And Thor gets his first glimpse of Soul Society! Yay!


"Thoughts/Telepathy"

~"Artificial Communications"~

"Zanpakutou speaking"

"Japanese"

At the end of three months, each of the Infinity Stones had developed coherent consciousnesses, though their mental ages varied greatly. However, to Hitsugaya's great satisfaction, he was now able to completely contain their powers at all times of the day, even while asleep. He did still have the occasional telekinetic or telepathic mishap, as the Mind Stone seemed to have taken quite a liking to him, but those were relatively harmless accidents. And while was unable to use the abilities of several of the Stones as of yet, he was able to keep their powers within himself. Only the Space and Mind Stones were simple for him to use now – he didn't have to concentrate as much on them anymore.

Therefore, he had been deemed stable enough to return to Soul Society, and from there, to head to the World of the Living to supervise the slow construction of the SRD, which Yamamoto had already placed under his sole command.

Thank the Soul King.

"Lord Hitsugaya, I wish you safe travels." Odin said, his single visible eye twinkling with mirth. Hitsugaya bowed deeply to Odin, who sat on his throne as regally as ever.

"Thank you for your hospitality, your Majesty." He replied, his tone as cool as ever. "And thank you for saving my life."

Odin raised a bold eyebrow, thinly suppressed amusement on his face.

"How many times do you feel that you must express your gratitude to me for that?" he asked. "It is your commander whom you must thank, for swallowing his pride enough to bring you here."

Hitsugaya's gaze dropped somewhat. He had been kept in near-complete isolation from any shinigami or humans during his stay, and so had not managed to thank Yamamoto for the unprecedented step. His solitude hadn't bothered him very much, but the fact that he wasn't allowed to see anyone…that annoyed him. To the point that he'd had his first slip-up with his control.

In all fairness though…it had been an accident. Kusajishi was a horrid little devil…(1)

"Yes sir." He sighed, stretching. Hyourinmaru shifted on his back, the reassuring pulse of winter air a familiar comfort in the over-gold Asgardian palaces. He'd changed back into his haori to return to Soul Society, but he had chosen to ditch his shihakusho in favor of the bulletproof bodysuit which Tony had made for him despite the monitoring tech. He knew Unohana would approve of the choice anyhow, especially if Tony provided her with the ability to remotely monitor his health.

With a deep breath, he turned to Thor, his expression oddly playful.

"Well, are you ready?" he asked cheekily. The thundergod frowned mock-sternly, hand on his hammer.

"Now, now, don't tease your elders, boy." Thor ribbed, watching with a grin as Toushiro's face grew dark.

"Thor!"

"I jest, Toushiro." He sighed. Age was always a sore spot for the shinigami, and no matter how often Thor tried to assure the young man that his youth wasn't a bad thing, his words never quite seemed to get through.

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes and muttered something dark under his breath, a sullen frown spreading across his face. Thor wisely held his tongue. On the rare moments when Hitsugaya would act his physical age – about twelve or thirteen – pointing it out only aroused his fiery temper.

For someone with such a cold sword and cold power, he sure was hot-blooded.

Closing his eyes, Hitsugaya concentrated lightly, then reached out and grabbed Thor's upper arm. His tattoo shone blue. He was ready to go. Thor tensed.

"Hang on." Toushiro said, his tone unnervingly smug. "Teleporting feels very strange."

That was all the warning he had before blue shot from Hitsugaya's fingertips and spun around them, rotating in what appeared to be a massive ring around the pair. Now that Toushiro had mastered teleportation, his portals were more akin to that which had appeared in the sky above New York – a true wormhole.

With a wicked smirk and a shout of surprise, the wormhole sucked the pair in and closed behind them. Odin shook his head, then groaned.

"I hope the portable converter works…"


Thor went sprawling face-first onto the hard wooden floorboards the second that the wormhole spat them out into Soul Society. Behind him, Toushiro stepped elegantly down from where he'd materialized in midair, smirking broadly.

"Bit of a bumpy ride, hm?" he teased, that sarcastic grin still etched into his face. Thor peeled his face from the floor, clutching at his temples in a semblance of pain.

"…I shall never accept your form of transportation again." He groaned. "The Bifrost Bridge is much preferable."

Ignoring him, Toushiro strode powerfully over to the hard wooden desk at one side of the room, wiping a slow finger across its surface, shock surfacing on his features. He blinked in surprise. Not even the slightest speck of dust. And not a scrap of paperwork in sight either. Heaven forbid Matsumoto had actually done her work!

He searched for several more minutes, but his efforts turned nothing up. He frowned, concerned. Matsumoto only did her paperwork when he was in the Fourth Division with severe wounds, the type that kept him bedridden for several days. It was her way of taking her mind off of his condition. So if she'd been doing paperwork all this time…

"Thor…did you and Odin ever let my division or the Avengers know that I was capable of coming home this week?"

The blond thundergod paused, thinking. Then he shook his head, turning to the young shinigami with a smile.

"No." he admitted cheerfully, his earlier headache seemingly evaporated. "According to Commander Yamamoto, your lieutenant only does work when you…aren't around."

Hitsugaya twitched once, brief annoyance pricking at him, but then he sighed. At least he didn't have to deal with paperwork. But then something occurred to him, and he tapped his finger against his chin, smirking again. Maybe…maybe he should pay Matsumoto a little visit.

He motioned to Thor and held a finger to his lips, picking out his lieutenant's reiatsu on the training grounds. Silently, Thor followed the young captain over to the training grounds, and then curiously followed the young man's instruction to stand off to the side of the large courtyard. He had to admit, Toushiro seemed to be in a playful mood today, and the young man's version of playing was making fools out of others. So he went along with it.

Toushiro crept up onto the roof of one of the nearby buildings, crouching down low to hide his instantly recognizable hair, and watched his lieutenant closely as she led a full squadron of new recruits in a series of drills. For several minutes, he simply observed, taking the time to evaluate the new crop of unseated shinigami as they trained. It was just as Matsumoto asked 'any questions,' that he made his move.

One of the recruits raised her hand, her coffee-toned face drawn curiously into a frown of puzzlement.

"Matsumoto-fukutaicho…where is the captain?" she asked, her voice slightly peeved. "I was told those who wished to work hard came to this division, because this captain expected nothing less, but there has been no sign of him in the two months I've been here. I wasn't lied to, was I?"

Hitsugaya felt his ire ignite, and before he knew exactly what he was doing he'd stood, ice blazing in his emerald glare, and his Spiritual Pressure rocketed skyward. As everyone in the courtyard below turned to stare at him, he crossed his arms over his chest, scowling. The sky began to turn a drizzly, unhappy grey as storm clouds scudded across the heavens.

"I would suggest that you think before you speak the next time you open your mouth." He snapped icily, causing the poor girl to flinch. "And to answer your impudent question, I was comatose for a month and a half due to the aftereffects of Operation White-out, which you, as a member of this Division, should know about."

Rich coffee paled into shivering ash, and the poor young woman bowed hurriedly, tripping over apologies and pitiful excuses. Hitsugaya leapt lightly down into the courtyard, his reiatsu still flared warningly, his cold scowl a dragon's snarl on his young face.

"Save your breath." He growled. "And be grateful for the fact thatI can understand your point of view, or I would punish you for disrespect. Are we clear?"

"Y-yes sir, Hitsugaya-taicho…" the young woman stuttered nervously, her head ducked. For a moment, Toushiro stood glaring at her, the other recruits gaping at him in something akin to terror. Then he sighed deeply, his lips pinched into a thoughtful quirk.

"What's your name?" he asked, his tone considerably gentler than it had been previously, though the cool undercurrent was still present. The offending shinigami did not unbend herself from her bow.

"Kawasoto Mizuki, Hitsugaya-taicho." She said quietly. Hitsugaya cocked his head to the side, his brow furrowing. A keen glint of amusement entered the young captain's eye.

"Kawasoto, hm?" he said slowly, slyly. "Well then, Kawasoto, I'd like for you to remember something about my division."

The young woman lifted her gaze to meet her captain's, biting her lip. Hitsugaya's scowl was gone, replaced by a firm look.

"If you want to criticize me, say it to my face." He told her bluntly. "I won't punish you for disagreeing with me as long as you aren't insubordinate, and I do listen to others' opinions. However, if I ever catch you slandering my name behind my back, I will not hesitate to have you whipped. Understood?"

Kawasoto bowed again.

"Yes sir."

Hitsugaya nodded, satisfied, and then turned to his lieutenant, who had been staring at him in something like ecstasy for the past five minutes. He blinked, then buried his face in his hands as she took a step closer to him. From where he was watching across the courtyard, Thor frowned in confusion. Was Hitsugaya unhappy to see his lieutenant? He hadn't understood a word of the rapid Japanese, save that Hitsugaya was reprimanding a young woman, but this was even more puzzling.

He got his answer a second later, as Toushiro sighed and rubbed at his temples in resignation.

"Oh, go on then." He snapped, bracing himself. "Get it over with already."

Matsumoto squealed in joy and leapt on her captain, engulfing him in a near-stranglehold and squashing his face between her giant assets. Hitsugaya flailed briefly, a sharp yell of both protest and desperation escaping him as the busty strawberry-blonde woman drowned him in her cleavage.

Thor stared. So did the new recruits.

It took several minutes for the young captain to pry his second-in-command off him, and when he finally managed to extricate himself from her grasp he was gasping for air, blue tingeing his lips and skin. For half a moment, Thor expected the boy to keel over in a faint. As it was, he seemed unsteady.

"Goddamnit…nearly…suffocated…me." Toushiro wheezed. Rangiku just laughed at him, grinning widely.

"Well, at least it would be a nice way to go, ne, Taicho?" she winked at Thor, causing him to redden slightly and burst into raucous laughter as well. Toushiro threw him a disgusted look, his usually-pale cheeks bright crimson.

"Oi, stop laughing!" he snapped, embarrassed, still breathing hard. "She does that to me every single time- THOR! It's not funny!"

The thundergod couldn't find enough self-control to stop laughing, and slowly he leaned back against a wall, still chuckling. The young captain was still blushing furiously, an infuriated scowl decorating his face, and behind him Matsumoto was practically dying from laughing so hard.

"Would you both SHUT UP?!" he roared finally, lashing out with a long trail of blazing gold power. Without warning Thor felt himself floating up off the ground, and when he looked, he saw that Matsumoto was in the same predicament, though she appeared much more frightened by her sudden inability to touch the ground. Thor groaned, glaring at Hitsugaya in mock annoyance.

"Now, now, Captain, there's no need to show off." He said. "Would you kindly put us down?"

Toushiro rolled his eyes, the left one glowing a bright golden-yellow to match the tattoo on his forehead, and suddenly the gold vanished. Both Thor and Matsumoto face-planted into the dirt, and Toushiro smirked at them.

"Better?" he jibed smugly. Thor helped Matsumoto up, his pride obviously hurt. Matsumoto, on the other hand, smiled at her captain with something like pride in her diamond stare.

"I'm glad to see that you're in high enough spirits to play pranks, Taicho." She told him cheerfully. "And I'm glad you're home."

Hitsugaya's face softened then, emerald gentling into an evergreen breeze.

"Thank you, Matsumoto." He said softly. "I'm glad I'm back too."


(1) See Flashes of Color for an explanation.

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