his zanpaktou, his yellow eyes wide as they locked on to the object.

"Ichimaru! What're you-" Ukitake seemed shocked, but understanding shot through him as he glanced at Hitsugaya, who gave the man a nod.

Immediately, the captain tossed the device, white cloth and all, into the air, stepping back as Gin thrust forward, hatred and rage evident in his eyes. There was a bit of a crack, and several slashed of Shinso before the black menace fell to ground, small pieces scattering.

"I'm sorry, Hitsugaya, if you wanted a share in that."

Gin had barely turned to face the boy, but his voice offered a sincere apology.

"No, you had more of a right to it then I do."

The man glanced back at the boy, who was staring at the small black bits.

"Is it really broken?" Toshiro asked cautiously, somewhat fearful.

It wasn't Ichimaru who immediately went to the floor, or anyone else. Without hesitation, Momo got off of her friend's bed, and took the risk of touching one of the pieces, willing to show her courage.

No pain came to her eyes, and she stood up gracefully.

"It's fine, completely broken."

Toshiro looked up at her gratefully before turning his gaze to Gin, who gave a small nod, his eyes squinty once more. Without another word, the man swept back to the small pile of rubble, and picked it up.

"What are you going to do with that?" Ichigo asked curiously.

The man turned one final time as he walked out of the room. "Burn it."

The man's black robe vanished behind the door, and Toshiro once again found his exhaustion gnawing on him, intensified by the event. He held his head as time and space blurred, unknowingly breathing harshly.

After a few moments, the boy noticed he was laid back down on the pillow, and Momo was stared at him worriedly.

"Sorry… I was just…"

Momo shook her head, clutching his hand once more.

The room seemed strangely silent as a small black and red butterfly flew through the window, resting itself on Ukitake's ready hand.

"Captain Juushiro Ukitake is to report to the squad one barracks for a captains' meeting immediately." The small Hell Butterfly commanded.

The Captain's eyes widened momentarily as the butterfly flew off, and he glanced at

Toshiro quickly.

"I… I guess it's time then…"

Toshiro looked at the man curiously at his words.

"Time for what?" It was Momo who asked, her voice shaky in worry.

Sighing, Ukitake replied, his solemn gaze resting on Toshiro. "The Head Captain said today would be the final day of deliberations, and he would make a decision."

Toshiro looked up at the man, his teal eyes cold but sorrowful. "So then…"

The man nodded. "The next time I see you, they'll be delivering your sentence."

I honestly do not have enough energy to write a long Author's Note, but I do want to know if I'm carrying out this execution thing long enough. It would help to know.

And just so you're all aware, there is going to be an OC in the sequel, but trust me, I know how infuriating they can be, and I'll do my best to keep him as a well developed character, and he doesn't have that big of a role anyway…

Well, please review, it would make my incredibly boring day great!

PS- I made brownies the day before yesterday and my sister ate them all. That was like 60 brownies! WTF! They were delicious!