A/N: I just want to say that there really ARE pieces of ice with such sizes falling from the sky during some hailstorms, I checked it, ok? If you don't believe me go to googledotcom and see yourself. I must admit this chapter didn't turn out excatly the way I wanted it to - I mean I couldn't even reach the scene I wanted to when I planned it, so I suppose the next chapters won't be too short. Not to mention the content - I really wanted it to be better. I'm sorry if it'll diappoint you.

Soul Society was going to remember that hailstorm. The way the dark clouds suddenly appeared in the middle of the sunny day, the way the first heavy drops hit the ground and the first powerful lightening cut through the sky – the very same sky that had been bright, clear blue minutes ago, the way the large ice pieces started to fall, big as tennis balls and solid as rocks… But that wasn't the most sinister fact about the phenomenon. The truth, no matter how strange it sounded, was that in some way, for some reason, it seemed like dark ire radiated from the storm. It seemed like… the heavens themselves were overwhelmed with rage and that was their way to show it; their vengeance. And everybody in Soul Society could feel it. It was in the air, inside the crystal drops and solid ice pieces; it was causing the lightening and roaring along with the thunder… It was simply… palpable…

…The wrath of the storm…

Matsumoto had been right. It really turned out to be more than just bad weather… More than just rain, more than just hail. And… the truth was… It was one of those rare times when she actually cursed herself for being correct…

Hidden under a penthouse, Matsumoto leaned against the wall at the back and bit her lower lip. A dark frown quickly found its way to her face as the realization sank deeper and deeper, making her heart sink as well.

He'll think I did it…

I need to tell him, I need to explain to him… but...

…He won't listen to me…

… He doesn't trust me any more…

… still… I can't leave things like that… I have to try…

She closed her eyes and rubbed her eyebrows, before glancing with a hint of irritation at Ikkaku. He was sitting on the ground, his eyes wide and his mouth agaped as he stared simply dumbfounded at the destructive force of the nature that was oh-so-kindly demonstrate to him at that same moment. It was hard to believe that someone as young as Hitsugaya was able to cause such thing. It was… incredible… to say the least…

'Oh, shit, the kid must be really upset…' Ikkaku murmured without thinking.

Matsumoto didn't say anything for awhile, just continued watching the storm, as if she hadn't heard what he had said. Then her features slowly softened and a small sigh escaped her lips.

'I have to talk with him…' she announced firmly and pushed herself away from the wall.

Ikkaku released an odd sound that sounded much like a groan and looked at her oddly.

'Now?' he asked, raising an amused eyebrow 'I strongly doubt he'll be in mood to talk to anybody… and to you, in particular…'

'It doesn't matter.' She snapped, the scowl immediately reappearing.

'It surely does!' Ikkaku said, standing up and dusting off his clothes 'You said it yourself, Rangiku, he'll think it was you who spread the rumours.'

'That only gives me more reasons to try and explain to him.' Matsumoto insisted stubbornly. He rolled his eyes.

'There're two reasons why you can't talk with him now.' He begun in business like manner, as he looked her straight in the eye 'First of all, I strongly doubt he'll listen until he calms down at least a bit.'

'And second?' she insisted impatiently, her arms now crossed and her right foot tapping on the ground with growing annoyance.

'Second…' Madarame paused for a moment, then an evil grin slowly formed on his lips '… You're late for work…'

Matsumoto's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her palms to suppress a scream.

'Oh my god, the lunch break is over, isn't it?' she shouted, blinking rapidly. Ikkaku's grin faded to a warm smile and he placed his hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

'Go to work, Rangiku, I'll go and see what's going on with Hitsugaya-taicho, ok?'

Matsumoto slowly let her hands drop from her mouth and sighed, letting a small smile graze her lips.

'Thank you, Madarame.' She answered quietly, then turned around and shunpoed away, leaving a quite preoccupied Ikkaku behind. He shook his head somehow sympathetically, then his eyes drifted to scene outside the penthouse. The hail was over. Now there was just pouring rain. And what once more surprised him, was how the soft, gentle melody, created by the falling drops sounded so melancholic… so lost and hopeless…

He closed his eyes for a moment, just listening to it. Then, much to his own surprise, a small sigh escaped his lips…

…It just felt so much like…

… The heavens were crying… The hail was the rage, now came the other part. Just as every time after the anger outburst, the hopelessness and the sadness suddenly takes over and you calm down, sit and breathe in slowly. Your body relaxes. You realize that as soon as the rage fades away, all that is left is the dull pain inside your empty soul… and the deep crack in your heart... Yes, the heavens were crying… Even if the one who was causing that wasn't… Even if the one who was causing it was sitting on the floor in his apartment with his back against the wall, broken and overwhelmed by apathy…

Seconds later Matsumoto reappeared few meters away from the door of her office. She took a deep breath in and tried to gather herself as much as possible. There was this slim, slim chance that her new taicho was inside and that wasn't exactly the best state in which she wanted him to see her. She knew that she looked stressed, worried and impatient and she wanted to look exactly the opposite in front of him – uncaring, cool and very enduring.

After a few seconds of pretty much useless preparation, she held her head up and walked to the door. She took yet another deep breath in and reached for the doorknob with all the confidence and dignity she could master. However, she did not take it after all. Her hand froze centimeters away from it. The reason? She could hear voices coming from inside.

Matsumoto wasn't one to listen to what others talked about – at least usually – but the thing that caught her attention was the fact, that the name of the youngest captain in Seireitei was mentioned.

'Don't you think you're being a bit hard on him… After all he's just a kid…' a unfamiliar voice asked.

'Daichi, do I have to remind you that brat actually threatened me?' came Rangiku's present captain's annoyed voice 'And for what? For touching that Barbie-girl, who worked for him before…'.

Matsumoto's eyes widened and she had to try really hard to hold back a gasp.

'Yes, yes, I know you hate that, but…'

'But what?'

'What you did is somewhat…'

'Somewhat what? Low? Is that what you want to tell me, Daichi?'

'I… well…'

'You're fully aware of my methods, aren't you?'

'…Yes…'

'The first thing you do when you want to remove someone from your way, is to break his/her spirit. And that's exactly what I did.' At that point he paused and let out a small chuckle 'It was an amusing coincidence that my pretty Barbie had so much to do with it. Well, I suppose it only explains the obvious tension between those two… and the reason why the kid cares so much about her…'

'I think revealing something so personal about him was too cruel even for you…' Daichi's voice said softly. It was quickly followed by that strange sound of laughter from Kenji.

'It would've happened sooner or later. You'll be surprised how easy the rumours are spread around here. I didn't even have to do too much…'

At that point Matsumoto couldn't take it any longer and burst inside the room. Before anyone could stop her, she walked straight to Kenji and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. Then… there was silence…

Daichi, who happened to be some tall brown-haired shinigami, made a step back, his eyes wide. Only one look was enough for him to realize that:

1.This was obviously the so-called Barbie.

2.She was very, very angry.

So he decided to do the most rational thing at that moment – which was storming out of the office shortly after murmuring some sort of lame apology.

'WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU BASTARD?' Matsumoto shouted right into Kenji's face. He didn't even flinch, just watched her coldly, his lips pursed and his jaw beginning to clench.

'I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! IT WAS YOU WHO DID ALL THIS??? I KNEW THERE WERE CREEPY SADISTIC FREAK, BUT THIS IS FUCKING TOO MUCH!' she continued yelling, completely oblivious to the fact that his right eye was beginning to twitch 'AND I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TALK ABOUT IT AS IF IT'S SOMETHING NORMAL THAT HAPPENS EVERYDAY! WHAT- … YOU ENJOY HURTING PEOPLE, DON'T YOU? IS THAT HOW YOU BECAME A CAPTAIN? BY REMOVING PEOPLE FROM YOU WAY IN SUCH MANNER? BY HURTING THEM? BREAKING THEIR SPIRIT? THAT'S…'

Matsumoto couldn't finish. The next moment she found herself on the floor, the right side of her face burning from pain. For a few seconds she didn't realize what had happened. Then suddenly a hand grabbed her arm and harshly pulled her up, so she was once again standing on her legs, her face centimeters away from Kenji's.

'I think you just went too far, darling!' he hissed through tightly clenched teeth, his narrowed eyes burning holes into her 'The last person who dared to yell at me, yet alone hit me, is probably still in coma or even dead. So, consider that I'm being easy on you today. But next time, Matsumoto…' he spat her name with such venom, that she couldn't suppress a shiver 'Next time, I won't be so… gentle…'

With that he let go of her and walked out of the office calmly and casually as if nothing unusual had happened. Matsumoto just stared blankly and somehow absently after him, her mind still desperately trying to comprehend the incident, until the taste of some sort of metallic liquid in her mouth brought her back to reality. She lifted her slightly trembling hand and gently touched the right edge of her lip with her index and middle finger. When she pulled them away and looked at them, there were two red stains on the tips.

'Oh, great…' Matsumoto sighed. She turned around and walked to the square mirror that was hanging on the wall near the window. She still remembered the day she had brought it to the office. Hitsugaya had been sitting behind his desk, dealing with paperwork, when she had come in, about three hours late for work, with a square object wrapped in brown paper in her hands. He had looked up from the reports and had given her a quizzically raised eyebrow and she had just giggled softly before going near the window and removing the wrapper. The prodigy had looked rather surprised and had asked what she was planning to do with a mirror in an office. She had then smiled at him and winked: 'It's for my cute little taicho to look at it and see how huggable he is.'

Recalling the way Hitsugaya had blushed and had looked away in a pathetic attempt to hide it, made Matsumoto sigh yet once again, before finally gazing into her reflection. Her eyes immediately widened and she gasped. Not only her lip was split and was bleeding, but her right cheekbone was already red and was swelling. It wouldn't be a big surprise if when the turgidity subsided there was a big ugly bruise on its place…

Meanwhile…

'HITUGAYA-TAICHO!!!!!!????' Hisagi pretty much yelled, banging on the prodigy's apartment's door. Ikkaku, who was standing right next to the black-haired shinigami, visibly shrank.

'I think that shouting his name to get him to open up isn't the best idea right now…' the bald guy admitted.

'He's right.' Kira agreed, making a step towards the two 'I think that loud sounds usually irritate upset people…'

Hisagi made an annoyed grimace, before stepping away from the door and gesturing towards it in a manner that clearly said 'You do it then!'. Kira and Ikkaku exchanged glances.

'Maybe it's unlocked… have you tried if it's unlocked?' the blond questioned hopefully. Madarame rolled his eyes.

'Yeaaaah, right. Hitsugaya-taicho's just the exact kind of person you would call careless.' the bald one snorted. Kira simply glared at him, then walked to the door and reached for the handle.

Click!

'Ok, I've been wrong before, too…' Ikkaku murmured as the blond pushed the door open and made a step inside, followed closely by the other two.

'Fuck! It's freezing in here!' Ikkaku pointed out as he rubbed his arms in an attempt to warm himself. For some reason the six simple words came out as a somewhat timid whisper. He couldn't say why, but he felt as if he was in a place where he should be very quiet. Like a friggin' library… or hospital… or… graveyard…

'It's pretty dark in here…' Kira noted, looking around the empty black corridor. It looked almost as if nobody lived there, like it had been deserted for months. Everything just seemed so...

Izuru shivered.

... what was with that creepy emptiness in the atmosphere? He couldn't even describe it. As if there was something very important missing in the air... as if everything was dead...

Shaking his head, the blond decided to simply drop it. Then, just as he was about to walk to the door in front of him, he spotted something in the right, at the bottom of the corridor and stopped. Hisagi raised an eyebrow quizzically, before peeking over the blond's shoulder. For a moment he couldn't quite realize what Izuru was staring at, but when he finally did, his eyes widened.

'What the…' Hisagi's voice trailed off and all he could do after that was to blink. Repeatedly.

'What's wrong with you two?' Ikkaku exclaimed rather impatiently 'What are you stari-… WHOOOOAAAAA!'

The last part, which was shouted rather loudly, was actually very much relevant. At the bottom of the corridor in the left there was a single door, which was slightly ajared. But more importantly – the door and half of the corridor from it towards the three shinigami - including the walls, the floor and the ceiling - were covered with a thick layer of solid ice and what seemed to be hoar-frost on the top of it.

The shinigamies though didn't have much time to ponder over it, since Ikkaku's impulsive shout seemed to had attracted the attention of the owner of the apartment. A second or so later the frozen door burst open, causing hundreds of big and small pieces of ice to fall on the floor. Hitsugaya's enraged voice cut through the cold air, making everybody jump:

'GET OUT!'

Ikkaku, Hisagi and Kira didn't even have time to realize what was happening. A powerful wave of cold air sent them flying backwards and out of the apartment. They landed on their backs about six meters away from the front door. The front door in question slammed loudly and within seconds was covered with the same amount of ice as the one in the corridor, which pretty much meant it was not going to open easily anymore.

For a couple of seconds the three didn't say anything, just sat up and stared silently at the apartment they'd been just tossed out of. Then Ikkaku scratched the back of his neck and stood up with a sigh:

'That went well, I think…' he announced, earning lethal glares from the other two. Sweatdropping, the bald one folded his arms in front of his chest before pointing out wisely 'It could be much worse. For example… We could be the ones instead o that front door, ne?'

Before Kira and Hisagi had time to reply, they felt a familiar reiatsu surrounding them and Rangiku's shapely figure popped in front of them.

'Hi…' Matsumoto greeted, giving them a rather weak smile 'Just shunpoed away from the office… I think captain Kenji will be off for quite some time, so I decided to drop by and see what's going on.'

'Well, you're just in time, then. An angry prodigy just threw us out of his apartment…' Hisagi murmured, standing up.

'… After we entered it without permission…' Madarame added as a matter-of-factly.

Matsumoto groaned, before glaring at Ikkaku.

'Way the go, Madarame!' she snapped irritably and ran a hand through her hair 'This is exactly what I need. A even more irritated Hitsugaya...'

'Hey, Rangiku?' Hisagi asked suddenly, frowning slightly 'What's with you face?'

The woman blinked with confusion, before realizing what he was talking about and blushing faintly.

'Oh, that?' she laughed nervously, which turned out to be somewhat painful for someone with swollen split lip and bruised cheekbone 'I sort of fell. It's no biggy. Don't worry about it.'

No one replied. The three men were just looking at her distrustfully and a bit too seriously for her taste. She felt like a child that had done something bad and was now standing in front of his uncles or parents or whatever sort of very strict relatives. She had tried to hide the bruise as much as tons of make-up and make-up skills allowed it, but as it seemed it was still not hard to see that she was hurt.

When they kept on with being silent, she sighed tiredly and with a roll of her eyes demanded:

'Go home. All of you. I'll take care of Toushiro.'

A/N: Mmm, yeah, chapter 8th done. It's chapter 8, right? Uhhhh, yeah, it is. XD Well, thanks for reading. I appreciate if you review.