Ichigo's POV

Baka (idiot)! Ichigo thought as he saw the small captain disappear under the drunken form of Matsumoto.

"Get off!" Hitsugaya yelled with more than the usual amount of venom dripping from his callous voice. As he stood watching Renji and Rangiku throw themselves at Toushiro, he tried to make sense of the taicho's peculiar behavior. He probably doesn't like having to supervise those ahos (dumbasses) Ichigo thought, but then shook his head slightly. Nah, he does that all the time; something is different this time…a pair of luscious lips locked his own and broke his mental chaos.

Toushiro's POV

He could feel his blood boiling as he watched an indisposed Rangiku force herself on the shinigami daiko. He turned away from Ichigo flailing his arms manically while his fukutaicho took advantage of the redhead's confusion. Ugh, why do I even care?! Hitsugaya thought angrily. He turned back to the scene at hand only to see three pairs of eyes staring at him, two blearily, one confused.

"Why do you even care about what?" Ichigo asked hesitantly, a strange look on his face. Did I really say that out loud? Ksa! The captain panicked, but succeeded in pulling on his usual mask of apathy.

"Nothing that concerns you, Kurosaki," much he thought, "feel free to proceed." He walked out of the room and shunpo'd out the door and onto the roof.

Ichigo's POV

"Get off!" Ichigo yelled, reminiscent of Toushiro's outburst not much earlier, as he pushed Rangiku off of him.

"Aw, but you know I'm sexy!" the strawberry blonde pouted as she went for Ichigo's mouth again. He turned his face away,

"I'm not in the mood, Matsumoto. Go kiss Renji, he'd be happy to get some action for once."

Ichigo stood up, directed her towards the tattooed fukutaicho, and followed Hitsugaya into the storm, grabbing a spare blanket on the way.

Why does he always run away when people try to help? Ichigo thought, puzzled and increasingly troubled.

Toushiro's POV

White spikes of hair rustled, damp in the tempest of snow, as their owner breathed the frigid air deeply. Somehow, the turmoil outside seemed calmer than the scene he had left behind, and that thought quelled his own personal storm. After witnessing so many deaths, being shunned by general society, and being mistaken for an elementary school student time after time, a strawberry human moron is what breaks my sanity? the logical shinigami thought, shaking his head. He jerked to a standing position as he heard a crunch on the snow-covered sidewalk. Ksa! he peered over the shape of the gutter buried under moisture and saw a flustered flame-haired shinigami daiko craning his neck, eyes searching every which way. Soundlessly, the taicho leapt to a tree encroaching on the roof and took off, soaring above Karakura town from branch to branch. At least the baka won't be able to find me; he can't sense reiatsu, the captain reassured himself. The turquoise eyes widened as a flame darted in front of him. A determined Kurosaki stationed himself in a defensive position so as not to let Toushiro escape, and even though he knew he could flee easily, he stayed where he was, intrigued.

Ichigo's POV

As he dashed outside, the shinigami daiko felt apprehension more than the swirling flakes surrounding him. He looked around, not seeing anything obvious, and then noticed a quick flash of white that almost blended in with the ongoing storm as Hitsugaya shunpo'd away. Ichigo followed and tried to organize his thoughts. He's so freaking stubborn! Why do I even care anyways? he ran his long fingers through his wet ginger mop. He paused in his pursuit as his thoughts froze over in the haunting realization of what he had just though. He said that earlier…I wonder what he meant? His brows furrowed as he tried to make sense of the cryptic message. I do have a habit of caring too much about my friends…the thought of what Toushiro's reaction would be to that made him roll his eyes.

You really are dense, King, Ichigo's hollow piped up. Oh, great, you make this situation so much less confusing, Ichigo sighed. Ouch, you better be nice, King, or I won't tell you what you're too stupid to realize. Oh? What might that be? Ichigo scoffed. You…the hollow took his sweet time, drawing out every word. Like…white Ichigo savored the expression dawning on Strawberry's face. Him. So really, you're nickname's quite fitting…I always knew! The hollow burst into raucous laughter as Ichigo started to deny it. Get out of my head you stupid brute! Why would that make sense? Ichigo's thoughts became even more agitated at the addition of this new information, whether true or not. Now I can't even catch up with him…Ichigo thought wearily. Just search for his reiatsu, baka. You know him, you'll be able to find his thread, no matter how bad you suck at it. With that, the hollow sank back into silence in the inner recesses of Ichigo's mind.

Ichigo closed his eyes and grasped at the white threads of the Karakura citizens. I can't find him in this madness! he thought, defeated. Focus…the hollow's voice drifted into his searching. He squeezed his eyes tighter and felt for an icy strength radiating from the delicate strands.

"There!" his eyes shot open as he grabbed red thread that could only belong to Hitsugaya taicho. The frozen reiatsu in his hand showed the young captain leaping through trees, and Ichigo shunpo'd directly in front of him, determined and relieved.

"We need to talk." Ichigo finally spoke.