Of Birthdays and Siblings

Trepidation

The dark haired man was reaching for the doorknob of his father's study in order to leave when he suddenly felt a very particular reiatsu. He found himself pausing, the corner of his mouth twitching suddenly. He kept his hand on the doorknob and spoke up. "I can handle this."

"I don't want him dead." His father's voice remained calm. "So hold back when you face hm. I want him brought back alive, though I have the feeling you want that as well. So don't worry about me trying to hunt him down and kill him. And as for our conversation, don't let our argument get in the way of your thought process. In fact, don't let your feelings for your brother get in the way."

The man let out a sigh and opened up the door before hurrying off. His plans to gather a few of the Stern Ritter was interrupted by a sudden explosion coming from the weaponry and he could feel his nephews rieatsu suddenly flaring out. He let out a deep breath before heading in the direction, waving to the few who crossed his path.

One of the people was the eldest Gabrielli sibling. "That explosion..."

"That explosion was my nephew. His destructive power is far worse then his sister." The man kept feeling for the child as he moved through the halls. He gave an order to head the boy off.

"But sir..." The female frowned, her dark lipstick suddenly sticking.

"Out with it Gabrielli."

"Is the only reason we're going after him because he is a former Shinigami? I mean, when Bambietta causes trouble you normally go after her yourself." The female's eyes narrowed at the man.

"The situation is complicated." The man signaled for Gabrielli to take a group down another hall to cut the boy off. As he made a particular turn he felt something small crash into him. Glancing down he saw that the boy had fallen down and was glaring at them. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Defending Baba-nee."

The man suddenly felt his throat tighten, only to tighten more as he listened to his nephew. The boy talked back and made it clear that he was going to be stubborn about the issue. As Gabrielli came up behind the boy suddenly flared out his spiritual pressure for that the wall exploded before taking off. The young female frowned after the boy. "So he's abandoning us to go back to Soul Society?"

"Just follow me. We're to take them alive." The man then found himself heading towards the place that he had felt his brother's reiatsu appear. Eventually they caught site of a group. Gabrielli spoke up rather quickly. "They're trying to kidnap his highness."

The next thing the man knew, one of the younger members of the Stern Ritter he had gathered suddenly shot of a shot towards the person holding onto Toshiro. Fighting quickly broke out and the man found himself crossing blades with his own brother. The silver haired man's pale teal eyes contained a lot of anger. "I swore if I ever saw you again that I would kill you."

"So I'm still having to put up with your childish antics?" The man let out a deep breath before shaking his head. "Really... I would have thought being away from us over a hundred years would have caused you to mature more then you have. Honestly, grow up."

"You shouldn't talk to me about growing up when you're the person who first took her away and now Shiro-chan." Gin practically spat the words out.

"I wouldn't have had to do that if you hadn't run away with that trollop."

"I hate you Schwarz."

The dark haired man let out a deep sigh. "Again Silbern, grow up."

The two paused in their motions when they felt the sudden influx of a Hollow's reiatsu. Both men felt their eyes widen as they saw a Hollow come out near where Toshiro was, only to knock the boy to the ground. Schwarz' muscles tightened in order to move away from his brother so that he could launch an arrow at the Hollow, only to find that his chest was slashed.

He felt himself falling to his knees just as Gin used the ability to move fast to get over to where the Hollow and Toshiro was. In the process he got between the creature and had an arm around the boy, only to be suddenly knocked over the edge. "That idiot."

This wasn't the end of the stupidity as a sudden black wave of reiatsu shot past everyone and towards the Hollow, slicing it in half. As it disintegrated, a sudden storm of ice and snow began to slide over the edge. He found himself standing up and heading over to where Gabrielli was now trying to strangle the substitute shinigami while the others were captured.

"Gabrielli... knock it off."

"We could have had a chance to rescue his highness, but this moron went and did something like that!"

"You'll take this moron with you down into the crevice to see if you can't dig the two that fell out."

The female's face twisted up. "Are you kidding me? He's a shinigami and this is his fault."

"If it is my fault then I should be helping to fix it." Ichigo stated. "Plus, I want to get Toshiro out of that mess so he can yell at me for it."

"Take the Quincy of their group as well, along with the few that aren't needed to transport the prisoners back."

"What the hell." The female glanced at the ground, realizing that she had said that to the wrong person. "I apologize sir, but they're the enemy."

"You may need them to help subdue the man that is with my nephew. I'm also trusting them to prevent any of you from killing that man because I have to get back and healed up."

"But he..."

"This isn't the first time he's injured me Gabrielli. The sooner you get down there the sooner you'll be able to get them out alive."

Author's notes – I held off using "names" for Gin and Schwarz as long as possible... forty-five chapter without using "names", but I came to the point where I realized that when the brothers met they would be using each others names. Also, the question of why Gin's rieatsu showed up despite the fact Gin was trying to hide it will be explained the next chapter. At least I hope it will. I kind of hoped to explain it this chapter, but it is getting kind of long already.