A/N: Sorry for the long wait you guys, I know you've been waiting for this so here you go. The long overdue chapter three.

Chapter Three: Premonition

"He is a cute one you picked out, right-"Toushiro rubbed his eyes as he tried to focus on the voice that was speaking above him. It couldn't be Gin because the man's voice sounded farther from the one above him. "I know and if he's good enough I might even let him meet the others with Aizen's approval o' course."

"That'll be a riot; I can't wait until this happens." Turquoise eyes slowly opened to find a feminine smiling face with violet eyes staring back at him. 'Who the-' he faintly glared up at the face not recognizing it, the person above him giggled as an arm covered with white cloth like his went up to cover their mouth. "Even cuter with his eyes open, morning sunshine." he blinked once, and then blinked again, and a third time to be sure.

That's when his sleep fogged brain finally cleared up, he was in Gin's room but who the blue blazes was this person just above him smiling. "He's awake?" the voice belonged to Gin and it sounded closer now. "Yep, and doesn't look too friendly right now though." the face lowered the long sleeve, still smiling.

Damn right. Who gave this person the right to watch him while he slept?!

That's when Gin's face popped up into Toushiro's line of view and his morning grimace turned into an all out scowl. "My day already turned into hell, with your ugly face." Gin smiled. "Oi, what kinda morning greetin' is that, ya should be happy I decided to sacrifice m'self and not let Tousen do this job. I coulda been free ta do all I want but, I being the nicer o' the two of us gave myself as a sacrificial lamb to the wolf."

"Get the hell out of my face with that crap! It's more like I'm the lamb." Toushiro said the last part as softly as he could, but the feminine looking person above him heard and laughed out loud. "Oh yeah I'll definitely be getting a front row seat for this show, just think Grimmjow vs. Mini Ice Queen ahahahahaha…..this'll be too much! Hahahahaha-", Toushiro's eyes darkened.

"And who the hell are you?" appointed person smiled sweetly. "My name little sacrificial lamb, is Luppi. You're not much of a morning person are you?" Luppi held up one hand to his-er…her face, Toushiro didn't know what to make of em. "He's not much o' an anytime person, isn't that right…Shiro-chan?" If looks could kill, Gin would be dead a hundred times over and then some.

"Well now that you're awake I'll be taking ma leave." the lavender haired man straightened his clothes and started to head for the door. "What-", "Relaxed cutie, I'll be here to watch you." Toushiro was cut off by Luppi who waved goodbye to Gin. "I'd rather be hanged."

Luppi just smirked, Gin chuckled. "Chibi, Luppi here'll be watchin' ya in my place since I got work ta do." Toushiro avoided looking at Gin's face. "Che…lazy bastard, since when did you become capable of doing work?" Gin just smiled wider and walked out the door closing it behind himself.

"What the hell are you?" Toushiro eyed Luppi with a droopy glare. "I thought you'd figure that I'm an Arrancar-", "No. I meant are you a boy or are you a girl?" Luppi just blinked very slowly and calculated if he should laugh or strangle the white haired boy in front of him; but then Gin wouldn't be too happy about losing his play toy. So Luppi decided to give a small chuckle, "What do you think I am?"

"You're too flat-chested to be a girl, so a boy…. although I may be wrong about that." Irritation rose up in the pits of Luppi's stomach but, he quickly dismissed it. "Well, you stay your happy little ass on that bed and we won't have any problems…okay." Luppi cocked his head to one side and smiled sweetly, "Whatever."

Toushiro sat with his back to the arrancar annoyance marring his face. A few minutes later he heard a weird sound come from inside the room. "Hey, keep it to yourself!" he turned to Luppi only to find the arrancar dangling a poofy round thing with feathers in it over another arrancar's face. He stared feeling kind of perturbed looking at the scene because Luppi obviously wasn't paying attention to what he had just blurted out. Finally after two minutes Luppi glanced up at Toushiro to see the priceless face that was plastered on the young one and laughed.

"Oh I forgot to introduce you; Puffball…Wonderweiss, Wonderweiss…Puffball", Toushiro seethed. Luppi giggled at how puffy Toushiro really looked at this moment, his hair seemed to take on a life of its own. Toushiro edged back more to the middle of the bed and eyed the two with a weird look.

Toushiro felt an unwavering stare turn his way and saw that it was the blonde haired arrancar, Wonderweiss. The blonde was giving him a guppy look and slowly walked over to the boy on the bed, he sat a few inches away from Toushiro just staring at his eyes and doing nothing but staring. Toushiro glared back at the spaced out arrancar who in return moaned and then casted his eyes on white eyebrows that creased with impatience of being stared at and then twitched.

Luppi watched as the two had somewhat of a staring contest, and smiled at this. He watched as Toushiro's glare increased and Wonderweiss' amazement at how white the hair that was presented to him was. Then Toushiro found himself falling victim to an onslaught of Wonderweiss-ness in the zone with ooh's and aah's along with his hair being ruffled and petted followed by more sounds of wonderment. In all of his days Luppi has never seen Wonderweiss attack something, well someone with such….how could he explain it? Vigor? But one thing he was sure of if Wonderweiss doesn't let go of the boy he might get a bite or two, maybe three if Luppi didn't stop this. Who knew what he'd be capable of with the information that Gin gave him.

It was a battle to behold and to remember for future references, Luppi did not realize that he would have to struggle with both Wonderweiss and Toushiro. Turquoise eyes at this point looked more than enraged they looked like they could deal a calamity all on its owner's will, Toushiro growled giving off his first and last warning of danger that Wonderweiss ignored and kept petting the puffy whiteness that bounced back and forth. One good bite was all he got on the arrancar before they were yanked apart; Wonderweiss snatched his arm back before he sent the other to ruffle the soft hair again. The second hand that reached for white hair was clawed at, by the time Wonderweiss pulled his hand back swiftly there were beads of blood showing all over his hand. And he looked at it confused.

Toushiro for the second time, maybe third since he found himself in Gin's room being handled like he was a rag doll. Luppi had slammed him flat on his back with his arms crossed painfully and his palms touching the bed. What the hell was he, something to be manhandled? "This is your first warning little one; the next two times might not be so pretty, so I suggest that you just keep to yourself." Luppi growled lightly as he spoke. He received a growl back but, no words. Luppi figured that the boy wasn't going to talk to him for the rest of the day while they were within sight range but, it didn't matter to Luppi much. When Luppi was about to say another word he noticed that Toushiro had completely zoned out making him look like Wonderweiss but without the weird look that Wonderweiss got.

"Hey, snap out of it, all I did was- Is he even listening to me?" Luppi casted a somewhat worried gaze to Wonderweiss who had the exact same expression on his face like Toushiro did. Luppi's shoulders and eyebrows sagged, 'This is not happening to me now!'

/Ahh...I had the best sleep ever. What about you Toushiro? / Toushiro mentally groaned his dragon could be so oblivious at times.

/What do you think? I've been trying to get you all last night after you told me about the food. Why the hell didn't you answer? /

/Well, ya see I figured you were still twisting your fundoshi about the whole thing and was trying to take it out on me. /

/If you haven't noticed I don't have one on, so there's none to twist. /

/And that makes you all the more irritated with everything so let's just over look this. But I did had an odd stinging sensation vibe through me, did anything happen that I missed? / Toushiro was not about to let Hyorinmaru know that he was beaten last night or let him rummage through his memory of the night's events.

/It was just the food. / Hyorinmaru knew that was a bone dry lie and he was going to find out what happened even if it costs Toushiro a bit of pain.

/M'kay / Something was wrong, why isn't he pressing the matters more……oh well if he didn't want to know Toushiro wasn't going to argue.

When Toushiro finally came back to he saw Luppi lying on a couch against the wall that was not there the day before, "Welcome to the world of consciousness your icy-ness." Toushiro glared at Luppi, this one was annoying too. He had the oddest thought that he might not be able to shake this one along with Hyorinmaru, Ichimaru, Mastumoto and Hinamori- there was just too many people to count on that list.

Luppi hung the white puff over Wonderweiss' head and contemplated what he should do, it's only been thirty minutes and he needed something to do. He was bored. 'Augh, this is degrading babysitting a cold brat. I'm so bored; I'd give anything to be able to do something.'

And that was when he heard the loudest growl that came out of nowhere. Both Luppi and Wonderweiss looked up and around the room because the sound definitely did not come from their area of the room. Two pairs of eyes landed on the boy sitting on the bed with a red face, then when the growl became much louder Luppi almost fell over the side of the couch laughing. Toushiro turned his red face away from them as he clutched his stomach when a wave of pain rolled over it, he was hungry and his stomach could testify for that. And to make matters worse Hyorinmaru was laughing at him as well- no he wasn't laughing. He was howling because he found it so damn funny!

Luppi got up off the couch still laughing, "Are you hungry little one?" his voice wavering the more he tried to talk. Another growl answered him and Luppi hit the floor with tears in his eyes as he grabbed the sheet on the bed. Hyorinmaru couldn't stop laughing, howling and rolling for the life of him and that made Toushiro's blushing extend to his ears, the base of his neck and parts of his chest. He grinded his teeth together as hard as he could, anger rolling off in waves, but no matter how vicious he looked his growling stomach nullified all of it. He soon found himself in the grips of Wonderweiss with his ear to Toushiro's belly listening to the gurgles and growls while inputting his own little soundtrack. Or was he trying to talk back to it?

Too angry from being embarrassed and all he could do was suffer through because no one was listening to him as he tried to yell but, his stomach was louder and put him in a silent stew of ridicule. Luppi was able to finally catch his breath as he pulled himself back into a straight and standing composure. He cleared his throat of all giggles and laughs and pulled Wonderweiss away from the fuming boy before he started to bite again.

"I think I've had my laughs for the day." Luppi dusted off his clothes and was about to walk out of the room with Wonderweiss and that's when it hit him. What did this kid eat? Because he truly and honestly didn't know, he knew that Aizen, Gin and Tousen had to eat something or their Leader wouldn't be much of a leader looking like a bag of bones. He looked back at the boy who was still turned away from them in a silent fume and decided right there and then that he would take the brat with him. He might go kicking and screaming but he'd go none the less if he really wanted to eat.

Luppi grabbed the back of the loose top yukata and started to drag Toushiro none too gently off of Gin's bed. Surprised, all the boy could do was squawk as he hit the floor harshly. " Come on and to get up, I have to hurry up and get you something to eat cause I don't know what you'd want and I could care less if you starve, but Gin would have my head or at least torture me first before he killed me. So get up and come on." Luppi was already at the door with Wonderweiss waiting for the slower member of the trio to catch up. Toushiro grumbled low in his chest at being treated like that, 'Guess I can't expect much from a barbarian like him.'

He followed after Luppi a few paces from the door and he froze, wasn't he supposed to be at this point and time flung back. But no such thing happened he could walk around freely and not feel the repercussions.

Before a smirk could make its way to his face he stopped it dead in its tracks, what if it was a trap? For all he knew-

Toushiro was pulled out of his thoughts by Luppi's knuckles rapping on his forehead trying to get his attention. "Oi you listening, hurry up or I'm not taking you anywhere." He glared and bat at the slim hands with his owns small ones. It would do him no good to try and start a fight he was not in any state of power to do so. He learned the first time, it's just that he'd need an advantage.

Quietly he followed Luppi and Wonderweiss out of the white room into even whiter halls.

/It feels like my eyeballs are going to ooze out of my head. / he used his hands to try and block out most of the radiant shine.

/You know it'll only last for a little while. / As Hyorinmaru spoke Toushiro's eyes on cue, even though it took bit longer started to adjust to the lighting.

'Wow' was all Toushiro could think as he took in the grand halls, though they were white you had to marvel at its uniqueness. It was not everyday that you come across stark white intricacies.

How far had he gotten from the room? It was only a question to see how long he would be allowed by the metal bands to move away and not get ripped back at lightning speed.

It seemed that they had already reached the area where Toushiro could eat and they could leave avoiding questioning stares or those who liked to speak what was always on their minds.

It was weird that they didn't run into anyone, Luppi had mused over it while he watched as Wonderweiss tried to join in with Toushiro eating which caused a small battle for whatever the hell the brat was eating. There goes that tingling in the back of his mind like a warning of something bad that was about to happen. Twenty minutes had been enough. It was time that they left.

Luppi stood with his hands on his hips looking at the two. It was comical really, a shinigami of his rank, yes he knew of the boys rank courtesy of one creepy Ichimaru. A shinigami trying to ward off an arrancar from eating his food, he would have laughed but, that tingling came back and now he knew their time was short and lessening by the second.

"Alright let's go I'm tired of watching over you little one. Wonderweiss get him and come on." And with that Luppi started to briskly walk out of the room with Wonderweiss holding a disgruntled Toushiro. Really he could walk by himself. 'Must be some emergency if they're hauling ass.' He glared at Luppi's back.

As soon as they were down the hall and around the corner Luppi told Wonderweiss to let go of 'Ice Princess' before he blows his stack and got them all in trouble. To such a name Toushiro would have argued but, was surprised when his back hit the wall around a second corner and distinctly had a hand that wasn't his own slapped over his mouth. Luppi quickly told him to shut it.

He had to think of something quickly or they would be in serious hell, especially if they were caught outside the room. And he had to think real quick because the person coming down that hall wasn't supposed to know that Gin's bed warmer was out and about. 'What do I do? We'll be caught!'

Lilac eyes slid over to Wonderweiss who was trapped between their owner and the wall.

'NO!'

But he had to do something and Aizen was only four meters away and closing in fast.

'But……..oh man here goes everything!'

Using his free hand Luppi grabbed one of Wonderweiss' and put it on his hip, then placed his own hand on the blonde's face locking lilac eyes with purple ones like his own.

Aizen had thought he'd seen Luppi and Wonderweiss just as he turned down the hall, didn't he assign them under Gin for…no...he needed his coffee first then maybe he'll come back to that issue.

As soon as he spotted the white of Luppi's clothes, Aizen had wished that somehow he didn't turn down this hallway but the fact still remained that he did.

Luppi slowly pulled away from Wonderweiss and acted surprised when he saw Aizen standing there looking a bit like he was violently shaken awake from a deep sleep. "Ah, Aizen-sama I can-" he was stopped quickly as Aizen raised his right hand silencing him and shaking his head at the same time as if saying that he didn't want to hear it, whatever excuse that Luppi had thought up. He did not want to hear it.

It was too early in the morning for this and Aizen decided that he would drop this matter swiftly and continue on as if it didn't happen.

And so he did. Walked away briskly. Subject dropped. No inquiries about it to never again be brought up from the depths and crevices of his mind. Ever.

Luppi waited until Aizen had made a quick getaway from his and Wonderweiss' extracurricular activities and finally released his hold on both Wonderweiss and Toushiro. But the strange thing about it was that the blondes hold got a bit tighter around his waist, which set off new alarms in Luppi's head. He quickly and harshly removed himself from the grasp blushing.

Beginnings come at random, but endings always have a reason. Ayumi Hamasaki (M)

Toushiro stood there frozen and it was not by the fact that Aizen was there but the fact that the two had kissed. It was like his office all over again.

/ Ahahahaha, there's another one to commit to memory. Oh man, don't you just get all the luck. / apparently the only one out of the three beings who witnessed this act was enjoying the fact that this was a very funny soap opera to watch.

"Let's hurry up and get back, that's it for me for today, I've had enough. Come on." Luppi said as he stalked off with a glossy-eyed blonde trailing him and a very put-off shinigami taking up the rear and keeping a few feet worth's distance.

Today was obviously not going to go well for a few people.

Soul Society

'Is there something that I'm missing in this picture that I haven't caught on to yet?' Renji thought hard about how unnaturally quiet all of the residents in Soul Society have been for the past week. No one said anything about Captain Hitsugaya since Captain Ukitake's inspirational defiance to search for the missing small captain. 'I wonder if Captain Kuchiki would update on what's going on since he only said that Ukitake taichou is leading a search party.' Renji sighed in confusion not paying attention to the person next to him who had been talking the whole time.

'Maybe if I ask the right questions then I'll be able to find out what I need to know because something is not right. Everyone is too calm and it's unnerving, like Hitsugaya never existed.' He rounded another corner and scratched the side of his hakama pants.

And that's when it hit him. 'Ichigo might know!' but the substitute shinigami had already went off to train so he would have to wait until he came back. Renji gave another big sigh as he realized that no other shinigami would be there to help keep Orihime safe, they were called back a week before the small captain himself was called back leaving only Chad, Uryu, Orihime herself and Urahara with Yoruichi, 'If they did decide to help and protect her,' to keep Orihime safe. Since what the young captain had told him the night he came back, Ichigo had made plans to go off and train and won't be back for a while.

"Did you hear what I said Renji?" He was shocked out of his threading conscious by a familiar voice. "Oh sorry Rukia I wasn't listening, can you repeat that?" Rukia gave him an indignant look. She had been speaking for the last ten minutes, "So you're telling me that you didn't hear a single word I said?" his silence and nervous chuckle proved her question right. 'Not one single word.' She sighed.

They rounded another corner and just then….

BAM!

All Rukia could make out of the two in front of her was that her brother Byakuya was slightly leaning while holding Renji up with his arm on the wall to save them. She had to stifle her giggles, 'It's like they just got finished dancing……OH! How could I forget!?' unknown to both male shinigami, Rukia had quickly taken out her phone and snapped as many pictures as she could before the two separated with matching pink faces.

"Ah sorry about that taichou, Rukia was talking and…" as he glanced to Rukia to help him out of his situation, he saw her flipping her phone closed. "Hey, Rukia what'd you just do? Rukia don't ignore me! Come back here!! Rukia!! " Renji was off chasing her.

Byakuya watched the two sped off into the distance, fixed his clothes and kept on walking as if nothing had happened. He'd call for his vice captain later. No use having a conga line of idiots chasing each other, not like he referred to himself as such.

'She's lucky she's so small and can get into tiny places or Kuchiki taichou would be missing a sister.' Renji sighed and made his way down a busy street not caring who he bumped into. "It's all so surreal, like a really eerie dream gone out of control." He said hello to a few of his fellow officers that greeted him back in a drone characteristic way.

As I look around, everyone busily hurries on by.I noticed that this year, too, the signs of winter have come very soon. Ayumi Hamasaki (M)

"I need a drink or my head's going to explode."

As he made his way to get a drink a thought hit him like a ton of bricks, 'I can't just blatantly ask or demand for answers, Taichou would have my head on a spit. Well since captain Ukitake is demanding answers, if what Hinamori is saying is true then I can't really draw that much attention to myself. It's going to be an up hill battle with trying to get captain Kuchiki to at least speak about the Gotei Thirteen's Taichou business.'

Renji smirked, 'Well at least I got that piece of information. Che, confidential my ass. ', "Oy, Renji!!" he looked up just in time to see one of his best drinking buddies, Shuuhei Hisagi. Excellent.

"Hey…what's up?", "Wanna get a drink? My treat." Oh he couldn't say no to that. As both vice captains made their way to go and purchase drinks, their two person group turned into a full blown entourage of shinigami ready to drink the day away. Each one of them confessing how stressful their day had been and compared the difficulty with each other.

Twenty jugs of sake. That's how many they had gone through; well most couldn't even handle seven cups. All in all, it had been a great night out from all of the stress of work and they all ended up splitting the bill because Shuuhei flat out refused to pay for fifteen jugs, even though he drank at least half of the amount of jugs presented. Renji and his original drinking comrade made their drunken way down a slightly filled walkway chattering and laughing very loudly.

They were both knocked for a loop when Yachiru on her scooter ran over the both of them leaving only tire marks on their bodies showing proof that she was there, "My candy can't wait no more!!" No apologies came their way, not like they would have heard it anyway.

With the help of a few other shinigami the two were helped up and sent on their less than merry way to their homes. After slurring their plastered goodbyes they split up. Renji, if it hadn't been for Kira after he nearly bowled him over would never had found his home and tucked neatly into his bed. Sleep came easy for the red-haired shinigami that night as he snuggled up under his blanket feeling warm and cozy.

The next morning was not as welcoming for Renji as he was rudely awakened by some incessant noise that refused to shut up. It was right in his ear blaring loudly like what Yachiru does when she wanted candy from Byakuya. His sleep high came rushing down with a retching sense of nausea in his stomach and bile rushing up his throat. Sitting up as quickly as possible Renji started to puke….into a……bucket? 'Thank Kami-sama!!'

"You are so irresponsible and you call yourself a vice captain, seriously Renji." The voice belonged to Rukia. 'What's she doing here?' when he finished emptying the contents of his stomach the vice captain wiped his mouth off and accepted the cup of water that was presented to him. Rukia watched as her childhood friend washed his mouth out with the water and spit it into the foul smelling bucket, musing about something in her mind.

Again, somewhere in this city today two people will meet and fall in love; the curtains are violently opened. Ayumi Hamasaki (M)

"You didn't show up this morning so Byakuya nii-san asked me to come and look for you when I passed him by." She had perceptively answered his question.

Then she smirked at him as he gave her a dry and scowling look, "What's with the tire tracks across your face?" Renji took a while to remember what had happened to him last night and it finally dawned upon him. "I think….Yachiru ran Shuuhei and I over last night. Scratch that I know she's the only one who would run another shinigami over just for some candy." His throat scratched as he talked. He took a sip of the water just to soothe the itchiness but, made a face when he tasted to left over bile as well. 'I'll have to go and brush my teeth.' He thought.

"Well you need to get going or else nii-san will be even more upset with you." She smacked him upside his head and picked up the bucket while pinching her nose. 'How could he sit there and stand that stench? Oh well it's his funk. He's lucky that I'm such a good friend.'

Renji watched as Rukia left his room and took his own leave as well to freshen up before he went to see his captain.

Renji walked up to Byakuya with a serious look on his face, "Renji, what is it?" Byakuya glanced sideways to his fukutaichou. "I need to ask you a question Kuchiki taichou. It's about Hitsugaya taichou." Byakuya fully looked at Renji this time and regarded him with a look Renji could not identify.

A/N: Almost 5,000 words but man was I lazy, anyways keep an eye out for chapter four in a while it might not come out as soon as I'd like it to but I've got studying to do and I need to pass my TABE test. So keep a wary eye in search of updates, oh speaking of updates I will be going back over chapters 1 & 2 and fixing my mistakes that I found but I won't add anything to them seeing as I'm ok with the story, it's just the punctuations that kill me every time I go over them. This is one long authors note so I'll leave you all to review.