Author's Note: I intended to have this published a little earlier, and it's shorter than I thought it would be, so you all have my apologies. It's been snowing like there's no tomorrow recently, and we have another storm that's supposed to arrive soon. I like snow, and I like snow days, but too much of anything is a bad thing. And I don't like shoveling snow. And if there are too many snow days my school will add more days onto the school year to make up for the days we missed. I've been thinking about adding a message to my profile page, but I'm too lazy... To all Death Note fans: check out my oneshot, it's called Silver Tongued Devil. So, that brings us up to date on me, but you don't care about that, so without further ado, I give you my permission to read my second chapter. You're welcome.
Without a word, Hitsugaya followed the 12th Captain out of the room. As the scientist reached the door he stopped.
"Oh, yes," he said over his shoulder, almost as an afterthought. "The rest of you can go back to whatever you were doing. You will be given a file containing more detailed information, so be sure to brief your Lieutenants by tomorrow morning."
As he left the room with the 12th Captain Hitsugaya could hear Renji say "Why couldn't he have just summoned Hitsugaya and briefed us in the morning?"
After a quick shunpo to 12th Division Headquarters, Kurotsuchi guided the smaller Captain though the halls of Research and Development.
"Kurotsuchi," Hitsugaya began, "I understand the significance of the mission, but I should know more about the kind of situation you're throwing me into. You should tell me everything you already know about the targets; otherwise I may send information you already are aware of in my reports. Besides, the more I know the easier it would be for me to-"
"Save your breath, Captain, I already told you I would tell you everything you should know when we have reached our destination, haven't I? The way you speak, I'm beginning to suspect that my fellow Captains don't trust me."
"Forgive me if I hesitate to trust a man that used members of his own squad as 'tactical explosives' against a couple Ryoka and refers to torture as a scientific experiment," Hitsugaya replied.
"I'll have you know, Captain, that most of the sentient beings I study are Hollows, and those that aren't are rarely conscious. Besides, not all of my experiments use pain as a stimulus. As for the subordinates I misguided, isn't it the dream of any warrior to die serving his Captain? They should have been happy to sacrifice their lives, it was the first useful thing many of them had ever done. Wait, never mind, they didn't even succeed in destroying their targets, did they?"
Before Hitsugaya could respond, the mad scientist started speaking again.
"Here we are. Captain I would appreciate your silent cooperation while I equip you and your subordinate for your mission."
Hitsugaya tried to control his anger. Kurotsuchi might as well have said 'shut up and do as you're told'. The 10th Captain's tolerance towards the scientist's high and mighty attitude was dwindling rapidly.
Kurotsuchi entered a password into the terminal adjacent to the door. When the door was unlocked the Captain pushed it open and led Hitsugaya into the room.
The room was well organized. One section seemed to be designed entirely for the storage and review of data. The monitors, filing cabinets and the shelves lined with samples for experimentation took up most of the room. The other area was occupied by a variety of equipment placed along a few shelves. The two areas were separated by a couple of tables. The only Shinigami in the room were the two Captains, the Assistant Captain of 12th Division, and...
"Kuchiki Rukia?" Captain Hitsugaya said, addressing the other Captain in the room rather than the person of interest. "I thought you said you would pick the lieutenant that was most qualified for a mission of this caliber."
"I said something of the sort," Kurotsuchi replied. "However, it is my belief that Lieutenant Kuchiki is qualified for this particular infiltration mission."
"She is Soul Society's least experienced lieutenant," Hitsugaya observed.
"True, but when you consider the amount of time she has spent attending a modern Japanese high school, she is the most obvious candidate for the mission. As a matter of fact, I believe you had handpicked her to assist the advance team that was recently stationed in the World of the Living?"
"I chose her because of her knowledge of the local area, I don't suppose that she is familiar with this particular area of Japan, is she? Besides, this assignment demands the skills greater than those of a Shinigami who wasn't even a seated officer a month ago."
I'm going to pretend I didn't here any of that. Rukia thought to herself as the Captains continued to bicker. From what I've heard this mission doesn't sound very dangerous. It's just another way for my brother to keep me off the front lines and trying to fool me into feeling important.
But the new lieutenant knew that this mission was very important. If everything went as planned, you could say goodbye to Hollows. And that was the beauty of it: when the mission was complete Captain Kuchiki could be fairly certain that there wouldn't be much danger left for Rukia to face.
After the argument between the Captains had ceased, the briefing began.
"Now then, let's make this quick, we don't have a lot more time to waste," the scientist said with a glare in Hitsugaya's direction. "The two of you will be disguised as second year high school students transferring from another school. You know by now that Gekkukan High school transforms into the tower during the hour between days but your main objective is to become close with the students at the dorm I mentioned earlier. We have made sure that you will enter the World of the Living near a person of interest. We will then send these in after you."
Captain Kurotsuchi gestured to the cage that his lieutenant had just unveiled. Inside were two of the "primal Hollows" which wore blue masks adorned with the Roman numeral "I". They seemed quite pathetic: the creature itself was a black mass with two arms and Hitsugaya had sensed higher spiritual pressure in an infant.
"After your friend 'saves' you two helpless bystanders, you will continue to the apartment we have provided for you, but not before you have demanded an explanation of your situation from your savior. After you have made contact, you will inform me of your phenomenal success when you are certain you will not be overheard."
The 12th Captain turned towards the shelves and retrieved two suitcases and two school bags. "These bags contain everything you will need to conduct your mission successfully." he said as he handed them to Hitsugaya and Rukia. "That includes school supplies, a variety of clothing and your necessary Soul Reaper equipment. Among this equipment," he said with a grin, "is one of my greatest masterpieces."
The scientist produced a mod soul out of a pocket from Hitsugaya's bag.
"Mod souls as you know them are mass produced and have identical, predetermined personalities and memories. This particular mod soul is special. It is, in a sense, blank. You see, as of this instant this mod soul has no personality or memory: I have created it to mimic its master perfectly in every way. When ingested into the gigai the mod soul copies the memories and personality traits of the gigai's occupant via the electric currents in the brain of said gigai. In other words, the mod soul becomes the Shinigami in every way except power. It will be highly useful whenever you need to be in two places at once. In addition, this copying ability will activate every time you use the mod soul and any memories that you have made since you last used it will be 'updated'. Also, you will gain the memories of the mod soul when you reenter the gigai. Keep in mind though, these don't grow on trees: if you lose yours I will personally tear off your head and stuff it into a vat of corrosive acid," the scientist said, deadly serious. "One more thing: under no circumstances are you to misplace your mod soul with the other's. The prototypes had enough of an identity crisis to begin with, and I suspect there will be a complete psychological breakdown if it is made to mimic two personalities at once. Moving right along-"
On that note the scientist handed Hitsugaya his blank mod soul and turned towards the tables in the middle of the room. There was a gigai on both tables, and each was covered beneath a white sheet. Captain Kurotsuchi took the sheet off of the first, which belonged to Rukia.
"These gigais are state of the art. I can assure you, Assistant Captain Kuchiki, that this gigai will serve you just as well as the one given to you by my predecessor, Urahara Kisuke. Except it won't be cursed, of course, so that can be said without any amount of doubt. Now concerning your gigai, Captain Hitsugaya," the 12th Captain said as he moved along to the next table, "while you may be the most ideal Captain Soul Society can send on this mission, that doesn't make you exactly... ideal, if you catch my drift."
Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow at this, giving the other Captain the chance to explain his statement.
"You see," the scientist began in what Hitsugaya believed to be the closest tone to apologetic Kurotsuchi had ever used, "your size would make you stand out, while, quite frankly, we would prefer it if you would blend in. Therefore, we have... modified your gigai so it will appear, shall we say, more developed than you normally appear to be."
And with that, the scientist unveiled the gigai that Hitsugaya would use during this mission, and it became obvious what the scientist had meant by "modified". While the gigai would be, by most standards, considered short (it was about 5' 5), the customized gigai was considerably taller than the Captain. In a nutshell, it was a teenage version of Hitsugaya.
Hitsugaya examined the gigai. "It wouldn't have been too much trouble to create an excuse for my size."
"Yes, I considered that before I made my decision," Captain Kurotsuchi replied. "However, irregularities of any kind seem to attract an unwarranted amount of attention from the current student population. I admit, it is a long shot, but the possibility of that kind of attention limiting your mobility was not inconceivable. Given the importance of the mission, I decided that the best course of action was the elimination of such a scenario."
Hitsugaya found it odd that the 12th Captain would change his height to keep him from attracting attention, but wouldn't bother changing the color of his hair.
As Hitsugaya inspected the gigai the scientist prepared a witty response for the small Captain's inevitable complaint.
"Okay then," Hitsugaya said, "it shouldn't be a problem."
That was not what the 12th Captain had expected to hear. "Well then," he said as he begrudgingly relinquished his retort, "why don't you try it on for size?"
Hitsugaya ignored the bad pun and stepped into the gigai. After a moment his mind had adjusted itself to the new body. As Hitsugaya slid off of the table, he couldn't help but feel that the event had been anti-climactic.
Meanwhile, under an eerie green sky, a Japanese high school student was jogging through the streets. He was wearing a jacket that he normally carried over his shoulder. The weather forecast that morning had predicted a presently warm spring night, but the Dark Hour was never warm, and never pleasant. Apart from the unnaturally cold temperatures, the Dark Hour's atmosphere had a quality that could produce fatigue in the human body. Which was why it produced the perfect conditions for building stamina. The teenager was well aware of this, as he was constantly looking for ways to improve his strength and his immunity to the effects of the Dark Hour.
"Akihiko," said a voice from nowhere.
The silver haired teen, not the least bit surprised to hear his name spoken on a street devoid of human activity, stopped his training to respond.
"What is it Mitsuru?"
"There are two Shadows about a block or two from your location," Mitsuru responded. "They're only Mayas though, nothing you can't handle."
"Thanks a lot Mitsuru, I'll take care of it," Akihiko said as he resumed his jogging.
"Wait a moment, there's something else..." Mitsuru began.
"Something else?" Akihiko asked without changing his pace.
Mitsuru paused. Then Akihiko heard her gasp.
"Akihiko, hurry, I sense two human presences along with the Shadows! They feel like they could be candidates!"
Akihiko broke into a run. "Understood Mitsuru, I'll be right there!"
As Akihiko sprinted towards the location Mitsuru had guided him towards, he smiled.
With two more candidates, perhaps they could finally move on to bigger and better things...
Back in Soul Society, Captain Kurotsuchi recorded the mission's progress on a computer in the room Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Kuchiki had recently vacated.
"Nemu, bring up the surveillance footage from the area we sent our comrades," the 12th Captain ordered his lieutenant. "And be sure to get every angle this time. If I miss any of this data thanks to your blundering I swear I will dismember you and create a new Assistant Captain."
"Yes, Captain Mayuri," Lieutenant Nemu Kurotsuchi replied.
With that said, various monitors began displaying live images of the area from the vantages points from various buildings, street lamps, and stoplights.
"Forgive my curiosity, Captain, but why is this data so important? We have already monitored the attack style of the Shadows, and I think we can trust Captain Hitsugaya's report when he accomplishes this phase of the mission, so what exactly is so-"
"Idiot, stop thinking along the lines of this being strictly part of the mission. This is an important field test."
"A test, Captain?"
"Yes, yes you fat sow; I've been waiting to test this product on a Shinigami of a Captain's rank for ages, and now Chance has given me this opportunity."
"You don't mean, sir," Nemu began as her eyes widened, "that you're using Captain Hitsugaya as a test subject without his knowledge or consent?" Using a Captain of Soul Society as a guinea pig was going too far, even for Captain Kurotsuchi.
"Of course I am, you idiot, he would never volunteer now, would he?"
"What exactly are you using him to test?" Nemu asked.
"Half wit," the Captain cursed under his breath. "What do you think? I'm referring to the customized gigai, of course."
The scientist's tone changed from annoyance to dreamy contentment as he reviewed the results of the other tests in his mind.
"I was able to test customized gigai's on members of my squad, Shinigami convicted of felonies, and volunteers from the outer districts," he said out loud.
He smiled to himself; he was always surprised what some of that 80th district rift-raft would do for a decent meal and a cage to sleep in.
"The tests varied", he continued to say, "from souls put into older versions of themselves to souls put into younger versions of themselves. I discovered that simple acts such as walking or eating were easily performable, and as long as the challenges were kept at a reasonable pace, the test subjects could meet them without worry. However, challenges that were delivered at a faster pace and required more coordination were accomplished clumsily or not at all. Evidently the deep-seated instincts the brain needed for quick reactions had not adjusted as quickly to the new body as the other routines did. Naturally, the larger the gap in age and size between the original soul and the customized gigai, the more awkward the tasks became. Somewhat surprisingly, experts could not perform their craft even at some of it's most basic levels. For example: a skilled surgeon couldn't sew stitches over a wound properly, a professional juggler could barely catch a ball, much less juggle seven, and our fifth seat was beaten to a pulp by a first year student from the Shinigami Academy (I checked ahead of time and I can assure you the student in question was talentless). There seemed to be no difference between whether I put the subject in an older body or a younger body: the subjects placed in an older body (assuming, of course that it was not too weak from age) had the advantage of a better developed muscular and nervous system, but had the disadvantage of being suddenly placed in a body the brain is unfamiliar with. On the other hand, those placed in a smaller gigai had to cope with the disadvantage of an underdeveloped body, but their brains were able to compensate by adapting quickly to a body they had once been familiar with. Interestingly enough, the amount of time since the person's death could also be taken into account; enough to rival the importance of the physical discrepancies between the gigai and soul. In one test, a man who had died 5 years ago at the age of 30 had performed better in a 10 year old body than a boy who had died as a teenager nearly 100 years ago. In other words, the longer a soul has spent in its physical age, the less able the brain becomes to adapt to the sudden change. But I digress..." the scientist said as he looked at the computer monitors.
The two masked blobs were advancing on the Soul Reapers.
Captain Hitsugaya, the scientist thought as the distance between the Shadows and Shinigami lessened, the people of Soul Society hail you as a genius and a prodigy. I wonder, will that natural talent and fighting instinct support you through your trials, or will it make it harder to adapt?
The Captain of 12th Company grinned. He was going to enjoy finding out.
Author's Note: Tired of Kurotsuchi's long-winded explanations? Sorry, he's one of my favorite characters to write. I came up with the "customized gigai" for two reasons: 1) I think it really will help Hitsugaya blend into Gekkukan better, and 2) I needed a reason why a Captain at Hitsugaya's level would start out in the game at "level 1". More of that in chapter 3. A few people have asked me if I was going to replace Minato with Hitsugaya as the protagonist, and to be honest, that was one of the hardest things to decide while I was writing. I considered everything from giving Hitsugaya the Wild Card ability, to bringing Ichigo in as a transfer student. In the end I decided the story wouldn't be the same without Minato and that Ichigo was lucky enough to still be the main character of a manga after using Final Getsuga Tensho. So yes, Minato will be in this story, so be sure to keep reading. Special thanks to anyone who favorited me or my stories, and extra special thanks to anyone who left a review and to anyone who will continue to leave reviews.