Chapter One
Days like these made it worth being a Captain. The wind was tugging at my white hair and the sun was warming my body from the bitterness of the winter wind. I was in very high spirits because today was the first day in a long time that Soul Society has experienced a windy, cold day. Everything was going excellent, Matsumoto was actually doing here work, and I wasn't inside, stuck doing Matsumoto's work share, and had actually gotten a break. I had used that time to spend outside, enjoying the fresh wind. Sitting here enjoying the quiet evening, I thought nothing could go wrong; I only wish I had more time to enjoy everything before my year was about to be spent babysitting stupid teenagers.
Matsumoto had just gotten done with her paperwork; she wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for the mission to the human world. She had done it because, maybe, it would soften the Captain for the briefing of the mission Matsumoto gladly accepted for him. She knew she would hear an earful from him later but it would be worth it; from what the Head Captain said to her earlier, the mission sounded like it would be an interesting since they were going to look after a boy's tennis team for the rest of the year and maybe more. Jumping from roof to roof, she searched for a tuff of white on the streets and now in the grassy area outside of the main grounds. Looking from left to right, she had spotted the small Captain walking away from a big, shady tree; she should have known, it was his favorite spot. Giggling, she thought up a plan on which her Captain would be the unlucky victim. Waiting for her prey, she camouflaged herself with the shadows from the sinking sun.
She jumped out from behind a building as the Captain rounded the corner; Matsumoto, grinning madly, looked up at her adorable Captain to see his shocked expression. Of course, his expression was the same: cold and distant. He wasn't surprised, none in the least; he had expected something similar since Matsumoto was reluctantly following orders with no complaint. He knew she wanted something but decided not to ponder on that too long; now he would pay the price.
"Caaaptain! Head Captain wants us in his office; he said he has an important mission for you!" She said while grinning from ear to ear.
"Is that so? Then let's go." He said in his usual serious voice.
Captain and Lieutenant shunpo'ed across the Seireitei and to the First Division. Arriving in two minutes flat, the Captain knocked on the heavy door that concealed the First Division. After stating both their identities, they were allowed access to enter and walked into the well-lit building. Turning many corners, they reached their destination; knocking once, softly, a gruff voice answered for them to enter. They obeyed; soon they were face-to-face with the wrinkled, aged, Head Captain. Bowing out of respect, the Captain and Lieutenant strolled to their rightful place. The Head Captain looked them over once and announced,
"Captain Hitsugaya, Lieutenant Matsumoto, you are assigned a mission to the real world; with your acceptance, here are your orders and a brief on the matter." His voice was elderly but filled with centuries of wisdom.
"Head Captain, I never accepted such a mission." Hitsugaya spoke in a firm, confident, and respectful voice towards his superior.
"Captain Hitsugaya, I sent one of my subordinates to your division yesterday at 14:45 p.m.; he had received an agreement." Head Captain Yamamoto argued.
"My Lieutenant had answered in my place because I was out; I am sorry for any confusion but she didn't have my consent of doing such a thing, had I known, I would have came and conference with you sooner." Hitsugaya countered in a skillful voice.
"No matter, your Lieutenant agreed and it is too late to find a new Captain willing to go on a mission on such short notice; you will have to accept and agree since we do not have enough time."
"Yes Head Captain." Captain Hitsugaya thought it would be best if he didn't anger the Head Captain.
"Now for your briefing, your fake identity will be a new student who has been home schooled up until now, you will be in the freshman class, and you will be joining the school's tennis team. Their school, Seishun Gakuen or Seigaku for short, has had an immense outburst of reistu over the years; along with many other schools Seigaku will be rivaling against in tennis tournaments. You will stay at Seigaku for a year, and if you cannot report the source of the reistu then your stay will be extended, and you will arrive at Seigaku tomorrow morning. Go to your division and pack; report at the Senkaimon at 8:00 a.m. You and your Lieutenant are assigned this mission; do not fail Captain Hitsugaya, dismissed."
Hitsugaya followed by Matsumoto walked out and back to their proper division. As soon as they entered the gates blocking the outside world from the Tenth Division, the temperature plummeted to the negatives; Hitsugaya turned to glare at his subordinate. Matsumoto nervously starched the back of her head and stepped back; she crouched down in case she needed to break free and fast.
"MATSUMOTO!" He screamed, he screamed her name, and she knew what was coming next.
"Y-y-yes Captain?" She nervously asked, scared of his answer.
"Why didn't you discuss the mission with me BEFORE you accepted it?"
"I-I-I knew you would say no and you need a break; look how happy you were when you didn't have any paperwork to do Captain!" Matsumoto went back to her usual whining.
"Did you even consider," Hitsugaya rubbed his temples in vain, "thinking of the human paperwork their sensei's assign to the students?"
"But Captain, this is a chance to go to the human world; it's going to be so much fun! We'll be able to go to a different part of Japan than Karakura town and we get to play tennis!" Matsumoto deliberately changed the losing debate to distract her well-aware Captain.
"No, the longer we stay in the human world, the more paperwork that'll pile up; and I will be joining the tennis team since it is a boy's team." Once again, her Captain had out-witted her in, yet another argument.
"I'm sorry Captain Hitsugaya," Matsumoto sounded sincere, that's what threw the young Captain off; Matsumoto never apologized unless she wanted something.
"No matter; the Head Captain has already declared I will be the one to go on this mission, so there is no point in standing here and arguing over it. Let's get packing Matsumoto," Hitsugaya paused and looked over his shoulder; fixing his Lieutenant with a piercing stare, "I want you at my office at 7:45 p.m. sharp, dismissed."
With those last few demanding words, both retired to their own quarters for the night. One excited and filled with joy started packing right away; while the other unwillingly trudged back and started packing anyways. One only packing what he absolutely needs, while the other packed everything that could fit into the suitcase without it bursting; but both were anticipating what would come and how it would arrive.
The cold, rigid Captain sat at his desk; a last minute look-over. Everything had been taken care of before the last minute inspection; the Captain of the Sixth and the Thirteenth would be over-seeing the Tenth Division, while the Third Seat would be in charge of the seated and unseated officers of the Tenth Division, and the Captain of the Fourth Division would be taking care of his precious plants he had received as a gift from his friends and fellow Captains. Matsumoto had yet to show up and it was one minute till 7:45.
A busty Lieutenant shunpo'ed across the roofs, she had overslept due to her frantically trying to fit everything she wanted to take in her already-over-stuffed-suitcase; and her usual alarm clock had failed to wake her up. Checking her watch once more, she let out a defeating sigh as she read: 7:44 p.m. She knew she could never make it; she was at least a mile away from the Tenth Division. Mentally cursing herself for having to buy the bottomless suitcase Urahada had conveniently with him, she tried to speed up her shunpo; the only result was the lazy Lieutenant tripping over her own feet. Deciding not to push her luck, she continued her way there at normal shunpo and hoped the Captain wouldn't be too cranky; she didn't need him to be mad at her for something else too!
Hitsugaya checked the clock on the wall again, it was official; Matsumoto was late. He knew she had probably tried to over-stuff her suitcase, it wouldn't have been the first time, and then went to Urahada for a bottom-less suitcase. The only way he knew about this suitcase was because he had one himself; he didn't over-pack, in fact his suitcase was barely full but he knew he would need it for the trip back. He took a paper from the short-but growing-stack of papers on his desk and proceeded to fill it out. After he had finished two more, a winded Matsumoto barged into his office; fixing her with one of his famous glares he stood up and slowly walked around his desk towards her,
"You're late." He practically growled.
"Sorry Captain, I had trouble packing." It wasn't completely a lie but it wasn't the truth either.
"Really? You, Matsumoto Rangiku, had trouble packing. Let me ask you, did you only pack the things that you absolutely needed or did you pack the things you absolutely wanted?" He watched her squirm before speaking once more,
"Both, the things I needed and the things I desired to take with me on this trip." She sounded professional and she hoped it had worked on the small, furious Captain.
"Matsumoto, you are to only pack the things you need, not want; how did you even manage to pack everything in your suitcase." Even though he already knew the answer, he was curious to hear the answer she would give him: the truth or a lie.
"Well, my old suitcase-uh-wouldn't close so I, sort a, 'bumped' into Urahada and he sold me a bottomless suitcase! Isn't that great Captain?" She was shaking but at least she told the truth, or somewhat of it.
"Very well then, let's head to the Senkaimon before we're late."
Both changed before walking out, the uniforms weren't that bad, of course Matsumoto was put into a gigai seeing as she was too tall to be in middle school; but Matsumoto being who she was, complained about the dull colors and the, unbelievably, tight shirts. Barely making it on time, the Head Captain watched as the two casually walked across the field and in front of him. The Senkaimon was fired up and the gate to the living world appeared along with two hell butterflies; the picture of Seishun Gakuen also appeared.
"You know what to do, you will report every Friday and if there is an emergency; you may go Captain Hitsugaya and your Lieutenant Matsumoto."
Both stepped forward and into the gate, disappearing from the Soul Society but appearing outside the gates of Seishun Gakuen or Seigaku. 'I'm glad Matsumoto had accepted the mission, of course this mission isn't-"
In the living world, Matsumoto and Hitsugaya had entered the gates of Seigaku and were now heading towards the Administration office. The bell had, apparently, rung a few minutes before the pair arrived because the corridors had long been deserted. Entering the office, the duo quickly caught the attention of the woman sitting behind the wooden desk. The two strolled up to the desk while the woman spoke in a quiet and calm voice,
"You must be the new students coming in today, right?" She asked curiously.
"Yes we are!" Matsumoto chirped happily in her fake, human voice.
"You are Matsumoto Rangiku, 2nd Year and Hitsugaya Toshiro, 1st year, am I correct?" She asked once more.
"Yes you certainly are!" Matsumoto was enjoying talking in her newly acquired voice.
"Welcome to Seishun Gakuen, we hope you have a great school year and if you are thinking about joining any of Seigaku's clubs, you will need to talk to the coach." She chirped, taking the sight of the unusual pair in.
"I'm not going to join any clubs but Shiro-chan is!" Matsumoto was clearly enjoying not having to use Hitsugaya's respectful title but he was not going to stand for it.
"It's Toshiro-kun to you Matsumoto." He practically growled but low enough for only Matsumoto to hear.
"Which club are you going to join Hitsugaya-san?" Hitsugaya was thankful for the proper address.
"Tennis club." Hitsugaya replied nonchalantly.
"Okay, hold on a second and I will call Coach Ryuzaki and introduce you to your new club director." She picked up the phone on her desk and dialed a few numbers.
While she was talking to the Coach Ryuzaki, Matsumoto and Hitsugaya inspected everything in the small room. It wasn't huge but it was small and cozy; it definitely didn't strike fear into the students that were sent here. It didn't take long before the woman hung up the phone and the 'coach' appeared at the door with a student that looked to be a 3rd year. He had glasses and brown hair, he had the facial expression of a Captain and seemed to rarely smile, also similar to many of the Captains.
"Hello Hitsugaya-san, I am coach Ryuzaki and this is the tennis club Captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu." Ryuzaki introduced Hitsugaya to Tezuka.
"Nice to meet you Hitsugaya-san." Tezuka spoke in a calm, firm voice.
"The feeling is mutual." Hitsugaya returned with a voice that was far too mature for a middle school student.
"Please come by after school to the Tennis Club room and I will introduce you to everyone and we'll test your skills."
"Yes, sensei." Hitsugaya answered out of respect, which was quiet fake.
Ryuzaki and Tezuka left while Matsumoto and the other woman were conversing. Hitsugaya turned around, looking at the two females with no interest and listened. They were talking about class schedules and tour guides.
"Matsumoto-san-"
"Please call me Rangiku-kun!" Matsumoto cut in.
"Rangiku-kun, your tour guide will be Momoshiro Takeshi , 2nd Year and Hitsugaya-san's will be Horio Satoshi, 1st Year. I will call them in and introduce each of you and then they will give you a full tour of the school and show you where your classes will be."
She once again picked up the phone but she pressed a different button; soon the school was filled with her voice. "Momoshiro Takeshi and Horio Satoshi please come to the office." Soon the door flung open with the nerve stricken Momoshiro and the panic filled Horio. Momoshiro had black spiky hair and blazing purple eyes while Horio had brown spiky hair and brown eyes but what stood out the most was his unibrow.
"Momoshiro Takeshi, this is Matsumoto Rangiku who is a new student; you will be showing her around the school, her classes, and will be answering any of her questions, understood Momoshiro-san?" Her voice wasn't the calm, kind one but a strict, demanding one.
"Y-yes Yamaka-sensei." The one name Momoshiro answered.
"Horio Satoshi, this is Hitsugaya Toshiro who is also a new student; you will also show him around the school, his classes, and will answer any question he might have and also show him the way to the Tennis club, he will be joining the club." Horio nodded his head while inspecting the new comer; figuring out ig he was worthy of the Seigaku Tennis Club or not.
All four of the students left the office and walked their own path, Matsumoto with Momo and Hitsugaya with Horio. Horio planned on showing him the whole school, so he wouldn't scare the new kid too much in the beginning with Seigaku's awesomeness and scariness, then he would show the new kid his classes, and finally the Seigaku Tennis fields and tell the newbie how it's done. Horio led Hitsugaya through the whole school, including the six sets of bathrooms, the seven janitors' closets, three music rooms, two stages, three gyms, and then the roof. Hitsugaya didn't pay attention much but rather focused on the fact that this person, Horio, might drive him crazier than his current Lieutenant; he never thought someone could be as annoying as Matsumoto. Horio had gone on and on about how Seigaku was so great and some of the history but Hitsugaya barely paid attention but the word 'tennis' did.
"-yeah, Seigaku's tennis team is the best in Japan! Even though we haven't made it to Nationals in a long time but this year's team is unstoppable! A First Year, my friend, Echizen Ryoma is on the team and that', like, amazing because no First Year had been allowed a spot on the Regulars before the summer! He's, like, the best ever; I don't think you could ever beat Ryoma-kun, he's the best and no newcomer could beat him, well besides me but I need a little more practice and then I'll be able to take him! I've had two years of tennis experience so I'm great but not as good as the Regulars, but of course their awesome! You're going to join the Tennis Club?" Horio paused, waiting for a reply.
"Hn." Hitsugaya nodded, not wanting to speak, and indicated to Horio he was.
"Well, Seigaku only allows the best of the best to be on their actual team; don't get your hopes up, you'll never be able to make it! Ryoma-kun has mad skill and is a true wiz at tennis but I'll be able to beat him one day. Maybe you'll be able to score one point on me, but never on Ryoma-kun or the other Regulars!"
Horio sure is full of himself, Hitsugaya thought Horio had a big mouth; too big for his likings. Thinking he needed to put Horio in his place, he concocted an idea, an idea that would shut Horio up and it would involve the sport he considered himself, practically, a god in: tennis.
"Horio-san, would you play a match against me; I want to see how good you are since you have two years of tennis experience." Hitsugaya's voice was confident and solid, and he knew exactly what to say to ensure Horio played a match against him.
"Of course! I'll show you how to play like me and maybe give you hints and tips if you want!" Horio seemed to be all for the idea, he sure was idiotic.
The duo made their way down to the courts and took out their own rackets, Horio got his from the locker room, and Hitsugaya pulled one out of the bag he had been caring around since that morning. Both stood at their respectful sides and each called a side. The racket spun and spun, it landed with the H facing up: it was Horio's serve. Horio grabbed his racket once again and threw the ball he had, high up into the air. He swung the ball with all his might, all of it he could muster together, and swung as the ball came down; Horio had tried to put a fast twist on it but it wasn't as fast as he imagined it would have been. Horio smirked as Hitsugaya stood there, looking at the ball coming his way. He mistook the look on Hitsugaya's face as scared because he wasn't ready for the volley.
Horio barely returned the ball, he mentally scolded himself to pay attention; he watched Hitsugaya closely as he took a step forward and returned what Horio thought was a super fast, insanely strong ball with ease. His racket stretched out, Horio swung as his racket encountered the ball; it was heavy, too heavy. Somehow the ball had gained immense speed and a massive amount of strength because Horio's racket was taken out of his hand by the easily returned ball. The rest of the match went on like this and soon Horio couldn't take it anymore; his stamina had decreased severely and his arms were brutally sore. The match had ended with the score of 6-0 Hitsugaya. Shocked and stunned at the fact of the newbie had beaten him, Horio with two years of tennis experience, in a match. Horio opened his mouth to challenge the newbie once more when a new voice cut him off,
"Hey you, the one with the white hair, what's your name?" A gruff, male voice barked.
"It's common courtesy for someone to introduce themselves before asking another for their name."
Hitsugaya was angered by the rudeness in the Seigaku student's voices. Were all Seigaku students this obnoxious and foul-mouthed? If they had talked like that in Soul Society, the Captains or the higher ranked officers would have put them in their place, but this wasn't Soul Society and it looks like the 'Regulars' had failed to put these spoiled brats in their place a long time ago.
"You've got guts kid, to answer a Second Year like that when you're clearly a First Year; since you're new and you don't know anything about Seigaku I'll allow this one mistake pass now tell me your name newbie." The voice barked once more.
"I already told you, its common courtesy for someone to introduce themselves before asking another for their name." Hitsugaya was getting tired of repeating himself.
"Why you-" The boy raised his arm, ready to strike the shorter boy down.
Hitsugaya suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind the taller boy, grabbing his arm and pushing it behind him in a painful way, Hitsugaya whispered,
"I don't think it's very polite to attack someone when they aren't looking, don't you agree?" Hitsugaya asked while pulling the taller boy's arm back for good measure.
"Y-y-yeah, I agree." The taller, but younger, boy answered back in pain.
"I don't know," Hitsugaya released the boy's arm, "what is wrong with the students in Seigaku but where I come from, we treat those who we know are much more powerful than us with high level respect; if I showed you just how powerful I am, would you all stop running your mouths before they get you into sever trouble?"
Hitsugaya had enough, he hadn't even been here for a whole day and these rash and foolish boys were getting on his nerve. He shot everyone a dark and sinister glare that stroke fear in everyone's core. They all looked away sheepishly and avoid eye contact with Hitsugaya, finally the silence was broken with someone's voice.
"Hi everyone! I hope you guys all had a great weekend!" Everyone's heads perked at the sound of that voice.
"Now you're going to get it, the Regulars are coming and they'll beat you and put you in your rightful place, newbie." Someone shouted from the crowd.
"What's going on everyone? Why aren't you practicing?" A concerned voice drifted over the awkward silence.
"The newbie just attacked Ari and then said Seigaku's student body had something majorly wrong with them and thought we were just big talk." Another voice shouted out from the ever-growing crowd.
"Fshh. Who said that?"
Everyone visibly cringed at the sound of that voice; the crowd parted for the speaker to see who had said such a thing. The one who had recently talked would look scary to most students but not Hitsugaya who had seen worse, much worse. The boy walked through the parted crowd and towards Hitsugaya grabbing him by the collar,
"Fshh. What makes you think you're better than us?" The boy growled.
"I never said that, maybe you implied it but I never said those words." Hitsugaya countered easily, he wasn't called a child prodigy for nothing.
"Fshh. Then what did you say, shortie?" Shortie, he had just used a word that drove Hitsugaya over the edge. He wasn't that short! He was the same height as Horio!
"I. AM. NOT. SHORT. Let go of me, now." Hitsugaya hissed, the surrounding temperature dropping to the negatives, letting students see their own breath.
"Fshh. No, I hate cocky kids like you; they need to be put in their place."
"I would love to see someone put me in my place; in fact I would love to see you put me in my place." Hitsugaya knew he was sending the boy over the edge but he didn't care, he was the one who made the mistake of calling Hitsugaya a shortie!
To Be Continued…