Chapter 20

 

I could only stare in complete and utter shock and fear when I’d heard Kisuke’s words. My brother had to die to become a Soul Reaper? I supposed in many ways it made sense, but I certainly wasn’t going to allow it. I shook my head as my grip around my brother’s shoulders tightened.

 

“Are you crazy?!” Tsume demanded, speaking the words on my mind. “He’s ten years old. Wasn’t the point of this little team to get him back so he wouldn’t die?!”

 

“You didn’t let me finish. If Toshiro were to simply die, it would cause the imbalance to become irreversible and Aizen would likely win this war. There’s a specific way for Toshiro to become a Soul Reaper, rather than just a Substitute Soul Reaper, like Ichigo,” Kisuke explained. A slightly confused expression crossed Tsume’s enraged features. He hadn’t been given as much of an explanation as I’d had, so he didn’t know much of the terminology.

 

“What is that?” I asked apprehensively.

 

“He must be stabbed by his own zanpakuto, through his heart.” Toshiro flinched beside me and I felt numb for a moment. Had I heard him correctly?

 

“Wh-What are… You can’t be… N-no. No!” I stumbled over my words, unable to express myself. “Absolutely not!”

 

“Minako,” Uryuu started.

 

“No! I’ve spent ten years protecting my brother. I’m not going to let you kill him!”

 

“Please, calm down,” Orihime pleaded. I took Toshiro’s hand in mine and began walking, ignoring the words of the people I’d called friends for the past months. I was slowed when I felt Toshiro resisting.

 

“I don’t want to leave,” he said.

 

“This isn’t up for discussion.”

 

“Minako, please.” I stopped in my tracks then. Toshiro never used my first name. There wasn’t a single time in his live that he had, even when he was angry at me. To not hear the word ‘Mina-chan’ come from him was surreal.

 

“Sh-Shiro-chan,” I whispered sadly, staring down at my little brother. His eyes no longer held the child-like innocence they used to, not the same kind. Now, he seemed like someone who had witnessed an atrocity second-hand: still innocent, but forever changed.

 

“I have to do this. I have to stop Aizen.”

 

“What makes you think you’ll be able to, Toshiro? They told me he killed you before with little difficulty. What’s to stop him again? I don’t want you to die, least of all twice!”

 

“You’re all assuming we have the zanpakuto,” Kisuke interrupted. My head snapped up as I turned my attention on him. “All of this arguing is useless without Toshiro’s zanpakuto.”

 

“It’s still useless because Aizen will try to kill Toshiro anyway,” Nel answered. She and Ichigo were standing side-by-side, but she was latched to his arm. “I’ve Aizen wants someone dead, he’ll stop at nothing to accomplish his goal.”

 

“We have the zanpakuto,” Renji said and I groaned.

 

“I hoped you wouldn’t,” I murmured.

 

“Minako, what choice do we have? Toshiro needs to gain his full strength back if any of us want to keep him alive,” Rukia protested.

 

“But he’ll be dead as a Soul Reaper! That’s how it works, isn’t it?! You have to run around in a gigai just so you can be seen by normal people, people who can’t see spirits!”

 

“You’re being selfish!” Renji yelled cruelly. “You don’t want him to die because you think you’ll lose him forever! If he dies by Aizen’s hands, you really will lose your brother! If you let him become a Soul Reaper, at least he’ll still be around!”

 

“Well, how would you feel?!” Tsume demanded, defending me in my loss of words. “Toshiro’s all she has left. Their parents died in a car accident six years ago and they’ve never had any other family to go to. Minako’s been raising him on her own for six years. How would you feel if the only family you had left was told they were going to die?”

 

“None of us said it was fair. Rangiku, go get the sword.”

 

“Right,” the woman answered and a strange, traditional-style doorway appeared. Before stepping through the door, she turned to me. “I’m sorry.” With that, she disappeared.

 

“You’re just going to kill a child?!” Tsume yelled and ran at Renji, his claws looking for blood. Before he could get within ten feet of the red-haired Soul Reaper, he was thrown back by Renji’s zanpakuto. It had split into segments that could separate and reattach. Tsume was unharmed, if a little shocked. The only blood came from his split lip as he landed on the ground.

 

“Both of you, stop it!” I ordered and focused my shockwave on Renji, forcing him to the ground. At the same time, I held Tsume down, temporarily leaving my brother’s side.

 

“I would’ve thought you’d use that on them before,” Tsume muttered angrily.

 

“Toshiro’s not going to be harmed, no mater what they want.”

 

“But Minako,” Toshiro started.

 

“You are ten years old and I’m your legal guardian. I’ve let you do a lot lately that I didn’t fully agree with, but this is where I draw the line. You’re not becoming a Soul Reaper again and that’s final.”

 

“You can’t stop me!”

 

“Do you want to wager on that, Otouto-san?” It wasn’t often I used the word for ‘little brother’ with Toshiro. I most often reserved it for times when I wanted to be affectionate or very serious with him. In this case, I was expressing my authority over him, something I’d only had to do when he was a small child.

 

“I don’t want to hurt you, Nee-sama.” The cheeky attitude he’d displayed shocked me. What happened to my little brother in the week he’d been gone? Or had this always been under the surface and I’d missed it until now? Tsume seemed shocked as well, never seeing this side of Toshiro before.

 

“Toshiro Kitamura, stop this right now!”

 

“No! You stop! You don’t care what happens to Rukia-chan, or Renji or anyone! I’m going to be a Soul Reaper again and I won’t let you stop me!” my brother screamed and ran off, towards the ladder leading to Kisuke’s shop. I didn’t stop him, nor did anyone else; I couldn’t move.