DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FRUITS BASKET OR BLEACH NOR DO I PROFIT FROM THIS STORY!

Thank you to every one who reviewed, followed or put this on their favourite's list! It is most appreciated!

Sorry that it's taken me this long to update. The semester is ending soon so UNI has been my priority for the past few weeks, especially within exams looming.

As I said in the previous chapter the timeline for Bleach is going to be majorly different so that it fits in line with this story, think of it as an AU timeline. It actually goes against my own head cannon for the Bleach timeline where it concerns Toshiro, but I'm going to try and make it work.

Also, Toshiro will most likely appear to some that he is out of character, but its my belief that Toshiro does have a fun side that only a select group of people can bring out of him, like Rangiku. I think it would be more on the sarcastic side of humour, with room for a few pranks on the side (That could never be traced back to him, if he put his mind to it).

Previously…

Hitsugaya Taicho

In light of your recent observations, it has been decided that you will focus your attention on Kaibara High.

You will attend the School as a Third year student in class 3-A. Urahara Kisuke has taken the liberty to create a student profile, stating that you are transferring out of Karakura High to attend Kaibara High at the request of your family. Your first day will be the start of next week.

You will be expected to send weekly updates of your progress on ascertaining the source of the disturbances.

- Yamamoto Soutaicho

Damnit.

First Day

Hitsugaya Taicho,

I advise you to keep your distance from these children you mentioned in the last report, it may prove to be problematic if you were to spend too much time with them.

That being said, you will not be punished for your actions that resulted in meeting them. The safety of every soul is paramount, even if it means preventing a possible death. As such we will be looking at this incident as you acting within your duties as a Taicho of the Gotei Thirteen.

Report anything that you find to be of value.

- Yamamoto Soutaicho

Four days later Toshiro found himself lingering in an empty hall of Kaibara High, waiting for his homeroom teacher, Mayuko Shiraki, to settle the class down so that she could introduce him. He had met the kind, if not a tad aggressive, woman when he had an introductory meeting with the principal of the School. She had looked him over for a few seconds, taking in his unusual hair and eye colour, before shrugging and saying that as long as he didn't cause too much trouble they should be okay. It had been general meeting, telling Toshiro what was expected of him, both academically and socially, while also giving Toshiro the opportunity to ask questions about anything he was uncertain about. The principal wasn't impressed when the only question put forward was about when the meeting would finally end.

Toshiro didn't particularly care about impressing the man; his top priority was finding the source of the reiastu disturbance so that he could finally return to the Seireitei. He shuddered to think about how his division must be behaving under Rangiku's command, that woman was so persuasive that she could make even the most straight-laced Shinigami go along with her schemes, no matter how outlandish. That particular talent had him in the first division more often then he would have liked, the Soutaicho had actually taken it upon himself to schedule a permanent weekly meeting with Toshiro and Rangiku just to save time. While this more embarrassing than he cared to admit, Toshiro actually found himself looking forward to the meetings, a feeling he knew Rangiku shared. In their last meeting the Soutaicho had turned the most interesting shade of puce the duo had ever seen.

"Hitsugaya-san," Toshiro looked up from his phone, which he had been absentmindedly fiddling with, to see that Mayuko had come out of the classroom, she must have finished the introductions for the morning. "I've informed the class of your transfer, so when I call for you just open the door and come in. They're pretty rowdy but they're good kids, I'm sure you'll be just fine."

Toshiro sincerely doubted that.

"Are you sure your alright Tohru?"

"I'm fine Uo-chan" Tohru once again reassured her friend. The news of Tohru's near miss a few nights again had spread like wild fire, prompting many fellow students to ask how she was. Though there are some who would readily take advantage of the girl and her kind nature, the majority of the student body liked Tohru and felt a need to protect the slightly oblivious girl. "Really everyone," She addressed the rest of her classmates crowded around her desk "I'm fine. There's no need to worry."

The group grumbled but didn't make a move to return to their seats, which they had vacated as soon as Mayuko left to get the new transfer student. Uo kept her eyes trained on Tohru for a few minutes before sighing. "If you say so, but it was lucky that this Hitsugaya guy was around when he was, he must be a pretty cool guy if was willing to put his life on the line for a complete stranger."

The assembled group once again voiced their agreement.

"Alright you guys, settle down." Mayuko called as she came back into the room, immediately ushering the students back into their seats, much to Tohru's delight. "As I said before we have a new student joining us today, so I would like you to give him a warm welcome." She smiled at the class before turning to the door. "Hitsugaya-san, you may come in now."

"You've got to be kidding me." Kyo sat up straighter in his chair, vaguely noticing that both Yuki and Tohru were doing the same thing.

Toshiro cocked his brow not at all surprised by the actions of his soon to be fellow students. Most of them were staring at him, their eyes wide as they took in his unusual appearance; others were straining their necks to see him, almost climbing over each other in their enthusiasm.

'Okay, now that's a new one.'

Pushing that thought to the back of his mind, Toshiro continued his inspection of the group of teens and let an inaudible groan escape his lips when his gaze landed on a shock of orange hair. The only people that Toshiro knew had that alarming shade of orange were Kurosaki Ichigo and Sohma Kyo. The prospect of either teen being in this particular class was equally horrifying. Knowing his luck the rest of the group that he had met a few days ago would also be in this class. Tearing his eyes away Kyo, who remained oblivious to his gaze, Toshiro spied out the grey hair of Sohma Yuki and Honda Tohru, who managed to blend in more with her brown hair. He was glad to see that the other two Sohma teens were nowhere in sight.

'Just my luck, I managed to be in the same class with the three of the people that the Soutaicho warned me to stay away from. This is going to be fun to explain to him.'

"I'm Hitsugaya Toshiro, it's nice too meet you all." Toshiro bowed politely to the class, unknowingly making him appear even smaller to the teenagers.

"You can take the free seat behind Uotani-san," Mayuko addressed Toshiro as he righted himself from his bow. "Uotani-san please raise your hand."

"Right here." Uo raised her hand in a lazy wave, head resting comfortably in her hand. She gave a courtesy nod as Toshiro passed her desk.

"Alright class, now that everything is taken care of can you please open your text books to page-"

Toshiro tuned out the rest of what Mayuko said, he had already learnt every thing he needed to know about the world at the academy and was even forced to attend more classes whenever new information was obtained. Deciding that his time was better spent looking out the window Toshiro did just that, dutifully ignoring the stares that he was garnering for blatantly ignoring the lesson.

He had received the same attention when he had first entered the academy; his white hair and emerald eyes immediately drawing unwanted attention. To begin with many avoided him, the same way that the people of Junrinan would scuttle away whenever he came in sight. After some time those same people began to treat him with contempt and openly criticise everything he did. He put it down to how quickly he progressed with his studies, easily finishing over a years worth of material in the time it took them to complete a single term. His instructors labelled him a prodigy within his first few weeks and, much to Toshiro's dismay, he has been stuck with the title since.

Toshiro relaxed in his seat as each student eventually grew bored of their own gawking and returned their attention to the lesson, though the occasional student would glance at him from the corner of their eyes. 'These kids really don't know how to be subtle.' He huffed as yet another student turned to look at him, this one actually turning in his seat, hiding the act in a badly disguised yawn. Toshiro was quick to dismiss the thought that the student would probably get on remarkably well with Madarame.

Meanwhile, Kyo was fretting in his seat. His leg was bouncing up and down, refusing to cooperate with his attempt to stop it. If he did manage to stop it for a few seconds it would just start up again, often without him noticing until he gained a disgruntled look for the person beside him. He couldn't help it though, he had been on edge ever since Toshiro had entered the rom, and it was as if the guy could set his nerves on fire with his mere presence, a stark contrast to the cool aura that the white haired teen seemed to naturally exude.

He groaned. Why did he have to be in this class? Scratch that, why did he have to be in this School? It would have been much easier if their meeting turned out to be a onetime occurrence, but no! The universe must have had it out for him.

He laid his head down on the desk and let his mind travel back to a few nights ago, back to the conversation he shared with Shigure.

"I'm telling you Shigure, he looked exactly like him!"

"How can you be sure Kyo? You've never met him, hell I wasn't even born."

"But we've all seen photos!" Kyo slammed his hand on the kotatsu, his voice breaking as his anger got the better of him. "There isn't a Sohma who hasn't seen pictures or heard stories about him! I know that it's him."

Shigure sighed and rubbed his eyes; the late hour was getting to him. "We can't jump to conclusions, it could just be a coincidence."

"Yeah, I bet there are a ton of white haired, green eyed teenagers called Hitsugaya Toshiro running around."

A tense silence filled the room, settling over the occupants quickly. Tohru had left for bed over an hour ago, leaving the five Sohma men to themselves in the living room. As soon as they were sure Tohru wouldn't be able to hear them the remaining teens told their side of the story, eventually leading to the argument between Shigure and kyo.

"We should talk to Kazuma." Hatsuharu spoke up from his position beside the window. "He would have a better indication of what's happening and could confirm if our suspicions are right or not."

"A splendid idea Haru! However, I think you should only do this if you come into contact with him again, there is no sense in causing a commotion for something that could be a one time thing." Shigure rose from the Kotta's, a smile spreading across his face. "Kazuma is our best bet at finding out what's going on. But for now, you should all head to bed, its much too late for Momiji and Hatsuharu to be going back to the estate, so ill make up some futons for you down here."

And with that the conversation came to an abrupt end.

Kyo grunted, hearing another coming from Yuki's seat. The rat was probably thinking along the same lines as him. Yep, the universe was definitely out to get him, and that damn rat.

The bell had barely finished ringing before his classmates surrounded Toshiro's desk, not unlike Tohru was that morning. The Sohma's were at the front of the large group, along with Tohru, Uo and another girl that Toshiro couldn't put a name to.

"Can I help you?"

Uo, who had merely turned in her seat to talk to him, spoke first. "We heard about what you did for Tohru a couple of nights ago. That was pretty cool of you."

"Yes, it was quite the heroic deed." The yet to be named girl chimed in. Her voice was light but held an air of authority, almost like Unohana but Toshiro would say that she would have to work for many decades to achieve the same of level of passive aggressiveness that the Yonbantai Taicho possessed. He was drawing an alarming amount of parallels between this town and his fellow Shinigami.

"I'm sure anyone else would have done the same thing." He shrugged not really caring the praise he was receiving.

"That's not true, there are a lot of people that would have just stood there and watched it happen." One student protested from behind Tohru, their face hidden in the sea of students.

"That's right!" Another student piped up. "You see stuff like that on the news all the time. Somebody gets in an accident and nobody tries to help or potentially stop it from happening. They all just let it happen."

"Yeah, it's not like in the movies, where a bunch of people help out."

Tohru, who remained silent as more and more students began to voice their opinions, started toying the cuffs of he shirt. Is that what happened to her mum when she had her accident? Could her death have been preventable if there had been someone like Toshiro around? She shook her head, no, she couldn't think like that. What happened was a tragedy and nothing could change that for all parties involved. The driver of the car had also died at the scene, it turned out that he had been speeding because he was away on a business trip when his pregnant wife had gone into labour, he was trying to get to the hospital in time so that he could be there for the birth. After he had run down Kyoko his car skidded and wrapped itself around a traffic light. He died instantly. Later on, the news anchors ribbed that it was an ironic end.

Tohru thought that the joke was tasteless.

"Can you really blame them?" Toshiro's voice shocked Tohru out of her thoughts and caused the students to fall silent. Toshiro continued after a moment. "The first instinct that a human has is self preservation, it why we build weapons to defend our selves and why we build walls to keep others out. When we get caught doing something we shouldn't be doing our immediate reaction is to lie about it, even when you've been caught red handed you lie because somehow it seems that you'll still get away with it. So it's not surprising that most people would think of themselves before others when faced with the kind of situation where you could die if you interfered. Hell, it's expected. Anybody who acts outside that norm would be often be called reckless for putting themselves at such risk."

"Those people are heroes though!" A girl called out from beside Yuki, she looked put out.

"Yes, wouldn't putting the safety of someone else above your own be considered brave?" Yuki ignored the adoring looks he got from his fan club as he said this, not at all interested in their antics today, or any other day for that matter.

"But aren't most heroic acts fuelled by a reckless desire to prove something to oneself or to someone else? I know a guy that would do anything to keep the people he cares about safe and has done just that, but he is probably one of the most rash people you will ever meet, and he can remarkably stupid sometimes."

"So are you calling yourself stupid? You did save Tohru's life after all." Uo asked, as her interest peeked the longer the conversation went on.

"I'm not calling myself anything, be it a hero or an idiot. I am merely saying that one shouldn't be judged by something that do, or fail to do in the heat of the moment. One moment in a persons life does not account for the rest of their life or the life they lived before the moment." Toshiro stood up from his chair, fishing his phone from his pocket as he did so. He didn't spare a thought to how quiet the class had become since he finished speaking. Hopefully this would deter them from trying to converse with him in the future. "Now if you'll excuse me." He said as he departed from the classroom, leaving a heavy silence in his wake.

School, Toshiro decided, was one of the biggest wastes of time he had ever had the displeasure of experiencing. He hadn't paid any attention at all to the morning lessons, though Toshiro doubted anyone truly pays attention in a maths lesson. He had been mildly hopeful that science would at least hold his interest, but try as he might, he just couldn't bring himself to care about the life cycle of a dandelion.

The rest of the day wasn't any better. Toshiro had hoped that he would be left alone after he talked to his classmates during the lunch break, but his hopes were dashed when as soon as he returned his classmates accosted him at every turn.

"Come sit with us Toshiro-kun!"

"Want to eat lunch with us tomorrow Toshiro-kun?"

"Do you need someone to show you around Toshiro-kun? I'm available!"

When the final bell rang, Toshiro couldn't get out of the building fast enough, and if he tried to he would have been using shunpo. The audacity of children now days astounded him. Kurosaki calling him by his given name was one thing but an entire student body? That was too much. 'This mission is just keeps getting worse and worse.'

The shrill ring of his phone jostled him from his thoughts and immediately set him on edge. The phone only ever made that obnoxious sound when a hollow was near by. He ignored the disgruntled looks he received as he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and quickly retrieved his phone.

A low class hollow has been detected in you area, minimal force is required.

Location: One thousand meters northeast.

Perfect, this is exactly what he needs right now, a stupid hollow on the loose.

Toshiro slipped into a nearby alley, only stopping when he was hidden from sight behind a dumpster. Usually he would avoid using such filthy places to use his gikon, but at this time of day and with the amount of people on the street, he didn't have much choice. He quickly slipped the gikongan into his mouth and immediately found himself ejected from his gigai, the artificial soul effectively taking command of the fake body. Most Shinigami chose to use Chappy as their gikon while on missions in the world of the living, but it was much too cutesy for his liking. Instead Toshiro preferred to use King, though it is the least popular variety of gikon, King is very diligent. The only draw back with King is that he is, simply put, rather stupid.

"Stay out of sight. Do not leave this alley." Toshiro commanded his gigai, before leaving in a fast shunpo, not waiting for King to respond. He would do as he told, he always did.

Toshiro scoffed as he found the hollow not a minute later. It was on the larger side, but not so big that it could be seen at a distance, and its white mask somewhat resembled a bull. The hollow was taking slow, shaky, steps as it tried to round the corner, not even acknowledging Toshiro's presence.

'Must be new.' Toshiro thought as he followed the hollow, curious as to know where it was headed. He didn't see any harm in allowing the hollow to wander for a bit longer, they were in the back streets so there were far less people around compared to where Toshiro had just come from. After a few minutes Toshiro noticed that the hollow was coming up behind a group of teens, and he groaned when he recognised the annoying shade of orange.

'Did I do something in a previous life? Because this is getting ridiculous.' It was rare for a hollow to attack the living but it wasn't unheard of. In those cases it was usually a departed family member who had been turned into a hollow and began attacking the people they left behind. Toshiro was once again jarred out of his thoughts when the hollow suddenly stopped; its large feet shook the ground slightly, and opened its mouth, an eerie red light beginning to form.

Toshiro frowned and shot forward, immediately zipping around the hollow so that he was face to face with it. He put his hand under the chin of the mask and snapped in shut, the hollow letting out a wail as he did so. "Sorry, can't have you killing the living." Toshiro told the hollow as it stumbled back. "You understand." With he released Hyourinmau from his sheath and with a decisive swing the hollows mask split, and was no more.

He glanced over his shoulder, it looked as if the group hadn't seen anything, and they were still heading in the same direction, their voices loud and obnoxious as always. He hand through his white locks. That hollow was definitely drawn to the group; it had avoided several major streets in favour of finding this particular group of teens.

Toshiro sighed, looked like he had more things to report to the Soutaicho than he wanted to.

Fantastic.

"Hitsugaya-san really does seem nice, don't you think?" Tohru asked happily. Not at all aware of the danger she or her friends had just been in. The school day had just ended and Shigure had given permission for Uo and Hana to have dinner with them tonight, along with Momiji and Haru,

'Yeah, to you maybe.' Kyo thought stubbornly, he was a too stand offish for his liking. When he had told Uo this, the teen had laughed right in his face and had been unable to catch her breath for a good five minutes. He failed to see what was so funny about it.

"He isn't afraid to state his opinions that's for sure." Uo didn't mind that quality in a person she actually admired the trait.

"Haru and I heard about that! He is becoming quite infamous around School isn't he?" Momiji laughed, Tohru joining in not a second later.

"Yes, I enjoyed his company as well." Hana commented softly, she was walking next to Yuki and in front of a silent Haru.

"Oh? He must have some good electric waves then huh?"

Hana frowned, drawing the attention of the group. "Is something wrong Hana?" The concern was evident in Tohru's voice.

"It's odd, but his electric waves are quite different for what I would expect from someone like him."

"Odd?"

The reserved girl nodded. "Yes, they seemed to be far more mature than what they what they should be at this age. It not uncommon to find someone who is more mature than others, but his felt a bit extreme."

"Could it just be coincidence?" Kyo cringed at using the words that Shigure had thrown in face only a few nights ago. Despite what he said back then, he didn't really want to think that he was right, the possibility that he might be is too disturbing. The situation was confusing enough without Hana adding fuel to the fire. "Maybe he's been through more than somebody should and it made him mature quicker."

"I agree," Yuki really hated it when he agreed with that stupid cat, but it couldn't be help, "I doubt he had a fun childhood looking as he does. Not that I have a problem with it." he was quick to add.

Hana nodded, she had moved to the front of the group by now. "Sometimes that is the case, however" she stopped in her tracks, causing the group to stop with her, "That doesn't explain why I felt two sets of electric waves coming from him."

Mission status update.

I have successfully entered the School as a student, and have become acquainted with the teaching staff that I have come into contact with.

My apologies Soutaicho, but it would seem that I will be unable to follow your orders. Avoiding the teens from before will prove to difficult, as I have been placed in a class with three of them. It would also seem that the incident from a few nights ago is common knowledge among the students as well, they have been coming to thank me all day and seem quite adamant about befriending me.

There was a hollow attack today, a low class, and no damage was done to any structures nor were any civilians injured. However it appeared as if the hollow was attracted to the same group of teens as before. For future reference I will list their names below.

Honda Tohru.

Sohma Kyo.

Sohma Yuki.

Sohma Momiji.

Sohma Hatsuharu.

Uotani Arisa.

Saki Hanajima.

Uontani and Hanajima were with the group when hollow surfaced this afternoon, however they were not present a few nights ago.

There were no incidents of the reiatsu fluctuation, but that is not uncommon as there has been numerous days without incident.

Will report again when I have more information.

- Hitsugaya Taicho.

Second chapter is down!

Kotatsu – It's a low wooden table that has its own heating source; it can either be built into the table or added later. Sometimes a futon is added for extra warmth.

Yonbantai – Fourth squad

Tabi (this was actually in the first chapter but I forgot to add it so I'll just put it here for now) – Traditional Japanese socks, they big toe is separated from the little toes.

Shunpo – Referred to as 'flash-step' in the English dub. This allows for the Shinigami to move faster than the eye can see. Its been said that Toshiro is an expert at this.

Gikon – Shinigami use this to remove themselves from a gigai (it's more of a dispenser for the gikongan). There are different models of gikon, the most popular one being chappy and the least popular is king. More often than not the type of gikon a Shinigami uses reflects their personality. I know it seems odd that Toshiro would use King because it is described as 'stupid' but it is also very diligent, just like Toshiro. For future reference, whenever Toshiro uses the gikon I'm going to refer to it as King.

Gikongan – The pill that is inside the gikon, it has a foreign reiastu that takes hold of the object it is inserted into. It's more commonly referred to as soul candy.

Junrinan – The area that Toshiro group up together with Momo.

With the part about Kyoko's accident I just want to clarify that I don't condone speeding. I just want to show that while the driver was at fault and did cause the death of Kyoko it didn't necessarily mean that he was a bad person. He just did a stupid thing.

Also if I offended anyone with my talk of bravery and all that I apologise. I'm not having a go at people who put their lives at risk for others (the police, fire fighters, etc.) I'm just saying that sometimes when you watch something on TV you can think 'Wow! That was really brave.' and also think at the same time 'that was really stupid though.' Do you get what I mean?

I just want to say sorry again for the wait; I hope that it was worth it.

R and R

DragonShenron