A Big Mistake

Chapter One: They Came From No Where

Kurotsuchi Mayuri, Captain of the Twelfth Squad and head of the Research Department, could me heard cackling like a mad hag across the Soul Society.

In his own version of the bat-cave, he laughed hysterically as thunder roared and lightning flashed, momentarily flooding the room with a blinding white light. The table set before him was littered with DNA samples of the Thirteen Captains-including Shihoin Yoruchi, the majority taken without their consent. In a small bowl he had mixed all fourteen with numerous other substances; the liquid bubbled and gruggled, as though alive.

"Mwahahahahahahahha! I've almost got it! Almost got it! Soon, oh, oh very soon, I will me immortal! Bwahahahahaha!" He cackled. Lightning flashed suddenly, and filled the dark cave with an eerie, bright light. In the flash, the Shinigami's orange eyes caught the light and began to glow red as his laughter increased to the point where it blocked out the thunder-

And then the lights switched on.

His chest fell and a grimace replaced his joyful smile as he whipped round, nostrils flaring.

"Nemu!" He growled at his daughter, who stood by the light-switch with a casual expression on her face. "What do you think you're doing, you useless cow!"

"Forgive me, Mayuri-sama, but you instructed me earlier to remind you about the time frame." She told him in an expressionless voice. "In exactly two minutes, the generator will reach full power, and you will be able to cook the liquids, sir."

Mayuri twitched irritably, furious about having both forgotten the generator, and the fact Nemu had remembered. Unable to think of anything rude to snap, he turned briskly away from her and marched over to the said object. It was a tiny, cylinder shaped thing with what looked like purple slug for texture. It was no bigger then Mayuri's hand, and the bowl would only just fit inside. The captain squinted to read the pinky-sized box on the top, which displayed the generator's current power status. It was, at the moment, on 90%. Mayuri scolded. Nemu had been correct.

"Is there a problem, Mayuri-sama?" Nemu asked her father, feeling slightly concerned.

"No, you half-wit, of course there isn't." He snapped.

Nemu appeared unfazed by the remark. In fact, she looked a little relived. With that off her chest, she bowed and exited the room, shutting the gigantic purple-blue door behind her with a loud slam that caused the entire room the shake. A bottle, shaken by the vibrations, fell out of its holding cell and rolled across the table, towards a freaky-looking machine that the scientist had long since given up on. As it rolled, the lid unscrewed itself, and the faint red substance within split all over the machine; the slimy purple walls absorbed the stuff without a second to spare. The lights on the front flickered on, and it began to hum softly, much, much to softly for Kurotsuchi to notice, what with the thunder and lightning battering his cave. What's more, the thing was turned away from it's creator, so it's back faced him, rather then the front, where the lights blared and red numbers ticked in a square. It read two minutes. And further more, unknown to the captain, inside were samples of the thirteen squad captains and Yoruchi as well, and because it was designed to refrigerate such things, they were fresh as new. The invention scanned the DNA, solved some horribly difficult math problems that only a computer could solve, and then continued with the count down.

Mayuri swore loudly, and then glared icily after Nemu. Sometimes he wished he hadn't given the idiot-girl super-strength, because recently, whenever she closed big doors, they would slam so hard that the entire building would shake.

Glowering, the orange-eyed captain sauntered over to his spinning-chair and sat, waiting for the count down to end, spinning absent-mindedly.

Finally, two minutes passed, and he jumped up, suddenly giddy. In less then three seconds, he'd shoved the bowl inside the purple machine and had started fiddling with the key-pad on the side. As the the generator had started before the 'other' machine, it still had ten seconds to go before its count down ended. With every number that ticked by, Mayuri pressed a button, and more orange letters appeared on the generator's screen with an annoying beep. Finally, he went to press the start button, and the moment his long, blue finger nail pressed it down, his forgotten invention hit 0.

Across the Seireitei, the Captains of the Gotei 13 and Yoruchi flinched. They hadn't the faintest idea what caused it, only that they had, and they didn't want to to happen again, because it had been somewhat painful. Then, suddenly, they were over-come with weariness, and collapsed onto whatever was closest to them, whether it be a desk, a chair, or, in Kyoraku's case, their vice-captain. A tremor sped up their spins, and their heads were suddenly filled with memories of their childhood, back when they'd been five or seven or four, and everything they did was either really fun or just plain stupid. Then their eyes were filled with a blinding white light, and they were wrenched off their feet and into a black vortex, where they could feel themselves being squeezed so tightly they couldn't breath-

And then they were slammed against a rocky floor, and fell unconscious instantly.

/

Had Hyuuga Hinata, Heiress to the Hyuuga Clan, not been unable to sleep that fine winter night, and had not decided to make herself a hot cup of tea and sit outside to watch the snow flakes fall, the fourteen children that suddenly appeared outside her home would have surely frozen to death.

The moment they appeared, several began to cry as they were hit with icy-coldness and pain, as it occurred to them that they had just been bashed against freezing ground harder then stone. Their cries were carried across the Hyuuga compound by the wind, but no-one but Hinata was awake to notice their sobs, for it was midnight, and everyone else had long since retired to their warm beds, fleeing from the chills of winter. Throwing aside her tea, she sped out into the night, snow crunching loudly beneath her feet, and followed the wails. She found them under a tree, the branches weighed down by the sheer amount of snow it was forced to with-hold, huddling together and trying to calm those of who were crying.

The one that caught Hinata's attention immediately had to have been the youngest one. He didn't look any older then three, and was crying his eyes out, his tiny baby hands shielding his eyes from both the cold and her view. Then there was the black haired girl, who was basically screaming at the sky, crying harder then Hinata had seen any child cry in her life. And then there was the boy with long, dirty black hair with bells tied in it who was actually snickering at the girl's discomfort; he seemed the find the whole crying concept quite amusing.

Hinata hurried over to them, and brought the sobbing children close to her body, and all the heat it brought with it. The little boy clung to her and cried, relishing in the heat, and having something firm to cry on. The girl attempted to push her away, but the lure of kindness and heat proved to powerful to resist, for seconds later she was crying into Hinata's gown as well.

The other children began to crowd around her too, drawn in by both warmth and curiosity. Hinata noticed a few things. One, they were all holding some type of toy, each different from the last, and, two, one of these children looked like a wolf pup. The wolf pup did not move forward like the others, probably because it had fur to keep it warm, and stared awkwardly at its feet, as though afraid to move forward. Hinata's would've called to the pup, but her teeth were chattering audibly, and she longed to be back in the house, where she could give these children and herself a nice warm bed to snuggle up in.

So she stood, and ushered the children towards her home, including the pup wearing human clothing. She let the three-year old stay clinging to her neck and, instead of making him walk, hoisted him up and carried him back to the Hyuuga Compound.

No-one was awake, just as she had expected. The rooms were quiet, and the very walls seemed to be sleeping. She led the children into her room, where she sat the toddler down on her bed, and told then rest to be quiet in the most caring and motherly voice she could muster. It seemed to work, because the kids immediately feel quiet, and, instead of murmuring to one another, decided to explore their new guardian's room. The oldest one was a seven year old boy with a head of messy red hair and a face of tiny orange freckles; she told him not to let them touch anything, then left with the fate of her room in his care.

She returned with blankets and fold out beds, only to discover that half of everything she owned was now sprawled out on the floor. The red-head hung his head in shame, mumbling a timid apology, then, at Hinata's command, set about getting everything packed up. Then the beds were laid down, and the kids slipped into them, and just about all of them were asleep the moment their heads touched the pillow. The baby boy, however, did not want to let go of Hinata, and clung stubbornly to the folds of her gown when she tried to put him on a bed beside a four year old boy with startling orange eyes.

With a sigh, Hinata gave in and slid into her own bed, the baby's arms still wrapped around her neck. She allowed him to snuggle up against her, and couldn't help but smile when he fell into the deep sleep only a toddler could fall into, and his breathing slower. Hinata watched him for a moment, then took to stroking his hair. His hair was strange. It was silver in colour, and spiked lazily this way and that; the ninja was sure that, as he got older, the spikes would grow and become more prominent. It was very soft, too, and slid through her fingers like water. It was soothing.

And, to her great surprise, the girl who hadn't been able to get in a wink of sleep was gone about five minutes after hoarding the children inside.

And there you go. First chapter of my first fanfic :] I hope its okay. I went to a lot of trouble to right this, I should be doing maths HW right now XD Anyway, in case you were wondering, the red head was Yamamoto, the Captain-General. His hair's white now because he's, like, 1000 years old, but he's seven now and he's got red hair...in this story, anyway.,...

I hope you enjoyed it. Please review! I really want to know if this is any good...I haven't used this style of writing before...

BTW, you will hear Hinata talk next chapter, it's not all gonna be like that! All the captains will have little adventures, too...So if anyone's got suggestions as to what they might be, they're wanted!

Bye-bye!