Well, I suddenly got the thought and it wouldn't leave! It's really fluffy and a bit sad so don't flame me if they're a bit ooc. Also, I'm gonna say that Ichigo had an interesting encounter long before the vizards with his hollow so this is a week after he started their training and a day after Karin and Toushiro had that soccer match. Ichigo didn't stay missing for more than two days and-
dryly~ You're babbling Jane...
Yeah, so?
snorts~ It's annoying.
pointing angrily~ Nobody asked you Kurai!
Summary: There's never any thunder in Seireitei so Toushiro didn't expect it to affect him much but when he's wormed into staying at Ichigo's and a storm hits, he gets a memory that breaks him. He immediately latched onto the first thing offering support; Ichigo
Memories in the Rain
"I can't believe that my sisters forced you to come over, Toushiro!" Ichigo laughed at the captain of Squad 10, feeling unbarabley amused by the fact as torquise eyes glared back at him coldly.
"It's Captain Hitsugaya to you, Ichigo." Toushiro said icily, glaring at the vizard in front of him. He didn't mind Ichigo - heck he might someday be willing to call him a friend! - but even with knowing he had an inner hollow, the snowy haired boy couldn't help but feel that the citrus haired boy was hiding something bigger. Like he knew more than he let on.
But even then... it was impossible not to trust Ichigo Kurosaki and even harder not to respect him for his drive. And it was damn near impossible to make the boy show you respect! He never called authority by their title and used your given name whether you wanted him to or not, add to that he had a sense of humor similar to that of the old Squad 13 luitenant, Shiba Kaien. And man that guy always managed to piss Toushiro off when he was alive - it's a wonder the boy hadn't have killed the young man himself, let alone Ichigo.
"Toushiro, you're staying the night right?" Yuzu asked kindly, showing up in the room with a bright smile.
"That's Captain Hitsugaya." The boy grumbled. All of Ichigo's family knew of the whole shinigami business, so it didn't sound weird to anyone that he said something like that randomly.
"Sorry." Yuzu blushed ever so slightly, "You're staying the night though, right Captain Hitsugaya? I can set up the guest room for you tonight if you are."
"Thank you, Kurosaki-chan." Toushiro said, nodding in thanks. He looked outside, "It's gonna rain." The boy said blissfully. He loved when it rained at the Soul Society. It was peaceful and the rain drumming on the roof always relaxed him.
"Huh. I guess you're right." Ichigo mumbled, looking out the window boredly. He plopped down on his bed and looking at the captain lazily, "So, what were you doing, Toushiro?"
"Captain Hitsugaya and if you must know I was trying to scout for arrancar." Toushiro said icily.
"Geesh, you don't have to be so cold, Shiro-chan." Ichigo sighed and then winced ever so slightly but not from the glare Hitsugaya gave him, more the verbal thrashing Shirosaki was giving him from inside.
"Did you just refer to me as Shiro-chan, Kurosaki? Because last I checked I didn't agree to a nickname." Toushiro said icily, glaring with pure annoyance at the substitute shinigami.
"Alright, I wont give you a nickname. I guess it wouldn't have worked the way Shiro's going off about me putting 'chan' after his name... Who would of thought that he'd grown so attached to it." Ichigo said in surrender at first but then with a hint of amusement with a strange glint in his eyes. "Shiro said he will kill me if he ever gets the chance... he wants to tear my throat out... feed my remains to a dog... yadayadayada..." he seemed to be overly amused by the whole situation as he ran a hand through his hair.
"I don't find it at all amusing." Toushiro said darkly.
Ichigo simply stared back at him blankly before shrugging, "Sorry for trying to lighten the mood a bit."
"You're an idiot, Ichigo." Rukia said from the doorway, already in her pajamas and coming from her room - which had once been Yuzu's.
"Says the annoying midget..." Ichigo drawled lazily, flopping backwards on his bed.
"Shut up, Ichigo." Rukia said, frowning and walking in to sit at the desk, staring at the two oddly haired boys, one of which lie in bed the other sat with an annoyed look on his face at the foot of said bed. "Ichigo... you're acting differently than you were earlier, are you alright?" She asked in concern.
"Yeah, I think so." Ichigo mumbled and Toushiro and Rukia sweatdropped as they realized he was already half asleep. "I'm... just a bit tired." he yawned.
"You haven't even eaten dinner yet." Rukia said, frowning once more.
"Oh yeah." Ichigo said, suddenly sitting up and heading towards the dresser, "Here Toushiro, these are my old pajamas from when I was a kid. I think they'll fit you." He said, tossing a pair of green pajama pants and a matching button up pajama shirt to the small captain.
"I said to call me- you know what, never mind." Toushiro finally sighed and looked at the pajamas in his hands before standing and making his way to the bathroom to change. "Thank you." He muttered as he walked out.
"M'Welcome." Ichigo said, yawning again. "I'm just gonna skip dinner. I feel more drained than usual." He told Rukia, who nodded after a moment and left her friend to go to bed.
Later - Toushiro
He was almost asleep when, out of nowhere, there was a loud BOOM from outside which was followed quickly by lightening. Toushiro shot up, he knew lightning was in a storm but what in the world was that boom? There was never any thunder in Seireitei so this was a new experience for him. He settled down but soon found he couldn't sleep with that annoying sound and soon felt a bit unnerved at how frequent it was becoming.
Another boom resounded and teal eyes widened as a flash from his previous life passed over him, causing him to shake slightly as a small flashback with a memory he didn't even know he had suddenly filled him.
It had been during a thunderstorm, when it had happened. When his father was murdered trying to protect Toushiro and his mother. But it had done no good as no matter how quick they ran... he still caught up to them before they made it outside.
His mother's screams could be heard as sadistic brown eyes glinted in the moonlight and then turned to him with the knife in hand. "You're next boyo!" the man had laughed, advancing on him.
"No! Stay away from me!" He shouted, backing up into the corner with his arms raised in a petty attempt to defend himself.
The last thing he saw was those evil eyes grinning down at him and just as the knife came down there was a resounding boom of thunder.
BOOM!
Toushiro shot up as the thunder broke him from his flashback, crying for the first time in almost twenty-three years, unrelenting tears rolling down his cheeks as he pulled his knees to his chest, sobbing.
He just remembered his death, his murder, and the murder of his previous life's parents... Toushiro felt cold, vulnerable, weak, helpless... But he wanted to feel warm and safe again, he wanted to be protec-
BOOM!
He shot off the bed in pure fear but his foot got caught in the sheets, sending him crashing to the ground painfully. Toushiro clenched his fist tightly around the pillow that had kept his head from hitting the ground, sobbing like the little kid he appeared to be and the little kid he'd been when he'd died.
His head shot up as the door opened but while he stilled his sobs he couldn't stop the tears as the light flickered on and warm chocolate eyes stared at him in concern. "Toushiro..." Ichigo whispered.
Toushiro had never felt so happy to see the substitute sould reaper in his entire life.
Let's Backtrack A Bit Shall We?
"What? What?" Ichigo said, shooting up and blinking tiredly. Right on cue there was a crash from down the hall and on instinct that Shiro had engrained into his entire being the orange haired teen shot up and walked cautiously down the hall.
Ichigo stopped, frozen, when he heard sobbing from inside Toushiro's room. "What the...?" Ichigo mumbled opening the door to find Toushiro on the ground, clutching the pillow but his head shot up and the sobbing stopped as soon as pushed the door open further.
He reached other and flicked on the light to meet puffy, red rimmed, teal colored eyes that had an endless flow of tears coming from them, raining down the normally passive but now terrified face. Ichigo slowly went into shock and whispered in a concerned voice, "Toushiro..."
Toushiro's lip was trembling and his shoulders shook as he held in his sobs, but his eyes were what struck Ichigo right in the heart. They were the picture of a traumatized child, of a child that had witnessed something horrible that they shouldn't have seen but did anyway.
It was all instinct after seeing those eyes.
Ichigo walked forward and dropped to his knees in front of Toushiro, who had sat up a moment ago, and pulled the snowy haired boy into a hug. The captain went stiff but Ichigo brushed a calming hand through his hair, instantly breaking his resolve and Toushiro grabbed onto him, breaking down completely and crying into Ichigo's shirt.
Ichigo's touch was nothing like that time Matsumoto and Momo had tried to comfort him after his and Momo's grandmother died - it wasn't understanding, heck it probably couldn't be counted as comforting. No, the only thing that Toushiro felt when Ichigo wrapped his strong arms around him was security and compassion. Was that how Rukia had felt when Ichigo had saved her? How those people he'd saved from those thugs yesterday felt? Safe?
He also knew that Ichigo had probably done this before with probably several different people - his embrace wasn't gentle, it wasn't thoughtful, it was just there - and besides, Ichigo was known for being way to empathic, especially towards his friends. Ichigo was an anchor to everyone, that Toushiro knew. And he used to feel that he didn't need an anchor, that he didn't need Ichigo to protect or save him like the Soul Society had several times... he had been wrong. Toushiro needed that same anchor now, he needed to feel safe.
The sobs continued to wrack his small frame as he clenched his eyes shut in a futile attempt to at least stall the tears flowing relentlessly from his eyes.
"It's alright, Toushiro." Ichigo whispered, rocking back and forth gently.
"I... I told you... not to... not to call me-me that!" Toushiro sobbed, clutching Ichigo's shirt tighter.
Ichigo smiled sadly, "I'm sorry, Toushiro."
"Wh-What for?" Toushiro said, his sobs slowly calming down but not stopping.
"For always treating you like a little kid." Ichigo said and to prove his point he ran his hand through the boy's hair yet again, as if he was an older brother comforting his younger one.
"I'm not a little kid~hic~ I just died that way." Toushiro's sobbing quieted down to small hiccupps but his tears refused to stop as they stained Ichigo' shirt.
"Wha-what?" Ichigo stammered in surprise before his eyes widened in realization, "Oh Toushiro... you didn't..." he whispered. Most people probably couldn't have put it all together, let alone that fast, but Ichigo had always been full a surprises so Toushiro didn't think much of it as he couldn't help but babble - he needed to tell someone that wouldn't just pity him for it.
"It had a lot of thunder... In Seireitei there is no thunder... I didn't think it would effect me so much when I finally heard it but..." Toushiro's sobbing came back stronger than before and he clutched onto the substitue shinigami tighter. "I saw it, Ichigo." he whispered brokenly, "The man that killed my real parents and then killed me... I saw it!" he cried out before breaking once again.
Ichigo had no words to offer so he continued rubbing circles into the boy's back and running his hand through his hair in a soothing motion, rocking back and forth until Toushiro had stopped crying completely but was still clutching onto him. "Ready to go back to be-?"
BOOM!
Both his and Toushiro winced at the sudden burst of thunder as the lights suddenly went out with the power lines. "Can I stay with you?" Toushiro asked weakly, suddenly tightening his grip on the older boy to an almost death-like grip.
Ichigo's uncomfortable - as he's getting the life squeezed out of him - face softened dramatically and he put a hand on his guest's head, "Sure Toushiro, you can stay with me."
Toushiro gave a small thank you, probably feeling ashamed for his act of weakness from a simple storm, but Ichigo wouldn't allow it as he pulled him to his feet and lead him along the suddenly dark hallway by the hand and into his room. Ichigo climbed in his bed and Toushiro shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. Ichigo blinked and moved over even more, tossing back the covers for him.
He hesitated...
BOOM!
Toushiro scrambled frantically into the bed beside him, allowed the blanket to be tucked around him like a little kid, and silently thanked Ichigo for beind his anchor when he broke as his turqoise eyes drifted shut. Ichigo had fallen asleep the moment he knew Toushiro would be alright. The boy subconciously snuggled into Ichigo's side, waking the half asleep teen, who smiled in exsasperation and put an arm around his friend, drifting away yet again.
He was starting to see why Rangiku always gushed over the child captain, not that Ichigo'd ever admit that.
End!
Well? What do you think? A little fluffy or a bit too morbid? Should I add another chappy or leave it as a cutesy one-shot? If I do add more chapters should I keep Toushiro and Ichigo in a sort of brotherly relationship or should I make it a romantic one? Should I just make more memories for different characters? Or just stick to Shiro-chan and Ichi?
Flames will be used for heating dish water and reviews will be used to fire up the inspiration within my muses and me!