Shepard Cousland- I seriously considered your request to "put Gin in he could team up with [Yachiru] and do pranks" and I decided to grant it! I already have Yachiru in my story(You'll have to read a few more chapters to meet her), and I was going to retire her afterwards. But now, I realize that not including our favorite troublemaker more in the story would be unforgivable. You'll have to wait a while, though… Keep reading!
CressidaRene- Wow, thanks for the review! To answer your question(And everyone should read this for clarification! I might not even explain it in the story!), the captain's new ages are directly related to the amount of dosage received. Soi Fon was physically closest to the device, so she was the youngest(3-ish?). Kenpachi and Komamura were by the door, trying to break it down. They were the farthest away, so they're the oldest, around 7 or 8. Their actual ages, personalities and life experiences are related to their…shall we say maturity? And how fast said maturity degrades...:) If that explanation doesn't do it for you, then let's just say that Mayuri designed the potion to be more effective to some than others. Read more!
KurosakiCrystal18-Thank you again for telling me about the duplicate chapters!
Edits to the story- As I'm writing this, the timeline is getting a bit wonky, so I'm going to start chapters with "Day x"
I'm releasing a super long chapter! By my standards at least. I've got like 9k more words already written, but I like to keep several chapters ahead of the game. So my releases are going to be pretty much write-a-chapter-release-a-chapter like everyone else, rather than a fixed schedule.
The Experiment
Chapter 4: Uh Oh...
Day 1
From the perspective of a nameless, seatless shinigami of the Tenth Division.
Ah, relaxation. Honestly, he couldn't remember the last time he'd experienced it. Probably during the last captain's meeting. Captain's Meetings are the only times when Captain Hitsugaya was guaranteed to not be around. Damn, it seemed like even when he wasn't working, the little captain was telling him to clean the barracks, or run a message.
But not now. These precious minutes were his.
His bliss was too soon cut short, with the return of the Tenth division lieutenant. She was whooping and hollering. Drunk again no doubt. At least she could be counted on to sell him the good stuff. But wait…Who was on her shoulders, protesting? The captain! Back early?
But he looked…younger than usual. The shinigami shook his head. Probably just his imagination. The captain has always looked like a child. He probably just imagined him older because the captain was so powerful. It's easy to forget that he's a child.
Hitsugaya's day was going from bad to worse.
First, Kurotsuchi hit him. He now sported an ugly bruise on his jaw. He'd have to see Unohana later. Not that she could do anything, as she was as powerless as he was.
Speaking of powerless, Matsumoto had swept him off his feet and onto her shoulders the minute she saw him. She was now shunpoing towards his office, giggling. And she was going too…damn…fast!
"Matsumoto! Slow down!" She ignored him. Actually, she possibly sped up. The world swept by Hitsugaya in a blur. He spotted some lowly shinigami lounging about like he didn't have anything better to do, but Matsumoto was deaf to his orders to stop so he could reprimand him. The guy looked like he was scared to death of being caught, anyway.
Eventually they arrived at their office. Once inside, Matusmoto let him go. A wave of nausea gripped him, and he had to fight to stay on his feet. Once it passed, Hitsugaya locked them in in the hope that Matsumoto might actually do paperwork. She just smirked slightly and laid down on the couch despite his orders to get up. He sighed. He definitely needed a better lieutenant.
At least he wasn't the youngest anymore. That honor goes directly to Soi Fon.
With some difficulty, Hitsugaya climbed onto his chair. It was already a child's desk and chair, he had it custom made after the desk he inherited from his predecessor turned out to be too big. Now his desk dwarfed him yet again. Hitsugaya gritted his teeth. He climbed down again, and got a few of the heavy books from the lowest shelf of his bookcase. He placed them in a tower on his chair, and again climbed up. That was better. Now for the paperwork.
It was no one's favorite task, including his, but it had to be done. He grabbed the first sheet.
He paused. And grabbed another. What's going on? He could see that there were words, but for the life of him he couldn't read them. He knew the letters, he knew them! But like trying to recall a dream upon waking, the meaning just slipped from his grasp. He looked up. Matsumoto was watching him with a drunken expression on her face. He refused to give her anything else to laugh at. He should at least pretend to work.
But that was stupid! She'll have to find out eventually…no! He can take care of things himself. He's not a baby. Hitsugaya frowned. There it was again. Like that outburst he had when Momo was taunting him, he again slipped into thinking like a child. But…he thought that the changes were purely physical. But then Soi Fon couldn't remember her zanpakuto's name. Neither could he, for that matter. And Soi Fon's speech impediment… Something was wrong, but he'll be damned if he'll ever go to Kurotsuchi for help.
But back to the problem at hand. Paperwork. Hitsugaya found himself clumsily holding a pen. He could at least make a signature, right? He'll deal with the paperwork that only required his signature. He'll inform Matusmoto once he was finished. He put the pen to the signature line. And paused. How does his signature go? This is stupid! Write!
And so Hitsugaya wrote. But not signatures. He drew instead. Doodles upon doodles of stick figures and dragons and Hollows and cats. He drew until the paper was ruined.
Once he finished, he snapped back to himself. He stared in disbelief. How could he have had…such a lapse of judgment? God damn it, he wasn't a child!
He was tired. He needed to rest, that's all. Hitsugaya let his head fall onto his desk. Unbeknownst to him, Matsumoto crept up to him to examine his work. She stared for a few seconds, and a horrifying revelation seemed to strike her.
"Oh no…" She said.
"I'm going to have to do paperwork, aren't I?"
An hour later, Hitsugaya woke up. For a moment, he thought the day's events had been a dream. Nothing had changed. He wasn't sitting at his desk anymore. The tower of books had been cast aside onto the floor, and…Matsumoto was sitting at his desk!
"Matsumoto…What are you doing?" He said, his voice still raspy from sleep.
"Paperwork, Captain." She said, not looking up.
Hitsugaya stared in silence for a while. Finally he managed to say,
"Are you dying?"
Matsumoto growled. "Two other people have come in asking that! No, I'm not dying! I'm trying to help my captain who will clearly need it in the next month if he can't do paperwork!"
She was clearly upset. He said, "Well, um…thank you."
That made her pause. Hitsugaya didn't know why he said it. She was doing paperwork, his paperwork no less, without him even having to ask. On top of that, she was probably working through the beginnings of a hangover. And she was angry. And he wanted her to be happy.
He went back to the desk and picked up a sheet of paper. The letters swarmed in his eyes. It was impossible to make sense of more than the basic words. It didn't help that he had a huge craving for…
Oh no.
Now that he thought about it, it was the only thing that he could think about, and if he actually asked for it…he would never live it down.
But the side of Hitsugaya that was appalled at the notion was fading.
"Matsumoto…can we take a break? I want to go to the Thirteenth Division."
Matsumoto was clearly surprised, but she would readily acquiesce to anything if it'd get her out of that room.
She took him where he wanted. She even let him walk there. They stopped outside of Ukitake's office, and parted, with Hitsugaya telling her to take an hour break. Again, he didn't know what made him say that. He knew that if he gave her an hour break she'd take three. But he thought she deserved something nice.
He timidly knocked on Ukitake's door. Ukitake's third seats, Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentaro Kotsubaki opened it.
"Ukitake…may I have a word in private?"
Ukitake looked different. His hair was dark again, and his face had some color. He smiled broadly.
"Of course! Please excuse us, Third Seats."
"Yes Captain!" They said simultaneously. They soon left, arguing with each other as usual.
"So, what brings you here Hitsugaya?" Ukitake smiled.
"This will be very embarrassing, but…I need…" Hitsugaya trailed off.
"Need?"
"Do-you-have-some-candy-that-I-ca-neat?" Hitsugaya said in a rush, his face growing hot.
Ukitake, taken aback, quickly said "Of course! Would you like some tea to go with it?"
Rangiku Matsumoto was confused. Her captain was acting so strange! Well, it was to be expected that if he was turned into a four-year-old, he would probably get a four-year-old's brain to go along with it. The captain was fighting it, but sooner or later he would succumb to a child's mentality. So she'd just have to go along for the ride.
As of right now, she was drinking a bottle of sake to rid her of her hangover, and contemplating the day's events. The more time that passed, the more childish Hitsugaya would get, and she would have so much more work to do! Well, at least he rewarded her for doing some work. How long has it been anyway? Two hours? Three? Oh no!
Rangiku raced over to the Thirteenth Division, hoping that her captain was still there. What if he had gotten frustrated and left on his own? The Seireitei is no place for a child! She barged into Ukitake's office, ignoring the protests of the third seats waiting outside. She breathed a sigh of relief. He was here. Fast asleep on a couch, with candy all over his face, but at least he was here. He and Captain Ukitake had, from the looks of things, had a candy binge. Careful not to wake either of them, she picked Hitsugaya up and placed him on her back. She made her way back to the Tenth Division.
"So it's begun." Kurotsuchi grinned. "It's happening faster in others, but it's definitely happening. Their childish impulses are beginning to take control. Sleeping will certainly help the process." There's no way of knowing how this will end. Even if they are returned to their proper forms, it's possible that their childish side may consume them entirely.
And Soul Society may never be the same.
Yes, I think Mayuri could be an awesome villain. But I'm not intending to make him completely evil. Just science-driven.
