Time seemed to stop as the dragon floated closer to Toshiro.

Child

"Hyorinmaru…" he said weakly.

Do you want to fight?

"No … I never wanted … to fight …"

What do you want?

"What I want … doesn't matter … "Toshiro declared. "It never mattered…"

"What matters … is that I need … to win … to save everyone …"

The dragon spread its wings and enveloped Toshiro in them.

He fell for what seemed like an eternity.

'Am I dead?' Toshiro wondered. 'What does it even mean, to die in the Soul Society, where dead souls go?'

How long are you going to stand there?

Toshiro opened his eyes. He was back in the frozen plain of Hyorinmaru.

He reached for his chest where Captain Zaraki had stabbed him, but there was no wound.

A sword dropped at his feet.

Pick it up.

Toshiro grabbed the sword. It was shorter than Hyorinmaru, with a standard blade and an unremarkable grip. But it felt unwieldy in his small hands, unlike Hyorinmaru.

"What is this?" Toshiro asked.

A standard zanpakuto which is given to low-ranking Shinigami who are unworthy of joining the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.

"Ok, but what am I supposed to do with it?"

Hold onto it. It is your sword after all.

"No it isn't," Toshiro protested. "My sword is Hyonrimaru. It's you."

You mean this?

The dragon lifted a clawed hand in which it held Toshiro's zanpakuto.

You are not worthy of this blade.

The dragon struck the sword into the ground and backed away. Toshiro ran up to the sword and attempted to pull it out.

"Ugggghhh," Toshiro groaned as he pulled, but the sword did not budge.

I told you, you are unworthy.

"Out of the way!" a strangely high-pitched voice yelled.

There was a flash of white as a hand struck Toshiro in the stomach, knocking him over.

As Toshiro rose, he looked at the newcomer who had assaulted him.

"What the hell?"

Standing in front of Toshiro was another Toshiro, one with completely white skin and a nearly all white kimono.

While this figure was almost all white, it's eyes were black with orange pupils, and the inside of it's mouth was completely black.

The figure gripped the hilt of the sword in the ground with both hands and lifted the blade effortlessly.

"What are you?" Toshiro asked this figure that had succeeded where he had failed.

"Come on, you know me, partner," the figure answered.

Toshiro's hands shook as he raised the standard zanpakuto Hyorinmaru had given him. 'I don't understand. There shouldn't be anyone but Hyorinmaru here.'

Now begins the test to decide whether or not you deserve to wield me.

If you truly want me to return, then you must take me from yourself.

This time, your enemy is you.

The white Toshiro laughed. "You think you're going to take this sword away from me? Good luck, partner."

He launched himself at Toshiro, who raised the sword he had been given to block. Toshiro was pushed back by the force of his doppelganger's attack.

The doppelganger broke off the attack, but Toshiro continued to slide backwards even after their swords disengaged.

Toshiro was breathing heavily after he finally brought himself to a stop. "This isn't fair! How am I supposed to beat a weapon like Hyorinmaru with this? It's like fighting with a toy sword!"

"The better question," the doppelganger responded, "is how you ever lost with a sword like this in the first place!"

He threw the sword at Toshiro, who just rolled out of the way.

'Throwing the sword itself,' Toshiro thought as his doppelganger used Hyorinmaru's chain to quickly pull the weapon back. 'Never occurred to me to throw that end. This guy's creative.'

"Tell me, what are you so afraid of?" the doppelganger asked. "What do you think Hyonrinmaru is?"

"My zanpakuto," Toshiro answered.

"And what is a zanpakuto?" the doppelganger pressed as he threw Hyorinmaru again. "Is it a weapon?"

"Well, yes," Toshiro said.

"And there's your problem," the doppelganger said. He pointed Hyorinmaru at Toshiro. A long dragon of ice and water, identical to the dragon Toshiro had summoned against Kenpachi Zaraki, shot forth from the tip of the blade.

The dragon surrounded Toshiro and began to circle around him.

"You're so scared of the power in your hands that you separate it from your own power," the doppelganger continued. "The power to kill so easily, that's not Toshiro Hitsugaya's. No. That's only Hyorinmaru's."

Toshiro backflipped out of the ring of ice created by the ice dragon.

"You're saying that I've been mentally limiting myself," he observed.

"And so much more. Do you even know what Hyorinmaru wants? What it needs? Or are you so scared of your weapon that you're too scared to ask?

Toshiro stopped and stood in place.

'That's right,' he thought. 'Zanpakuto are more than just flashy swords. They're living beings. And they have to have needs and wants like everyone else.'

'And I was too scared of Hyorinmaru's power to even consider its feelings.'

"I'm sorry, Hyorinmaru," Toshiro said to the dragon. "I've been neglecting you, ignoring you this whole time."

"But I'm here now. So tell me, what is it you want from me?"

What is it I want?

The dragon lowered its head.

I seek a home, a place I belong.

Toshiro's eyes widened in shock. Memories flooded through him.

"Why are you doing this to my brother!?"

"Because he's a freak!"

"Why does everyone seem to hate me?"

"Half the grade's scared stiff of me."

"So you don't have any friends at school?"

"Not really."

"I've never had a friend to watch movies with. It's a different experience from watching them by myself."

"If you're hoping to start an 'I hate Toshiro' fan club, be my guest. You'll get plenty of members."

'He's just like me,' Toshiro realized. 'I've always been alone. I never fit in, never belonged, either among kids my own age or in my grade.'

'We're the same. And means Hyorinmaru's power, that power I've been afraid to use, is the same as my power. That's what they're trying to tell me.'

''I'm no better than that Zaraki, wanting to fight with just my power, and not my zanpakuto's.'

"I'll come back," Toshiro told Hyorinmaru. "I won't leave you alone in here. I'll come back and visit. But to do that I have to survive."

"So please, let me fight with you one last time."

Toshiro noticed that the sword in his hand felt lighter. He looked down. The sword he held was longer, with a distinctive four-pointed guard and blue hilt.

"Thank you, Hyorinmaru."

Captain Kenpachi Zaraki sensed something.

He stopped walking and looked behind him.

'What the hell?'

Toshiro was rising. A white aura surrounded him.

'He was dead a second ago!'

Toshiro looked down at his chest. The wound he had received was covered by a layer of ice, which stopped the bleeding.

Toshiro leapt at Zaraki, swinging his blade so fast that the captain had no time to get his own sword into position. He slashed opened Zaraki's shoulder.

Zaraki blocked Toshiro's second attack, but Toshiro batted his sword away and cut into his arm.

The force of the attack drove Zaraki back. He stabbed the wall next to him to stop his slide backwards.

'His reiatsu is as high as it was the instant he first released his zanpakuto. Except this time it's staying at that level instead of dropping immediately. In fact, it may be rising even higher than before.'

Toshiro was also surprised by his abilities.

'It feels like all of my senses are overclocked. I'm perceiving the world differently.'

'I can hear every pebble, every piece of debris that's knocked around. 'I can perceive all the water in the air.

'And my sword moves as if it has a mind of its own – which it does.'

Zaraki threw back his head and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Toshiro asked.

"This just became so much fun!" Zaraki yelled. He began to glow yellow as he raised his own reiatsu.

Zaraki launched himself at Tohiro again.

"I love it!" he yelled as Toshiro barely deflected his first attack.

"How did you come back from the dead?"

Toshiro ducked under Zaraki's next strike and slashed at the captain's leg, slicing open his left thigh.

"And how come you're so much stronger now?"

Toshiro backed away, disturbed at Zaraki's happiness at getting cut up.

"This battle has opened the door to so many questions!" Zaraki yelled. "But I'm willing to forget about them for the moment. Let's just have fun with this fight!"

Toshiro jumped back, but he swung his sword at Zaraki as he did so.

"Guncho Tsurara!"

Two dozen small spikes of ice appeared before Toshiro and launched themselves at Zaraki. The Elenth Division captain raised his sword blocked the spikes that were aimed at his head, but the remainder embedded themselves in his torso.

Zaraki grinned maniacally and powered up even more, expelling the spikes from his body. He attacked Toshiro again.

'What's with this guy?' Toshiro wondered as he blocked the attack. "No matter where I cut him he doesn't slow down.

Toshiro pressed forward, creating a wall of ice that pushed Zaraki back until he was against a wall.

Zaraki began to laugh maniacally again.

"At last, I have met my equal. In fact, you might even be slightly better than me!"

"I can't remember when I ever felt such elation! Against you I think I can fight no restraints at all!"

He lifted his hand to his eye and removed his eyepatch.

Toshiro had to shield his face as energy radiated from his opponent.

'What's going on? His reiatsu just shot through the roof!'

"Are you confused?" Kenpachi asked. "Allow me to explain."

He held up the eyepatch, which Toshiro now saw had several mouths with sharp teeth on the other side. "I had the technology department develop this little monster for me. It consumes large amounts of spirit energy from the one wearing it. Now that I've taken it off, I'm releasing 100% of my reiatsu!"

He dropped the eyepatch and swung his sword. The force of his swing caused the entire building next to him to collapse.

"And I'm going to use every bit of it to kill you."

Toshiro grimaced as the sounds of the falling chunks of metal and plaster overwhelmed his now more sensitive hearing.

But he also heard something else. Someone was screaming.

He looked around. There should not have been anyone other than Yachiru near them, but the screaming continued.

Toshiro closed his eyes and attempted to focus only on the sound of the screaming as the debris stopped falling. He pinpointed its location and opened his eyes.

The scream was coming from Zaraki's zanpakuto.

So you hear it as well.

"His sword is in pain," Toshiro said.

You can hear its screams, but he cannot. He has faith only in himself, and none for anyone else, even his own zanpakuto.

"But I'm placing my trust in you, Hyorinmaru. I can't beat him alone. I need you to guide my sword."

Very well.

Toshiro raised his sword and began to glow again.

"Even now, your reaitsu continues to rise," Zaraki observed happily.

"I am fighting with Hyorinmaru," Toshiro responded. "His power and mine are one."

Zaraki smirked. "Fighting together with your zanpakuto? What a joke. Zanpakutos are nothing more than weapons. That's approach of a weakling who doesn't have confidence in his own strength."

"No," Toshiro said. "It's the approach of someone who knows that he is never alone."

Toshiro closed his eyes as Zaraki prepared to attack, placing his trust in Hyorinmaru to guide his hands.

The long dragon of ice and water burst forth from his sword, surrounding him.

The two combatants charged at each other, the dragon moving above Toshiro.

They struck each other with their full strength, Zaraki with his sword, and Toshiro with his sword and the dragon.

The ground and all the nearby buildings shook at the incredible force of their final blows. Even Yachiru was forced to shield her face from the spray of water and ice that exploded in all directions.

When the sounds of battle had ceased, Yachiru wiped pieces of ice out of her hair and looked out over the battlefield in amazement.

Everything was covered in ice for hundreds of meters in all directions.

And in the center of the devastation the two warriors still stood.

Each combatant had struck his sword into the torso of the other. Zaraki's sword was embedded in Toshiro's side, while Toshiro's had gone into Zaraki's stomach and emerged out of his back.

They both pulled their blades out at the same time, causing blood to spray everywhere.

Toshiro opened his eyes, but they could not focus. He collapsed at Zaraki's feet.

Zaraki examined his Zanpakuto. It was covered in a thin layer of ice. He gave it a small swing to try to shake the ice off, but instead the blade cracked in to.

"Well I'll be," Zaraki said. "You won."

Then he collapsed as well.