The Other White-Haired Prodigy
Crack, crossover
Humour/General
Characters: Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Kakashi, Naruto, Anko, Orochimaru
Warnings: might be ooc despite my efforts --
Setting: after the Orochimaru invasion…and before Sasuke leaves Konoha. For the Bleacheans, it's just after the Soul society arcs when Ichigo and co have returned home after saving Rukia but before the next arc.
Prologue: Orders
"Nee, Taichou," Matsumoto said as the doorway dissolved into nothingness behind them. "Do you really think we'll find something useful here?"
They were standing in a small clearing in a massive forest. The trees were enormous, rising up hundreds of feet, the many branches nearly obscuring direct sunlight completely. Twelfth Division had discovered a strange dimension that had practically been under their noses all this time, and they had been pretty sure that no shinigami or hollow had ever set foot in that realm before.
For better or worse, Tenth Division had been assigned to do a bit of reconnaissance. Specifically, Captain Hitsugaya had been sent, seeing as he was intelligent, capable and could easily pass as an innocent kid. He had decided to take Matsumoto with him, confident that his Third and Fourth Seat officers could handle basic administration of the division while they were gone.
"Who knows?" said her Captain, sounding a little bored.
They were both using gigai(1), dressed in the style of citizens that looked their approximate ages from Ichigo's living world. A name had yet to be decided for this realm, also that of the living.
"The air seems heavy here," Hitsugaya muttered, almost to himself. He passed a hand lazily through the air. "It feels like our powers won't be as effective as in Soul Society."
"You're right," said Matsumoto after a moment. "So, you think it's like our powers are restricted? Like what happens when we go to the living world?"
"Effectively, yes. It shouldn't be a problem, though, if we just keep that in mind and compensate."
Matsumoto agreed. She tugged a bit at her blouse subconsciously. It was too tight around the bust for her liking, and not in a style she would have chosen for herself.
"Taichou? Why did they decide we had to use gigai? They're so…restricting. And wouldn't staying in our spiritual form be more effective for stealth?"
Hitsugaya sighed, glancing down at his own gigai. He didn't want to use gigai either, and they both knew it wasn't his choice to use them, but they couldn't exactly go against a direct order. "To blend in, to interact with the locals and gather information directly and diplomatically. They're calling it an 'experiment' in Twelfth Division."
"And yet they don't go themselves," scoffed Matsumoto. "So much for them getting 'first hand data.'"
"Well, what do you expect? They're cowards and pretty useless in the field. If something goes wrong, they'll be in a lot of trouble."
Matsumoto could only agree.
They looked around, seeing nothing but forest in all directions. Hitsugaya closed his eyes a moment, a look of concentration washing over his face a moment. Opening his eyes, he gestured in one particular direction.
"I sense a considerable amount of the living that way. Follow me, Matsumoto."
Silently, the two shinigami sped through the forest, heading for the outskirts of Konoha.
(1) gigai - because the shinigami from Soul Society (ie. Hitsugaya and Matsumoto in this story) are souls, when they go to the real world they occasionally "wear" temporary, artificial bodies so that "normal" people can interact with them, remaining completely clueless to what the death gods really are. There's a few catches - once the shinigami use these fake bodies, they're more or less limited to human-level abilities (so they can't do things like walk on the air), and to get out of the fake bodies they need a different tool - Soul Candy, which they usually carry.
For future reference - Soul Candy, when swallowed, forces a human or shinigami soul out of the body (whether it's the real body or a gigai) while temporarily replacing it with an artificial soul to keep the body animated. Mostly used as a safety precaution to avoid the body getting damaged and drawing unwanted attention - a soulless body would otherwise collapse where it was, as if the person fell unconscious. When the original soul returns to the body, the person returns to normal.
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