I glared up at the white haired Soul Reaper. More blood was seeping into my sleeves and I was pretty sure that Natsumi had gone into shock. A quick diagnostic spell revealed that both her lungs were nicked and Gin had gotten her diaphragm at the same time.

Medical situations weren’t my best field, but I was fairly confident that if I left her right now, Natsumi would end up drowning in her own blood.

So I needed to stall.

I pulled Natsumi closer to me and got ready to dodge in any direction, while a small spell circle lit up on her chest. I made sure to keep it hidden from Gin’s line of sight because I needed every second.

There was no way I could completely heal her. Even if I had several uninterrupted hours the wound was just beyond my skill level, but if I was fast enough I could get enough patched up that she could at least survive until a proper healer got to her.

“If Aizen wanted to talk to me he could have showed up himself.” I challenged.

Gin just seemed amused, “Aizen? Didn’ ya know Captain Aizen was killed a few days ago? Terrible tragedy, they even found his body pinned to a building.”

“Yes, too bad his Lieutenant was too busy fighting me to stumble across that little scene.” I said. ”The whole scene must have fallen flat without the lead actress.”

“It was a bit lacking. The shock an’ disbelief were there, but without the heartbreak it did feel pretty dull.” Gin nodded.

Natsumi’s lungs would probably work fine if she didn’t move much. Only a little bit longer.

“Probably didn’t help the lead actor phoned in the whole thing and used a stunt double.” I pointed out. “If you know the whole thing is staged it loses a bit of the entertainment value.”

I was really tipping my hand here, but it wasn’t anything Gin and Aizen couldn’t have guessed. Unlike the Gotei, I already knew about Aizen being a turncoat so it was easy to assume the whole murder scene was faked. As long as it kept Gin talking for a few more seconds-

“So ya almost done patchin’ up girlie there?”

Ice water poured into my veins. He knew?!

“Oh don’t look like that. If I wanted her dead I woulda hit her here.” Gin said, tapping on his chest right where his heart would be. “Of course if it’s too hard for ya, I could give ya a hand.” His constant smile dropped to a flat line and one of his eyes cracked open.

I narrowed my own eyes at the offer. “I’ll pass on your help. I’m done anyway.”

I really wasn’t. There was more I could do, but Gin’s “help” likely meant another hole in Natsumi. I just hoped she didn’t move much and took shallow breaths. I cast another two quick spells, one to hopefully keep Natsumi stable if she was moved suddenly and another for whoever found her.

Dragging her off to a clean section of floor I set her down and turned back to Gin.

“Oh? Well aint you a fast one.” he said, smile back in place.

He turned and started walking back down the hall he came from, obviously expecting me to follow. I did, but was still on guard for any sudden moves.

So I was fully prepared when a silver flash burst out of his haori. In a heartbeat Kanshou was in my hand as I slashed the incoming blade off to the left. Sparks jumped from where the two swords collided and a hollow thunk echoed behind me where Gin’s blade struck a wall.

The smile broke into a grin as Gin’s sword shrunk back down to its normal length.

“You are fast! And ya even managed to keep girlie safe too!” Gin complimented.

I blinked and quickly replayed the short clash in my mind. Gin’s sword wouldn’t have hit me even if I didn't block it. At most it would have been a shallow cut on my arm, but Natsumi was directly behind me. If I hadn’t deflected the blade then it would have pierced her chest and most likely killed her.

I fought back a snarl, simply because it was clear Gin didn’t care if he succeeded or not and wouldn’t care if I objected to the attack. Instead I just pointed my sword at him. “Didn’t you say Aizen wanted to talk with me? You’re wasting everyone’s time.”

“So scary! And I never said it was Captain Aizen.” Gin laughed. “But I suppose we should get a move on, we don’t want to be late now, do we?”

Grinding my teeth together I followed him through the complex, keeping an eye out for any more surprises. Luckily, Gin seemed to have lost interest in messing with me and just silently guided me through the halls.

After much more walking than I wanted while having Gin as a guide, we eventually came to a massive underground room. Like much of the architecture in the Seireitei I had seen it was very minimalistic with nothing but several square white towers stretching high into the air. It was telling how massive the room was that even as high as the towers went there was still space to the ceiling.

I was inwardly impressed that even here, Central 46 seemed to be pretty spartan with their living conditions. Not the norm when dealing with governments where even the identity of who was in charge was a secret.

I wonder if that would change when they get around to replacing everyone who died.

Gin walked up the stairs to one of the towers and stood next to the door.

“Welcome to the Seijoutou-Kyorin. The residential district for all of Central 46.” He said with a flourish, then chuckled, “Well it used ta be anyway. Not getting much use recently.”

And whose fault is that? Jackass.

“So where is he?” I asked instead. I was fucked anyway, might as well get the whole thing over with so I don’t have to keep talking to the creepy bastard.

“So impatient.” he sighed. “Oh well, just look right over there.”

I looked at the building Gin was pointing at just in time to see a man with medium-length brown hair and glasses walk out of the doorway. If it wasn’t for the captain’s haori and the zanpakuto at his side you could easily mistake him for a mild-mannered librarian or accountant.

“Welcome, I’m glad you decided to accept my offer to talk.” Dammit. I knew what kind of bastard he was, but I picked up nothing but genuine warmth and appreciation in his voice.

“Couldn’t pass up the chance to talk to someone who came back from the dead.” I said sarcastically.

Aizen smiled.

“Yes, I suppose the whole event looks rather silly from your perspective. Even if it was more for entertainment, it was impressive how easily you interfered with my plan. But then I suppose it only makes sense for one of his subordinates to be at least that capable.”

“I aim to please.” I said dryly, glancing between both captains. I was waiting for the inevitable sudden attack when Aizen decided to end the conversation. It was hard to say exactly when that would be since I had no idea what his timetable looked like, but if I was going to lose I’d like to at least make it harder on the two jackasses.

“If that's the case then you certainly succeed.” Aizen said. ”In fact you did so well that I wanted to give you another test just to see how good you truly were.”

He turned to Gin.

“So Gin, were you able to kill the hanger-on she was with?” He said in the same tone people used to ask how someone’s day went.

The Squad 3 Captain sighed theatrically, “Unfortunately Captain Aizen, the Ryoka was quick enough to save her life. She even managed to stop my second strike, so I failed.”

“Hmm, I suppose if she wasn’t at least capable of that I wouldn’t have an interest in her. Don’t worry about failing then.”

Gin bowed his head slightly, smirk still in place.

“That does bring us back to why I wanted to talk to you, miss Ryoka.” Aizen said, looking back to me. “Ah, but where are my manners. I am Aizen Sosuke, and once again thank you for agreeing to speak with me.”

“Alexandria Cross, charmed.” I said curtly.

Aizen nodded indulgently at me. “Well miss Cross, unlike the fools and fossils in the Soul Society you don’t have much attachment to the status quo, do you? And since you decided to seek shelter under that man you also clearly know that those that rule over this heap will not tolerate the presence of such a powerful figure outside of their control.”

He started walking, gesturing to the surroundings.

“Even with the removal of Central 46, the Soul Society will not accept one such as yourself that does not bow to them. You are too different, too powerful, for them to allow that. They might not make a move against you now that I, along with my companions of course, have made our opening moves. But soon they will see you as another uncontrollable element like myself, and demand you come to heel.”

Aizen stopped, turned to face me, and held out a hand.

“But what if you didn’t need to fear these lesser beings clamoring for your imprisonment or subjugation simply because you are different? Join me and you would be free to go wherever you wanted without fear of being hunted.”

I looked warily at his outstretched hand, half expecting him to fire a kido at me. “I’ve seen how you treat people weaker than you Aizen. And you should remember I was the one that interrupted your scheme with your Lieutenant. I don’t think I’d be able to trust you much if you would just manipulate me against a friend if it served one of your plans.”

Aizen pulled his hand back and brought it up to his chin. “Ah, I can see why my methods could be seen as distasteful, but you must remember causing confusion among the enemy is just the basics. While I acted as her captain, I did nothing but my best to make sure she was well cared for.”

No, you made her completely dependent on you then got off making her have a series of mental breakdowns before stabbing her and leaving her to die. The worst part was there was no hint of anything false in Aizen’s recruitment speech. He sounded like he genuinely wanted to make sure I was making the best decision for myself.

“Considering you wanted to make her think her friend killed her captain I can’t help but think your ‘methods’ might not be all that acceptable to most people.” I said dryly.

Aizen smiled gently, “Then perhaps that would be your role if you joined me. I could use someone to help make sure that my future plans don’t affect more innocent bystanders than necessary.”

So if I say yes and join Aizen’s side I would be given the chance to guide him to less objectionable methods than sacrificing a town to make a key or making elaborate plans that result in all his subordinates dying because he betrayed them.

In theory it would be the best choice for me personally. I wouldn’t need to get involved in much of the future fighting, I would have the ear of one of the most powerful spiritual beings around, and even though Aizen didn’t know I knew about them I would likely have personal servants to do my bidding when he rejoined his Hollow forces. It sounds like the perfect way out from dealing with the rest of the plot.

Of course that’s if you ignore the long history of Aizen making similar promises and promptly stabbing people in the back once he no longer needed them.

I told him as much and got ready to react to his next move following my refusal.

But Aizen didn’t make a move. He just stood there smiling, but now his eyes were flat and cold.

“It makes me glad you decided to accept my offer.You completed all the tasks I assigned you and even removed you watcher. I know we will work wonderfully together, don’t you think so Captain Hitsugaya?”

The surrounding temperature plummeted and my breath started misting.

Looking behind me I saw an absolutely furious Toshiro glaring daggers at Aizen, but his zanpakuto was already in its Shikai release and pointed at me.

If Toshiro rushed directly here from dealing with Kira…

And Aizen had him under hypnosis and just showed me agreeing to work with him. I turned back around to stare at the traitorous captain, arms trembling with how hard my hands were clenched.

It goes without saying but, Aizen you utter asshole!