Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach

Chapter Two - Blank

The white haired child watched as the blond man walked out of the office, leaving him alone with this other strange man. This one appeared somewhat older, or perhaps it was just his white hair that gave that impression. But the look in his eyes was kind and the child found himself relaxing despite himself. It was true that he was in a strange place but the white haired man gave off a calming aura that set his mind at ease.

He got the feeling that this man wouldn't cause him any harm.

The boy wasn't sure why it was that he thought this way but decided to trust his instincts. After all, with no memories of who he was and where he came from, they were really all that he had to rely on at the moment.

"So you don't remember your name," Ukitake said, his gaze focused on the child who was standing a few feet away from him.

The child shook his head, most of the wariness leaving his expressive teal eyes. He seemed to be calming a degree and Ukitake was glad for this change in demeanor.

It would make things easier.

"Well," the Head Captain said, gazing at the boy with a thoughtful expression in his kind eyes. He took in the boy's appearance, which was rather unusual. He had spiked white hair and large teal eyes. His clothes were less remarkable, merely a pale blue yukata. Almost the color of ice. "We can't just call you boy so, until you can remember your real name, how does Toushirou sound?"

The white haired boy seemed to think about the question for a few minutes before giving a curt nod. That name was acceptable until he remembered his own.

"Great," Ukitake said with a smile. "Toushirou it is then. So do you have any idea how you came to be in the Rukongai?"

The boy, now dubbed Toushirou, thought about the question but once again drew a blank. It seemed that he couldn't remember anything about himself before a few hours ago.

It was almost as though his very existence had began out in that forest, by the flowing river.

"No," Toushirou said, speaking for the first time since his discovery. "I can't remember my name… where I came from… anything."

It seemed that the boy was becoming agitated, which was the last thing that Ukitake wanted. After all, his powers were unstable and the Head Captain had the suspicion that he had no idea how to control them.

Causing him to lose his temper could result in damages that Ukitake didn't even want to think about.

"It's okay," Ukitake said in a calm voice. "There's a good chance that the memories will come back to you soon. But just to be on the safe side I'd like for someone from Squad Four to have a look at you."

The boy arched his left brow in confusion. "What's Squad Four?"

"Oh I'm sorry," Ukitake said, reaching up to run a hand through his long white hair. "I forgot that you're new here. "Squad Four is our medical corp. They'll look you over and make sure that you're alright."

"I'm fine," Toushirou snapped, holding the sword even closer to his chest. He still wasn't entirely certain that he trusted these people so he refused to blindly follow along with anything.

Not until he discerned exactly what was going on.

"Then it won't take long," Ukitake said in a calm and yet at the same time commanding voice. He knew that the boy was distrustful but he wanted to make sure that Toushirou was healthy before they did anything else. If something had caused the boy to lose his memory then Squad Four would find it and could more than likely treat it.

If not, well then they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

"It's not necessary," Toushirou maintained, a defiant look appearing in his teal eyes. He was recovering from some of the shock of finding himself in a strange place and was now growing irritated at the people who were seeking to force him to do things that he didn't want to do.

"Come on," Ukitake coaxed, reaching into the sleeve of his long, white coat.

Toushirou stared at the man named Ukitake, trying to figure out exactly what he was up to. He tilted his head to one side but that didn't really give him any greater clarity.

All became apparent, however, as the Head Captain removed his hand from the sleeve of his haori to reveal a handful of sweets. With a smile spread across his face Ukitake offered the candy to Toushirou.

"I'll give you these if you'll promise to cooperate," he said, the smile still on his face.

"I don't…" Toushirou was going to tell the man that he didn't like sweets but his words were cut short as Ukitake thrust the sweets into his arms and then seized him by the hand. It seemed that the man wasn't even going to give him the opportunity to protest.

Too shocked to protest further all the boy could do was follow along as he was pulled from the office.

After leaving the boy in the capable hands of the Head Captain Urahara made his way back to the Squad Twelve barracks. There were many things about this situation that didn't make sense to him and the blond captain wanted to get started searching for the answers to his many questions.

"Where did this boy come from?" he thought to himself as he made his way to the lab. "Why doesn't he remember who he is? And most important of all, how can he possibly already be in possession of a zanpaktou?"

This last question was the main one as far as Urahara was concerned and, when he arrived in his office at the lab, he immediately began researching records of students in the Shinigami Academy.

It was possible that this boy was a student there and had just suffered some kind of trauma which had caused him to lose his memory. That was the theory that he was choosing to pursue first, at any rate.

Not that he really believed it to be true.

If the boy were truly a student at the Academy then he would have heard of the kid's tremendous power. And he hadn't heard so much as a word spoken about a child prodigy with white hair.

"I hate this kind of tedious work," he muttered to himself as he searched through record after record.

There were many things that he would much rather be doing but this boy's arrival in the Rukongai, seemingly out of nowhere, had captured his attention.

"I'm going to figure it out," he muttered, running a hand through his messy blond hair.

Toushirou was thoroughly annoyed by the situation but he made no move to protest as he was examined by a woman who had introduced herself as Squad Four Captain Retsu Unohana. He didn't think that there was any need for a medical evaluation but had been out voted by Ukitake and Unohana.

And the boy got the feeling that you shouldn't argue with the two of them. They seemed nice enough on the outside but he had no desire to see them angry. Now Toushirou had no idea what caused this feeling of wariness, especially since both Ukitake and Unohana looked so kind, but he decided that he should probably trust it. In cases like this it was always better to ere on the side of caution.

So he complied with the physical, even though he wasn't happy about the situation.

"There now," Captain Unohana said once she'd completed the exam. "That wasn't so bad was it?"

"It was," Toushirou said, crossing his arms over his chest. "And it was completely unnecessary."

Captain Unohana merely smiled and motioned for Ukitake to follow her toward the door. Leaving the scowling boy in the exam room she stepped out into the hallway with the Head Captain. "I can't find anything physically wrong with him. Which leads me to believe that he doesn't want to remember what happened to him."

"So is there any way to cure this affliction?" Head Captain Ukitake asked, concerned for the child that he had just met.

"Time is the only thing that can heal psychological wounds," Unohana replied, her gentle eyes focused on the door behind which the boy was most likely still scowling. "His mind has to come to terms with whatever caused him to forget."

"I see," Ukitake said, once again running a hand through his long hair. "Thank you very much Retsu."

"No problem," Unohana said, offering her long time friend a smile that she reserved solely for him.

Reaching out Ukitake opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Come on Toushirou. You've been given the all clear."

Hoping down from the exam table Toushirou grabbed the sword that he had propped against the wall. He refused to let the sword out of his sight and there was nothing that anyone could say to make him change his mind.

There was something important about the sword; he just wasn't quite sure what that something was.

"You'll find out soon enough little one…"

Toushirou glanced around the room but it soon became apparent that no one else had heard the strange voice. Shaking his head the white haired youth continued toward the door.

As though not being able to remember his own name wasn't bad enough, now he was hearing voices.

"Can this day get any worse?" he muttered as he fell into step behind the Head Captain. He really hoped that it couldn't but at this point the boy just didn't know.

His mind was a complete blank up until the point that Urahara had found him and Toushirou found himself wondering what exactly could make someone forget their entire life.

"Must have been something bad," he vaguely thought to himself as he and Ukitake made their way toward the exit. The moment they stepped back out into the courtyard Toushirou drew up short, his teal eyes widening as his gaze fell upon tiny specks of white falling from the sky.

Snow.

"Well would you look at that," Ukitake said, holding out his hand and catching a couple of the snowflakes in his palm. "It hasn't snowed in Soul Society in centuries."

Ukitake turned to see the boy's reaction and the smile immediately faded from his face. Toushirou's eyes were wide and horrified, as though the sight of the falling snow was actually terrifying him. "Toushirou..."

The boy didn't even acknowledge the fact that Ukitake was speaking to him; he simply continued to stare blankkly ahead at the falling snow. There was something about the snow... it was almost as though the flecks of white were trying to tell him something. Something that he didn't want to know.

A/N - Hope that you enjoyed chapter two, please leave a review and tell me what you thought.