Chapter 01

Eye of the Beholder

Now—

"No Toushirou, stop swinging your Zanpakutou with so much anger. If you want me to help you train, then you have to listen to me." The male carrot top frowned sadly at the angry friend before having to take a water break whether the other agreed to it or not. "Come over here and take a break in order to cool off that hot head of yours. I'm not going to let you train under my watch with that attitude."

Hitsugaya Toushirou hesitated for a brief second upon whether he should listen to this man by coming over to his side for a break. They were deep within the cave that he had been training himself nonstop for the past three years since the war, and finally had a teacher after two years. He eventually gave a slight nod before reverting from his bankai mode to sheath his Zanpakutou before coming over to the teacher. Although there was a hundred year difference between their ages, there was no denying that his tall, muscular teacher, was very powerful. The moment he sat down to take an unwanted break, a nice, cold, water container was pressed against his forehead as a reward for listening.

"How many times do I have to tell you, your anger will get you killed?" After Toushirou took the water from him, he continued. "Your anger almost cost your life —and Hinamori's, haven't you learned?"
"I know, Kurosaki." The captain hissed. "Stop reminding me of what happened. I was there, remember?"
"No… you weren't. You were so blind in your rage that there was no way you were thinking straight. I can't tell you how important it is for you to let go of the past Toushirou." His hand reached out to him.
Seeing the action, he swatted the hand away before it could reach him. "You may have been able to work your way up from a different way, but this is the path that I have been obtaining my power from!"

"Don't lie to me," not caring that the hate-filled captain had smacked his hand away, he managed to wrap his hand around his shoulders to bring him close. Toushirou began to fight him on the actions. "Stop it," he demanded firmly, causing him to obey. "Drink a little more water, and then take a nap."

"Bastard, how is a nap going to help me get stronger?" He growled. "You always make me sleep!"

"When you train, your body tenses and fighting becomes tiresome because of that pent up anger you hold on to." Once Toushirou finished his water, the carrot top took the container away to set aside for him. "Drinking water is to keep you hydrated, but have you rest allows you to start over later."

Toushirou did not like his methods of training; he could not use hatred in any manner at any time, and he would practically be scolded the moment he disobeys. His teacher would not physically harm him to show his disapproval of the aggressive methods, but the signs of his disapproval were painful enough. Watching such a strong powerful man look at you unhappily with disappointment, you could not help but feel that you had let them down. He tiredly leaned his head on the man's firm chest since he was aware that he was not going to be able to go anywhere any time soon. The captain did not like how this man was trying to train him, but… he would do anything to endure the strength this man has, too.

"I'll let you sleep for an hour," the man whispered. "We'll try a new approach for you when you wake."
"What… kind of… approach?" He was slowly slipping into his dream world where he could sleep.
"Instead of fighting against Aizen, you'll fight against me, to protect Hinamori. That's all, okay?"
His head faintly motioned a nod against the carrot top's chest. "Thank… you… Kuro…sa…ki…"

Kurosaki Ichigo smiled softly before whispered. "You're welcome, Toushirou."

"Nh… " said captain slightly shifted. "It's…" his head fell slightly forward, "Hitsu…gaya—" he fell over and collapsed onto Ichigo's lap without realizing it most likely. "—Taichou…" Toushirou groaned. "To you…"

"Ah…" Ichigo's smile had gently widened. "Good night, Toushirou."

The captain quietly grumbled as he fell into a deep sleep, nuzzling up against his pillow that happened to be his teacher. This cave was distant and out of the way, but the best thing about their situation was that Ichigo had no reiatsu to find. However, there was one person that knew about their location, while two people knew about Toushirou training under Ichigo. Everyone thought that the youngest captain disliked the carrot top with a passion, but they also knew that he had a soft spot for him. All Shinigami officers had a soft spot for Kurosaki Ichigo because of everything that he had done to keep them alive.

If it were not for Ichigo, there would have been many casualties on their side.

"Ichigo," a voice whispered.
Said man looked, "Rangiku-san."
"Did he fall asleep already?"

"Yes, but you might wake him up." Toushirou was a light sleeper most of the time, but there were some occasions where he could sleep as deep as the dead. "Is there something you need? I just got him to take a nap, and you know he gets upset when there's another here when he wakes." Last time, the little captain went rampaging on his subordinate when found sleeping against Ichigo's chest a month ago.

"I came for you. Soutaichou wants to talk to you when you're free." She smiled at her captain's sleeping face. "Only when he's sleeping against you does he look so peaceful." Rangiku wanted to giggle at this.
"Jii-san will have to wait an hour when this guy wakes up." If he said Toushirou's name, he knew he would start to stir awake. "Do you have any idea what he wants to see me about? I don't want to go."
"Sorry, I only received a Hell butterfly to relay the message to you—" her body stopped moving as her captain slightly shifted around against Ichigo. "He's so cute, I just want to pinch his little cheeks!"

Toushirou's eyelids were shot wide at the exclamation, causing Ichigo to slap his forehead in dismay.

"Matsumoto!" The captain roared furiously to avoid revealing his embarrassment of being caught, once again, sleeping against Ichigo's chest. "What are you doing here! You're supposed to be doing reports!"
"She came to tell me that Jii-san wants a meeting with me, I was just telling her that she would have to wait an hour." It was too late though, there was no way in Hell that Toushirou would go back to sleep.
"Then go get your affairs in order." He got up, glaring icily at the subordinate who knew she was safe because Ichigo would tell him to back off otherwise. "I'll train myself until you return from seeing him."
"No, you're either going to go back to sleep, or meditate until I return. If I even catch your reiatsu shift, I won't help you for two months, again." As soon as Ichigo said this, Toushirou turned his glare to him.
"You heard Sensei!"The lieutenant cheered happy before wrapping an arm around Ichigo's arm. "I'll stay here to make sure you do one or the other, right, Kurosaki-sensei?" She chirped too happily to him.

About six months ago, Toushirou had managed to train properly, and so Ichigo praised him by giving him a hardcore battle. It had taken so much out of the captain that he had accidentally called him 'teacher' after an exhausted 'thank you,' and Rangiku was there to overhear it. From thereon, she had been doing her best to poke her fun at her captain whenever the opportunity would knock on her door.

"Rangiku-san," Ichigo warned patiently. "Leave Toushirou alone and go do your work properly. We had a deal, remember?" He had an advantage over her; it was not his style, but telling Toushirou where her stash of sake and adult magazines kept her in check. "I'll be back in an hour, I promise." He turned to—
"Kurosaki?" His tone not as rough as before. The two looked at him when hearing the slight foreign tone. Ichigo glanced at Rangiku, nodding for her to go ahead and leave so he could hear Toushirou out. "Why do you continue to say that to me before you leave? Only to me?" He sounded…confused.
This made him smile weakly. "I told you before that I will never betray you. I'm not going to use you or use Hinamori." He came over to stand in front of the smaller captain, softly bonking him on his forehead before continuing. "By now, you've become accustom to me keeping my promises, isn't that right?"
"…yes," it was a painful confession; but it did relieve him to know that he would keep to his word—even more so when he would make a promise. "I'll do my best to get some rest, I'm a little tired." He shoved the man's fist from his head. "You should go see what that old codger wants from you before he's mad."

"Hey," the carrot top called softly, earning his attention. "I probably shouldn't say this if you're going to go back to sleep but…" He paused, trying to think of the best way he could say it to him. "You have to learn—no, you have to decide what is most important to you. Hatred for Aizen, or protecting Hinamori." As soon as Toushirou looked away with a scowl, he knew that he had to get through to him right now. "Toushirou… look at me." The other did not listen. "Toushirou," he said more warningly, and said male finally looked at him, allowing Ichigo to sigh freely. "You have to sacrifice one or the other, you can't have it both ways. Continuing to hate Aizen will only cause Hinamori more pain, do you understand?"

"…yes Sen—" Toushirou barely caught himself before calling Ichigo as his teacher, forcing his cheeks to redden as he became defensive. "I got it, alright! Get out of here already before you're scolded at!"

Ichigo smiled softly. "I'll be back soon, I promise."

"Were you with Hitsugaya-Taichou before coming here?" The old man glared hardly.
It perked his interest a little. "Is that a crime that I'm not aware of, Jii-san?"

Shigekuni looked at him in annoyance before closing his eyes quietly when he knew that he would not get through to him in words well. The room was wide and spacious, but quiet and eerie… as went the way that things were in the office of the Commanding-General. Ichigo stood firmly in his place, not about to waver if he was told not to train Toushirou anymore; he would absolutely fight him on this.

"You have my permission."

"E-Eh?" The carrot top faltered on his firm ground, nearly falling over when almost believing that he heard him correction. "Permission for what?" He blinked curiously. "What do you think we're doing?"
"I have no idea, but whatever you have been doing has been keeping Hitsugaya-Taichou in check. He has been aggressive recently towards others until you showed up once again in our lives." The old man stated.
"Ah… I have been working with him on that…" His brown hues looked to the ground in thought. "He may be older than me, but he's the youngest Taichou. I understand that he's burdened too much. But I—"
"Kurosaki Ichigo," Shigekuni called firmly. "I do not need to know about your relationship with Hitsugaya-Taichou, I merely am announcing that you have my permission, but you need to go home."

"Relationship?" Saying the word made him realize what the old man was getting at. "N-No, we're not—"

"I will allow you to come here for two days at a time. In return, you rest in your world, two days at a time, before returning." The Commanding-General ignored the flabbergasted look on the other's face. "You will leave tonight to recover from your time here… whether you return in two days is up to you."

"…e-eh?"

"Dismissed!"

He faintly twitched before catching a slight rise in Toushirou's reiatsu, causing him to use his flash steps to arrive at the scene since the conversation was over. The cave was cold… but it was the same temperature from when he had left earlier, so he was not training, that was good. However, he could not find the mischievous young captain, so he looked around and found him asleep against a rock. It was a little troublesome, but it took fifteen minutes to arrive, and about thirty-five minutes of an odd little chitchat with the Commanding-General. Waking Toushirou up was not going to be fun because he will either attack when woken or become crankier than ever.

"Toushirou," he whispered softly, knowing that he was most likely dreaming if his reiatsu had risen ever so slightly earlier. "Toushirou," his hand came over to the captain's shoulder, shaking him a little bit.
"Kuro…go…" A pale hand lazy batted the hand away with little effort. "You…sa…sleep." Luckily, Ichigo was receiving the stubborn Toushirou that did not want to wake up since he was ten minutes early.
With this being the case, he came closer carefully to whisper in his ear. "Toushirou, would you like to train?" There was a soft grunt as he nodded ever so lightly to the offer. "You have to get up then."

Brows knitted in displease before eyelids started to flutter tiredly to look over his shoulder. "Kuro…saki? You're… back?" The captain began to sit up straight, rubbing his eyes. "Are we… going to train… now?"
"Yes, but you have to get up if we're going to get back to the session." He tried not to smile, but it was interesting to see him in such a daze. "Come on, get on your feet so I know you're not sleeping still."

There was a little unwritten rule that he learned about the captain; he needed to have a one-hour nap minimum, or he cannot function properly. Technically, though, he had an hour sleep if Ichigo counted the ten minutes that it took to get him to sleep in the first place. The only problem was that he was not sure when Toushirou managed to go back to sleep, so this could be a little bit of a problem. Toushirou slowly, but surely, got up on his two feet as he lightly swayed back and forth to keep himself awake.

"You're not sleepwalking again, are y—" Before he could finish his sentence, the other began to fall forward, and he quickly moved in front of him to make the catch. "Toushirou," the carrot top sighed as he held him up. "You have to snap out of it, don't you want to train?" The captain nodded against his chest. "Okay then, you have to w—" Toushirou grabbed the hem of his upper clothing and kissed him. Alarms rose in Ichigo's mind, causing him to place the captain at arm's length to yell. "Toushirou!"

Said male shuttered and cringed at the loudness, and looked at him through wincing eyelids, wondering what he was yelling about. It did not take long before Toushirou realized that he had just did something stupid when he found himself standing on his own two feet. There were times where he did things when he was half-asleep, and his lieutenant told him once that he 'pounced' Ichigo before attacking her.

"What did I do?" Now wide-awake, he wanted answers. "Kurosaki, what did I do?"

"Don't worry about it…" Ichigo looked away unhappily, trying not wipe his lips from the surprise.
"Don't lie to me, what did I do Kurosaki? I obviously touched you!" He looked him over for clues.
"Hey—I'm not lying about anything." His attention shot over to the mouth of the cave. "…Renji."
"I don't think a kiss is something someone shouldn't worry about." Said redhead stated firmly.
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "What are you doing here?" He eyed him as he came over to the two.
"Saw you walk by earlier and thought I'd tag along. Then you had a meeting and I waited."

"Yeah… well, there was a mix up…" Thinking about the assumption mad his cheeks redden slightly. "Oh, you should probably get out of here, we're a little busy." Just as he started to turn toward Toushirou, a hand grabbed his arm to whip him around. His lips smacking against Renji's as the redhead intended.

Toushirou watched, not particularly caring, but was still managing to glare.

"—Renji!" Ichigo shoved him off, and punched him in the face. The other fell to the ground in pain. "Will you stop acting like an idiot? Toushirou woke up and mistook me for someone else, he's bad at waking up in his right state of mind like you!" Obviously, he was aggressive at this point… but settled down. "I think you should go, I have to finish things here before going home tonight. We'll talk later, alright?"

"Yeah…" Renji tried to relocate his jaw, "…sure."

It did not take long for him to leave the cave, and Ichigo turned to see Toushirou staring at him in horror after hearing the two talk. This was not boding well with the captain as he the words of kissing this man, the thought of it made him bring his fingertips to his lips. A shadow lingered over him—Ichigo managed to stand in front of him once against before the captain could realize it, and tried to back off. Chocolate brown hues gave him a fierce scowl for even thinking of taking a step back from him, so he stayed firm.

"You were half asleep, what happened doesn't have to mean anything." He placed a hand on his large Zanpakutou on his back. "Now, how about we put that behind us, and I'll spar with you right now?"
There was a long pause to consider things before looking up at the carrot top. "Can you tell me what Soutaichou said during your meeting with him?" He watched as Ichigo looked away. "What is it?"
"I'm limited to staying here two days in a row, and I have to go home tonight to stay away home for two days." The carrot top wanted to avoid the assumption. "He wanted me to continue working with you."

"He knows you're helping me train?"

"No… but never mind that. Do you want to train or not?"

Toushirou had to let it go by nodded. "Yes, let's train while we can then."

Sure enough, Ichigo sent the first attack to keep him on his feet, shoving him a few feet in order to let him prepare for a stronger attack. Toushirou understood what he was supposed to do, and fought this man seriously without any thought of hatred inside of him. The problem was, it was when he was trying to train without sparring with the carrot top that he would allow the hatred to consume him. He sparred against Rangiku at one point, and there was a haze of aggression within him that he did not understand.

"Are you returning to Soul Society in two days then?" Toushirou asked as he swung his blade at him.
He blocked the attack easily. "No, you need to deal with your squad." He dodged another swing.
"So then you'll return at the end of the month then to continue where we will stop today?"
"Yeah," Ichigo dodged once more, backing up. "But you have to meditate every day."
"I understand." The captain saw him back up against a rock. "An opening!"

"S-Shit!" As Toushirou swung his Zanpakutou, Ichigo accidentally caught the blade in hand. "Sorry."

Toushirou stared at him, panting after putting all of his efforts into swinging his Zanpakutou, only to be caught with three fingers. He saw the rock that he slept against… it had cracked at the force he put into the strong thrust, yet this man did not budge. The anger immediately began to fester at the thought of being weak—and everything changed in that split second of changed emotions.

Ichigo took Hyourinmaru away from him as punishment for the negative energy that was supposed to stay neutral during their battle. Once it was carefully placed properly against his body and obi, he held the captain's shoulders to look at him eye to eye, seriously. There was no doubt that he knew the anger and rage that Toushirou was feeling after watching his Zanpakutou being caught so easily. Toushirou began to stir aggressively as he did earlier by struggling to remove himself from this man's strong hold.

"You're not weak Toushirou, I bet even Jii-san would have lost a finger if he tried to do what I did." He tried to convince him, even thought it was very truthful. "I am very different from everyone here, you know that." It was not hard to remind him. Toushirou stared the man in the face, and could not feel his reiatsu. "You are very powerful, and you'll continue to become stronger at a steady pace as your hatred dissolves, if that is what you want." Ichigo watched him nod. "Then do your best and not think that you are weak because I stopped that attack. I stopped Aizen's attack the same way, and he was terrified—"

"I'm nothing like Aizen!"

"No—I know that!" The man stopped to take a breath to start over. "Aizen was at his limit. You, on the other hand, have a lifetime to grow." Toushirou did not like hearing about how he was not yet mature, but in this line of conversation, he took it well. "I bet that, after I train you to get to my level, you'll be stronger than me!" He smiled as he saw the little captain smirk cockily at this. "Don't let it bother you."

"What are you saying, Kurosaki?" Toushirou retrieved his Zanpakutou. "I will be stronger than you!"
Getting himself into position for the pupil, his smile widened all the more. "Bring it on, Toushirou."
He grinned in return, losing that split emotion of anger now. "And it's Hitsugaya-Taichou to you!"

"I can't believe you cut my face."
"You had it coming, Kurosaki."
"At least Zanpakutou don't rust."
"I clean Hyourinmaru often."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ichigo grumbled as he rubbed his cheek where Toushirou scratched him with his Zanpakutou, but was proud nonetheless. "Careful Toushirou," said captain stopped to look around, only to have his head patted on, and his hair rustled. "You're too happy that you managed to cut me…"

It was midnight, and the two went to the bathhouse to soak for a while after the bad training became good in the end. They soaked in the water for an hour or two with content in one another's presence as they listened to the nightly crickets chirping. What was more, Ichigo would always praise him in the beginning upon his improvements, and pointed out some of his flaws to fix. Just as they sensed a group of males coming to use the bathhouse after a night of drinking probably, they came out with robes to relax a little. The group of males turned out to be all the male lieutenants that were heading in to soak in the water, but slightly panicked at the sight of the two that were about to go in the other room.

"Ichigo… what happened?" Renji frowned, coming over to him, looking at the cut.
"Toushirou got me with his Zanpakutou." Said man chuckled. "I'm leaving in an hour."
"Then I'll join you and watch you take off." Although soaking sounded nice right now.
"No, don't worry about it." His tone slightly changed. "I'll see you when I come back."

The others all nodded despite the odd feeling they got from him, and they left to soak.

"Kurosaki," Toushirou called out curiously. The carrot top looked at him. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know…" his attention went to the captain. "Something doesn't feel right." He tried to figure out what the sensation was about. "Sorry, I think I'm going to go home now, maybe I'm just a little tired." It was obvious that the other was in disbelief of his words. Nevertheless, the two went into the room to dress. "I'll be back on the new moon, it's exactly one month from now." After they got dressed, Ichigo began to walk out until Toushirou placed the tip of his Zanpakutou to his throat. "What, you want me to say it?" The captain nodded, causing Ichigo to smile softly. "I'll be back by the new moon, I promise."

Hearing him say this, the captain sheathed his Zanpakutou.

"I thought you didn't want to hear me say that anymore." The suggestion earned him a hard scowl. "I know that you've had a bad experience when it comes to trusting others, but I promise not to let you down Toushirou." Just to tease him, he rustled the captain's head of hair. "You can believe in me."

Toushirou sighed before casually removing the man's hand. "Yes, I know that I can believe you. But it's because I believe in you that it worries me." He looked up at him. "Kurosaki, please, it's Hitsugaya-T—"

"Give up on telling me what to call you." Ichigo smiled weakly. "I'll be back before you know it." Just as he turned to leave, that bad feeling returned. "Toushirou, do you mind if I take your sash with me? Or your Zanpakutou?" The captain glared suspiciously. "It's just, I have a bad feeling about something, and I have a close bond with you and Hyourinmaru. If I activate my fullbring with Hyourinmaru, you'll instantly know that there is something wrong." Toushirou was still unsure of this. "Besides, Hyourinmaru is a part of your soul, if you need the Zanpakutou, it would automatically return to you."

"…fine," Toushirou slipped the sheath from the sash, and gave him the Zanpakutou.

There was something strange happening around him; everything around him was changing—altering, and so he began to run. Before he knew it, the walls were crashing down behind him, forcing him into his hurry in order to run away from the mess. With a quick flash step, he found himself in a black empty world… it was so empty that it reminded him of the path to and from Hueco Mundo. In every direction that he looked, things seemed vaguely familiar as he quickly made it to a reiatsu-made bridge. Either way, he had to get home, so he started running towards the direction where he thought that it was safe.

"…Kurosaki-san?" A man called behind him.

Ichigo skidded to a stop before turning around to look at the person, only to sigh in relief. "Oh, you scared me U—" he paused to look at her… him, rather. "U-Unohana…-san? What happened to you!"
The man blinked, also very confused, "I should be asking you the same thing, you sudden lost your reiatsu as I was healing you, and then you suddenly turned into a man. You changed genders just now."
"I changed—what?" The carrot top looked himself over cautiously. "I was always a man, why are you a man! You're a woman!" He slapped himself in the face. "Come on Ichigo… you have to wake up now…"
"Kurotsuchi-Taichou warned us that something might happen when we entered through the portal, but we have no time for this." The man stated. "Aizen Sousuke is about to make her move on your town."

"Aizen? What are you talking about, I defeated him three years ago during the Arrancar War." Ichigo was lost now. "Look, I was going home after visiting in Soul Society. Aizen is in the eighth prison for twenty-thousand years in Soul Society. I don't know who you are… but you look a lot like Unohana-san."

"We are getting nowhere, I am Unohana Retsu, Taichou of the Fourth Squad. I am assuming you are Kurosaki Ichigo. The precipice worlds are known for their timeline changes, but I can only assume that you have been hurled into some paradox world where our genders are different." Even though Retsu said this as calmly as possible, Ichigo twitched unhappily. "You have taken place of our female Kurosaki Ichigo. If you can understand that, then please help us defeat Aizen so that there will be no casualties."

"A-Ah…" The thought of fighting him again was unnerving. "At least this Unohana-san isn't so scary."
"Did you say something, Kurosaki-kun?" Retsu chimed politely in his male voice. "Will you help us?"
"Y-Y-Yes ma'am! I mean sir!" His thoughts were instantly changed. "So… I'm… three years in the past?"
"I have no time to tell if you are lying or not, but your hair color and style is that of our Kurosaki-san's."
"If I'm three years in the past… that means I just left with you to head to the fake Karakura Town to fight Aizen…" His eyes widened. "Toushirou's going to seriously injure Hinamori then, we have to hurry up!"

Although the captain wanted to point out that this is what he had been trying to tell him for the past five minutes, it would prolong their advancements. He watched as Ichigo stepped aside for him, telling him that he could not create a path because he had discarded his reiatsu long ago. Hearing this, Retsu did as told and created the path for them to take as he listened to what casualties he will see when they would arrive at the scene. All Ichigo wanted to do was go home, but if he could make his friends suffer less from this world—paradox or not, he would help them in every way possible.

In the very least, he could figure out how much his powers have improved after training with Toushirou.

A thought occurred to him. "Aizen isn't in his final form… I can practice on him this time." He then called out. "Hey, Unohana-san!" Said man turned his head as they still run through the darkness. "How do I convince everyone I'm on your side? Especially with Jii-san!"

"Jii-san?" He looked puzzled. "Soutaichou?" Ichigo nodded; already forgetting that the old man in his world was an old woman in this world. "If you arrive with me, that's all that matters."