Author's Note: Well… I seem to update fast. First of all, I would like to thank all of those who have reviewed and put my story under favourites! Domo arigatou gozaimashita! Second, I would like to clarify the pairings. These shall be all the pairings in this fic, including the minor/mild yaoi pairings.

Main pairings: HitsuHina, IchiRuki, MatsuGin

A little of: HitsuMatsu, HinaAizen, RukiRenji

Yaoi: HitsuAizen, HitsuIchi, AizenGin

(a little) OC pairings: HitsuOC, HitsuOC, HinaOC

If you're wondering why there are two HitsuOC pairings, it's because I have 5 OCs in all, and in the mild OC pairings, there will be two OCs paired up with Hitsugaya. Remember that they are mild pairings. And yaoi pairings are mild too. Not as mild as OC pairings, though.

Disclaimer: Read previous chapter.

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Chapter 2 – Dreams of the Ice Prince! Enter, the Icy Hollow

"Interesting…" Aizen murmured to himself, rubbing his chin. He stared very intently at the giant experimentation lab glass tube filled to the brim with a mysterious green liquid, possibly to preserve the body within the glass tube for a long period of time while the body was unconscious. (A/N: Gawd, I sound sadistic…) Hitsugaya was 'asleep' within the glass tube, not wearing his captain haori anymore. He was wearing the regular shinigami's shihakushou, without the haori and his sword band. (A/N: If you're asking me why…then it's because Hitsugaya looks nice in a regular shihakushou.)

As his hair and shihakushou drifted along with the currents of the green liquid, Aizen felt that the child prodigy actually looked so… peaceful when he was asleep. In fact, Aizen even found him cute. And unfortunately for Hitsugaya, his cuteness would be his downfall. Tubes and wires of all sorts were attached to Hitsugaya's slender body. It was like as if Hitsugaya was undergoing a surgical operation.

"Very interesting indeed…" Aizen went over to the controls and pushed a button. It showed a holographic chart of wavy lines, and Aizen identified the lines as Hitsugaya's brain waves which could be read via the wires connected to Hitsugaya's temples. "I can safely confirm that Hougyoku not only has the ability to 'shinigamify' Hollows but can also 'hollowfy' shinigami. By now, Hitsugaya-kun should be affected by Hougyoku's 'hollowfication' technique. However, his brain waves are showing the exact opposite…"

"Maybe it didn't work, Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra stated monotonously.

"That is impossible, Ulquiorra. Hougyoku is near perfection by now, and should be able to carry out its embodied abilities, like how I used it to create my Arrancar army. Judging from the brain waves and Hitsugaya-kun's peaceful and cute reaction…" Aizen smiled sadistically. "I can assure you that my endless studies of Hitsugaya Toushirou are confirmed to be true."

<ブリーチ>

"Hollow…? I'm going to become…a hollow?"

"Yes, Toushirou. If you do not wake up now, you will succumb to his will and lose yourself…" Hyourinmaru grimly replied.

"Wait a second, Hyourinmaru. You haven't told me who he is. Don't tell me that he is the bastard Aizen…"

Hyourinmaru looked up at the endless snowy skies, watching the snowflakes drop onto his nose slowly. He sighed and replied, "It's better if you don't know yet…"

"Hyourinmaru, I have to know! Who exactly IS he?"

The ice dragon stopped soaring in the endless sky and flew back down to the frozen and snowy grounds. He lied on his body, allowing his wielder to lie on his own back, and continued, "I told you, Toushirou, it's better if you don't know yet…"

"Hyourinmaru…!" Hitsugaya began to protest when the dragon tilted his head to stare into Hitsugaya's calm, deep emerald eyes. Hitsugaya just stared back at Hyourinmaru's fiery ruby eyes and waited for an answer.

Hyourinmaru moved his head back to its original position and sighed once more, "You're just like before, when you were a whole lot younger, Toushirou… You always were the stubborn one, weren't you?"

Hitsugaya folded his arms. "I've always been stubborn."

"I know that point better than anyone else does."

"Obviously."

"And knowing you by now, you'll stop at nothing just to get some answers out of me, won't you, Toushirou?"

"You really know me now, Hyourinmaru."

"Sigh… You're still like before…" Hyourinmaru sighed in defeat. "Do you really wish to know, Toushirou? Once I tell you, there is no way you can escape your fate."

"I don't care about that now, Hyourinmaru. All I want is the truth."

"And you will most definitely hear the truth the next time we meet, Toushirou."

"What?"

"Aizen's calling you to wake up. Heed my advice, Toushirou, and get out of this dream immediately."

"But, Hyourinmaru…"

"Go."

Although he didn't want to, the white-haired prodigy felt like he was drifting away from the frozen wasteland, and the last thing that Hitsugaya heard before he awoke to reality was the strong and wild cold icy winds of the snowstorm, howling endlessly at Hyourinmaru, and it eerily sounded like the cry of a hollow…

<ブリーチ>

"So, you still haven't told him, huh?" the figure smirked. "I thought so. Hyourinmaru has always been one of the most timid zanpakutou of all time."

"Wipe the smirk off that face of yours," Hyourinmaru retorted at the figure. "I'm not used to seeing someone who has the same face as my wielder smirk like that."

"Unfortunately for you, Hyourinmaru, I'm practically stuck like this, so you'll just have to get used to it."

"Don't worry; I won't even try to get used to it."

The figure stepped out of the shadows and folded his arms. "Well, well, getting a bit braver now, are we, Hyourinmaru? Perhaps you should spend less quality time with that chibi wielder of yours and spend more quality time with me, eh?"

"Like hell, Koori. I won't become part of you just yet."

Koori's smirk just got wider at that comment, showing his piercing Hollow-like fangs. His orange pupils glinted in his black eyeballs, and his hair was eerily exactly like Hitsugaya's. He was wearing the captain's standard shihakushou with the haori, but his shihakushou was pure white instead of black, and his haori was black instead of white. The patterns on the haori were white instead of black, and his sword band was blue. The zanpakutou on his back looked like Hyourinmaru, but the blade was black, the hilt was grey and the guard was silver. He pointed one of his black fingernails at the dragon and warned, "We'll see about that, Hyourinmaru. It won't be long until poor little Hitsu-chan falls under my control."

"I trust that he won't."

<ブリーチ>

Hitsugaya's eyes opened slowly. His eyelids still felt as heavy as ever, but what he saw totally woke him up. He found himself practically floating in a weird lab cylinder with green liquid in it, and he couldn't find his haori and sword band anywhere. 'Damn it… Hyourinmaru's attached to my sword band… Where did the sword band go?'

"Ah, I see that you're awake, Hitsugaya-kun."

Hitsugaya looked down from where he was and his eyes widened in horror. "Aizen?!"

"You look surprised to see me, Hitsugaya-kun."

"You're not exactly the first person I want to see when I wake up. Your face alone just makes me want to skip breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one altogether for three days," Hitsugaya insulted. (A/N: The liquid is just for show. Just take it that the liquid allows Hitsugaya to talk and breathe.)

"Ow, that hurts, Hitsugaya-kun. However, I didn't wake you up from your slumber just to see you." Aizen walked over to a desk full of documents and tattered books. He arranged them neatly and put them all in a big ring folder. Hitsugaya squinted his eyes to inspect the folder's name closely and he nearly swore when he saw the name 'Hitsugaya and Hyourinmaru'. Aizen went back to face Hitsugaya from the front of the tube when he was done rearranging everything and continued, "Are you wondering why you are here?"

"I don't give a damn, you bastard," Hitsugaya replied.

"Wow, kids these days… Learning all the bad stuff…"

"I'm not a kid, you bastard! Let me go!"

"If I were to let you, a precious and valuable addition to my army, go back to Seireitei, I'd be damned. And you know me; I always get what I want through dirty tricks. For example, I wanted to get you, and I asked of Gin to sneak into Seireitei and capture you."

"N…nani?" Hitsugaya asked, baffled. "What do you want with me?" Now Hitsugaya was afraid. He was afraid of what Aizen would do to him. Hitsugaya might be a captain of the Gotei 13, but he was powerless against Aizen then. Hyourinmaru was probably taken away by him, and all Hitsugaya was left with was kidou, but as long as he was stuck in that freaky tube, there was no way he could even use the weakest of kidou.

"Don't worry, Hitsugaya-kun. I just want to… ask you about something."

"If this is about the upcoming war, I won't reveal Soul Society's top secret plans to you, you bastard."

"It's not about the upcoming war, Hitsugaya-kun. I don't really care about that right now."

Hitsugaya's eyes widened. "You don't? But don't you want to kill Soul Society's royal family and – "

"Oh, nothing of the sort, Hitsugaya-kun. I said it's not about the upcoming war," Aizen moved closer to the tube and smiled sadistically. "It's about you."

Hitsugaya blinked in surprise. "Me? What about me?"

Aizen's sadistic smile widened and he chuckled a chuckle that sent shivers down Hitsugaya's spine and made his hair stand up straighter than usual. Yup, Aizen Sousuke was a real creep, alright. "You'll find out in due time, Hitsugaya-kun… All in due time…" Aizen answered creepily, and he tried to stifle his chuckles. He then continued, "However, like I said before, I didn't wake you up just to have a little chat with you. All I want are some answers – or, more like some feedback – from you before I send you back into your peaceful slumber."

"Kisama…" Hitsugaya swore under his breath.

"Tell me, Hitsugaya-kun, how did it feel when you were asleep? Did you feel any… different?"

"Different? Well, I don't feel any different…"

"I see. Then, have you had any conversations with your zanpakutou lately?"

"…"

"Or have you noticed that your zanpakutou is acting a bit more different or more uncomfortable than usual?"

"What the hell is your point?"

Aizen pushed the same button on the controls as before and it showed Hitsugaya a holographic chart of the same wavy lines. Hitsugaya inspected them closely, but couldn't make out what the lines meant. Aizen printed out the chart and showed it to Hitsugaya on closer basis, but Hitsugaya still didn't understand what the chart was about. "This here chart is a record of your brain waves, Hitsugaya-kun. As you can see, when I compare this chart with another chart of your brain waves before I used the Hougyoku on you…"

Hitsugaya tried to remain stoic and uncaring when, in fact, he was very pissed and shocked to learn that Aizen had used the Hougyoku on him, and even recorded his brain waves like as if he were Mayuri recording down the freakish observations he made. Hitsugaya knew that the Hougyoku had done something to him, and it wasn't giving him illusions of candy. The fact that Hougyoku was used to create Arrancar out of Hollows made Hitsugaya wonder: Was he going to become a Vaizard? No matter what the case, Aizen was more of a creep than Hitsugaya ever knew.

Aizen printed out another chart and showed it to Hitsugaya. Aizen continued, "See, Hitsugaya-kun? Compare the two charts. What difference do you see?" Hitsugaya looked at the chart showing his brain waves before Hougyoku was used on him, then he looked at the chart after Hougyoku was used on him. He looked back and forth for umpteen times, and he found no difference at all. He didn't know if he should be happy or sad, for if there was no difference, it would mean two different kinds of possibilities: One would be that Hougyoku failed to do anything to him, meaning that Hougyoku didn't affect shinigami and could only affect hollows, so it would also mean that Hitsugaya was perfectly normal. The other possibility would be that if Hougyoku worked, it would mean that Hitsugaya was a Vaizard, but if that was the case, Hitsugaya's reiatsu and mind should be out of control just like Ichigo was, but judging the charts, Hitsugaya was perfectly normal. That would also mean that Hitsugaya had always been a Vaizard, and that was something that no one should party about…

"There is no difference, is there, Hitsugaya-kun?" Aizen spoke. He sounded very satisfied and very excited. "You seem confused, Hitsugaya-kun. Maybe I should ask you again after you wake up from this…"

Before Hitsugaya could even think of replying, he felt an excruciating pain on his forehead and fell into deep slumber once more, and falling back into the frozen wasteland in his dreams.

<ブリーチ>

"Hmm… I feel a familiar reiatsu quite similar to yours, Hyourinmaru," Koori spoke. Hyourinmaru didn't bother to listen to him. Koori continued, "Well, it seems that little Hitsu-chan is returning. Unfortunately." Koori added.

"Don't shed crocodile tears, Koori. I know that you're happy that Toushirou is about to come here," Hyourinmaru retorted angrily.

"Well, there's no point in hiding from you, Hyou-Hyou, so hell yeah, I sure am glad," Koori replied with a smirk on his face.

"Leave now, before Toushirou notices you."

"Hell no."

"You'd better leave now, or else…"

"Or else?" Koori taunted. When Hyourinmaru didn't reply, Koori scoffed, "Hah! I thought so. Hyou-Hyou is really a timid zanpakutou after all. I pity Hitsu-chan for having such a timid and useless zanpakutou like you. Don't you think that Hitsu-chan would appreciate you more once we join together?"

"Like hell I would succumb to your will, Koori. Now just leave!"

"No can do, Hyourinmaru. I want to see the brat."

The familiar icy reiatsu filled the entire frozen wasteland, and Koori and Hyourinmaru felt Hitsugaya's presence coming closer and closer. Hyourinmaru had to chase Koori away before Hitsugaya arrived and notice Koori. "There's no point in seeing Toushirou now. He's not ready to see you."

"What do you mean he isn't ready? Are you implying that he doesn't accept me, his inner hollow?"

"Knowing Toushirou by now, he'll never acknowledge you as his –"

"Whatever the case, Hyourinmaru," Koori interrupted. "I'll need the brat to accept and acknowledge my existence, and to do just that, I'll need to see him. Anyway," Koori looked down at his body and made a disgusted look. "I don't want to stay in this form."

"You have another form which I don't know of?"

Hitsugaya was getting very close to them by then. Koori smirked smugly. "Of course. That is why I want to return to my original form as soon as possible, and I'll need Hitsu-chan to accept me in order for me to revert back to my original form."

"What the hell are you-?"

Before Hyourinmaru could even continue, Hitsugaya appeared and fell on top of the snow. He got up and dusted the snow off his shihakushou which was deprived of its captain haori and sword band, and looked up. He noticed Hyourinmaru and another boy who looked exactly like him except for the colours. Hitsugaya walked towards them. "Hyourinmaru… Who is he?"

"Hyourinmaru ain't obliged to answer your question, Hitsu-chan," Koori intercepted. "Because I'll be doing the answering."

"Who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm you."

"Don't listen to his nonsense, Toushirou!" the ice dragon protested, trying to prevent Koori from filling Hitsugaya's mind with all the rubbish.

"I won't, Hyourinmaru," Hitsugaya assured. "All I want are answers."

"That's the right attitude now, child," Koori muttered under his breath.

"So what do mean by you being me? And what's your name? Tell me," Hitsugaya asked, getting a little more demanding than asking.

"You want the answer to that? Well, you'll get your desired answers right here and right now!" Koori unsheathed his Hyourinmaru-like zanpakutou and tried to slash it at Hitsugaya who avoided it in time. Koori scoffed and smirked. "I'm your inner hollow, little Hitsu-chan, and my name is Koori. My full name is Hitsugaya Koorimasu."

Hitsugaya choked back thousands of gasps when he heard from Koori that Koori shared the same family name as he did, but remained indifferent. Koori slashed his zanpakutou at Hitsugaya, managing to land an attack, causing Hitsugaya to bleed. "Toushirou!" Hyourinmaru called out concernedly but Koori raised his hand at the dragon and used some mysterious force that made Hyourinmaru frozen on the spot.

"Stay out of this, Hyourinmaru. I ain't gonna let you help your precious wielder this time round." Koori chased after a running Hitsugaya, and he used shunpo to catch up with Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya, noticing that Koori was catching up to him, used shunpo as well, but he was shocked that even shunpo was slow compared to Koori's shunpo. "Scared, aren't you, Hitsu-chan, to know that I'm a whole lot faster than you are? Don't be. You haven't seen what I can do yet, Tou-chan."

"Tou-chan…? But that's what-!" Koori punched Hitsugaya in the stomach, pushing Hitsugaya off his feet and falling onto the snow on his back. Hitsugaya coughed a little and wiped the blood from his mouth. "You looked into my memories?"

"Of course not. I've always been you, so whatever you experience, I experience! And whatever you feel, I feel! Whatever you think, I think! I've always been at least a part of you, or even you all this time, so there's no way I can look into your memories when we share the exact same soul, Tou-chan!" Koori snapped, raising his hands towards Hitsugaya, getting ready for a kidou spell. "Hakudo no sanjyuusan: Shoukatsui!" Blue reiatsu emerged from Koori's palms and hit Hitsugaya right on the chest. Hitsugaya fell backwards and coughed out some more blood. Koori ran up to the fallen Hitsugaya and grabbed him by the collar of the shihakushou. "I know you're a whole lot better than this, Hitsugaya Toushirou."

"Who are you…?" Hitsugaya asked, getting scared of Koori. He wasn't as scared as when he faced Aizen. Koori was a much more intimidating opponent, because according to Koori himself, Koori was him, and he was Koori. He was facing his greatest opponent: himself.

"Psh. Must I repeat myself?" Koori tossed Hitsugaya aside and he sheathed his zanpakutou on his back like Hitsugaya did with Hyourinmaru. "My name is Koori. My full name is Hitsugaya Koorimasu, but you can just call me Koori. And I…" Koori appeared right in front of Hitsugaya, zanpakutou in hand, ready to slice Hitsugaya's head off once Hitsugaya rebelled. "am your inner hollow."

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A/N: Yay! My OC makes his appearance in this chapter! He is Hitsugaya's inner hollow, and I know you are very curious and pretty much confused, but everything will be explained as the story develops. If I'm not wrong, this story can go up till about at least 15 chapters long. The maximum should be about 20 plus chapters, or 30 chapters. It's pretty long, yes I know that, and I like long stories. (smiles)

Let me elaborate more on the name Koori. I checked up in the Japanese-English dictionary. Koori means freeze, which would suit Koori since he is Hitsugaya's inner hollow and wields the element of ice. The answer as to why Koori has the same family name as Hitsugaya will be answered later, but you can guess if you want. If someone manages to guess correctly, then I'll be very astounded because the situation is actually very complicated. Anyway, Koori's full name is Hitsugaya Koorimasu, and Koorimasu means 'to freeze'. Koori is a short form, again meaning 'freeze'. Not much of a difference, except that Koorimasu is a verb and Koori is…well, I don't know, maybe a verb.

Ok, I'm going very random.

ああああああああああああああああああああ!!!

Sorry. I said I was being random.