With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
"That's great... We should be well off then, right?"
Toshioni's eyes widened a bit as he remembered the deed. His left hand shook slightly before he quelled it with a firm grip from his right. Exhaling, he made eye contact with the love of his life and smiled broadly. Holding up his left hand, he raised his eyebrows to give Mizuki a whimsical look.
"Let's hope so. I'd be angry if I'd lost my hand for nothing." That was a lie. A joke. A cruel one at that. He'd gotten off easy by only losing his hand. He'd gotten off much too easy.
"Well, they said I'd have to come back next week to find out. I figured that was okay. He did mention that he thought maybe a month or two, but he wanted to double check."
Toshioni's face brightened at this. More than anything, he wanted to accompany her. He wanted to be there and find out the second she did. He wanted to know when their lives stopped being about them and started being about a family. He...he could barely contain himself. He wanted to know right now even. It took every ounce of maturity he had not to jump with anticipation. His often tired eyes emulated his childlike excitement.
"Well, when you schedule the appointment please let me know. I'd love to go with you and be there as well, if that's alright."
"We can tell her when we are ready, that's fine. I'll wait till then to tell my parents as well."
On a long list of things Toshioni was looking forward to, telling Mizuki's Irish father he'd gotten her pregnant was not one of them. They'd been married for years but that didn't matter. Her father was extremely protective. But it was something that had to be done. He really hoped he didn't have to be there for it. "You're right. We-we definitely want to be ready when we tell your parents."
Mizuki grabbed at his left hand. "I'd be angry for you!" she teased.
It was kinda cute, Toshioni started to get all red and wanted to go with her to the appointment. Thing was, she had already set it, she was there already, and it was convenient to do it then. But, she would let him know and he would be able to go, why wouldn't he? It's not like she wanted to abandon him for no good reason.
"Well, the appointment has been made already. For next week today actually. And you're more than welcome to go with me Toshi-kun."
Mizuki smiled once again, holding onto his hand firmly. She was a bit nervous, but hey, she had him here for her, and she always would, for all she knew.
As Mizuki grabbed playfully at his hand, Toshioni's grin twitched. He was still uncomfortable with his hand. It was his flesh and blood (Hachi had reconstructed it for him), but he remembered it leaving his body. He had no clue how the Shinigami were able to just lose and regrow parts of their body without immense amounts of trauma. He'd lost this hand years ago, and its replacement still felt uneasy. He would have to get over this at some point. But that point was far off.
Looking back to his wife, he restored his grin. They would be a family soon. Perhaps not dwelling on the past would help him come to terms with it. Perhaps.
"I love you, Mizu-chan."
She told him how he was more than welcome to accompany her. That was good. He would take off work; they'd make their first doctor's visit as an expectant couple. It would be a picture perfect moment. He thought of their normal lives together as he held her close to him in their normal apartment. When did they become...normal? When did they deserve normal? Toshioni kissed her on the forehead as his eyes trailed off to an arbitrary space. A familiar silence fell upon the room. She would know what he was reliving. She always knew.
At that, Mizuki watched as Toshioni drifted into his deep memories of that painful day. A day neither of them could forget very easily.
-----------FLASH BACK IN A FLASHBACK----------------
A cold, clear night, the stars were shining along with the full moon. An immense pressure began to fill the air, and with that the couple of Mizuki and Toshioni would investigate. Usually this would be the job of the shinigami, but tonight was different. The pressure was very thick, and something had to be done right then and there. Toshioni would be the one moving them, since he was clearly faster, and soon they would arrive at a crater on the outskirts of Karakura Town. It was almost like something went off, blowing a hole in the ground. Standing over the ground was three figures. One of them, looked to be a little taller, shot something... From his mouth?
As the thing flew downward, it became apparent what it was some sort of bomb. This guy was trying to blow stuff up! But why?! And just then, Mizuki could see someone else, in the crater.. He looked familiar, though she probably hadn't seen him in years, but he was cat like in reflex and looks. There was only one person Mizuki could think of like that.. It must have been Neko!
The night was cold, and heavy. The pressure exerted upon his body was great as Toshioni moved closer towards the source of this pressure. Once he was close enough to make out the crater that had been left behind, he stopped in his tracks. Setting down Mizuki, he looked up to the sky to see the three figures blackened against the moonlight. He couldn't make out much with his eyes, but after closing them for a moment he reopened to see the outline of their reiatsu. Using this outline, he saw a rather familiar feature on the one in the middle. A needlessly tall hat looked much to large for its owner: Hatter. "Shit, why now?"
His focus changed from Hatter to one of his companions as the companion dropped something towards the crater. What was he doing? Toshioni darted his eyes to the crater and made out a very familiar shape. He didn't know many bipedal cats so he remembered the short list. It had to Neko. It just had to be. Turning to Mizuki, his face showed his shock. "What the hell is going on?"
------------------------ Hatter had no clue why he was ordered to come and wreak havoc in Karakura Town. Something about being a diversion or something else silly. All that mattered was that he got to have fun watching his Fraccion blow things up. And truly, there was no greater joy. In response to the explosion, a large ugly cat had come at them. So now Jinchou was throwing bombs at the ugly ugly cat with abandon. He and Alice just got to watch the fun. There was another arrival of playmates. Maybe Hatter and Alice would get to have some fun after all.
------------------------ The explosions had woken him in a bad mood. The early twenties punk-rock art student was not in the mood to deal with hollows today. But fuck, when they're blowing up your city ya gotta do somethin'. He had transformed quickly and had earlier swiped at the penguin Arrancar. This angered the dumb bird thing and now they were here. The crater had been caused by a couple of the bombs that bastard loved to spit around. But Neko wasn't having any of that shit. Planting its claws into the ground and looking up, Neko firmly secured himself to the ground. The cat side of him knew that if it didn't, it'd be thrown backwards. Gathering energy around its mouth, the giant cat opened its mouth and shot out a concussive scream. The scream intercepted the bomb, causing it to explode in midair. Through the smoke, Neko shot another scream and another. Each blast dug him further into the ground. After three it stood up and looked around. It felt a familiar presence near it, but that could wait.
Mizuki looked around the apparent battlefield, and watched the screams of Neko destroy the bomb. This sent out a shock wave effect, that would send any normal person hurdling backwards, but Mizuki and Toshioni weren't normal by any means. Mizuki stood her ground and pulled out her shillelagh, readying to fight. She would wait to see what happened, turning to Toshioni to respond with a simple statement. "Well, let's wait and see."
Jinchou laughed as the explosion went off. Oh did it make him happy. It was one of the most fun things he could do! At that point he readied another to fire, once the smoke would clear. Before he could let the bomb drop, a scream was heard. He didn't hear the first because of his own laughter. This scream came into contact with him, dizzying him a bit. When he snapped back to, he swallowed the not armed bomb, and opened his mouth once again. This time a cero charged up, and fired downward, shooting at that damn cat. This dark blue with lighter blue highlighted cero had some kick behind it, but not the strongest cero he could fire. Why would he do that, right? Unless he really wanted something to go boom!
After the smoke cleared from his cero, Jinchou decided that it was time to go full strength. "Blow ‘em up! Pingüino Bombardero!"
And with that, Jinchou transformed himself, looking smaller and more penguin like in nature. He would then close in on his target, readying to attack this cat-thing when he had a chance.
Toshioni watched as Neko (at least he assumed it was Neko), hunkered down and screamed his way out of a bad situation. The concussive force made the bomb explode in the air, sending out a shockwave across the streets. Holding up his hand to the wind, he narrowed his eyes to study the situation. The smoke didn't do anything to disrupt the eyesight that Resonance provided, the two other figures (whom he presumed were Hatter and Alice) stayed somewhat stationary next to their fighting companion. The bomb-chucking lunatic charged up a blast that he shot down towards Neko. Toshioni's eyes widened. He couldn't deflect that blast or intercept it. Could Neko dodge a shot like that? It was obvious Toshioni wasn't his biggest fan, but he didn't want the bastard to die (on a good day). Looking over to Mizuki, Toshioni gave her a small nod that told her it was time for action. "Even if Neko survived that blast, he can't fight all three of them. I'll take on Hatter. Hopefully Neko can handle the bomb tosser." Quickly, he cupped Mizuki's face with his right hand and kissed her for a few seconds before withdrawing. He hoped that wouldn't be the last kiss he gave her. "Be safe. I love you." With that, he exhaled and summoned a very solid metal bow in his left hand. This would be the toughest test this new bow would go through. He hoped the Stratos could hold up. But, pushing that to the back of his mind, he walked into battle.
-----------------
The large ears of the cat twitched as it felt the change of reiatsu in the air. This came from the bomb-chucking bastard above him, but it wasn't a bomb. It was some kind of blast. Neko's body then leaped from the crater and landed on the wall of a nearby building, its claws digging into the siding. The penguin then began to charge at it. Instinctively, the cat jumped towards its challenger. Its claws began glowing red. This red glow intensified until the cat outstretched its arms pointed its claws towards the prey. The red left the claws and materialized into a bala-like blast that fired at Jinchou. Neko would skewer the penguin as soon as it got the chance. It continued its charge despite the blast.
Mizuki nodded. From her understanding, the man with the hat was Hatter. She vaguely remembered him from that weird place they went to. That meant the bomber was his lackey of sorts. If that was the case, Neko shouldn't have an issue. This left the other, what she could call, lackey. Fighting her would be difficult. Either way, she had to try, and she had to be safe, in case Toshioni needed her help.
As Jinchou was falling towards his enemy, he saw something red outstretch from that cat-thing. They were bala like.. Wait, bala-like attack?! With that thought, he fired off a bala of his one, just a normal one. Though an explosive one wouldn't hurt, or it would, but that wasn't to decide right now. After his shot, Jinchou would move a bit, just in case his bala didn't have any effect on the red things. After this, He would begin to charge a cero.
Neko's attack met with Jinchou's and the two made a small explosion which kicked up a lot of smoke in the air. This caused Neko to stumble on his pursuit. Losing this visibility, he didn't see Jinchou charging his cero up. By the time he saw this, he was too close to truly dodge. The cat had only one option, it hunkered in close enough such that if the penguin fired the blast, it would hurt the both of them significantly. Neko snarled from under his armor-like transform and let out a mighty scream. This scream let out no concussive blast; it only sounded terrifying. Neko then reached for the Arrancar with both arms ready to snatch and shred him up if the penguin didn't move quickly and thus change the blast target.
Jinchou only had one option; move. Under normal circumstances, an arrancar would change target, to avoid the attack, but Jinchou wasn't normal. He took his own option into account; to swallow the damn thing. Wasn't the easiest, or the best option, but dammit, he would rather swallow the thing than hurt himself with the mighty blast. With a quick snap, he shut his mouth and moved out of the way. At this point he would do something rather reckless, which was why he didn't want to get burnt up in the cero. Another time to open his mouth, this time a bala came flying out; but little did the kitty know, it was an explosive one. Once it made contact with him or one of his attacks, it would go boom! And that would it for the kitty man. Or so Jinchou would believe.