Just as I'm about to take my first bite, both me and Karin stare out the window, looking dazed, after both feeling the amazingly strong reiatsu of a…

Chapter 3

He Meets Her

I stood up immediately and bursted out through Karin's front door. I heard her faint yells fade towards the background as I gained distance away from her. 'This reiatsu is that of an Arrancar, Espada even?' I jumped up from the ground and chose to run above ground. When I arrived, I stared at the Arrancar's back, already sensing the familiarity. It wasn't an Arrancar. As the body turned around, I saw none other then Aizen. I started glaring at him, with as much hate as I could muster.

"Hello Captain Hitsugaya, how are you today? Skipping out on a mission possibly?" Aizen says, sounding the same as he was all those decades of years ago when Aizen was still the 5th division captain. That sickly kind voice that made you doubt he was a bastard.

"Why the hell are you here?" I snapped, not even caring about being formal to him. I can only think of all the things he had done to Hinamori. I lashed out impetuously. Even though my logical side knew that I couldn't win or even get one hit on him, I still tried my best. Having no positive results, I released my shikai. By now the battlefield was frozen with a thick sheet of ice and stormy skies above us. I once again, pounced off the floor and aimed for one goal: to kill Aizen. He blocked all of my attacks, without any effort. His blade was still sheathed and he wasn't fighting back, only deflecting my advances. How could he be so strong? Seeing that shikai was to no avail, I decided to step up. I go into bankai, releasing all of my anger at him.

"Captain Hitsugaya, you have gotten much stronger then the last time we have fought, but unfortunately for you, so have I." After Aizen said that, I couldn't help but feel proud. Having Aizen pull out his sword meant that he considered me a threat. With his sword out this time, we fought for as long as I could go with my bankai. When I reached the limit for my bankai time, Aizen had stopped attacking me and sheathed his zanpakuto.

"That was a good battle, however, Hitsugaya-kun you can never beat me, so for now, you should go work on your mission. Ironically, we are both trying to find the same things." My eyes open wide in shock of what he had just said. He is also trying to find her? Did the Head Captain know of this? Did he intentionally put me on this mission? Before I was able to question him further, Aizen flashed away without me even noticing. I sheathed Hyorinmaru and left the battle scene, heading back in the direction of Karin's house.

I opened the door to find Karin sitting alone on the couch. "You're back! Hey, what happened?" Karin asks, mainly about my body injuries.

"I ran into Aizen." That was already simple enough for Karin to understand, since I knew that she was intelligent and she knew all about the Arrancar and Aizen.

"Hmmm….wait, you never answered my first question. Why are you here?"

I answered with the truth: "I'm on a mission but as I said before, I wanted to stop by to see how you much you grew." She nodded. "Well I think I should go now. I need to work on the mission. See you around."

"Bye!" I heard the close of the door behind me and began to focus my mind on the mission that I was assigned.

I opened the piece of paper that the Captain Commander had given to me before I left. I read it-

Captain Hitsugaya of the 10th division,

By the time you are reading this, you are already in the real world. You are the only person that would be acceptable for this mission. I understand that having to meet with Aizen was not a part of the mission's description. Please continue to complete the mission and find the shinigami that we are looking for. You must find it before Aizen does. If not, the worlds will be in a terrible danger. For now, that is all I have to say. I will try to communicate with you via Technology Bureau machines. This is a VERY important mission, do not fail me Captain Hitsugaya.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Head Captain Commander Yamamoto Genryuusai of the 1st division

I closed the letter, and sighed while I placed it back into my pocket. I was right, he did know. Ukitake did too, most likely. I felt better, knowing that this time, I will be the one that will destroy Aizen for all that he has done to Soul Society. Suddenly, I realized that I had made no progress with the mission. I started to wander around the streets of Karakura Town. I was unsure how to start. I decided to go ask Karin again about the things that have been going on here. What did she mean when she said weird things have happened here recently?

I once again knocked on her door. "Yes? Toushiro, you again…?" Karin sighed.

"My mission is to find someone. I don't have any leads. Earlier, you mentioned weird things happening. I wanted to know what kind of things you were referring to," I said, as serious as possible.

"Well there has been an unusually amount of high reiatsu sometimes in the night, almost as if someone was fighting something. It has only happened late night time," Karin explained to me.

"Is that it?" I questioned, frustrated that she didn't have more relevant information.

"Mmmmhhmm well…...that's about it. The hollows are regular… yeah that's about it." Karin looked at me, waiting for an answer.

"Okay, well thanks. Bye."

I went through all of what the Head Captain had told me a few days ago. She had the victory of the war. All I needed to do was find it. I was unsure of how to start finding the zanpakuto. Was it in human form? I doubted it, if the owner was still around. Could I sense its reiatsu? My body began to pang with pain, as the injuries from the battle with Aizen were still fresh. I wonder about for hours, ransacking every part of my mind for an answer to this complex mystery of where to begin a search. Unknowingly, I drifted off to sleep on the top of Karin's house, with sparkles of raindrops hitting on my face.

I awoke to the feeling of a bird on my face...not a good feeling. As I shifted and tried to swat it, the blue jay flew away. I decided that I would need to communicate with Captain Commander today. I had no idea where to start finding the shinigami, and if what Aizen said was true, every minute counted. I opened up my communicator, attempting to reach the head captain. The screen went blank. Making a mental note, I would remember to try to contact them later. Aizen was probably ahead of me in the search already. The sun was beginning to rise. I jumped off the top of Karin's roof.

As I was landing I felt something near me. 'How was that possible? Nothing was there' As I looked closer, I see what I had sensed and was shocked: a girl. How could she have been there?

"Who are you?" she asked me. How could this girl see me? She looked no older than the age of five. She seemed very suspicious, despite her naive look and the fact that she looked no older than the age of five. Then again, I, of all people knew that appearances didn't mean anything.

I ignored her question. "What''s your name?" I knew that she obviously wasn't normal, for a captain leveled shinigami to miss her, not sense her, or have such a high reiatsu. Could she have been a shinigami? Usually, people who died and went to Soul Society wouldn't be able to graduate at such a young age. Plus, she wasn't wearing the traditional shinigami attire.

"Momma told me not to talk to strangers," she explained. This girl was starting to frustrate him.

"How can you see me?" I asked, astonished.

"What do you mean?" You're in front of me, of course," she responded, oblivious to the meaning behind my words. It was pointless talking to her if she didn't know anything.

"I'm leaving now. You are weird." This girl was too suspicious to allow her to wander away. I decided to follow her to see where she was going. It was strange enough that a child would be wandering on her own.

She followed the path from Karin's house to the park that the soccer game was held at. "Momma! There was this scary guy talking to me!" she cried to a young woman.

"It's okay, dear. Let's go home Kasumi," the mother announced.