Author's notes: sorry this took so long, that damn research paper took up more time than I thought and then there was a hell of a lot of homework. Anyway I know my last chapter wasn't quite as interesting or as action packed as the others but there are some points I want you to remember from it.
Aizen and Kaname used Toushirou and Alexander for a little experiment of theirs causing them both to collapse when Kaname used his Bankai to infect them both with a Virus.
A group of odd people found them and took them into hiding in order to help them.
The virus had caused their spiritual pressures to change and it became necessary for Alexander to use a special seal to hide said changes in order to avoid being killed.
The leader of the odd group decided to let them go in the hopes that they'd be problematic for Aizen.
Said group had been lured to the area by someone's spiritual pressure but when they arrived he had left and they found Toushirou and Alexander.
Toushirou achieved the Bankai release but something about it has him a little upset
Alexander as increased the amount of time he spends on his Bankai training because he's suspicious of Kaname.
Enjoy and please don't forget to review.
Ch. 7 Hope
Toushirou was filled with both a sense of excitement and nervousness at the thought of his new position and his new squad as he made grabbed the last of his belongings and prepared to leave the office building.
"So you're a third seat now" Alexander stated with a grin "which means you're one step closer to your goal of head captain."
"And you've been promoted as well" Toushirou replied lightly "congratulations squad nine fourth seat Alexander Dark-Heart."
"Thanks" Alexander stated as he extended his hand "good luck, with Elaina for a subordinate you'll probably need it."
"I take it she's a handful" Toushirou sighed as he shook his friend's hand and felt something cold in his hand "What is this?"
"I'm sure you and Elaina will get along just fine" Alexander answered "as for the crystal, do you remember the one I gave you that night I performed the Konsa-chi?
"The one that showed me my uh…troubled past?" Toushirou asked.
"That's right" Alexander stated "but this one was created from a combination of my own memories and the memories I gained access to after I obtained Nehan."
"You're telling me this crystal has your life story stored on it?!" Toushirou asked.
"And my after-life story up to about twenty years ago" Alexander answered "when you want to see what's on this make sure you're somewhere peaceful and that you have at least six hours of free time because it's a long story."
Toushirou placed the crystal in a pouch in his bag and asked "why are you giving me this?"
"Because I feel you could learn a few things from what's on that crystal" Alexander stated "and besides I know you've wanted to know about what happened to my clan and how I'm able to wield two distinct Zanpakutou for a while."
"Thank you" Toushirou replied
"You're welcome, and take care of yourself" Alexander stated as Toushirou headed off to meet with his new squad "so Toushirou has been transferred into squad thirteen…he's gone from the working under the White Poppy that represents Oblivion to fighting for the Summer Snowflake which represents hope…" Alexander begins to walk towards his desk to deal with his paperwork "…which is what we may need if Captain Tousen is truly up to something, if he is I doubt he's working alone and your strength will likely become crucial to the Seireitei's future…until that happens however I'll stay close to Captain Tousen and see if he does anything suspicious; as for Elaina I'm grateful that she's in squad thirteen with you and Captain Ukitake, so I at least don't have to worry for her safety."
Toushirou arrived in the squad thirteen courtyard about ten minutes after departing from the squad nine office building, he was early and the sun was just barely rising but he felt a strong sense of sadness and depression in the air as he walked around to familiarize himself with his new section of the city. After dropping off his luggage in his new quarters he made his way to the Captain's room and knocked on the door.
"It's open" Ukitake said pleasantly from the other side and Toushirou entered "my, you're rather early."
"I read the report on what happened" Toushirou replied "I decided it'd be better for me to get here as soon as possible sir."
Ukitake smiled gently as he stood up from his desk and said "I'm glad you're so eager to get to work, why don't we get a cup of tea before I introduce you to your new comrades and you can ask me any questions you may have."
"Thank you sir" Toushirou responded as followed his new captain to a small deck on a pond filled with koi fish.
"What do you know of our squad's chain of command so far?" Ukitake asked pleasantly as they took their seats and picked up their cups of tea.
"Based on the files I read last night and what I've heard from a few conversations I overheard, with the deaths of the Shibas I'm now the second highest ranking officer in this squad; Elaina Dark-Heart is our squad's sixth seat, our fifth seat is a veteran with over seventy years of experience under his belt, and this is strange but it's my understanding that we have two fourth seats?" Toushirou stated as he raised his eyebrow.
"Yes that's right" Ukitake chuckled lightly "Kiyone Koutestu and Sentarou Kotsubaki are our squad's two fourth seats."
"With all due respect doesn't that create confusion and chaos sir?" Toushirou asked.
"You would think" Ukitake sighed as he took a sip from his cup "but somehow or another it all works out."
"This should be interesting" Toushirou stated as he took a sip from his cup and tasted what had to be the best tea he had ever had "wait a minute you said one of them was named Koutestu, where have I heard that name before?"
"She's the younger sister of the lieutenant of squad four" Ukitake replied with a small smile "Well did you have any other questions?"
"Just one sir" Toushirou answered "I read the report about what happened to the Shibas, it's my understanding that Lieutenant was run through by one of our subordinates when he was taken over by the hollow by the name of Rukia Kuchki."
"That's correct" Ukitake stated.
"Is she alright?" Toushirou asked "I mean the last thing I think anyone wants is for us to have one of the four great noble families angry at us."
"She's currently suffering from emotional distress" Ukitake answered "but then again we all are, but she in particular feels responsible for what happened; Kaien and Miyako were both valued members of this squad and we all mourn their loss" Ukitake took a last sip from his cup "however I feel that we must bear our sadness as we move forward, for their sakes as well."
"But what about the risk of the Kuchki family…" Toushirou began but was silenced when Ukitake raised his hand and smiled lightly.
"Trust me" Ukitake stated "I know captain Kuchki doesn't come across as the most caring or the most understanding kind of person but deep down he's a very good man and he has no intention of turning his house against our squad; that's not to say we shouldn't try to help Rukia through her pain, after all she is a comrade and we're honor bound to help one another during these difficult times."
"Understood sir" Toushirou replied as he finished his tea.
Ukitake looked to the clear skies and saw the sun rising slowly in the distance as he finished his tea "if the weather's an indicator I feel we'll recover in no time" he stood up and stretched his arms before saying "anyway, you ready to meet your new squad mates?"
"Yes sir" Toushirou stated as he stood up and followed his new captain "seems to be just as good a man as the rumors indicated."
They made their way to the courtyard after about five minutes of walking to find it filled with shinigami. There were over two dozen standing in the grass field and four sitting on the wooden deck in front of the squad conference building; he immediately recognized Elaina sitting on one end of the deck with a very serious expression as she was talking with a girl with short blonde hair who was wearing white gloves and a strange cloth from her collar, on the other side he saw a man who appeared to be in his forties or so conversing with a man with a strange hair-due which he held up with a head band and his expression practically screamed that he was drunk.
"Everyone, thank you for being here so early" Ukitake stated as he and Toushirou made his their way to the center of the chatting officers on the deck and they immediately turned to face them "I'm sure you've all been made aware of the tragedy that's befallen our dear comrades Miyako and Kaien Shiba."
"Sir" they replied solemnly, Toushirou noticed that Elaina had a surprisingly sorrowful look on her face.
"While they both will be missed and mourned for the rest of our existences we must not lose sight of what they would want us to do now" Ukitake said solemnly "they would not want us to allow ourselves to give in to despair, what they would want is for all of us as the Captain, the seated officers, and the unit leaders of the Thirteenth court guard squad to rise to this challenge and lead this squad through a time of healing and inevitably to a better and stronger squad" Ukitake then gestured Toushirou forward "which why I've brought this young man into our squad to be our new third seat after the recommendation of Squad Nine's Kaname Tousen; and I expect you to do everything in your power to help third seat Hitsugaya, help us."
"Yes sir" the officers said as they saluted and the seated officers stood up.
"Damn…he's got their respect" Toushirou thought just before he felt a strange spiritual pressure.
"Captain I don't mean to steal the floor, but did you feel that?" Elaina asked in concern.
"I noticed she was missing" Ukitake sighed "she's really is a mess right now."
"Whose spiritual pressure is this?" Toushirou asked as he traced it back to the squad thirteen training grounds a couple of miles away.
"Rukia Kuchki's" Elaina answered "if we can feel it from this far away she must have released her zanpakutou and judging by the fluctuations of spirit energy I'm sensing she must be quite unstable."
"Obviously we can't leave her as is" Ukitake took a commanding tone "third seat Hitsugaya, sixth seat Dark-Heart, I want you both to go and try to calm her down, I'm afraid she might not be in the mood to talk to me after what happened."
"Sir" The two shinigami replied as they disappeared with a shunpo.
"Those two don't mess around" Kiyone said plainly.
"They must be talented unlike you" Sentarou added.
A vein appeared on Kiyone's forehead before she growled "quit your yapping, idiot" and pinned his head to the deck which went ignored as the other officers looked in the direction of their two comrades.
"Sir do you think they can handle it?" the fifth seat asked Ukitake "I mean third seat Hitsugaya literally just joined us and sixth seat Dark-Heart isn't exactly the most soft spoken woman in the Seireitei, not to mention the fact that Kuchki's zanpakutou can be about as subtle as a rhino in a china shop."
"That's the thing about being a captain" Ukitake sighed to his subordinate's confusion "sometimes you've got to have faith as Shunsui puts it."
"What can her zanpakutou do?" Toushirou asked as he and Elaina neared the training grounds.
"As you've probably noticed, her zanpakutou is an ice type like yours by the name of Sode No Shirayuki" Elaina answered "so far she's discovered two special attacks; the first one will freeze the ground around where it's cast in about a five meter radius and anything on the ground or in the air above that area, and the second one freezes everything in front of her."
"Great" Toushirou sighed as they entered the training grounds to find them covered in ice despite the fact that it was currently May in the Soul Society and about fifty yards away he could see the panting form of a woman about a foot taller than him holding a pure white sword with a ribbon attached to the base of the handle "at least it doesn't seem to be at the same level as Hyourinmaru."
Elaina watched as Rukia lifted her blade and swung it down sending ice racing forward until it stopped on wall "Hey Kuchki, your late for the squad meeting, put your sword away and get your ass down to the courtyard" Elaina shouted.
Toushirou watched as Rukia turned towards them, her face was covered in bruises and her kimono was wet from the ice and snow that had melted on her, but what he found most disturbing were her eyes which completely cold and emotionless and her expressionless face as turned back to what she was doing before "damn she's a real mess" Toushirou stated.
"That's putting it mildly" Elaina replied as she drew her Zanpakutou "looks like we're going to need to use a more foreword approach, otherwise she'll literally train herself to death."
Toushirou turned to Rukia to see that she wasn't stopping and he see that her breathing was getting heavier and her spirit energy was dropping quickly before he said "I'm afraid you're right" and drew his sword.
"She may turn on us when we get too close" Elaina stated as she and Toushirou began to walk towards her "can you do anything about any ice without unleashing a dragon on her?"
"I should be able to block her attacks with just my sealed sword as long as I use enough spirit energy" Toushirou answered "what about you, I hope you won't need to release your sword for this."
Elaina chuckled before saying "please third seat Hitsugaya, if I used my shikai on her, I'd probably break every bone in her body."
"Good to know" Toushirou said plainly as Rukia turned towards them.
"Second dance: Hakuren" Rukia muttered sending a rush of ice towards her fellow shinigami.
Toushirou focused some of his spirit energy into his blade as he leapt towards the incoming ice and stopped it with a horizontal swing, moments later it shattered. Rukia showed no emotion as the snow cleared revealing Toushirou standing alone, almost immediately she swung the blade of her sword to the side and hit the back of Elaina's blade.
"My, my, your reflexes have improved dramatically Kuchki" Elaina said lightly "judging by how solid your blade has become, I don't think I can cut through it by flipping mine anymore."
Rukia showed no reaction as she leapt back and chanted "First dance: Tsukishiro."
Toushirou watched as the ground beneath Elaina froze over and moments later ice shot up from the spot. He was about to rush Rukia with a shunpo when he saw Elaina appear out of nowhere right in front of her.
"Sorry Rukia, but you're not on my level quite yet" Elaina said with a smirk as she grabbed Rukia's right wrist with her left hand, preventing her from swinging her blade, and then slammed her right knee into Rukia's stomach knocking her unconscious, Elaina held her up with both hands to keep her from falling to the ground.
"She's fast" Toushirou though to himself as the ice covering the ground and the walls quickly melted "just like Alexander, she truly is formidable."
"Well that was fun" Elaina stated as she laid Rukia down on the tile "nice work on intercepting that attack, you've really improved from that day when I kicked your ass without even drawing my sword."
"Watch it" Toushirou hissed "that wasn't an all out fight and your dad stopped us from really going at it because of the Bankai training."
"Good times" Elaina chuckled as she began to check on Rukia's condition.
"How is she?" Toushirou asked.
"Well she has a few minor burns from all the spirit energy she's used, not surprisingly her body temperature's a tad low from all the ice and her wet clothes, and I imagine I gave her a rather large bruise on her stomach" Elaina answered.
"Can you treat her or does she need to go to squad four for treatment?" Ukitake asked as he appeared with a shunpo.
"These injuries are relatively minor, so I shouldn't have any problems" Elaina replied as she removed Rukia's sheath and placed it over the blade of her Zanpakutou "but I highly recommend confiscating this for the time being."
"Agreed" Ukitake stated as he grabbed her sword and Elaina went to work on Rukia "the problem is when she wakes up, merely taking away her Zanpakutou for now won't solve her mental problems."
"So he was watching us just to make sure we didn't go too far, or was it to make sure we didn't get killed by her attacks?" Toushirou thought to himself before saying "Sir, I'd like to have a chat with her when she wakes up, alone if I could."
Elaina looked at him and raised an eyebrow before asking "do you have a thing for women who try to kill you the first time you meet?"
"No" Toushirou breathed heavily "damn she's annoying, just like Rangiku."
"Why do you want to talk to her?" Ukitake asked curiously "I wouldn't have expected a request like this from what I read in his file."
"I think I may be able to help her" Toushirou said "after all our situations may be different but we have one thing in common, we both know what's it's like to kill a friend."
"I see" Ukitake said softly "very well if she wakes up sometime today you may speak to her, however…"
"Sir?" Toushirou asked.
"I'm afraid I've assigned you to mission to exterminate a pack of hollows that have been spotted just outside Southern Rukongai, Kiyone and Sentarou will be waiting for you with a few units in the morning so be ready" Ukitake answered.
"Understood" Toushirou replied.
"Elaina, I'm going to leave Rukia in your care" Ukitake stated and Elaina nodded in understanding.
"Would you let me know if she comes to some time today?" Toushirou asked.
"Sure" Elaina said "but it's going to cost you" she added with a devious smirk.
"No, it's not" Toushirou replied bluntly "because I'm ordering you to let me know if she wakes up."
"Damn, two years and two promotions later, and you're still no fun" Elaina pouted "and I was thinking that Lieutenant Matsumoto might have gotten you to loosen up, you must be a real hard case."
"Be quite" Toushirou replied as he disappeared with a shunpo to prepare for the next day's mission.
Elaina and Ukitake took Rukia to a small room in the squad thirteen administrative building, Elaina began to work on her injuries after she changed Rukia into a dry Kimono and Ukitake placed her Zanpakutou in his office.
Ukitake knocked on the door to Rukia's temporary room a couple of hours later before he heard Elaina reply "come in" he opened the door to see Rukia lying unconscious engulfed in a soft green light.
"How's she doing?" Ukitake asked as the light finally faded and Elaina took a seat on the floor a couple of feet away.
"Well I'm not as fast as Captain Unohana, but I managed to heal her wounds" Elaina answered before she stretched out her arms "but she'll probably be out for a while do to exhaustion from all the spirit energy she used up."
"I see, I'll leave you in your care until she wakes up" Ukitake sighed.
"Understood" Elaina replied.
"Tell me do you have any idea why third seat Hitsugaya has an interest in Rukia's case?" Ukitake asked curiously.
"No, I don't really know all that much about him; I've only met him on occasion when Lieutenant Matsumoto or Captain Aizen's fifth seat Momo Hinamori managed to drag him along for a night out" Elaina answered.
"How does he know those two?" Ukitake asked curiously.
"He grew up with Hinamori like siblings" Elaina replied "as for Lieutenant Matsumoto, he met her once in Rukongai and I kind of arranged a reunion unintentionally."
"What?" Ukitake said dully.
"Oh I felt he was too stern for a shinigami with his appearance so I introduced Lieutenant Matsumoto to him and that was when I learned that they had met before" Elaina answered before she started to chuckle lightly "you should've been there Captain, you can't pay for entertainment like what happens when those two are together."
"Does your father know anything more about him?" Ukitake asked.
"Dad said that when he first joined he was trying to die but his instincts wouldn't allow him to just lay back and let the hollows chew him to death" Elaina answered after thinking for a moment, she noticed Ukitake's curious expression before adding "I'm afraid he never found out why though."
"Troubling" Ukitake replied quietly.
"Regrettably tragedy seems to be a part of our existence as shinigami" Elaina stated solemnly "after all Dad still blames himself for what happened to Mom to this very day."
"Are you coping alright?" Ukitake asked "I know you got along well with Lieutenant Shiba and Mrs. Miyako."
Elaina smiled weakly and said "I'll live captain" before checking Rukia again "I'm afraid she won't wake for a good day or so, I guess third seat Hitsugaya will have to wait for his little chat."
Ukitake could tell Elaina was putting up a facade as he stood up and said "very well please take good care of Rukia."
"Understood" Elaina replied as Ukitake walked out the door.
"Where do these young people get their resilience?" Ukitake asked himself "I get the feeling that the history of the Soul Society is heading towards a major turning point, I wonder if I'll live to see the results."
Toushirou arrived the next morning outside the South Gate as the sun began to rise, minutes later several shinigami came up and greeted him until eventually there were only two missing members. Eventually the deadline for their departure arrived and they still hadn't shown.
"Okay where in the hell are those two?" Toushirou asked as he wiped his forehead "forget it let's go."
"Wait a minute sir, they're coming now" one of his subordinates pointed to two shinigami running towards them who appeared to be shoving each other in the face just before they stopped right in front of them.
"Kiyone, Sentarou, why are you late?" Toushirou asked "we were about to leave without you."
"Ah cawm on kiddo" Sentarou slurred "ya need to loosen up naw."
"What the hell?" Toushirou asked in confusion as Sentarou fell to the ground.
"Fur once I agree with tha monkey" Kiyone stated like a mad woman before she grabbed Toushirou's cheek "man Ran was right ya just too serious, such a shame, ya so adorable."
"I can't freaking believe it" Toushirou thought as he took a sniff and coughed at the scent and felt Kiyone stretch his cheek "you're both drunk!!!"
"Naw why would ya say that?" Sentarou slurred as he got up and fell again.
"Soo cute" Kiyone teased causing a vein to pop on Toushirou's forehead.
"Okay that does it!!!" Toushirou hissed before he grabbed Kiyone's wrist and she froze over "I honestly can't believe you two are freaking seated officers and you dare to show up for duty drunk!!!" he grabbed Sentarou by the top of the head moments before he was encased in ice "okay let's get moving."
"But sir the captain ordered us to take them along" one of the shinigami stated.
"Damn" he sighed "I'm sorry but can a couple of you guys carry them, hopefully they'll be sober once they've thawed out."
"Sir" a couple of them replied as they lifted the officers up and began to carry them, their drunken smiles were still showing through the ice.
Toushirou pulled one of the shinigami over as the gate opened and asked "are those two always like that?"
"Pretty much sir" he answered "Lieutenant Shiba would often throw something at them every other morning they showed up and tell them to sober up."
"Every other morning?" Toushirou asked and the man nodded "Damn Lieutenant Shiba must have been one hell of a man to put up with those two."
Kiyone and Sentarou woke up to find out they were being carried and that their bodies felt incredibly stiff.
"Ah what happened?" Sentarou asked.
"Ah good you're awake" the shinigami who was carrying replied as he put him down and Sentarou began to stretch his limbs "we're about ten minutes away from our destination."
"What the heck happened to us?" Kiyone asked as she popped her shoulders and suddenly remembered what had happened "why did you go and freeze us?"
"Simple because that's what you get for showing up for work drunk when I'm in charge" Toushirou answered.
"Sheesh you sure are harsh, aren't you?" Sentarou asked as he joined their march "I mean sure Lieutenant Shiba would get angry, but he never went that far."
"Quit your whining" Toushirou replied "I don't care what Lieutenant Shiba's policy was with drunk subordinates" Kiyone was about to speak when he said "and I care even less about the fact that your older sister is a lieutenant; anyway we're here."
"Huh?" the fourth seats replied when they realized that they were standing out in the middle of a rather large clearing in the woods, the tall grass reached up to their waists "are you sure?"
Toushirou caught eye of a large number of blades of grass as they suddenly bent down and seemed to be racing towards him. Thinking quickly he drew his Zanpakutou and slashed a hollow down the middle before it leapt from the grass.
"They're using the tall grass to hide themselves, all units form into circular formations of three people and watch the grass" Toushirou shouted.
"Sir" a couple of them replied as the scattered and stood back to back to back with each other.
About half an hour later the shinigami were beginning to tire from the seemingly endless barrage of hollows that kept coming from the ground.
"What's going on here?" Toushirou asked himself as he sliced another hollow before it could even reveal itself "we've been at this for about half and hour and we've killed dozens of them but it feels like they keep getting replaced the moment we kill them" he swung his blade down like a sledge hammer on another hollow "wait a minute that's it" he realized before he used a shunpo to get to the center of the clearing and shouted "EVERYONE JUMP AS HIGH AS YOU CAN!!!"
"What?!" Kiyone and Sentarou asked in confusion.
"JUST DO IT!!!" Toushirou shouted.
"Yes sir" Kiyone and Sentarou replied in a terrified tone as they all leapt into the air followed by their subordinates.
Toushirou raised his spiritual pressure as he leapt up just below his subordinates, moments later dozens of hollows leapt into the air after them.
"Wait a minute!!" Kiyone spat out "you've got to be kidding me."
"That explains why they just kept coming" Sentarou replied completely speechless.
"As I thought" Toushirou thought to himself as he looked at all the hollows, they were all about three feet long with razor sharp fangs and incredibly thin legs "these hollows are just drones created by a larger and stronger hollow, which why we weren't making any progress, the source was literally replacing them as soon as one of them died" Toushirou couldn't help but smirk before saying "rein over the frosted frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru" sending a large ice dragon towards the ground freezing the hollows and the clearing below in a mountainous sheet of ice.
"So where's the source?" Kiyone asked as they all landed outside the ice, many of the shinigami were rendered speechless to the sudden display of power from their new third seat.
"Isn't it obvious" Toushirou stated.
"What do you mean sir?" Sentarou asked.
"Think about it" Toushirou ordered before asking "what do you think the odds of finding a clearing of this size in a densely wooded area without any signs of a fire or fallen trees are?"
"Wait a minute you don't mean" Kiyone began but was cut off by a loud roar that appeared to be coming from the ground beneath them and the ice shattered.
"Just as I suspected" Toushirou stated as the clearing in front of them began to shake and suddenly began to rise revealing a large hollow the size of a four story building with a bear like body, long green hairs on it's back "so that was actually back hair instead of grass, how disgusting", and large mask with three green ring shaped markings on the forehead and sides.
"You little bastard" the hollow hissed.
"It's huge!!!" Sentarou stated.
The hollow raised one of its massive arms and punched towards Toushirou. A large amount of dust was kicked up and several trees fell to the ground as the attack connected and several shinigami leapt away
"Got him" the hollow chuckled.
"Got who?" A cold voice asked from the dust causing the hollow's eyes to shoot open before it cleared and revealed a short white haired shinigami blocking its fist with his left hand.
"You little bastard!" the hollow hissed before he unleashed over a dozen drones.
"Hurry back him up" Kiyone ordered as she and several shinigami intercepted the drones, the hollow opened its jaws and lunged towards her.
"Not so fast" Toushirou stated as he leapt in front of Kiyone.
"Is he trying to shield her?" the hollow asked itself "oh well I'll just get two in one bite" suddenly Toushirou's eyes began to glow light blue and he swung his sword in a diagonal motion and a dragon made of ice raced towards the hollow and knocked it into the woods on the other side of the crater. "You're not a boy, YOU'RE A MONSTOR!!!" the hollow roared as the dust cleared revealing the hollow to be badly injured and its limbs were frozen to the ground.
"Forgive me if I don't take your words seriously" Toushirou replied as he and Kiyone landed on the ground.
"Unbelievable" Sentarou stated as he and a few others landed "this kid is as strong as Lieutenant Shiba; to think he could not only stop a hollow of that size while it was moving towards him, but to throw it back so far like it was a rag doll...damn I'm going to have to watch my step around him."
"Are you alright Kiyone" Toushirou asked.
"Yeah" she replied.
"Good" Toushirou stated as he began to walk towards the hollow.
"Damn, this kid isn't like those other shinigami" the hollow swore in its mind as it began to struggle against the ice holding it down, a moment later he was staring eye to eye with the young shinigami "come on kid, you believe in mercy, don't you?"
"Not really" Toushirou replied lightly before he lunged his blade into the hollow's forehead causing it to disappear moments later "alright that's mission accomplished, gather up the injured and prepare to head back."
"Sir" the shinigami replied not wanting to risk upsetting their new officer.
A few hours later Ukitake was quietly reading the report in his office when he heard a light knock on his office door.
"Come in, it's open" Ukitake said.
"And what might you be looking at Jyuushiro?" a laid back voice asked as the door opened revealing Shunsui Kyouraku and Nanao Ise.
"Captain mind yourself please" Nanao half begged.
"Come on now my sweet little Nanao, me and Jyuushiro are old friends" Shunsui replied in his usual playful tone, Nanao responded as she always does and slaps him across the face with her book.
"I see you two are the same as usual" Ukitake chuckled "what can I do for you?"
"Oh we just thought we'd come and visit" Shunsui said as he rubbed his cheek with one hand and reached into his haori with the other and pulled out a bottle of sake "and have a drink or two."
Nanao had an extremely annoyed expression on her face as she saw Ukitake place the report he was reading on his desk "sir is that the report from that unit you sent to Southern Rukongai?"
"Yes, it would seem Captain Tousen did me quite a service by recommending I promote his fourth seat into my squad, he discovered the cause of disappearances and brought all our people back with nothing more than minor injuries" Ukitake said with a relieved smile "however it would appear there's going to be a rather large crater in the woods for quite a while" he noticed Nanao's curious expression before saying "feel free to read it if you want Lieutenant Ise."
"Thank you" Nanao replied as she began to read the report.
"Speaking of your new third seat, I heard he froze your fourth seats in a block of ice before leaving for the mission" Shunsui stated with an amused expression.
"Yes apparently the showed up for duty drunk and takes even less kindly for drunken subordinates than Kaien did" Ukitake answered with a chuckle.
"The ability to freeze annoying drunks in a block of ice, huh?" Nanao thought as she looked to her captain "damn I envy this kid, oh well at least I'm not Captain Ikari's Lieutenant."
"So where is this boy genius of yours anyway?" Shunsui asked curiously as he poured three cups of sake.
"Thank you" Ukitake replied as he accepted the drink before saying "he said he wanted to do some training tonight."
"All alone?" Nanao asked with a hint of concern for the child's safety.
"Don't worry, he can handle himself" Ukitake replied "besides my sixth seat followed after him in secret."
"You mean Miss Elaina Dark-Heart, right?" Shunsui asked and Ukitake nodded causing him to chuckle "that should be interesting."
Toushirou breathed heavily as he sat on the ground in a ghost town section of the Seireitei and pulled the pouch containing Alexander's crystal from his pocket.
"So my dad did give you one of those fancy memory crystals" Elaina stated as she appeared out of nowhere and caused Toushirou to flinch slightly "and I thought you'd be in the middle of Bankai training."
"Is there a reason why you followed me?" Toushirou asked.
"Two actually" Elaina answered "I wanted to tell you that Rukia should be ready for your little chat in the morning, and I decided to come out here to work on my Bankai training."
"I need to focus you know" Toushirou stated sternly.
"Oh don't worry" Elaina stated as she drew her Zanpakutou and it disappeared in a flash of light and materialized next to her "my test is just a fist fight so we can make sure you don't get caught up."
"You're going to fight against that barehanded?!" Toushirou asked as he looked over the materialization; it was about seven feet tall with a humanoid shape, yellow eyes, no mouth, long razor sharp claws on its hands and feet, and it was covered from head to toe in red-orange scales with a soft blue glow coming from its palms and the bottom of its feet.
"That's correct" it replied "my name is…"
"Don't but into our conversation if you don't mind" Elaina cut it off.
"She's one to talk" Toushirou and the Zanpakutou thought to themselves.
"Anyway I just wanted to warn you" Elaina began as she took off her kimono top to reveal a black short sleeved shirt she had gotten in the world of the living underneath "that crystal contains some pretty rough scenes, you may want to pass on sating your curiosity."
"I take it you've seen what's on here" Toushirou stated coldly as he looked at its green surface with an even greater sense of curiosity.
"Of course I'm in some of those scenes, and my Dad never was too good at keeping secrets from me to begin with" Elaina answered as she folded her Kimono top and placed a rock over it to keep it from blowing off "but the choice is ultimately yours, so do what you want" she turns to the manifestation.
"Are you ready to begin?" it asks only a moment before raising both its arms to stop Elaina's feet from connecting with its face "I'll take that as a yes" it added as she landed and they both used a shunpo to travel away from Toushirou.
"A rough ride, huh?" Toushirou asked as he spilt some of his spirit energy into the crystal and it began to glow "I guess I won't be disappointed with what I see."
Miles away on top of the squad five administrative building Sousuke Aizen was waiting was staring up at the night sky with ambition stretched across his face "I see your both here, Gin, Kaname."
"My, win'd ya notice me?" Gin asked as he and Kaname appeared.
"As soon as you got here of course" Aizen answered "so Kaname, how goes dealing with the problem officers?"
"I managed to have Toushirou Hitsugaya promoted into squad thirteen" Kaname answered "unfortunately there haven't been any chances for me to have Alexander Dark-Heart transferred, and I had no choice but to promote him to fourth seat in order to spare my squad's chain of command."
"I see, where is he now?" Aizen asked.
"I sent him and a team to Berlin; I recommend we don't meet whenever he's in the Seireitei" Kaname replied and Aizen nodded, a moment later Kaname asked "do you want me to kill him?"
"No" Aizen replied "that would be too risky, you saw what he's capable of during both the World Wars in the world of the living, if you tried attacking him out right he'd likely live long enough to expos you, and since you've already used it on him it's unlikely you could hope to kill him in one hit with your Bankai."
"My apologies" Kaname said "it's just that the rate of his spiritual pressure's increase has risen dramatically, at this rate he'll have a captain's level of power within a few years."
"I understand but it doesn't matter" Aizen stated calmly "after all, even his eyes can't see through Kyouka Suigetsu."
"Pardon me, but aint we here to discuss sweeping our antics under the rug?" Gin asked "I'm curious to here what ya plans are na."
"That's correct" Aizen replied with a grin "I've got a plan to pin all of our activities on another misbehaving captain and thus rid anyone of suspicion."
"How do you plan to do that?" Kaname asked.
"If my calculations are correct we should be able to enact it in a few years, in the mean time we'll have to wait for an unknowing pawn to gain enough power to fulfill his role" Aizen answered.
"Sounds entertaining" Gin stated causing Aizen to smirk dangerously.
Six hours later the sun began to rise and Toushirou came back to reality covered in sweat, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest, his eyes were being kept wide open in sheer shock, and he was breathing heavily.
"My dad's had one hell of an existence hasn't he?" Elaina's voice asked.
Toushirou turned to see Elaina setting cross-legged covered in scrapes and bruises as she used healing kidou to treat a cut on her left arm and said "I wasn't expecting any of that!" he took a couple of breaths to slow his heart down back to normal.
"I told you it was a rough ride" Elaina stated "I take it your sense of curiosity has been satisfied now."
"Yeah" Toushirou sighed "I mean I knew that his Nehan originally belonged to someone else, but I never imagined that something like that had happened."
"Well what happened was only possible because of what Mom was, if it had been anyone else Dad would only have one Zanpakutou like you and me" Elaina explained.
"Can I ask you something?" Toushirou asked.
"I can't promise I have an answer but you can" Elaina replied.
"How did he keep finding the strength to fight after all that happened to him?" Toushirou asked.
Elaina sighed before saying "I suppose it's because he believes in what his tribe called 'that light within the darkness that allows us to wear the darkness without losing our souls to corruption and madness' as you saw his clan was rather resilient, if not a bit misguided."
"Do you know what this 'light' is?" Toushirou asked.
"Hope" Elaina answered.
"Hope?" Toushirou replied.
"Yeah, hope is a truly amazing thing; I've met a lot of people over the course of my life and so many of them had faced unimaginable hardship, like Mom and Dad" Elaina said with a small smile "and yet despite the trials they faced, they all refused to give in to despair, and it was all because they had hope for a better day; in that sense you, me, my mother, my father, and a good number of the Captains and Lieutenants are the same."
"I see" Toushirou stated.
"Any more questions?" Elaina asked.
"Just one, from what I saw in your father's memories, is there a way for a person to become a warlock without being born one?" Toushirou asked.
"Yeah there is one other way; you saw the diary of the first Warlock that my Dad read when he was alive right?" Elaina asked and Toushirou nodded "as you probably guessed she had always had strong spirit energy lying dormant within her soul; but the whole dormant part came to an end during that little confrontation she had with the Pope. All the hatred, betrayal, sorrow, and her intense desire for revenge awakened her spirit energy, but it also awakened her spiritual affinity."
"Spiritual affinity?" Toushirou asked.
"Let's see, how to describe it…" Elaina said as she placed her finger below her bottom lip "everyone's spirit energy carries a certain affinity or nature to it, most people however never discover what their said affinity is, only one out of a hundred people ever discover what it is, and out of those who do discover it less than half a percent are able to use it without releasing a Zanpakutou" Toushirou's eyes suddenly gave an understanding expression "as I'm sure you've noticed by now, that you're one of those incredibly rare specimens that can use their affinity without releasing a Zanpakutou and equally obvious is that you're an ice type; now tell me can you guess what affinity she carried?"
"A Darkness affinity I would assume" Toushirou answered and Elaina nodded "so theoretically your father's clan could actually rise again if enough people with the Darkness affinity managed to awaken and control it?"
"That or if my dad got married and gave me a hell of a lot of little siblings, but he's not the kind of man to do that" Elaina answered "anyway fully awakening one's affinity is an incredibly difficult task that few manage to achieve it requires a person to truly become their affinity, even head captain Yamamoto hasn't fully awoken his affinity for fire and he's been at it for about two thousand years now."
"The head captain himself hasn't done it, but he's incredibly powerful; I mean his shikai alone shows he's a fire type…" Toushirou began but was cut off by Elaina's hand.
"But to use his affinity at that level of power he has to at least use his shikai, he can't set someone ablaze by just connecting with them" Elaina explained "he may be stronger than you and me put together but when it comes to your souls' affinity, you're actually stronger in that area than he is."
"Just how strong is my affinity?" Toushirou asked.
"Right now your affinity is stronger than the head captain's in that you can use it without releasing a Zanpakutou, but you're not at my Dad's level in the sense that you're able to use it to the fullest without releasing your Zanpakutou" Elaina answered "theoretically if you were to strengthen your affinity up to his level you'd be able to start your own unique tribe of ice masters."
"So these rare tribes of humans with special powers that I've heard of were created because humans with strong enough spirit energy were able to fully awaken it and pass it on to their next of kin?" Toushirou asked with curious fascination.
"That's correct" Elaina answered "the Warlock tribe had the Darkness, the Quincy had the Spirit affinity that allowed them to use absorb and manipulate spirit particles; I take it you get the idea."
"Yeah" Toushirou replied "Interesting, well I guess it's time to go see this Rukia woman" suddenly he felt his stomach growl "after I get something to eat" he thought in annoyance.
And that's a rap for chapter seven. Please leave a review and stayed tuned for chapter eight, hopefully I'll have it up faster than this one. In case your wondering I'm not going to explain Alexander's past yet that's still quite a few chapters away, the focus is still on Toushirou and his climb to becoming a Captain.
Spiritual Affinities
All beings with spirit energy also carry an affinity for a certain element (Yamamoto has Fire, Toushirou and Rukia have Ice, Alexander and Elaina have Darkness [as hinted by the fact that Elaina's Zanpakutou manifests in the form of a demon], and so on). Most beings have their affinities lying completely dormant through out the course of their existence, about one percent of shinigami are able to use their affinity by releasing their Zanpakutou (such as Rukia and Yamamoto), less then half a percent are able to fully awaken and control said affinity without needing to release a Zanpakutou or something similar (those who do pass their abilities on to any children they have, thus creating special tribes like the Quincy or Warlock tribes), and even more rare are people who are able to use their affinity at a limited level without using a shikai or Bankai (like Toushirou when he froze Kiyone and Sentarou without even drawing his blade).