AN: I do not own any Bleach peoples, any other characters are my own. enjoy ^^
"WHERE IS SHE!" the ominous voice of the captain of squad eleven pierced the silent night, nearly waking up the entire soul society. Being in the tenth division, Toshiro Hitsugaya was blasted out of his dreams as soon the Zaraki started his rampage.
After deciding that the only way he was going to get any sleep, Toshiro drearily drug himself out of bed headed over to the eleventh division to quiet Zaraki down. Toshiro was nearly fully awake when he arrived to find nearly every member of the eleventh squad frantically searching around the grounds in the sleepwear. If it was not the middle of the night, Toshiro would have found this very amusing.
"Captain Zaraki would you please keep your voice down, it is the middle of the night." Toshiro stated when he found the frantic captain. Zaraki turned and looked at Toshiro. He had frightened look in his eye that the young captain was almost positive he was incapable of having.
"Have you seen Yachiru, shorty?" Zaraki pleaded in almost a pathetic way.
"I'm sorry, captain Zaraki, but I have not seen your lieutenant." Toshiro sighed.
"Please, you've gotta help me find her!" the large captain pleaded while shaking the younger captains shoulders.
"She probably just wondered off, I am sure she will be back by morning." Toshiro tried to reason.
"You don't understand, shorty," Zaraki's attitude suddenly turning dark, causing a small shiver to run up Toshiro's spine. " She went wandering this morning, saying she wanted to go exploring. She said she would be back by nine. She is never late, she may get lost, but she always arrives on time."
"I will talk to the head captain in the morning and ask for a search party to be sent after her." Toshiro calmly replied. "Just please, get some rest captain."
Zaraki let go of Toshiro's shoulders and slowly sulked away, but before he entered the building he turned back around.
"Please find my little girl, Hitsugaya. She means the world to me." Zaraki pleaded in a tone no one would ever expect, both fear and pain welling up in his face.
"I will find her, Captain Zaraki."
Zaraki gave a quick nod, and headed in doors. Toshiro headed back to his own division, his thoughts racing too much for him to sleep. He had never seen the eleventh squad captain act that way. Everybody knew that he had almost a father-daughter relationship with his lieutenant, but Toshiro would have never guessed how much he actually cared for her. He never even knew that the demon captain had a heart. Toshiro's thoughts became more scarce as he eventually fell back asleep.
"Let the captain's meeting begin." The head captain's booming voice echoed throughout the corridor. Toshiro had spoke to the head captain at the crack of dawn about the incident, and had insisted that a search party be sent out. Every captain was present, though some looked as though this was a waste of time, others were truly distraught about the news. Zaraki had heavy bags under his eyes, but all of his emotions Toshiro had seen the night before were bottled up like they did not even exist.
". . .do we have any volunteers?" the head captains voice brought Toshiro out of his thoughts.
"I'll go." Zaraki demanded the second the head captain finished his sentence.
"Unfortunately, captain Zaraki, I can not allow you to go." the head captain replied causing Zaraki's blood to boil.
"And why not old man!" the large captain demanded.
"You're spiritual pressure is too large, and you're methods are too obvious. If it is our enemy that took your lieutenant, they will know of your presence immediately and it will put your lieutenant in further danger."
"She is my lieutenant, I demand to go after her. I don't give a f. . ."
"I will go head captain." Toshiro interrupted Zaraki causing all of the attention to shift to him. "I can easily seal my spiritual pressure, and moving about stealthily and unnoticed will not be a problem for me."
"Listen, shorty, I know you wanna help, but she is my lieutenant, and I'm gonna. . ."
"Think about your lieutenant, captain Zaraki! If the enemy knows you are coming they might kill her. Do you want to put her in further danger?" Toshiro's words stuck Zaraki causing him to pull back on his resolve, a morbid look briefly crossing his face.
"It is settled then, captain Hitsugaya will leave immediately in search of squad eleven's lieutenant." the head captain announced. "Captain Hitsugaya, you will report back when you have found her, and reinforcements will be sent to assist you."
"Yes, head captain." Toshiro gave a small bow, before turning to a solemn Zaraki. "I promised you I would find your lieutenant, and I will." Toshiro then turned and left the building to prepare for his mission.
Toshiro found himself wandering throughout the lower districts of the soul society. He had been looking for Yachiru for nearly a week now, and there hasn't been a trace of her anywhere. Before Toshiro had left he had exchanged his shinigami clothing for something more suited for regular souls. People still eyed him strangely due to his white hair and teal eyes, but not near as much as they would if he still wore his uniform. Toshiro continued his trek, enjoying the autumn breeze blow through his hair, it reminded him of days when him and Momo would play with the leaves and see who could make the largest pile.
Toshiro snapped out of his thoughts when he came across a small fruit stand. There was an old woman tending to it. Even though she had the same weary look that everybody else out here had, her eyes held a small amount of kindness that caught Toshiro's attention.
"Excuse me ma'am, I am looking for someone, she. . ." Toshiro was cut off by the woman.
"It's getting late young one, you should really head back home."
"I'm not from around here, could you please answer my question?" the woman got a nervous look about her.
"You should really look for a place to stay, little boy, it's not safe here."
"Please just answer my question." Toshiro was beginning to get impatient with the lady. The lady opened her mouth to reply, but a small bell was heard in the distance.
"No time, I will answer your question in the morning." the lady frantically began to pack up her stand.
"Ma'am please, what is going on?"
"No time, I have to go, if you are smart you will find a place to stay indoors tonight." with that the lady hurried off as fast as she could down the street.
Toshiro thought the lady was crazy until he noticed all of the locals beginning to scatter away. Within a matter of minuets the entire town was deserted. The hair on the back of Toshiro's neck began to prickle as he felt a strange spiritual pressure creep into the town. The young captain quickly hid in a nearby ally way, so he could properly asses the situation without being noticed.
As the sun began to set, Toshiro was able to sense the individuals the wandered the town. There was a total of twenty of them, and they all had a hostile presence about them. Toshiro subconsciously reached back and felt Hyorinmaru, gaining some comfort from the presence of his loyal companion. Toshiro suddenly felt a huge wave of spiritual pressure that would have knock any other soul flat on their backs.
"I told you to seek shelter." a voice hissed behind Hitsugaya causing him to jump when he saw the old woman from earlier. "You better hide that sword of yours they don't take kindly to shinigami, and you will have a better chance of surviving this way."
"What are you talking about?" Toshiro was completely puzzled.
"They are mad men, the kidnap and children they find, no one knows what happens to those poor kids." the old woman whispered.
"All the more reason for me to keep Hyorinmaru with me." the old woman shook her head at this causing Toshiro to become even more confused.
"Not if you want to find your friend with the bubble gum hair."
"How do you. ."
"They took her last week, lucky for her she left her weapon at my stand or else Kumaka would have killed her on the spot." Toshiro weighed out the situation.
Be brave Hyorinmaru. Toshiro thought as he handed his sword over to the woman.
"Please take care of him." Toshiro pleaded.
"I will protect him with my life, he is a beautiful sword." the woman turned and fled into the night with his friend.
Be brave young one, Hyorinmaru spoke to him I am here anytime you need me, just call my name and I will come.
Toshiro peeked around the corner to find a group of five rather larger men. They each held various weapons in their hands, ranging from a club to a crude sword. Toshiro backed up hoping to get out sight, but he bumped into something.
"It's late for small boys to be out." a voice behind him sneered. Toshiro turned and faced the voice. The man was large and decorated in many scars. He was not somebody to mess with. Toshiro instinctively took a step back bumping into another figure.
"Where do you think you're going, boy" the man spat. He was smaller than the first, but still large enough to not mess with. Both men reached down to grab Toshiro, but due to his agility, he was able to easily dodge their fruitless attempt to capture him. Toshiro jumped on the second man's shoulders and took off running down the street. Noticing the men were having a hard time keeping up, Toshiro relaxed, until he felt the strange spiritual pressure once more followed by a sharp pain in his lower abdomen. Toshiro looked down to find a zanpakto protruding from his flesh. The man holding the sword wore a wicked smile the rivaled Aizen's as he twisted the sword in Toshiro's stomach causing him to scream in pain.
"You are a feisty one, aren't you." The man smile again as he removed his sword from the boy.
Toshiro felt extremely light headed as consciousness threatened to leave him. He swayed on his feet until a strong hand reached around his throat and lifted him off the ground. Toshiro gasped for breath as the man's grip tightened.
"You could prove very valuable to me." the man gloated. Toshiro did the only thing he was capable of doing from this position, he spit in the man's face. The man instantly threw Toshiro to the ground causing him to gasp in pain as landing on his shoulder. The man walked over and placed his boot on Toshiro's head, threatening to crush his skull. Toshiro's vision was swimming as the pressure began to increase.
"Oh I will enjoy breaking you, boy." the man sneered before removing his foot. "Tie him up and throw him with the lot, I will begin teaching this boy some manners in the morning." the man commanded the other two.
"Yes, Kumaka." the two replied in unison. The larger man picked up Toshiro by his collar and threw him over his shoulder as the other bound Toshiro's hands. Toshiro's vision continued to dance until the last thing he saw was Kumaka's evil grin.
AN: oh no, cliff hanger! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I'm excited about what happens next. Please review, the more reviews I get the quicker I will update ^^