This is request number 2 for my amazing reviewer, RainbowStarMountain!
Request: Toshiro drunk/drugged and interacting with other members of the Gotei Thirteen.
Warning – this chapter is mostly crack lol, prepare for some OOC Toshiro and wild hallucinations. Happy trippin', kids!
…
Hallucination
Isshin held his head in his hands as he stared down at his paperwork. He huffed; gods he hated the stuff. His eyes hurt and his head throbbed with an oncoming migraine.
"Toshiro," the captain called out for his third seat, hoping he could convince the boy to read through it all and sign it on his behalf.
They needed a captain's signature but Toshiro could forge that and Isshin trusted his judgement.
"He's not here," Rangiku's voice replied lazily from the couch, like she was half asleep. Knowing her, she probably was.
Isshin frowned and lifted his head, noticing the vacant desk by the window.
"Well, where is he?"
…
Toshiro stared down at his paperwork and huffed.
It was not his job to deliver paperwork like this – it was Sixth Seat Kubo's responsibility. Toshiro already did the hard yards; he had been the one to actually complete the reports, he shouldn't have to go running around the whole city to deliver them too.
Alas, Sixth Seat Kubo was lazier than Rangiku, and a better liar.
If Toshiro wanted something done right, he would have to do it himself.
Thankfully, Toshiro only had two divisions left to visit – the Twelfth and the Sixth. Unfortunately they were on opposite sides of the Seireitei. At least the Sixth was next to Tenth so from there Toshiro wouldn't have far to get home. Regrettably, that left the Twelfth to be his next visit.
Toshiro glanced up at the tall gates into the Twelfth and felt a shiver roll down his spine. He had never been inside before and he had hoped never to. That place freaked him out, and he had heard some awful rumours about the squad's captain, Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
They were just that though – rumours.
Pull yourself together.
Toshiro swallowed, wishing now that he would have brought his sword, and entered the gates, informing the guards on duty that he was delivering paperwork for their captain's signature. They let him through and Toshiro ventured cautiously into the barracks.
He knew their third seat, a dark haired man with named Akon. He was rather nice actually, and one of the calmer few in their biannual third seat meetings, but one did have to overlook the strange horns that protruded from his forehead.
Toshiro was hoping to find Akon, drop off the paperwork and get out of there, quick smart.
Thankfully, Toshiro found the third seat quickly enough in their administration building. Despite not being his the lab, Akon still wore his white lab coat over his uniform.
"Hitsugaya," Akon greeted, voice calm as always. "You don't often deliver paperwork?"
"I'm having problems with my sixth seat," Toshiro sighed, handing over the paperwork.
"I hear that," Akon smirked.
Toshiro gave a half smile in return, and turned to leave, flinching back a little when he came face to face with the terrifying Mayuri Kurotsuchi and his lieutenant, who Toshiro had heard was actually a robot. They had approached him silently; Toshiro hadn't known they were behind him.
Toshiro bowed low quickly, not wanting to show any disrespect to the captain with the face paint and strange head piece.
"You must be Toshiro Hitsugaya," the captain's voice was playful, "the child prodigy with the legendary Hyorinmaru Zanpakuto."
"Yes, Sir," Toshiro kept his head down.
"Captain Shiba has spoken excellent things about you, Boy, and I heard all about you trying to scare off your lieutenant's dates with your Zanpakuto," Kurotsuchi continued. "It's unbelievable to think a mere child is the host of such a powerful spirit."
Toshiro didn't answer, he wasn't sure how to. He had scared off Rangiku's dates by letting Hyorinmaru essentially possess him – Isshin was still stumped by it but Toshiro knew it was possible because he and Hyorinmaru had such a close bond.
"Nemu, fetch us some of my special tea," the captain ordered his robot daughter/lieutenant. "Young Hitsugaya and I will be having a chat in my office."
"Oh I-I have more paperwork to deliver," Toshiro stammered, eyes snapping up to the scientist captain as he straightened up.
"Now, now. It's rude to refuse a captain, Boy," Kurotsuchi tutted. "I just want to get to know you better."
Toshiro wanted so badly to protest but in truth, he was a little afraid to. He tried to glance at Akon for help, but the man had conveniently disappeared with the paperwork.
A heavy hand fell on his shoulder and Toshiro flinched, seeing it was Kurotsuchi's hand on him, but the captain ignored him and set off, steering the boy towards his office.
They entered the office and Toshiro's eyes widened.
Captain Kurotsuchi's office was not like Isshin's. It was not light, warm or comforting, with basic furniture and a nice view out to the training grounds.
No, this office was dark, smelled like disinfectant and had a number of strange things around the room. This included, but was not limited to, a shrivelled head in a glass jar, some unrecognisable bug-like creatures swimming around test tubes filled with lime green liquid, and a large luggage trunk which rattled and screamed, as though something – or someone – was trapped inside.
Kurotsuchi kicked the trunk harshly as he passed it, and the scream ceased immediately, the trunk stilling.
The scientist captain guided Toshiro to a seat opposite the large desk at the far end of the room, before he circled around and sat in the large swivel chair on the other side.
Dark eyes regarded Toshiro carefully as they sat in silence, the boy playing idly with the corner of Squad Six's paperwork in his lap. Eventually Nemu returned carrying two cups of tea, and a plate of fried insects.
Toshiro stared down into the tea cup he was given. The black liquid swirled ominously, clearly not the same green tea that Isshin kept in his office.
Kurotsuchi took a long sip of his own tea, before taking a handful of the fried insects and popping them into his mouth with a satisfied hum.
He stared Toshiro down, his eyes flickering down to the tea cup in his hands and back up, the insulation clear as day. 'It's rude to refuse a captain'. Toshiro internalised the sigh and took a sip.
It was disgusting, but Toshiro withheld the shudder and revolted facial expression he wanted to give.
"You're a very powerful young boy," Kurotsuchi commented offhandedly. "They just found you in the Hitsugaya district?"
"Lieutenant Matsumoto found me on her patrol duty," Toshiro felt the need to explain, like Kurotsuchi was looking for more information.
"I wasn't aware lieutenants were doing patrol duty these days," Kurotsuchi questioned, like he didn't believe him.
Toshiro took another sip of the disgusting tea and shrugged.
"She would have been getting punished," Toshiro guessed. "Captain Shiba sends his seated officers on patrol duty when they are in trouble."
The captain's laugh was closer to a witch's cackle than anything else.
"He's a strange man that Captain Shiba," Kurotsuchi chuckled, as if he was joking but Toshiro didn't think he was.
"He's a great captain," Toshiro added lightly. He was also a great father figure, but he wasn't going to mention that to a stranger.
Kurotsuchi's snarl was only slight but Toshiro saw it. He took another sip of his tea, because even that seemed more pleasant than getting into an argument with Captain Kurotsuchi about it. Actually, the more he drank of the tea, the better it was starting to taste. Toshiro thought he could see patterns swirling in the tea and it was becoming fun to watch.
Furthermore, the more Toshiro drank, the more it seemed to appease the scientist captain.
Soon the cup was empty and Nemu returned, handing a small black pouch to her captain.
Toshiro frowned as he watched the captain pull out some tweezers, a syringe and- was that a scalpel? Toshiro stared in confusion, his thoughts suddenly feeling muddled, his vision warping. On the desk, an ink pot was screaming at Toshiro to run.
That couldn't be normal, right?
"I don't feel well," he mumbled, his own voice echoing in his mind.
Kurotsuchi hummed in agreement.
"You certainly won't after this," the captain commented dryly, "but I will when I find out what the internal organs of Hyorinmaru's wielder looks like."
"Internal organs?" Toshiro asked with a frown, holding his stomach which was beginning to feel queasy.
He wanted to go home. He wanted to go back to Isshin and Rangiku. He didn't feel safe here.
Toshiro stood to leave, grasping the paperwork in his hands, and tripped immediately. He picked himself up though, and continued his stumble towards the door. He fell against the door when he finally reached it and his free hand weakly battered at the door handle, but it wouldn't budge.
"Oh no, Boy," Kurotsuchi cackled. "You won't be going anywhere."
Toshiro glanced up to see the scientist crawling toward him, syringe in hand and about six extra legs than he used to have – he was a spider. His body warped in Toshiro's vision, his midsection swirling in on itself. Toshiro blinked once, then twice more, but his vision wouldn't correct.
Toshiro whimpered.
His thoughts were beyond confused – he had no idea what was happening, or if he might be imagining it all, but he did know one thing and that was that he needed to get out of here now.
He needed to get back home.
Something grabbed his arm and Toshiro flinched, seeing a pincer around his forearm, and the glint of the syringe being brought down on him.
Hyorinmaru, help!
The spider hissed, retracting his hand, and Toshiro briefly saw him shake off frost.
"How can you access your Zanpakuto without your sword?" the captain's voice was shocked as he made to grab for Toshiro who dropped low and slipped between his eight ankles.
The young third seat saw a light then, behind some thick curtains and a rumbling voice in the back of his mind told him it was a window.
It was his way out.
Kurotsuchi made a grab for him again and Toshiro might have squealed? He didn't know but he used the opportunity to flash step, smashing through the curtain covered window.
It hurt when he crashed onto the concrete road surrounded in shards of glass, but Toshiro picked himself up again, only to fall back on his ass. He heard Kurotsuchi's anguished scream and made to flash step again. He was flying through the air, just over the barrack gates, when something grabbed his ankle and pulled him back to the ground harshly.
Toshiro was then lifted by his ankle and held above the ground, the blood running to his head as his vision warped more. Kurotsuchi's face, when Toshiro was held up to it, had eight eyes that stared at him hungrily. Toshiro struggled and coldness overcame him again but this time Kurotsuchi didn't let him go.
"Why you little shi-"
"Captain Kurotsuchi," a new voice called, and this one sounded deep, ancient and disapproving. "Might I ask what you are doing with that child?"
Toshiro was swung around as Kurotsuchi turned to the voice, and immediately Toshiro was dropped, landing head first on the hard ground. That hurt too, but Toshiro held back the groan, clutching his head as he quickly rolled away from the captain. His head was wet and when Toshiro pulled back his hand, he saw blood on his fingers.
"Nothing, Commander," Kurotsuchi's voice was sweeter, more innocent, but Toshiro knew it was lies. "The boy was just dropping off some paperwork for me."
"This paperwork is for the Sixth, Sir," another new voice, one that was posh.
"Well, my mistake then," Kurotsuchi appeared to smile, his eight eyes blinking in false innocence. "Good day, Commander."
The spider Kurotsuchi moved suddenly, causing Toshiro to flinch and jump back up to his feet, running away.
He immediately ran into something white and squishy, and scorching in temperature.
"Hot," Toshiro gasped, stumbling back until he fell over again, "Hot, hot, hot."
A hand grabbed Toshiro by the back of his uniform and stood him back up. Toshiro glanced up, expecting to see the spider, but it was a tall man with silver hair and caterpillar on his top lip.
"I believe this is that child third seat of Captain Shiba's, Sir," the man commented in his posh voice. "His name is Hitsugaya."
"Yes, the Hyorinmaru ice wielder," the ancient voice murmured in recognition and Toshiro turned to stare up at it. It was the white hot object he had run into, except it wasn't an object, it was a giant fluff ball that kind of resembled the Gotei Thirteen's Head Captain.
The fluff ball moved towards him and Toshiro blinked, hoping his vision would stop swimming and finally the figure's face stopped warping, though there was two of it.
It was the Head Captain! Toshiro knew he was supposed to bow, but was struggling to co-ordinate his body to cooperate. After a moment he finally managed, but bowed too far over and fell forward, caught again by the back of his uniform before he hit the ground.
"Your head is bleeding, Child," the Head Captain said, voice soft that Toshiro might have expected. "What did Captain Kurotsuchi want with you?"
"He wanted to see my internal organs," Toshiro blurted out, "and he looks like a spider."
Behind him, the man with the caterpillar lip and posh voice choked on a cough.
"Kurotsuchi has done something to the boy," the Head Captain murmured with a disapproving hum, like this wasn't the first time he had seen this before. "You should take him back to the Tenth, Sasakibe."
"No, please Sir, I-I need to…" Toshiro shook his head and swallowed, racking his brain for his memory. He had something he had to do. "I need to deliver something."
"The paperwork," the posh voice, Lieutenant Sasakibe he supposed, supplied and suddenly, Toshiro's stack of paperwork was in his hands again. Toshiro frowned at how crumpled it had become. "It's for the Sixth."
"Yes," Toshiro nodded, pretending to remember but he didn't. The writing on the paperwork was swimming. He swallowed and nodded to himself.
The Sixth, they said? He could go there.
Toshiro murmured a quiet thanks and set off in a direction, only to be turned around by the Head Captain's cane and sent in the opposite direction.
"Oh that's very, very, very, very hot," Toshiro gasped and leapt away from the cane – it was even hotter than Isshin's sword and that was the hottest thing Toshiro had ever touched in his life. Somehow it hadn't burned him, but it felt like it should have.
"Follow him, Sasakibe. Get the poor boy home," the Head Captain sighed. "The last thing I need is Isshin causing a rampage over this."
Toshiro laughed then, though he wasn't sure why. In his head, he envisioned his captain, charging like a bull, his hands at his head and pointing forward with his fingers to imitate horns. Toshiro's captain was so funny. He was also lovely and caring. Cuddly too, even though his cuddles were very warm and Toshiro liked it cold. His dragon liked it cold too, which was nice.
There was a sigh, and a harsh hand on his shoulder, steering him through the streets.
"Quit your babbling, Boy," Sasakibe muttered.
"Have I been babbling?" Toshiro asked.
"Yes."
"About what?"
"About your captain."
"Oh I love my captain," Toshiro told him, the thought of Isshin grinning proudly at him made him happy, so the boy started skipping. That's what Souls did when they were happy right?
"Stop skipping, Boy," Sasakibe's irritated voice snapped, and Toshiro stopped immediately, shoulders slouching and head hung.
He was in trouble.
"You're not in trouble," Sasakibe told him, tone annoyed.
Did Toshiro say that out loud?
"Yes," Sasakibe sighed in exasperation. "Yes, for the love of gods, yes. Now shut up."
So Toshiro shut up, or at least he thought he did? It was hard to tell these days.
Around him, the streets curved but Toshiro felt his feet go straight, and they passed Soul Reapers in the street who looked at him with eyes as big as bugs. Suddenly they each had three little horns protruding from their foreheads, just like Akon at Squad Twelve.
Squad Twelve? Toshiro shivered, reminding himself to never go there. It gave him the creeps. He was glad to have never met the captain.
"Oh for goodness sake," Sasakibe muttered, and Toshiro flinched, startled.
How long had the Squad One lieutenant been following him? That seemed suspicious.
"It's not suspicious!" Sasakibe spluttered. "I was ordered to get you safely- ugh, never mind. You, Boy, are a pain in the ass."
Toshiro pouted. He would have cried, but a duck waddling past caught his attention.
"Look, a duck!" he pointed to it. Now the duck looked suspicious, with its beady eyes and what not.
"That's a leaf," Sasakibe sighed without even glancing back at it, and Toshiro sighed deeply. He wished it had been a duck, even a suspicious one.
His legs felt tired and his head hurt but Sasakibe made him continue to walk. Toshiro asked if he could have a nap, but was promptly denied. If Isshin had been here he would have said yes. He would have carried Toshiro too. He was a good dad.
"Finally," Sasakibe groaned and suddenly Toshiro was whipped around to face the silver-haired man.
"There's the Sixth," Sasakibe pointed to the gates they had stopped in front of. "Drop off your paperwork and then all you have to do is walk across this path to the Tenth."
He pointed at the building opposite the gates.
"Hey," Toshiro smiled, recognising those tall timber fences with their daffodil carvings. "That's where I live!"
"Yes, it's the Tenth, I just said that," Sasakibe snapped, causing Toshiro to flinch back.
The lieutenant sighed and crouched to Toshiro's height. The boy stared at his moustache, it was furry and wiggled like a caterpillar. When Toshiro squinted at it, he thought he could see eyes on it, and a million little legs. He hoped one day it would become a pretty butterfly – Toshiro liked butterflies.
"Look, Boy, I apologise for getting mad. You've been drugged, it's not your fault," Sasakibe shook his head. Toshiro frowned; he had been drugged? When? "Just drop your paperwork at the Sixth, and I will let your captain know you're here. He will come get you, so just wait there."
"Wait where?"
"In the Sixth," Sasakibe repeated like he was stupid.
"And then go home to the Tenth?" Toshiro clarified, remembering now.
"Yes. I mean no!" Sasakibe answered quickly. "No, your captain will come get you."
Toshiro grinned at the mention of Isshin, and poked the lieutenant's thin moustache, only to have his hand slapped away.
"I love my captain," he smiled and Sasakibe's eyes rolled so far back into his head that they never came back out.
"Yeah we all love our captains," the lieutenant grumbled and stood, pushing Toshiro towards the gates beside them. "Now go."
Toshiro stumbled forward before he collected himself. He walked slowly through the division, clutching the paperwork close to his chest and protecting it from all the figures of seaweed that stared at him as he passed, their eyes blinking at him.
"Are you alright, Kid?" a seaweed man appeared in front of Toshiro. He had long red hair and tattoos over his seaweed body. He looked familiar, but Toshiro couldn't place him. "You look lost, and your head is bleeding."
"For Captain Kuchiki," Toshiro announced, holding out his paperwork. Was it Captain Kuchiki that ran the Sixth? Toshiro wasn't sure if he was remembering that right.
"This way," the seaweed man sighed and Toshiro followed him until they reached a large grand office in which a tea pot danced with a candle stick holder on the coffee table. Toshiro stared at it.
"That's unusual," he commented.
"Who is this, Abarai?" a new voice called, deep and silky.
Toshiro's eyes pulled themselves away from the dancing objects and towards the voice. In front of him, a prince stood. At least he looked like a prince, with long shiny black hair, a fancy hair piece and scarf around his neck that sparkled with the light of a thousand diamonds.
"Woah so pretty," Toshiro murmured reaching up to touch the scarf. He gasped; it felt like touching Rangiku's hands. "So soft!"
The prince smacked his hand off his scarf and threw it over his shoulder behind him. He looked mad, so Toshiro pouted and looked down, mumbling an apology.
"I think this is Rangiku's kid," the seaweed man, (Lieutenant Renji Abarai?) explained. "Third seat at the Tenth. He has paperwork for us."
Oh yes, that's right! Toshiro thrust the paperwork in hands up at the prince, who he supposed looked a lot like Captain Kuchiki.
The paperwork was taken from his hands.
"It's crumpled," the prince stated, unimpressed.
"The spider did it," Toshiro murmured sadly, remembering vaguely being chased by an arachnid captain and his syringe. "He tried to cut me open to see my organs."
"Well that's a horrifying image," Seaweed Renji commented, a nervous chuckle in his throat. "Sounds a bit like Captain Kurotsuchi."
Toshiro flinched and whimpered, the mention of the name causing him to see images of a scalpel, dead insects and a shrivelled head. He thought he could hear screaming too.
"Woah kid, calm down," Renji stared down at him with confusion and worry. "I was just joking. He's creepy, that's all I meant-"
"Abarai," the prince, Captain Kuchiki, warned.
The seaweed version of Renji stopped talking and Toshiro hugged his arms around himself. He wanted Isshin, he wanted to go home. Around him, the air grew cold like it did when Toshiro was anxious. He blinked his eyes, trying to shake the image of the spider chasing him, of the white hot fluff ball and his burning cane, of the people with horns on their faces and the duck that waddled by, its eyes saying it was up to no good. Toshiro flinched and shivered – he wanted one of Isshin's warm hugs now, or Rangiku's. Either – both – he didn't mind. He just wanted to go home.
Suddenly that soft-looking scarf made of diamonds was in his field of vision.
Toshiro's eyes snapped to the prince that was crouching before him.
"I don't like kids," Captain Kuchiki told him, matter-of-factly. "There's an annoying little one at the Eleventh that drives me mad. However, you remind me of my little sister. She's an ice type too, and when she's scared, the room she is in gets cold."
Toshiro swallowed, knowing he had made the captain's office cold now too.
"I'm sorry," he apologised, because he knew most Souls didn't like the cold.
"My lieutenant will walk you back to the Tenth," the captain told him, standing with a sigh.
Toshiro nodded and bowed, this time without falling thankfully, before the seaweed Renji followed him out. They almost made it to the gates when another seaweed man came running up to them, appearing rather distressed.
"Lieutenant!" the seaweed man, one of the squad members perhaps, called. "Students at the Academy are throwing rocks over our fence. They've broken a window at our training halls."
Renji swore loudly, causing Toshiro to frown. Well, that wasn't a very nice word.
"Wait here, Kid," Renji ordered Toshiro. "I have to take care of something and then I will come back to take you home."
Toshiro nodded and watched the seaweed men run off together. Glancing around the barracks, seaweed men were everywhere. Some of them might have been women, Toshiro supposed, but the deep green seaweed covering their bodies made them all look masculine.
"What are you doing here, Kid?" a different seaweed man grunted, passing him from behind and knocking Toshiro's shoulder as he walked. "Go home, Boy."
"Okay, Mr Seaweed," Toshiro called after the man, waving before he continued walking out the gates.
His mind was extremely muddled, and finally as he exited back through the gates, the Soul Reapers in the streets started to look less like seaweed and more like cats. It was weird seeing cats walking around on two feet, wearing uniforms – some even had swords at their hips! Toshiro laughed loudly; this was weird, though not the weirdest thing he had seen today.
Where was he going again?
Home?
Yes, Toshiro wanted to go ho-
Butterfly!
A butterfly with the most beautiful blue wings fluttered by Toshiro's vision and the boy made to catch it but missed, falling on his face in the dirt. Groaning, the third seat lifted his head, seeing the butterfly fly around the corner of the street.
"Wait!" he called, jumping to his feet and rushing after the flying insect. It was so pretty!
…
Isshin had given up on the paperwork a long time ago, and joined Rangiku on the office couches for an afternoon nap.
He had just fallen asleep when a knock on the door woke him back up, but the captain didn't bother opening his eyes or moving, knowing it was one of the seated officers, who would retreat once they saw their squad leaders sleeping.
The sound of the door sliding open was quiet but noticeable, but Isshin was right.
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant," Mei's voice was whispered. "Our captain is sleeping now. Would you like to leave a message?"
"No," a deep male voice replied and Isshin recognised it to be Chojiro Sasakibe from the First. "Captain Shiba must be woken. He will find this to be urgent and important."
Isshin internalised the groan – everything with Sasakibe was 'urgent' or 'important', and frequently both, such as now.
Sighing, the captain cracked open his eyelids.
"I'm awake," he grunted, sitting up on the couch. "Thanks Mei."
"Sorry, Captain," Mei bowed and left.
On the opposite couch, Rangiku stirred too.
"Timesit?" she muttered, barely coherent as she lifted her head in disoriented confusion.
"Sasakibe is here," Isshin informed her with a sigh, gesturing to the Squad One Lieutenant. "He has an urgent and important message?"
"Is that all?" Rangiku rolled her eyes and laid back down with a huff. "It's always urgent and important with that dude."
"That 'dude'," Sasakibe huffed, tone annoyed, "has a message regarding your third seat."
"Toshiro?" Isshin blinked.
"It seems he has had an unfortunate run in with Captain Kurotsuchi at the Twelfth," Sasakibe informed Isshin tonelessly. "The Head Captain suspects he was drugged for an experiment of sorts."
Isshin's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide with shock.
"What?!"
That evil son of a bi-
"What happened exactly?" Rangiku asked, sitting up on her couch, concern in her voice.
Sasakibe told them the story of how he and the Head Captain had found Kurotsuchi holding Toshiro up by his ankle on the streets of the Seireitei while the Squad One leaders were off to visit the Thirteenth. Toshiro told them Kurotsuchi had been trying to cut him open. Apparently the scientist captain had been threating Toshiro with a syringe, but it was clear the boy had already been drugged with some kind of hallucinogenic.
Isshin listened to the story, feeling his emotions flair with worry for his kid third seat, and with anger for the vile Squad Twelve captain.
"The Head Captain didn't want you to cause a – quote – 'rampage over this'," Sasakibe commented when Isshin's emotions flared into his Spiritual Pressure.
Oh there was going to be a rampage that was for sure. Isshin had a higher priority first, however.
"Where is Toshiro now?" Isshin asked, getting to his feet. "Is he okay?"
"I left him at the Sixth next door," Sasakibe answered. "I told him to wait there after he dropped his paperwork off. He's expecting you to pick him up. Well, if he can remember that much, anyway."
Isshin grabbed Engetsu and ran from the office, Rangiku following closely. Sasakibe didn't follow but Isshin didn't think he would. They navigated out of the Squad Ten barracks and into their neighbour's – Squad Six.
Without knocking, Isshin barged right into the captain's office, which earned him a sharp glare from Byakuya Kuchiki.
"What is the meaning of this?" the Kuchiki noble hissed.
"Where's my kid?" Isshin asked urgently, glancing around the office, finding it empty aside from the Squad Six Captain.
"The boy?" Byakuya questioned. "I sent my lieutenant to walk him back to the Tenth."
"He didn't see him or Renji," Rangiku frowned as Isshin did.
At that Byakuya frowned too, mildly confused.
Toshiro was lost then. Isshin felt a sickening feeling form in his stomach.
Focusing, Isshin felt for his third seat's spiritual pressure and came up empty, which meant one of two things. The boy was either out of range, or dead.
Isshin's heart stopped for a moment – he prayed it was the former.
He felt for Renji's spiritual pressure next, and though it wasn't as familiar, it was much closer by and therefore easy to find. He was just outside the office.
"Abarai," Byakuya called out for his lieutenant, seemingly sensing his approach too.
Renji stuck his head in the door, his tattooed brow furrowing.
"Captain, we have a prob- oh," Renji's question was cut off when his eyes fell on the others in the room.
"Abarai," Byakuya huffed impatiently. "Where is the child you were supposed to take back to the Tenth?"
Renji hesitated, stepping inside the room and bowing briefly to Isshin and then his own captain.
"I can't find him," the lieutenant admitted hesitantly. "I left him near the gate and asked him to wait there."
"You left him?" Isshin spluttered. "He's been drugged!"
Apparently neither Byakuya nor Renji had known that – they didn't know Toshiro well enough, they had just thought he was weird, and maybe a little concussed.
Isshin explained the Kurotsuchi story quickly, and then turned on Renji for his explanation.
The tattooed lieutenant went on to explain that some students at the neighbouring Spiritual Arts Academy were throwing rocks over the bordering fence and had broken a window on Squad Six property, so Renji had gone to sort it out. He had returned to the gates to find Toshiro gone.
"Have you checked with the guards?" Byakuya asked then, tone angry. He didn't like to look bad in front of his colleagues.
"They said they saw a kid chasing a butterfly, heading north," Renji sighed, knowing he was in trouble.
Isshin deflated. The Sixth and Tenth were the southmost divisions within the Seireitei's circular borders – 'north' was the opposite direction to the gates into the Tenth. Toshiro had been so close, since the gates to the Sixth sat almost opposite those to the Tenth, but a drugged and hallucinating Toshiro had wandered off, distracted by a bloody butterfly. By now, the kid could be anywhere. The Seireitei was huge, and if he reacted as badly to Kurotsuchi's drugs as he had to Unohana's anaesthetics back when he had been injured, then he could be in real danger now.
Isshin had to find him.
"Alright we're going to split up and look for him," Isshin turned to Rangiku. "Have you got your Soul phone?"
Rangiku nodded, patting her pocket.
"I'll go west, you go east," Isshin ordered his lieutenant. "I'll call my brother and tell him to keep an eye out at the Thirteenth in case Toshiro makes it that far north. We'll make our way around and up, keep feeling for his spiritual pressure."
"Yes, Sir," Rangiku nodded, before she frowned. "You don't think Kurotsuchi is out there looking for Toshiro too, do you?"
"If he is, I'll kill him," Isshin spat, turning sharply towards the office door, his chest tightening with new unease.
"We'll let you know if the boy turns up back in here," Byakuya informed them as Rangiku moved to follow Isshin. Isshin nodded, though he really just wanted to yell at him for losing Toshiro in the first place.
He just wished he knew where the boy was.
…
Toshiro followed the butterfly through the streets, the beautiful blue wings just too fast and agile for him to catch. He chased it through the busy Seireitei streets and through divisions. He had a brief encounter with Gin Ichimaru, in which he saw a snake in a captain's uniform but that wasn't unusual. Toshiro kicked his snake body (might have been a shin) and ran away, remembering all the times that man he had made Rangiku cry.
Around him, Soul Reapers in the streets and throughout the divisions he stumbled into were getting stranger and stranger to look at. Toshiro was even pretty sure he had seen a captain with a dog's head? He saw Soul Reapers that looked like mermaids, others that looked like aliens, and worst of all, some that looked like human-sized Gillians. That had really freaked Toshiro out, even more so when he saw more suspicious ducks waddling by.
He was growing tired with each minute, exhausted in both mind and body. He just wanted to catch this butterfly and get home.
He was so close!
Eventually Toshiro did catch the butterfly, cheering triumphantly as he did so. Grinning, he opened his hands to look it, and found a glowing blue marble, and was that symbol of the Twelfth imprinted on it?
Toshiro frowned down at it. Where was the butterfly?
"I knew I could get you back here," a shrill cackle caught his attention and Toshiro's eyes snapped up to see Captain Kurotsuchi before him. "They said my invention wouldn't work, but here you are."
He still looked like a spider, with eight legs and eight eyes, but it was undeniably him. He was still terrifying to look out.
Toshiro took a cautious step back.
"Now don't run from me, Boy," Kurotsuchi smiled menacingly. "We weren't finished this morning."
"Hello Mayuri," a new voice called, one that was deep and masculine, playful and familiar. "I see you've met Isshin's young third seat?"
Toshiro turned to see Captain Kyoraku approaching, but instead of his normal floral kimono draped over his shoulders, the curly haired captain was wearing a pink tutu that shimmering brightly. He had wings and carried his wand in a belt around his waist. He looked like a fairy, and he looked ridiculous, but Toshiro liked Kyoraku, though he was a drunk and a lazy captain. He was Isshin's good friend, and once Rangiku's captain. They both spoke highly of the man, and though he made lots of inappropriate jokes that Isshin had to cover Toshiro's ears for, he seemed kind and caring, with a strong moral compass.
"Yes, Captain Kyoraku," Kurotsuchi smiled then, the same way he had at the Head Captain when confronted earlier that day. "We were just about to have some afternoon tea."
"Oh?" Kyoraku queried, approaching them. His hand fell on Toshiro's shoulder when he was close enough, and the boy felt himself being pulled closer to the fairy captain. "I believe Toshiro was invited to tea at the Thirteenth today. Isn't that right, Shiro-chan?"
Well, it might have been. Toshiro honestly didn't know anymore, but tea at the Thirteenth sounded much nicer than tea at the Twelfth. After a moment, Toshiro nodded and Kyoraku grinned down at him.
"That's right, yes," Kyoraku hummed. "So we best be on our way. We're already late."
The curly haired captain didn't wait for a response, squeezing Toshiro's shoulder and steering him away from the Twelfth.
Toshiro sure felt like he was getting led all over the place today.
"Are you my fairy godmother?" Toshiro asked, remembering the human fairy tale book Isshin had once read to him, as the captain laughed.
"What a strange question," Kyoraku chuckled. "I can be if you want me to be."
"Well you are dressed for it," Toshiro murmured, before he finally managed to pull his eyes away from the tutu and back down to the marble in his hand.
"What have you got there, Kid?" Kyoraku asked and Toshiro held it up to him.
"It used to be a butterfly," Toshiro told him, as Kyoraku took it from him and inspected it closely. Those deep brown eyes that reminded Toshiro a little of Isshin flickered back down to him, regarding him for a moment.
"What happened to your head?" Kyoraku asked then.
Toshiro frowned and felt his head. It was sticky and sore to touch, and he flinched back from his own hand. Pulling back his fingers, Toshiro found them to be dirty with traces of blood on them. He remembered vaguely seeing blood on them a few hours ago, from touching the same spot on his head if he recalled correctly.
"Can't remember," Toshiro answered.
"Where is your captain today?" Kyoraku asked then, and Toshiro recognised the gates of the Thirteenth as they approached them.
Toshiro shrugged.
"I don't know," he murmured sadly, swallowing thickly. "I miss him."
Kyoraku pattered his shoulder. "We'll give him a call, make sure he comes to get you."
Toshiro nodded down at his shoes as they entered the Thirteenth and navigated the halls.
He was so tired, and he felt his emotions starting to rise as a result. He just wanted Isshin, or Rangiku. He wanted to go home. He was sick of his head hurting, and of seeing things that weren't really there. He was sick of thinking something in his head to find he had said it out loud.
"Jeez, rough day then," Kyoraku commented dryly and Toshiro deflated, realising he had done it again.
"I just want to go home," he said thickly.
"We'll get you there, Kid," Kyoraku murmured as he steered Toshiro into a warm room. "Sorry, I'm late everyone!"
Toshiro looked up and glanced around the room. He had been here before, the Squad Thirteen Captain's Office. The fireplace was alive with dancing flames, while two older men sat in arm chairs around it, though one was far more elderly than the other. One looked like the large fluff ball Toshiro had run into this morning, and the other was a squishy looking marshmallow.
Despite how they looked through his eyes, Toshiro recognised them instantly as the Head Captain and Captain Ukitake.
"Shiro-chan," Ukitake greeted him with a huge smile. "It's such an unexpected pleasure to see you today."
He stood from his chair and approached Toshiro, wrapping him in a big squishy hug as Kyoraku let him go. Toshiro wasn't usually one for hugs from people that weren't Mari, Rangiku or Isshin but today he needed one, and Ukitake was a lovely man who smelled like soap and lilies, so Toshiro hugged him back, burying his face in the man's marshmallow haori.
"Yes I invited him to our afternoon tea," Kyoraku told them. "Kurotsuchi wanted him too but I decided he was better off in our company."
Around Toshiro, Ukitake stilled.
"Kurotsuchi again?" the Head Captain asked, a hardness to his voice.
"Again?" Kyoraku asked, voice perplexed.
"Not the boy's first run in with him today," the Head Captain replied with a sigh. "I see Sasakibe failed in getting you back to the Tenth then, Boy?"
Toshiro nodded into Ukitake's shoulder.
Ukitake released Toshiro then, his worried eyes going to Toshiro's bloodied forehead.
"I will call Kaien to take a look at that," Ukitake murmured, sweeping back towards his desk.
Over by the fire place, Kyoraku had settled in a vacated chair and taken up a cup of tea. He took a sip before he handed the Head Captain the glowing blue marble.
"It used to be a butterfly," he murmured dryly, repeating Toshiro's earlier words, as the Head Captain inspected it, a sagging eyebrow lifting enough for him to see it.
Toshiro stood in the centre of the room, feeling lost.
As nice as the older captains were, and as worried as Toshiro was that he might stumble across Kurotsuchi again, the boy wanted nothing more than to get back to the Tenth. He wanted Isshin and Rangiku.
"There you are!" another familiar voice called and Toshiro turned to find himself scooped up by strong arms and a familiar head of ebony hair.
"Captain!" Toshiro gasped, but when his focused, he realised quickly he had the wrong Shiba.
"Sorry, Kid," Kaien grimaced. Now he looked like a mermaid, though how he was standing up with that tail, Toshiro wasn't sure. "Just your Uncle Kaien with you."
Toshiro tried not to look too disappointed and rested his head on Kaien's shoulder. He wasn't Isshin but he was a close second, and he would get him home sooner or later. Still, Toshiro wanted Isshin. He was so tired and starting to become emotional. He just wanted to go home. It's all he had wanted all day. Well, aside from when he had wanted that butterfly.
He felt a warm tingling on his forehead and clocked the green light of healing kido in his peripheral vision.
"Your captain is out looking for you," Kaien told Toshiro calmly. "He's been looking for you all afternoon, he's so worried."
"I just want my dad," Toshiro murmured quietly then, feeling his eyes fill with tears that he hid in Kaien's neck. The younger Shiba sighed and patted his back gently, murmuring that Isshin would get here soon.
Toshiro stayed quiet then, letting Kaien hold him. After today, he didn't care who saw this display of affection. Kaien was like his uncle, and the closest thing Toshiro had to family in the room. He could feel his Spiritual Pressure too, and it was similar to Toshiro's in many ways. Water was just melted ice, was it not? It was calm and soothing, and Toshiro sighed against the lieutenant's shoulder, letting it settle him.
He felt his eyes droop, as a warm, wet cloth dragged over his face, wiping away the dirt and tears.
…
Isshin had been through almost every division on his check list when he finally came face to face with the Squad Twelve gates. Evil lingered in those hallways – Isshin could sense Kurotsuchi in there. He couldn't sense Toshiro, but he had half a mind to run in there, kill the scientist captain and then resume his search.
In fact he had taken one step forward to do so when his Soul Phone rang.
Isshin fished out of his haori quickly, since it was likely in regards to his missing third seat. The office number for the Thirteenth flashed on the screen and Isshin accepted the call quickly.
"Is he there?"
Isshin's friend Jushiro Ukitake was the one to reply, not Kaien.
"Toshiro is here, yes," Ukitake's voice was calm as it always was, especially when he was trying to keep others calm. "We're looking after him, but he only wants you."
Isshin eyed up the Squad Twelve gates – the temptation was real, but the captain knew where he really needed to be right now.
"I'm on my way," he murmured into the phone before hanging up.
With one last glance at the Twelfth, Isshin turned sharply and headed for the Thirteenth, calling Rangiku to update her too.
He arrived at the Thirteenth fairly quickly and burst into the Captain's Office, to find a tea party of sorts going on around the fire place.
Yamamoto, Kyoraku and Ukitake sat together sipping on tea and eating biscuits, while Kaien stood by his captain, holding a sleeping Toshiro.
Isshin rushed forward to his brother, eyes locked on Toshiro.
"My boy…" he murmured to sleeping child, though he knew he couldn't hear him, his hand already carding through the boy's hair. "What happened?"
"He fell asleep a few minutes ago," Kaien sighed, handing Toshiro over and Isshin took him gently, holding him against his side as the boy fell limply against him. "He was exhausted."
Kaien smiled sadly at Toshiro before he stepped away, turning back to his captain and draping a blanket over the sickly man's legs.
Isshin tilted his head to rest his cheek on Toshiro's snowy crown, as he swallowed and willed his arms to stop shaking. He was glad the boy was safe and uninjured, and so utterly relieved to find him in the hands of his brother, but anger still pulsed through him.
"I'm going to kill that Kurotsuchi," he muttered, forgetting the company in the room for a moment.
"You will not, Isshin," Yamamoto's ancient voice responded sternly from beside the fire. "I have warned you about your temper before."
Isshin was thankful the commander couldn't see his eyes rolling – one time! One time, decades ago and way before Toshiro, when Zaraki had first become Captain and he and Isshin had had a rather violent row over an issue with their shared fence and had accidentally ended up destroying many of the buildings in their respective barracks over it.
Of course, there was the other, more recent issue, of when Isshin had punched Gin Ichimaru in the face, but he stood by that one. The snake deserved it for what he had done to Rangiku.
"He can't hurt my kid and get away with it," Isshin muttered, turning to the senior captains having their tea party, seemingly unconcerned that a little boy had just been drugged by a mad scientist.
Isshin noted their expressions as the regarded him holding the sleeping child – Yamamoto looked pensive, though vaguely disapproving, while Kyoraku smirked with some sort of amusement and Ukitake beamed up happily, his smile soft.
"I'll throw him back in the Maggots' Nest for a few weeks," Yamamoto offered eventually, before he picked up a biscuit from the plate. "That always straightens him out for a couple years."
Isshin sighed – that was hardly good enough for him. If he had it his way, the man would be dead, or at least exiled like his former captain. Alas, Yamamoto kept him around because he came up with a number of nifty inventions that kept Soul Reaper's ahead of the times, the Soul Phone being the most notable to date.
Eventually, with much convincing, Kyoraku got Isshin to join their tea party, and Isshin sat in an empty chair, manoeuvring the sleeping Toshiro into his lap. Kaien offered him a blanket but Isshin knocked back the offer, knowing that Toshiro would be plenty warm in his hold, especially with the Head Captain close by and the raging fire place going. The boy would only overheat with a blanket now.
Between Kyoraku and Yamamoto, they filled him in on some of the gaps between Sasakibe's story and Byakuya's, though only Toshiro would be able to explain what actually happened in the Twelfth that morning. Yamamoto showed Isshin a glowing blue marble that the Squad Ten recognised to be the Soul attracting device that the Twelfth had been working on. Supposedly, it was going to be used in the Living World to make Souls come to Soul Reapers instead of the other way around, saving the patrolling officer from needing to search out Souls. It worked like drawing a moth to a light source; Toshiro had apparently chased a butterfly back to the Twelfth over it.
Isshin sighed and tightened his hold around the boy.
Soon Rangiku turned up and kneeled by Isshin's chair, fussing over Toshiro. Soon Kaien joined the tea party too, and not long after that Miyako joined them as well.
They sat having their tea party, chatting and joking, though Isshin's thoughts were only with Toshiro.
Toshiro eventually woke, and hugged Isshin so tightly, the Squad Ten Captain thought he might have bruises. Still, it was worth it to see the boy smile.
He couldn't remember much it seemed, but he was glad to see that Kyoraku was 'no longer wearing a tutu'. The room laughed, and Isshin fed Toshiro biscuits and tea (though the boy had hesitated on the tea, which was an unusual).
Isshin hugged Toshiro close as the boy chuckled at Rangiku's antics and Kyoraku's jokes, and across the coffee table, Kaien smirked at Isshin, mouthing the word 'Dad'.
Isshin rolled his eyes, hiding his grin in Toshiro's hair. Yes, he was a dad alright.
…
Well there you have it, Rainbow! I hope you liked it.
NOTEEEEE: So I've been posting twice a week but it's getting hard to keep up with writing (I blame work!). I am going to drop down to once a week posting from now – so Sundays will be the day new chapters will go up! Thank you to everyone following as I update! I appreciate you all so much :)
See you next Sunday for a request for LethanWolf!