So…this might seem rather odd, but it's a Rukia and Toushirou friendship of sorts thingy…yeah, don't know how to explain. Just read and hope you enjoy!

Nature of Ice

Ice…

Ice was all that there was…

The cold wintry sunlight filtered in through a crack in the windows, falling gently upon the eyelids of the sleeping occupant of the room. The eyelids twitched and snapped open, exposing a pair of large, violet-blue eyes.

Kuchiki Rukia took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before rising. The last dregs of her dream faded, and yet, echoing in the distance, she could still hear Sode no Shirayuki's words.

"Do you still fear me?"

Rukia glanced in her mirror. Her dark hair framed her face, with one lock falling stubbornly in front of it. She was not one to care for her appearance, but today, she examined it. Her hair was dark like coals, and her eyes were often bright with determined fire. She did not think that she was particularly beautiful. No, titles like that went to people like Matsumoto Rangiku.

She differed so much from her zanpakutou. Her beautiful, white, cold zanpakutou. So why were they working together?

"I am ice, and you are swathed in ice. It is a part of you."

"Is it?" she asked the air.

The tenth division was always a friendly division. One would not think so at first, with such a frosty captain in command. But speak to any officer there, and they would prove you wrong. They were all proud to be there.

Rukia turned her head as she passed some new recruits. She was delivering paperwork from the thirteenth the thirteenth that required the tenth to look at.

"I thought I was going to die!" one was exclaiming excitedly. "The hollow was three times more powerful than any I'd ever faced!"

"Really?" the other asked, awed. "But you don't even have a scratch on you!"

"Oh, that's because the captain stepped in," the first replied. Rukia snuck a glance at the officer. He was a young boy, one that looked just a bit younger than herself. His face was set in admiration as he spoke. "He wasn't even on duty! Just visiting, he'd said, but he stepped in and told me to run. I remember this cold reiatsu, and when I turned, there was all this ice around, and the hollow was frozen solid. It was incredible!"

"Wow, they say that our captain has the strongest ice-type zanpakutou ever!"

Rukia cocked her head, interested. She had heard that the Tenth division captain was just like ice. Renji had told her many times that he was icy and severe all the time. He wielded Hyourinmaru, the said strongest ice-type zanpakutou, and because of it, his heart had been frozen, and he was unforgiving and cold as ice. She herself had barely ever spoken to Hitsugaya Toushirou, the boy that was said to be the greatest prodigy Soul Society has ever seen, and when she did, he was always rather detached and never spoke in a friendly, familiar way.

Perhaps that was why she was afraid of ice. Hitsugaya Toushirou had become cold and barely seemed to become close to anyone.

She never wanted to be like that

"Excuse me, is Hitsugaya-taichou in?" Rukia asked as she stood outside the open door to the office and knocked. There was a yelp, and a bang. Cautiously she peaked in, and bit back a smile. Matsumoto Rangiku lay in a heap upon the floor, rubbing her head and groaning. She blinked, and a smile of relief broke out upon her face as she took in Rukia. "Ah, Kuchiki! Thank goodness it's just you and not taichou! He'd freeze me for the next century if he found out that I've been hiding…err, I mean keeping my sake in the office again."

Rukia laughed. Like many others, she was often in the know on Matsumoto's attempts to hide sake (and various other objects, namely paperwork) from her captain, only because there was no point in trying to hide them. He always seemed to know.

"So, where is Hitsugaya-taichou?" Rukia asked politely. Matsumoto shrugged. "I think he said something about training. Why do you need him?"

"I was just delivering paperwork to him."

"More work huh," Matsumoto muttered. "You can put it on the desk. He'll get to it later."

Rukia nodded and did as she was told. The captain's desk was neatly organized, with completed paperwork on one side and uncompleted work upon the other. All the writing utensils were organized neatly. The desk reminded her of the one who occupied it, and that reminded her of Matsumoto's earlier comment.

"Matsumoto-san, you said that the captain would freeze you. If he found out about the sake Would he really?"

Matsumoto blinked in surprise. "Huh, no one's ever asked me that before. I assumed that everyone knew that I was joking. The captain wouldn't ever do that."

Rukia nodded, and Matsumoto gave her a glance. "What brought this on?"

Rukia shrugged. "I don't know. Renji always talks about how Hitsugaya-taichou is merciless and cold."

Matsumoto snorted. "What would that idiot Renji-kun know?" she said, crossing her arms and causing her ample bosom to move dangerously. "If you just got to know him a bit better, you'd disagree. But then again, I guess that's his problem. He doesn't like getting to know people."

Rukia nodded. After promising she wouldn't breathe a word about Matsumoto's sake to anyone, she departed, lost in thought. Due to her lack of concentration, she didn't realize that she'd taken a wrong turn until she realized that she had no idea where she was. She didn't know the tenth division that well, and being stuck in an unfamiliar division was never a good thing. Forcing herself to think coolly and logically, she sharpened her senses and attempted to hone in upon a familiar reiatsu.

She didn't need to feel far. Almost as soon as she had awakened her senses, they were assaulted with a blast of powerful, ice-cold reiatsu. She gasped, trying to orient herself. Looking up, she saw a magnificent ice dragon rise up in the sky. She couldn't help but watch in awe, watch the sun glint off each scale, watch the lithe body twist and slice through the air, and watch the deadly ice fly and seemingly dominate the sky.

Walking forth, as if in a trance, she started when she realized that she'd wandered upon the tenth division training fields. The area was large and wide, but the whole of it was covered in ice at this point. Curiosity welled up inside her, and she gingerly stepped upon the ice, bent down, and brushed it with a finger. The intense cold radiating from it startled her, and she almost gasped.

"Kuchiki?"

This time she did gasp, glancing up, she saw the tenth division captain approach her, his usual scowl in place, making her feel sure she'd done something wrong. Here, in this area filled with the captain's ice and reiatsu accompanying his scowl, it wasn't hard for certain words float through her mind: he was as cold as ice.

"Forgive me sir, I didn't mean to intrude," she spoke, bowing.

The young captain looked thoughtful, and nodded. 'It's fine."

Rukia looked up, waiting for the captain to dismiss her. He said nothing, instead sheathing his sword and conjuring kidou flames to begin melting the grounds. She bit her lip, wondering if she should leave. Matsumoto's words floated through her mind again. "If you just got to know him a bit better, you'd disagree." But how likely was that? Did she really want to get to know him?

Then again, Hinamori Momo knew him, and she always said that he's nicer beneath his mask. And the shinigami of his division…was it really true that ice wielders were all like ice?

After a moment's hesitation, she decided to speak up. What harm could it do? "Hitsugaya-taichou, may I ask you a question?"

He did not speak, but paused in what he was doing, turning his usually cold, guarded eyes upon her. The turquoise irises were similar to ice, and made Rukia almost lose her nerve, yet some inner part of her snapped at her, and she forced herself to gaze back coolly.

"What…how do you define the nature of ice?"

She wanted to bite her tongue for asking such an odd question. The captain did not look confused, however. He seemed to know exactly what she was trying to get at. "Nature of ice…" his hand unconsciously touched the hilt of his zanpakutou.

"Forgive me sir," Rukia said, suddenly realizing that the question might have been too personal, as it pertained to his zanpakutou. "You do not have to answer…"

He shook his head. "Few people have ever asked me that. I suppose I can give you my view on it."

His gaze traveled around the field, and back to her. His eyes narrowed slightly, not menacingly, but thoughtfully. "You wield an ice type zanpakutou, do you not? Sode no Shirayuki, the most beautiful ice-type zanpakutou."

Rukia nodded, a little stunned that he knew. She was also a little surprised that he decided to answer, him being cold and antisocial as he was. "Yes sir."

"Well then, I suppose I would say that ice is beautiful, but beautiful only to those who can truly appreciate it." The captain seemed to be gazing at something only he could see. "Beautiful, yet deadly. Ice is dangerous, and unforgiving. It has no mercy. Ice is cold; there is no denying that. Cold, proud, deadly."

Rukia flinched. Those words precisely described her zanpakutou's spirit. She looked up at the captain, and realized that those adjectives could apply to shinigami before her as well. Frigid and deadly, and full of pride.

"But," the captain added, "That's not all."

Rukia's eyes widened slightly, and she was silence, waiting for the captain to continue.

"Ice is fierce. Not only toward battle, but also toward guarding what is important. Imagine if an object was trapped within a glacier. Ice will not easily relinquish it too you, will it?"

"No," Rukia spoke, slowly.

"Ice is powerful. To be able to harness its power gives the wielder great strength. Ice is also quite stubborn," he almost seemed to smile at this. "I should know, having to try and melt it after every training session."

Rukia felt herself laugh lightly. The captain gave her another look, but it wasn't reprimanding. His turquoise eyes didn't seem remotely like ice chips anymore. There was a sort of understanding within them.

"Ice wielders share many of these traits. They are proud, fierce, and sometimes cold and unforgiving. As well, Wielders of ice are very logical, usually organized and diligent, and try and remain cool and calm in all situations, preferring a mask to hide any emotions rather than wearing them on a sleeve. They appear to have a gift for pushing away and masking all feeling, and appear completely blank and composed in many situations. That is, unless something breaks fast that barrier, and then all their torrent of emotions become exposed. They tend to rely upon their logical thinking more than their feelings, and prefer to act detached and free from emotion, which sometimes makes them seem cold."

Rukia was surprised again. "Seem cold…Hitsugaya-taichou…"

The smallest smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, and Rukia noted it was the first time she'd seen another expression other than his scowl. Somehow, the difference was startling, and for a moment, he did not seem quite so much a being of ice.

"I'm quite aware that many shinigami think I'm as cold as ice, that I am ice. I suppose they're right in a sense. I don't appear very warm and sociable, and I probably have more contact with cold and ice than any other element. I've heard some say my heart is frozen over. That's what you were afraid of, weren't you, Kuchiki? You think you'll become like me, with your heart frozen over, because you are an ice wielder."

"How…how did you know?" Rukia said, her cheeks flushing slightly in embarrassment. Toushirou shrugged. "One of my subordinates just found out he has an ice-type zanpakutou. He asked me a similar question recently."

"Well, you are what everyone thinks of when they think ice," Rukia spoke lightheartedly. She realized a second too late that she'd let slip her professional appearance again, but the captain wasn't troubled, and almost seemed to chuckle. "I suppose. But I don't think you need to worry. You're strong, and you shouldn't put too much in store with what element dominates you. Besides, I didn't become this way only because of wielding an ice-type zanpakutou. Who you are is your choice, and you can very well choose not to act like me at all."

The thirteenth division officer nodded. She was quite surprised at his words. Though they were spoken in his usual tone, they seemed to contain more feelings than his usual speech. She bowed. "I thank you for your time, captain."

Toushirou nodded. "It was nice speaking to you again, Kuchiki. A nice break after dealing with Matsumoto's whining. Which reminds me. If you happen to see her, tell her that I know he's hiding sake in the filing cabinet again and I want it out of the office by tonight or I'll personally make sure that she never sees it again."

A grin found its way upon Rukia's face again. "Is being overly knowledgeable and perceptive a trait of ice wielders as well?"

Toushirou seemed almost to grin as he began his melting again. "No, that's the mark of a good shinigami."

Rukia nodded, and left the grounds. Blinking, she realized that this was the first time she really spoke to Hitsugaya Toushirou. He really wasn't as cold or merciless as others made him out to be. He only acts cold, because that's his nature, and it is easier for him to do so, but it isn't as if his heart is ice.

"Of course not," Sode no Shirayuki's voice floated up to her. "Even us beings of ice do not have a heart entirely made of ice."

"No, you do not,"Rukia agreed. She sensed Sode no Shirayuki's smile

"Well then, Rukia, will you stop fearing me so, and fearing your own power?"

Rukia grinned to herself. "Perhaps I will."

"You will what?"

Rukia jumped and looked up. Matsumoto was walking by, feigning an innocent expression. "Nothing, Fukutaichou," Rukia said. Matsumoto pouted. "No one tells me anything anymore! Taichou's vanished, and I can't find him anywhere!"

Rukia flashed a slightly impish grin at her. She could now see why the division was so warm. With Matsumoto lightening the moods, and a captain that many knew they could rely on, it really was a good division. "I saw him."

"You did?" Matsumoto asked, her eyebrows rising. "What happened?"

"Oh nothing. You were right. He's not as cold as people say he is."

Matsumoto nodded smugly. "I told you so."

"He also said that he knows that you hid the sake in the filing cabinet and he wants it gone by tomorrow or you're never seeing it again."

"Yup, I know-wait, what?"

Rukia laughed as she watched her rush off. Her earlier gloom had all but vanished. Perhaps she should do some training.

So…yeah…that's my attempt and writing about those two…nothing else to say for myself…