A/N: Just a little oneshot that popped into my head, I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to leave a review on your way out. Just a heads up, this story takes place right when Hitsugaya first got to the academy, he hasn't had time to learn Hyorinmaru's name or bond with his Zanpakuto yet.

Deep Within

Hitsugaya POV

I was different than most people, I had known that ever since I first stepped foot in Rukongai. It had never been a problem for me until I reached the Shinigami Academy. I'm not sure why being a freak of nature hit me a little harder then, maybe it was because I had thought I'd finally found a place to belong where I would fit in with the others when I got here.

But I didn't fit in. No one else my age had a Zanpakuto like mine, hell, as far as I knew no one had a Zanpakuto like mine. All of the instructors that had talked about their Zanpakuto talked about them with a great deal of affection saying that they were 'manifestations of their soul', they said that their Zanpakuto showed them who they were inside. That some of them were mean, that some of them were sad, that some of them were overly bubbly. I didn't matter what they described their Soul-Cutters as, they were happy with them because- and even the newest students could see this- the attitude of the Zanpakuto matched the attitude of the instructor.

But what if you Zanpakuto isn't a human?

What if it's a great giant, roaring monster?

I can feel him when I sleep, looming in the back of my mind. He's not a human spirit like the rest of the Zanpakuto, he has no emotions other than the need to fight, the need to battle.

Is that why people are always afraid around me? Why they're always cautious, why they're always so careful never to say the wrong things. Is that why I pick up on battle techniques so quickly? Is it all because I'm actually a monster deep down with thoughts only of killing.

I don't think that I've ever done anything to deserve those reputations. Even in Rukongai when people threw stones at me and called me a monster, I never fought back, I turned and ran away from them knowing that while I could have used the strange powers I possessed to flatten them, it wouldn't have been the right thing to do.

Could it have been that they already saw the monster that resided in my mind, seen the monster that was supposed to represent my powers.

The monster that was supposed to represent me.