Disclaim: Manga belongs to Tite Kubo.

Yo, people :) So I'm sorry but we're nearing the exams and I have a lot of papers to hand in. Because of that I haven't had the time to really work this chapter and it ended up kind of stupid, so sorry about that... I was really looking forward to right this chapter but I ended up rushing it to finish this week.

Anyway, hope it doesn't ruin to much.

Chapter 15: June 16th

He couldn't believe another year had passed. After all that happened, he had been back to the world of the living only once to tell Karin about what happened to Ryuu. She, on the contrary, already knew. A freaking year and he hadn't even see the time fly by. He only noticed when the head captain told them a few moments ago.

He stopped dead in his track when he came face to face with the weather. He had thought about going to tell Ryuu about the decision made by the captains about his stay, finally. He was reconsidering that right now. A year, of course it would be raining like cats and dogs. Or was it snowing?

Renji knew two things for starters. First, he was not going out in that weather where it was impossible to see ten meters, if there was an other way. Second: there was no point in looking at the calendar to know which day it was today: June 17th. Or that was before he started shivering under the cold temperature. No, June 16th.

He got Ichigo's need to make it rain the way it did and even if that was annoying, nobody minded, it matches the usual weather. But seriously, snow? Couldn't Hitsugaya just let it rain? Snow was not supposed to be falling in the beginning of summer. He didn't even know if said captain had any ideas what he was doing.

"Captain Abarai," came the voice of one of his colleagues, "can you please deliver this to captain Kurosaki that missed the meeting?" Before he could answer the papers where thrown in his face. Great, now he needed to make an extra trip to the eight before going back to the third.

Did nobody know the eight and the third where not side by side? And definitely not on the same side as the fourth, where Ryuu should be today?

He was happy though, that Ryuu was soon well enough to leave the 4th squad and could choose in which division he wanted to be in. He had a feeling it would most definitely not be the 1st, the 2nd, the 5th, the 6th, the 8th, the 11th or the 12th. These captains just freaked the kid out, and Ichigo, well he was a Kurosaki.

After the traumatized adventure he had lived a year priory, the 4th had taken care of him and let him stay in their squad. Surprisingly he actually got quite friendly with the vice captain. Must be because of their shared boring character.

"Oi, Ichigo, mind quitting the rain?" He asked opening the door of said person's office. What he found was not pretty. Behind the captain's bureau sat a very sad woman with her head resting on the table. "Euh, Rukia? What are you doing here?"

"Ichigo don't like me anymore," she cried. Side note to himself: never get a woman pregnant. You could see she was expecting but the medical Shinigami said she shouldn't worry as the child wouldn't be born before next year.

"I doubt it could be that," said the very uncomfortable captain of the third squad. "Maybe he just had a lot to do." He made his way toward her, leaving the soaked piece of papers on the desk.

"But he only gave me two kisses this morning and he left before eating my homemade breakfast." Did Ichigo really eat that breakfast any day, sounds uneatable.

"Maybe he is just thinking about something else, it is the 16th of June after all." This was not looking great for him.

"But I can't find him," she continued whipping the tears away with the back of the cloth.

"I'll go find him for you," he said with a restrained smile. Not only was he certain he needed to go outside again, but Ichigo was probably under the freaking rain.

"Euh, Renji, what happened to you?" She asked as she looked at his drenched form making his hair fall down over his eyes. Only annoying part about long hair.

"It's raining," he answered flatly.

"Oh" was all she said before looking out the window. Really?

He searched for the strawberry inside the building first, and finding his spiritual energy was not easy when he was the freaking reason behind the rain, and Hitsugaya but that was an other story.

"What exactly do you think you're doing strawberry?" He asked when he landed beside the other captain currently sitting on the roof of his office.

"Pineapple." The other didn't bother looking at him.

"Oi, your wife's mopping in your office saying you don't like her. If you don't want to die, go comfort her now. Or I could always go tell captain Kuchiki," the last bit said with a smirk. The notice did not have the impact he was waiting for.

"I'll go."

"You' away?" Asked the redhead giving up protecting himself from the rain and sitting down.

"How was the meeting?" He asked instead.

"You would have known if you showed your face. Anyway it's the 16th today, do your mourning tomorrow."

"What was the decision made about Ryuu?"

"I needed to bring you that damn report so you better read it. Your rain is pissing me off by the way. Can you make it stop?"

"No. And you should ask Toshiro if you want it to stop. I'm not the cause."

"You' freaking kiddin' me? I can sense you spiritual energy coming from the sky."

"What do you want captain Abarai?" Not a good sign when Ichigo actually used the titles.

"You're wife's mopping. Are you even listening?" He shook his head. He tried very hard not to draw his zanpakuto, very, very hard. "You could have at least send your vice captain pick up the rapport."

"Don't have one, remember?" When the other man looked at him he was surprised by the emptiness. He didn't want to do this; breathing in he jumped.

"Okay what's eating you up?"

"I was thinking about Karin." He needed to hold back his eyes from turning. "You said she was doing okay, but what is she doing? Renji I know her spiritual energy just vanished and then came back. My dad had the same freaking problem, so what happened?"

After all the years questioned by the man, Renji had his story straight. "Urahara," he sight, "he gave her a bracelet that could contain the energy. I've told you this before."

"Then why exactly did it skyrock again when soul society first discovered Ryuu?" Man, Ichigo was actually getting smarter.

"Ryuu needed Karin's help to be able to fight hollows so she gave back the bracelet." The man beside him didn't answer. "Anyway, I was on my way to the fourth so I will leave you to console your wife." Before he could leave however he heard Ichigo stand up.

"Ryuu said he barely knew Karin. I just had a hunch you aren't entirely sincere." The two male watch each other.

"What are you meaning?"

"I don't know, maybe something around the fact that Ryuu is more closely connected to me than what you said. After all, everyone knows you and Rangiku has known the kid for some times."

"Yes I knew Ryuu because Urahara asked us to help when we were there. He's not a child born from your over powered energy, don't worry."

"I didn't mean mine," he heard before leaving the roof. He got the underlying message.

"What can I help you with," asked the woman in the reception of the 4th. He could hear the muffled sound of 11 squad officers and the frenetic screaming of the members of the 4th trying there best to calm them down.

"I was searching for Ryuu, the human that came here not long ago."

"Ah yes. I don't think he is here. Wait a little." She moved away from her post and started talking to some random persons of her squad. She looked sympathique at him when she came back.

"Apparently, Ryuu-san left saying he wanted to talk to someone."

"In this weather?" He asked shocked.

"Apparently. I don't know where but if you find third seat Hanataro-san, he should know where Ryuu-san went."

"Thank you." He made his way deeper into the messy halls of the division in hope of finding the man. He found him eventually trying to calm down an officer, not strangely, from the 11th. Helping the poor man out, Renji soon found himself in the 10th squad.

"Well, hello," said the feminine voice he knew way too well, "What brings you to me?" Rangiku was standing close to the entrance as if blocking his way.

"I came to see Ryuu, I guessed he was seeing you." She offered him to follow her down the corridor. When they passed the door to the captain's office he could hear the sound of Ryuu's voice. She pressed him to follow her further down.

"As you could see, Ryuu wasn't here for me. Let the two of them bond." They sat down in a room further down. Her quarters he understood as she took the bottle of sake from the counter.

"I should be on my way back then," he said.

"In this weather," she said shocked. "At least stay awhile." He gave up.

…

The very timid knocking on his door made the captain of the 10th squad look up. Who in the world nocked on a door where there was written 'DO NOT DISTURB'? And he was sure he had told his officers not to disturb him or let anyone do so.

"Euh, captain Hitsugaya?" Asked the timid voice, "May I come in?" He recognized the voice of the little brat. He hadn't seen him in a year and that had actually let him fight of the hate and jalousie. Well to a certain extent anyway. Not sparing him a second glance he returned to his work.

"What made you think you could enter," he answered instead.

"Well they said you never left your office today so I thought I pass by since I would be certain you would be here." He could hear the hesitation in the child's voice. "And they said no one disturbed you either so I figured I wouldn't disturb you or any meetings."

Hitsugaya had an very urge to ask him if his way of planning things was hereditary because he knew no one else that would come to that conclusion other than a Kurosaki. He supposed that made sense Ryuu would have the same way of thinking.

"And what exactly made you overlook the fact that you are indeed a person too?"

The child hadn't exactly grown since last time he saw him, but he did look more alive. He could still see the scar on his left wrist, but the way he held himself made him look like he was fine.

"I didn't think about that," he trailed off looking away. The captain just returned to his paperwork. He really didn't like that the child was standing in his office exactly today. He couldn't just have waited one day? It made him think of her even more. He let it pass before it would drag him down.

He heard the kid move but didn't mind him leaving. But instead of walking toward the door, said boy took one of the chairs resting against the wall and sat down right in front of his desk. Looking up he could see Ryuu with his head bend over.

Breathing out the captain just returned to his work. If the child wasn't here to bother him, he didn't mind as much. Let the kid say what he wanted to say.

"I never got to thank you properly," said the small voice. "They told me a long time ago, but I was scared to come out. So thank you for finding me."

At his words, the elder looked up. Ryuu had his head bowed in tanks and despise it all, Toshiro could still see the small shaking of his shoulders. Feeling the little pin in his pocket, he puts it on the desk in front of Ryuu. The captain had given up trying to concentrate on the work anyway.

"How did," the child breather out seeing the pin. He picked it up as if that was the most preciouses artifact he had. He quickly put it around a chain and let it be hidden by his cloth.

"It was the only thing you had with you in the lab."

He wanted to ask the kid why he had the pin, or even if he knew why he had it, but self restraint was something he was good at. Looking at the child made him think about the report his subordinate had given him just a moment before.

"The captains hold a meeting concerning you this morning," he started as his eyes looked at the general points. "Do you want to know what conclusion they came to?" Reading the one present, he noticed the absence of both Kurosaki and Kenpachi.

"That would be great," said the other one raising his head to meet his eyes. For the first time he saw Ryuu, not as the child of someone he longed for, nor the child of a man he hated, but as a child hiding pain by putting up a mask.

"First apparently the head captain wanted to apologize for the time taken before reaching their decision. I might add that your presence has caused both problems and questions toward what the Seireitei stands for. The second is an apology that they still don't know what happened to you or the lab you were found in."

"Thirdly, it has been decided that even if it looks like your spiritual energy has stabilized to a certain degree, you can not leave soul society in the nine years to come." Looking over the papers he saw the sadness flash through the youngster's eyes. "That means, you are not to meet your family again in the next nine years to come."

He could see the pain filling up the child as he explained what exactly was his destiny for the next years. He was stuck in soul society but the captains had apparently given him the choice to choose in which division he wanted to stay. Or he could try enrolling the academy the beginning of next year. Actually that was what they expected him to do.

Reading it, Hitsugaya could only think that it was due to Ichigo's absence that the meeting had ended with that result. After all, they had many meetings concerning the child but in all of them, Ichigo had been the one protesting fully against Ryuu's stay.

"You should tell the higher ups your name," he finished putting down the report. "That way you can at least stay with some of your family members while being trapped here."

"Why didn't you tell them I was a Kurosaki? You knew all the time but you never said." The youngster had never backed away from his stare, only stared back.

"It was not for me to tell."

"Why bother telling them that, if I'm going to join the academy anyway? It's not as if I want to go through that with everyone looking at me believing I can do anything because of my relatives. In fact it's annoying that nobody believes I can do anything just because I look small, but if I tell them who I am they would suddenly believe I'm superman."

Never once did the child's voice waive, even if you could hear the sadness in the back of his throat. He had gain some emotional control since last time. He could hear the words mixing in his sentence and he didn't bother asking what this 'superman' was.

"You shouldn't take the offer of joining the Academy. You are young and you should enjoy your freedom while you can. You shouldn't try to grow up too fast."

"And what exactly does a captain of one of the 13 squad guard know about being too young," he said back. The same way he had treated the captain back in Karakura. And just like that the captain was telling this random child about his past. A past he rather hide under the carpet than show to the world.

Why he did it? That was obvious to him. Not because of his mother and most definitely not because of Matsumoto pushing him to be more open. But the eyes he had stared into where not just some strangers eyes. He had seen those eyes before, those young eyes searching for a home, a place to belong. He had seen those eyes every single day of his childhood, because they reflected his.

So they talked about everything really. True, Toshiro didn't go into many details but the general idea was there. He told him about his life as a prodigies in the Seireitei and graduating only after a year. Ryuu did ask questions and soon enough he could feel the air around them change, or more like he felt his heart more at peace than what it had been for a long time.

"You shouldn't listen to what the elders said concerning your age. It's not because you are small that you are necessarily stupid or bad at fighting. But I stand firm on the matter that you shouldn't try to enroll into the academy before you know you want to be a Shinigami."

The sky was slowly turning darker as the clock neared the evening. Toshiro could feel that the child had opened up to him as well as he told him about his childhood where he was treated as a fool and a brut. The way that his uncle and aunt had always been there for him. Not once however he touched the subject of his father. Well that was understandable considering the fact that he was apparently dead.

And even if he hated the child when he came in hours ago, Hitsugaya couldn't stop feeling like he knew him somehow. After all, they say: people faced with the same difficulties bonded well.

When asked if he had any father figure he answered: "Uncle Renji has always been my kind of dad. I would not go as far as saying that Urahara was anything more than a strange man in the corner of the streets. You could say he was a kind of uncle figure even if up until I knew about soul reapers I considered him gramps."

After telling the kid about his life and hearing him relate to it as his own, they had stayed silent letting the captain finish his work. When the clock neared seven they could hear the movement of officers leaving toward their meal.

"You should probably go back to the 4th before the food is eaten up," he heard himself say.

"The 4th have already eaten by now so I don't think that would change much. Captain may I ask you something?" He only lifted his head to show that he had the attention. "Would you mind if I came back to this division?"

"Why would you?" He asked straightening up in his chair.

"It's not because of what you told me, I would not read too much into that, but is this the reason why I was put in this squad in the first time? I mean your early acceptance in the seireitei?"

"I would assume, yes." Thinking of it, the captain had never asked why Ryuu was put under his jurisdiction to begin with. It would have been more obvious to put him under captain Kurosaki that had actually lived a life in the world of the living.

"I see. Then, please could I move in here again?"

"Is there any other motives other than the fact I was the one you were first put under and the fact that I am known as the youngest captain?" He watched suspiciously as the child played with the hem of his cloth.

"Well, there is also the matter of my zanpakuto. I don't know if you heard that I freezed down a room a year ago?" The captain nodded. "Sorry about that by the way. You see, I've heard you also possessed a zanpakuto that was iced based and I was wondering if you could teach me?" The way the child looked at him discreetly made him nearly smirk.

"I think you have much to learn about the Seireitei and soul society before you even think about mastering you zanpakuto. But even if I don't think I can teach you much about your own zanpakuto I suppose you can move back into the room you had before."

"I didn't think reading about soul society would make me a better soul reaper. I didn't bother research on that matter." He raised a white eyebrow. "I've been using the last year to keep my mind in check and reading books from the 4th squad."

"I think Matsumoto would be delighted if you came back. I think we can do something about your cold spiritual energy."

It was the first time Toshiro saw the child smile so brightly and his heart arched again. It was growing to be though to look out for a kid that reminded him of her, but that was the last he could do for her. It made him wonder what exactly he had agreed on. Ryuu left soon after, not before thanking him a good ten times.

Seems like june 16th was a strange day to him no matter the year.

…

Renji wasn't jalousie, really why would he be? Ryuu was in his father's squad and even if the others didn't see it, both of the partner in crime saw the way the child and father bonded. He was not going to deny the fact that Rangiku was getting on his nerves.

The day the decisions had been made she had sat in his office the entire day bugging him. Saying Ryuu had an other person he looked up too. And he had chosen her over him.

Behind the colorful ideas she found to annoy him with, he could still hear the relief that the two wasn't repulsing one another as much. Even if a part of Renji was going to miss the little kid watching him in awe every time he did some simple tasked easy trick, he couldn't be more relieved that Ryuu had found an other model.

"It's because they both have an ice zanpakuto that they bond so well," said Rangiku explaining why Ryuu chose her squad over his.

The news had made the head captain smile. When Hitsugaya had left he even added: "finally something that would maybe defreeze our dear ice captain."

Ichigo had been mad at pretty much every captain after the meeting but finally gave up when the child hadn't opposed the head captain's will. Ryuu said he had seen it coming. After all, he knew better than anyone that he had no control whatsoever over his ability.

"Ryuu," had the captain of the third said one day making his way to the child, reading a huge book under one of the trees on the property of the tenth. "How're you doing?" He asked sitting down beside him.

He had let him settle down back in the seventh barrack but this time under the supervision of the lieutenant. No one of the officers seem to like Ryuu any more than what they did but the kid didn't look as fazed as he did in the beginning.

"Better I suppose. You're not mad are you?" Asked the kid looking up from what looked like a history book.

"Nah, you're free to chose where you want to be." He smiled, seeing as a huge grin was offered back at him. They looked like two people just running away from their crim. "I wanted to ask," started Renji in a playful voice, "how did you convince captain Hitsugaya to take you back in?"

"Actually that was because he didn't want me to join the academy. Said I was to young to be there, so instead of going to the academy to learn how to control my ability I'm staying in the tenth reading about soul reaper, history of soul society and if I get strong enough I'm allowed to visit the Rugonkai."

"So, if I'm getting this right, you're offered to stay in the tenth as long as you stay out of the academy?"

"Yep." Well it was a good thing they seem to understand each other. "And captain Hitsugaya is actually really smart." Renji laughed at this.

"You now his supposedly a genius, right?"

"Of course, that's why I want to learn from him and not you," answered the kid flatly and return his concentration at his book. Renji could only shook his head in desperation and smile.

He knew Ryuu had gone through tough times where he didn't really know who he was supposed to be any more. Renji had given him the good idea of following what he like the most. And one of the things on top of that list was knowledge. Ryuu love digging deeper and deeper into secrets that were surly best untouched.

"Have fun then kid," he said when the clock was ticking away. "Come visit your stupide uncle sometime so he doesn't feel left out, will ya?" He smile sincerely. Ryuu would survive the nine years. He would break and he would need the support of both him and Rangiku, but they would never leave him any way.

Thanks for reading :)

I'm just going to say this: when something is seen from a person perspective, their reality can be wrong... ;)

I hope it wasn't too bad for a chapter and that I didn't ruin to much...

Have a nice week :D