Ok, so the whole time line may seem confusing. So I'll do my best to explain it. About one hundred years before the current Bleach episodes was when the Turn Back the Pendulum Arc occurred. Matsumoto came to Rukongai many years before Turn Back the Pendulum, but became a shinigami about eighty years before the main story line. Hitsugaya's story begins around thirty years before the main storyline. This is also the around the same time Rukia, Renji, Momo, and that generation become shinigami. Thus it is also around the time which Kaien dies. Right now in my story, Hitsugaya is in his seventies and Matsumoto is in her 160s.

I think that works out. If you spot a hole in my logic, let me know.

Anyways, here's the next chapter. What is Matsumoto doing in the living world?

He stood and waited. A gentle breeze rolled off the rushing river and ruffled the reeds growing on the riverbank. An afternoon sun shone low in the sky. She slowly stood up and brushed herself off. Her normally perfect hair was rumpled. She ran her fingers through it, combing out leaves. Hitsugaya stood and watched. After all, it wasn't as if he had anywhere to go.

"You aren't supposed to be here," she repeated. She looked at him as if not quite believing his existence. His eyes narrowed.

"Well, you aren't either," he said flatly. "What was with that act in the passage?" he raised his voice in a mocking imitation of hers, "I'll hold it for as long as I can!"

"The Severing World is always very unstable," she dictated. He could sense her nervousness; however she tried to hide it. "Even an experienced shinigami such as myself…" she trailed off hopelessly when she saw he wasn't buying it. "Look, I have a promise to keep to a friend here and if I told the Captain Commander that I needed to go to the living world, he would have wanted to know why. But that's another secret I promised to keep. I keep my word. And it would have worked if you hadn't interfered."

"Well excuse me for worrying of your safety," he said sarcastically. "Forgive me for not spotting your lie right away and acting on your words."

"That's it," Matsumoto drew her zanpaktou and made to reopen the gate. He couldn't see her face, but he could imagine the angry look she was now sending the wall. "You're going back. Now."

"No," he grabbed her sword arm. "If you're going to stay here, I should too." Her eyes lit up and she spread her arms. Hitsugaya squeaked out an 'that's not necessary' before he was crushed. He squirmed out of grip.

"I'm not doing this because I like you or anything," he grumbled. "But since I remained with you, they will probably punish me as well. So, we might as well get your errand done. Plus if someone isn't here to watch you you'll probably do something to get yourself killed and Soul Society blown up."

"You're doing this to protect me and Soul Society?" she looked downcast. Hitsugaya wondered at the speed at which she could change her mood.

"Uh, sort of I guess-" She brightened.

"That's so gallant and noble!" she went to hug him again. This time he side stepped and sniggered when she missed and grabbed empty air instead. Suddenly she straightened, her playful mood gone. "But you can't tell anyone. My friend doesn't want to be found, particularly by Soul Society."

"Why?"

"You'll see," she said cryptically.

Hitsugaya followed Matsumoto through the shopping district. They walked past colorful shops filled with scores of goods. Street venders rolled their carts about, shouting their wares. Strangely, the self proclaimed shop-a-holic ignored it all, walking straight past several boutiques with a determined expression that looked strange on her face. Soon they were in the less populated part of the town. Matsumoto paused and pulled out her soul pager. She showed the screen to Hitsugaya. It was an address.

"This is the place we are looking for."

"Urahara Shoten? Is that the place where we are going to meet your friend?"

"No, but my friend said that if I was able to come today, to go there and a man would show me where he was."

They walked a while further until they found the place. It was a tiny shop tucked between a couple skyscrapers. They swept over the area with their reiatsu, checking for life. There was a ghost of feeling in the shop, but that was all.

"Just one person then," Hitsugaya guessed. "And whoever it is has very little spiritual pressure."

"Either that or they are very good at masking it," Matsumoto reminded.

Hitsugaya couldn't help admiring Matsumoto. Her airhead act was, well, just that, an act. She was actually quite intelligent- if you could get her to take things seriously. They walked up to the window and peered in. No lights were on. There were rows of shelves with jars of colorful things. Candy perhaps? Matsumoto pushed on the door and almost fell over when it opened. The walked inside, hands on their hilts.

Suddenly, a deep noise made them jump. Both drew their zanpaktou and froze, scanning the area. Then the noise repeated and Matsumoto let out a hearty laugh. Hitsugaya stared at her as if she had lost her mind.

"I can thank long nights with Shunsui for the recognition," she explained. She sheathed her sword and walked towards the source of the noise. Hitsugaya followed, slipping between shelves to keep up. In the back corner of the badly lit room sat a desk. Atop the desk lay a man, his body shivering with the force of his snoring.

"Is this the guy we need to find?" Hitsugaya gave the man a tentative poke and was rewarded with a thundering snort.

"…green cloak, striped hat, traditional clogs; yes I think this is him." She shook the man by the shoulders. "Urahara Kisuke? Is that you?"

He didn't wake up. She tried again.

"Urahara Kisuke, we need to see the Captain."

At the word 'captain' the man- Urahara Kisuke- jerked awake and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"What? Huh?" he looked around. "You said Captain?"

"Yeah, he said that if I wanted to find him, I should come here," Matsumoto held up her soul pager for him to see. "He gave me this address."

"My my," Urahara blinked. "It would seem so. Should I assume that you are here for proper attire?"

"A gigai for each of us too if possible," Matsumoto said smiling. Hitsugaya was lost. Why would they need a gigai? Proper attire? What?"Also- wait!" Matsumoto shouted. The other two flinched as she pointed a finger accusingly at Urahara's nose. "You're that captain. The one who we read about in school who invented all those things and founded the Research and Development group. I recognize your clogs!"

"Mmm… You caught me," Urahara held his hands up. "That's me. Urahara Kisuke, former captain, currently a humble shopkeeper who unofficially helps the shinigami unfortunate enough to stumble upon my shop." He grinned. Hitsugaya gulped.

"How does that work?" the white haired boy studied the older man. A former captain? He must be quite powerful. Which meant that subtle presence they'd felt in the shop earlier had been simply masking its true power. Hitsugaya closed his eyes and felt again and there it was! Carefully masked, Urahara's reiatsu bubbled under the surface. It had to be almost as powerful as Ukitake's. Urahara smirked at Hitsugaya's probe and sent one back. Both gasped at the contact. Matsumoto rolled her eyes.

"Men," she scoffed. Urahara gave her a wink and stood up. He towered over Hitsugaya and even crested Matsumoto. He swung his cloak around him and walked down the hall while he explained,

"You know the expression, "like an elephant in the room"? Well I suppose you could say it adequately describes my situation. Central 46 wants to punish me; the Captain Commander isn't sure exactly what's going on, so they ignore me. So…" He shrugged. "I live here. I do what I want. And occasionally, out of the goodness of my heart I help spirits and soul and the such. Nothing too exciting."

Hitsugaya looked thoughtful. Another life touched by the Central 46. How many had they ruined? He pushed it out of the mind before he remembered what had happened. Plenty of time to deal with that later.

"Well you two have good timing anyways," Urahara led them to a room that looked halfway between a morgue and a clothing shop. Body like shapes were covered in cloth on tables while the walls were filled with clothing racks and clothes. Matsumoto pounced on the clothing like a cat on catnip. She began eagerly flipping through the dresses. Urahara led Hitsugaya over to a rack and went through the clothes. He kept looking at Hitsugaya and looking at the rack and looking back at Hitsugaya. The boy felt uncomfortable. Urahara's eyes looked at all parts of his body. He self-consciously turned around.

"So, I presume you are Matsumoto Rangiku of the Tenth Squad?" Urahara said absently. Matsumoto nodded. "He's told me so much about you. I see he didn't lie."

Urahara was staring at her chest. Hitsugaya shook his head and looked away.

"So who are you, young student?" Urahara asked. They answered at the same time.

"This is Toshiro," Matsumoto began.

"Hitsugaya," he interrupted. "Just Hitsugaya"

"And what are doing here Toshiro?" Urahara was flapping a green and white fan in front of his face. He gave Hitsugaya the creeps.

"Hitsugaya-" Hitsugaya was getting annoyed.

"He's here to protect Soul Society," Matsumoto told the man in green.

"Is that so?" Urahara said mischievously. "Well Toshiro, I'm afraid I'm going to have to break out the childrens' clothes for you."

Between merciless whoops of mirth, Matsumoto remembered the saying, if looks could kill. But she stopped laughing abruptly when the temperature in the room dropped sharply.

"It would seem I have aged rather quickly," Urahara commented as if asking about the weather. He brushed off some frost.

Matsumoto was sure she had cracked a rib. She cluched her side, shaking, tears rolling down her face.

"…Urahara…ha ha…I hope…ha…you're a doctor," she choked.

"Immature baboons," Hitsugaya muttered and stomped out of the room.

Hitsugaya had never felt stupider in his life. Urahara and Matsumoto had forced him into this suit and he was now stuck in the back of the car while they exchanged stories about the mysterious person they had come to visit. They refused to tell him too. Not only did he have no idea where they were driving, but he didn't even know who Matsumoto's friend was. Was he a spirit? Alive? A man or a woman? How did Matsumoto know him? Where did she meet him? And how did Urahara know the person? All attempts to pry information from Matsumoto were met with a stubborn glare. Obviously she wasn't going to tell him anything, so he tried Urahara.

"Who is this person Urahara?" Hitsugaya begged. The seat belt they had forced him to wear was cutting into his throat. Damned uncomfortable device.

"Well, you see he's-" Urahara began. Matsumoto cut him off,

"Don't tell him, please?"

Urahara considered it for minute, then blinked.

"Ok."

"What?" Hitsugaya demanded. "You give in so easily? Why can't I know?"

"I want it to be a surprise!" Matsumoto gave him a thumbs up. He scowled and looked out the window. He stared for awhile until he growled and tore off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. He rolled down the window and sighed as the cool air assaulted his face. They were now driving through a giant park. The weather was surprisingly nice for a January afternoon. The sun was shinning and set the thin layer of snow glittering. Suddenly there were trees on either side of the road, blocking out the light. They rode in darkness until they broke out into the light. Hitsugaya gasped.

A gazebo dominated the view. It was white and open. Streamers and garlands of orchids and roses were wound around its terrace. Around it sat rows of chairs and in them, living people, dressed in gaudy colors and thick coats. And at the head of it all, stood a couple before a minister, holding hands. A wedding.

They slipped into the back row of seats. He turned to ask Matsumoto more of the same questions, but she hushed him and pointed at the couple. The ceremony had already begun. The minister was nothing special with his gray beard and crisp gray suit. He stood beside the man and the woman and read from a book. The man shifted and Hitsugaya got a look at him.

He was tall, a fine figure of a man. His jet black hair stuck straight up and his face was unshaven. However, his eyes twinkled as if laughing at some private joke. His bride seemed to know what he was happy about though and smiled back. She was beautiful. Some may have compared her to Matsumoto. She too was tall and had strawberry blonde hair that fell to her waist. But Hitsugaya didn't make that mistake. She had a softer kind of beauty. Where Matsumoto was loud and in-your-face, the bride's being seemed more like one who preferred a quiet night in, than a party out.

She eyes tore away from her soon-to-be husband and scanned the crowd. Her eyes met his, and he recognized her. The woman from earlier! The one who had seen him in his spirit form and smiled at him. He recognized her smile. He couldn't contain his curiousity any longer.

"Matsumoto," he hissed. "That woman saw us earlier, when you were teaching us. Who is she? Is she your friend?"

Matsumoto shook her head. "No, that's Masaki. The one I came here for mainly is that man." She pointed at the groom. "Kurosaki Isshin. He and I go way back. He was my captain you know. Up until he ran away to be with Masaki." She sighed. "Isn't that romantic?"

Hitsugaya stood up and gasped. People stared at him. He blushed and slowly sat back down. A captain? The old captain of the Tenth Squad? Thoughts rushed through his mind as he tried to calculate the magnitude of what he had just learned. He remembered the conversations he had with Sora and Sojiro and the one he had with Ichimaru. Soul Society had lied. They obviously didn't want people to think that captains were going around deserting. Why did he feel Central 46 was behind the deception? It made sense. After all, they had also chased Urahara out of Soul Society. Tears crashed out of his eyes. He fought to hold them in, gripping his knees. Why? Urahara and Kurosaki got away from Central 46 and their devious plans. Why was Sojiro the only one to suffer so?

A great sorrow that he had pushed to the back of his mind for the last week flooded forward. He fought it for awhile, then gave up. He was so tired of fighting. He just wanted it to end…

The clear sky darkened with water sodden clouds and the wind swirled around the park in confused patterns. It battered the guests. Ladies grabbed scarves and hats. People panicked as it began to rain. Water poured from the heavens instantly drenching all those below it. The minister motioned for the couple to kiss. Just after, lightning struck a tree near the road. Guest ran out of the cloudburst. Matsumoto ran up to the gazebo and grabbed Isshin and Masaki, leading them down the aisle to where Urahara's car was parked. Urahara himself knelt before Hitsugaya, shaking him. When that only increased the torrent of water gushing from the sky, his eyebrows furrowed and he whipped off his cloak and threw it around the boy, covering him completely.

Almost immediately, the winds died down and the rain slowed to a misting sprinkle. Most of the guests were gone. Shrugging, Urahara slung Hitsugaya over his shoulder as if he would a sack of potatoes and walked out to the car.

The drive to the Kurosaki's house was silent. Hitsugaya was still unconscious. Matsumoto and Masaki were wringing out their hair. Isshin sat with an arm around Masaki, watching Hitsugaya. Urahara drove, pretending to be oblivious to the tension around him.

They arrived and Urahara walked behind the rest up to the house carrying Hitsugaya. They collapsed in the family room on couches and cushy chairs, setting Hitsugaya on the couch. Urahara took his now sopping wet cloak off the boy and wrapped it around himself with a satisfied sigh. The moment the cloak lost contact with Hitsugaya's body, he jerked awake. He looked around, disconcerted. Then his eyes found Masaki and Isshin. He blushed deep scarlet.

"Umm, I'm so sorry for destroying your wedding," he said nervously, twiddling his thumbs.

To Hitsugaya's horror, Matsumoto began to giggle, then to laugh. She laughed and laughed until she was on the floor. She rested her head against the chair and sighed.

"And he beat me to it too."

Ok, so in case that wasn't clear, that was the first time Matsumoto had met Urahara. Yes, Tessai and crew are there. Just be patient. wink

Wow, the reviewers were generous with me last chapter. Sorry it was so crappy again. Hopefully this was better. I spent a long time on it. Also, it would be great if you could let me know which squad you think Sora should be in: 3, 8, or 10. Let me know please!

Thanks so much for reading. Nothing makes me happier. :)