Chapter 20: Discovered

He had wondered why certain classrooms, corridors, dormitories, parks, and training grounds of the Shinigami Academy had felt vaguely familiar. It had been a strange feeling... yes, he had carried a peculiar feeling that he had seen them before, that he somehow had been there already. But dismissing that to be firmly impossible, he attributed those feelings to his vivid imagination – after all, he had been dreaming about an enormous, speaking ice-dragon.

Still, he couldn't explain them. There were so many things that he couldn't explain, and he had grown steadily more impatient. He had entered the Academy for the sole purpose of finding answers, but all he seemed to achieve was to raise a multitude of new questions.

Otherwise – now that he had the benefit of looking back at both of his experiences – he could only conclude that his second time at the Academy had been almost as uneventful as the first. The freshmen classes had bored him with their irritating simplicity, and he was subsequently moved ahead of his classmates – his teachers had admitted that he was grasping the skills that were expected to be learned by a first-year student with unprecedented speed, and soon the rumours of an odd-haired genius was spreading throughout the Academy like a wildfire. The whispers, which seemed to accompany him wherever he went, were as tiring as they were irritating. As a response to all of the unwanted attention, he had distanced himself from the others and so – if unknowingly – managing to shroud himself in even more mystery, which in turn fuelled the rumour mills even further.

But then he had met Captain Ukitake, and his life had been subjected to the first of many twists and turns. He remembered that their first meeting had taken place in the shade of an old oak tree on one of the hills overlooking the Academy's outdoor training grounds. He had liked that spot, and it had been where he spent most of his free time and some of his lessons, too. In the shade of the giant tree, no one disturbed him and he would often sit there simply staring into space, lost in his thoughts, or watching the older students train.

"Don't you have a class to attend?" A mildly mocking voice had suddenly broken through to his subconscious, hauling him back into reality. He had, indeed, been supposed to be in class – attending a kidou lecture to be exact, but which he had decided to skip in favour of some fresh air. He hadn't found kidou particularly interesting in the first place, especially since the course itself hadn't posed much of a challenge; aiming at some target was boring.

Who...? No, it couldn't be...

"Eh? Captain Ukitake! Sir!" Somewhere in his befuddled mind, he had recognized the voice of the commander of the 13th Division from one of his earlier visits to the Academy, and finally remembering his manners, he had jumped to his feet in order to offer the proper respects to the Captain. When he quickly glanced to his right, noticing the contrast of pristine white against dark brown, his suspicions were confirmed. The shinigami Captain had been standing with his back comfortably against the opposite side of the thick tree trunk, his eyes half closed. Hitsugaya remembered fervently wondering why one of the most powerful shinigami Captains up in Seireitei suddenly had materialized under the oak tree next to him... especially on the day he was skipping class.

"You must be the prodigy. One of your classmates said that I would find you here," Captain Ukitake had interrupted unceremoniously, eyes still half closed, gesturing for him to relax and sit down again. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Hn." His reply had been but a mutter, but there was really nothing more to be said to a statement like that; while he had no doubts in his abilities and was rather proud of his talent, he harboured a firm dislike to all the unwanted attention. It made him feel as if he constantly had to prove himself, and to out-do his previous achievements.

"Forgive me, but your hair is rather unusual... has it always looked like that?"

He had signed inwardly – Captain Ukitake must have turned his head and thus noticed his black hair with its small patches of white. But it was beyond him why everyone seemed so intent on fussing over his hair.

"No. Has yours?" He could have clamped both hands over his mouth, but the words had already left his lips. He had been so used to the whispers and giggles about his hair colour that he had snapped at the Captain without even thinking.

But he needn't have worried. Captain Ukitake had merely smiled ruefully before carefully replying, "No, it changed when I first became ill."

"I apologize, sir." At that moment, everything had just felt overwhelmingly bizarre: he was talking to a Gotei 13 Squad Captain about hair colours of all things. But strangely enough, he had felt neither uncomfortable nor overly awed, despite being so up-close to a real Captain; rather, the whole situation had just felt strange, but not in any way unpleasant.

"No matter, it was many years ago." Captain Ukitake had waved off the apology with a smile before changing the subject. "So what do you think about the Academy?"

"It's a nice enough place." He had grown increasingly uncertain about the Captain's actual motives with the conversation, and had thus decided to offer his most diplomatic answer... just in case.

"And the classes?"

"Easy." It had not been a very modest answer, he knew. But it was the truth – the classes were easy.

"Yes... you are currently studying at the level of a second-year, aren't you?"

The Gotei 13 Captain's many questions had started to annoy him – Captain or not, if he wanted something in particular, then he should just cut to the chase or at least have the decency to provide him some kind of explanation for his sudden appearance. "Forgive my curiosity, but why would a Captain be enquiring about an ordinary Academy student?"

"Talent doesn't pass us by." Captain Ukitake's voice had, for the first time, revealed a hint of annoyance.

"So they send a Captain?" He knew that he should have acted more respectfully than he had – his tone revealed just how ridiculous he found the notion that Captain Ukitake had taken time from whatever he was supposed to be doing, in order to visit a first-year shinigami student. It had simply seemed too incredulous to be true – surely Captains had more important things to do than wasting his time interviewing Academy students, regardless of how talented they may be.

"You may be a special case." Captain Ukitake had stared out over the field. "We haven't seen raw talent like yours since- It has been many years. Well, I need to return to Seireitei, but it was a pleasure to meet you...?"

The Captain had gracefully stood up, preparing to report back to the Head-Captain about his findings. So far, the student appeared to be a good bit on the cocky side, but perfectly harmless. Although the strength and volume of his spiritual pressure was impressive, there was no immediate need for preventive action; the Special Forces had done well to report him, but its involvement could now come to an end. In any case, Ukitake had never quite approved of the system of pre-emptive punishment, and was glad that this individual would be spared an eternity in the Maggot's Nest.

"My name is Hitsugaya Toushirou, Captain Ukitake."

"...what?" The Captain's voice had suddenly assumed a sharper quality, and the 13th Division commander had abruptly turned around to for the first time look down on the still seated student inquiringly, and if only for a brief moment, he had looked both bewildered and confused.

"Hitsugaya Toushirou." Hitsugaya remembered feeling quite annoyed at having to repeat himself when it had been obvious that the Captain heard him the first time. "That's my name. I'm surprised that you didn't know that already, Captain – surely, you've read my file."

"Normally, we do not read the files of ordinary Academy students. But perhaps..." For a moment, the Captain had looked thoughtful, and his voice trailed off before he could complete the sentence.

"Sir?" He had felt a twinge of discomfort when the Captain seemed to drift off into a world of his own. Considering that he was one of oldest, and rumoured to also be one the most powerful, Captains in the Gotei 13, it was unsettling to see him so distracted. It simply wasn't natural – Captains were Captains, after all.

"I have the distinct feeling that we'll meet again, Hitsugaya Toushirou. Good day."

Then, in a blur of black and white, the Captain had disappeared, leaving a confused Hitsugaya to wonder what the hell just happened.

--

Little did he know that Captain Ukitake would immediately report the events to the Head-Captain; little did he know that the identity of the potentially dangerous element, previously known only as Case EAA14509Z, would be the cause of four secret Captains' Meetings in the span of only one week; and little did he know that from that day onwards, he would be followed by at least two elite members of the Special Forces, his every movement scrutinized, recorded, and analyzed. How could he have known that his brief meeting with Captain Ukitake had set in motion events beyond his wildest imagination?

Of course, at the time, he couldn't have, nor could he ever have even guessed that they would indeed meet again, just as Captain Ukitake had predicted, and that their second meeting would follow surprisingly soon after their first.

"Hitsugaya Toushirou." The white-haired Captain had approached him at the end of an ordinary day, as he had slowly been making his way back to his dormitory.

"Captain?" He had just stared at the unexpected visitor with unmasked bafflement. "Wha-"

"I'm here with a proposition for you." The Captain had interrupted with an unusual degree of solemnity, and Hitsugaya remembered that a distinct feeling of foreboding had originated from his stomach and spread throughout his body.

"Sir?"

"I wish to take you on as my private student. If you agree, I would oversee all of the stages of your training myself, and naturally, you would be released from all classes here at the Academy. However, due to the responsibilities I hold toward my squad, you would find yourself training on your own for long periods of time. This is, of course, regrettable but it cannot be helped, I'm afraid."

At first, Hitsugaya hadn't been sure if Captain Ukitake really had said what he thought that he had said; and he had completely forgotten about his manners as he simply blurted, "You would train me?! A Captain-

"That is correct."

"I can't believe..." This offer had just seemed too good to be true – a Captain would take responsibility of his entire shinigami training? That was completely unheard of, and he couldn't help but feeling a little bit suspicious of Captain Ukitake's motives. "Before I accept, or decline, I have a question. Wh-"

"You're wondering why I would concern myself with you, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"As I told you before, the Gotei 13 does not let talent pass by unnoticed."

"I see..." He had quickly calculated the risks and benefits of such an unusual arrangement, and his findings had been as blindingly obvious as they had been conclusive: only a fool would allow such an incredible opportunity to slip through his fingers. "Then I would be honoured to accept."

"Very well. I shall inform the Academy of your decision."

--

He had been released from the Academy that very afternoon, and Captain Ukitake had taken him to that which at a first glance looked like nothing more than an ordinary cave. But before he had a chance to ask the Captain about the curious choice of location for his upcoming training, the white-haired shinigami had motioned for him to enter. The inside of the cave had been much larger than he expected and seemingly well-equipped enough to accommodate for even long periods of training. However, the most surprising thing of all had been the narrow flight of stairs that had seemed to lead straight down into the depths of the earth. At Captain Ukitake's request, he had followed the long, dark descent, and the sight that met him at the end had rendered him speechless.

He had never seen anything like it.

It was only later that he would understand that it was the very same underground training facility to which the exiled Shihouin Yoruichi had taken Kurosaki Ichigo when he had launched his notorious invasion of Soul Society in order to stop Kuchiki Rukia's execution. The vast subterranean training ground, which once had been planned and built by Soul Society's most infamous scientist and which had housed an equally famous exile and a ryoka, had been chosen as the location for the training a Captain, the pillar of law and order... Once he remembered, the irony had not been lost on him.

"Before we begin with your training, Toushirou..."

"Please, I would prefer to be called Hitsugaya, Captain Ukitake... err... sensei?"

"Ah, no, plain Ukitake is just fine. But as I about to say, before we begin, let me tell you a story."

"A story?"

"Oh, don't make that face, Toushirou! It's not becoming of a C- It's not becoming of a shinigami."

"My apologies, Captain. I'm certain that the story will be most... relevant to my training."

"It is... perhaps more than you would know."

"So what is it about?"

"It's about a shinigami that I knew a long time ago."

"Hn, then he must have been very special for you to still talk about him."

"Special... That is actually quite an accurate word to describe him. This shinigami was unlike any other I have ever known – he joined the Gotei 13 at an age where a mere application to the Academy normally would have been automatically rejected. He was considered to be a genius – the prodigy of his generation – but while he was exceptionally gifted, he was much more than just raw talent, which just anyone could possess."

"Oh? So what made him so special?"

"If I had to name two things, I would say that they had to be his determination and his heart. These are qualities that lie beyond talent and beyond the instructions that can be found in books or taught by others – things that cannot be learned, only discovered within oneself. It was his determination and his heart that truly elevated him above his peers, and which finally made him a Captain. They are the reasons why we still remember, and why I still remember."

"A Captain, you say. Which-"

"Squad 10. He was once the Captain of the 10th Division."

"What killed him?"

"What makes you say that?" Captain Ukitake had raised an eyebrow questioningly, while his eyes had scrutinized the shorter man in front of him critically.

"You have been speaking in past tense, Captain, so I can only assume that it is because he's dead or otherwise absent."

"Ah, yes," Captain Ukitake had smiled and even relaxed a little. Sharp as ever, Shiro-chan. "He met his end many years ago."

"Was it an honourable death?"

"How much do you know about our history?" the Captain suddenly asked, and Hitsugaya remembered feeling rather confused about the sudden change of topic.

"I never took any of the history classes at the Academy, if that's what you're asking," he had answered cautiously. "I didn't stay long enough for that."

"I see." Captain Ukitake had nodded. "Well, to answer your question, yes, it was an honourable death. The Captain died in order to defend Soul Society, and his friends... What's the matter, Hitsugaya? You look thoughtful."

"I was just thinking. Firework... we're all like firework pieces, aren't we? For one split second, we light up the sky with our presences, only to then disappear into darkness forever. When the time comes... I don't want to fade into nothingness like a spent firework – I want to continue to shine, if only in the memories of others, just like that Captain shines in yours." Only then had he realized that he had been voicing his inner thoughts out loud, and Hitsugaya had immediately straightened and added a gruff, "Anyway, when does training start?"

But Ukitake Juushirou had merely smiled ruefully in response to the former Captain's unprecedented comment.

--

"What the hell!" He had run his hands through his hair for the umpteenth time in an attempt to vent his growing frustration with himself, all while glaring daggers at the slender katana resting on the uneven ground at his feet. "I just don't understand! I've been training and preparing for months, so I should be able to manifest my zanpakutou by now!"

"You have told me that something is hindering you from summoning the spirit of that zanpakutou. That's a curious phenomenon and very unusual for someone of your abilities." Captain Ukitake had looked up from his teacup with a bemused smile on his face. Hitsugaya still remembered how he had consciously willed his left eyebrow not to twitch in annoyance out of respect for the Captain. But it had been difficult not to – for some unknown reason, that particular smile had irked him to no end... perhaps it was because it looked so damn peaceful? Hitsugaya hadn't known back then, and still didn't know now, but it didn't change the fact that he found it extremely agitating. "You'd be interested to know that I took some time to research the matter, and I believe that I'm starting to see why you are having difficulties. But first, would you like some tea? Even without a manifestation, your zanjutsu is developing very well, and you deserve some rest."

"Hn." He had walked over to the low table, unceremoniously plonking down across from the already seated shinigami, and gratefully accepting the steaming teacup from the Captain's hands. "So, tell me about your findings, Captain. I'd be fascinated to know."

"There is no need for sarcasm, Toushirou." Captain Ukitake had playfully wagged a finger in front of his scowling protégé's nose, waiting for the young man's usual indignant response. It was as amusing every time, and Hitsugaya never failed to deliver. He just had to give the young prodigy a few seconds to react... and there it was: the characteristic, predictable first twitch, which was closely followed by the second series of facial contractions. Now it wouldn't be very long before...

3... 2... 1...

"Captain Ukitake, please, it's Hitsugaya!"

"I apologize, Toushirou. I always seem to forget." Captain Ukitake had merely met the usual frown with a small smile, which hardly suggested any thoughts of remorse. "Well, I believe that something, some kind of disturbance, prevents your spirit energy from resonating in time with your current zanpakutou."

"Did you just say current zanpakutou?" He had frowned at the curious choice of wording, and he had looked at the Captain Ukitake questioningly. "What do you mean by that?"

"To tell you the truth, I am not entirely sure myself. But it wouldn't be impossible to find out."

"Go on..."

"I have a couple of... friends, who are prepared to offer you their time and expertise. But a word of caution, this would entail a number of lengthy tests and-"

"Forgive me, Captain, but just who are those friends, exactly?" He hadn't liked the way that Captain Ukitake involuntarily paused before the word 'friends'. It had sounded rather... ominous and hardly a good sign of things to come.

"Well, in all honesty, they're more like colleagues. But although they are both extremely busy shinigami, they are prepared to offer us their full assistance. Now, the question is, will you accept that help?"

"Why not," he had shrugged. "I have nothing to lose."

"That would be correct." The smile on Captain Ukitake's lips had suddenly vanished and was replaced by a thin, unyielding line. "You, Hitsugaya, have all to gain."

And so the journey to the past continues... Hitsugaya is sitting in his old office, reflecting on being found by first Chinatsu, then Hyourinmaru, and at last Captain Ukitake. I know that I'm making a lot of fuss about everyone's past, but the past sometimes helps to explain the present, right?

I hope that you liked the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.