Toshiro's feet slapped loudly against the wooden floor as he ran down the Division Three hall toward his father's office. He'd heard a messenger had arrived from the Kuchiki estate and he wanted to know how Hisana was. She'd fallen ill only a week ago, but he and his mother hadn't been allowed to visit because everyone was worried about his mother catching whatever was wrong with Hisana too. They said it could be dangerous for the baby that was growing inside her.
It was just one more point against the expected sibling as far as Toshiro was concerned.
He shoved open his father's office door and froze. The messenger was still there and so was Lieutenant Suzuki, but his father was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's my dad?" he demanded.
The lieutenant turned to the boy, sadness and pity in his dark eyes. "The Captain has gone to speak to your mother. You shouldn't bother them for a while."
Toshiro's eyes narrowed. His father vanished to 'speak to' his mother all the time. Usually Suzuki just looked annoyed. This was completely different. "Why?"
Suzuki walked over to Toshiro and dropped down onto one knee. "I'm very sorry, Toshiro," he said softly. "Your mother's friend, Lady Kuchiki, has died."
Toshiro stared back at the lieutenant, not quite comprehending what he was saying. He'd met people before, in the Gotei, who had gone out on missions and never come back. Death was a part of life in the shinigami's world, but he'd never really known them. Hisana was the first, and she wasn't even a shinigami. It wasn't fair.
The temperature in the room dropped abruptly. Lieutenant Suzuki realized it when he saw his breath cloud in front of his face. He glanced around. Ice was forming on the windows and creeping out across the floor. The messenger standing near the door looked frightened.
"Shiro-kun!" he said loudly, grabbing the boy by both arms. "Control yourself!"
Toshiro's wide blue eyes focused on the lieutenant. The ice melted and warmth returned to the room. "Why didn't she just get better?" he asked.
"Sometimes the sickness is too strong, Shiro-kun. It's like when a shinigami fights a hollow, they do the best they can, but sometimes a shinigami gets into a fight he can't win no matter how hard he tries. It's very sad, especially for those who love them. Your mother's going to be sad for a long time. She and Captain Kuchiki and Shiba Miyako-san are going to need a lot of sympathy and understanding from the rest of us. We're going to do the best we can to help them, aren't we?"
Toshiro nodded. He wanted to argue, to demand to know why Hisana hadn't fought harder and why no one had helped her. Couldn't Captain Unohana have saved her? It didn't seem right that someone could just get sick and die. Then another thought occurred to him. "If my mom gets sick like Hisana-sama will she die too?"
Lieutenant Suzuki suddenly pulled Toshiro into a tight hug. "Don't you worry. Nothing is going to happen to your mother. Rangiku-san is one of the strongest women I've ever met. She'd never let a fever stop her."
Toshiro started crying then. It was horrible to be so small and helpless and to know that there were terrible things out there that could get to anyone and make them sick and make them die. How could you stay safe from such things if even Hisana-sama in her great big house with all her guards and servants and even Captain Kuchiki to watch over her, even she wasn't safe. How could you keep anyone safe in a world like that?
And what about his mother? The lieutenant said she was strong, but maybe he was just saying that to make Toshiro feel better. His father was always teasing his mother about how weak she was. He said she was too soft, and she needed to fight harder. He was always saying that. He was always saying she wasn't strong enough.
Rangiku did not do well with losing her friend. It was so unexpected and the fact that she hadn't even been able to see her tore at her. She was a complete mess of emotions, pregnancy hormones mixed with guilt and grief, and she found herself crying several times a day.
It wasn't good for Toshiro. He didn't need to see his mother falling apart. She sent him with his father, and he spent the days following the captain around. He would read while his father did paperwork or go wander the back gardens of the division alone, and he would join squad drills every day. Some of the nicer squad members would even spar with him. They were surprised to find that, even if he wasn't nearly so strong, he was just as fast and easily as good at handling a sword as many of the recent Academy graduates.
So Toshiro began a new routine with Division Three instead of Ten. He wasn't getting any closer to his father, though he was seeing that Gin was just as detached and casually cruel in his teasing to everyone else as he was to Toshiro, but everyone else was really nice. It was probably because his dad was their boss, and they hoped that being nice to him would win points with his dad, but he didn't care. It was even more fun than Ten had been. The men of Division Three hadn't gotten used to him when he was small and helpless. He was able to show them he what he could do and earn their respect.
The one thing Gin insisted Toshiro keep just between the two of them was his kido training. He was allowed to watch the others practice, but, as Gin had said the first time he brought him along, Shiro-chan's just a kid. It'll be years before he can show that kind of reiatsu control. Toshiro didn't even try to argue.
That had always been the rule. He was never to show anyone, not even his mother, the things he could do. He still lived in fear that the Gotei would want to make him a shinigami, and they wouldn't let him stay with his parents anymore. They did things like that, his father said, and he had told Toshiro stories of children in Rukongai being taken when their reiatsu was discovered.
That training never stopped. No matter how busy things were in the Third Division or how crazy Rangiku was being, Gin always found time to drag Toshiro out to a secluded corner of the division gardens to practice.
One day in early July, only a month before the new baby was expected, Gin declared it far too hot, and told Rangiku he would take Toshiro out to the Northern Rukongai, into the mountains, where people said it stayed cool even in the summer. Rangiku wasn't thrilled with the idea, but it was only three days, and Shiro-chan always looked so miserable when it got hot, so she got Nanao to stay with her and wished them the best of luck.
Toshiro folded his arms across his chest and glared at his father, as Gin happily went about setting up the camp on his own. "Ah, it is nice to get away from the city," Gin declared, talking to himself as Toshiro clearly had no interest in listening. "I can't remember the last time-well, when it wasn't for work, anyway. Seems like it's been years since I really took the time to enjoy nature."
"Are you going to tell me why we're here?" the boy demanded, finally getting sick of his father's monologue.
"You're going to see if you can reach your zanpakuto. It's been trying to speak to you your whole life; it's about time you tried to answer."
Toshiro's eyes widened. "My zanpakuto?" he said. "Wouldn't that make me a shinigami?"
"What the Gotei doesn't know won't hurt them," was Gin's smiling reply.
Days of meditating and nights of meditating, Toshiro spent the entirety of two days and three nights communing with his inner world. Gin had watched him the entire time. He'd even forced water down the boy's throat a few times. He was completely lost in a trance. Gin was starting to get worried. It really was time for them to be getting back to Seireitei. Rangiku was going to be ticked if they were late because he couldn't pull their son out of a trance.
Then, just as he was wondering if he could carry Toshiro back and put him straight to bed without Rangiku noticing, the boy's eyes opened. "Hyorinmaru!" he called out and an icy katana formed in his outstretched hand.
Gin jumped to his feet and picked up the boy, despite the obviously deadly weapon he was holding, and shouted, "You did it! You, my son, are the youngest person in all the history of Soul Society to manifest a zanpakuto!"
Toshiro blinked at his father in surprise. Gin looked genuinely proud-of him. He had never imagined that could ever happen.
A slow smile spread across his face. "Hyorinmaru is an ice dragon," he told Gin.
"An ice dragon?" Gin repeated, setting the boy down. "I'm not surprised."
"He's amazing and beautiful and powerful," Toshiro told him.
"He's yours. He's a part of you, Toshiro. You are amazing and beautiful and powerful. Someday you will put us all to shame."
Toshiro turned the blade in the sunlight, remembering the giant ice dragon that had accepted him as its master. "What is Shinso?"
Gin glanced down at the boy, and for an instant his expression was searching. "A snake," he said quickly, then he added, "Oh, would you look at this mess! We are going to have to get to work if we are going to make it home in time!"
"I didn't make it," Toshiro answered, annoyed.
"Just because you have a fancy, new zanpakuto doesn't mean you can't help your poor old dad out."
"You don't need help. You're just lazy. You should have packed up this morning."
"No respect, even from my own son. I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Gin said and he shook his head.