Chapter 01

Hearing Voices

Now—

There has been an echoing voice in my head—it was colder than Hyourinmaru, and more sinister…

"Hello, Hitsugaya-taichou…"

Eyelids fluttered open to reveal tired turquoise hues due to the laughter in his head, the echoing laughter that appeared quite often during the day. It was as if something in the back of his mind was teasing him, as if to tell him that there was something wrong with him that no one could help him with. When his busty lieutenant talked to him, the laughter would sometimes interfere when he was trying to listen to her—in fact, this would happen when he talked to everyone. Everyone other than that arrogant, stubborn, tall orange-haired substitute Shinigami that would come bumbling into Soul Society quiet often now. Actually, that unofficial Shinigami was no longer an arrogant son of a bitch, that teenager was now a man who was very well respected in both worlds.

"I want to kill you, Hitsugaya-taichou…"

The war had ended ten years ago, and everyone was restored to their previous form; Kurosaki Ichigo had silently asked his female friend to heal their ligaments, and to restore an innocent lieutenant life for him.

A captain, such as Hitsugaya Toushirou—Captain of the Tenth Squad, would never admit being in debt.

"You're so boring, Hitsugaya-taichou. Do something exciting for once." The voice told him with a trailing echo. Turquoise hues searched the room pointlessly as he already knew. "There's Matsumoto's annoying zanpakutou, if you cut your hand with it, I'll leave you alone for the rest of the day, maybe." It laughed.

It sounded tempting to pick up the blade leaning against the wall of the administrative office, but surely he knew better than to subdue himself to listening towards voices. Laughter began echoing even louder as the voice called him a coward, but he had yet to budge from his seat, he decided to work on his reports instead. If his lieutenant had caught him falling asleep at the desk, he would have heard no end to it for the rest of his life, but the voice would never stop—he could hardly sleep. More laughter echoed through his head that led him to snap the writing utensil in his hand, causing blood to leak from his palm—

The laughter stopped…

There was a knock at the door, "it's me," without consent, an unofficial Shinigami in his human body entered, and peeked in. "Is Rangiku-san here—" he saw the blood. "What happened Toushirou?"
"It's Hitsugaya-taichou," the captain sighed silently, tying to hide his anger. "I was lost in thought, I guess."
"You guess?" His tall form came over and sat on top of the desk while carefully removing the brush from his hand. "What were you thinking of?" Cautiously, he removed any small pieces of wood he could see.
Thinking about the laughter in his head, he shoved it aside. "It's none of your business Kurosaki."
"Alright, alright," knowing the small captain could be defensive, he merely tended to his hand. Once the splinters were removed, he ripped his sleeve and wrapped the wounded hand with it. "You need sleep."
"Why, do I have bags under my eyes? Or did someone put you up to the task of treating me?"

In his defense, he raised his hands. "I was told that Rangiku-san was looking for me. It didn't come to my mind that she would bail on her duties." He lifted the other's chin to look at his face. "You do have bags—"

Toushirou slapped his hand away from his face before standing up from his seat. "If there is anyone that is going to tell me that something is wrong with me, it would be Unohana-taichou, not some doctor." It was a little harsh to say, but he still did not trust this man too much after all of these years knowing him. There was a look of disappointment on the orange-haired man's face as he softly shrugged at the small defensive captain, and began to leave. "Wait, Kurosaki I—" he bit his tongue as the other looked at him. With no words coming out, it felt like the voice quietly chuckled at the back of his mind. "I need sleep."

His hand paused at the sliding door. "You have couches right there, go ahead and lay down."

"I can't do that." The voice would haunt him in his sleep—haunt him once this man left. "I can't sleep."
"Rangiku-san isn't here to bother you." In truth, he knew why, but could not say a word about the problem.
"Can…" Toushirou bit his tongue, refusing to ask him to stay until he fell asleep. "Can you leave already?"
"Yes…" his expression saddened even more so. "Of course, I have others to check on too. See ya."

Once that man was gone, the voice returned. "Glad that he's finally gone. I thought he would never go."

"J-Jii-san," Toushirou heard the man call from outside the administrative office. "I was on my way to—"
"Never mind that, I have an important task in which you are surely aware of." An elder demanded before the sliding door opened. "Good afternoon, Hitsugaya-taichou, may we both enter to have a few words?"
"Of course," the small captain returned behind his desk."Is there anything that I can help you with?"

The old man did not seem to particularly happy to hear this from him, and glanced over at the unofficial Shinigami who obviously did not want any part in this. This was going to be something bad for sure if the Commanding-General was going to Kurosaki Ichigo for assistance of an important task. Then there was the need to insert the reason as to why the old codger needed to come here instead of summoning him.

"It is noticeable that you are lacking in rest, Hitsugaya-taichou." Yamamoto-Genryuusai Shigekuni stated quietly so the captain would not be offended. "You have made several careless mistakes on your reports these past five year, which I have forgiven, but recently it has become worse." His eyes were then shown to the two, but were directed towards the carrot top. "Kurosaki Ichigo, I would like you take Hitsugaya-taichou with you when you return to the living world. If I remember right, you live by yourself now?"

Ichigo frowned when being brought into the mess. "Yeah, but I don't live in Karakura Town anymore, I live about ten minutes away in Tokyo because of where I work." He knew what the old man was getting at.
The small captain did too. "Yamamoto-soutaichou, please reconsider if you are suggesting that I spend time with Kurosaki." The last thing he needed was to leave everything in the hands of his lieutenant.
"No, you would not have to." Shigekuni answered. "From here on, you will be assigned to Tokyo, under Kurosaki's care. You will be paid during your absence, however, only if you will remain there to rest."
"Jii-san, I would have to decline on behalf, my presence would only irritate him further." Knowing that it was himself that would upset Toushirou all the more, he tried to avoid this. "Just give him a vacation."

"I am," he spat. "Until further notice, Hitsugaya-taichou will be in your care. He is to rest as much as he possibly can." His head turned towards him to give him his attention. "I will remove your limiter as bonus."

'He wouldn't be safe while I'm working though.' He sighed while nodded. "I understand…"

Unfortunately, Toushirou was in no position to be mouthing off to the Commanding-General, leading him with no choice but to place his life in the hands of Kurosaki Ichigo. A part of him was glad that this was happening to him—with the carrot top around all the time, then the voices in his head would not be there so often! However, his mind went back to 'limiter,' since when had this man been placed on one, and just how much was his powers reduced to for that matter? After a while, he could remember how the redhead lieutenant mentioning that this man was reduced to a mere one percent in his world, and twenty here.

Ichigo would never stop training anymore.

"Hitsugaya-taichou." Shigekuni called. "You both will go to Karakura Town to pick up your gigai, and then you will stay in Tokyo until Kurosaki Ichigo feels you are fit for returning to your post. Understood?"

Toushirou closed his eyes in defeat, "yes sir."


It had been six hours since they were told to stay in the same residence until further notice, and the carrot top glancing next to him to see the captain trying his best to not fall asleep on the train. They had to stop in Karakura Town to receive Toushirou's faux body when they arrived in the real world before the other had to suggest taking a train to get to the city since it would be faster than walking or taking a bus. Turquoise hues glanced up at the carrot top to see that he now had his eyes closed as if he were trying to fall asleep—or he was trying to tease his exhausted mind. That was, however, until a dull light emitted from the man's chest as if his limiter was being release, so he lowered his collar to check as it vanished.

The limiter was not in the shape of a flower, but a skull.

"Mama, look at that boy touching that man, is he his son?" A little five year-old boy asked across the train.
The child's mother looked at the two and then at her son. "So it seems dear, mind your own business."
'There is no way in Hell I am even related to this idiot.' Toushirou scowled at the mother and son.
"That's why you don't touch others in a public place." Ichigo mumbled under his breath.

The pale hand retreated from the tall one's body slowly in order for it not to look like he was startled when he had practically jumped out of his faux body. He should have known that this man would not have fallen asleep so quickly—they were only in the train for three minutes or so, and would be in it for another two. It then came across his mind that he was tricked into touching him for whatever reason, and he was not going to standby to let him slide with this. His mouth opened to say something until Ichigo's cell phone began to ring so he had to close his mouth to let the other check the call.

"Yes, this is Kurosaki." The carrot top spoke professionally. "I'm on a train returning to Tokyo, I should be back soon. Is there something I can help you with?" Toushirou was watching him, surprised at the tone he was hearing from him. "Ah, yes, that case… I gave a prescription to the woman yesterday for her pain." It was amazing that he could sound mature after all of these years. "Yes, thank you for the clarification."

Ichigo ended the phone call before rubbing his face.

"Who was that?" He did not care—his lieutenant was rubbing off on him though.
"My assistant," the carrot top replied. "Wanted to make sure I gave a patient some medication."
"Does your assistant always call you? It seems it would be a bit annoying to be bothered during the day."
"I can't send a Hell Butterfly to Mitsu." Ichigo whispered quietly. "Besides, that pretty face makes it okay."
Not sure if this 'Mitsu' was a male or female nurse, he rolled his eyes. "You are troublesome."
"As true as that may be," he stood up, grinning cockily. "Who's in charge, huh?"

If he was not so tired, Toushirou would kick him.

Once the speaker announced for them to leave through the doors for the Tokyo departure, the captain had no choice but to follow the tall one off the train. The captain was not exactly 'small' anymore, but compared to Ichigo and many others, he was still quite short—just an inch taller than Momo. However, Ichigo had a serious growth in height and was a few good inches taller than Abarai Renji, and his form was more muscled than it was ten years ago. It was scary that this man who fought hard to protect two worlds, that he would have decided to become a doctor, a healer of the wounded.

"Here we are." The man stopped in front of a restaurant—a very fancy restaurant at that.
Turquoise hues turned to him, glaring. "Are you telling me that you live in a food place."
"It is called a restaurant, and no, above it actually," he placed a hand on the other's back.

Not realizing that he was being motioned towards the double doors that were opened for them as a man hurried to them with a bow. He handed Ichigo some weird menu in which he looked at before returning it and saying that he would not be ordering something tonight. The man then looked at Toushirou curiously, wondering if he was some abused child that would be taken care of, but it was corrected… somewhat. It seemed that Hitsugaya Toushirou was going to be a patient who had a bad attitude towards everyone. A laugh filled the air while announcing how brave Ichigo was, rather, 'Kurosaki-sensei' as the man had said.

"Anyway, I will be upstairs, we would like to be alone tonight if you don't mind." Ichigo pressed the small of the captain's back, and guided him to the elevator. "We will have dinner and go to sleep early tonight."
"Of course Kurosaki-sensei, I'll keep the others on this floor and to not disturb you and your guest." The man bowed to the two once more before turning away to leave. "Have a good day sir, and young guest."
"We thank you, and be sure to remember his face. If he comes down for any reason, please see to it that you help him with anything." Ichigo entered the elevator. "Come on Toushirou, you need your rest now."
After stepping into the elevator where Ichigo had stopped guiding him, he sighed once the doors closed. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Hitsugaya-taichou? It had become old ten years ago."

"I'm not entitled to address you by any title. You scratch my back, and I scratch yours. Furthermore, do you trust me?" The sudden tone in his voice startled the dozing captain, so he continued. "Do you even trust anyone within Soul Society, enough to tell them that you are not fine? You've been lying to us all."

"What is going on—who are you to talk to me like this! Who I trust is none of your business, Kurosaki!"
"Jii-san is giving me too much credit, thinking I can get through to you." Ichigo grabbed his collar harshly.
"L-Let go—K-Kurosaki!" He began to notice that he had no power whatsoever. "What did you do to me!"
Chocolate brown hues stared at him fiercely. "I will give you three days to tell me what's wrong with you."
"There's nothing wrong with me you idiot! Now put me down—" his body was shoved against the door.

It opened after several floors, and Ichigo threw him out of the elevator. "For the past five years, something has been bothering you. Recently now, it has been practically eating at you." The captain only glared at him from his spot on the carpet. "I already know what is wrong with you, and made a few little demands while you were explaining things to Rangiku-san." He watched him search his pockets, but Ichigo knew what he was looking for, and brought out his cell phone. "I ordered Jii-san to place you on a full limiter while I'm unlimited, and while you were being questioned by Yoruichi-san, I told Urahara-san to adjust your faux body. Now you are just as useless as a human… sucks, doesn't it?" Furious turquoise hues ripped away from his glare to search for something. "Don't bother," he showed the green pill. "I have it."

Not even ten minutes ago, Hitsugaya Toushirou was admiring this man for being mature and respected by others, but suddenly he becomes a monster? If everything that he was saying was true, then it meant that there was no way that the captain could defend himself if Ichigo became violent and attacked him. A thought then occurred to him; did this man say that he knew what was wrong with him—did he know about the voice in his head? Something lingered on his mind a little more… something about trusting him, so did that mean that this was supposed to be some sort of test against him.

"Listen to me, Toushirou." The carrot top called softly. "For these three days, I will stay home with you to make sure you can rest. You have three days to tell me, in your words, what's wrong with you. I will have to stay here until you do tell me, but there are lives at stake Toushirou. There are people out there, they are sick, and they are dying, and they need me as much as you do." Gently, he offered a hand to help him up from the floor. "All I ask, is for you to tell me the truth as soon as you feel like it, understood?"

"Kurosaki…" the way he was saying it was just like before.

"You don't have to suffer alone," he reminded him from ten years ago. "You don't have to carry the burden by yourself either." Weakly, Ichigo smiled. "I'll ask again like years ago—let your friends take some of your pain, and the resolve that goes with it." He was stared at. "Don't make me punch you."
Toushirou looked away submissively. "You don't know what I'm going through, this is different."
"You're still trying to carrying everything on your own, not caring about Rangiku-san or Momo who are worried sick about you." Tired of waiting for his hand, Ichigo hoisted him up by his arm. "A taichou has to protect their subordinates, fine, but who do you think protects a taichou? We would give our lives to s—"
"Nobody is telling you to waste your life on me—" He was then punched in the face, and went down.
"Did I ask you to help me fight Aizen? You all would've sacrificed your lives for my behalf to save the world from Hell." It was amazing that Ichigo was keeping himself under control despite punching the other in the face. "It's what friends do, we protect each other. I protect you, and everyone else, no matter what."

The captain wiped his face, looking away as he lied stubbornly. "There's nothing wrong with me."

Ichigo watched him for a few minutes as the other stayed on the floor in case he would be punched again for whatever reason that could be thought of. A few more minutes later, the carrot top began to walk forth towards the door five feet away, and unlocked the door with a key and left it open for the captain. It did not take long for the small one to follow him into the…wait, this could not be an apartment, and he knew they were a lot smaller than this. Ichigo casually removed his coat to place in the closet without paying any attention to the other who was being troublesome, then pressed a button on a machine on the table.

"Kurosaki-sensei! Why didn't you tell us that you were taking three days off suddenly? You can't do this to us—there's a board meeting today remember? What in the world could possibly be more important?"
"Who said you could take three days off by claiming you're sick, huh? You sneaky bastard! If you're out of the town for some girls, you better hook me up with—"
Ichigo skipped the second message.
"KUROSAKI-SENSEI, HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO MITSU? MITSU IS VERY SAD THAT YOU DID NOT SAY ANYTHING TO MITSU WHEN WE WERE ON THE PHONE MINUTES AGO! YOU—"

Ichigo ended the messages for the sake of his sanity.

He picked up the home phone and dialed a number, getting an instant reply. "Ah, Yoshirou-san, I'm glad you are taking my call. For your information, I'm not running around with girls, I assure you." By pressing a button and putting the phone on the receiver, the man was now on speaker as he took his shoes off.
"Sure you aren't, you sneak. Anyway, good news, the girl that was suffering from abandonment, she's doing a lot better since your session with her. Honestly, how do you do it? She would not even speak to us for five weeks, and then you give it a shot, now all of a sudden she's helping us find the man!"
"Don't give it too much thought, the last young woman I helped has yet to recover from her problems." He wiped his face, trying not to think about it, but explained. "The girl's family members are very protective of her, and you know how I am when even one person doesn't cooperate with me, right? How's yours?"
"Well, I'm glad you asked since all of you patience are under my care, their doing great! Actually… no, that's a lie. That one boy of yours, he's not responding well to us—we really need you here to help with his progress, he's terrified we'll do something to him. It's not like we can keep him on sedatives all day."
"I know, and I apologize for the inconvenience this is causing, but… I have issues of my own right now. Until they are dealt with, he will have to rely on you and the nurses. Mitsu should be able to help you." He could feel Toushirou looking at him once getting both shoes off. "I'll be back at the hospital when I can."
"Hey now, I am in no position to be complaining Kurosaki-senpai. You have never taken time off to do anything for yourself. I will keep you updated with the patients by leaving messages instead of calling you. So… get your act straightened up, and get back to work where we all need you! Seriously!"

"Goodbye Yoshirou-san," Ichigo ended the call.

"Y-You're going to sacrifice lives until I talk?" Toushirou now knew this man was psychotic.
"No," he looked at him. "I am going to stay here until you talk, don't let a human die because of you."
"I-I'm not the one playing with lives!" His hand pointed to the door. "Get out of here and help them all!"
His head shook at him. "You have no reiatsu so that you will not kill yourself if I'm not looking."

The captain choked on a laugh. "Are you assuming that I would kill myself?"
"Almost killed M—" he withdrew the sentence. "Toushirou, I am protecting you."
"What happened with Hinamori was not my fault! I didn't know it was her! I was—"
"It doesn't matter now, does it?" Ichigo sighed. "She's alive, and her memory is gone."

This calmed down the little captain, who quietly muttered. "I will be forever grateful to you for asking Inoue Orihime to revive her, and to you for removing that last minute when I…" His eyes tightly clamped shut.
"What are you talking about Toushirou? I was the biggest pond in all of that mess." Ichigo tiredly sighed as he closed the front door. "Anyway, enough about the past. This is my penthouse, use it how you want."
"A penthouse?" Toushirou looked at the ridiculously large residence, and it was surprisingly clean too.
"It's an apartment that is located on the top floors of a building, and in this case, atop of a restaurant."
"I wouldn't think that a human like yourself could afford such a high-class residence." He took in a deep breath through his nose, and exhaled the same way; he was really tired now. "Perhaps a quick tour?"
Knowing what he wanted, he skipped the tour. "For your own safety, I will have you take the guest room next to the Master bedroom where I sleep." Ichigo turned around the corner to a door. "This is your room."

Toushirou watched the man take a step back to give him space, allowing him to come over and open the door to know only one thing: he did not want to sleep on the roof. There was enough space in here for who knew how many people; the bed was two times the size of his futon in Soul Society—this was truly ridiculous. Ichigo nudged him inside the room to look around and investigate, which the captain did ever so slowly because he just wanted to jump on the bed since it was there.

"Judging by your stubborn pride, you will be here for at least two months. After you're well rested, we can go pick you up some clothes." He quietly grabbed the handle on the door. "Go ahead and sleep, I will wake you when dinner is ready. Would you like something in particular to eat tonight, Toushirou?"

He was so confused, and he turned to him. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"I could lie to you by saying that it was because I was ordered to, and the pay doesn't hurt either." His soft eyes went over to look at him. "I could be realistic and say that it's in my nature to help someone who's in need of it, desperate or otherwise." He caught glimpse of the rebellious look. "Whether you remember it or not, whether you admit it or not, you and I have a little history—we were friends, and we still are."

"Why do you keep saying that you are protecting me then? I can protect myself." He became defensive.
Ichigo smiled weakly at this now. "Yes… you can protect yourself, but you know you can't, not from this."
"What are you trying to say, Kurosaki?" Something clicked in his mind. "And it's Hitsugaya-taichou!"

Giving up, he confessed. "With your power limited to nothing, and my power is unlimited. My reiatsu will be more affective to keep that voice in your head quiet. That's why I'm having you in the guest room next to mine." This was what he did not want to see; fear and shock in his eyes. "I have a better control of my reiatsu now, so you have to let me know when I should increase it for you. I'm not the enemy Toushirou."

H-How did Kurosaki Ichigo know about the voice?


A/N: I have a lot of stories to catch up on right now, so I don't know when the next update will be.