Wish 50

Up on his Own

A/N That's write people. We have reached chapter fifty of Wish. The big fifty. To commemorate this, please help me reach 400 reviews! Only 31 left to go! I know we can do it! The stats for this story so far before this chapter was posted; Words: 77,750, Favs: 114, Follows: 185.

By the way, I do not know how to make miso soup. I only found the ingredients and not how much of each. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE MISO SOUP FROM MY INSTRUCTIONS!

The first thought that came to Toshiro's mind when he woke up was warm. He felt warm and... safe. He gave a small smile and snuggled into the thing that was warm and made him feel safe. A minute after doing so however, he paused.

'Wait...I thought I was in the bathing room...' he thought, blinking his big eyes open. All the white-haired boy saw was black. He tilted his head back and his turquoise eyes went wide, his heart beat stopping. There was a person laying next to him. It was a man. A man with silver hair. It was Ichimaru. He had just snuggled into Ichimaru for the feeling of safety. The white-haired boy bit his lip as to not cry out. After making sure he wouldn't scream out of surprise, he took a deep breath. Toshiro narrowed his eyes, trying to think of why he was there. He let out a small squeak though when Gin pulled him closer to his body. The boy went rigid and made his decision. Get out of the situation and then think about it.

Toshiro slowly moved out of Gin's grip and crawled under the covers. He found the edge of the bed and stuck his hands on the floor, walking forward off the bed until his kness hit the ground. Toshiro scuttled across the floor on his hands and knees until he was outside of the bedroom, his back to the wall. He let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding in, slumping against the wall. Toshiro shifted to his kness and placed his hands on the doorframe, peering back into the room.

'How did I get in there? Why are there so many blankets on there too? At least it's not as warm out here than it was under those blankets. Why was Gin in the bed with me also? I mean, it should feel akward, and it did, only slightly though. It didn't feel akward like it should have. It felt...it felt... What am I thinking? It was Ichimaru, so it had to have been akward, right?' Toshiro thought to himself, brow creasing as he tried to understand what had happened while he chewed on his lower lip. His stomach growled though, interrupting him from his thoughts. Gin shifted in the bed and Toshiro hid behind the wall again. The only indication he recieved that Gin was still asleep, was a short snore.

'Maybe eating something will clear my head. This could also prove to my pare- them that I am capable of taking care of myself.' Toshiro thought, standing up from his position on the floor. Toshiro walked into the kitchen silently, making sure to not make a noise as he did so. He turned on the light and peeked back into the hallway, making sure the light didn't reach to where Gin was sleeping. It almost reached, but not quite. Toshiro sighed and went over to where he had seen Gin take out pots. He opened the cupboard and noislessly removed a pot from within. The boy let out a relieved sigh once he closed the cupboard door, happy that he hadn't made any noise.

He set the pot on the stove, looking at it curiously. He had used a stove a few times at Orihime's, and less than five times in the tenth division. When he first joined, he wasn't allowed in the kitchen or even put on kitchen duty. At first it had made him mad, since they weren't treating him equally, but he could refine his skills in that time. Even when he was third seat, Isshin had said that he didn't need to be in the kitchen, since others had kitchen duty. Of course he had snuck in, just to see what it looked like, but he was immideately found and carried out of the kitchen. Even as a captain he wasn't allowed in, which seemed odd to him. His subordinates would just smile and usher him out. Toshiro sighed and focused back on the stove.

After a minute of staring at it, the white-haired boy decided to look for something to eat in the lower cupboards. What should he make? He couldn't make fancy things, like Gin could, but he could make simple things that still tasted good. A jar cought his eyes and he reached in to grab it. Once he had retrieved the jar, Toshiro sat back on his knees to examine it. It looked like flakes of dried bonito.

An idea hit him. He set the jar aside and dug around to find the other ingredient for miso soup. Once finding it, he laid them out on the counter, along with some leftover rice from earlier. Toshiro bit his lip, trying to remember how much of each ingredient he was suppose to use and in which order. After five minutes of hard thinking, he had another idea.

'Ichimaru must have recipes written down somewhere here. It's not possible to memorizing all of the dishes he can cook.' Toshiro thought, smirking. He surveyed the kitchen again in detail, looking over every inch of cupboards and counters. The small boy found a small box on the counter next to the refridgerator.

'Would having Urahara here make things so modern?' Toshiro pondered for a moment. He shook his head and berid of the thought, his hairing swaying back and forth with his head. He picked up the box and opened it. Young Hitsugaya's face broke into a smile. He had found the recipes. He plopped down on the floor with his legs sprawled about. He set the box down between his legs and noticed something. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his leg. The odd thing was though, was that it was covered it what looked like warm fabric. His eyes traveled down his leg and he tilted his head in confusion.

'What on earth is covering my foot?' he asked himself. He brought his foot closer to his body and felt a small tug on his shoulder. He looked and his arm was covered in the same fabric. He stodd up and walked into the bathroom, curious as to what he was wearing. He turned on the light and looked in the mirror. Toshiro took a step back to see his whole body better. His cheeks heated up, even though he didn't know what he was wearing. One thing he could tell though, was that it was childish. Coupled with his hairstyle, he looked like a child.

"I-I don't remember changing...especially into something like this." Toshiro mumbled, looking at his reflection. He took a deep breath to try and beat down the blush. He couldn't change right now, since Gin was sleeping where his only other options of clothing were, and he didn't want to wake the man. For some odd reason, he didn't feel hot at all, like it looked like. The boy rushed back into the kitchen and skimmed through the recipes, looking for the one for miso soup. He found it and shut the box, placing it back where he had found it.

"Okay, first thing I have to do for one srerving, is put a couple of wakame seaweed into some water on the stove, and let it almost boil. Sounds easy enough." Toshiro mumbled. He set the recipe down and grabbed the pot, setting it in the sink. He turned the sink on cold and let the pot fill up about a quarter of the way. He placed it back on the stove and looked and the nobs on the stove.

"Right...front..." he mumbled, reading one of them. The young boy looked to where the pot was, and it was on the front right burner. He shrugged and turned the nob to three, plopping some seaweed into the pot. He wanted to make sure the water didn't come to a boil, and what better way to make sure that didn't happen by making it slowly reach that point.

"What else can I do while I wait?" Toshiro asked the empty room, reaching for the recipe again. "All I have to do is add miso once it's done, and the tofu after that. Tofu..." he mumbled, looking back to where he had set the two ingredients. He hadn't put the tofu out.

'Now where did people keep tofu again? It was somewhere cold, I think. The fridge maybe?' Toshiro thought as he walked over to the fridge and opened it. He found the tofu imediately, since it was right next to the watermelon. Toshiro let go of the fridge door and walked to the doorway of the kitchen, peering around the corner to make sure Gin wasn't coming.

Once one hundred percent sure he wasn't, the little youth went back to the fridge and retrieved the tofu and watermelon. He set the watermelon platter on the table, and the tofu on the counter. He checked the seaweed, and it wasn't at the almost boiling point yet. He walked back to the tofu and looked under the counter next to the pots and pans. There, he found a cutting board. He took it out and set in next to the tofu.

Toshiro then looked over to the knives. There were ten if them, all various sizes, sitting in what looked like a holder of some sort. The small boy reached over the counter and wrapped his fingers around the handle of one. He took a deep breath and let it out, pulling the knife free of the holder. He held the side of the blade up to his face, his reflection glaring in it as his mind wandered.

'Hyorinmaru...they took Hyorinmaru away just this morning. I don't like being treated like a child. Since they think I'm a child, they took Hyorinmaru away, my best friend. I actually a helpless kid without him. I don't have any real muscle since I'm still growing, so I relied on him and my reiatsu. I need Hyorinmaru back. I want to leave this place. Maybe I could try one more time. Maybe this time it'll work.' Toshiro thought, positioning the tip of the knife mere inches above where his left leg had been severed in the war. His hand shook, hesitating. He placed his other hand on the handle, trying to make the knife pierce his skin. He couldn't bring the knife down though.

'There's no use trying to stab myself again. I won't wake up. This isn't a dream...This is real.' Toshiro thought sadly, resigning himself to the thought. He raised the knife to stab the tofu out of frutration and anger. He brought the knife down, but it neither met the cutting board nor tofu.

The young boy's body went rigid, his turquiose eyes going wide along with his mouth opening slightly. He closed his mouth and gulped, hesitantly looking to his right. Toshiro's eyes traveled up the arm that was holding his wrist. His eyes met a shoulder, then a face. A sudden fear gripped him when his eyes met the similar teal colored eyes of the man. The eyes looked angry and upset, some displeasure mixed in. Toshiro took a step back, his front now fully facing Gin. Gin's grip tightened on the slim wrist. Toshiro started to try and pull his hand away from the man, it wasn't working though. The grip on his wrist tightened again, starting to become painful.

"Le-let go." Toshiro said timidly, eyes not leaving his father's eyes. The man's grip only tightened still. Toshiro released the knife that was still in hand, said knife clattering to the floor. Toshiro continued to try and pull away, though he knew it wouldn't work.

"What. Are you doing?" Gin hissed out, his face quite closs to Toshiro's face, voice barely over a whisper. Toshiro shook his head no, not wanting to answer the man. Gin's frown deepened. He turned and tugged the boy along behind him, said boy trying his best to escape the painful grip on his wrist.

"Let go!" Toshiro pleaded. He didn't like this side of Ichimaru. He prefered the goofy side, or even the caring side he had recently come to see. Gin continued to drag Toshiro behind them. They passed the bathroom, then Toshiro's room, and were heading to in and Rangiku's room.

"Please! Please let go! You're-you're hurting me!" Toshiro cried out as Gin opened his door, trying a different approach. Gin paused for a moment and looked back at his son, loosening his grip.

'I'm-I'm hurting him?' Gin asked himself, not believing that he would actually hurt his son. Toshiro wretched his hand free and turned to run. Gin snapped out of his momentary trance and grabbed his son from around his waist.

"No!" Toshiro yelled, his small fear falling away into anger. The man had no reason to be doing this. All he had been doing was making himself something to eat. Gin closed the sliding door with his foot behind him and walked over to the bed, a flailing boy under his arm. Gin threw him onto the bed. Toshiro scrambled to get to his hands and knees to move, but Gin had placed a hand on the square of his back, pinning him to the bed.

"Let go! I haven't done anything that you told me not to do!" Toshiro yelled, kicking his legs as he laid on his stomach.

"I told you not to touch any knives. And what have you done? You went and took a knife." Gin said, his voice void of any emotion.

"I was just using it to cut the tofu for miso soup!" Toshiro shouted. His position was really starting to frustrate him.

"If you were hungry, why didn't you wake me up?" Gin inquired.

"I can make it myself!"

"No, you can't."

"Yes! I can! I may not be a professional cook, but I can still make simple things!" Toshiro cried out. Gin didn't respond and let Toshiro continue to struggle for another minute. He pushed down on Toshiro's back and stood up. Toshiro let out a gasp when he had more pressure applied to his back, his breath being knocked out of him. He took a deep breath when he felt the hand suddenly leave. He froze and listened for any indication of where Gin was. He pushed himself up on his arms and looked over his shoulder, looking for the man. Instead of seeing Gin, he found a blanket tossed in his face. Toshiro moved into a sitting position on the bed and removed the blanket from his head.

"Wrap yourself up in the blanket and sit on the floor in the corner, facing it. You're still cold." Gin said while he walked towards the door.

"Why? Where are you going?" Toshiro asked, confused as to why the man wasn't punishing him. Gin paused in the doorway.

"Well, it's not right for me to punish you when I'm angry. As for why you should sit in the corner, consider it your consequence for hitting me earlier. I think you need some time to mull things over, if the look on your face is anything to go by." Gin stated, not even turning around as he closed the door behind him.

Toshiro stared at the door for a minute, wondering what he should do. He had told himself he wouldn't speak to Gin, but he broke that promise. He planned on doing the exact opposite of everything Gin said. All that would do was get him in more trouble. He had to get his priorities in check. Finding Hyorinmaru and removing the seal came first.

Toshiro bit his lip and sighed, slipping off the bed and onto the floor, shuffling over to a corner. He sat down with his knees under him, his nose in the corner of the wall, back to the bed with the blanket on it.

'Why did he wake up? Things were going perfectly fine until he woke up. What do you think, Hyorinmaru?' Toshiro inquired of the dragon as he sat in the corner. He recieved no response, and it finally hit him full force that the great ice dragon wasn't with him at the moment. He rested his forehead against the wall, his anger, sorrow, and loneliness surfacing.

What was he suppose to think about? How hitting Gin was wrong? Why he can't use knives? What was he suppose to think about?! All he could think about, was that Hyorinmaru was gone.

A/N: I really wanted to make this chapter special and extra long, but that just didn't happen. :'( Anyway, next chapter FOR SURE will be the last chapter for day four. Seriously, how long has day four gone on? 23 chapters?