Title: Thoughts of an Ice Dragon
Pairing(s): IchiHitsu
Rating: PG-13 (to be safe)
Summary: Toushiro's thoughts wander and fall on a certain strawberry.

Warnings: Spoilers if you haven't seen the soul society arc. Unbeta-ed.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any characters in it.

Toushiro understood many things being a child prodigy and all, but there was one thing or rather one person he never understood, Kurosaki Ichigo. For all his denseness and inability to sense reiatsu, he was a decent guy who fought for everyone especially those he cared about...

which was what drawn Toushiro to him.

The loud mouth shinigami had saved Kuchiki Rukia from being execute. He, on the other hand, couldn't save Momo, the one whom he considered to be a sister. The taichou knew her from before they became shinigami, yet, this substitute shinigami saved someone he barely knew.

From the reports he read while in the fourth division (while conscious), Toushiro was able to catch up with the latest news. He knew that Gin Ichimura had been involved somehow, but he hadn't suspected the other two taichous to be involved. In fact, they were the two he least suspected. How a fool he was to trust Aizen! He played right into his hands, and it nearly cost him his adopted sister. Hopefully, she would survive this and with her mind in tact.

The tenth squad taicho wanted to bang his head on the wall, to strangle himself, to repent for not seeing it earlier, but that was the past and nothing could be done. He had to make do with what he had and prevent Aizen from completing his plan, whatever that might be.

As hard as he tried, he couldn't think of anything that the former taicho would want. He had the sphere and all the power it contained. For all its strength, he could take over soul society whenever he wanted. They were scrambling to take care of the wounded and restore order. It would be a perfect time to strike, but he had yet to make a move.

It was as if he was waiting for the right time, or he could be taunting them. He decided when and where it would happen. He had control. They were helpless to stop him should he decide to attack them with full strength. While they had the numbers, two of them were tactical geniuses with taichou level strength.

Still, they still had time to recover and formulate some plan. Anything was better than nothing. He racked his brains trying to figure out something that would give them a slight edge. No one in the soul society stuck out in his mind. All the taichou were capable of defending themselves and others, but they could fight for so long, and Ukitake-taichou had his limits with his illness.

Then his eyes fell upon Kurosaki Ichigo.

While Toushiro found Ichigo to be annoying and foolish, he respected him, his power and courage. It was something he wanted to be, someone who was powerful enough to protect those he loved and brave enough to go against the odds.

"Oy, what are you staring at?"

"Nothing." The child prodigy blushed slightly and turned his head away, denying that he was staring at the substitute shinigami.

"Whatever."

As clueless as ever... That was what made him adorable.

Did he just think that? It couldn't be. He had feelings for... Toushiro racked his mind for anyone he might be attracted to and ended up with no one. His second in command annoyed him to death and Momo was like a sister to him.

But Ichigo was neither.

Perhaps, he would figure out their relationship one day, but for now, he'd enjoy the strawberry's presence...

even if it was kind of annoying.