Title: Forgiveness
Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort
Characters: Toshiro and Cong Du are the main characters in this one. There are a few others as well.
Summary: They were pardoned... and yet they caused so much pain.
Notes: This one doesn't involve Toshiro getting kidnapped, but it does involve them winning the war. Gin also showed up during the war.
Rating: T

Forgiveness

"Why?" Toshir's eyes narrowed at Kyoraku, the corners of his mouth twisting down with frustration. "Why are they being let off like this? It's their fault that Yamamotto is dead. It's their fault Unohana is dead. They trampled on our personal space by taking our Bankai. Despite the fact I've gotten Hyorinmaru back I'm struggling to communicate with him. That was the only good thing that came from having the powers I did... Hyorinmaru."

"On top of this I'm more understanding of why Ichimaru Gin has been pardoned, but the damn idiot's in a comma because he fought way before he'd fully recovered from the Winter War. The only reason he's alive is because nobody expected him to bloody show up. Matsumoto's in a bad mood because he hasn't woken up as well. I also understand why their foot soldiers were pardoned, but not the higher ups."

"Are you finished?" Kyoraku hadn't bothered looking up from his paperwork. "I want you to give them a chance."

"Why?"

"You of all people know what it's like to be ostracized. Actually, the only reason I'm asking this of you is because you come to me upset as you are. I don't believe you're the type of person to hold a grudge though."

"Do you know how much more unfair this makes this?" Toshiro's arms crossed his hest while his lips pushed out into a dissatisfied pout.

Kyoraku stopped writing and looked up, an amused look on his face.

"I know it's not fair. Also, I know this wars taken an even bigger psychological toll on you then the previous one. I'm just glad you're being more open about your feelings this time around. I'd honestly be worried if you hadn't spoken to someone about this."

"It's not as if..." A pair of bright teal eyes darted away from looking at the man. "It's not as if I would do anything stupid."

"Really? Training long hours for days on ends to train your Bankai wasn't stupid? Sure, you didn't negatively effect those around you except to cause your fukutaicho to worry. However, this is the kind of stupid thing I expect you to do, things that could in the long run cause you and only you to seriously get hurt."

Toshiro continued looking away, his bright teal eyes looking right at the floor. "I'll take my leave now."

With a twist the small taicho left the office, heading towards the forth division. He walked through the halls with a frown on his face, his arms across his chest as he stewed about the unfairness of the decision to pardon the members of the other side. He finally arrived at the room Gin was in, the plan being to tell Rangiku that she could take off as much time as needed.

Instead he found her asleep in the chair next to the bed, her figure slumped over the man slightly. Letting out a deep sigh he choose to lean against the door frame and instead watch the two. "Please wake up. I can't deal with her if you don't wake up."

How long he remained there he honestly didn't know, but the sound of two people coming down the hallway caused him to look up. Upon seeing the two people, he found himself suddenly flinching. The dark haired man raised his hand in the air in a form of a greeting while the pale haired man simply stared at him, almost like he was a fly on the wall. "Yo!"

"What are you doing here?" Toshiro felt his nose wrinkled up as well as his shoulders tensed. The appearance of the dark haired man didn't bother him so much as the one with the pale coloring. Something about seeing the man bothered him and caused his stomach to hurt. The cold teal eyes continued to look at him.

And then he spoke. "Why shouldn't we be here?"

"That's..." The boy snapped his mouth shut, his throat tightening as he looked at the man.

The other man spoke up. "We should probably properly introduce ourselves kid. My name is Askin Nakk Le Vaar, and this is Jugram Haschwalth."

The white haired child shuffled from one foot, to another and back again. "Hitsugaya Toshiro, captain of the tenth division and not a child. I'm going to ask again what you're doing here. Neither one of you are injured."

"We're looking for our brother Cang Du." Jugram continual glare caused the boy to fidget even more.

"He's injured?" The boy frowned. "They could have told you where he was."

"No... see," Askin folded his arms across his chest. "We haven't been able to find him. We figured that he may be visiting him."

"Him..."

"The man in the room there." Jugram's stare finally caused Toshiro to look away. The boy however looked at Rangiku sitting there asleep next to Gin's side.

He then turned to look at them, anger flaring in his eyes. "Leave... now."

"Excuse me.?" The pale haired man frowned. "What reason do you have to be so impolite to us?"

"You have no business visiting him after everything done, no right. Just leave us alone."

Jugram moved as if to strike him, causing Toshiro's eyes to go wide suddenly. Askin grabbed the man's hand shoulder, causing the pale haired man to calm down. "The kids right. We have no business being here, all things considered."

'I'm not a kid."

The dark haired man turned to look at him, the strange smile spread across his face. "We're only here because we figured that Cang Du would be here. Since he isn't we'll be on our way."

A sigh of relief came from Toshiro's lungs once they were gone. A voice came from the bed, "Taicho?" The boy turned his head to look at the busty female. "What's going on?"

"A couple of the higher ups from the other side came looking for someone named Cang Du. For some reason they figured he would be visiting Ichimaru. How is he doing?"

"He's doing fine. Ca..."

"That's good. I stopped by to say take the time you need to recover. I can handle things until you're ready to come back." The boy turned to leave, only to hear her calling out to him.

"Wait... you said the name Cang Du?"

"What of it?"

"I believe that's the name of the one who stole your Bankai." Rangiku spoke in an overly calm manner while Toshiro bit his lip trying to prevent himself from saying something about the man and how he shouldn't be coming around, particularly because of that. "He's also the one who pulled Gin out and stayed with him until forth division could treat him."

"What?" The boy turned to look at her, his bright teal eyes widening from surprise.

"You heard me."

"So... Gin's alive not because he choose to surprise attack them, but because of that man?"

"No... I think he would be alive whether he choose to surprise attack or not, or whether or not Cang Du showed up to help him."

"Fine. He wouldn't be in a comma then."

"No taicho. Gin's not in a comma because of his injuries." Rangiku's words cause a choking sensation in the boy's chest. "He's not waking up simply because he needs to find the reason to live. I'll stay by his side for a few more days, but I'll need to return to the office soon."

"You're going to give up on him?" The words came out of his mouth almost in a panic.

"No. I could be waiting a very long time though for him to wake up. Just waiting will be painful, so I'll get back to work so I can get my mind off him not waking up as soon as I would like him too."

"I see..." A smile crossed the boy's face. "I'm going to get back to the office and get the paperwork done. This way you'll have less to worry about when you get back."

"Taicho... that really makes no sense at all."

"I've kind of let it build up the last few days..." The boy glanced away, before speeding off so that she couldn't say anything more. He arrived at the division and opened the door. When he stepped into the room his jaw dropped. Sitting at his desk messing with the stack of paper work was the man who had stole his Bankai. He swallowed, at first not sure what to do about the situation. "You're Du-san, aren't you?"

The man looked up and without saying anything moved from the desk, taking the stack of papers with him to the other desk in the room. Toshiro frowned, shaking his head. "I don't know what you're up to, but would you please leave? I have work to do and I'm not exactly in the mood to try and socialize with you."

Instead of complying the man went back to messing with the papers. The boy walked over, a frown appearing on his face due to frustration. "See here..."

Toshiro watched as the man set a paper aside before moving onto the next. He grabbed in, his eyes looking over the paper. He glanced over at the big stack, only to have the man take the paper and point to where his signature was needed. The boy simply took it back, his frown deepening as he headed over to his own desk.

His bright teal eyes went wide upon seeing that the papers on his desk were already filled out and the reason the stack was large was not because of some major backlog like he had thought. The boy set the paper down. "Why?" He looked up to see the man continuing to work with the paper work, getting it filled out. "If you're trying to get in my good graces by doing this, it isn't going to work."

The man paused before turning to look him straight in the eye. He then shook his head and went back to what he was doing. Toshiro sat down and began to go through the paper work to double check and sign everything. He stopped short, looking up at the man. "Why is it the other two thought you would be visiting Ichimaru Gin?"

The man paused again, this time looking up at him. "You don't know?"

"No. Matsumoto also told me that you're the one who pulled Gin out when he collapsed. You didn't have to do that."

"Yes... I did. But then you don't know, so you wouldn't understand why I had to do that."

The boy frowned at the man, letting out a deep sigh before turning back to his paperwork. The office remained silent for a long period of time, though every so often he would glance up at the man and wonder why he was doing everything that he was doing. "We're enemies, aren't we?"

"There you are!" The young female voice caused Toshiro to suddenly startle, almost knocking over the bottle of ink.

He looked up and eyed the two young females who had entered the division offices without his permission, though in truth the other person in the room had likewise done the same. One of the females looked to be around his age and had long, dark curly hair, while the other happened to be shorter with short pale hair. The smaller one hurried over to the desk and latched onto the man's neck.

"Uncle!"

Toshiro narrowed his bright teal eyes at the two. "What are you two doing here?"

The dark haired female looked at him with disdain. "We're here because we're here."

"Look, if you have no business here then please leave. I'm busy."

"But uncle is here and you're not telling him to leave."

"For some strange reason he's made himself busy helping me with paperwork. I don't have time to play games with you two."

The dark haired female wrinkled her nose at him. "As if I'd want to play games with a Shinigami." Her words caused Toshiro to flinch, realizing that the female had said that to personally attack him. She then turned to the man and frowned. "Uncle... why are you helping him. He's a Shinigami."

"Why did he help Ichimaru Gin as well. His behavior is odd."

The dark haired female continued speaking. "Particularly when you've always hated Shinigami."

Toshiro stopped signing the paperwork and looked right at the man, a look of complete shock on his face. The boy then shook his head. "Wait... its honestly been bothering me. Why are you helping? Why did you help Ichimaru Gin out as well? Why is it those two other Quincy thought you would be visiting Ichimaru as well? Why did they agree with me that they didn't have any business visiting him."

The man broke from his stubborn silence. "Who are you talking about?"

"They identified themselves as Askin Nakk Le Vaar and Jugram Haschwalth."

"Papa?" The female frowned, glaring at Toshiro as she did so. "You don't have any right to speak his name, or uncle Askin's for that matter."

Cong frowned. "When you told me you didn't know, I didn't realize that Ju-nii-sama hadn't told you, let alone that you had run into him or Askin-nii-sama."

"Never mind." The boy went back to signing the paper work.

The dark haired female frowned. "You're not the least bit curious about what it is that you don't know."

Toshiro felt one of his eyebrows twitch. "It doesn't matter if I'm curious or not. I'm not exactly interested in making friends, not to mention the fact you made it clear you don't want to be friends either. On top of this bad things have happened in the past when I stuck my nose in where it doesn't belong."

"Yes. What you don't know doesn't have anything to do with you." The dark haired girl pulled back triumphantly while the other continued to glare at Toshiro.

"Yes it does." Cong set aside the papers and cleaned out his brush.

"Say what?" The girl's eyes flashed with anger. "What does..."

"I can't say anything to either one of you until I have Ju-nii-sama's permission. I'd actually prefer to have nii-sama's permission though."

The two girls' faces twisted up in frustration as they processed what the man had said. "What does my father have to do with this. And how can you get his permission when he's dead? That's..." Instead of finishing the sentence she spun on her heals. "Come on Lily. We have better things to do."

The two left the room while the man got up and brought him the finished paper work. Toshiro went to work signing them as the man placed them in front of him. The boy spoke half way through. "What is the name of your other brother... the one that happens to be that girls father?" The man froze. When no answer came, the boy let out a deep sigh. "I could ask her for a name you know."

"I'll tell you later."

The final page was signed and Toshiro stacked the papers. "While I appreciate this, my fukutaicho is going to need something to do when she gets back to keep her mind off Ichimaru."

"She's mad at him."

The boy looked up, noting the worried look on the man's face. "She should be mad at him, but..." There came a pause before he changed his train of thought. "Have you been to see Ichimaru?"

"No."

"So you don't know."

"Know what?"

"Can I ask why you haven't visited him? Those two were sure you would have." No answer came and Toshiro stood up. "Would you come and visit him with me?"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"They need to talk and I don't want to interrupt."

The boy looked at the ground. "I think you should come with me. Believe me when I say you won't be interrupting anything at this point. Right now... well, if you'll come you'll understand, much like how I won't understand until I know certain things."

He headed to the door not knowing if the man would follow him. When he entered the room, Rangiku looked up as she recognized his spiritual pressure. "Taicho, I wanted to tell you before that I think Gin and I met..." There was a pause then, "him before."

Toshiro glanced back and the man and saw that he had followed him to the room. "Matsumoto, this is Cang Du." He paused and turned to the woman. "What do you mean you think you and Ichimaru met him before?"

The woman frowned at the two. "I honestly don't know. Perhaps..."

The man's silence broke then. "Nii-sama." He turned towards the woman, frowning as he did so. "Why isn't he awake?"

The boy felt his throat choke up. "Is she... does she happen to be hers?"

Cang flinched before looking at the ground. The man let out a deep sigh. "Yes."

"Um... Matsumoto... I think... um..." Toshiro glanced away. "I think the relationship... I thought the two of you were just classmates from the academy."

"Taicho... Gin and I never went to academy with each other. He entered and graduated long before that." Rangiku turned to the man. "I apologize for saying this, but why are you calling Gin your brother and what does taicho mean by she happens to be hers?"

The words choked out of the boy's mouth. "You and he... you and Ichimaru have a daughter. I'm quite sure that she... I sure that... hell. I think it's best I take my leave here."

"Taicho... what..."

The boy left then as fast as possible, not wanting to look the woman in the face. He finally stopped running half way between the forth and tenth, choosing to sit on a roof. He could feel his eyes watering up with the anger and frustration he felt. The sound of feet landing hear him didn't phase him and he simply stared ahead.

"It's you." The sound of the female's voice caused him to suddenly freeze up mentally, his head turning to look her in the eye. "Why is a tai...cho crying?"

"You're the last person I want to talk to right now." Toshiro gritted his teeth together.

"Eh... you haven't been very polite, telling me to get out of your office earlier when my uncle was there. Now you're treating me like I'm utter trash."

"I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to come across that way."

"And yet you make it clear you don't want me near you. I kind of get earlier because I didn't belong here, but I have as much right to be up on this roof as you do."

Toshiro let out an irritated sound. "I would appreciate if you would stop talking to me."

He stood up to leave, only to have her step in front of him. "The look on your face says you hate me? Why... because I'm a Quincy? Get over your damn prejudices."

"You're one to talk about prejudices. I don't hate you because you're a Quincy though."

"What other reason could you hate me for?"

The corner of Toshiro's mouth twisted up. "Did you know that your father has been under your nose in Soul Society this whole time?"

The girl narrowed her eyes at him. "What kind of sick joke is this? My father's dead."

"A real sick joke indeed, because apparently your uncles couldn't be bothered to tell you they found out he's alive. Maybe it has something to do with him not waking up from the battle we fought. You know, the man I mentioned your uncle wanting to visit?"

"No. This isn't a sick joke because you're telling me my father's alive. It's sick because you're telling me he's a Shinigami."

"Eh... your mother is as well."

"Damn you! There is no way my parents are damn Shinigami and if they are they can just go rot in hell!"

The boy's teeth ground against each other right. "Bitch."

"What was that for?"

"You just said that your father and mother are horrible for being Shinigami."

"Well, they are. They fought against us, did they not? They aren't just horrible. They're the absolute evil and I want nothing to do with them. She's likely some whore and he's some mass murder. They can just go and die as they're the worst parents ever." A resounding smack was heard then and Toshiro found himself blinking a couple of times. "Oi... I'm really tired of your sick joke. It's not funny anymore."

"Sick joke?" Toshiro's voice raised. "It's actually true that Matsumoto dresses provocatively and rumor has it that Ichimaru is a mass murder or whatever other crap, but don't say they're bad parents."

"You have no right to tell me what to think of them."

"Yes I do. The reason I hate you is because your parents are the two people I always wanted to be my parents. You pretty much have everything I've ever really wanted. You're the girl Matsumoto's always wanted and you're not some kid Ichimaru's lover picked up off the street that he believes serves as a stand in for him."

The next thing he knew he was jumping away just as the shingles smashed, her blade coming down. "I'm really sick of your dumb joke. You have no right to butt in."

The dark haired female aimed again and again, causing more shingles to go up. Some of the debris hit him, causing her to cut his shoulder twice with her blade. Then a gouge appeared on his leg, causing him to stumble. The next blow came down towards his head and he snapped his eyes shut, only for it to never come. Instead he found himself scooped into someones arms.

He opened his eyes just in time to feel the person stumble to one knee. As Toshiro looked up he felt his eyes go wide upon realizing that it was Gin who held him in his arms. The man turned his head to look towards where the girl was and the white haired child saw that Cong was holding her back. "Let me go! Let me go!"

"No."

The silver haired man let out a deep breath. His body was dressed in the infirmary robes, meaning he had somehow managed to get up and out. "Co-oto-chan? You have her?"

"Are you all right nii-sama?"

"You're actually talking in full sentences now?" Gin's eyes remained closed. The smile he had plastered over his face faded. "I'm going to be quite frank I don't have the energy to move and I honestly want to go back to sleep for a very, very long time."

"Ichimaru..."

Toshiro found himself interrupted by the man. "And you Shiro-chan. Why did you have to storm off like that? Why didn't you stop and listen to what he had to tell you?"

"Tell me. You know I died on a plain of ice and came to Soul Society."

"Stubborn."

"Wait... you're my papa?" The girl spoke up, her voice tightening. "Why? Why did you save him?"

Gin looked up, his eyes opening up as he continued to frown. "Shiro-chan... when is your birthday?"

"Now... you can very well put me down. Of all the things Ichimaru."

"When is your birthday?"

"December twentieth."

"Wait..." Toshiro could hear the sound of the girl dropping to the ground and a sudden bawling.

He turned towards her, pushing his way out of Gin's arms, only to find himself falling to the ground. "You lectured me about crying earlier, so why..."

"Shut up dummy!"

"Oi...'

The silver haired man collapsed to a sitting position. "Kiddo... I know his name, but what's yours."

The girl continued to cry, causing Gin to touch Toshiro's shoulder lightly and shake his head. Something was frustrating the man. Cong though spoke up. "Her name is Bambietta Basterbine. Her birthday is also December twentieth."

"Wait... I died on a plain of ice."

Gin flicked him in the forehead before collapsing forward onto his shoulder. "Baka... your inner world is a plain of ice."

The boy froze, realization hitting him. "Why... why didn't you tell me?"

"Kiddo... I'm really tired. I felt you and..." The man's words were cut short by many others showing up, including Kyoraku and the two other uncles.

The new head taicho placed himself between his Shinigami and the Quincy, only to have Jugram step forward. "Back away from them."

"Sorry... but as head captain I'm not going to let you kill my men. I don't know..."

It was then that Bambietta broke away from her uncle and moved to wrap her arms around the silver haired boy's waist from behind, sobbing into her back.

"Baba-chan... what is..."

Kyoraku frowned. "Shiro-chan... did I miss something? I am quite sure I had told you to get along with them and not do anything stupid, but instead you went and did something stupid only to manage somehow to get along with them."

"Um... I'm not sure how to explain this." Toshiro looked at Gin, just as Rangiku also arrived, her reiatsu flaring from panic. The man was back asleep, his breathing heavy.