Yay! Update! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

An icy presence watches…

Crunch, crunch, sandals cracked leaves, leaving a trail of leaf-dust behind them. It was fall in Soul Society and maple and apple trees were wearing their brightest. They filled the campus with color and the younger students ran around kicking up dust. Summer was over and the Shinigami Academy was back in session.

Hitsugaya Toshiro trudged along behind his roommates. They chattered happily with each other. His entire room group was made up of first year students, but they were already friends. Well, at least Hari, Kei, and Takaiki were. Hari and Kei had ignored him so far besides their sleepy comments last night. Takaiki would stop and attempt and include him in the conversation periodically, but stopped after awhile of Hitsugaya ignoring him. They seemed like nice guys, but they weren't the sort who would put up with his icy demeanor for long.

Hitsugaya would prefer to be alone, but the other boys had insisted on walking with him. At first he was puzzled, but when Hari stopped the group to talk to another boy, Hitsugaya realized it wasn't because they enjoyed his company.

"See," Hari boasted. "We do have a midget! And you thought I was lying." The other boy laughed as Hitsugaya bristled furiously.

"Hi, I'm Kusaka Sojiro," he bowed. "It's nice to finally meet you." At Hitsugaya's confused expression he grinned mockingly. "I've heard so much from my cousin here. At breakfast he told me all about you."

"Well then you know I'm Hitsugaya Toshiro. And I can't imagine what Hari told you. I just met him last night," Hitsugaya said icily.

"Well, as I said, it's nice to meet you," Sojiro smirked. He fell in line with Hitsugaya's room group as they continued their trek to class. That morning at breakfast schedules had been passed out for the first-years. The rest of the school had received theirs at the end of the last year. Hitsugaya's schedule was fairly simple. He had Theory in the morning, lunch, and then Practical in the afternoon.

At last, they arrived. The Theory classroom was a large building that looked to have once been a dining hall. There were twenty desks in the airy room. At the head there was another larger desk and behind it stood a large balding man with the robes of a shinigami. Hitsugaya smoothed his own students' uniform nervously. He had no idea what this class would include, but he probably didn't know any of it. The last thing he wanted was to behind on his first day.

The teacher directed the boys and girls as they trickled in. Each student received a writing utensil, textbook, and a notebook. Hitsugaya chose a desk in the back corner and sat down.

To his surprise, the class was easy. Basically all they were required to do was to memorize the contents of the textbook. There was a section on Kidou, communicating with Zanpaktous, the hierarchy and history of Soul Society, and other practical knowledge a shinigami would do well to know. He was thankful that he had lived in a higher district of Rukongai where there were schools to teach him sums and writing. Students from the lower districts had a midnight class to help them keep up.

At lunch Hitsugaya searched for an empty table and plopped himself down. The servers came out and placed the lunch meal in front of all the students. Hitsugaya ignored them and continued to read his Theory textbook. It was fascinating. Especially the history section. He was almost halfway through the book already.

The eating area was outside under a canopy. Thick stones stacked atop each other made up the tables and benches. Colorful maples surrounded the spot.

The sound of a plate clinking down beside him startled him to look up. Kusaka Sojiro had brought his plate over to sit next to Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya eyed him warily. He wasn't quite sure if this boy meant well.

"Man, servers!" Sojiro exclaimed. "My little sister would freak. There definitely were not people to bring us meals back home in the 17th district."

"It's for the nobles who send their children here. The Chairman got too many complaints and set up the servers," Hitsugaya explained neutrally.

"Mmm…" Sojiro said. "Well, I'm not complaining. Whatcha reading?" Hitsugaya held up the textbook silently. "That old bore? Remind me to show you where the library is later."

"You've been here before then?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Yeah. My family has a vacation house not far from here. During the summer the campus is open to the public," Sojiro explained. They ate in silence for awhile. Hitsugaya eventually closed his book and just listened to the chatter of the school. Voices yelling, complaining about homework, laughing. After awhile they all blended together and all Hitsugaya heard was a dull roar. He closed his eyes.

He stands alone on the icy plane he now knows as his mind.

Expectantly he looks up.

A great dragon plummets down to the frozen tundra and crashes into the snow throwing up ice.

It then turns its two intelligent eyes on the boy.

"What are you doing here boy? I didn't call you."

"I came here myself," the boy states. "If you are part of my own soul, I should be able to come to your home at will."

The dragon studies him for a moment, its gaze boring deep.

"You do not belong here if you cannot name me."

"Let me try, please," the boy pleads.

"Very well, my name is-"

A rough hand shook him. Hitsugaya jerked and turned to unleash his fury on the unexpecting soul.

"Why are you shaking me?" he growled. "I almost had him!" Hitsugaya stood up knocking his books to the ground.

"What do you mean?" Sojiro yelled. "You stopped moving- stopped breathing! Then you started to freeze over! So of course I grabbed you. Do you mean you were doing that on purpose?"

"That is none of your business," Hitsugaya snapped. He gathered his things and walked away extremely quickly. Sojiro tried to follow him, but Hitsugaya ran through a group of third-years and lost Sojiro in the crowd.

He had almost had his name! And that stupid Sojiro had to…

CRASH

In his haste to get away from Sojiro, Hitsugaya ran into a woman just entering the first-years' Practical class. And from the looks of it she was the teacher. Hitsugaya looked up into her chocolate eyes.

"'Shiro?"

Teehee. Cliffhanger. Incase you didn't notice, I've decided to include Kusaka Sojiro in this story. If you don't know who that is watch the second Bleach movie. This was my favorite chapter to write so far. I hope you all enjoyed it. And if you did could you review? Please?