Author's note: So the promised chapter is finally here. As with my previous chapters, there's an illustration on my DA profile. Link is on my author's profile page, for those who forgot.
Also, in this chapter, we reach the halfway mark of this story. I plan it to have 17 or maybe 18 chapters in total. Next chapter shouldn't take too long to upload, probably two weeks again (I'm still stuck on chapters 11 and 12.)
That being said, read and enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
On the Frozen Plain – Stretching the wings
After much careful consideration, he decided that there was one division that specialized in the two areas of shinigami combat he hadn't studied in depth before – Hohou and Hakuda. And both of the skills were very useful in the kind of situation he had found himself in during his last assignment in the Living World. Especially Hohou. Though his shunpo wasn't bad, he knew that there was much space for improvement. And Hakuda was something he had never paid much attention to, always thinking that he wouldn't need it as long as he had his zanpakutou. But maybe that had been a mistake. What if somebody managed to wrench his sword from his hand? Hakuda would come useful. So that was why he sent his application to the Second. It was approved soon.
The first thing Hitsugaya noticed about his new division was that they had the best barracks he had ever seen. Every part of them looked new, there weren't any signs of age and use to be seen. There were also more decorations than he was used to. And his new room was the best he had ever lived in. Though he was never one much for luxury, he decided he liked it here.
The second thing he noticed was that people here tended to be more business-like than he was used to. The Third was more easy-going, the Eleventh was all about fun (or their idea of 'fun'), and the Fourth was all about avoiding the Eleventh and their idea of fun. The Second was composed mostly of serious, strict people who tended to frown at anyone they didn't consider a 'serious shinigami.' Hitsugaya didn't look much like a serious shinigami, so he found himself on the receiving end of many condescending glares the moment he walked through the door. He disliked it immediately. But he hoped he might be able to change their minds with his performance.
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He really didn't want to be anywhere near the Fifth Division's barracks, but he had promised Momo that he would tell her whenever he transferred divisions and he thought that she would be insulted if he sent her a Hell Butterfly. So here he was, walking through the corridors and hoping that Hinamori wasn't anywhere near Aizen. He wasn't in the mood to watch her swoon over him.
He was lucky. Hinamori was in the training grounds, explaining some younger shinigami the finer points of Kidou. He waited until she ended the training, which thankfully didn't take long. The training was over and Hinamori dismissed her students. Hitsugaya walked to her.
"Shiro-chan!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Don't call me Shiro-chan," he scowled. He'd never get used to the childish nickname. "And I came to visit you. Is that so strange?"
"You never just come to visit," Momo pointed out. "In fact, you never come to visit at all." Hitsugaya blushed a bit. That was true.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled. He hoped he wouldn't be forced into another 'making up' torture, but that seemed unlikely when Matsumoto wasn't his direct superior anymore and couldn't pull rank on him.
"I'm not angry," the girl sighed, but she didn't sound happy either. "I know you were never much for socializing. You never played with Tecchin and A-chan." Hitsugaya's grimace was fortunately lost on Hinamori. "So why did you come today?"
"Well," Hitsugaya didn't know how to begin, "do you remember how you made me promise to tell you if I transferred divisions?"
"Yes," she nodded absently before a look of comprehension and then shock appeared on her face. "Don't tell me you changed divisions again?"
"Well," Toushirou shrugged, "in that case I won't tell you."
"You did transfer again, didn't you?" It wasn't really a question. "Why do you do it, Shiro-chan?" she sighed in exasperation. "You've been in the Gotei 13 for three years and you have already transferred three times. What will people think? They'll say you're some kind of trouble-maker if you can't stay in the same division for two whole years. Why did you transfer this time? Did you do something to get kicked out?"
"No," Hitsugaya shook his head. "I didn't get into any trouble."
"So did you do it on your own?" Hinamori questioned. "Why? Didn't you like the Third? It's such a nice and quiet division."
"It is," Hitsugaya agreed.
"So why did you transfer?" she demanded. Aside from Matsumoto thinking I was a dress-up doll? Hitsugaya thought, but he couldn't say that aloud.
"I felt like I needed a change."
"You felt like you needed a change?" Hinamori echoed, her tone conveying her opinion. Hitsugaya nodded.
"I was growing complacent there. My skills weren't improving as fast as they should."
"But you are already good and you're progressing well. I know it from our Kidou training!" Hinamori objected.
"It isn't enough," Hitsugaya stated. "On my last mission I almost died."
"What?" Momo exclaimed. "What happened? Why didn't you tell me?"
"It happened recently. On an assignment in the Real World, I got surrounded by a swarm of Hollows. There was no time to fire a Kidou. I could only slash and hack at everything that came close. And my slashing and hacking wasn't good enough. In the end, all I could do was run. After that, I concluded that I didn't need better Kidou, but better zanjutsu and Hakuda and Hohou."
"Oh. Well... that sounds reasonable," Hinamori admitted. "I couldn't bear to see you die. If you feel like you need to improve, then I'm all for it. So where did you transfer?"
"The Second."
"The Second?" Momo questioned.
"Yes," Hitsugaya confirmed. "They specialize in Hakuda and Hohou. Both are skills that come handy when surrounded by multiple enemies."
"I can't argue with that," Hinamori sighed, "but don't you know what they say about the Second?"
"I do," he nodded, "but the Second isn't the Onmitsukidou, no matter what people think."
"But it's close to it."
"Don't worry, Momo, I'm not going to join the Punishment Corps," Hitsugaya assured her.
"I can't imagine you as a ninja," she said with a grin suggesting that she was trying to imagine so and failing.
"I can't imagine myself as one too, so don't worry about me," he assured her.
"You know I can't help it."
"I know," he smiled.
"I just hope you'll improve soon. Then you can join me in the Fifth." Hitsugaya nearly rolled his eyes. That again? Would Momo ever let it go?
"I'll do everything in my power to improve soon," he promised. That one was sincere. He just hoped Hinamori wouldn't inquire about the second part of her request.
"Good luck, Toushirou," the girl smiled.
"Good luck to you too."
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Though the Second had close ties to the Onmitsukidou, they didn't actually do their job. The Second's duties were the same as most of the other Gotei 13 divisions': performing Soul Burials and fighting Hollows. Only the highest seated officers held a position in the Shadow Ops too. But because of the connection, The Second's preferred style of combat was the same as in the Executive Militia: relying mostly on Hakuda and Hohou. Hitsugaya had no problem with the Hohou; he trained shunpo regularly and his speed was good too. The Hakuda was more of a problem. In fights, he always relied on the long blade of Hyourinmaru to deliver damage to his enemies. He wasn't used to getting close enough to his opponents to strike them with his hands and feet. But if he wanted to make a career in the Second, that would have to change.
He realized it during the first division training he attended. Practicing the moves wasn't bad, but then came the time for sparring. He was paired with Ikeda Nagami, their Ninth Seat. She was a tall middle-aged woman. Very tall. Hitsugaya remembered the Fourth Division's Third Seat Kotetsu Isane and her issues about her height. Now her concerns seemed minuscule. Ikeda was a big woman. Not only she was taller than Isane, she was also very broad, but none of it was fat. It was all muscle. She resembled a female gorilla a bit, at least when her figure was concerned. She had steely grey eyes, short, reddish-brown hair streaked with grey on her temples and a sour expression on her square face. She felt obviously insulted that she had to fight a child.
"Don't think I'm going to be easy on you, boy," she informed him before charging in with a kick. Hitsugaya jumped back. He wanted to retaliate, but the lack of a blade in his hands made him uncomfortable. And Ikeda was attacking again. This time she tried with a drop-kick from above, using shunpo to make her movement faster. Hitsugaya had to use shunpo himself to avoid it and he barely made it. The woman pivoted on her feet and tried to punch his head. Toushirou ducked. She kicked at him, but he blocked it and jumped away.
The fight continued in the same vein for quite some time. Ikeda was attacking, Hitsugaya was dodging and neither could land a decisive hit on the other.
"What are you doing?" she shouted when her patience began waning. "Do you want to keep dodging for a whole day? Are you a shinigami or a chicken? You're supposed to be an officer, boy. So attack me finally."
Hitsugaya nodded. He wanted to attack her too, but he couldn't see any opening in her defense big enough for him to get through. There were plenty of openings he could stab Hyourinmaru through or shoot a Kidou through, but this was a Hakuda match.
He eyed his opponent carefully, thinking of a strategy. He had assessed enough of her fighting style and he couldn't find any significant weaknesses. She was right-handed, but could use her left arm well enough too. She liked jumping attacks. She was fast and strong and she could detect even attacks coming from behind and react in time. So what could he do?
Ikeda didn't give him the time to figure it out. She attacked again, once more with a kick. Hitsugaya dodged. Then he dodged a punch and an overhead chop. It looked like a familiar pattern. She had used it once before. Now she would kick with her left foot...
Yes. She did exactly that. Hitsugaya twisted to avoid her heel and grabbed her ankle. And pulled. He hoped to throw her off-balance, but she was too experienced for that. She jumped into his movement, executing a headstand, which threw him off-balance. He was forced to let go of her calf. And she managed to kick him with her other foot in the process. It knocked the air out of him in for a moment. He landed on his feet and immediately had to roll on the ground to avoid her next attack. She seemed to get faster suddenly. Or maybe she was done taking it easy on him. Suddenly he had a much harder time avoiding her kicks and punches.
He considered raising his reiatsu to keep up, but decided against it. She wasn't releasing her spiritual pressure either. And using more power was a cheap way to win a battle, especially when the objective was to gain more skill. He decided to try a trick. He waited until she kicked at his head and dropped down under her foot, going after her other leg. He grabbed her ankle, intending to pull he foot from under her. His plans were disrupted by her other foot landing on his back, pressing him face-first into the ground. He lost his grip on her leg in the process. The impact was so sudden that for a moment he thought she might have broken his spine, but he could still feel his legs.
"That was pathetic," Ikeda spoke. Hitsugaya didn't answer. Her foot applying pressure to his back was preventing him from drawing a breath. "Only a child would be fooled by such a simple trick. Resorting to it showed you were desperate. Get up, the lesson isn't over yet. You have a lot of work ahead if you want to survive in the Second." Hitsugaya didn't get up. He couldn't when she was still standing on him. "Are you deaf? I said get up!" Hitsugaya pointed to the foot on his back. "Is that a problem?" she scoffed. "You are such a baby. A shinigami should be able to get up on his own." She still didn't remove her foot from his back. Hitsugaya understood that he'd have to free himself, because the Ninth Seat looked content to stand there until the next day.
He quickly pushed himself up, releasing his reiatsu simultaneously. It gave him enough strength to push the woman off him. She lost her balance momentarily, but she quickly jumped back, landing on her feet. Hitsugaya quickly rolled to his feet.
"That was a bit better," she said. "Now, let's continue the training." She attacked him again so fast that he had barely the time to put up a block. This was going to be a long day.
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When Hitsugaya dragged himself to his room that evening, his whole body aching form the training/torture session, he was certain about two things. One: he sucked at Hakuda big time and it was going to take a long time before it would change. Two: the Second was filled with even worse nutcases than the Eleventh. He wondered whether he could run back to the Third. Surely Matsumoto's parties weren't that bad? But he had chosen this on his own free will. He had decided that he needed to improve and so far, the Second looked like a good place for it. And nobody was trying to kill him here, merely beat him black and blue, whereas Matsumoto's boobs nearly caused his death once before. And he did suck at Hakuda and the Second was the best place to remedy it fast. So at least for the time, he was staying. But once his Hakuda improved, he was going to transfer again. And hope he wouldn't end up in a division even crazier than those he already had been a part of. There had to be a normal, sane division somewhere out there, sure? Hitsugaya was determined to keep searching until he found it. But for now he would focus on improving his skills.
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Much like before the Seated Officers Exams in the Third, Hitsugaya felt quite anxious. As a new addition to the Second, he was obliged either to take it or join the unranked members. He knew that he had power and skills, but he wasn't sure whether they were what the Second required. He was sure that if there would be a Hakuda exam, he was going to completely mess it. The month spent within the Second wasn't enough to get his Hakuda on par with his other abilities. The rumors that there had been casualties during the exams before and that some participants had disappeared without a trace every year did nothing to calm him. Two of the senior officers were talking about it in the mess hall loudly yesterday, no doubt with the purpose of making the participants scared. Toushirou had to admit that it worked. These thoughts kept him awake long into the night and that nearly caused him to oversleep in the morning. He raced to the exam site in the last minute, breathless and tired and even more worried about what was going to take place.
After taking the officer's exams in the Third, Hitsugaya thought he knew what to expect, but the Second was much different. It wasn't just because the written portion concentrated on completely different topics. In fact, expect for the Kidou part, nothing was like the boy remembered.
For example, the zanjutsu exam was very short. It consisted basically of showing you knew which end of the sword to hold and which went into the enemy and whether you had shikai. To compensate for these easy points, the Hakuda exam followed. The participants had to fight against experienced fighters, who Hitsugaya suspected were some top members of the Punishment Corps. He had to fight against a man more than twice his size. He seemed like a bear in human form to Hitsugaya. Not only he was big and strong, but he was also fast. The boy had to strain his abilities to the max to avoid being pummeled to the ground. He still got hit often, but he could keep upright. He even tried to counterattack several times, but all his strikes were blocked. Still, he knew that he couldn't hold on like this much longer. And he was right. Less than ten seconds later the man feinted a punch at his head and when Hitsugaya dodged, he found himself in the path of a vicious kick. The man's foot impacted with his ribs painfully and threw him across the arena, his breath knocked out. The boy rolled on the ground for a moment. The Onmitsukidou man appeared next to him, ready to deliver the finishing blow. Hitsugaya reacted on instinct. As the man's right foot was nearing his head, intending to knock him out, he released all of his reiatsu. The icy blast knocked the man off balance, sending him tumbling to the ground. Hitsugaya capitalized on his moment of surprise. Even before his opponent hit the ground, he launched a kick at his unprotected midsection. The man tried to release his own reiatsu in defense, but was a split-second too late. Hitsugaya's foot struck a sensitive place. The man collapsed to the ground, fighting back tears. Hitsugaya jumped to him, kicking him to the head. Even in his state, the downed man tried to block, but he didn't make it. He slumped to the ground unconscious.
Hitsugaya exhaled deeply and looked towards the stands, where the exam committee stood, composed of the highest officers and headed by the stone-faced Captain Soifon. He knew that releasing his reiatsu was something he wasn't supposed to do. He worried that he might be disqualified from the exams for it, but Soifon just wrote something in her notepad and motioned for him to proceed to the next test.
The next exam was Hohou and Hitsugaya realized that there were much less people than in the previous ones. Did they all fail the Hakuda exam? Were they so beat up they couldn't continue? He didn't know. And he didn't have time to ponder about it. The committee arrived and Soifon explained the rules of the next exam. It was to be a race there and back and the contenders had to bring back a token to prove they had really reached the checkpoint. And without any preamble, the captain started the race. Everybody slipped into shunpo.
Hitsugaya thought he was pretty good at shunpo, but there were people in the Second who specialized in it. He ran the fastest he could, but he couldn't keep up with the top contenders. He arrived at the finish line breathless, in the middle of the field. To his surprise he realized that a few people didn't reach it at all. He didn't understand it. What was so difficult about a shunpo race? Did they lose their way or collapse with exhaustion?
Soon Soifon decided that they weren't waiting for any more stragglers and lead the twenty-five people still in the contest to a remote training ground.
"This is where the final part of the exam happens," she explained. "After you enter the arena, you have a minute to hide yourself. Once everybody is inside, I'll give a signal and the exam begins. Your objective is to knock out the other contenders without being detected. Your performance will be judged on how many opponents you have defeated and how well you stayed concealed from the examiners. Everything is allowed as long as you don't kill or permanently maim anybody. Now, let's begin."
The examiners divided the contenders into five groups and led each of them to a different entrance. Then they let them inside one by one. When Hitsugaya walked through the gate, he saw that there was a very diverse landscape inside. He saw meadows, forests, rocks, creeks, a small pond and even a deserted village there. But he couldn't dawdle. He had to find a place to hide quickly. He decided on a patch of bushes near the pond. If he had to fight, he wanted to have all the advantages he could get. He crawled into the bushes, suppressing his reiatsu the best he could. About twenty seconds later, the signal sounded. The exam began.
Hitsugaya knew that he couldn't stay at one place too long. Someone could have seen him going there. The fact that he couldn't detect anyone nearby didn't mean nobody was there. Some of the others were very adept at concealing themselves.
He crawled towards the lake, trying not to disturb the bushes and alert the others to his presence. He failed miserably. The branches were too close and even his small body couldn't weave between them without moving them. He winced. He was sure everybody in the training field had to hear the leaves rustling. He abandoned all subtlety and jumped into the water, swimming under the surface. Water was his element and swimming came naturally to him. Even his clothes couldn't slow him down significantly. He swam to where the creek entered the pond. Only there, hidden by the tall grass on both sides, he dared to come out for air. He gasped for breath desperately. Staying underwater for this long was hard even for him. He could just hope nobody would hear his panting. Once his breath calmed down, he started moving against the flow quietly.
The sound of dry grass breaking under someone's foot was all the warning he had. He whirled around, Hyourinmaru in his hand. He was just in time to block a chop at his neck. The attacker hissed in pain as she injured her hand on the blade. Hitsugaya didn't give her the time to recover. He swung his zanpakutou, hitting her on the head with its flat side. She slumped to the ground without a sound.
The boy struggled to calm his racing heart. That had been close. He could have been outed when the exam barely begun. He sheathed his sword. He had to get away from here before other competitors, lured in by the commotion, would appear. He realized that his reiatsu was raised, shining like a beacon to everybody in the arena. He suppressed it again and then shunpoed away. He didn't care where, as long as it was far enough.
After five steps he found himself at the edge of a forest. He decided that it was as good a place as any and climbed onto a nearby tree. He was concealed from being spotted from below by a thick branch and he could see what was going around well. He could only hope that he wouldn't be discovered thanks to the water still dripping from his clothes.
He felt a burst of reiatsu coming from the other end of the training grounds. Somebody was fighting. He debated going there and taking out the winner, but others would probably arrive there before him. He didn't want to end up in the middle of a melee. And besides, the fight ended soon.
He stayed in the tree for another hour. Everything around him was quiet, only the leaves were rustling in the wind. If it weren't for the occasional bursts of reiatsu, the place would be completely peaceful. But even with them, the serenity of the surroundings was enough to lull the boy into a false sense of security. Combined with the tiredness after the earlier exams, it was enough to make his eyes droop.
He was rudely awoken by a kick to his ribs. He fell from the tree, trying desperately to figure out what had happened. He didn't have to wonder for long, he could already see the figure of a man standing on his former resting place. It seemed that he had drifted off for a moment and somebody had found him. Only the branches around the hiding spot prevented the attacker from hitting his head and knocking him out. Good thing he didn't use kidou, Hitsugaya thought.
Then the man noticed that Toushirou wasn't knocked out and jumped down the tree, intent on finishing what he started. Hitsugaya barely rolled away in time. Still on the ground, he unsheathed Hyourinmaru and put it into the path of the man's vicious kick. He pushed the foot away, upsetting the man's balance. He then upset it further as he slammed the flat side of his sword into his knee. The man lost his footing and fell. Hitsugaya quickly sprung to his feet and kicked him to the head. The man slumped into unconsciousness.
Hitsugaya exhaled deeply. That had been too close for comfort. That man was a weakling compared to him and yet he nearly got him. How did it happen? And how did the other contestant find him? As soon as he worded the question, the answer became apparent: he had lost control of his reiatsu the moment he fell asleep. It hadn't happened to him since his Academy days, but it had to happen to him again today of all days. He didn't understand it. But he had no time to ponder over it. All the contestants still in the game must have felt it, so he had to suppress his reiatsu again and move.
Only he found he couldn't move. It was caused by the six pillars of light slamming into his body. Bakudou 61: Rikujoukourou, he recognized immediately. Where did it come from? Who had cast it? He hadn't detected anyone in the vicinity. And how was he going to get out? He released more of his reiatsu in an attempt to freeze it. Before he could complete the plan, he felt the energy of another kidou soaring towards him. Then his world went black.
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When Toushirou woke up after the exam, he felt rather embarrassed. How could he have lost control of his reiatsu so badly? He had thought he was better than that. But apparently not. And why did it have to happen during the exam of all times? The last time it had happened had been... now that he thought about it, his reiatsu control had been slipping for some time. It was slow and gradual, so he had paid it no attention until the exam made him realize it forcibly. Thinking back of it, he probably didn't practice suppressing his reiatsu as much as he should and it now came back to bite him. There was only one thing he could do about it: practice more and he resolved to do just that.
When the letter with his exam results arrived the next day, Hitsugaya couldn't believe his eyes. Sixteenth Seat? That was a big loss. There must have been some mistake. He quickly opened the letter, scanning the detailed review of his performance. Cannot control his reiatsu, actually fell asleep during the stealth test... he skimmed to the end when Soifon-taichou personally wrote some words for her officers. It read: Being unable to control yourself and your reiatsu is a sign of immaturity. Falling asleep on duty is something only children do. It doesn't matter whether you have a fancy shikai if you get eaten by a Hollow in your sleep. Be glad I didn't kick you out of my division altogether. It was harsh and Hitsugaya felt bitterness while reading it, but he couldn't really argue with the logic. He did fall asleep during a mission simulation. He had been tired after the night without sleep and the earlier tests and his young body required more sleep than his older peers, but that was really no excuse. A Hollow wouldn't have cared.
He sighed. He probably got the rank he deserved. It hurt to admit it, but there was nothing he could do about it now. The only thing he could do was to train so he would do better the next time.
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It was two days after the Officers' Tryouts. He had another sparring session with Ninth Seat Ikeda, which predictably ended with him being pounded into the ground. He knew he was improving, but the woman kept revealing more and more of what she could do and her Hohou and Hakuda skills were still above Hitsugaya's. So this training session was very much like the previous ones, but there was one difference: today Ikeda stopped him to talk.
"So I heard how you did in the exams," she said. Hitsugaya looked ashamed. Did she have to rub the debacle in? Wasn't enough that everybody was calling him 'sleepyhead' because of it? "There's one thing I don't get." Oh no, Toushirou thought. Is she going to ask how could I have fallen asleep? That would make it about the hundredth time somebody asked that. "Why did you come to the Second?"
"What?" The question startled the boy. He truly hadn't expected it. He must have looked really stupid in the moment, because Nagami rolled her eyes.
"It wasn't that complicated question. Why did you join the Second when you had a good position in the Third? What were you? Twelfth Seat?"
"Eleventh," Hitsugaya corrected.
"And here you fell to the Sixteenth. And it's quite obvious that your Hakuda isn't worth crap and your Hohou can use a lot of improvement. So why did you come here?"
"That's why," he replied.
"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't feel challenged enough," Hitsugaya elaborated. "First I had to keep up with the older students at the Academy and all that year-hopping. When I first joined the Gotei 13, I was assigned to the Fourth Division. I had to learn healing from scratch, so I had to work hard. But I'm not cut out to be a healer. Then, after an incident I don't want to describe, I transferred to the Eleventh. Back then, I was a beginner in zanjutsu, so I had to work very hard to get to their level. But I didn't share their philosophy, which caused problems. So I transferred into the Third, which I thought to be a quiet, normal division. I was mostly right, but it had an unexpected drawback: I didn't feel challenged there. The Third uses mostly zanjutsu and kidou and by that time, I was good at both. I learned new spells and how to better integrate them into my style, but I felt like it wasn't enough. Like my progress slowed considerably. And then I got almost killed on a mission. So I decided to transfer into a division that specialized in something I wasn't good at. That way I can get better at it the fastest and my overall combat prowess is improving fast again as well. Uh, did that make sense to you?"
"It made good sense," Ikeda nodded. There was a hint of approval in her voice. "Trying to improve yourself is always commendable. And trying to improve in areas you're bad at is even better. Most shinigami train in what they are good at, but specialization could be dangerous. Every weakness can be exploited. Trying to remove them is the best you can do. Very well, kid. If you want to become good at Hakuda so badly, I'm going to help you. From tomorrow on, I'm going to train you really seriously."
"Thank you," Hitsugaya said sincerely, though there was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. If Ikeda's routines up to today weren't serious training, what was? Well, he was going to find out tomorrow. Only later he realized that he hadn't even felt irritated at her calling him 'kiddo.'
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Ikeda Nagami was a harsh taskmistress. Hitsugaya had thought he already knew it, but their training became even tougher after their conversation. Every evening he dragged himself to bed badly beaten and every morning he rose before dawn for another round of vicious beating. It felt like he was doing nothing else than training with Ikeda, though he managed to squeeze his squad duties into his schedule somehow. But at least he could feel the results already. Ikeda-sensei was showing him moves he had never thought possible. Hakuda was much more than just the art of kicking and punching the daylight out of somebody. It was the skill of turning your body into a weapon. A true Hakuda master could shatter any Hollow's mask with a punch, never needing to touch his or her zanpakutou even against the strongest opponents. But true Hakuda masters were very rare, even amongst the Second and the Onmitsukidou. Hitsugaya was very far from being a Hakuda master. But he was improving fast and that was the important thing.
His swordsmanship was improving too. Even if he didn't train it as much as Hakuda, all the lessons with Ikeda were helping his overall agility, speed and strength. And he realized that some of the moves he had learned from her could be incorporated into his kenjutsu if he tweaked them a bit. He came to the conclusion that joining the Second had been a lucky decision on his part. He had never had a personal tutor before, or even somebody he could consider so close. And Ikeda was a great mentor. Hitsugaya soon came to the conclusion that she was too strong to be a mere Ninth Seat. He once asked her why it was so, but she refused to answer. Later, he had heard through the grapewine that Ikeda Nagami used to be an elite assassin in the Punishment Corps before retiring from the unit, but she decided to stay a shinigami on the less stressful position in the Second Division. The woman herself categorically denied those rumors.
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If Hitsugaya had to be sincere, he was a bit anxious about his new assignment in the Living World. He could still remember clearly how his first encounter with spiritually aware humans went. And now he was supposed to spend a whole month in the vicinity of not only one, but two such individuals, who not only could see him, but were also capable of causing damage to him if they wished so, much worse than just throwing stones, and the relationship between them and the shinigami were strained at best. Sure, his orders were to keep his distance, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to adhere to them all the time.
He stepped out of the Senkaimon in the middle of a city. He paused for a moment to take in the sight. It was the middle of the day and the streets below him were bustling with life, the people entering and exiting the tall buildings and cars carrying their passengers on their errands. Hitsugaya observed it for a while. He had never visited a big human city before, so he was curious. It looked so different from Seireitei. Then he moved again. He wasn't here for sightseeing. He had a job to do. He had to locate a man and his son and keep an eye on them.
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It was early in the afternoon when he felt the Hollow appear. It wasn't a particularly powerful one, but it was close to one of his charges. Hitsugaya sprang to his feet and raced towards the Hollow. He reached it quickly. The creature, resembling a human in shape but with sharp claws in place of its hands, was prowling through the street, looking for a soul to eat. Hitsugaya quickly jumped behind it, Hyourinmaru poised to strike. Then his senses tingled with danger and he hastily shunpoed away. A glowing arrow flew through the space he had been occupying a moment before, striking the Hollow in its back and disintegrating it into spirit particles. It died with a soul-piercing shriek.
"What are you doing?" Hitsugaya shouted turning towards the archer. There stood a boy of perhaps twelve, with dark hair and glasses, dressed in a really weird white outfit, a spiritual bow held in his hand. Toushirou immediately recognized him as the younger of his charges, Ishida Ryuuken.
"I was taking care of the Hollow, because you shinigami obviously cannot be bothered to show up in time," the young Quincy replied.
"That's nonsense," Hitsugaya shot back. "I was taking care of it, in case you couldn't see. It looked more like you were trying to shoot me in the back!"
"Why would I ever want to shoot a shinigami in the back?" Ryuuken asked in a tone suggesting that he had a reason.
"I don't know, but in case you wanted to do it again, don't even try," Hitsugaya suggested. "And by the way, you aren't supposed to shoot any Hollows."
"So I am supposed to just stand there and let it eat whoever it pleases?" the older-looking boy asked sarcastically.
"No, but you aren't supposed to shoot when there already is a shinigami to take care of it. And especially you aren't supposed to aim at his back."
"My arm must have slipped," the young Quincy said cheekily. "And it won't be any loss if I really hit you. What is the Soul Society thinking, sending a child to our defense? They must want us to be all killed out."
"Now listen, you twerp," Hitsugaya said angrily. "I'll let you know I'm perfectly capable of purifying Hollows. If you call me a child once more..."
"Well," Ryuuken shrugged, "I guess you are more capable than the idiot who was guarding uncle Gouken. He didn't bother to show up at all. And uncle waited for him until the last moment. He was killed because of it." As he spoke, his tone became angrier and angrier.
"I am sorry for your loss," Toushirou replied.
"I don't want condolences from the shinigami," Ryuuken scoffed. "Uncle died only because of your stupid insistence that we mustn't kill the monsters."
"You are destroying souls forever," Hitsugaya pointed out. "Didn't you hear its despair?"
"It was a fallen soul," the Quincy shrugged. "It deserved it."
"How can you say something like that?" Now Hitsugaya was getting angry. "It used to be an ordinary human once!"
"It was a human weighted by sin. It stopped being human a long time ago. It deserved its fate." Hitsugaya really hated the Quincy's self-righteous tone.
"What if it was someone you knew?"
"Know a Hollow? Don't be ridiculous," Ryuuken scoffed. "But I guess as a shinigami you can't help it."
"This was a weak Hollow," Hitsugaya observed. "Probably a new one. And new Hollows go after their family and friends first, didn't you know? Did somebody you knew die recently?" A look of shock appeared at the young Ishida's face, letting Toushirou know that he had hit the mark. But the shock quickly disappeared, being replaced by anger.
"How dare you suggest such a thing?" Ryuuken shouted, a glowing arrow appearing in his hand. "I won't stand for a shinigami to insult me so!" Hitsugaya had no idea what the insult was, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the arrow pointing at his heart. He tightened his grip on Hyourinmaru, preparing to fight.
"Children, children," a voice interrupted them. Both youngsters turner to its source, Hitsugaya in confusion, Ryuuken in anger. Neither of them forgot to keep one eye at the other. "What are you doing, fighting each other?" the speaker chastised them. He was a middle aged man, with dark graying hair and moustache and kind brown eyes behind glasses similar to Ryuuken's.
"Father," Ryuuken spoke. "You need not concern yourself. I have the situation firmly in hand."
"Do you now?" Souken questioned. "It looks more like you are about to start a fight with a shinigami. Don't you realize the possible repercussions?" His son stared back at him completely unrepentant.
"He was picking a fight," he pointed at Hitsugaya.
"You tried to shoot me in the back," the white-haired boy retorted.
"I was shooting the Hollow," Ryuuken replied, "because somebody couldn't be bothered to take care of it in time."
"Excuses. You were trying to shoot me."
"Enough," Souken spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried unmistakable authority. Ryuuken immediately straightened up and let his bow dissipate. Even Hitsugaya lowered his blade. Though the man still looked kind and friendly, there was something about him that suggested that they shouldn't disobey if they knew what was good for them. It reminded the young shinigami of Unohana. "There's no need to point your weapons on one another. Isn't our ultimate goal the same, the protection of living beings?"
"If they," Ryuuken pointed angrily at Hitsugaya, "did their job..."
"I would do my job if a certain somebody didn't try to shoot me in the back," Toushirou snapped back.
"Quiet, children," Souken ordered. "You are behaving like a bunch of unruly toddlers." Hitsugaya flushed deeply, partially with anger and partially with shame. He was always trying to act mature, but there was something about this Quincy that completely destroyed his composure. Even Ryuuken looked chastised.
"There is really no need to be enemies," the older Quincy continued. "The shinigami and the Quincy could accomplish much more if they worked together. Ryuuken made a derisive face Souken couldn't see. "Why couldn't you cooperate for a change, boys?" Ryuuken's face said it all.
"That would be against my orders, sir," Hitsugaya answered. He wasn't sure why he was addressing the man so respectfully, but the elder Quincy seemed easy to respect.
"And you always have to follow your orders to the letter?" Souken questioned.
"Yes. If you knew my superiors, you'd understand why."
"Excuses," Ryuuken snorted. "He's a shinigami. They hate us. They want to destroy us all, just not so openly like they did before."
"That's not true!" Hitsugaya defended. He didn't hate the Quincy. Well, to be honest, he got to dislike Ryuuken, but that had nothing to do with the fact that the boy was Quincy.
"Hmph," Ryuuken expressed his opinion.
"Are you trying to provoke him?" Souken turned to his son.
"It's not like they need any provocation," the dark-haired boy snapped.
"Really?" Souken raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who's snapping here."
"I can't see why you aren't. He's a shinigami!" Ryuuken yelled.
"So?" his father asked calmly.
"You and your ideals," the younger Quincy rolled his eyes.
"You and your stubbornness," Souken sighed. Hitsugaya decided that he'd heard enough. It seemed to be an argument the two of them had often. He took is as his cue to leave before they could drag him into it again. And he used his fastest shunpo just to be sure. In his opinion, the more distance he could put between himself and Ishida Ryuuken the better. He hoped he wouldn't have to come into contact with him again, but he wouldn't bet much on it. There were still over three weeks left of his assignment. They were going to be long.
.*****************************************************************************************.
Over two weeks passed in relative calm. Hitsugaya did his best to keep away from the two Quincies and to purify any Hollow that appeared in the town. So far, he had been lucky, though there had been several close calls when he felt Ryuuken coming near. But every time he managed to get away before the younger Quincy could try to shoot him again. It was only when merely four days remained of his assignment that trouble struck.
Two days before, Souken had been struck with a nasty case of influenza that had confined him to the bed for a whole week. That left his no-good son free to roam the town as he pleased. He used the opportunity fully to visit all the places his father would never let him close to.
Faced with the fact that both his charges were at distant location, Hitsugaya decided to keep closer watch on Souken. Ryuuken had shown the ability to take care of himself in case of a Hollow attack, while the older Quincy currently didn't look strong enough to get to the bathroom on his own power.
It was during one such time, when Ryuuken had been out of the house for hours, when the Hollow appeared. Its reiatsu was weak, but Hitsugaya could tell that it wasn't because it was weak itself. No, this one was quite powerful. It was just far away. And the direction it was... wasn't it where Ryuuken had gone? Yes, the question was answered with a sensation of a Quincy's reiatsu. A powerful Hollow was just attacking Ryuuken. Hitsugaya prayed that no other Hollow would appear to attack the defenseless Souken and rushed to the site of the battle.
Even with all his prowess in shunpo, he felt slow. As he neared the Hollow, he could feel more clearly how powerful it was. He was going to have trouble purifying it. How long could Ryuuken last against it?
It turned that long enough. Though the young Quincy had been scared when the giant Hollow suddenly appeared in front of him, he retained enough presence of mind to summon his bow and shoot at it. Unfortunately for him, his fear was affecting his aim and the power behind his arrows. He managed to disable one of its six arms with one lucky shot, but the other hits were mere annoyances for the monster. It attacked him with ferocity and he failed to keep track of all its arms. The lower left palm slammed into him, sending him crashing into a nearby wall painfully. As he pushed himself up, he could only thank whatever gods there might be that he hadn't been hit by its claws. He wouldn't be getting up again in that case.
It was this situation when Hitsugaya finally arrived. He shunpoed next to Ryuuken and blocked one of the Hollow's hands aiming at him.
The Quincy got to his feet. "I can deal with this myself," he declared, but he didn't sound convincing.
"Sure," Hitsugaya deadpanned slashing at another of the Hollow's arms that came too close. Seeing that no other appendage was threatening his charge currently, he leapt to the Hollow's shoulder.
Ryuuken's Quincy pride surged high. He was getting saved by a shinigami and that was something he just couldn't take. Somehow the insult in the situation and the fact that the Hollow wasn't concentrating on him anymore restored his confidence. His bow glowed brightly, just as it was supposed to. When he pulled back the string, the arrow he created was one of the most powerful he had ever managed. He aimed at the Hollow's head.
Hitsugaya, now standing on the Hollow's shoulder, held his zanpakutou high, prepared to cleave the Hollow's head in half. But as the Hollow noticed the Quincy bow, it jerked slightly just as Hitsugaya swung his sword down. Thanks to his being suddenly off-balance, the blade missed its intended target and instead only chipped half the mask off just as Ryuuken released his arrow. The Hollow roared in pain and its now visible face scrunched in a tortured grimace before Ryuuken's arrow pierced it through, disintegrating the fallen soul.
"Why did you have to shoot it?" Hitsugaya shouted at the Quincy boy angrily. "I had it under control!"
Ryuuken didn't answer. He collapsed into fetal position, trembling violently.
"What's wrong with you?" the shinigami inquired. "Are you wounded?" At first, it looked like Ryuuken didn't even hear him. Then the dark-haired boy began muttering something. When Hitsugaya leant closer, he could recognize the words:
"It was a child."
"What?" Hitsugaya at first didn't understand.
"It was a child," the shell-shocked youth repeated. At this moment, realization dawned on Hitsugaya. He hadn't gotten a good look at the Hollow's unmasked face, but it had looked young.
"Any soul can fall," he said, "given enough time."
"If the shinigami don't do their jobs," Ryuuken muttered darkly. Hitsugaya said nothing. He couldn't really deny the accusation. It was the shinigami's duty to help the lingering souls to cross into the Soul Society. But even the most diligent of shinigami sometimes missed one. And there were some who didn't take their jobs seriously enough.
"It's your fault!" Ryuuken roared, snapping Hitsugaya from his musings.
"What?" the boy was taken aback by the rage in the Quincy's eyes.
"It's your fault I had to kill a child!" Ryuuken repeated, the bow appearing in his hand. It happened so fast that the startled shinigami didn't react in time. The arrow scratched his side just as he was slipping into shunpo.
Hitsugaya landed on a nearby rooftop, checking his wound. It was shallow, but it stung badly. Much more than such a minuscule wound had a right to hurt. It must be something in the Quincy reiatsu that was reacting badly with his own.
He had no time to ponder over it. Ryuuken appeared next to him, bow pulled back for another shot. Hitsugaya shunpoed away in the nick of time. The roof he used to stand on exploded. And Ryuuken was already shooting again, this time at Toushirou's new location.
The prodigy had to dodge a multitude of arrows, all of them powerful. Rage was giving the young Quincy great strength. If he had fought like this against the Hollow, he would have destroyed it easily. But that was neither here nor there. Hitsugaya had to figure out how to stop the raging youth before he destroyed the whole neighborhood. Toushirou estimated that he would be able to defeat him, but would probably wound him in the process, something he was forbidden to do. He had to find a way to subdue him without hurting him. Catching him in a Bakudou would be good, but Hitsugaya wasn't sure whether it would work. Quincy could absorb reishi from their surroundings. Would Ryuuken be able to drain a kidou spell? Hitsugaya tried to remember what he had read in the materials before his mission. But the constant rain of deadly arrows made it difficult to concentrate. And Ryuuken's skill with Hirenkyaku prevented him from running away too.
In the end he decided he'd try it and see how did it work. But hitting Ryuuken with anything wouldn't be easy, that boy did move fast and had good reflexes.
"Sai," Hitsugaya started with the basics. He missed. Well, he hadn't expected much from this spell anyway. He tried something stronger.
"Bakudou #4: Hainawa!" The rope of crackling yellow energy formed in his hands and flew towards the Quincy. Ryuuken just scoffed and sent three arrows at it. They pierced the spell and disintegrated it into nothingness. Hitsugaya frowned. This was going to be tough. He needed a plan if he wanted to succeed.
He sent several more low-level Bakudou just to see how Ryuuken reacted. Several minutes later, he had a rough idea of when the young Quincy dodged and where and how did he counterattack. He now knew enough to act. And he should act before even more damage would be done to their surroundings.
"Hainawa!" he fired another yellow rope, but this time purposefully off-target. Ryuuken scoffed, not bothering to shoot at the spell, and vanished with Hirenkyaku. Hitsugaya's spiritual senses told him that the Quincy was now directly behind him.
"Sekienton!" Bakudou #21 created a cloud of red smoke, momentarily blinding the archer. He fired his arrow anyway, but by this time his target disappeared in shunpo. If he thinks he can run, he's wrong, Ryuuken thought. He could feel perfectly well where the shinigami was. A boost of Hirenkyaku carried him close to the little brat. He pulled back his bow. And at that moment he realized he couldn't move. That little squirt had hit him with a spell! He hadn't seen it coming because his eyes stung from the red smoke and the shinigami didn't call the name of the spell. But if that little whelp thought a spell of this level was going to stop him, he'd have another thought coming. He increased his absorption of spiritual particles from his surroundings, quickly dissolving the Bakudou into nothing. And then his world went black as the hilt of Hyourinmaru slammed into the back of his head.
Hitsugaya caught the prone youth before he could fall off the roof and laid him gently down. He hoped he hadn't hit him too hard, that would have landed him in trouble. He also hoped he hadn't hit him too little and the Quincy wouldn't wake up and renew his attack. Well, there was no need to take chances.
"Bakudou #63: Sajo Sabaku." Golden chains bound the unconscious boy. Hitsugaya smirked. He'd like to see the Quincy try to get out of this. But now he was faced with the problem of what to do with the youth. He couldn't just leave him here, this was one of the seedier parts of the town. Maybe he should carry him home? But what if the people here saw a prone boy floating through the air? If he used shunpo, they wouldn't be able to see a thing. Once decided, Hitsugaya picked up Ryuuken and rushed him towards the Ishida residence.
He arrived there shortly. He had intended to just drop off Ryuuken in his room and get lost again, but this was one of the times Souken was awake. He noticed the two boys coming close and was both curious and worried what was going on, so despite his illness he dragged himself off the bed and came to look what was it about. Naturally when he saw his only son wrapped in the chains of a Bakudou, he wasn't pleased.
"What's the meaning of this?" he asked, trying to sound stern. Bow appeared in his left hand, at odds with his philosophy of peace.
"Uh," Hitsugaya searched for an answer that wouldn't get him shot. "I can explain..."
"Then do so," Souken prompted.
Hitsugaya quickly retold what had happened. Souken looked like he believed him. Probably. At least he didn't start shooting, which Hitsugaya was grateful for. Or maybe he didn't shoot just because he felt too sick to form an arrow. He certainly looked ready to keel over any moment. Toushirou didn't question his luck, released the Bakudou on Ryuuken and shunpoed away. He hoped he wouldn't have to come near either Ishida again.
.*****************************************************************************************.
For the rest of his mission, Hitsugaya did his best to stay as far away from the pair of Quincies as possible. Another encounter like this was the last thing he wanted. He was sure that the mess that had already happened was enough to land him in trouble and he certainly didn't need to sink even deeper. Fortunately Ryuuken didn't stray from his house or school again. Either he had learnt his lesson or Souken had grounded him. Hitsugaya didn't know and didn't care. His charges weren't getting into any trouble and that was all that mattered. Still, he was immensely glad when he could finally return to Soul Society.
Thankfully, his actions during the mission weren't judged as too stupid, so he got off only with a reprimand. Life soon returned to its usual state.
.*****************************************************************************************.
The wind was blowing in his face, herding the snowflakes into his eyes. It was cold, colder than the deepest winter, but it didn't bother him a bit. Even the snow pelting his face didn't annoy him. The heavy, grey clouds were surging past him. No, he was surging past them. He was flying, soaring through the air at speeds close to his fastest shunpo, yet he didn't feel any strain. He turned his head a bit, surveying his surroundings. He saw a wing. A giant wing shining with crystalline scales. A dragon's wing. Was he riding a dragon? No, he realized, as he straightened his wings, he was the dragon. He was flying through the winter's skies, racing with the winds. It was an exhilarating feeling. He flapped his wings harder, flying higher and faster. And higher and higher until he climbed above the clouds. Blue sky greeted him and the sun shone on his scales brightly, making him shine like a well-polished diamond. The clouds floated below him, looking completely fluffy and harmless, nothing indicating that there was a blizzard raging below them.
He let out a roar of pure joy. It seemed to echo across the freezing skies, despite there being nothing that could reflect the sound. He soared through the air until he grew bored. Then he dove down into the clouds. The white mist enveloped him once again and the snowflakes danced their dance before his eyes. He paid them little attention. He was falling through them, going faster and faster. Then he broke through the clouds and could see again. The snow obscured his vision, but he could still see the land below him, the plains and mountains clad in purest white. It looked familiar to him, but he couldn't remember seeing it before.
He surged through the air for a while longer while the ground grew closer. Finally, when it seemed he was going to crash any moment, he spread his wings, breaking his fall. He turned so close to the ground that his tail left a trail in the snow. He didn't have to think about the correct moment to break his fall, he just knew when to do it. Flying came instinctively to him. Then he climbed up again, ready to repeat his mad flight.
.*****************************************************************************************.
He woke up. The sky was just lightening with approaching dawn and the light shining through his open window illuminated the tiny ice crystals covering every surface in his room, giving it an otherworldly look. That gave him pause. Why was there ice in his room? It was the middle of summer. Could it be... but it didn't happen to him since the Academy. There was no reason for it to happen again. But what other explanation was there?
"Hyourinmaru?" he called his zanpakutou spirit.
"Yes, child?" the dragon responded immediately.
"Why is it happening again?" He couldn't keep the dismay from his voice. He really didn't understand it. He kept training control of his spiritual pressure, yet it was steadily becoming worse. It was the sole reason he did so bad in the last officers' evaluation trials. Well, that and the fact that he couldn't sleep the night before. At that time, he had considered it a fluke, but now it became apparent that it wasn't so. His control was really going to hell. And he couldn't find the reason for it.
"Isn't it obvious?"the ice dragon replied with a question.
"No." Maybe it was obvious to Hyourinmaru, but Toushirou was lost.
"Your power grew," the spirit explained. "It became too strong to be contained."
"That doesn't make sense," Hitsugaya frowned. "There are many more powerful shinigami who can control their power perfectly. Take Captain Soifon. She's so powerful and yet she can sneak up on anyone, never letting out a shred of reiatsu."
"That's true," Hyourinmaru nodded.
"So why can't I do it?"Hitsugaya didn't care that he sounded desperate.
"You need more control."
"I train control and it isn't helping," the boy replied, his voice full of frustration.
"I said you need more control," the ice dragon repeated with a hint of impatience.
"But no matter what I do, it isn't improving,"Hitsugaya sighed.
"Really?" Hyourinmaru raised an eyebrow. "Child, I thought you would be able to figure it on your own. Or do I have to spell everything for you?"
"I still don't get it," Toushirou sighed.
"Then think," the zanpakutou spirit prompted. "Why did it happen the last time?"
"Before I released your shikai," Toushirou answered wondering what was Hyourinmaru getting to. "And before that it was before I learned your name."
"So you do remember it," the ice dragon nodded contentedly."What does it mean to you?"
"It happened when I was almost ready to unlock a new level of power," Hitsugaya observed.
"So you understand."
"I'm not sure I do," Toushirou shook his head in confusion. "I already have shikai."
"That you do," Hyourinmaru agreed.
"So what else is there?" Hitsugaya threw his arms wide in frustration.
"And they say you're smart," the dragon shook his head in exasperation. "What else, indeed?" Hyourinmaru asked in a tone that suggested that the answer should be obvious even to a simpleton.
"You can't mean..." Toushirou began but trailed off.
"What?" the zanpakutou spirit prompted.
"There's Bankai but that's..." Hitsugaya once again didn't finish his sentence.
"That's what?" Hyourinmaru prodded when the boy had been silent for too long.
"That's for the captains to have and for the lieutenants to strive for. I'm just..." he shook his head to indicate how ridiculous he considered the suggestion.
"You know you are more powerful than your rank suggests," the zanpakutou spirit interrupted.
"I know," Hitsugaya admitted, "but who ever heard about a child with Bankai?"
"When did that ever stop you?" Hyourinmaru retorted.
"You have a point," the boy agreed. "But still..."
"It sounds like too much?" the dragon asked.
"Too much and too soon,"Hitsugaya elaborated.
"You should be used to such things by now," the zanpakutou spirit pointed out.
"That's true," Toushirou sighed. "But still..."
"You don't have to do anything right now. But eventually, you'll have to make your decision."
"I know," Hitsugaya sighed again. "And when the time comes, there would be only one choice, wouldn't it?" Hyourinmaru didn't answer.
.*****************************************************************************************.
Hitsugaya sighed as he removed the ice from the floor. It had become a regular morning ritual for him. For over a week now, every night he had dreamt about flying and every morning his room was frosted over. Though it looked like something from a fairy-tale, it made living in difficult. He realized that he couldn't postpone his decision anymore. But that didn't make it any less intimidating. The moment the last of the ice was thrown in the sink, he grabbed his zanpakutou and headed for a secluded spot in the training grounds. He sat down on the grass between two trees and contacted the spirit.
"Hyourinmaru?"
"Took you long enough, child." There was a slight chuckle in the dragon's voice. Hitsugaya felt a bit ashamed. He had been procrastinating, he knew it, but every thought about Bankai left him cowed. It was a legend for him. Something only the strongest of the strong could use and almost never had to. Something he had only heard about before spoken in awed tones.
"I know," Toushirou admitted. "It's just that..."
"You're scared, aren't you?" As usual, the dragon could see right through him.
"Yes," the boy admitted.
"There's no need to be ashamed," Hyourinmaru reassured him. "It is a big decision."
"I still have trouble believing it's real. I mean, me and Bankai?"
"What is so unbelievable about it?" Hyourinmaru raised an eyebrow. "You defeated Ikeda a month ago. Only her greater experience made the fight last so long. And you know she's better than her rank suggests too. You're already at the level of lieutenants and progressing beyond it. You just don't see it because you haven't fought any lieutenant lately."
"That's true," Hitsugaya nodded. "Should I go and challenge some?"
"If it helps you..." the dragon shrugged.
"I think I'll try it," the boy decided. "But that is postponing the decision further, isn't it?"
"Yes," the zanpakutou spirit agreed, "but it isn't a bad thing."
"What do you mean?" Hitsugaya asked in surprise.
"It will assure you what is the correct decision," Hyourinmaru explained."And you need to be confident you made the right choice. On the path to Bankai, you mustn't hesitate. You must know all your strengths and weaknesses. You must know your heart and mind. Otherwise you will fail."
"Thanks for the reassurance," Toushirou muttered sarcastically.
"You're welcome," Hyourinmaru replied.
"I think I should get to know my strengths and weaknesses better soon, shouldn't I?"
.*****************************************************************************************.
As luck would have it, on the very same day Soifon-taichou forced Oomaeda-fukutaichou to participate in the division's training. She said that he needed to work out some of the fat in front of the whole division, which mortified the conceited noble. He started to protest that he was merely pleasantly plump and his stature was a sign of his wealth and well-being, but the captain kicked him onto the training field and told him to start moving. Hitsugaya took the opportunity. The moment the spars were about to begin, he picked the lieutenant as his partner. It was easy, because nobody else wanted to fight with the fat man. They were probably worried that they would have rice crackers crumbs everywhere. Toushirou was worried too, but he was determined to endure.
Then the fight began and Hitsugaya wasted no time in attacking. His kick connected with the man's stomach before Oomaeda could blink. But thanks to the protective layers of fat the attack had almost no effect. He managed to kick him once more before Oomaeda retaliated. Hitsugaya easily ducked under his punch and kicked his knee. That finally had some effect because the man stumbled. It also angered him, because his next attack was more vicious. But it wasn't fast enough to catch Hitsugaya. The boy sidestepped the fist and punched at Oomaeda's stomach. And nearly walked straight into his kick. Hitsugaya jumped back swiftly. That had been close. He had been so misled by the fat man's initial bad performance that he completely forgot that he was a lieutenant for a reason other than his family connections. In the next moment he was forced to dodge a jumping kick. He twisted his body away. Oomaeda tried to punch him, but this time Toushirou was prepared. He grabbed Oomaeda's wrist and used it to propel himself upwards and deliver a kick to his face. The fukutaichou stumbled as his nose began bleeding. He tried to back away, but Soifon didn't allow him.
"No running!" she shouted. "You will fight until I say you can stop!" Oomaeda looked hurt, but then he returned to the fight. His captain was scarier than any enemy. She terrified him so much that he started fighting for real.
Hitsugaya suddenly found himself pressed. He found out the hard way how strong a punch Oomaeda packed when he tried blocking instead of dodging one and was thrown across the arena, his forearm reeling in pain. But it wasn't as bad as some of his lessons with Ikeda. And he still hadn't used all of his bag of tricks. Most of them were out because Oomaeda's fat cushioned many of his sensitive areas, so it was almost impossible to knock out his breath or hit his solar plexus, but there were still some soft spots. Hitsugaya quickly worked out possible strategies for hitting them. Which one he would use depended on Oomaeda's moves.
The fat lieutenant attacked head-on, trying to smash Hitsugaya's head with a strike from above. That meant the lower part of his body was unprotected. Hitsugaya dropped to the ground and dashed between Oomaeda's legs. Considering the difference in their sizes, the maneuver wasn't hard to perform. There was just enough space between Oomaeda's knees for Hitsugaya to sneak through. The fukutaichou only blinked in surprise. Nobody ever did that to him. In the next moment his face contorted in pain. As Hitsugaya was moving under him, he had kicked upwards. Hard. Oomaeda, unable to stand the pain, curled on himself and collapsed down. He fell right on top of Hitsugaya. His weight was enough to knock Hitsugaya's breath out of him. Hitsugaya pushed Oomaeda's body off him. It was a bit of a struggle, because he could hardly move under his bulk, but he managed. He climbed to his feet. Oomaeda, though on the verge of crying, was slowly picking himself from the ground too. He wanted to get away, but was met with the stern glare of Captain Soifon.
"Giving up already?" she sneered. "And you call yourself a lieutenant. What are you good for if you lose to a Sixteenth Seat? Go back and beat him."
"But..." Whatever the fat man wanted to say, Soifon didn't let him.
"Fight, you coward."
Seeing that he lost, Oomaeda nodded. "Yes. But I want to fight him all out. I'm going to crush him with my zanpakutou."
"No," Soifon denied his request. "No zanpakutou in training. You should be able to beat him with Hakuda alone. But if you insist, you might use bokken." She said in such a tone that made it sound like only the worst wusses used bokken. Oomaeda nodded. Then he turned to Hitsugaya, somehow managing a smirk despite his pain.
"You can't match my superior swordsmanship," he boasted. "You're going down." Hitsugaya snorted, letting him know what he thought about his claim. Oomaeda ignored him and walked to the racks to pick the best wooden katana. Hitsugaya followed him. He picked a wooden noudachi. It was the closest thing in length to Hyourinmaru. He waved the bokken experimentally, testing its balance. He frowned. It wasn't a good bokken, but he couldn't find any better. Shinigami of the Second Division rarely possessed long blades, so there were few bokken representing them. Hitsugaya pondered picking a better, but shorter sword, despite not being used to fighting with it, but then Oomaeda loudly announced that he was ready to wipe the floor with him. Not wanting to delay the second round of their match, Hitsugaya turned to him and nodded, acknowledging that they could begin.
With a sword in his hands, Oomaeda attacked with more confidence. Hitsugaya had to use both hands to stop his first strike. Seeing that, Oomaeda grinned.
"You're already barely holding your own. My next attack is going to smash you."
Hitsugaya didn't wait for his attack and attacked first. The wooden noudachi hit the lieutenant's stomach, but just like during the Hakuda match, the layers of fat prevented it from causing any damage. Oomaeda just grunted and swung his bokken at Hitsugaya's neck. The boy jumped away. He attacked again, but the lieutenant blocked. Then Oomaeda counterattacked. It was so fast that Hitsugaya had no time to move away, he could only block. His bokken broke in half. Before he could curse his luck, Oomaeda's practice katana slammed into his cheek, knocking him to the ground.
"I win," the fat lieutenant boasted. Hitsugaya disagreed. He sprung to his feet and charged. He jumped high, swinging the remnants of his blade down. Oomaeda wasn't paying attention and noticed it too late. He could only blink in surprise as Hitsugaya's broken blade, now about as long as a wakizashi, struck his shoulder. The sharp splinters at its end cut through his shihakushou. This snapped Oomaeda from his stupor. He raised his arm to attack the boy, but Hitsugaya, still midair, stepped on his forearm. Then he kicked the man in the face. That caused the lieutenant to stumble. Hitsugaya jumped down from his perch. On the way down, he slammed his bokken into Oomaeda's wrist. The hit made the man drop his weapon. Hitsugaya quickly snatched it, throwing away his broken one. Then he attacked again. He put all his strength into it. Oomaeda, still distracted by the pain, reacted slowly. He raised his arms to defend, but Hitsugaya swatted them away with his bokken. Then he kicked Oomaeda's stomach with such force that it knocked him down. Hitsugaya landed on his chest and put his sword to the lieutenant's throat.
"Do you yield or do you want me to kick you around some more?" Oomaeda scowled. He didn't like losing, especially not in front of so many spectators.
"It's over," Soifon's voice cut in. "Hitsugaya won." The boy jumped down from Oomaeda's body and bowed to the captain.
"But..." Oomaeda tried to speak, but Soifon silenced him with a glare.
"Don't speak, you disgrace to the rank of lieutenant. And get back to your training. You sorely need it." Then she turned and left. Oomaeda picked up the shards of his shattered pride and looked for someone he could beat to make himself feel better.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Ikeda's voice cut into Hitsugaya's thoughts. The boy turned to face her.
"I wanted to know how I compare to a lieutenant," the white-haired boy answered. "Even if it's just Oomaeda."
"Don't talk like that," the woman scolded him. "He is the lieutenant for a reason other than his family's connections. Underestimating him could prove fatal."
"I know," Hitsugaya replied, "I don't think he's bad, just that he's not the strongest of the lieutenants."
"So you would like to fight the strongest of the lieutenants?" Ikeda raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
"I need to know how my strength compares to theirs."
"Need to know?" she repeated suspiciously. "What for?" Hitsugaya hesitated. Should he tell her the reason? What would she think if he told her that he was considering training for Bankai? She'd laugh, probably. And besides, he didn't want to talk about it where other people could hear.
"I wanted to know how much our training is paying off."
"Hmph." It didn't sound like she believed him. "Just don't get too cocky, kid. There is still much you have to learn."
"I know," Hitsugaya answered seriously.
"I hope you had a good reason for this," Nagami said seriously. "If you don't want to tell me what is it, fine. But it better be worth making an enemy of Oomaeda-fukutaichou and catching the attention of Soifon-taichou." That was something Hitsugaya hadn't considered before.
"I hope it's worth it too."
"So what did you decide?" Hyourinmaru asked in his mind. "You just beat a fukutaichou."
"It's not like defeating Oomaeda is a big achievement," Hitsugaya replied.
"Don't sell it short," Hyourinmaru chided. "You heard Ikeda: he's a Second Seat for a reason. There might be stronger lieutenants, but this should be enough to prove that you are at least at their level."
"If you think so," Toushirou shrugged.
"I know so," the ice dragon corrected. "So what do you think? Are you good enough to try?"
"Yes," Hitsugaya sighed. "There's no use in postponing it. I'm starting today." Hyourinmaru smiled.
"That's what I wanted to hear."
