Understanding II: School Daze
~Hide and Seek

Toshiro opened the door to the kitchen only to have Karin's voice come to his ears. "Can I talk to you now?"

The boy froze and glanced around the kitchen. Yuzu was busy working on the food and her sister was leaning against the counter. He paused a few minutes. "You were waiting for me?"

"Yes. Could we talk about something? And not in front of Yuzu?" The girl had her arms folded across her chest.

Toshiro found himself suddenly paling. "He got mad at her last night and now she blames me." He closed his eyes and smiled at her. "I was going to go do my homework. I've got to do both yesterday's and today's."

"I really need to talk to you about this. You can take just five minutes to talk to me." Karin's tone deepened indicating she was becoming frustrated with him.

"I know that your dad got mad at me and you blame me for him being mad but..." The words came out of his mouth without him realizing he was saying them. Karin quickly interrupted him.

"Dad wasn't mad at me last night. Why would you even think that?" The dark haired twin's voice calmed a little from surprise.

Toshiro's cheeks though suddenly flushed up and his eyes went wide. He glanced to the side, gritting his teeth together. "I need to go."

"Toshiro!" Karin's tone darkened again, only to have the boy suddenly head up the stairs. She crossed her arms in frustration.

The small shinigami though went up to Ichigo's room in time to see the orange haired teenager look up. "Hello Toshiro. Have you talked to the others yet."

"I've got homework to do..." Toshiro walked over to the bed and suddenly flopped onto the bed and let out a deep sigh.

"You don't like doing your homework." Ichigo let out a deep sigh, setting down his pencil in order to speak with the kid. He waited for Toshiro to sit back up which took a few minutes."What is going on?"

"Your sister Karin wants to talk to me about something." Two teal eyes glanced at the ceiling. "I thought it was because she blamed me for getting her into trouble... but."

"Just talk to her." Ichigo spoke up.

"I can't!" The boy blurted the words out again as he crossed his legs on the bed."I have no clue what she is going to say to me, but it honestly can't be anything good. I've been getting nothing but problems from her."

The orange haired teen let out a deep sigh. "You don't know if she is going to say anything negative to you." He then began to fiddle with his folder. "My teacher put this together for you. If you finished your homework each day you can do some of it."

The boy got up and grabbed the folder and glanced through it. Two teal eyes suddenly became wide as they looked at the contents. "This is advanced math problems."

Ichigo watched as a smile spread on his face. He watched as Toshiro walked over to his backpack and dumped the contents onto the bed so he could begin the school work he tended to dread so much. However, as he did so he suddenly saw his Soul Phone and snapped it open. The small taicho took a good look at the incoming calls and saw that he had been flooded since the night before with calls from his fukutaicho.

Letting out a deep sigh, he turned to the substitute shinigami. "I'm going to the roof to call my fukutaicho. I don't know if she's messed something up in the office or has something else to tell me."

With that he disappeared out of the window. He pressed a few buttons and let the phone ring. Suddenly Rangiku's voice came blaring over the phone at him. "Taicho! Why haven't you been answering your phone! You made me worried sick wondering what happened to you! A few more hours and I would have been asking for permission to go to the living world to find you!"

"Aren't you being a bit paranoid? There have been times when I haven' been able to contact you for long periods of time because you are out drinking. How is this different?" The boy frowned at this, finding himself confused about why she was so upset.

"When you are in the living world you've always answered your soul phone promptly because it might be work related. You're not someone to break this kind of pattern taicho so I know something was wrong." The woman let out a deep sigh. "I think I know you well enough to know this is true, taicho."

The conversations he had with his former taicho suddenly came to mind and he found himself gulping. Without realizing how nervous he sounded when he spoke up, he asked a question. "Rangiku, what do you think of me?"

"I'm sorry I upset your feelings here taicho but I know for a fact that you are very obsessive about the things you do." The woman's voice turned to a lecturing tone.

"That wasn't what I meant. The substitute shinigami actually told me I may have... its called obsessive-compulsive disorder or something like that. He said something about figuring out what I obsess over and learning to control my actions, though I don't completely understand what that all means." Toshiro found himself smiling.

"Are you telling me you didn't pick up the phone because you were trying to control one of your obsessive behaviors? Don't you dare do something like this because I felt like I was going to have a heart attack!" Rangiku said.

"Actually... I got beat up by a hollow and ended up having to go to the hospital in the living world to get treated." The boy felt the corner of his mouth twitch. For some reason the situation was amusing him and he let out a chuckle as he said this.

"Taicho! This isn't funny! On top of me being correct about you being in trouble you know you're not supposed to get the living world involved with our matters if possible! What is..." Rangiku's voice panicked.

"I was laughing at the fact you thought I was trying to control my behavior. I haven't started on that stuff and I'm not sure I'm ready to. As for the whole hospital thing, it is actually a long story." Toshiro found himself stifling a laugh, knowing full well she didn't find any of this funny.

"While I like the fact you are enjoying laughing at yourself taicho, which is a major improvement. However, I don't care how long the story is you are going to tell me. I'm going to keep calling and bugging you until you tell me if you hang up."

"You still haven't answered my question. If you answer my question I'll tell you what happened." Toshiro stated.

"Your question about what I think of you. Well, you're my taicho." Rangiku's tone took a confused tone.

"But is that all I am to you. Is that all I am to you and everybody else? I really need to know Matsumoto." The boy took a deep breath. "I really want to know what you think about me."

"Taicho... what I have to say to you... I am not sure how you'll take what I have to say. I mean, my feelings towards you aren't anything bad, but it might be something hard for you to comprehend. I don't exactly completely understand the feelings myself."

Toshiro frowned, wondering how he should press for the answer. "I think I know what your feelings for me are Matsumoto, but I really need you to tell me yourself."

"All right." Rangiku let out a deep sigh. "The honest truth is, when I first saw you I for some reason thought of you as my own little one. I can't explain why I thought this feeling either."

"That doesn't seem complex though." The boy let out a small laugh. "I mean... its impossible for me to be your biological child. You've never had a child before." There was a pause of silence and Toshiro felt himself panic slightly thinking that what he said had hurt her feelings. "I don't mean to say I don't like the fact you think of me as your own child Matsumoto, it does make a great deal to me. I just don't understand why you're confused about your feelings."

"I'm not upset with what you've said taicho... it is just..." Rangiku paused again.

"I might as well tell you I am sorry that I've caused you to worry about me like I did now and in the past. I..." Toshiro paused for a few seconds. "I was going to tell you about what happened yesterday. A hollow went to attack Kurosaki's sister while he was at school and I went to take care of it. She can see spirits too and shoved me back into my physical body so their father ended up taking me to the hospital."

The busty female suddenly let out a laugh. "That wasn't a long story taicho."

"I'm not finished. I actually learned something from this experience. I learned that I've been taking my life for granted under the impression that it doesn't matter to anybody. But there are plenty of people who care about me and would be hurt if something happened to me. That is why I asked what you think of me. I honestly don't think I would be able to apologize if you didn't first admit you cared about me. But I had to do it Rangiku."

"You called me by my first name." The woman stated. "Actually, there is a little more to my own story. You said I've never had a child before, but that isn't true. I can't explain how I know I've had a child when I can't remember having that child simply because you're not old enough for an explanation on this, but that is where my confusion comes in."

"Why though? I don't mind being a replacement Rangiku. The fact you think of me as your own is enough."

"That isn't it taicho. My feelings for you keep telling me you're that child I can't remember, but that isn't possible because you told me you weren't born in soul society. That's honestly why I haven't brought it up before. Thinking of you as my own child isn't the problem. It is thinking of you as my own flesh and blood when that isn't true. I don't want to push a lie I believe onto you for a selfish reason."

At first Toshiro wasn't sure how to respond to this, but he finally spoke up. "I think that just proves how much you care about me. I'm not hurt by what you say. I think I actually know you better."

"I think staying with the substitute shinigami is doing you good taicho. Before you left I'd expect you to go ballistic about this. I should get going now as I do have work to do."

"Wait, I have another question. Kurosaki's sister has something to talk to me about but she and I haven't been getting along so I don't expect anything except negative comments from her. If you give me a quick answer of what you think I should do before you get back to work it would be very helpful."

"Let her talk to you. Then it is over with. Let me know how things go with the Kurosaki family. You're doing very well."

"Thank you." Toshiro hung up the phone. He should have been smiling but one thought bothered him. "Did I really die on a plain of ice?"