It's early XD
12. All over again
"Did you see that?"
"The fukutaichou… No, even the taichou came…"
"It's like never happened before."
"Seriously, maybe… he's a royal royal or something."
"But I don't remember any royal with the name Hitsugaya…"
The chatter continued while Hitsugaya stood, feeling out of place. This really did remind him very much of his first day in the Gotei 13.
Youngest. Unbelievable. Unacceptable.
"People, would all of you shut up?" A voice rang. Everyone was quiet, all gazes turning around and landing on a girl. One of the only two girls in the whole of Squad 0.
"He has been standing there the whole time and all of you have been ignoring him. Do you know how he's feeling? Is he invisible or anything?" The girl asked, her voice soft but filled with anger.
Hitsugaya looked at the girl, her skin was fair, with a slivery cast to it, a handful of golden brown freckles across the bridge of the nose, pale pink lips, full and almost round, like a baby's and last, her eyes, hazel. He stared into the eyes. They looked so familiar. So…
The girl approached him as everyone stared.
"Hi, I'm Narumi Ai." She said and held out her hand.
Matsu… moto…
That was his first day entering the Gotei 13. Hinamori was quitecoughvery uncomfortable with the whole idea of him joining. But she couldn't do anything to restrain him. He hadn't jumped grades or graduated top for nothing.
He stepped into the common room of the 10th Squad.
"A boy? A child?"
"Why did they recruit a kid?"
"He looks so defenseless…" (If only they knew…)
"Is there something wrong with our taichou or something?"
"I heard they have even set up a seat for him."
"I think it was the 5th…"
"Are you joking?"
"I'm not even comfortable with him joining as a member… But a 5th seat?"
A voice rang out, "People! Is that the way you treat the new member? On top of that he's now your 4th seat. Is that the way to treat a 4th seat?"
Everyone fell silent as they looked timidly at a certain strawberry blond.
"3rd seat Mastsumoto." Everyone greeted.
Ignoring the greeting, the strawberry blond stepped forward. She looked at him in the eye, and Hitsugaya stared back coolly.
She smiled, "Hi, I'm Matsumoto Rangiku. You're the stubborn kid right?"
Hitsugaya, who had just decided that the 3rd seat was someone he could really respect, exploded. "WHAT? Who the hell are you calling stubborn kid?"
Matsumoto covered her mouth as if she had just realized that she had spoken the wrong thing.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I mean stubborn little kid." Matsumoto continued with a grin spread wide across her face.
He shook her hand and replied quietly, "I'm Hitsugaya Toushirou."
"I'll show you around then, Toushirou!" Narumi cried out in delight. Then she took Hitsugaya's wrist and pulled him out of the common room before he could reply.
As he was dragged out of the room, he felt hard stares boring into his back. This was worse than he expected. So, he had made enemies with the other male shinigami-es during his first day in Squad 0.
"It's really good to have someone younger than me. I never thought that there would be any." Ai commented.
Hitsugaya just kept quiet as she continued to drag him along the corridor. She stopped and looked at Hitsugaya with concern when there was no response from the kid.
"You don't need to worry. They like to do that to newcomers, especially since you're the youngest to ever enter Squad 0. Just don't worry about it. You'll blend in. Sooner or later, at least. I'll try to help you out."
That isn't going to to help…
"But it's really amazing how both the fukutaichou and the taichou attended the introduction. Especially the taichou, he never once attended it."
"What were they talking about back there? The something about 2 minutes." Hitsugaya asked, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, that. Well, it's just a test - or you can call it a prank - they play on every newcomer. It's like a tradition. Well, I took around 4 minutes. But you're really fast. The fastest actually."
"Test?" Hitsugaya cocked one eyebrow, when had he been put to a test?
"Because normally when a newcomer is left alone, they'll panic and many will wait for their guide to return and well… guide them. They time how long you take to realize that the guide isn't going to return and decide to find the common room yourself. It's a test of calmness. But really, the test was plain stupid. I think it's more that they enjoy watching the newcomer scramble into the common room nervously or something like that. They are indescribably childish." Ai complained as an angry aura radiated from her.
"Ne, Toushirou…"
"Please call me Hitsugaya."
"Toushirou, how long have you turned into shinigami?"
"About 30 years and it's Hitsugaya."
"Oh, that's short. I turned into shinigami for at least 50 years before finally getting accepted."
Then silence.
"Ne, Toushirou."
"It's Hitsugaya." Hitsugaya corrected, a little frustrated now.
"Hey! I'm your 4th seat, so I can call you anything I like." Hitsugaya knitted his eyebrows together, kind of frustrated.
She added, "I'll only call you by your last name when you get seated."
Hitsugaya's eyes widened in shock. H-h…
"Something wrong?" Ai asked.
"No, nothing."
That night, he laid on his futon in the empty room with unopened boxes piled at the side. His eyes stared at the ceiling. Maybe he should open his farewell presents, but somehow he just didn't feel like it… It was just… He felt that he didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve any of the presents.
Also, it had been a tiring day. Narumi Ai had dragged him around all day, rambling and rambling while he just kept quiet. Everything here was quite similar to those in the Protective Squads but everything here was larger by times and more grand in many ways.
Master, it's kind of cloudy in here. Hyourinmaru commented.
…
Hyourinmaru gave a huge sigh and said, Master, you are worried about your childhood friend… and your subordinate, Matsumoto.
Hitsugaya flinched at the name mentioned.
Matsumoto will be alright. She's a strong willed woman. She'll move on and forge on… without me. Hitsugaya answered.
Ha, if so why are you so worried about her?
I'm worried about Hinamori…
You flinched at the mere mention of her name and you say that you aren't worried. Don't forget. I'm a zanpakutou and I can read the wielder's mind.
Shut up.
Hitsugaya twisted around in his futon and curved into a small ball, like a baby.
Matsumoto...
She woke up, with tears in her eyes, in the middle of the night. As she always did on every sleepless night, she tried to sense a certain cooling reiatsu. But, for the first time...
She couldn't find it.
She decided to take a walk in the 10th Squad barracks. She entered the administrative office and glanced automatically at the taichou's administrative table, half expecting him to be there. But he wasn't.
She entered the kitchen and took a bottle of sake which was sealed shut. She then left the kitchen trying her best not to notice the missing green cup and the missing bags of green tea.
She visited the taichou's chambers, the place where she was supposed to be sleeping since yesterday. She slid open the door. Empty. Everything was cleared, leaving just the bare floor and walls.
Taichou… You didn't leave anything behind…
She started strolling in Sereitei, her eyes glued to the moon hanging in the sky. And before she knew it, she found herself sitting on the rooftop that she had once sat on with him, that she had fallen asleep on.
Nothing at all… Not even that bottle of sake…
She drew her knees up to her chest and gripped the neck of the bottle, remembering the moment she returned to the administrative office, the horror she felt when she saw what was left of that bottle of sake. Water.
That was when she realized it wasn't glass, but ice.
It's as if you had never existed…
She glanced up to the sky. The moon stood out in the dark blue sky. Beautiful, special, but lonely.
Or is it that you wanted us to forget you?
She sat there quietly. Waiting, waiting for someone, someone who she knew wouldn't turn up.
But taichou… Let me be the stars… The stars that accompany you…
Author's note: yay, haha, it's done. I can't believe I really did manage to finish the whole thing XDXD. Ok, well, hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's kind of random. Oh, my next update will probably be very late because EXAMS are COMING SOON! NONONO! It's like 2 weeks away only! CRAP! So yeah, I'll be kind of busy mugging. I'll try to be back as soon as possible. ): I didn't mean to, it's all the exam's fault!