Finding Friendship
Social Circles
The orange haired teen worried about the small taicho. Rukia brought news that he could in fact come and collect both Toshiro and Rangiku. He stopped by the room the fukutaicho of the tenth division was staying in and saw that the woman was worrying her knuckles. "Rangiku-san?"
"Ah... Ichigo. What are you doing here?"
"I've come to bring you and Toshiro back to the tenth division."
"That is sweet of you. You didn't need to do that."
"Actually... I did need to do that. I..." The orange haired teen paused and his mouth clamped shut.
"Don't worry. You don't have to explain why. You're fond of my small taicho, aren't you?"
"I think of him as a little brother, if that's what you mean. I'll go and get him now." Ichigo headed back to the room where Toshiro was staying and blinked a couple of times when he saw that Toshiro was curled up into a ball in the corner of the room. The corners of Ichigo's mouth turned down in frustration. Calling out to the small taicho didn't do much to make Toshiro look at the orange haired teen either. It took touching the boy's shoulders to get his attention.
The way Toshiro reacted told Ichigo that the young taicho wanted company of some kind. Something was also bothering the small taicho. The orange haired teen watched as the child taicho looked around his room only to begin to panic upon seeing the pictures in the box. Ichigo's brown eyes widened as he watched the child react negatively. "Toshiro really does miss my dad. I need to talk to him about this, but I don't know how to speak to him about this subject when he is acting like this."
Rangiku answered the problem by saying she had something to talk to Toshiro about. He headed off to the room Nanao set up for him and dozed off. He found himself waking up upon feeling Toshiro's rieatsu flare. The orange haired teen pushed back the covers and hurried to the child's room and swung open the door. Seeing the small taicho panic like he was caused his throat to tighten. He hurried over.
Another flare of rieatsu came from Toshiro when the small taicho realized he had blurted out something he wished to keep secret. Rangiku had Ichigo leave to spare Toshiro more feelings of embarrassment. "I need to talk to her about this in the morning. I know she means well, but I don't think she is doing the right thing."
He slept through the rest of the night and woke up completely refreshed. He headed towards the offices hoping to Rangiku only to find she wasn't there. She wasn't in the eating area for the division. One of the division members noticed him. "If you're looking for Hitsugaya Taicho I haven't seen him."
Ichigo felt his mouth twist up with worry. "Actually... I was looking for Rangiku-san."
"If you're looking for Matsumoto Ranguku she is likely still in bed or out drinking. It is rather odd that Hitsugaya Taichi isn't up by now."
The orange haired teen let out a deep sigh before heading over to the captain's quarters of the tenth division. He slid the door open slightly and peeked in. The light from the crack in the door filtered in to touch Toshiro's bed. Nothing else was visible which caused Ichigo to open the door a bit more. The orange haired teen stopped short when he saw Toshiro sitting on his bed with his knees pulled up to his chest. Ichigo pushed the door the rest of the way open.
The teen then walked over to the bed. "Toshiro... did you actually get any sleep after I left last night?"
"That's none of your business." The small taicho looked up from what he was doing. The child's eyes couldn't focus on anything as Toshiro's head tried to nod off. The two teal eyes had shadows underneath.
"None of my business? It is rather obvious that you're trying not to fall asleep. Are the nightmares that bad this time. Tell Rangiku-san that you're this bothered. She'll..."
"Don't you dare tell you! As I said, this is none of your business."
"Well... if you're going to not get her to help you then what are you going to do. You can't go without sleeping."
"I sure as hell can try."
Ichigo took a deep breath. "Toshiro..."
"You're not going to replace taicho! I'm not going to let you."
"Toshiro... do you think your taicho is going to come back."
The orange haired teen watched as two bright teal eyes widened. "He's not dead."
"So you do think that he is going to come back." Ichigo reached up and scratched the top of his head. "Toshiro... your taicho isn't going to come back anytime soon."
The boy's cheeks flared up with anger as his teeth clenched. "You! How dare you! You really do think that you can replace him."
"Toshiro... your mind is addled from lack of sleep and what has happened."
"I am completely fine! You're the one whose talking bad about my former taicho."
"I am not."
"You're saying that he isn't going to come back."
"I didn't say he wasn't going to come back. I said that he isn't going to come back anytime soon."
"There is no difference."
"No difference?" Ichigo shook his head. "There is a major difference between the two. It's not as if I'm telling you he's dead."
"Yes, it is!"
The orange teen took a deep breath before swinging out his fist. He watched as Toshiro was knocked back onto the bed. He heard the boy make a sharp breathing sound as he was caught by surprise. "Now see here. When I say that my dad can't come back just yet I mean just that." Ichigo watched as the boy turned over onto his side. The small taicho pushed himself up and then turned to look at the orange haired teen with a horrified look on his face. "Toshiro... what ever is the matter?"
"You... when were you going to tell me?" The boy swung his legs over the bed and turned his head so he couldn't look Ichigo in the eye. The young taicho's voice suddenly strained. "Never mind. Just get out. I don't want to see you."
Ichigo took a deep breath. "Come on Toshiro... it isn't as if..."
The young taicho grabbed a pillow from the bed and flung it at Ichigo. "Just get out! Don't you get the fact I hate you!"
M
The taicho of the thirteenth division took a breath of fresh air upon being released from the custody of the forth division. The white haired man grabbed his paperwork and headed to the conference room Kyoraku Taicho had set up for discussing the future plans of the Gotei Thirteen. Nanao carried her usual clipboard and prepared tea. She looked up when Ukitake entered and smiled. "I'm gad you feel well enough to participate."
"Even if I wasn't feeling well enough to participate... this realty isn't something I want to miss out on. We are after all discussing the future of the young ones. I'm really worried about Hitsugaya Taicho."
The smile on Nanao's face fell as her eyes darted away. "He hasn't been doing well. His behavior is odd... odder then it usually is."
"So you've noticed as well that he doesn't act like a normal child."
Nanao pushed up her eyeglasses in frustration. "Was I like that when I was younger?"
"No. You were more open to socializing with others your age."
"I always wonder if that had anything to do with Ran. She was always getting me to go outside of my comfort zone." The female frowned. "Perhaps then what Hitsugaya Taicho happens to need is something to push him outside of his comfort zone. It need to be done in a way that he can't avoid it either. He's rather known for avoiding situations that place him outside his comfort zone."
"Ran-chan tell you that last part?" Ukitake leaned back in his chair. "Who all is going to be coming to this meeting?"
Nanao began to run down a list on her clipboard. "My taicho is of course going to be here. Soifon is still healing up. The taicho of the third and ninth divisions are placed on bed rest by the forth division, but knowing them they won't be able to stay and will be seeing to the repairs involving their division. Isane is representing the forth. Hirako Taicho is still in forth division care and lavishing every moment of it. Kuchiki Taicho plans on being here. Tetsuzaemon will be here representing his division on this matter as his taicho is still..."
Ukitake watched as the female stopped speaking due to not being sure how to tactfully word what she wanted to say. "He's still stuck in a form that isn't conducive to him helping out as a taicho."
"As you know there is nobody to represent the eighth division at this point in time. Kenpachi is wishing to keep Yachiru away from this meeting for obvious reasons and his third and fifth seat are still in the forth. A certain taicho of the twelfth division feels this is poppycock and thinks things should remain the same. … and that the children should just toughen up. As for the tenth division... Kurosaki Ichigo will be sitting in."
"Ichigo wishes to sit in?"
"Apparently Kurosaki Ichigo is worried about Hitsugaya Taicho as well. Since this is not an official captain's meeting... well..." Nanao pushed her glasses up. "... he took an interest in the pictures of the Shiba twins."
"Why shouldn't he? Isshin is after all his father." Ukitake leaned back.
"So you knew?"
"Shunshui and I both knew." The white haired taicho let out a deep sigh. "Does that really matter?"
"The two of you kept this from Rangiku and Hitsugaya Taicho. Isn't that..." Nanao shook her head. "Never mind. I'm still wrapping my mind around the idea that Isshin has a child. He was one of the last people I expected to ever be a father, while Kaien and Miyako... I was waiting for the day they would announce they were expecting."
"About..."
"To be honest my dad is one of the last people I expect to be a father as well." Ichigo peeked into the room. "I came to talk to you about Toshiro."
Ukitake waved his hand for Ichigo to enter. "Come in. This meeting is actually not just about him, but the other children. Your input on this will be much appreciated." The man turned his head towards the cup of tea Nanao set in front of him. "Kaien and Miyako as parents... what cruel irony." The man took a deep sip of his tea. "They were unable to have children."
"Wh..." Nanao found herself shaking her head. "But... just before she died. Miyako was excited about the prospect of children."
"That's because they planned on adopting Hitsugaya Taicho. They were in the process when they were killed." Ukitake looked Ichigo in the eye. "I'm telling you this because I think you should know how close Toshiro was to your father and your uncle."
Ichigo looked down at the table and began to tap his fingers. "That might have been nice to know before I upset Toshiro a bit ago. Then again I think he would be angry with me no matter what I said. He's not getting any sleep. Rangiku-san's not letting him sleep with her so he decided to not let himself fall asleep. Why can't she let him? I mean, she's like a mother to him is she not?"
Ukitake took a deep breath. "There was an incident we would much rather not go into that didn't involve Ran-chan, but instead another female." The man placed his hands to his lips. "Isane-chan will be here today at the meeting, so I'll have her draw up a medicine so that he could sleep. Though truth be told it would be better to have someone he knows sleep with him."
"How about Kurosaki-san?"
"He's really pissed with me, otherwise I would offer."
"We'll have to make it an order." Kyoraku peeked from the outside of the window.
Nanao's clipboard came down on his head. "How long have you been there?"
The head captain rubbed his head before climbing in over the windowsill. "Now, now Nanao-chan. I really didn't mean it seem like I was shirking my duties. I was just waiting for the other captains to arrive." The man pointed to his mouth. "If you smell my breath then you know I wasn't drinking. That has to wait."
Ichigo took a deep breath and leaned back until Byakuya, Iba and Isane arrived. Kyoraku let out a cough. "I guess the first order of business is to ask how those Quincy girls are doing."
"I can tell you that they aren't very grateful, but I can't blame them for not being grateful." Byakuya held his hands in front of him. "They are so far well behaved. The young female is a handful as much as Hitsugaya Taicho can be. Both are too stubborn for their own good... except where as Hitsugaya Taicho is quiet and reserved in his stubbornness, this girl is the opposite."
Ukitake took a deep breath. "She was trouble even when she was in forth division."
Isane frowned. "Both were trouble while they were in the forth division, but in different ways."
Iba leaned forward. "What about young Hitsugaya? Rumor has it he is far from doing well. The third and fifth seat of the eleventh division told me what he did to them. It has to still be eating away at him while it is true that he wasn't in control of his actions. Isn't there a way that we can get him to act his age without belittling him?"
Nanao pushed at her glasses. "Speaking up about something Rangiku and I have talked about that has concerned her... quite a few students from the academy that are graduating are now the same age as Hitsugaya Taicho. There is no longer an age gap."
Kyoraku whistled. "It's been that long has it." The man pulled on his straw hat. "He's going to have to interact with his age group. While us adults respect them, his age group isn't going to if he avoids them."
The fukutaicho of the forth division frowned. "Rumor has it some of the ones who have graduated already are looking down on him."
"Well... the first thing we need to do is to have you draw up a sleeping remedy for him so he doesn't have to have nightmares. If he isn't getting any sleep then he's going to be a pain to deal with." Ukitake looked at the table. "Ichigo... you don't mind staying with Toshiro as much as possible. I know you have school in the world of the living and other things you have to take care of... no, need to take care of... but the more time you spend with him the better."
"He's not exactly pleased with me right now."
Isane took a deep breath. "This may be in part the fact he is paranoid. I... this may just be me... but I think we're going to have problems getting him to do anything productive. He seems to be looking for safety. So... if Ichigo could spend time with him. I mean, it would do him some good."
"How are we going to get Hitsugaya Taicho to interact with people outside of his social circle after we get him interacting with people within his social circle?"
"Hold on... this is assuming that Toshiro is reacting as bad as you guys say he is." Ichigo looked at the table. "Though truth be told... he is reacting pretty badly."
"Perhaps we should shift to the problem of integrating the young Quincy into Soul Society?" Byakuya added something else. "Actually... perhaps there is a way to solve all the problems. Hitsugaya Taicho's social issues, the fact he needs to start interacting with his age peer group, the fact the young Quincy need to start interacting with the young Shinigami."
"The only thing missing from that list is the Shinigami and Quincy learning each others abilities. I mean... it sounds much like middle school life, what with clubs, sports..." Ichigo blinked a couple of times at seeing Nanao's face. "What did I say?"
"Club?" The female looked at her clipboard.
Kyoraku raised an eyebrow. "Do you have an idea?"
"This may be pushing things a bit, but we do have a Shinigami woman's society and a Shinigami mens society. We fukutaicho also meet up and it tends to be more like a club meeting then anything."
"You mean have a Shinigami kids society?" Byakuya raised his eyebrows in a rather amused manner.
"We could involve some of the students at the academy to balance things out. They haven't graduated yet and there has been talk about implementing some kind of curriculum involving the Quincy abilities as well as allowing some of the Quincy to take courses there if they wished."
Ichigo took a deep breath. "There is one problem with this."
"And what would that be?" Iba raised his eyebrows up in curiosity.
"Toshiro's not going to want to participate. That's what Ichigo means." Ukitake sighed. "I think we should still try. It is after all our best option."