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Prize of Victory 2
By : NovaAlexandria
Category: Bleach > General
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Chapter List
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Aftershock

�Damn� those two move fast,� Toshiro marvelled, annoyed that someone who, until recently, hadn�t been a seated officer in years had outpaced him. However, his initial irritation turned to panic when he and Harribel arrived in the midst of a full-on Beetle attack.

He frantically searched the ruined landscape with his eyes. Rangiku was somewhere on the ground; he could feel her but couldn�t pinpoint her location. Worse, neither he nor Harribel were close enough to reach Tatsuki or Avispona in time to save them. The huge, armored insect began to spray its acid when a bright yellow Cero exploded below its chin. It made what would have been a wide-ranging arc of liquid death into intermittent streams that went everywhere. Some of it remained on its original trajectory, but the rest scattered haphazardly. He recognized Tesra�s shaggy, snouted Resurrección as the Arrancar dove out of the way of one corrosive stream, barely avoiding it.

Ggio and Yumichika, being far closer and heedless of the danger the acid posed, plunged headlong into the cloud of flying debris and caught the two in mid-air, the latter grabbing the tumbling infant and her blanket while the former snatched the falling woman. Tatsuki, being entirely human, didn�t have the means to arrest her fall and it was ludicrous to think a baby could have saved herself. Not even her Hierro would have withstood an encounter with the ground after plummeting from that height.

Three seconds later, he heard a shrill scream as the dust and debris from the Beetle�s entrance began to settle. Right on top of it, Harribel shouted out the command for her strongest attack from somewhere above him.

He made the mistake of looking up at her and ended up with a face full of water for his trouble. It took a moment for him to realize why she�d pulled Tiburón. Normally, the amount of water she summoned would have knocked him from the sky and drowned anyone beneath it. Instead, she�s had the presence of mind to go higher and disperse Cascada�s effects over a much larger area. Doing so had mitigated any danger of crushing those on the ground with the weight of the seawater, while it weakened the acid via dilution. The dousing hardly bothered him, though he had to brush his sopping bangs out of his eyes and liquid dribbled from his soaked uniform.

With that crisis averted, a sodden Toshiro decided to deal with the Beetle. Evidently, this bug hadn�t gotten the message from the Generals to stand down. He used the convenient water Harribel had provided and drew on Hyorinmaru�s power. Ice formed around each of the Beetle�s legs, locking it down. Then he extracted as much moisture from the air as he could and let the ice dragon charge the insect, encasing the head first and working his way along the rest of its body. Unlike the earlier insects, he made certain to freeze this one completely. He couldn�t take the chance it wouldn�t come after them again if he left it alive.

Once he�d negated its ability to do further harm, Toshiro raced towards the location where he detected his former Fukutaichou�s reiatsu. At the same time, he yelled to get the attention of an approaching medical unit to assist him and to see to the other injured people in the Plaza.

�Matsumoto!� he called out, growing more anxious the longer that she took to answer. He had to pick his way around a heap of broken roofing tiles, jagged pieces of paving stones and other junk before he found her.

Hyorinmaru fell from his fingers the moment he caught sight of Rangiku and a lot of black ash swirling into the air. He skidded to a stop, frantically searching her slumped figure for any sign of acid burns. Toshiro reached a hand out but didn�t touch her. He knew better than to disturb someone in shock, for she could just as easily perceive him as a threat and lash out. He didn�t know if she had Haineko with her, but she was no slouch when it came to Kido. It would be a shameful way for a Taichou to die, killed by a nearly incapacitated pregnant woman.

Not that he thought it was likely, judging by how �out of it� she seemed. In fact, she didn�t acknowledge him at all. Her sky-blue eyes stared blankly at the slowly dissolving corpse of the Fifth Espada, his body slumping against her chest. Nnoitra Gilga�s disintegrating remains showed the multitude of wounds Kenpachi had given him during their battle, but it was the Beetle�s acid that delivered the death blow. The stuff had chewed through the Arrancar�s flesh and removed the majority of his spine before Harribel�s water had been able to wash it away. His mate�s efforts had been too little too late. Truthfully, Toshiro felt zero remorse over the Fifth�s demise. Nnoitra could rot in hell for all he cared. It wouldn�t begin to make up for everything the bastard had done to his subordinate, including knocking her up.

�Rangiku,� he tried again, his voice softer. Reaching out, he tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder, to let her know he was there. She slowly turned to look at him and he couldn�t tell if the water streaming down her cheeks had originated in her eyes as tears or were the result of the widespread drenching. Odds were that it was both.

�H�he�� she stammered as Nnoitra�s body finished crumbling, �he saved me. Why did he save me? Taichou�I don�t understand��

At that point, he�d had enough. Toshiro made up his mind and with some effort, lifted the timbers that trapped her legs. He couldn�t help wincing when he got a good look at her feet and her ankles. One was bound and the other going the wrong way. Assuming both were immobile, he did his best to figure out what he needed to do next.

Thankfully, help was at hand, making his decision easier.

�Hitsugaya-Taichou!�

A unseated 4th Division healer saluted him smartly as he trotted up to them, his green sash one of the few bits of bright color in their rubble-strewn, grayish, muddy surroundings.

�See to her,� Toshiro ordered, perhaps a bit more forcefully than he intended. He would be damned if he was going to lose yet another person who mattered to him today. Fifteen years ago, he�d been unable to help her and this time he vowed that things would be different. He would make it up to his former Fukutaichou, somehow, starting right now.

�Hai!�

The man saluted again, before kneeling down by her feet to examine them, his hands glowing green as he did so. Living in a household full of women, regardless of those women�s respective species, had taught Toshiro a few helpful things about what they might find helpful in certain situations. Using his best judgment, he pulled Rangiku�s frame against him as best he could without disturbing her legs or the healer�s work. That served to snap her out of her foggy daze. Whimpering, she clutched the front of his uniform as her shoulders shook.

She cried out sharply in pain though when the healer probed her ankle and her fists tightened in his haori to the point that she threatened to choke him. He heard the healer clear his throat in an effort to get his patient�s attention, and then delivered the bad news.

�Matsumoto-san, your left ankle has been crushed and you�ve sprained your right. I would like to give you a sedative and move you to the 4th Division for treatment. You�re pregnant, so I need your consent before I do that.�

�Do it,� Toshiro insisted before she could reply. Rangiku was in no condition to be making decisions, Unohana�s regulations be damned. In fact, he doubted she�d even heard the question. She still had her glassy eyes riveted to the spot where Nnoitra had fallen.

�Tatsuki and Avispona?� she rasped out as the healer moved from her ankles to her head. The man holding her nodded to the other Shinigami, letting him know it was fine to proceed.

�Safe,� Toshiro assured her, even though he had lost sight of them shortly after Harribel�s Cascada swamped the plaza.

He�d make sure what he�d told her was the truth once the medic was finished with her. Rangiku went limp when she heard that, as if her fear for her companions was the only thing holding her up. Soon the soft green glow in the healer�s hands made contact with her forehead and she flopped against her former Taichou�s chest. Two more medics approached, carrying a stretcher between them. Toshiro picked her up when they laid the thing down and with the help of the Shinigami that had anesthetized her, eased her insensible body onto the slack cloth.

Then he did the smart thing and stepped away to give the experts space to work. They splinted both ankles in record time once they�d removed that hateful gold band Nnoitra had forced her to wear. All three rose to their feet, two of them carrying the stretcher. Off to the side, a worried Tatsuki stood next to Ggio, who had a death-grip on his daughter. Like Rangiku, he cried freely as he accepted a blanket from another healer, to replace the one ruined by the acid. Toshiro had never seen a Hollow of any classification shed tears before and he found it unnerving.

�Well, at least what I told her about Tatsuki and Avispona wasn�t a lie,� he reasoned, though his despondency grew when he saw what was going on a few feet away.

Ayasegawa Yumichika lay on another stretcher, out cold and from the look of things, likely to stay that way. Two medics fussed over him with more healing Kido while a third applied bandages to his face. As soon as they touched him, blood, and what he thought might be plasma stained them. The latter wasn�t a good sign. Toshiro hadn�t seen what had happened, as he�d been trying to find Rangiku, but Ayasegawa�s condition might explain Ggio�s barely-contained misery. The stained bandages obscured the grisly details, but as there had only been one real threat when he and Harribel had arrived, and Yumichika had been perfectly fine when he�d lost sight of him last, Toshiro concluded that the man had gotten a face full of acid in his efforts to save Avispona.

He ran a hand through his pale hair in agitation. The only reason the former 5th Seat was still alive was thanks to Harribel�s quick thinking, but knowing how vain Yumichika was, Toshiro couldn�t help wondering if the man might have preferred death to disfigurement, if he lived. There was still a chance he could die from the acid burns.

Once they�d secured both of the injured, the squad of healers hustled them away. With luck, Unohana�s people would see to their stabilization. Ggio, refusing to part with his infant daughter, followed closely behind them. His actions, while understandable, left Tatsuki on her own in a bewildered stupor, her arms wrapped tightly around her torso in an attempt at self-comfort. The human woman also appeared on the verge of a breakdown, if he read her body language correctly. Shaking of that magnitude was never a good sign.

�What of Matsumoto-san?� Harribel asked as she joined him. Her sea-green eyes landed on Tatsuki as well and he could tell she was assessing things to see if she needed to intervene or see to the woman herself. It was moments like this that made Toshiro appreciate the changes she�d undergone thanks to the pregnancy. Unfortunately, as much as he liked that he could now read her expressions instead of having to guess, he wished he had better news for her.

�Both of her ankles are damaged and I�m not sure about her foot,� he answered. �I didn�t see any acid burns on her. A month or two of bed rest, maybe less if Orihime helps and I think she�ll make a full recovery. I think her unborn children are fine, but don�t hold me to that until Unohana has a chance to see her.�

�I won�t. I�m glad, for your sake that that�s the extent of it, as far as we know.�

Toshiro nodded and then told her something she�d probably figure out soon enough, if she hadn�t already guessed.

�Nnoitra Gilga is dead. Matsumoto says that he died protecting her.�

He couldn�t blame her when she gave him a dubious look, one that said she didn�t quite believe him. Toshiro was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that the six-armed, violence-happy bastard had done anything for someone he considered an inferior. The Taichou wasn�t fool enough to think Nnoitra had grown a conscience in his last few seconds, nor did he think that the Fifth had cared for Rangiku as anything other than a piece of property. For every Arrancar like Harribel, who had exhibited a slow march towards civilized behaviour, there were those like Nnoitra. Maybe safeguarding his cubs was the best anyone could have expected from the Aspect of Despair. Toshiro decided that he�d just have to accept it for what was and be grateful Nnoitra had succeeded.

The sound of heavy sandals crunching over crumbled concrete made him turn around. When he saw who approached, he stifled a groan. Kenpachi sauntered their way, his ragged, bloodstained blade tossed over his shoulder. Yachiru skipped from puddle to puddle in his wake, creating muddy splashed every time she put her feet down. The tall man frowned, searching the ruins for something or someone while shooing away the members of the 4th that circled him, trying to get him to sit down long enough for them to treat the impressive wounds that littered his body. A few of those injuries looked serious enough to incapacitate a lesser warrior. In Kenpachi�s case, they only served to slow him down.

A short distance away, Tesra finally reverted back to his normal form, after reducing the frozen beetle to shards with his fists. Toshiro knew better than to ask him why he�d bothered to go to such lengths when grinding the thing into a snow cone wouldn�t change the outcome of the battle.

�He�s probably working out his frustration and sorrow on a safe target,� Toshiro guessed and gave him plenty of room as the Arrancar streaked past the two of them to get to his mate. Tesra wrapped his arms around Tatsuki as she buried her face against his shoulder. Both of them were soaked to the skin and Toshiro thought it would be best to get her out of those clothes before she caught a cold, despite the unseasonably warm weather.

Toshiro shook his head to get his still-dripping hair out of his eyes. Grabbing a handful, he began to wring it out while sending an irritable look Harribel�s way. Her response to his silent accusation was to say nothing, though her eyes held a warning that dared him to complain about her tactics. Since her actions had served to save lives, he decided to let it go. He, his hair and his clothing would dry out eventually, whereas a grumpy, pregnant mate might take longer to placate.

�Damn, you got taller brat! You look stronger too! Lemme know when ya wanna fight!�

�That�s Hitsugaya-Taichou to you, dammit!�

Toshiro�s eye twitched at the old reference to his previous lack of height and at Kenpachi�s seemingly endless capacity for mayhem. Thankfully, he hadn�t decided to make a target of the Taichou just yet. Instead, he was still fixated on his previous opponent.

�Where�s that asshole Nnoitra? Bastard ran off before we could finish playing!�

Before Toshiro could say anything, he felt someone tugging on his sleeve. Looking down, he found Yachiru smiling up at him. Just like Kenpachi, his adoptive daughter had stayed the same. Toshiro, having gone through his own metamorphosis in the last decade, found her lack of change oddly comforting. There were few constants in the universe, but he�d bet that these two were exceptions.

�You�re all wet!�

�Thanks for stating the obvious. As far as the Fifth��

�He�s dead.�

A grief-stricken Tesra answered for Toshiro, his voice cold. That killed any cheer Toshiro might have expressed. While he�d hated Rangiku�s captor, at least one other person had a different opinion of the Espada. Tesra adjusted his grip on his traumatized mate and then disappeared, using Sonido.

�Dammit! That�s twice now!�

Kenpachi spat in disgust and let out a long breath. Toshiro marvelled that the mostly-naked brute could walk in light of the drying blood coating his exposed skin and the number of wounds he�d taken.

�The two of them are the embodiment of chaos� why in the world did I think they might have evolved while they were away?�

�They are headed for the 4th Division,� Harribel informed him, though she made no move to follow. Instead, she discreetly put herself between Kenpachi and Yachiru, and the Division in question. At first Toshiro wanted to haul her out of the way, until he understood what she was doing. As one of the Escapees� allies, Kenpachi had no orders to engage her. The healers also took the opportunity she provided to swarm Kenpachi like ants bearing bandages, discouraging him from going anywhere. His easily distracted partner had her pink head bent over another, deeper puddle of water. She�d found a stick and stirred the muddy water with it, making patterns in the liquid.

�He�s not on the list of Arrancar we need to worry about, so I�d let them be. It also looks like the Swarm is leaving. We should round up the others quickly before anyone notices Aizen�s absence,� he commented, and then looked at his uniform. �Plus, I need some dry clothing.�

�Yammy and Barragan are gone and with Nnoitra Gilga dead...�

She didn�t have to finish the sentence. Everyone for kilometres had witnessed Yammy�s spectacular demise. Toshiro felt some satisfaction that it had been Byakuya�s Bankai that had ended the monster�s life. He could sense Kuchiki Rukia and Abarai Renji�s reiatsu, meaning the Espada had gone down without killing his assailants, which was a relief. That group was also on their way to the 4th Division and he wasn�t naïve enough to think that they hadn�t sustained injuries. Rukia�s reiatsu wavered and Renji felt very weak, but neither of them was at death�s door. Ironically, Kuchiki Byakuya felt the strongest of the three, which made Toshiro wonder how badly Yammy had clobbered Renji.

�I should follow them. With so many injured coming in, tempers amongst the Arrancar there will be high. My presence at the 4th Division will help keep the peace,� Harribel informed him. �My girls can act with my authority, but I�d rather shoulder that task myself.�

�Would you like me to accompany you?� he asked as she turned to leave.

She shook her head and motioned in the direction of the 3rd Division�s grounds. �You should see to your troops, start assessing the damage and get as many of the Numeros to head for the Palace as you can. I will summon you if I need you.�

His mate left after giving his hand a squeeze and he understood her haste, but a part of him wanted to go with her. That way, he would have had an excuse to check on Rangiku. Sadly, Harribel was right. He had a job to perform and a responsibility to his subordinates. As such, he put all other considerations aside and focused on the one thing he needed immediately� a change of clothing. Toshiro plucked at the front of his uniform. He kept a spare shihakusho in the office and prayed that it was still there, hanging in his closet.

Off to his right, Kenpachi swooned as an exasperated medic gave up on sedating the man with Kido and went for the stronger, injectable stuff. Whatever was in the overly-large syringe he plunged into Kenpachi�s thigh reduced the former Taichou to a large, unwieldy slab of snoring meat. Another Shinigami reached into her green sash and spoke into a communicator. Toshiro thought he heard a request for at least four more reinforcements, to help drag their combative patient to the infirmary. There wasn�t much he could do for them so he left them to it and prayed for their success.

The afternoon sun illuminated what was left of the plaza and he took a moment to survey the place. He didn�t like thinking about the amount of time, money and effort it would take to restore it. Still, here and there he could see the sun reflection glittering on the surface of the water that had yet to evaporate. In the closer pools, his eyes spied fleeting rainbows, the prisms moving as he turned his head. They were small reminders that, in the midst of such chaos and despite their losses, he could find bits of beauty to celebrate.

�Che, poetic drivel,� Hyorinmaru rumbled in his mind. �You may be able to get her to relinquish her Claim on you, but you will remain chained to her nonetheless.�

�Just as any married man is chained� and I wasn�t thinking of Harribel, if you must know.�

�She�s not your wife!�

Toshiro ground the heel of his hand against his forehead, but conceded Hyorinmaru�s point. The term �mate� wasn�t synonymous with �marriage,� though the two definitions did have a few shared aspects.

�No, but I wonder if she would say �yes� if I asked?�

The idea of marriage had never really crossed Toshiro�s mind. Slapping a formal title on his relationship with the Arrancar who had Claimed him wouldn�t have been a good idea while the Seireitei languished under Aizen�s thumb. Now that they were free, he wondered if Harribel would even be amiable to such a thing. Maybe he would discreetly bring it up with Sung Sun first, just to play it safe. The serpent was the most reasonable of her three fraccion and she would know if her mistress would welcome a proposal or not. He, and to a lesser extent his ego, worried about the possibility of rejection.

Hyorinmaru groaned as Toshiro�s train of thought raced through their shared consciousness, but the Zanpakuto didn�t push him to dump Harribel�s Claim, as it was a secondary consideration. They still had a job to do and a Division to run. He could daydream about Tia wearing an elaborate white wedding kimono later, when he had time to enjoy the indulgence.

The Swarm was in full retreat now, and within another fifteen minutes, the last Locust disappeared from the city. While he made for his own Division�s gate, he ordered any Arrancar that he encountered to report to the area Coyote Starrk had designated as a �holding zone.� Toshiro told the few who questioned him that the orders came from the Third Espada and counted on their fear of her to ensure compliance until he could send a few teams out to herd the stragglers where he wanted them to go.

Once he�d changed his clothing and had wrung the water from his Taichou�s haori, he saw to the status of his Division. A few squads had returned from dealing with the diversions earlier that morning. The rest, he assumed, had engaged the Swarm as soon as they�d seen the cloud of insects choking the Seireitei. They stood in the middle of what had once been the 3rd Division�s parade grounds, dumbstruck at what had occurred in their absence.

He told them to get a quick meal and to start in on cleaning up the damage when they finished. As more squads returned, he began to send them back out in teams of five, just in case any of those �loose Arrancar� decided to take out their anger on the other Shinigami or tried to Claim someone. They were to send any cooperative Arrancar they met to Starrk, as he had done and to tell those Hollows to take their �pets� with them. He didn�t envy his troops that task, since it would be hard to tell a relatively decent Hollow from a destructive one with everyone on edge and with the Arrancar coming off of a battle high. If they were lucky, invoking the Primera and thirds�s names would keep them from acting up. If not, they had his permission to use force.

�Let�s hope it doesn�t come to that,� he prayed silently. Too much had happened today. While he knew the odds that his Division wouldn�t suffer casualties were slim, he could still hope.

The shadows began to grow, stretching to the east as the afternoon wore on and at one point he reached down to pick up a charred branch that had once belonged to one of the persimmon trees in the courtyard. Toshiro carried it to the growing mound of �trash� in the middle of the grounds and tossed it on top, where the blackened length snapped in half.

Moving back to the tree, he looked the rest of the tree up and down. The damage his officer had inadvertently caused with his Kido blast was extensive. There wasn�t much left of its right side and the heat from the explosion had peeled the outer bark back to expose the inner tissues of the lower trunk. He reached out his hand and pressed his palm to curled wood. Charred leaves rustled overhead. It was only a matter of time before they dropped or disintegrated. The trees themselves were additional work-makers for the Shinigami under his command. Toshiro usually had to assign someone to sweep up whatever fell from their branches, be it spent petals in late spring or leaves and rotted fruit in autumn into early winter. One less tree ought to mean less mess, but for some reason, he suddenly found the idea overwhelmingly abhorrent.

There should be a mature persimmon tree here, growing with its brethren. The idea of a gap in the perfect symmetry, an empty spot where there ought to be strong limbs and shade cast on a hot summer afternoon made his throat close in unexpected grief.

Toshiro wasn�t fool enough to think the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes were for a mere plant. Placing his arm against the trunk, he leaned forward, until his head rested against his sleeve and the forearm in it. The enormity of what had gone down finally hit him and for a few minutes, all he could do was let his body sag against the sooty bark and take in breath after breath that tasted of carbonized wood.

They�d overcome and beaten Aizen, after fifteen years of living in fear, but the cost of that win weighed his body and spirit down and he didn�t yet have a final tally in lives spent on retaking Heaven. The casualty list might very well climb higher, despite the rebels and their allies� best efforts. His Fukutaichou hadn�t checked in either, which worried him.

He tried to tell himself that he had no business feeling like this, no matter what he�d seen or encountered today. Doing so was a luxury he couldn�t afford. People were depending on him and it wasn�t as if the Seireitei could or would fix itself. Standing next to the ruined fruit tree, Toshiro closed his eyes and tried to stitch his composure together, before it unravelled completely. The last thing his troops needed was to see him lose it over the debacle at the Kyoraku Estate. Furthermore, his mate still hadn�t summoned him to help her. He hoped that meant that things were going well at the 4th Division and that she and her girls could deal with the Numeros until Starrk and Ulquiorra joined her.

None of his present subordinates had noticed his stance, something for which he was grateful. The ones he�d kept behind were still busy clearing the courtyard and paid him no mind, though he expected that to change if he kept sulking. Their voices wafted to him and Toshiro did his best to clamp down on the desire to cry. He hadn�t truly wept since he�d learned Momo had perished, though he�d come close on the day a healed Renji had walked up to him after nine years as nothing more than a mindless shell. He had Orihime to thank for that but he doubted the woman had the ability to reject wreckage of this magnitude.

Nor, to the best of anyone�s knowledge, could she raise the dead once a Plus had moved from the Seireitei to the Living World and Soi Fon�s body�

Toshiro gritted his teeth, fingernails digging into the burned bark.

There was no fixing some things, no matter how unfair they were.

�Guess there�s no help fer it��

The words, spoken softly into his ear, made him freeze where he stood. Another person had materialized behind him while he�d been distracted and that person�s pale, bony hand curled around his closed fist. He, for the voice was masculine, pressed closer, keeping Toshiro from turning around to confront him due to a lack of room. The Taichou tensed and forgot to exhale. After all, this was the perfect position for sticking a sharp blade between a victim�s ribs.

�This one�s a goner. �S a damn shame.�

The younger man�s eyes slid up the other�s too-thin, scarred arm. Recognizing it, he let the air out of his lungs slowly, but didn�t relax.

�Wha� are ya gonna do with it?�

�I�� he began and then stopped, thrown off by his visitor�s proximity, �I�ll order it cut down, since it can�t be saved.�

The resigned sigh told Toshiro the other had come to the same conclusion.

�Ya should plant somethin� ya like in its place. Have Vindula-chan pick out a shrub tha� flowers. Lil� thing�ll need a project ta work on soon, an� she�s good at gardenin�.�

Toshiro listened and inclined his head, to let the man behind him know he understood the request, if not the reason behind it. Why was Gin here now, after disappearing so abruptly from the Palace courtyard? Where had he gone in the meantime?

�Take care �o th� resta th� trees an� they�ll give th� Division fruit fer th�next hundred years. Couldn�t eat all the persimmons from �em if I tried, but then� stolen fruit always tasted better t�us anyway.�

�You presume I�ll still be here in a century,� Toshiro countered, his tone sharpening.

�Ya will be, prodigy. Then again, th� teachers gave me tha� name too, so doan go readin� too much inta it. Ya got time on yer side and smarts. Use �em better�n I did.�

�Ichimaru-san, wait��

�While yer at it, make this place �bout somethin� better�n despair, ne?�

The hand on his, and the presence at this back vanished as quickly as they�d appeared. Toshiro whirled around, but failed to catch a glimpse of Ichimaru Gin before his reiatsu signature evaporated. He blinked at the empty space, bewildered at the entire exchange.

�What in the hell just happened?�

Then something occurred to him that gave him pause. Was this Ichimaru�s way of handing over the Division that had once been his to a successor? Aizen had been the one to appoint Toshiro as Taichou of the 3rd Division, not the late Yamamoto-Soutaichou, so maybe Gin had felt it necessary to do the bestowing this time around.

Oddly enough, Gin�s appeal drove out some of the dark emotions clouding his heart. On the surface, the former slave�s vaguely-worded request flew in the face of everything the 3rd Division supposedly embodied, though �despair� was a good description for his prior mood. Then again, it wasn�t as if there was anyone with the authority to stop him from making those changes.

In his strange way, Gin had given Toshiro a surprisingly helpful answer: plant something new and get the right people to tend to it. The hidden entreaty wasn�t hard to hear.

�Build something better than what we�re replacing, something not so easily exploited, with rules that aren�t as hidebound,� he murmured to himself and lifted his chin, walking back out into the afternoon sun. It wouldn�t be as simple as it sounded, but Toshiro and the other conspirators owed it to those who had paid the price for their new-found freedom as well as the ones, like his yet-to-be-born son or daughter, who would need it soon.

It was worth a try.
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Prize of Victory 2	By : NovaAlexandria Category: Bleach > General Views: 56251 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor make a profit from this story

Prize of Victory 2