Normally, I try not to update two chapters the same day but I just finished chapter 17 and I'm excited. This is also a special thanks to my reviewers:

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You guys are the best! This one's for you!

Some things are going to start to happen. I'm not entirely sure how to get to where I want it to which is why the previous chapters have been so slow. But I'm getting there.

Disclaimer: I think that this would be a fun filler episode.


Chapter Ten: The Awakening and The Chase

Hitsugaya was speeding through the Rukongai districts again. It was coming up on winter time, meaning that it was colder and there was some frost on the ground. Hitsugaya didn't feel the cold. In his mind, he knew it was cold, but it didn't bother him.

He had finished searching all the districts, all the way to the South 80th district. If he cared, he would have been heart-broken and disgusted at the depravity he had witnessed. All he had felt was a cold nothingness. He hadn't found her.

So he had started over. He went through the districts much faster now, thanks in part to his speed and also to having already searched and therefore not having to consciously think about every soul that he felt.

He finished at the 45th district. He had covered 15 districts that night. He still pushed himself to go faster and was rewarded because of it. He had been spending more nights training than not now. He tried not to think about why he was doing that.

He sped home, a little earlier than he normally would have. Due to the intense training and drills his division had been going through for the past few weeks, on top of his own training with Hyourinmaru at night, he had been more tired than usual. He slept a little more each night. Again, he tried not to think about why.

He made it home and ate a small meal, quickly showered, and climbed into bed. It wasn't that he was giving up. He hadn't had any real hope to begin with. He was just, tired.

For five years. Five years ago, he had died. And he was tired. He was tired of doing paperwork. He was tired of dealing with his troops. He was tired of pushing off Matsumoto. He was tired of ignoring everyone who tried to talk to him. He was tired of training. He was tired of running through Rukongai.

He was tired of being alive.

He just wanted to give up, to close his eyes and never open them again. To let go of whatever primal instinct kept him breathing, eating, moving.

He closed his eyes.

When he opened them, he was standing in his inner world. Others would say it was a frozen wasteland. He however saw peace, quiet, stability, calm.

He looked up and saw his dragon. It hadn't changed in all the years that he had known him. Maybe getting a little longer and bigger but Hitsugaya wasn't sure.

"Why have you called me here?"

"Why do you think?" Was the enigmatic reply.

Unfazed after almost a lifetime of hearing such responses, Hitsugaya pondered the question.

"You thought I was indulging in self-pity."

The dragon nodded his head. "In part. The other part it is to tell you. To warn you."

Hitsugaya listened carefully. His dragon never said things that weren't of utmost importance. He preferred to let Hitsugaya figure things out for himself, trusting him to get to the correct conclusion at his own speed.

"The first is that something is coming. Something as old as I. And you must be prepared. You have not been training as diligently as you need to be. There is so much more that you have left to learn, to master."

Hitsugaya took the reprimand in his stride and nodded. He had been training less.

"The second is …motivation."

He waited. If his dragon had been able to, he would have sworn that it gave a small smile.

"She's waking up."


Hitsugaya opened his eyes. It was morning. Late morning. The sun was shining through his windows. There was a banging on his door. Really late morning.

"Taicho? Taicho are you in there? Is everything okay? Taicho?" It was Matsumoto. She sounded nervous. Hitsugaya looked at the clock. It was past ten. He sat up and stretched. He couldn't remember the last time he had truly slept. No wonder he had slept late.

He got up and somewhat groggily headed to his door. Matsumoto sounded more frantic.

"Taicho? Taicho, I'm coming in-"

She was cut off by the door flinging open.

"Taicho!" She looked shocked at his appearance. He only had pajama bottoms on. It was usually too hot for him to be fully clothed.

"Do you need something?" He asked with an eyebrow raised. She was flabbergasted for a moment. Finally, she closed her mouth and shook her head.

"Er, no taicho. I was just worried about you. You were really late and You are never late."

"It would be hard to tell whether I'm late or not since you arrive even later. It's more accurate to say that I am never later than you."

Her eyes widened at his response. He didn't know why. It wasn't anything particularly harsh, nothing that she didn't know or that he hadn't said before.

She was silent, her jaw dropped again. He was starting to get annoyed.

"Do you need anything else? As you have pointed out, it is late and I still have to get ready. If you don't have anything of importance to say than I suggest that you go back to the offices and oversee the training. We have team drills today and obviously I'm going to be late."

She snapped to attention, a broad grin spreading across her face. "Yes, taicho!" He didn't wait for her to leave, choosing instead to close the door in her face.


Most of the tenth division was on the training field by the time Hitsugaya arrived, some thirty minutes later. He decided to take his time getting ready. Meaning he actually brushed his hair. It was one of his childish traits. He just never got into the habit of brushing it. It didn't change much about it. His hair was still gravity-defying and oddly sharp. It just had a …cleaner look about it. More neat. Like controlled chaos.

He stood by the entrance, watching Matsumoto supervise the team drills. It was part of the training plan. They decided to capitalize on the team structures. Right now, they were working on individual teams coordinating attacks on opposing teams. They had turned it into a game of sorts, a strip of cloth tied to a post behind each team. The goal was to capture the cloth and bring it over to their own side without losing their own cloth.

After a few minutes, he was struck by a whim. He strode up to Matsumoto, who was laughing at one of the squad members who had somehow managed to trip over a rock, taking down two other Shinigami.

"Matsumoto."

She quickly stopped laughing and addressed him. Her eyes glanced at his hair and she smiled for some reason. "Taicho." She nodded her head.

"Gather all the Shinigami. We're going to do something a little different for today's training."

"Yes!" She quickly called a halt on the training, summoning all the Shinigami. Hitsugaya saw about 150 members overall. He figured the rest were doing other things like paperwork or guard duty or something.

They stood in block formation, every posture perfect. He wasn't sure why they were suddenly so strict about themselves. He never let them relax too much before but for the past couple of months, they were especially formal.

"We are going to do today's training a little differently. More often than not, when Soul Society is infiltrated, it's individuals, not whole armies. Take Kurosaki-san and his friends as an example." Matsumoto gasped lightly for some reason. "There were just the five of them and they had split up when they entered. One of the reasons it was so difficult for us to stop them was because we were unprepared for a single invader. While we should always be on alert against large groups, it's harder to catch a single person."

He looked at the faces of the Shinigami. Most seemed to be accepting his words, some with small, rueful smiles as they remembered the fateful day when Soul Society had first been breached in decades by a handful of humans.

"Today, all of you are going to find and capture a single enemy. All of Soul Society is the training field."

There was a ripple of excitement and slight apprehension. Glances were thrown.

"In ten minutes, an invader will come into Soul Society and make their way to the soutaicho. You must stop him at whatever cost." He paused and thought for a moment. "Although, if you cause excessive damage it will be coming out of your personal budget, for as long as it takes to pay it back. And don't interfere with the other squads."

There was silence as they all contemplated this new training exercise. Finally, it was Matsumoto who asked what they were all thinking.

"Taicho, who will be the invader?"

If he was the type to smile, he would have. As it was, there was a definite hint of perverse glee in is voice as he answered.

"Me."


Nine minutes later, Hitsugaya was leaning casually against the outer wall of Soul Society, just outside the west White Road Gate. The same gate that Ichigo had originally tried to enter before he found the alternate route of cannonballing himself through the sky in an orb of reiatsu.

That was thirteen years ago, he thought. Seems like it was longer. Probably because of all the wars and conflicts in between.

"Hitsugaya-taicho? What are you doing here?"

It was captain Hirako Shinji, the somewhat recently restored captain of the fifth division. His overly wide smile was slightly confused.

"Training."

Hirako blinked, obviously waiting for further explanation. Before today, Hitsugaya would have ignored the silent request. But today was different.

"My division needs experience on apprehending a single invader. Past experience has proven that it is a major flaw in Soul Society's defense." He pushed himself off of the wall and walked up to the open doorway. "They have to stop me before I reach the soutaicho."

Hirako blinked again, his smile widening even more. "Sounds like fun." Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow.

"It's training."

"Yeah, but it's fun training." He countered. "Sounds like a really good idea. Can my division join? When are you starting?"

"Now." And without another word, Hitsugaya disappeared.


Normally, Hitsugaya could have crossed the entire city within a few minutes but that would have defeated the purpose of this exercise. Instead he went a slow, leisurely pace, not even using shunpo.

He rounded a corner and was met with a team of his squad members. He paused, allowing them to see him. They immediately jumped at him, swords drawn.

Time for some training.

With a fluidity that was almost too beautiful to watch, he slid through the Shinigami, using his bare hands to make visible moves that attacked their weakest points, individually and as a team. Within minutes, all of them had been defeated, not knocked out, just shoved down for a few stunned seconds, their weapons clattering harmlessly away from them.

Hitsugaya turned his head to raise a brow at them before hurrying on, leaving them to nurse their bruises and egos.

This pattern continued for the next few hours. Sometimes a Shinigami got in a lucky swing that he had to dodge before he effortlessly disarmed them. A couple of times, he led them on a quick chase, before defeating them.

Their plan was rather obvious. The weaker teams were spread out along the edges since they didn't know from which direction he would come from. The stronger teams positioned themselves closer to the first division headquarters, allowing him to come to them.

Not that it was any harder to disarm and defeat the 'stronger' teams. His officers looked ashamed at their quick defeat. Once, Hitsugaya stopped at a stall to snack. No reason to make himself hungry during the exercise. While he was eating, more officers asked him what his division was doing, to which he explained the exercise.


Ukitake walked up during one of the small tussles with a team. After watching Hitsugaya effortlessly throw his 16th seat down the path, he spoke up.

"Hitsugaya-kun. I'm just wondering here, but what exactly are you doing."

"Training." Was the only reply as yet another Shinigami was forced to drop his Zanpakutou and went sailing past.

"I see. And what exactly is the point of this exercise?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as two Shinigami tried to rush him at the same time, only to run into each other as Hitsugaya simply stepped out of the way, not even looking at them.

"I'm an invader. They have to stop me from reaching the soutaicho." Ukitake nodded in understanding.

"And how are they doing so far?" Hitsugaya's response was a swift kick to another officer, sending him flying into the wall, sliding down, dazed.

Ukitake smiled as they both surveyed the mostly unconscious troops. "To be fair, you are an exceptionally difficult adversary." Hitsugaya shrugged.

"They'll just have to get better."

"Indeed." After a brief pause, he asked, "Are you going to be making this a regular thing. It looks like they need the experience."

Hitsugaya shrugged again. "Possibly."

"Well, if you do, I think I would like to have my own division join in. they need similar training and I don't think I would be up to the chase."

Hitsugaya glanced at the white-haired man. Ukitake was smiling happily. For someone so old and experienced, his smiles sure came readily.

"I don't see why not." He finally replied. "Just as long as they don't hinder my own division."

Ukitake laughed. "I think you are doing an excellent job of that yourself. Your almost there. Say hi to Kyouraku for me."

Hitsugaya nodded and ran towards the first division barracks.


"Ukitake-taicho sends his greetings."

Hitsugaya entered the soutaicho's office, not bothering to knock. Kyouraku looked up from his paperwork with a raised brow.

"That's kind of you to deliver the message, Hitsugaya-kun. But is that all you came here to say?"

"I didn't come here to say anything. I was training with my division. They were supposed to stop me from reaching you."

Kyouraku looked out the door at the three fallen Shinigami that were currently being attended to by some of his own officers.

"That explains why they were waiting in the office today. They seemed a little on edge." He set down his pen and clasped his hands together. "Well, they seemed to have failed their objective." He said with a grin. "Speaking of which, how is the training going?"

"Well. They have a lot to work on but they are improving."

Kyouraku tilted his head thoughtfully. "You seem to be in a good mood today, Hitsugaya-kun. Any reason in particular?"

Hitsugaya had been heading out the office, no doubt to explain to his troops exactly how they had all been defeated. He paused his back still to Kyouraku.

"I received some good news."

"Oh?"

Hitsugaya nodded but didn't explain, simply walked back out, shutting the door behind him.


This is the turning point for him. I was tired of him being in a funk. I prefer a happy Toushirou. Well, a less miserable, robotic Toushirou.

Reviews make him even happier! And me. They make me happy too.