Ryoka's Invasion

A few weeks had passed since Toshiro had accused Aizen and Gin, but since then nothing has happened, neither of them tried to make contact with him.

As he himself simply focused on his own training, and one of the things he realized was that his speed was what improved the most, and not simply his raw physical speed, but he quickly progressed in his Shunpo mastery.

This surprised him because he was stagnant when it came to his Shunpo mastery, he could only conclude his new form unlocked his true talent in Shunpo, with his newfound powerful Spiritual Pressure and mastery over Shunpo, he surmised he was as fast as base Yoruichi based off his observations of all the Captains Shunpo.

Another thing he did was occasionally visiting Rukia to make sure the Hogyoku was still safe inside of her, and when she asked why, he used the excuse that he was checking up on her, and while he disliked the method of lying, he wouldn't tell non-allies, the real truth.

This was why currently he was inside Rukia's cell that was at the top of the tower, but this time he added some ice furniture, with only Rukia and him chatting now.

"I saw these things called fire works, and it was amazing, a variety of colors exploding in the sky, seemingly beautiful." She said as she explained one of the things she experienced.

"I see..." Toshiro was sitting on an ice couch, with Rukia sitting on another on directly in front of him.

She then looked at him curiously, "I've always been the one talking, why don't you talk about yourself?"

"What's there to talk about?" He questioned as he closed his eyes and relaxed back onto his ice couch.

"Favorite foods? Favorite activities? Love life?" She asked as she tilted her head to the side, peering at him with eyes full of curiosity.

Toshiro didn't open his eyes as he replied, "Don't have a favorite food, I like to train, and never really cared for a love life."

Rukia looked shocked, "How can one not have a favorite food!? And you can't only think about training do you?"

Toshiro's silence practically confirmed it.

"Then what about your love life?" She suddenly asked.

"That's none of your business." He coolly remarked.

"Ah!- Sorry didn't mean to be nosy." She apologetically smiled.

Toshiro sighed as he opened his eyes, "Like I said before, never really tried a romantic relationship, never saw a need for it."

"What about Lieutenant Matsumoto? Rumors say you two are secretly dating." She added with a mischievous smirk.

Toshiro's brows twitched as his cold facade crumbled, "I would never like her! Not in a million years, shes way too much of a-…."

Rukia chuckled as she finished his words, "Extrovert?"

"Not simply that, but you know…" Toshiro's statement implied something else.

Rukia concluded his thought process, seemingly understanding him as she thought, 'He probably doesn't like girls who seem so easy and dress revealing clothes that Matsumoto does.'

Toshiro than shook his head, "Don't get me wrong, I trust and care for Rangiku, but she's simply not my type, so I never saw her that way."

Rukia nodded in understanding, she couldn't blame him, while Rangiku is an amazing person and friend, she acts much too sexually so shamelessly.

Toshiro's gaze then seemed distracted as he seemingly glanced at a wall to his right and narrowed his eyes, as if looking beyond it.

"It seems some guests have arrived, I need to do something."

Before Rukia could even understand what he meant, a gush of wind hit her face as he disappeared.

****

Ichigo had Cat-Yoruichi perched on his shoulder with his friends beside him, as he was outside the Seireitei's gate.

Rubbles of rocks were everywhere as if a battle had just occurred.

They all stood in front of the defeated giant, called Jidanbo who was the gatekeeper but seemed to have agreed to open up the gate after losing to Ichigo.

"Is it really okay okay for us to go through?" Uryuu questioned from beside Ichigo.

Jidanbo's massive figure towered over them as he nodded, "Yeah, I lost to your leader, so I have no right to stop you."

"Kurosaki's our leader?! Don't make me laugh!" Uryuu questioningly pointed at Ichigo with an exaggerated expression.

Ichigo deadpanned, "What're you all worked up about?"

Chad and Orihime silently smiled at their interaction from behind them.

Jidanbo then interjected with a small smile, "Be careful guys, I don't know why you're entering this gate, but inside is nothing but strong guys."

Ichigo glanced up at Jidanbo with a confident smile, "I know."

"Is that so?... Okay then, as long as you know." Jidanbo then turned around and was about to open the gate, until suddenly the atmosphere felt heavy...

His figure halted as a chilling pressure descended on them, vibrating the air itself.

The winds grew rough as the once-hot temperature environment, instantly turned cold and brittle.

Patches of ice started to appear on the ground as if the ground was slowly freezing.

"This isn't good!" Yoruichi exclaimed, she glanced around and could see Orhime and Chad on their knees, but soon after their eyes rolled back as they fell unconscious, patches of ice slowly started to form on their figures.

Her gaze then landed on Ichigo and Uryuu, and she noticed while they were still conscious, they were currently trembling on their knees as even their nervous beads of sweat became frozen.

"Well, well, Jidanbo were you seriously going to allow them to enter simply because you lost?"

Yoruichi's head snapped behind her as she heard a voice, 'Fast! Maybe as fast as me... I know that I'm rusty, but to think I let someone get by me.'

Her eyes landed upon a white-haired man wearing a Captains Haori, she furrowed her cat eyes in confusion.

Ichigo raised his neck shakily with pieces of ice on his face, "W-Who t-the hell is h-he?"

Jidanbo turned around with wide eyes filled with fear, "T-That's C-Captain of the 10th Division, Toshiro Hitsugaya!!"

Yoruichi narrowed her eyes on Toshiro's figure, 'Why is his size bigger? And what's with this ridiculous Spiritual Pressure? The information we had said he was a genius that was still growing... So why the hell is he grown!?' Yoruichi frowned inwardly, she'll most likely have to step in for this fight.

But Ichigo and Uryuu slowly rose as they glared toward Toshiro, the patches of ice disappearing from the bodies, as they stood up, seemingly trembling.

"W=Whats your problem!?" Ichigo angrily asked once noticing his two unconscious friends as he pointed his large sword forward.

Uryuu was right behind him as he took out his Quincy bow and had it aimed at the white-haired Captain.

Toshiro glanced at the two with an impassive but curious gaze, "It's not my fault they couldn't handle my Spiritual Pressure." He snidely remarked.

"Bullshit! You did it on purpose!"

Toshiro silently smirked as he watched Ichigo and Uryuu close in on him.

"Are you going to stop us from entering?" Uryuu asked with his bow still raised and pointed at him.

"Well, what do you think?" Toshiro retorted with an obvious look.

Uryuu didn't hesitate as he was about to release his arrow, until Toshiro suddenly slightly unsheathed his zanpakuto from his back before swiftly sheathing it back in one motion, as if nothing happened.

"Uryuu!" Yoruichi yelled, but it was too late as Uryuu's figure was instantly engulfed in ice without him even realizing it.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he glanced behind him and noticed Uryuu's frozen stature, he didn't even see how it happened, but anger overtook him as he charged at Toshiro.

"Bastarddd! Your dead!" Ichigo lunged at Toshiro who seemed unbothered as he stood there with arms crossed.

Ichigo didn't hold back as he brought his sword crashing down onto his figure...

Shing!

A loud shing noise resounded in the atmosphere as Ichigo could only stare wide eyed...

He slowly looked down at his blade and saw Toshiro simply holding the tip with his fingers, seemingly effortlessly as he had an unamused expression on his face.

"I'm not here for you currently, Ichigo Kurosaki." Toshiro simply muttered before tossing him a few dozen meters away with his sword.

He watched as Ichigo's body roughly tumbled against the ground, before finally focusing on the black cat that was warily staring at him and standing in front of the unconscious Orihime and Chad protectively.

"You must be the Ex-Commander of the Stealth Force, Yoruichi Shihoin... I mean you no harm." He nonchalantly walked past the ice body of Uryuu, as he stood in front of the black cat and looked down at her.

"How do you know who I am?" She questioned with suspicious eyes.

"That's not what's important, I'm here to tell you we're somewhat on the same side." He replied as he stared at the golden pupils coolly.

"Same side you say? Then why did you attack us?" She asked back with cautious tone.

But before he could reply he heard a battle cry from his right as he saw Ichigo sprinting toward him with his sword.

"Stay away from them!"

Toshiro didn't even bother to glance back as he simply did the same swift motion as before, unsheathing and sheathing his zanpakuto in one motion.

Ichigo's figure was fully encased in ice as he met the same fate as his friend.

Yoruichi frowned as she saw Ichigo's frozen stature.

'This Captain is dangerous...' Yoruichi cursed her luck at having to run into such a Captain as soon as they landed.

Toshiro then looked back toward the cat who seemed to be glaring at him, "I'm simply defending myself, who would allow themselves to get attacked? And as you can probably tell, they're not dead anyways." He shrugged.

Yoruichi sighed once realizing he was right, "Fine, what did you mean by "we're on the same side?" "

Toshiro shook his head in response, "First let's find a more secure place to talk, I'll unfreeze your little friends but should they attack me again, I won't hesitate."

Yoruichi nodded.

He then simply repeated the motion as before, unsheathing and sheathing his zanpakuto, and the ice around them instantly shattered into piece.

Ichigo and Uryuu fell onto their knees as they trembled from the cold.

"W-Why? A-Am I s-so cold?" Uryuu glanced toward Toshiro, before finally realizing what happened.

Ichigo shakily stood up while shivering, he pointed his sword at Toshiro once again, "I won't give up! I'll defeat you!"

Toshiro scoffed, but Yoruichi quickly stood in front of him as she shouted toward Ichigo, "Calm yourself Ichigo! He could have already killed you guys without breaking a sweat! Now go pick up your friends and take them back to the district over there!" She ordered with annoyance.

Ichigo stuttered confusedly, "B-But he-"

Yoruichi cut him off angrily, "Enough! I'll talk to him, now go!"

Uryuu seemed to understand the situation as he grabbed the reluctant Ichigo, and they both picked up the unconscious Chad and Orihime as they walked toward a nearby village with wooden structures.

Once they were out of sight, Toshiro crouched down as he put his arm out, "Come on, I'll take you somewhere more private."

Yoruichi seemed hesitant, 'Well even if he tried to harm me, I should be able to deal with him.' she eventually ended up deciding to hop on his arm and onto his shoulder as they disappeared in a gust of wind.

After a few seconds they reappeared inside a small wooden office, which was inside the village.

Toshiro sat down behind the desk and let Yoruichi on to the table.

He didn't wait as he spoke, "Well to be frank, I know about Aizen and I'm currently fighting against him, I also know about the Hogyoku being inside of Rukia and so does Aizen. Which is why I wanted to contact Kisuke Urahara through you to see if we can somehow save the Hogyoku."

Yoruichi's eyes couldn't help but widen at the sudden influx of information, nonetheless, she quickly asked him some questions.

"So you know all that? How is that even possible?..." She shook her head, "That doesn't matter, but wait, did you say Aizen knows about the location of the Hogyoku?"

Toshiro nodded as her cat-face turned grim.

"This isn't good, if Aizen knows about the location of the Hogyoku, it's only a matter of time before he get's it..." But her eyes regained hope as she glanced back toward Toshiro, "If you know, did you remove the Hogyoku from Rukia Kuchki?"

Toshiro shook his head, "I don't have the means to remove it, neither do I know how too. I tried to figure it out in these past weeks, but unfortunately I failed, I was never really adept at Kido."

Yoruichi grimaced, "Did you ask for help?"

"No, I couldn't trust anyone, even if I asked the Head-Captain, he would probably try to go through it with the law and Central 46 would probably get their hands on it, and those guys are simply corrupt." He explained.

Yoruichi could only nod in agreement, she knew how corrupt the Seireitei could be sometimes and understood how difficult Kisuke made it to take the Hogyoku, so she couldn't blame him.

"But I do have a plan." He proclaimed as he crossed his arms.

"A plan? What is it?" She asked with a curious look.

Toshiro calmly shook his head, "As if I could trust you, we just met."

Yoruichi rolled her cat-like eyes as she countered, "How can I even know I can trust you? As far as I know you could be Aizen's subordinate!"

"What reason would Aizen have to infiltrate you? And why would I not simply kill all your friends?" He retorted with a raised brow.

Before Yoruichi could retort, Toshiro glanced behind her at the door, which she too also turned around with narrowed eyes.

"My, my, aren't you two love birds having quite the time..." Gin suddenly appeared with his trademark smile.

"Well if it isn't Gin." Toshiro dryly replied.

"A talking cat? Which if I remember correctly was a transformation technique from the Shihion clan, and just a hundred years ago the Shihion Clan Leader went rogue..." Gin's smile widened as he continued speaking, "I also saw some Ryoka on my way here. Captain Hitsugaya, am I wrong to assume this is treason?"

Toshiro seemed unbothered as he said, "Gin I suggest you leave..."

"Now why would I do that, isn't death the punishment for treason."

Gin vanished, as did Toshiro, their sword clashed as they appeared in the center of the room.

"Why don't we take this outside!" Toshiro remarked as he grabbed Gin's shirt and threw him through the wooden walls.

Boom!

Toshiro suddenly appeared above Gin's tumbled figure, and he kicked him in the chest, sending him flying for dozens of meters.

Once Gin's figure stopped, he keeled over, as his snake-like eyes crept open while watching Toshiro's figure seriously, 'He's gotten much stronger, it seems I underestimated him...'

He slowly stood up and realized the village was a distance away, the only thing around them was the dusty ground.

Toshiro approached Gin as they stood face to face, he glanced around and noticed Yoruichi with Ichigo and Uryuu observing them from a distance, before focusing back on Gin.

"Actually Gin, I'd like to talk to you."

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