Yah yah, I've another idea which I wish to post before a. I forget or b. someone has this idea as well. This will probably be the only chapter for a very long time as I am focused on my other story. Just to let anyone who wants to know, I have the rough idea of the next chapter of Shinobi:Wizards so all I need to do is polish it up and type it out.
Disclaimer: I have been pulled into the Bleach world. Whoops. Still don't own it.
Summary: What it Hitsugaya and Hinamori's friendship began to fall apart when Hinamori entered the shinigami academy? Lost and alone, who extends their hand to the boy? Will Hitsugaya follow him?
Darkened Heavens
Chapter One
Tired
He was waiting.
A boy with strange messy white hair was slumped on the porch of a rather small house. Inside, he could hear oba-san watering the plants, humming. Shaking his pale bangs away from his eyes, he took another bite of the watermelon, chewed slowly and spat out the seeds. Repeat.
Where was she? That baka, she promised she would visit. She promised a week ago. She said that she would come every weekend. He knew training as a shinigami was a hard and difficult road and that's why he didn't want to be one, even if he had an amazing amount of reitsu for his age. Too lazy.
He always told her to spend more time training than visiting him, more watermelons for him, he would tease. She didn't listen to him, did she? She never listens to him! Why would she now? Even though he won't admit it out loud, he liked his best friend's visits.
Another bite. More seeds are spit out.
Sharp turquoise eyes stayed trained on the dirt path that led to their house. Their house. His. Oba-san. Momo's.
So where the hell was she? He angrily spat out more black seeds.
She said she would come, didn't she? Well, so where is she?
Why wasn't she here!?
"Kuso!" he swore and whipped the cleaned green shell into the trees. He was waiting for her dammit!
"Toushiro!" Yuuhei's, the old lady that had raised him and Momo for as long as he could remember since arriving in Soul Society, scolding voice called out crisply. "Language!"
He responded with a grunt and reached for another slice of the watery delicacy.
Hitsugaya Toushiro would be waiting for baka Bed Wetter Momo to come home.
A week passed.
Two weeks.
A month.
Two months.
And still Toushiro waited. And still Momo didn't come. Yuuhei's time was going to be over soon. She will be reincarnated into the living world once more. She had six months left in Soul Society max. She was leaving his the house and some money and was teaching him gardening too.
Yuuhei was old, very old. A good 900 years. Maybe more. So now it was her time to go. She was in Soul Society for an unnaturally long time, seeing as she didn't have a drop of reitsu.
Another month passed.
Hitsugaya would always go down to the market, buying some food and utensils. He remembered a time when he would steal and fight for scrapes of food. Even though he was small, his compact frame was swift and got the job done. Opponents aslo tended to underestimate him.
Couple kicks in the groin fixed that problem.
Before leaving the market, he would always drop some money into so wandering kid's way. He'd watch them pick it up and run over to some other equally scraggy and dirty kids and run off, laughing. He had been one of them, once.
Before Momo and oba-san found him.
It had been Momo, of course. He had swiped some food from her basket and ready to run, like any other hit and run. Before Yuuhei swung her cane and whopped him on his head. They promptly invited him over for dinner. Then a stay for a night. And another. And finally...
A home.
Hitsugaya never had friends, even on the streets. It could've been his size, his hair, or the fact he might've beaten them for picking a fight with him. But he suspected he scared them in some way. He later realized, from Momo, that he was always leaking out some reitsu and had scary eyes. Ice cold eyes that were always glaring.
Gradually, the ice began to chip away, leaving warm aqua. Truth was, Hitsugaya had always been afraid of getting hurt. Back when he was alive, his trust had been brutally twisted by those who he believed were his friends. He was left alone. And alone, he built walls.
Momo hadn't torn them down. She slipped through them and he let them fall by his own will.
That was why he was waiting for his best friend.
The sixth month mark...
Yuuhei was gone. She was sent back to the real world, reincarnated. Now the small house was suddenly big.
And empty.
Whenever they had talks at the dinner table about what they would do when Yuuhei was reincarnated, the boy always thought Momo would be at his side.
Then she enrolled in the Shinigami Academy.
Now he was alone. Again.
Two years.
Two years since he began waiting. Two years and Momo had yet to visit.
During those years, Hitsugaya slowly began to close up again. When neighbors said hello he would simply nod. When vendors approached he would coldly brush them off.
He was still waiting. He would wait.
But he was slowly falling into despair.
'Why isn't she here yet?' turned to 'Will she ever be here yet?'
'Why hasn't she come?' became 'Will she ever come?'
He had so much time on his hands and wandering around Soul Society became boring after the first several months. He tended to Yuuhei's garden and his watermelon patch and ran brats off his property every now and then. Still too much time. So he took to training.
Oh what Bed Wetter Momo would say if she saw lazy Shiro-chan now.
The white haired boy would train constantly and soon his small frame filled out, still slim yet compactly muscular. He would do basic kendo, from small snatches from when he was alive. He had died young, he knew that, and came from a samurai clan. That was all he remembered. But that was enough.
He would stop by the bookstore every now and then, purchasing some books on mathematics and sciences and the like. The boy, to his surprise, found he enjoyed reading almost as much as eating watermelons.
Almost.
Another that surprised was how easy he understood it. He didn't had to try hard, seeing as he was still young and his income came from odd jobs, yet he understood the most difficult books that he bought. He didn't think much about it.
Until that day.
Hitsugaya had just bought more books, a recipe book and literature book this time. He had just left behind some handful of yen to a little blond street kid when he felt it.
Reitsu.
Greenish blue orbs widened and small feet propelled him towards the source. Already a crowd was gathering. Slipping through quite easily, Hitsugaya watched the scene unfold.
Apparently, some shinigami were out drinking of a victory against a Hollow Soul Society had been after for some time. It must've gotten to their heads as the boy saw the tall form of the 'gentle giant', Takashi.
Takashi was a towering six foot ten brunette and renown for his incredible patience and gentleness, making him a favorite of children. Whatever the shinigami did must have been bad if it pissed the man this much.
The man been roaring at them but the words were lost to Hitsugaya. His eyes were only for the drunken shinigami who had begun chanting.
To others, the man was spewing quick gibberish. But to the boy...
Sharp ears strained to hear and icy eyes read the lips when he couldn't. His brain soaked it up like a sponge.
"Hadou #31, Shyukaho!"
"Hadou #31, Shyukaho!"
A burst of reitsu and a mini explosion.
"Gah!" The small form was thrown back and skidded on the ground, dirtying the tanned skin. Wearily, Hitsugaya stood, glaring at the defiant tree which was his target.
"Again! Hadou #31, Shyukaho!"
It went on for several days until...
"Yosh!" The singed tree stump was all that was left of the target. Hitsugaya was tired, sweaty and his hands were burned. But he did it!
"Bed Wetter Momo!" he cried, turning to the porch, his face set with a wide grin. "I did it! Did you see that..."
Momo.
He trailed off at the sight of the empty porch, the spot she always sat vacant. Biting his lip, he entered the house to tend his hand.
Alone.
Amazing.
He and Ichimaru had gone to find some wayward members of their division when they had caught the faint feeling of reitsu. It was some distance away from them and they had already sent the missing members back. He could have left. Instead, he had motioned for Ichimaru to follow and made his way to the reitsu. It was there, with irregular burst. That meant he, or she, was performing kidou.
But why would a shinigami train all the way out here?
True, most spirits in this area were unable to sense reitsu but the place was well populated. There wouldn't be any training areas and a park was no good. That was why he was curious. And that's how he found the boy.
Hitsugaya sighed and absently tightened the bandages around his hands. He was facing another tree, the one to the left of the demolished one and began chanting. His voice was shaky, carefully treading to avoid stumbling and another explosion.
"Hadou #31, Shyukaho!" And the tree was gone. Suddenly, the boy heard slow clapping behind him. He whirled around.
Two men were in his yard. His yard. One had glasses and brown hair, the one that was applauding. The other had silver hair and, strangely enough, closed eyes and an eerie smile. His eyes narrowed.
And they were wearing the clothes of shinigami.
"That was very well done," the man had stopped clapping and a gentle smile adorned his face. "Are you in the Academy?" Hitsugaya scowled.
"No." The men visible started.
"No?" the silver head echoed and he saw a brief flash of crimson when his eyes opened.
"That's what I said, wasn't it?" He scowled. "Now you tell me. Why the hell are you on my property?"
"Ah, chibi-san, such language. Ya should watch ya tongue." The silver head.
"Don't call me small!" The creepy smile widened.
"Oh? Bu' yer are."
"Ichimaru." 'Ichimaru' turned to the other man, obviously understanding the veiled order.
"Hai, Aizen-taicho." He fell silent.
Aizen turned to him.
"May we come inside?"
How old was he? Not old enough to enroll in the Academy, that was certain. The reitsu enthralled him but not only that...
His eyes.
The boys eyes, young and wide as they were, were frosted. Icy windows of an icy soul.
Interesting.
Scowling, he led the shinigami to his house. Uttering a habitual 'tadaima' he invited them in stiffly. His body screamed 'Go away!' Instead the sat on the two mats provided and Hitsugaya bit back a growl. Momo's and Yuuhei's mats. Ichimaru plopped down while Aizen sat more gracefully. Silence reigned before he broke it.
"Well?" he snapped. The brunette smiled.
"You have a high amount of reitsu, ah," Aizen broke off and laughed lightly. "We haven't introduced ourselves properly, have we? I am Aizen Sousuke, taicho of the 5th division. This is Ichimaru Gin, my fuku-taicho." The other man waved and said, "Yo!"
"Shinigami?"
"Hai."
"What would shinigami want with me?"
"Eh, ya should be a bit nicer, ne?" Ichimaru interjected. "We're guest, afte' all." Hitsugaya scowled at him but before he could say anything, Aizen beat him to the punch.
"Would you like to become a shinigami?"
Hitsugaya's jaw dropped.
What?!
"What?!"
"I asked if-"
"No, I heard you the first time," the boy sighed.
"Well, do you?"
"I-"
He didn't know.
He trained and studied to pass time. Being alone did that to you. Now this man was asking if he wanted to be a shinigami.
Two years ago he could answer with a 'hell no!' But now...
Now, he wasn't so sure.
A sudden wave of a powerful loneliness nearly overcame him. Biting his lip, the boy bowed his head, white hair shielding his eyes.
"I-"
If he took this offer, he wouldn't be alone, would he?
Would he?
Seeing the boy- he didn't even know his name, com to think of it -bow his head, Aizen let a light smirk grace his features, contorting them briefly before disappearing. Beside him, he could feel Ichimaru itching for an answer; both from him and the boy.
Honestly, he didn't know either. But he could sense a power hidden within the boy, power ready to be cultivated and used.
And he wouldn't let Soul Society get their hands on it.
He pulled out of his thoughts when the boy (he would need to ask for his name) raised his head, aqua eyes hard and sure.
And Aizen smiled.
To end this loneliness, to end this desolation. That was all he wanted.
Gomen, Momo, he thought solemnly, raising his head and squaring his shoulders. I have grown tired.
"Hai," Hitsugaya replied, his young voice like steel. "I would."
"Saa," the man smiled. "Perhaps you will be a good student, ne?"
He was only surprised for a second before remembering that although there wasn't a official age requirement to enroll in the Academy, most shinigami hopefuls had at least been in Soul Society for 20 years. That made him 10 years too young. He bowed deeply.
"Hai, Aizen-sensei," he said, still bowing. "I will to my best."
"Aizen-taicho."
"Eh?" The white haired boy looked up, startled.
"It's Aizen-taicho." The man patted his shoulder lightly. Although the touch was foreign, the feeling was...nice. Hitsugaya gave a small smile.
Gomen, Hinamori.
"Hitsugaya." Aizen looked at him, his turn to be confused. "I'm Hitsugaya Toushiro."
I've grown tired of waiting.
And so the fate of Hitsugaya Toushiro changed.
I don't know where I got this idea and I don't know if you guys will like it but please give some input. And could someone tell me what the two parts of Soul Society is called? You know, the outer and inner city? Thanks. Much appreciated.
Basically, since Momo has become so busy, she doesn't have much free time. And the free time is usually spent on training (to get into Aizen's division) I don't hate her or anything. On the contrary, I like their (Hitsugaya and hinamori) relationship in the manga. However, manga is manga and fanfiction is fanfiction. D
Since he was alone, he kept busy to try and keep his mind of his loneliness and jumped to the chance to escape it. He doesn't want to be alone anymore.
(Note: In canon, Hitsugaya is a mixture of a strong and compassionate soul. He cares for others, even if he tries not to show it. Which is why he is my favorite character!)
If anyone is curious, Darkened Heavens refers to Hitsugaya's command to his sword, Sit upon the fron heavens.
At least, that is my explanation for this very OOC and AU story.