Sorry you guys! i know it's been forever. I got my computer taken away from me. but im back now. so...yeah. hope you like this chapter. nothing too exciting in this chap its one of those chapters that just there to be there, you know? so yeah.

The Next Day

Yura was leaning against a wall, staring at the giant screen in front of her. "I can't believe we actually brought this into Orihime's house without her knowing."

"We had no choice. It's an emergency, don't you think?" Toshiro said.

"Still…"

The three of them turned around when the door to the room opened. Orihime stumbled in, nearly falling. "Cool…" She said. "Wait, no! What is this thing, Toshiro!" Orihime continued to yell at him.

"You just had to come now, didn't you?"

"This is her house, remember?"

A picture appeared on the screen and revealed Rin. He dropped something he was holding and straightened up. "Sorry for the delay! This is the communication server for the Bureau of Technological Development."

"Captain of the 10th Squad, Toshiro Hitsugaya."

"Yes. I'll transfer you now, sir."

The picture changed and the Head Captain appeared. Yura pushed herself off of the wall. Orihime gasped. "Head Captain?"

"You got the job done quickly, Captain Hitsugaya. There is but one reason that this emergency line has been set up. We've discovered what Aizen Sosuke is truly after."

Yura gasped as her eyes widened, as did everyone else. "Aizen's true target?"

Head Captain Yamamoto nodded. "Exactly."

"Um, this sounds like a really serious topic. I'll just sit this one out." Orihime turned to leave, but the Head Captain stopped her.

"Wait a moment. This concerns you humans as well. You must listen, too."

Orihime looked at Yura. Yura nodded then turned her attention back to the screen. "Okay." Orihime came back into the room.

"It's been several months since Aizen vanished. As you are no doubt aware, we have been investigating the 5th Squad's Captain's office, the area beneath the Central 46 Chambers, the Towers of Purity where Aizen hid in the Great Spirit Library. During his investigation of the Library, Ukitake found a vital clue."

"What was the information Aizen was after?" Yura asked.

"The King's Key." Yura nearly choked, but contained herself.

"Um…what is the King's Key?" Orihime asked.

"Exactly what it sounds like." Matsumoto said.

"It's the key of a royal house," Yura finished when she got her voice back. "Even Soul Society has a king…just to keep everything in order. Or at least try his best."

"But, he leaves Soul Society to us, so even though we have a king, it feels as if we don't. To be honest, neither I nor the Captain have ever seen him in person."

"Correct. Our king is called the 'Spirit King'. Though he is only a figurehead in Soul Society, his existence is absolute. His palace resides in a dimension completely separate from Soul Society along with the Royal Guard that protects him. The King's Key is the key that opens a path from our dimension to the palace."

"Then, Aizen would use that key to…" Orihime's words faltered.

"To kill him. That's probably his goal. But that's not the real problem."

"The book Aizen found didn't reveal where the King's Key is located." Toshiro said.

"Exactly. The location of the King's Key has been passed on verbally from one Head Captain to the next for generations. As such, no book or document containing its location exists. What Aizen read was a document from the era when the King's Key was first made. In it, he discovered the way to create another one. The only way to create another King's Key, one needs 100,000 souls and a plot of spirit-enriched land with a radius of half a spirit-mile.

"Spirit-enriched land refers to an area in the World of the Living with an unusual spiritual aura. The place in which Aizen is after is…Karakura Town," Everyone gasped as they were speechless. "I can't think of another place with 100,000 souls on a half spirit-mile radius of spirit-enriched land. To put it bluntly, if Aizen creates the King's Key with the method in those documents, Karakura Town and the people inhabiting it will be wiped off the face of the earth."

Orihime clenched her hands into fists. "We can't let him. Is there a way for us to stop him?"

"We'll find a way, no matter what. That's why part of the 13 Protection Squads are here! It's not much, but we do have some time. According to a report from Kurotsuchi, the Hogyoku is still in a deep slumber despite being freed from its seal. It will take approximately four months for it to completely awaken. Aizen won't be able to take action until it fully awakens. But once it does, he'll make his move immediately. The decisive battle will take place this winter! Until then, we must all train ourselves and prepare as best we can."

"Yes, sir!"

"And Orihime Inoue. Aizen is after the real world. Situations will come where we alone will not be adequate. We need the real world to gather its strength as well. Would you tell that to Ichigo Kurosaki for me?"

"Yes!" With that, Orihime ran out of the room.

"I'll inform Ikkaku and the others about this, Captain-Commander." Matsumoto said. Yura nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I'll come with you two."

Yura started to walk out with Toshiro following her when the Head Captain stopped him. "Oh, just one moment, Captain Hitsugaya." Yura looked at Toshiro and he nodded. Yura walked out. She closed the door, but cracked it a little to listen.

"Someone has been waiting for our conversation to end so that she could talk to you."

Toshiro's breath caught at the sight of the person. "You…"

"Hm, Hitsugaya." Yura peeked through the crack.

"I see. So you've woken up, Hinamori?" Yura's eyes widened. She remembered Matsumoto mention someone by the name of Hinamori. The time when she asked Toshiro if he liked her better than Hinamori. "Are you well enough to be up and walking around?"

"I'm all better!"

"Good."

Hinamori hesitated before speaking. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Hitsugaya. I doubted you…and I attacked you…I don't know what was wrong with me. Really, I-"

"You idiot. I don't care about that anymore. And if I don't care, you shouldn't either. Hurry up and go back to bed and get rid of those bags under your eyes."

Hinamori began to cry. She rubbed her eyes to try to stop her tears from completely falling down her face. "Thank you, Hitsugaya."

Toshiro sighed. "Besides, you still look like a kid. If you wanna grow, you need to get more sleep! Take a look at Matsumoto. You'll need to sleep for ten years straight if you want to catch up to her!"

"Shut up. Rangiku is an exception. Besides, you're not exactly in a position to lecture people about growing, Toshiro!"

Yura gritted her teeth. "Hinamori!" Hinamori gasped. "I'm tired of repeating myself. I'm not Toshiro, I'm Captain Hitsugaya."

Hinamori smiled. "You're right," she hesitated before continuing. "Is it okay of I ask you something, Hitsugaya?"

"What is it?"

"You're going to fight against Captain Aizen, aren't you? Are you going to kill…Captain Aizen? Please…please save Captain Aizen!" Yura's eyes widened and she nearly fell over. Yura thought to herself, This girl is truly crazy if she thinks Aizen can be saved. "I know what Captain Aizen is doing is really bad. But, I'm sure he has a really good reason for doing it," Hinamori's eyes grew with hysteria. "That's it! Captain Ichimaru or someone else must be forcing Captain Aizen to-"

Yura stepped back. She turned around and quickly walked to the front door. She walked out into the open space, closing the door behind her. She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms and letting a tear fall down her face. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She hung her down and her blue hair fell all around her. She sighed and wiped the tear from her face. "I'm so pathetic." She whispered to herself.

She heard the door open and turned her head away. "Yura? I thought you went with Matsumoto."

"I was going to, but I changed my mind."

"Why-"

"Uh…take a walk with me, ok?" Yura walked down the stairs and Toshiro followed her.

They walked down the street a little ways before Toshiro broke the tension between them. "So, why didn't you go with Matsumoto?"

"Well, like I said, I was going to, but I decided to make sure everything was ok….So that's the one Matsumoto was talking about that time."

"What do you mean?"

Yura looked up to the sky. "I remember awhile ago…a long while ago, before our fight that one time…Matsumoto asked if you liked me…more than Hinamori. And that girl you were talking to…"

"Yura-"

"Please, let me finish. Obviously that was Hinamori. And the way you acted toward her just now…I know I shouldn't act jealous, but you've never acted that way around me."

"Nothing's going on between us if you're assuming such a thing."

Yura closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, but…I don't know what to think anymore. How long have you known her?" Toshiro hesitated and turned his head away. "Well?"

"A long time."

"More precision."

"When I was living in Rukongai."

"Hm…so a very long time. No surprise, to be honest. You guys did act like best friends….I'm not mad at you, just so you know. I was just…shocked."

"I don't blame you."

Yura opened her eyes and looked at him. "How come?"

Toshiro opened his mouth to speak, but changed his mind instead. He only shook his head. "It's nothing. Forget it."

Yura frowned. "No. You already brought it up. I'm curious now. What is it?"

"I said it's nothing, Yura." She could hear the anger rising in his voice.

"Shiro…"

Toshiro looked directly in her eyes. Yura tried to force her way in, but ever since the two met she was never able to get inside the young captain's head. But she surprised herself by the force she put in and got a small glance at one memory Toshiro was thinking about. The time she and Ichigo were sitting on the roof of his house her last day in the World of the Living. She was suddenly pushed out by something, most likely Toshiro feeling her enter his thoughts and putting up his mental barrier. She continued walking as if nothing happened. But she knew better. Puzzle pieces began to click in Yura's head. One thing, because of Toshiro's strange behavior, he let his guard down just enough to look at one memory. Another thing, the fact that Toshiro was thinking of that time meant that he was just as jealous about her and Ichigo as she was about him and Hinamori.

When Toshiro and Yura got to the park, they stayed there in silence, waiting for Matsumoto, Ikkaku and Yumichika to meet up with them. It was a long wait, but they finally came.

"So, Abarai is staying with Urahara Kisuke for a while?"

"No matter what he says, I think he likes it there. He's probably gotten used to it after staying there twice now." Matsumoto said.

"I think if he didn't like it, he'd pick the streets over it any day. I know I would." Yura said.

"Oh, he also said that he's training Chad."

"Sounds like he's having fun."

"It's pretty clear that we don't have enough power on our side, considering how strong the Arrancar are." Toshiro said.

"So, what do we have to do?" Ikkaku asked.

"Do you have to ask?" Yura faked a coughed and cleared her throat. Toshiro glared at her. She only raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders. With a sigh, Toshiro turned back to the other three. "We have to improve our own fighting abilities or we won't be able to win further battles."

"I think even trying to improve our fighting abilities won't be enough to truly fight off the Arrancars."

Toshiro turned to Yura. "Aren't you ever positive?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Like you are? I'm just being a realist."

"Either way, you're both right." Yura and Toshiro looked at Yumichika. "It's maddening, but the Arrancars' strength is the real problem."

"Heh, that's ok, if you ask me. It means we get to have more fun fights!" Ikkaku said.

"This all sounds perfect for you." Matsumoto said.

"You know it! Rangiku, you'd better polish your techniques if you wanna make it back to Soul Society in one piece!"

Yura closed her eyes and sighed. "Don't get cocky, Ikkaku." She said.

"I know."

Matsumoto continued. "No! Is it really this late already? If I don't hurry, the stores will get crowded and I won't be able to take my time picking stuff out!"

"What's this about stores?" Toshiro asked.

Matsumoto turned back around and leaned closer. "I'm going to check out the town! I must go shopping-! I mean, I must check if anything strange is going on."

"You just said shopping!"

"So Captain, I'm heading off!" Matsumoto took off running.

"That idiot. It's always in one ear and out the other with her."

"What do you expect from someone like her? She's your complete opposite. I don't understand how you got her as your Lieutenant." Yura said.

"It's a bit complicated."

"Trust me, I know how. I just don't exactly understand. Soul Society has become lazy since I left."

Toshiro turned to Ikkaku and Yumichika. "You two should head back. Keep your eye out for anything."

"Yes, sir." The two of them took off and Toshiro and Yura stayed sitting on the bench.

Yura sighed. "If we don't do something exciting, I'm gonna fall asleep right here."

"Then sleep. We'll be here for a while."

Yura stared at him. "I can stay awake if you need me to."

"Yura, you're tired. I know you are. Rest." Yura sighed and closed her as she leaned back.

Yura turned her head and mumbled. She was humming in her sleep. Her humming then turned into lyrics. "As the world closes its eyes and falls into a deep slumber," A tear fell down Yura's face. "…for I'm the one that has it under my finger…and…and…"

"Yura!" Yura snapped her eyes open and sat up. She was breathing heavily and had a scared look in her eyes. She shook her head. "Yura?" She tightly closed her eyes and shook her head again. "Yura!"

"I'm sorry. That song…I shouldn't have been singing it."

"What was it?"

She shook her head. " Nothing. Just a terrible song. Trust me."

Yura took deep breaths and opened her eyes. "Are you ok?"

She nodded but still didn't meet his gaze. "How long was I singing that song?" She asked slowly.

He hesitated. "For awhile. You'd finish it once and stop for about a minute and you'd sing it again."

She closed her eyes again. "I hate that song." Yura shivered and wrapped her arms around herself despite the warm day it was.

Toshiro stood up. "Let's go."

Yura looked at him. "Where?"

"Anywhere. We need to watch over this town, don't we? And we should get your mind off of that song. Come on." Yura stood up and began to walk with Toshiro.

With the long walk Toshiro was taking Yura on, she nearly forgot about the song. Then Toshiro's communicator rang. He took it out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Is this…a Hollow?"

Yura snapped her head up. "Please tell me you hear that, too?" Yura heard a type of melody. It was hypnotic and slightly calming.

"Yeah, I do. Come on!" Toshiro took off and Yura followed.

"Where is it coming from?"

"I don't exactly kn-" Toshiro stopped and so did Yura.

"It just stopped."

"We need to find it." Yura nodded. She reached in her pocket and pulled out her soul-candy. She popped it in her mouth and jumped out of her gigai.

"It feels so good to be out of that thing."

"We need to hurry." Yura looked at Toshiro who was already out of his gigai and ready to leave.

"You two stay near each other." Yura told the mod-souls then she and Toshiro took off. "How far away do you think it is?"

"Let's find out."

Yura rolled her eyes. "Always got to do it the hard way."

After what seemed like forever, Toshiro and Yura had run into Ikkaku and Yumichika. Then they found Matsumoto dealing with a Hollow. Ikkaku immediately jumped in and destroyed it. "How boring! That wasn't even a good warm-up."

"Hm, looks like he wasn't strong enough to be your opponent."

"Captain. Yura. Yumichika."

"We saw a change in the Hollow's Spiritual Pressure pattern, so we hurried over here to finish it off. Matsumoto, you were too careless!"

"Finally, you realize things she does wrong." Yura said.

Matsumoto turned on Yura. "Hey! I actually tried my hardest!"

"Not hard enough if you ask me."

Matsumoto glared. Only to be given the same look by Yura. "But this child…"

The kid in Matsumoto's arms smirked. "You got scolded by a kid, you old hag!"

Yura giggled. Matsumoto immediately squeezed his head in between her breasts. "So inappropriate." Yura said.

"'Lady' is bad enough, but 'old hag' is just unforgivable." Matsumoto put the kid back under her arm.

"Was that actually an Arrancar?"

"Yeah, but its Spiritual Pressure was dull. It wasn't fully developed."

"It was an Arrancar regardless of its level. We have to assume Aizen sent it here on purpose." Toshiro said.

"On purpose, huh?" Yumichika asked.

"That makes us feel all better." Yura said sarcastically.

"For now, let's give a report to Soul Society."

"So then, we should do a soul-burial on this snotty little brat, right?" Matsumoto said.

Yura bent down to level herself with the kid. "I don't know. I kind of like his attitude. He called you an 'old hag'. That's pretty brave."

The kid smirked. "What's a soul-burial, anyway, lady?" He asked Matsumoto.

"I don't remember saying it was ok for you to call me 'lady'."

"Give the kid a break, Rangiku."

"I'm with this one." The kid said, pointing to Yura.

Matsumoto looked at Yura. "You're no better than he is."

"Hey, watch it."

"Shut up!" Toshiro said. The two of them stopped bickering. "Don't give him a soul-burial. I want to ask him about that Arrancar. We can perform the soul-burial after that fact."

"Well, if that's what you want, Captain."

Yura smiled. The kid looked at Toshiro with a confused look. "You're a captain?"

"That's right."

The kid laughed. "No way! You're like the same age as me!"

Yura laughed. "Actually, let's do the soul-burial after all."

Yura sat on her knees in front of the kid and leveled herself with him. "Aww, come on, Shiro. He's too cute for you to do that to him. And his attitude is just over the top. He completely reminds me of myself."

"Hm, are you sure? I was comparing the similarities of the two of you being brats."

Yura narrowed her eyes. "You're so lucky you're a captain, otherwise you'd probably be dead right now."

"I don't think you can do that, now can you?"

Yura stood up and stared down at him. "No, I can't. But because of how we see each other now…" Yura smacked him on his head.

"Hey!"

"I can at least do that."

The kid was watching the two. "You can treat your captain like that?"

Yura looked at the boy and laughed. "I can do just about whatever I want. Except kill him when necessary."

"You can't do whatever you want!"

"You know, I should get more respect as both your elder and girlfriend!" She hit him again and started to walk off. "Can we go now?" The others began to follow Yura.

The kid tapped Toshiro. "What?"

"She's your girlfriend?"

"Why do you ask?"

"How is it possible that someone like you can get someone like her?"

Toshiro's eye twitched and he glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You look like a little kid! That's what! Well, she did say she's older than you…"

Toshiro gritted his teeth. "I should've done that stupid soul-burial when I had the chance."

Once the four of them got their gigais', Matsumoto led them to a store. "Just one second, okay? I just need to grab my things-"

They all looked in the shop. Yura's eyes widened. She sighed and looked down, closing her eyes. "Tell me when it's over."

The mod-soul that was occupying Matsumoto's gigai was on top of the store owner. She turned around and stared at the five of them. "Welcome back. We're almost at the best part!" Matsumoto grabbed the back of the shirt her gigai was wearing and slipped into it. The store owner suddenly jumped up, yelling. Then Matsumoto elbowed him in his chest and he fell to the floor.

Yura opened her eyes and sighed.

"There it is. This is it!" Matsumoto turned and looked at everyone.

The guys narrowed their eyes at her, but Yura only shook her head. "At least I don't have to carry her stuff. Good luck to you guys."

"I'm not touching that stuff." Ikkaku said.

Matsumoto whined. "But you have to help me carry my stuff. And I'd never let Yura do it."

Yura smiled. "Glad to know I'm appreciated. Ok, hand over the kid and you carry Your Majesty's bags."

Yura took the kid and held him under her arm. She walked out of the store with everyone following. "So…you're seriously dating that guy?"

Yura closed her eyes in annoyance. "Will you drop it already? You're an annoying little kid, you know that?"

"I'm just trying to make everything clear."

"Well, it won't get any clearer asking question after question. Just shut up until we get to our destination." "

Yeah, yeah, yeah….Where are we going anyway?"

"Completely ignoring you."

As soon as they got to Orihime's house, they got into their Soul Reaper forms and began to explain everything to the kid. He put his hands behind his head. "I don't get all of this 'soul-burial' and 'Soul Society' stuff." He turned to Yumichika. "What're you guys talking about, pops?"

Yumichika pointed to himself. "Pops? What an ugly thing to call me!"

"From a kid's viewpoint, you're an old man. Don't let it get to you." Ikkaku said. The kid turned to look at Ikkaku.

"No, I can't forgive him! Pops doesn't sound beautiful!"

Ikkaku sighed. "Kid!"

"That head of yours is blinding me, cue ball!"

"Cue…ball?"

"Put on a toupee."

Ikkaku grabbed the kid and put his arm around his throat. "What the heck! No more Mr. Nice Guy! I'm so gonna-"

"Shut up!" Matsumoto yelled.

Yura sighed. "About time."

"We need to ask you a few things," Matsumoto said. "So be good and answer our questions, okay?" The little boy huffed and turned away. "After you answer our questions, you'll go to a place called Soul Society."

The little boy looked at Matsumoto. "Forget it, I'm not going anywhere."

"Hey, listen. Whether you like it or not, you're going to Soul Society." Yura said.

The kid turned to her. "I thought you were on my side!"

Yura closed her eyes. "I'm not exactly taking sides, it's just the natural order of things."

"You-"

"It's okay! It's not scary or anything." Matsumoto said.

"I'm staying right here!"

"Those are the rules!"

"If I said I'm not going, then I'm not going! End of story! I still have something I need to do." He said, looking down.

"Let's change the subject," Toshiro said. "Did you hear a strange sound when the Arrancar popped up?"

"Now that you mention it, I did." Ikkaku said.

"Well?"

The kid looked at him. "I heard it."

"And did it say anything to you?"

"Nope! It just howled "Gaaah" and attacked me!"

"I see."

"Looks like we won't get anything else out of him." Ikkaku said.

Yura leaned in closer and whispered to the soul, "Hey kid, I know you're hiding something. If you need to do something, we can help. You just have to tell us more."

"I'm not hiding anything."

"It seems they just met at that spot by coincidence."

"Looks that way. All right, then. We'll bury his soul now." Toshiro said, standing up.

"I don't wanna! I still have something to do here! I don't want to go anywhere!"

"That's the rule. Don't whine."

"Hey, stop. No! Stop it, you jerk! Let me go!"

Matsumoto looked up. "Captain, please wait a moment. I think that since this child is just as confused as we are, we should at least let him stay here, if even for a night."

"Yes, because I've always wanted a pet." Yura said sarcastically.

The kid looked at Matsumoto. "Thanks, lady."

"It's 'miss', not 'lady'!"

"Fine. But you need to take charge of him, Matsumoto."

"Thank you very much."

"Well, that's that, then." Ikkaku said.

"At any rate, until we understand what Aizen is after, we can't be too careful. Don't let your guard down."

"Yes." Ikkaku and Yumichika said. "We'll head back, then."

As soon as Ikkaku and Yumichika left, Yura stood up and yawned. "I think we should get some sleep. We've had a long day trying to interrogate this punk kid and not get much information out of him."

"I didn't have any 'correct' answers!"

"They didn't need to be 'correct', they needed to be helpful. I'm sleeping in the main room. Goodnight." Yura slid open the door.

"Are you sure about that?"

She smiled and turned around. "It's not like I'm going somewhere else, Mr. Overprotective. I'm only in the other room. I'll be fine. Goodnight, you three."

A/N: I know it's not that great. if you think otherwise, then i appreciate it ^^, but yeah. Please comment. tell me what you think about the chap, what you would possibly like to see in upcoming chapters. i go based on what YOU want. Thanks