He'd almost forgotten, how annoying this silver-haired bastard was. Still, even having only just gotten into this battle, Kassander could tell the silver-haired one was weaker than he used to be. (Perhaps the silver one should be an it; the hormone levels were a bit low, and it didn't smell particularly male or female.) Try as his opponent might, the shooting Zanpakutou wasn't hitting its intended target. (Shinso? Was that its name? What a strange arrangement of sounds.) Once, actually, the silver one had hit him a few times; Kassander was actually rather pleased he - it - didn't seem to be able to hit him anymore. The release was a bit different, but, it felt the same, so it'd probably hurt the same, too. Kassander was not terribly interested in repeating that mistake. It was somewhat difficult to tell if the silver one had gotten weaker and slower, or if Kassander had gotten stronger and faster, though.

 

To its credit, it was almost hitting him, so Kassander wasn't that much stronger and faster than the last time they'd clashed.

 

What was really interesting was, the silver one seemed to be trying to keep him away from the other one. (Never did learn his name; Kassander didn't care, albeit he smelled a bit like the jackal, come to think of it.) Kassander didn't really sense a particular bond between these two before. It was more like the one had a silver-haired dagger behind him, back then, and Kassander, being as he was old, and tired, and mother fucking bored, was really curious to know what had changed. He knew enough to know the grating ones in black had invaded the sand world, long enough to fight these two, and then they both had disappeared. Most of the cluster of mask-less Hollows that they'd gathered together had been defeated (so things went, glad he'd skipped out of that), and then everything went back to the way it'd been, almost.

 

Ah, wait... Kassander stopped, for a moment, arching an eyebrow at the dark-haired one, and then busted the magic he'd just used almost lazily. Was he trying to help the silver one? "I forgot how annoying your attack dog is," he mumbled, in Latin. The silver one looked befuddled for a moment. Kassander raised an arm, pooling energy together; it was a pale golden tone, and formed a spear-like shape.

 

"SHIT," the silver one said, quickly zipping across the space between itself and the dark one, just as the Cero Lanza fired at the dark one. Rather unceremoniously, Gin bumped into Sosuke, shoving him out of the way, and the spear buried itself in his shoulder. "... aw crap -"

That was all the time he had before the spear exploded, the force of it throwing him backward and into a tree. Surprisingly, at least to Kassander, it got up after that, albeit it took a few extra seconds to stand all the way, and when it did, it was hunched over slightly, like it was in pain. Blood snaked down his arm, slipping under Shinso's gauntlet, but Gin wasn't quite ready to give up, either.

 

"... that should've blown your other arm off," Kassander murmured, loosing a low whistle. Perhaps it was stronger than Kassander thought it was.

"Look," Gin started, huffing, "I don'care where ya go, jus'anywhere'at ain'ere, cause you can'take'im at all. Th'fas'er you go, th'quicker I can let Kamishini loose an'fuck'is guy's day up. 'ere's a hun'red miles more'a distric'seven'y nine. Pick a direction!" Sosuke's reiatsu, hopefully, was weak enough, Kassander wouldn't follow him. He could hope. ... fuck, his back hurt, okay, Kassander wasn't moving, though... once again, Gin raised his arm, reaching for his invisor.

"Ah, no, bad dog," Kassander huffed, lazily throwing a Cero at him. Gin had no choice but to drop his arm again, dodging the Cero; Kassander kept tossing them. Some of them, Gin dodged, others he shot Shinso's blade at and redirected, but it seemed he'd dodge when he happened to be in a position where redirecting it may send it at Sosuke, and otherwise would block. At a break in them, Gin threw Shinso's blade at him. Kassander wasn't quite expecting it, and it actually managed to cut his upper arm. "... very bad dog," the arrancar hissed. Within a handful of seconds, though, the wound closed.

 

"Jesus CHRIST I forgot'e could do'at," Gin hissed. Kassander threw another Cero Lanza at him, but he ducked under it, zipping across the space, and then reached out and got a hold of Kassander's shirt. A little smirk, and a flash of silver, and Shinso's blade went straight through Kassander's neck, unfortunately a bit too quick up close for him to manage to escape. Finally -

The victory was short-lived. Just like the arm wound, the neck wound was closing, albeit a bit slower. Kassander twisted, roundhouse kicking Gin across the clearing. This time, surprisingly, Gin didn't get back up, though he was making quiet little pained sounds. A second or two later, a small, red light started blinking on his right ear, and Gin sat up a bit, enough to spit blood. That hadn't gone well.

"And I thought you couldn't get any dumber," Kassander mumbled. What was that blinking light... Kassander paused a moment, his eyes narrowing in thought, and he tilted his head to the side a bit. Then, strangely, he looked amused. Logically, that must be the little earring Kassander was keeping it from touching. He didn't know what it was, just that when the black-clad people activated the earring, it made this weird coloured window, and then there were more black-clad people. He assumed it somehow summoned backup. Kassander wondered if he'd get someone more interesting than these two. That was a lot easier than it should've been. He hadn't even released Juvencum.

 

Boring. Eh, he'd always hated these two, anyway. Kassander moved toward the silver one, but there was a strange shift of energy, and the gauntlet on his arm shimmered, and a white-scaled, dark-skinned, long silver-haired naga materialised between the arrancar and the silver one. Kassander's gaze narrowed. That felt like the weapon. Those damned things were sentient? Since the fuck when...

"I'll distract pretty boy," Shinso said, speaking to Sosuke. "He's partially paralysed, but his invisor just sent a distress signal to the Gotei. They should get here in a few minutes. You may really want to go, now."

 

Without further preamble, Shinso raised his spear, a pure white metal weapon, and then swung it, turning it into a whip. Kassander moved to dodge, but it turned out, the naga had a lot more command over the damn thing than the silver one did, and he ended up dodging almost constantly. Yes, Shinso himself was a lot better at being a distraction.

Something about that phrasing really got under Sosuke's skin, but he didn't have time to consider it or react because all of a sudden the Arrancar was throwing a cero of some form at him. That... Gin knocked him out of the way before he could react himself. There wasn't a great chance of him having gotten out of the way alone, but on the other hand, it would have been better, maybe, for Gin not to get himself hurt so drastically. Aizen looked concerned, but said nothing immediately.

 

The explosion was worse, and Sosuke grimaced slightly as Gin got back up.  It probably should have, like the blond thought, but it hadn't. Sosuke was momentarily at a loss though because the idea of abandoning Gin here wasn't one he could exactly stomach but there was no one he could go to for help for the silver haired Shinigami, either. Even if he could make it to the Seireitei in time the chance of them listening to him were low. It wasn't about whether they were room for him to run or not though.

 

... For the record, hearing the blond call Gin a 'dog' was infuriating.

 

Sosuke didn't argue though, instead withdrawing slightly, away from the fight. Not far, not really, but with the intent of giving Gin a bit more room to fight. The fight moved quickly, but not so much so that Sosuke didn't know what was going on. Still he wasn't expecting the blond to react so quickly after Shinso was shoved through his throat, and then Gin didn't get back up.

 

So Shinso was a naga. Somehow, that surprised Sosuke and yet... it didn't all the same. He was sure that said something about Gin, as Zanpakuto spirits generally did. But he brushed aside the thought train as Shinso stopped speaking and turned to pick up where Gin had left off in the fight. It was enough to drive the blond back away from the fallen Shinigami. And despite Shinso's warning, Sosuke crouched down beside Gin. He wasn't worried about getting arrested, but instead far more concerned about the fact that Gin was partially paralyzed. That concern was visible there in his eyes. Once, certainly, he'd been precise enough to manage healing kido, but right now there was no way he could manage anything useful. Which meant that for all that he knelt there, mentally knowing what he should do, there wasn't much that he could do to help.

 

Aside from maybe try to move him, but he didn't know precisely why the other was spitting blood, and thus that could cause more harm than help. On the other hand... a glance towards the Zanpakuto spirit as it warred with the Arrancar. Sosuke hated feeling helpless.

 

Meanwhile, Shunsui's pen froze over the text he'd been writing, confusion crossing his face for a moment as he processed what the SOS was indicating. It was... Gin's. Gin who had spent an inordinate amount of time out on Rukongai lately was now in deep enough trouble that his Invisor was summoning assistance. That almost never happened. And since it was Gin, the most likely scenario was that his Invisor had gone off without his input - because the chances of him asking for help were surprisingly low.

 

"I've got it. But be on standby, just in case."

"Will do." Tia's response was immediate and concise. That in mind, Shunsui left his office and the Seireitei without hesitation. 

 

Was this necessarily a job for the Sotaicho himself? No, probably not. But he'd been the captain of the eighth for a long time, long enough that this was the sort of thing that felt right up his alley even though it wasn't supposed to be anymore. Besides, he was lazy sure, but he was also extremely curious what in the world Gin had gotten himself into out that far in Rukongai.  It didn't take all that long for Shunsui to Shunpo out far enough out to sense Gin and ... and Arrancar, of course. Of course, it took a little longer for him to actually reach the scene of the fight.

 

And man what a scene waited for him there. Shunsui came to a stop to one side, taking a moment to take in the situation. And, admittedly, froze slightly at the sight of the blond Arrancar because he was so familiar.

Damn, that hadn't gone well in the least.

 

Usually, he was much better a fighter than that. Of course, Gin also hadn't been in direct combat since the end of the Winter War (funny enough, that meant the last person he'd actually fought against was Sosuke), as he was quite well aware of his present shortcomings, and he was still coming to grips with Shinso's altered release states. Truth be told, even if he had managed to unleash Kamishini no Yari, he had no idea how long he could've stood under its weight, nor how much good it'd ultimately do because he couldn't control it for shit anymore. Kamishini was a lot less forgiving than Shinso was, always had been, and while it'd changed to account for his newfound handicaps, that was the extent of what it'd done. It still expected Gin to be able to wield it with the same proficiency, and diced the hell out of him when he couldn't.

 

Maybe it was just as well it was still just Shinso.

 

He looked annoyed, maybe, as he glanced at the blinking red light by his ear. It was probably for the best, and he'd meant to activate it manually, anyway (Kassander, it'd seem, just knew what it was, apparently). With a pained huff sound, he eventually got rolled onto his side, and just sort of, laid there. Felt like his brace had slipped... "Ya really shoul'go," Gin said, huffing. Aight, probably what happened was his brace had slipped... which was why he couldn't feel his legs anymore, but if he had Sosuke move it back up, it could put too much pressure on his rib cage and do more damage to them than the arrancar already had. And Shigeru would probably make that face at him over that. "Think'e bust a rib an'hit a lung," he mentioned, spitting another little drizzle of blood. Wasn't like it hurt any. ... well, maybe it did, and his back hurt too much for it to register.

 

In the meantime, Shinso seemed to be having a good deal of luck over there, backing the blond arrancar into a corner. He was much quicker than Gin was, of course, and Kassander was having a notably harder time hitting him with anything. Once in a grand while, a Cero would graze him, but it never hit dead-on. Despite the naga's bolstered speed, though, he still wasn't fully hitting Kassander, either, but there were more shallow scratches marring his skin than before. Seemed he'd decided not to focus on regeneration too much right now, because they were still there.

 

By the time Shunsui got there, Shinso had wrapped around a tree branch, using it as dodging leverage; judging by the broken bark on one side of it, the Zanpakutou spirit had gotten thrown into the tree, and decided it was a good tool, anyway. The naga had a couple cuts, what sort of looked like a minor burn on his arm, just below his shoulder armour, but mostly he was unscathed. The arrancar, on the other hand, seemed to be having trouble firing Ceros fast enough to hit Shinso, and eventually, Shinso grumbled something in Russian and threw his spear. The blade extended, and then split in two, pinning Kassander to the tree behind him at his neck. Kass almost fell into the break where the blade split, but barely managed not to. Strangely, for a moment, he looked surprised, and then amused. Seemed the grating Shinigami pup was actually much stronger than he currently seemed to be.

 

"Annoying," Shinso huffed. The naga dropped out of the tree, scowling, but he didn't look away from the arrancar. Interestingly, though, he seemed to have missed it, when the other's reiatsu suddenly shot up.

"SHINSO, GET BACK'ERE, NOW!"

"I've got him -"

"NO YOU DON'T -" the warning was a bit late; Kassander raised his arm, slammed into the underside of Shinso's spear, where the blade split, and shattered it. The naga hissed in irritation, shimmering and vanishing, and Gin spluttered another bunch of blood and passed out, the gauntlet on his arm reverting to its sealed state. The red blinking on his ear turned a bit more rapid; his vitals had just dropped, and his invisor was reporting that to Fourth. Kassander moved away from the tree, brushing the shards of Shinso's spear off his clothes, his reiatsu dropping back down. The boost was just to make sure the blade didn't cut him. Of course, then he noticed the newcomer. For a moment, he just stared at him, almost blankly, but there was a touch of confusion there.

 

Then, his gaze narrowed, he seemed to decide something, and he turned, a soft buzzing announcing his exit. He seemed to be fine with whatever he'd gleaned from that.

"I'm not leaving you." Flatly. "You got hurt because he wanted me, that'd be a piss poor way of thanking you." Besides, anything could happen in the span of time it might take the Gotei to actually respond to that blinking light. The last thing Sosuke wanted was to back away and not know what happened. Gin dying after everything that had happened... no. He wasn't going to leave without knowing. It was a risk he was willing to take.

 

Sosuke frowned a little - that sounded likely, really based on the blood, but it didn't explain why he was partially paralyzed. And it didn't bode well if backup took too long to get here. So he stayed right where he was. That was clever, Sosuke thought, watching Shinso fight. Using the tree for leverage was a good use of surroundings and it would serve him well. Or it... it should have.

 

The Arrancar wasn't quite done having tricks up his sleeve though, and manage to shatter the spear and return the Zanpakuto to its dormant state, which of course hurt Gin even more. There wasn't much Sosuke could do, though now that he was passed out Sosuke could probably try examining the injury and see if there was anything he could do. He probably would have done that if it weren't for the fact that the Arrancar was still there. Except his attention had gone elsewhere.

 

The brown haired Shinigami became aware of the captain rather suddenly, upon following the Arrancar's gaze. So reinforcements had arrived. Kyoraku-taicho, though he seemed to be alone. Well, not Zero then. Which meant he almost had to be the Sotaicho.

 

"Ka-" The Arrancar left before Shunsui could finish what he was going to say. That was.... maybe for the best. Shunsui then turned his full attention onto the pair. Aizen and Gin. So this was what Ichimaru had been getting up to out here in Rukongai - he'd found Sosuke at some point and clearly been communicating with him. Shunsui wasn't sure what to think about that.  On the other hand, Sosuke was so weak there was no way he was the cause of Gin's injuries - no that likely lay squarely on the Arrancar's shoulders - and honestly the former traitor was weak enough he wasn't a threat regardless of what Shunsui decided to do with him.

 

That did not mean he wanted to leave Aizen out here. "Try anything funny, and I won't hesitate to finish what Sahura started." His voice was calm and firm, belying none of the indecisiveness that he felt towards Aizen's situation.

 

"He said he thought the Arrancar had broken one of his ribs and managed to puncture a lung with it."

 

Shunsui activated his invisor, intending to relay that particular information to the Fourth Division, and then he lifted Gin as carefully as he could off the ground. Regardless of what the fourth said about it, the best option was getting him help immediately. Shunsui didn't trust himself to try enough healing kido to support the fallen Shinigami. "Ichimaru is unconscious with possibly broken ribs and lung puncture. Returning now." Certainly it seemed likely given his current status.

 

Shunsui was a little surprised by the fact that Sosuke showed no inclination at running, but instead seemed intent on following where Gin went. He wasn't going to pretend to understand the kid. His coming did save Shunsui having to re-locate him later. On the other hand, it meant he couldn't just pretend he hadn't noticed Aizen and leave the situation to Sahura or Rukongai in general. Something to decide later. At any rate, he wasn't really a threat to anyone in the Seireitei - for the moment, so Shunsui could take a little time to decide what to do with him ultimately.

 

Gin was certainly a more pressing issue.

 

It felt like it took far too long to make it from where they were back to the Seireitei. It could have been worse, he reminded himself firmly. Shunsui slowed when they reached the gate, enough so for the somewhat winded younger Shinigami to catch up and pass through it with him, with only a slight odd look from the guardian in question. Shunsui went straight for fourth division and walked in without any hesitation.

That was surprising.

 

On second thought, maybe it wasn't so much. This was Ichimaru Gin they were talking about; he wasn't known for letting others become aware of how much trouble he got up to. If Shigeru remembered properly, he had a habit of getting into quite a few things out in Rukongai, and frankly, he'd just been waiting for this day. The day when he got into so much trouble, he couldn't handle it by himself. Technically speaking, he was still recovering from the Winter War (why, that Shigeru didn't know, but then he did have that neat handicap now, and who knew how much that'd changed his fighting style). It was almost impressive he'd managed this long.

 

Almost. ... why was he unconscious, though? He supposed he'd figure that out when Kyouraku-san got back with him. In the meantime, he was busy getting the ICU ready for him. Broken ribs and a punctured lung sounded terrible, but they dealt with enough of it in the Fourth, it really wasn't. Actually, one might almost call it routine by now (or perhaps Shigeru was getting old; ... well, he'd probably long passed the 'old' stage).

 

By the time Shunsui got there, Shigeru was already out in the front, waiting. "That building," he said, nodding at a particular ICU building. That was the one they had room in on short notice. And now, of course, Shigeru could tell why he was unconscious. His reiatsu was dangerously low. Well, that made sense of what caused the invisor to broadcast a distress signal. The Captain moved to follow Shunsui, but paused a moment, eyeing the one behind him. So, that was what Gin was up to out there... for a moment, he probably seemed annoyed (resting bitch face in combination with eyes as bright a red as his were tended to cause that impression), but then his gaze softened a bit. Gin was oddly sentimental in strange ways. If nothing else, Shigeru could respect the effort he'd gone to, and not muck it all up.

 

Besides, he knew that look. He saw it all the time.

 

"You sit in the hallway," he said. "I'll let you know when we're done and as long as you stay out of the way, you can stay." He'd say something about don't get in a fight with Rangiku, but, he didn't think Rangiku would start anything. Any other Captain, barring maybe Jushiro, probably would have refused to tolerate him. For better or worse, this one was currently as human as he'd get, and maybe that was all Shigeru needed to know.

"Got it." And Shunsui of course diverted slightly to begin moving towards the building in question. There was no sense in delaying, given Gin needed medical attention ten minutes ago at this point. His expression did cloud over with a combination of dislike and mild concern when Shigeru apparently decided he was going to keep Sosuke around for the moment. But it was impossible for the captain to deny that it was a good spot for him to stay out of trouble. And nothing about Sosuke was particularly threatening at the moment.

 

Instead of asking Shigeru if he was sure, because of course he was he wouldn't have said it otherwise, gray eyes fixed on Sosuke. "What I said in 79 still applies, kid. I meant it." Said over his shoulder before continuing along the way towards the indicated building. He did shift out of the way slightly so someone could get the door open though because he couldn't quite manage it without jarring Gin worse than he already had been and given the circumstances, avoiding that seemed wise.

 

"Yes, sir." A slight pause. "And thank you." To Shigeru, mostly, because the healer didn't have to tolerate his presence. And honestly, Sosuke had been expecting to end up in the maggot's nest for following along. But at least if he was there then Ichimaru wouldn't follow him out to 79 anymore, and maybe that would be better for them all.

 

Sosuke continued to follow behind the pair.

... what'd he say in 79?

 

On second thought, maybe Shigeru didn't need to ask. Certainly, it wasn't terribly important right this second. Making sure Gin wasn't going to drown in his own blood was. He gave a short nod to Sosuke, at the thank you, and then focused on that making sure Gin didn't drown thing. The second they got him settled down, Shigeru was off barking orders and running tests and junk. Seemed his reiatsu was so low because Shinso had been damaged. If he was judging rightly, just his Shikai, not the sealed state, which boded well for Gin recovering eventually; on the other hand, there were a lot of complications that could arise from his reiatsu being so unstable for a prolonged period.

 

It seemed like ten seconds but it was probably more like a half hour before Shigeru toddled back out. Slicked with blood all down his uniform, of course. He glanced down, wrinkled his nose, and then snorted softly. "Looks like I murdered'im." Shigeru wouldn't do that. ... well, maybe slap him, because it turned out there were some slipped discs and a couple damaged nerves in his spine, and Shigeru could tell those weren't new. Gin had saved Shigeru's life once; it was hard to return the favour, when Gin never told anyone about these things.

 

"So he'll live. Did have a punctured lung and a couple broken ribs, by the way, did either of you have any idea he had slipped discs in his spine? Couple nerves are damaged, too." He paused, a moment, and then looked at Sosuke. "Did you do that, too?" Who knew.

Sosuke had remained sitting to one side - it was easy enough, really. He'd gotten used to spending his days in the cave trying not to draw attention to himself - boring, sure, but it meant he was used to not drawing attention or having something to occupy his hands with. It did leave perhaps too much time to wonder and worry about if Gin was going to get through this okay - but Shigeru was a good healer and Sosuke was just going to have to trust him at this stage.

 

Shunsui had remained as well, partially paying attention to Sosuke, but mostly because he wanted to know the final status of gin, and get an idea of just how badly he'd been injured by the blond Arrancar. These two weren't the first to get into a shit fight with that one, if the reports were anything to go by, and the situation this time was different. On the other hand, it was these two and maybe it wasn't actually a sign that the blond was going to be more vicious going forward.

 

Sosuke's attention focused in on Shigeru instantly when he returned to the hall they were sitting in. Gin was going to survive, that was a relief all by itself, honestly. He had not known about Gin's back but that was rather concerning. Wait. ... Too? Sosuke's expression shifted slightly to confusion, obviously not sure what Shiba-taicho was getting at. He didn't exactly want to ask but on the other hand knowing what he had supposedly done was probably a good thing.

 

"What did you think we didn't know about his arm?" Shunsui said it in a matter of fact sort of way, and it left no questions as to whether he actually thought that Sosuke was guilty of it. Shunsui turned his attention back to Shigeru then. "I was not aware of his back, no." Frowning a little. "Any idea how long he's had those?" Sometimes Shigeru could tell, sometimes not so much. It depended on the injury, Shunsui assumed. Ah, but he was curious, because it was kind of important, knowing how long Gin had been working with such a handicap without telling anyone. And yet it was just like the twerp to avoid mentioning it even though it would have been something that Shigeru could have helped with.

 

Shame, really. The longer certain injuries existed the harder it was to get them to ever heal quite right.

 

His arm? Sosuke realized that that meant that he had done that, but it left a lot of questions as to why, exactly, Gin tolerated him. Not just tolerated him but actively saved him and sought him out."...I don't... think so." He didn't sound as sure of himself as he would have liked to. But then again he hadn't known about the arm so maybe he had done it after all. Sosuke hadn't honestly realized that he was missing more than a brief period of time between entering the king's dimension and fighting Sahura (or, more accurately, being utterly destroyed by the old Arrancar). But clearly there was a lot more that he didn't already know. Just... how many more of these ugly revelations was he going to go through?

 

Not that he didn't deserve them, but because for each one he had he had to question Gin's reasons for keeping him alive a little more. Even if he hadn't been in his right mind, doing that kind of damage...but then again, he'd never quite understood Gin. Maybe this was going to be one of those things that he never quite understood.

Sosuke seemed a bit too confused by that. Come to think of it, there was no real telling how much damage Sahura had done the guy, nor how much memory he'd retained after the fact. Given he was apparently quite functional, and still seemingly very capable of thinking, Gin had clearly done a fine job healing him afterwards, but Gin wasn't the most open sort of person, and Shigeru had to wonder how much had, or hadn't, been said. Certainly, unless Sosuke - mm, no, his name was Heru, and maybe it was time he remembered that - had directly asked, Gin would be rather unlikely to simply volunteer pertinent information, particularly given his penchant for not volunteering pertinent information even when he was directly asked.

 

The healer let that go, for the moment, turning back towards Shunsui and shaking his head slightly. "I can tell you, somewhere between fifty and two hundred years old. His spine has healed in strange ways, and not healed at all in others. Frankly, it's a miracle he's not paralysed a bit more permanently than he already is. He's got a decent back brace to support his spinal column, but without it, I'm guessing his movement's greatly hindered, at the very least, and he's probably in quite a lot of pain. There also seems to be a hole in his left heart ventricle. Not certain how long that one's been around, but judging by how it acts, it's probably caused by stress, not injury. Effectively it gives him a heart arrhythmia, under too much stress, it will inevitably start leaking too much blood into his chest cavity and cause weakness, organ damage, brain damage, and eventually kill him. It seems that he's been using his reiatsu to strengthen his heart muscles and prevent that from happening, but the end result is, he's far weaker than he should be in other ways, thereby it simply alters where he's weak." And it wasn't as if Ichimaru would be taking medication anytime soon, so there was likely nothing for it.

 

Well, bionic alteration, perhaps, but good luck getting him to agree to that, either.

 

Then again... Shigeru's gaze fell on Heru, again. He recognised that one's handiwork; the blond arrancar they'd seemingly come across, Shigeru had sensed that reiatsu before, and Gin would've been wildly aware he was in absolutely no condition to face an arrancar of that calibre on his own. So why had he? No, that was a stupid question. Shigeru knew why. Maybe Shunsui didn't, maybe even Gin and Heru didn't, but Shigeru knew why. Hmph. Heru probably had no idea how much power over Gin he had. Unfortunately, Heru was very dangerous, and so was Gin, but perhaps, eventually, Heru could convince Gin to do something about the varying ways he was in pieces. If the silver-haired Captain had decided Heru was worth dying for, maybe deciding he was worth living for was the next logical step.

 

"From what Sahura told us, you apparently pulled his arm right out at the shoulder joint. Almost killed him from the blood loss, he's lucky to be alive, but frankly, so are you, and the only thing that makes sense is, someone in this general vicinity went to a lot of trouble to make sure you made it, and it wasn't Shunsui or myself, I can tell you that much. But you're not the only one in this room whose sorry ass he's saved once or twice. I may not understand his reasons, albeit I have a few good guesses, but I can respect his effort. If it was good enough a reason for him, then it was good enough for me, and what I said still stands. So long as you stay out of the way, you're welcome in Yonbantai. ... though, I do have to ask, do you know what year it is? I can't imagine he ever got around to that." Ah, no.

That was an awfully long time for an injury like that. Sandalio knew that that meant he'd long since figured out how to work around it and avoid injuring himself further. But on the other hand...what did that mean for his abilities, if he hadn't been injured so badly. Spinal injuries and a hole in his heart.... probably long before his arm was ripped off. It was interesting to muse what Gin might have been capable of, if things had gone differently. Of course, it was also pointless to dwell on, so he pushed it away after a few moments.

 

Regardless of what might have been, this is what they had at the moment. And the reality was, apparently, that Gin was even more damaged than they had initially believed. Add that to the fight with that Arrancar and it would seem that Shigeru would have his work cut out for him, trying to put the silver haired Shinigami back together. "That certainly complicates things." Mostly to himself.

 

But it did. That heart issue could be a serious game changer in the longer run if it wasn't gotten under control.

 

Sosuke remained quiet, listening but not interrupting. He was getting all sorts of new details as they went on, and it was actually kind of terrifying, but also.... he wanted to know. He needed to know, even, what all he had forgotten. He'd what? And yet he couldn't protest it because despite not really remembering it, when Shigeru said it, it felt right. Accurate, at least. He'd done that. He'd hurt Gin that badly. The missing arm was his fault. That was upsetting, actually.

 

And Sosuke didn't understand. He didn't understand why Shigeru was okay with him being here. He didn't understand why Gin had apparently saved his life. Or why Sahura had left him alive instead of killing him directly. None of it made sense, and something told Heru that even if he did end up remembering everything he wasn't going to really understand those things. 

 

"...Actually, no." He admitted sheepishly after a moment. Which brought about a great question - how long had it been since the war ended, exactly. "But now that you mention it, I am curious." It couldn't have been that long, after all his reiatsu still hadn't recovered from the fight with Sahura. And yet somehow that felt wrong, too - had it been longer than he thought?