Title: 46
Genre: General
Characters: Toshiro and the Forty-Six
Summary: Toshiro is brought back and hears that the Forty-Six is planning on executing Juhabach's entire family line. He asks for an audience with them.
Notes: Again, Toshiro is kidnapped during a second run, Ichigo wins and Juhabach is dead.
Rating: T
46
The smell of a room disinfected caused the small taicho to wake up. His eyes blinked a couple of times and looked around. His mouth opened up, realizing that he was back. Toshiro's eyes then snapped shut as he sat up, trying to not remember what he had come to learn while with the Vandenreich. A voice came from the doorway. "Hitsugaya?"
The boy looked up to see the new head captain looking at him. While the man smiled at him, his eyes showed that he was honestly worried about the boy. "Kyoraku-san!"
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm feeling fine. I take it that the Shinigami side won?" Toshiro spoke, a smile on his face.
"Don't you mean that we won?"
"No, I mean what I mean. The Shinigami won and the Quincy lost." The boy frowned. "What's going to happen to the ones left living?"
"Forty-Six is deciding their fate. Chances are all of them will be executed."
"Because they're all of Juhabach's bloodline?" Toshiro frowned.
"Yes... I'm guessing they told you that while you were held prisoner. We're rather glad that they saw you as a child and decided to treat you as a guest."
"That..." The boy looked down, his hands clenching the sheets. "I need to speak to Forty-Six."
"You can give your testimony in a few days, if they need it. I don't think anything you'll say will sway them to be more lenient on any of them." Kyoraku tilted his hat down. "Shiro-chan... I know they treated you kindly and if I had my way at least the children would be saved. I am planning on speaking to them about that."
"I'm not asking for them to be more lenient." Toshiro glanced away. The boy's feet suddenly swung over the side of the bed and he grabbed the uniform to get dressed. "I'll go there myself and sit outside the gates until I'm admitted. What I have to say is important and if I don't say it... lets just say I won't be able to live with myself for the rest of my life."
"You became that attached to them then?"
"I didn't become attached to any of them. I made a major effort to avoid socialization at all costs. This... this has to do with honor. Simple as that."
"Then I'll go with you." A smile spread across his face. He walked beside the small taicho, glad that he was back. "Ukitake isn't feeling well, otherwise he would have come with me to visit you."
"Does he know I was brought back? Actually... who all knows that I was brought back?"
"Kurosaki Ichigo and a few others. Ukitake wasn't able to participate in the battle."
"Depending on how things go, you may need to tell them you weren't able to bring me back."
Kyoraku stopped, grabbing the small taicho's shoulder. "Wait... you aren't going to do something disrespectful that will cause you to be executed on the spot? If so, I can't allow you to speak with them."
"Don't worry. I'll be speaking to them with the utmost respect despite the fact I've never had much respect for the Forty-Six." The boy looked at the man, smiling at him. "This is as I said a matter of honor."
"So be it." The man continued to walk beside the boy.
"I'd also like you to promise that you won't stay and see my fate."
"That I can't promise. I'm getting you in to see them, the least you can do is allow me to stay and support you. The last time you were in front of the Forty-Six you were just an academy student."
Toshiro simply looked away, unable to look the man in the eye. They continued forward and to the small taicho's surprise they were allowed in, but the tones of their voices said they clearly were not happy with the intrusion. "Hitsugaya Taicho. What is the meaning of you asking an audience with us? You say it is of great importance, but we are in the middle of deciding the fate of the Quincy."
"What I have to say can not wait until after your decision." The boy looked straight at them with an acute look of determination. "Are you really thinking about executing all of those with Quincy blood?"
"That isn't something you need to worry about Hitsugaya Taicho."
"We understand that you were treated kindly by them, but we will not be allowing that to sway our judgment."
"I'm not here to sway your judgment. I'm simply here to say that if you're going to be executing all of them I am to be included."
A mummer came then as Kyoraku tilted his head to look at Toshiro. "Hitsugaya-kun... this isn't funny. Nanao -chan's going to be very pissed at both of us if she finds out about this."
One of the officials regained his composure. "Hitsugaya Taicho. We understand that you may feel guilty for not being able to preform your duty and that you also feel guilt for being treated like a guest in their care. However, you are not guilty of their crimes."
"If ones bloodline is enough to make one guilty of a crime then I am just as guilty as every single one of them."
"Kyoraku... has Hitsugaya Taicho been mentally evaluated before you brought us to him."
"They didn't brainwash him?"
"I'm not brainwashed. They couldn't do that even if they tried. I also have no bonds with any of them. However..." Toshiro's eyes narrowed. "I am still of their blood line."
Kyoraku held up one of his hands before taking the other and spinning Toshiro around and making the boy to look him in the face. The white haired child though averted his gaze. "Is this some kind of joke?"
"You said earlier that you were glad that I wasn't being treated as a prisoner but instead as a guest because of my age. Despite the fact my movements were restricted, I was neither a prisoner or a guest under their roof."
"Hitsugaya Taicho, you did not participate in the fight against us. You can't be held accountable for their actions."
"Neither did the majority of their children. The only one who fought among the children was Juhabach's granddaughter."
Another person from the Forty-Six spoke up in a stern manner. "Hitsugaya Taicho. You can not carry their sins on you simply because they choose to adopt you into their family."
"I wasn't adopted into the family. I've been a part of their family since birth." A deafening silence fell over the room.
It was Kyoraku Taicho who finally broke the silence. "Hitsugya... you told Ukitake and me that you died on a plain of ice and came to soul society."
"That is not possible." The head taicho startled, turning to look at one of the magistrates. "Hitsugaya Taicho definitely was born in Soul Society, but the circumstances have always puzzled us."
"What exactly does this mean?"
"Hitsugaya Taicho's zampaktuo ability is his by inheritance. You are I believe familiar with the fact that the head of the Shiba clan's zampaktuo passes from father to first born son are you not."
"Wait..." Toshiro's eyes went wide. "If taicho's zampaktuo was an inheritance zampaktuo then..."
Kyoraku held his hand in front of Toshiro's face. "Not now." The man glared at the members. "The only inheritance zampaktuos all belong to noble families. There has thought been no record to my knowledge of an ice dragon among the zampaktuo. If though there was, this meant you have known that Hitsugaya Taicho has been a member of some noble family for some time now. Why did you not reveal this."
"We are not at liberty to give that information away to you."
"Yet you knew that Hitsugaya Taicho had family, and yet with held them from him. Instead of having him join the ranks of the Shinigami, he could have been placed into the protection of the noble family he belongs to." Kyoraku narrowed his eyes. "This also means the Forty-Six has interfered in the matters of a noble family, something that is not allowed."
The man turned to look at Toshiro, noting that the boy was pondering something. "Hitsugaya?"
Toshiro let out a deep sigh. "Why is the Forty-Six surprised at my claim that I am of the Quincy bloodline when they know full well that my zampaktuo is an inheritance zampaktuo. Actually... from what I understand of the matter Forty-Six must have been fully aware ever since I brought Hyorinmaru out as my zampaktuo that I had Quincy blood in me."
Kyoraku frowned, tipping his hat down. "Ehh... should I assume that the Forty-Six is scheming something here? You have always wanted to keep our powers."
"Don't lump us in with the previous Forty-Six."
"Do not act like you can run rampant over regulation either as we are not currently a war at this point in time."
One of the elders then spoke. "I will be frank with you. Our notes on the matter with Hitsugaya's zampaktuo simply stated that his zampaktuo was an inheritance."
Then came a comment from a second. "We're still digging into the archives for information on the Quincy."
"We do know though that we are not to harm the blood line of that inheritance zampaktuo."
The head captain turned to look at Toshiro. "Did you know that part?"
"I honestly don't care about politics. It's news to me that person was of a noble family. I was simply told me having Hyorinmaru was proof that I was blood related to Juhabach. There was also..." Toshiro paused. "If you for some reason can't touch me because of some rule then I need to forewarn you that you can't touch Jugram Haschwalth or Bambietta Basterbine."
"You must be joking!"
"Both of those people are high ranking officials in Juhabach's army."
"Not to mention our information tells us that Jugram is Juhabach's eldest."
"Say... Hitsugaya... care to feel me in on what exactly is going on here."
"My grandmother was the person who froze Juhabach for as long as he did. That ice prison is where I get the idea that Hyorinmaru's ice jail should last a thousand years. She's... she was also his favorite wife."
"Oh boy."
"And the Forty-Six is also mistaken about Jugram being his eldest. The person who was the eldest is Jugram's older twin brother and my father."
"You say was..."
"In other words Juhabach's eldest is dead?"
"And that means you are in fact that man's heir?"
Toshiro narrowed his eyes at the men. "Let me make it clear that I don't think of them as family. However, I do understand that honor dictates I step up and admit here that I am blood related to him and face the same destruction the rest of my blood relatives will face if you decide to kill off his entire blood line."
"And who was your father?"
"Jugin Haschwalth, otherwise known as Ichimaru Gin."
This statement caused Kyoraku to flinch. "I'm hoping that you have a fever and that's why you're saying such strange things."
"Because its a nightmare? I've tried waking up from it." Toshiro paused, before turning to look at Kyoraku.
"Are you a Shinigami or a Quincy."
"Yes... stop siding with the Quincy."
"I'm a Shinigami as my father intended for me to be."
"How can you say such a bold statement!"
Toshiro narrowed his eyes. "Juhabach, Jugin, Jugram. All their names start with the "Ju" sound. My name shouldn't have been Toshiro."
Kyoraku raised an eyebrow, then tilted his head down. "So that's why you didn't want me to tell Ukitake about this."
"Ukitake Jushiro... what does he..."
A silence fell over the room. Toshiro looked at the ground. "If I had been born in Juhabach's court like he wanted me to be I would have been named Jushiro Haschwalth. That is if they took the color of my hair into consideration in naming me. I could have been given any name, but as my father's name had the first name he used it can be assumed I would have likely ended up with that name."
"But what does this have to with Ukitake Taicho."
"If I were to ever find out the truth he wanted me to know I wasn't named after his father, but someone else. That's why he replaced the "Ju" with the "To" sound." Toshiro narrowed his eyes. "As I said... if you're going to kill all the Quincy kill me as well. There are young children among them that do not deserve to die."
"And if we refuse the request?"
"Will you rebel?"
"Or will you kill yourself?"
"I'll cripple myself in a way that I will never be able to fight a battle again."
Kyoraku turned to Toshiro and spun him around. The next thing the boy knew the man had back handed him across the face before forcing him to stand behind him. The man lowered his hat.
"Listen to me very carefully here. You fear rebellion and your own deaths greatly. I will not let Hitsugaya Taicho harm himself, nor will any of the other Shinigami. He thinks that his death or him harming himself will solve everything, but both options would just throw Soul Society into another war."
"If we decide to kill of Juhabach's bloodline then he will have to live with the decision we make."
"Yes... he would. And to be honest... he wouldn't have to physically cripple himself in order to make it so he can never fight in a battle again. Doing him the dishonor of allowing him to live while the rest of the bloodline dies would with his personality mentally push him far beyond the breaking point I doubt any of us would recover."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"Spare at least the children and then judge the rest based on their deeds."
"And what will happen to these children if their parents are no longer around."
Toshiro placed a hand to his chest. "I'll take care of them."
"You?"
"Hitsugaya Taicho... you may have a great amount of battle prowess and even be a child genius, but you are still a child yourself."
"We can't allow another child take care of children."
"I'll take care of them. I'll get the help that I need. This is after all a matter of the noble clans, so you the Forty-Six have no say in it. Only the noble families can decide these children fate. Plus, there are also some noble families who are unable to have children for some reason or another. There are already orphans among the Quincy, so we would have to do it even if you didn't kill off any of them."
"Preposterous."
Toshiro narrowed his eyes. "And if one escaped and survived you'd only be fostering another grudge against Soul Society. I mean..."
Kyoraku watched as the boy slapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes going wide. A smile spread across his face. "No... you're right. This could have been solved without anyone dying if a thousand year old grudge had been put aside."
Another murmuring occurred, this time long. Finally someone spoke. "We have one condition."
"We wish for Hitsugaya Taicho to give a full account of each of the top members actions while he was there."
"We'll then judge them based on each cases merit."
"The main family though is allowed to integrate itself as it sees fit into Soul Society."
Kyoraku tipped his head down. "What about Bambietta Basterbine? From what I hear she's a child herself. Does the Forty-Six feel right sentencing a child to death?"
"She'll also be spared, but Jugram Hashwalth will have to go on trial despite the fact he is of the inheritance bloodline."