Finally, chapter 3! Sorry for the really, really, slow updates. I finally finished my stupid geography essay (Geography, I love you very much, but this year you suck!) and handed it in. I should be able to work on my Fanfictions more now because of that (but then again, we just recently got two more projects dumped on us, geography – again – and science). I also seem to have a habit of jumping chapters and typing those instead. I wrote half of chapter 4 and the epilogue before this… Oh well.

Disclaimer: Are there such things as flying pigs? No. So what makes you think I own Bleach? There will never be flying pigs and I will never own Bleach.

Black and White

Chapter 3: First Sign – Dreams

"Ya' planned tha' all along didn't cha'?"

"My… what makes you say that?"

Cries…

"Somebody help me!"

Screams…

"Please, have mercy!"

Blood…

"No—no… NOOO!!!"

Laughter…

A grin.

"The clock is ticking, boy, and your time is UP!"

---

"Taichou! Taichou, wake up!"

Hitsugaya awoke in cold sweat, panting heavily. His face was ghostly pale, and his knuckles had turned white from clenching his hands so much. Matsumoto knelt beside him, a worried expression on her face. So many thoughts were racing though her mind, but she knew her first priority was to calm her captain down.

When she had wakened this morning, Matsumoto had found her captain missing. His reiatsu had been fluctuating dangerously from high to low, to even higher and lower, causing her to become agitated and start searching for her captain. Agitation was replaced with distress and fear when she found him on the roof. The surfaces around him were covered in sheets of ice and frost along with him like a frozen blanket, pieces breaking off every time he unconsciously moved. The young captain's face was contorted to such an extent that Matsumoto was almost sure that the skin was being stretched to its limits.

They stayed on the roof until color returned to the pale face, neither of them dared to break the silence with their voice. The frost and ice melted into pools of water as the temperature began to rise and the reiatsu stopped fluctuating. Hitsugaya was to first to get up, brushing any remaining ice off him, and started heading towards the stairs.

Matsumoto followed suit, finally gaining to courage she asked, "Taichou, what happened?"

Hitsugaya didn't reply, only sparing her a quick glance before heading down, but that one glance gave her all the answer she needed.

I don't know.

They had been staying in the Living World for almost a week now and things had been pretty much uneventful. Not a single attack had taken place yet, not even the lowliest of hollows preying on the poor souls of the recently deceased. Madarame started getting pissed the third day of their arrival, complaining that he had come to fight powerful hollows, not to do school work.

Hitsugaya couldn't complain. He knew that having no hollows attacking was a good thing, but even he was getting bored. The dullness was also starting to make him feel uneasy. He couldn't help but to wonder what Aizen was planning. The calm before the storm, they would say.

School went by swiftly as it had for the other days. When the last bell rang, Hitsugaya exited the building quickly, not even bothering to wait for the others. He wanted peace; time for himself to sort out his mind. With Matsumoto around he would never have that, but at least he could have some for now until she found him. He wandered around aimlessly, heading nowhere in particular.

His mind eventually wandered as well, thinking back to his dream. He didn't remember much, but what he did was etched into his mind. The images were so vivid with such lividity, that he felt it was actually real…

From the fire raging from everywhere around.

Toushirou…

To the heavy scent of blood and burning carcasses.

Toushirou…

The feeling of cutting though flesh and bone with nothing but pure bloodlust.

Toushirou…

And the piercing screams of those who were soon to be silenced.

TOUSHIROOOUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

"Boy, would you like your fortune to be told?"

Hitsugaya was snapped out of his thoughts. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't even paid attention to where he was going. Looking around, he seemed to be in some sort of entertainment district. The voice came from a figure, sitting behind a stand with a crystal ball in front.

The sight struck him as odd. The small stand was barely noticeable, wedged between two large buildings. And if the stand wasn't shady enough, the figure definitely was. Even the sharp eyes of the prodigy could not tell whether the figure was a man or a woman, wrapped from head to toe in a long robe. The only hint of the person's gender was the voice which sounded oddly like a man's disguised as woman's.

"I'm only going to ask one more time boy, do you want your fortune told or not?"

Apparently the person was also short tempered… and did the voice just sound more like a man's?

"I'm not interested. Excuse me." Hitsugaya resumed walking.

"Wait!" the fortune teller called, the voice sounding distinctly like a man's. "I-I sense something umm…" A hand was put over the teller's forehead for emphasis. "Death! That's it. I sense death coming from you!"

That immediately halted the white-haired shinigami. He stood there for a moment, repeating the words in his mind, checking to make sure whether he had heard "from" or "to". If the teller had said "to", then he could just dismiss it as a cheap shot from a fake, trying to get his attention by making false prophecies of a death that would never come. If he had said "from", then that was something entirely different.

Alas, it was the latter.

"Come boy," a finger bided him over, "and have your fortune told…"

Reluctantly, the shinigami captain complied. The corners of the fortune teller's lips were drawn into a smile, as eyes searched into the crystal ball for answers. The curves of the crystal created a warped and inverted reflection of the young captain.

"Yes, I sense the aura of death from you and a great darkness residing within…"

---

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Uh, kid? Your phone's ringing."

Hitsugaya snapped his head towards the teller, a wave of dizziness hit from the sudden movement. Holding his head to prevent his vision from spinning, he pulled out his phone and flipped it open.

The young captain felt like he was going to become color blind, seeing all the blinking dots which signaled the location of hollows. Just how did so many appear at one time when there hadn't been a single attack before? Hollows weren't known to hunt in packs. Somewhere along his thoughts, Aizen came across his mind. That bastard's name seemed to be written all over this.

Whatever the reason may be, taking care of the hollows came first. Jamming the device back into his pocket, he quickly broke off into a run; leaving a smirking fortune teller behind.

Well, this is interesting.

Smack!

"Ouch! What the heck was tha' supposed ta' be for?"

"For being an idiot, that's what!"

"Woah, chill, I know tha' brat forgot ta' pay, but that ain't anything ya' have ta' get so mad about."

Smack!

"Not that Shinji! Dressing up as a fortune teller? Just what kind of freakin' idea is that? Couldn't you have done it the way you regularly do it?"

"Damn, ya' didn't have ta' hit tha' hard… great now there gonna' be big bruises tomorrow. And wha'da ya' expect me ta' do? Just walk up ta' some shinigami captain – as short as he is – and say 'Hi! I'm a vizard and I think ya' one too—Oh by the way, me and the rest of the people are staying here as well,' and just totally blow our cover!?"

"Fine, but why a fortune… Ah, forget! So what's the verdict?"

"Tha' wha'?"

"Idiot! Is he one of us or not!"

"Hey, ya' don't have ta' shake me… Better. And no."

"…No?"

To Be Continued…

And there's the end of Chapter 3. Yeah, I know things seem to being going a bit slow, and the chapters are short but at least this one is a bit longer. Things will also pick up more, if not next chapter, then definitely the chapter after that. Though there isn't much action in here, there are important hints and clues of what's happening and what things are to come. I'm basically setting things up here for later on, but they aren't really filler chapters.

Anyways, reviews are appreciated! I always like to know what my readers think. Just don't ask about the fortune teller thing. I know it's weird. I'm also looking for suggestions and ideas on two blank chapters that I have to fill in. It's while they are still in the Living World, so I'm open to whatever ideas.