Disclaimer:
I don't own BLEACH, though I obviously like to mess around with its
plot.
Warning: Story may contain spoilers from latest manga
chapters, anime episodes, and movie releases.
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Chapter 1 – Impetus
Everything seems to start with that field of ice.
And that is, indeed, as far as I would tell those that are close enough to me at Soul Society. And I am not referring to Yamamoto-soutaichou either, though he is now technically my closest advisor. No, despite this current… predicament of mine, he will never replace Matsumoto.
Maybe it is just an old habit that I could never quite get rid of, but something always seem to hold my tongue when I attempt to share the more personal details of my life. Hyourinmaru knew every single last one of these, of course. But he would never sell me out.
Not even to Soujirou. Even before our duel, I think I already suspected strongly of a victory on some subconscious level. After all, my psychic bond with the zanpakuto spirit is stronger than any shinigami could ever hope for. Indeed, it goes all the way back to my death on that unnatural tundra. I would have become a shinigami far sooner had I not spitefully turned a deaf ear to the ice dragon's insistent calls. And I will probably always feel the guilt of that knowledge.
A meteorologist was what I was back then. Funny, is it not, how I turned out to be the one to dictate the weather rather than someone who observes or predicts them? And no, I did not come from the same dimension as most residents of the Soul Society. (And no matter how silly an assumption they have made of my background, I do not think I can ever bring myself to call them my subjects.) Maybe the original royal family also came from the "real" world… I can neither confirm nor disprove that hypothesis now, but it seems rather likely given my recent discovery through the archived documents that they had left behind.
Going back to the tundra… How did I end up there in the first place? Hmm, I think my team was dispatched to research the possible source of a new trend in global temperature. You have to understand that it was suppose to be a big thing. My home world had been suffering from what they called a "Greenhouse Effect", and a sudden 180-degree reversal towards the Ice Ages was rather unusual.
At least, the department head funding us was very excited. He went as far as boasting a possible solution to all future instances of global warming, if we could just get to the bottom of this peculiar phenomenon. I was understandably sceptical, but I kept my mouth shut for fear of losing those substantial subsidizations. I might have been a bachelor with little wants, but I had a mother in long-term intensive care that could definitely use the extra money to pay off some hefty bills.
While in the Rukongai, I often wondered what might have happened if I had refused the so-called "special one-time offer". By the time that I became a full-fledged captain, though, I was mostly able to fend off the useless "what-ifs". But now that I am left with nothing better to do than reminiscing and writing about the past, I have found it popping up more than I like to admit.
For instance, I cannot help but wonder if I would still have to spend a millennium just to track down my one-time mother. Or if I still have to rely on my guards to simply check up on her.
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"Hitsugaya, where do you think you're going?"
Making no attempt to hide my sigh, I turned around to face the speaker. It was another little-known researcher that our boss dug up from somewhere. Dr. Something Something Easton. "Outside. We're not any closer to getting the results if we just stay inside this camp."
"Pah, sure we will. You're just a pessimist," Easton squinted distastefully at my standard outfit, complete with what little equipment light enough for me to carry by myself. "That's all you've got with you, kid? You might as well stay in and look over the charts again."
I could feel my eyebrows twitching as they furrowed into a frown, I tried to ignore his slur on my age. I am not a kid… just have a short stature. There was only so much you could do against genetics. "Fine, I just want to take a walk… alright? I don't like being cramped up for so long."
The man did not seem convinced. Why was him making so much of a fuss now? He never cared about my comings and goings before. "And you're going by yourself? You'd lose your way out there in no time. Every inch of this place looks the same."
That was a severe exaggeration, both of us knew it. I scowled heavily this time, but went along with what he said just to get his strange newfound interest off my back, "I'm not stupid. Checking our camp perimeter is all I'm going to do."
"Hey relax, kid," Easton waved his arms condescendingly in what was probably supposed to be a placating manner, "You're so uptight."
I thought I finally placed the look in his eyes then. Alright, so we failed to grab a female member onto our team… and some among us had been away from his wife or girlfriend for a long time… But honestly, I did not swing that way. Maybe I should have disposed of those manga books that my mother always insisted on stuffing into my luggage. I would not mind it if she decided to buy me some copies of the Shonen Jump, but esoteric magazines like Chara or CIEL… and she asked why my father listed her dubious hobbies as one of the reasons for their divorce.
Respecting gay people was well and good. Reading comics focused on them was also still alright. But getting so obsessed on my mother's level… You had to wonder if she would not actually push along the kind of things that she saw depicted within them.
Shutting the sealed door resolutely behind me, I decided not to bother with appearances by giving Easton an answer this time. I simply could not understand why the annoying man wouldn't want to get out of here as soon as he can, if he was so unmotivated to do fieldwork. Didn't he always complain about the lack of communication with his family? Well, finish the job and go home!
Speaking of this lack of enthusiasm, the rest of our merry band were not much better either. It was… almost as if they all wanted to drag this project out as long as they could. Really, there were better ways of earning more money. Ruining your reputation in favour of short-term gains financially was hardly the best way.
If it were up to me, I would have called off this expedition already. There was nothing noteworthy from the data we've gathered so far. This is just another new tundra created outside the sub-Arctic belt. The layer of frozen topsoil around this season was a bit thicker than recent records, but you could say the same thing for pretty much any other location on this planet right now. Being the coldest place on Earth despite its latitude was probably the only thing still keeping us here at the moment.
In my frustration, I probably trekked further than I should have. At least, I was too far from the camp for anyone to help me out when it happened.
"Come," the word boomed right next to my left ear and almost had me jumping in fright.
As I tried to calm my… dare I admit… fluttering heartbeat, I let out a few choice words in my mother tongue before gritting out a more proper reply, "Easton, just leave me alone…"
Wait, but that could not be him that I was hearing!
I felt my eyes widen involuntarily as realization dawned on me. Gods, had I stayed in this forsaken corner of Earth for so long that I could not distinguish Japanese from English? Easton was a borderline racist and I doubted he would speak a non-"Western" language, even if his brain cells could handle it. And yet, why did the voice sound so like him?
"Or, perhaps you prefer this?" there came that resounding voice again… or so I thought. For it sounded completely different this time. If not for the thunderous volume, I would have thought it was my bedridden mother speaking to me after she just saw me doing something stupidly funny. Like accidentally kissing a guy or something.
"Prefer what?" I whirled my head about as I scanned the surroundings in utter confusion. The voice sounded like its source was right next to me, but there was no one as far as my eyes could see. And I apparently still had 20/20 vision when I went for a regular examination at the hospital two months ago. "Who are you?"
Figures, just when I did want to speak with the voice, it stopped answering me. I could still hear something echoing vary far off in the distance, but it was clearly unintelligible.
Modifying my question slightly, I tried to call out into the brisk air again. "Where are you?"
Something crackled loudly behind me in reply. Engulfing me… Crushing me…
The forbidding pressure made it suddenly difficult to breath, forcing me to hold back a string of aggravated curses. I swivelled on my heels with some headstrong efforts, only to find an empty plain still greeting my sight.
Some deciduous trees used to grow in the region around our camp, but now they only possess sharp bare branches that glittered ominously under the oddly bright overcast sky. Most of them had been cut down as firewood during our extended stay, but a few still remained to break the all-encompassing emptiness.
For miles without end, I could only see a field of sparkling frost… silvery ice… or whatever those poets would call it in their imaginative and flowery description. Strangely, I was not cold. Even in the few places where I knew my insulated coat had loose seams, my body temperature was left unperturbed.
I thought I could feel something. The air around me certainly felt heavy and leaden, like how it would have been before a tropical rainstorm… except, of course, it no longer just rained in this place. When there was actually any precipitation at all, it was often snow and a lot of it. Dry and crisp… unless the snowflakes made contact with your bare skin and melt into freezing bites.
Maybe whoever spoke was invisible.
"And maybe Mom had the right idea too, when she said I don't go to the shrines often enough," I muttered surreptitiously under my breath, more to myself just for working out the tension that had somehow crept into my cheek muscles. It was more than just bad vibes that I was getting. My instincts were screaming at me to run, even though I could see no obvious danger to me.
Turning in the direction of our camp, I had to forcibly stop myself from outright running. With as much dignity as I could muster, I carefully placed one feet before the other in a controlled pace. "I am not superstitious. I am a good person. I am not superstitious. I am a good person…"
Perhaps I should have been superstitious, because something hit my head hard when I repeated myself exactly four times.
Last thing I did before I lost consciousness, I swore I'd write and leave an ema at a shrine next time before I go on an expedition—and not just on New Year's Day or my mother's birthday. I could use a better luck in the future.
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A/N: Please let me know how you think of this idea. An incentive for…um, like continuing it?
