Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

This Light I See

By annyenil

News disseminated faster in Sereitei than anywhere else, such that many wondered if the hell butterflies had additional functions. Within less than a few hours, nearly everybody within the great walls knew of the new kid from Rukongai, Hitsugaya Toushirou. The White-Haired Demon, the Snow Commander, the Ice Dragon. He gained new alias quickly. The comrades in his form were mostly unable to comment on the incident.

Toushirou was made to perform the Chiishiyo Tesuto in front of his form because he had missed it at the start of that semester. The others congregated to watch how this curious new kid fared. "He's too puny to be of any good!" "How would you know? He skipped forms! Maybe he would be the next General Yamamoto-sama." "Well, at least he looks better." "You have seen General Yamamoto-sama?" "Of course, I am of a noble house, did you not remember?" These fluttering comments were exchanged inconspicuously behind Toushirou, and his tolerance was declining at an alarming rate. None of his comrades had come from the 1st District of Rukongai. They had no idea what he could do with a single glare, not to mention actually employing his hands.

Honestly, Hitsugaya Toushirou was unsure of how much power he had. But since his choleric temper had been triggered and his hands were now freely flowing with reiatsu, glowing, menacing blue reiatsu, he might just as well fire something at the clueless Fake Hollow growling before him. His eyebrows were knitted together in annoyance. Why is everything here so noisy? Maybe it was unwise to have followed that strange woman's advice and come here? A pure white strand of hair fell over his eyes and slit his aqua green eyes into two halves burning with the same flame. It was his fault that his Grandmother had been frozen. What was that name? What was that name in the dream……?

"Sōten ni zase, Hyōrinmaru!" Hitsugaya's eyes opened wide as the words shot out of his mouth without control. Where had they come from? How……?

It was too late. A flood of ice with him as the confluence began spreading, so rapidly that many of the shinigami-in-training and nearby first-formers had been frozen. It was a precariously beautiful sight, so magnificent, the clear blue sparkles and pure white ice that had covered acres and acres of practice grounds. The Shinigami Academy had not seen such an exorbitant sight in centuries. The ice seemed to have descended from the azure sky, even the clouds seemed frozen in place, like a painting, everything went so still, so still.

On the first-form training ground, Hinamori quickly rushed to the aid of many first formers who had been knocked out. In fact, only three of them had escaped unscathed. A grey, misty shield had materialised over Houseki, Kyoru and Taberu. "I feel……cold……What has happened?" Kyoru asked, her lips purple and trembling. Houseki was quivering too, "I don't know. A shield just shot out of my hands." "Ice……ice……nothing but ice……" Taberu was shivering as well.

"You three! Don't just stand there! Come and help!" Renji shouted at the three first-formers as the seniors began defrosting the first-formers by means of demon magic and fire-zanpakutous and transporting them back to the Medic Centre. "What can we do?" They glanced at one another and glanced at their hands. None of the spells they had learnt so far would come in handy. Houseki only could produce a shield, and Kyoru's power outburst had been more of a punching sort. Taberu shrugged and began scratching ice off a nearby first-former with her katana. At first a little reluctant because of how silly it looked, Houseki and Kyoru could find no other means of doing this, and proceeded to scrape ice off their other fellow comrades.

"You know," Kyoru said, her hands sore from constant pummeling of her katana, "I think I saw something just now. A white flash of light." The other two remained silent while searching for words.

"Kyo-chan……do you know what white looks like?" Taberu simply had to ask. Houseki gave her a look. "I don't know. It just came to my mind that it felt like white." Kyoru had no notice of the exchange and answered with a straight-face. Kyoru's eyes were clouded with what seemed like a mixture of iced tears and grey mist. "What on earth is going on?" She questioned. The other two merely shrugged, and upon realising that the shrugged could not be detected, only meekly said "No." What ever that had just taken place had been frightening, shocking and it clearly had disturbed Kyoru.

"I need to know who made this ice." Kyoru avowed. "We will, very soon." Taberu said, swiftly hoisting a panitng girl whom she had just scraped out of ice. "C'mon, let's get going." The other two did similarly with their charge and headed for the Medic Centre in silence.

This reiatsu……it is so oddly familiar. Who? Who could it be? Kyoru's heart raced. Her memories had no images for backup. Sounds and feelings are harder to preserve. She let the wind carry her weight as she stepped through glaciers and ice mountains.

The wind, the wind had always comforted her. The colours of seasons she could not tell; the brilliance of sunrise and sunset she could not sense; the sashes of beauty around her she could not see. The wind was one element of the world that had lullabied her from youth. She loved it because even if she could see things, she wouldn't be able to see the wind. The wind was her friend. Whenever Nii-san wasn't around, she would listen to the wind, feel the wind, sense the gentle fluid sliding past her fingertips. The wind would toy with her hair and dance around her when she was alone.

Now, the wind conveyed to her dissipated bits of this familiar reiatsu. Maybe this would lead her to a familiar face? Maybe this would lead her to her Nii-san?

The Shinigami Academy Medic Center was overcrowded and casualties were arriving still. The three friends lay down the victims of the incident they had rescued and were about to turn for the site when a voice called out, "Tabi-chan! Tabi-chan!" Taberu's eyes widened. "Hana-chan?" She grinned. Despite the debacle about them, it was a moment to stop and hug the friend she had not seen for awhile. "Stay and help us will you, Tabi-chan?" Taberu glanced at her other friends, "Houseki, Kyoru, this is my childhood friend, Yamada Hanatarou."

"Nice to meet you, I am Toukaba Houseki." "Nice to meet you, I am Satomo Kyoru."

"Nice to meet you too. Please come with me." Hanatarou took a deep bow and led the three shinigami-in-training to one of the wards to help with tasks that their abilities could manage. Soon, they found out that binding bandages with Bakudou spells and blasting off ice debris with tiny demon magic darts was a lot easier than standing in the middle of a sahara-like ice plain scraping off ice from statues of one's comrades. This made them much more efficient than they had been.

"Your friend is a medic?" Kyoru asked out of curiosity as the coldness in Shinigami Academy gradually abated. This welcoming attrition made them cozy and settled as they continued their tasks in peace. "Yes. He had always been quite nervous with swords, but Hana-chan's zanpakutou is very special. I'm so glad that he can fight and help people, too." They continued working silently in this manner. It had been long since they had a moment of tranquility to themselves, and this was much savoured. The air was a little chilly, but the sun was bright and comfortable.

Of course, by rule of the book, good things never last.

"SATOMO KYORU! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU??"

"Uh-oh."