Hi, I´m finally here with my newest chapter, so please review whenever you are finished.

Disclaimer: I don´t own Bleach. Even though you could wish…

Hidden Memories

Chapter 1: Forgotten: Childhood

By Shadow Typhoon

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From the earlier chapter:

Hitsugaya looked ahead, and saw a big door at the end of the corridor. It was dark blue, with ice blue runes engraved. There were also silver linings along the edges.

"Open it and walk through"

"Why? What is it?"

"Those are the memories, which have been hidden. Before, you weren´t mature enough, but now the time is right. Open the door, and see your former life!"

"My former life, you say…" Hitsugaya muttered and walked forward. He turned the doorknob and opened the door. And then light blinded him.

After waiting for about an hour, Unohana finally came out. Matsumoto stood and ran over to her.

"What is wrong with taicho? Is he okay?" Matsumoto asked worried.

"He is in a coma" Unohana answered with furrowed brows.

"Coma?" Matsumoto said with a weak voice.

"Yes, and it seems, that it was self inflicted."

"Self inflicted? But why would he do that?" Matsumoto asked worried.

"We don´t know. And we don´t know either, when he will wake up. It can be hours, days, months or even years. We´ll have to have patience."

Matsumoto nodded weakly and sat down again. Taicho, what have you done? She asked herself. Only time could answer her question.

Age of Hitsugaya: 7 days

The sun was setting. The shadows began to grow longer, spreading into the room, where a group of people were standing. They were all congratulating a pair, for their first born son. The pair, a beautiful woman with long silky brown blondish hair and warm aquamarine eyes, and a tall man with piercing ice blue eyes and white hair, was smiling proudly.

"Heh, he really looks like his parents, right?" the pairs best friend said and clapped his own wife´s shoulder.

"Yeah" his wife said and looked at the small child.

"Have you found a name for him yet?" A woman said while she walked into the room.

Everyone became silent and bowed their heads respectfully. They were all wondering why the queen of Hell, Aria, had come here. It was not every day, that the queen came strolling in to see a commoners child. And that´s why they all went out of the room.

"We haven´t yet, perhaps you have a suggestion?" The father, Hitsugaya Ryuu (1), said.

"We have thought through a lot of names, but we can´t choose the final one. It would be a great honor, if you choose it for us." The mother, Hitsugaya Mizuki (2), said kindly.

Aria nodded and thought. She looked outside the window and saw snow falling.

"It has been so long time ago, since it had snowed. This is a true winter. Therefore, the child has to be named Toshiro."

"Toshiro, hmm…that´s a lovely name, don´t you think?" Mizuki asked Ryuu.

Ryuu just nodded and held out a finger towards his son. The now dubbed Toshiro giggled and grabbed the finger. Toshiro had pure white hair, just like his father, and bright aquamarine eyes, just like his mother.

"It is not to sound rude, but what is your purpose here?" Ryuu asked carefully and looked at Aria.

The queen looked sternly at them and then sighed. It was not every day that a prophecy was made, including a child of a commoner. Sure, the father was a warrior, but that wouldn´t explain the powers, which were soon to come.

"Your child is destined for something great. I hereby invite you to live near the castle. I will personally tutor him. In weaponry, politics, and so on."

Ryuu and Mizuki looked shocked. This was certainly not what they had expected.

"…Of cause we will accept. When will we move?" Mizuki answered.

"As soon as possible" and with those words, Aria turned around and walked away.

Age of Hitsugaya Toshiro: Psychical/Mental/Appearance 3 years. Real age: 21 years old.

"Mother, see, I found a rainbow. It´s a gift for you" Little Toshiro said, and gave his mother a crystal he had found.

Mizuki giggled. They were sitting in the palace garden; she was reading a book, while Toshiro was running around.

"It´s not a rainbow, sweetie, it´s a crystal." Toshiro frowned.

"But, see mother, if you turn it like this, you can see a rainbow." He said and turned the crystal around in the light.

Mizuki smiled. "Okay, then we´ll say that it´s a rainbow."

Toshiro smiled and ran back to play again. Mizuki´s smile faltered a bit. She knew that soon would Toshiro´s childhood end. The least that she could do was to give him some good memories. She looked at the beautiful crystal. So fragile and pretty, yet it had a hidden strength. It gave her hope.

"My little Shiro-chan, I´ll protect you as much as I can."

Age of Hitsugaya Toshiro: Psychical/Mental/Appearance 4 years. Real age: 24 years old.

Little Toshiro was exploring the castle. He was a little bored, no scratch that, he had never been so bored in his life. He had no one to play with, since there were no children in the castle. Okay, there was, but they didn´t live here. They were sons and daughters of the people working in the castle, so Toshiro saw them very rarely.

He sighed. As young as he was, he was very smart. And since everybody looked down on him, except his parents and Queen Aria, he was always cold and indifferent, when he met people.

He walked down the corridor, when he suddenly heard small footsteps. It came towards his direction. He quickly hid behind a stone statue and was quiet. The small footsteps came nearer. He perked his face outside. He wanted to see who it was. It was a boy, older than him, but small and petite. He had jet-black hair, which came to his shoulders, and piercing jade green eyes. The pupils were slit, like a cat or a snake. The boy looked around him, maybe he was lost?

"Do you need any help?" Toshiro asked, while stepping out into the open.

There was a pregnant silence.

"I don´t need help from trash" the other boy muttered and turned around.

Toshiro didn´t say anything, but inside, he was fuming. That boy had just called him trash! He wanted to give snide reply, but no would come out of his mouth. The boy was already far away from him, so he decided to follow him. They walked in silence, Toshiro after the mysterious boy. Toshiro could see that the boy was beginning to get irritated. They walked and walked, and it seemed that Toshiro was right in assuming, that the boy was lost.

The mysterious by turned around. "What do you want me?" he asked, not angrily, but with an emotionless voice.

Hitsugaya frowned. "I want to know who you are. And give you a reason for not calling me trash"

They looked each other dead in the eye, not moving an inch. After what seemed like hours, the other boy finally talked.

"I´m not giving you my name. And now please leave me!" And with those words, he turned around and walked again.

Toshiro looked at him as he disappeared from sight. Then he sighed. He looked around himself. Where exactly was he??

Age of Hitsugaya Toshiro: Psychical/Mental/Appearance 6 years. Real age: 30 years old.

Aria was a very strict teacher, Toshiro thought. But that was just how she was. Nothing could change that. No matter how hard he tried, she would always find his flaws. He knew it was for the good, but he just wished that she would praise him some more. He knew that she was doing it for a purpose. Somehow, he was special. Aria was not tutoring anyone else, only him.

It was like a never-ending circle. He woke up, made some of his homework, which he didn´t have time to do the earlier day, and prepared for lessons for later. He was taught war history, battle tactics, reading, (not ordinary reading, but reading some very thick and very heavy books, with some of the hardest and most difficult words) archery, learning how to ride a horse, economy, learning about the society around him, martial arts (not including anything sharp though) and so on.

No day was more special than the other. Only when he was together with his mother, or that Aria figured out something new to do, something was different. His father was busy himself, helping out in the different areas of Hell.

And this day was not special either. People looked at him with respect, but also without trust and with suspicions, since he was a child prodigy. He didn´t belong here. He was just a commoner, with some outstanding abilities, but still ordinary. They hated his cold aquamarine eyes and the ice white hair, so everyone avoided him.

This meant, that he didn´t have anyone to speak to, other than Aria and his mother. He was very lonely, and wanted company. But that would never happen. He was a freak and he was liked by the queen. This meant, that if they ever did something wrong, they would surely be punished. This was another reason for avoiding him.

But it was okay. He was by far used to it now. And Aria wasn´t bad either. Actually she was very kind. As kind as a queen for Hell could be. She could be very weird a sometimes. She would suddenly jump at him in the middle of his reading class, shouting that he should defend himself.

She could also be very childish. She would behave as a child, if she didn´t get what she wanted. Pout and stomp on the ground, until she got what she wanted. She always wanted to win.

Especially if it was against her brother, Enma. In chess, he would always win, but in a swordfight, she would win. That was how it was. Enma was skilled in everything, but not completely mastering it. Well, almost mastering it. While Aria, she was so good in something, that no one else was better than her. But in other things, she sucked.

Toshiro stopped thinking and ran out of his room. He was already late for his class. He ran towards the staples. He ran as fast as he could and was there in only a few minutes. But where was Aria? She was supposed to show him how to shoot arrows, while riding on a horseback today. But right now, she was gone. He looked to his right, he looked to his left. Nu uh, no Aria here. He was about to leave, when he saw her.

She was sitting on a beautiful horse. A young stallion, as far as he could see. It was pure white, with a black hair and tail, red demonic eyes and black wings. Wait, wings? Only a few of the horses had wings and they were very rare. And very hard to tame.

"This one is for you. His name is Zayid (3). Take good care of him." And with those words, she left him alone.

The stallion and the boy looked at each other for some time. Then Toshiro bowed. The stallion blinked a couple of times and did the same. Toshiro sighed relieved. He knew that winged mare-horses were very intelligent and that they had to be respected. And then something unexpected happened.

"It is not every day, that I see a powerful demon like you bow to me. And so young too."

Toshiro was speechless. It could talk!

The mare-horse sighed.

"Yes, I can talk. A few of us can. Now tell me more about you."

And then they chatted for a while, learning more about each other.

"Would you care for a flight young demon?" the mare-horse asked with soft eyes. It had already begun to like the young demon.

Toshiro nodded and tried to get on it. But he was too small. The mare-horse chuckled and bent down. Toshiro climbed on it with an angry blush. He hated being so small. But he forgot that as soon as Zayid took off. It was like a dream. He wished that he could fly himself one day. Never did he know that one day; he would actually be able to fly by himself. But not yet.

Toshiro was extremely happy. Now he had finally gotten himself a friend. Zayid wasn´t very old, but not completely young either. But he was a friend. Exactly what Toshiro wanted. Now the days didn´t seem so boring anymore.

Age of Hitsugaya Toshiro: Psychical/Mental/Appearance 7 years. Real age: 33 years old.

"Ugh, it´s so heavy", Toshiro said, while pulling his father´s heavy sword across the room. He always wanted to do the same moves as his father, but never got a chance to hold a sword. But his father´s sword was so heavy! He could barely pull it, how in the world would he be able to swing it? He didn´t know, but he was determined to try.

He now stood in the middle of his father´s training room. His father was out in town with his mother, so it was the perfect time. Aria had taught him the basics on how to handle a sword, but nothing as big and sharp as this.

He sighed and lifted the sword. But as it was almost above his head, he lost his balance. The sword fell and slashed his arm. He screamed and clutched the wound. He fell onto the ground. The sword was lying forgotten next to him. There were tears in his eyes and the pain was unbearable. He had always been careful, so this was his first major wound.

He just wanted to make his father proud. His father was one of the best swordsmen, and one of the three people he admired the most. He didn´t spend a lot time with his father, and that's why he wanted his father to properly see him. His father had never said that he was proud of him, but always scolded him when he made mistakes.

Only a few times had he seen his father smile. And he wanted to see some more. So if he could just learn how to use a sword, maybe he could spare with him. And make him proud.

Now Toshiro began to feel lightheaded. Probably because of the blood loss. He couldn´t think clear anymore.

"Young one, you must not fall asleep. If you do, you´ll never wake up"

But Toshiro didn´t pay attention to the mysterious voice and fell asleep.

Toshiro groaned. Someone was shaking him, but he didn´t want to wake up. He was so tired.

"Toshiro, wake up. Please wake up, please! Don´t die!" a female voice spoke. His mother.

He groaned and opened his eyes. He stared at a fuzzy face, before he recognized his mother.

"Where am I? What happened?" he asked. He looked around himself. He was lying in a bed, in the infirmary. Not only his mother, but his father was present as well.

"That´s what we were going to ask you! What happened?" his father asked angrily.

"Umm… I um, w-wanted to b-borrow your s-sword, and I um, got hurt?" Toshiro stuttered. This was one of the few times in his life that he stuttered.

"So you tried to wield my sword? You could get seriously hurt, even more than you are already. You could even have died!" Ryuu said, his eyes flaring with anger.

Toshiro winced and closed his eyes. He hated to get reprimanded and scolded. He heard his father sigh. He opened his left eye. His father didn´t seem as angry as before, his shoulders were sunken. He seemed so…tired.

His mother sighed as well.

"We are not angry Shiro-chan (4). We were just worried. No parent wants their child get hurt. Promise us that you won´t do that again.

"Okay, I promise." Toshiro said with a small voice.

"Good. Now I´ll bring you some food. I´ll be here in a minute" his mother said and left smiling.

There was a pregnant silence. Neither Toshiro nor his father said a word. It was his father who first broke the silence.

"I understand if you wanted to try to use my sword. But it´s very dangerous."

"I got it already! I want ever touch a sword again. Glad now?" Toshiro snapped. He hated this.

"No. At your age, I was just as curious about swords, and it was about that time, that I got my first sword. My father had crafted one himself. It was no ordinary sword. It grows with its owner. What it was back then, it is no longer. Now it has become Kuraitsuki (5)." He said and clapped his sword.

"And that´s why I have crafted a sword for you as well." Ryuu continued.

Wait, what? This was certainly not what Toshiro had expected. His father had left the room while he was thinking. Now he was back again. He was carrying a small word, wrapped in some cloth. He gave it gently to his son. Toshiro stared at his for some time. Then he unwrapped it neatly. He gasped.

It was a beautiful sword. He caressed the sheath, with was so delicate. His father had engraved small symbols, for hope, freedom, and power and so on. The sheath was made in a greenish blue shade. The hilt was made out of gold, shaped as a four-pointed star.. The blade was of steel, shinning with a silver light. It fit perfectly in his hand. It was not too big, but not too small either. It was perfect.

"Thank you father" Toshiro said and smiled towards his father. Ryuu smiled back to his son. He sat down on the edge on the bed and ruffled Toshiro´s hair.

"You´re welcome. I´ll even give you some lessons on how to use your sword. Perhaps, one day, you´ll be remembered for your swordsmanship. But no matter what, I´m proud of you. Shiro-chan." And with those words, he laughing and walked outside.

It was the first time that he had ever heard his father call him Shiro-chan. And he was proud of him. Proud! He clutched his sword tightly to his body, although being careful, so that he didn´t cut him. And then he fell asleep smiling.

Outside the door, his mother was standing, also smiling. She had known all along, what was troubling her young son, and now it was all good again. But she knew, that the peace wouldn´t last for much longer. That wiped out her smile and she sighed. She went inside and kept the forgotten tray with food on the small table, next to the bed. She caressed her young son´s cheek and left him.

I´m so sorry for not updating earlier. I´ve had a huge writer´s block and I also been on a holiday, to America, for more than 2 weeks. And that meant that for at least a week, I had jet lag. Very annoying.

(1): Ryuu, means dragon in Japanese. Fitting, when you think of Hyourinmaru.

(2) Mizuki: means water in Japanese. Fitting, compared to Hitsugaya´s element ice, which is a mix between water and air.

(3) Zayid: Think of the pronouncing as in NCIS, where Officer Ziva David´s surname is pronounced as Daveed. This means that you should say Zayeed. Zayid doesn't mean anything, compared to the other names. Just a cool name I thought of.

(4) Mizuki calls him Shiro-chan, whenever she is worried or in a happy mood. Then she calls him, sweetie, sweetheart and whatever a mother might call her son. This includes Shiro-chan. Hitsugaya´s father is too proud to say it at the beginning, but also starts calling him this name, whenever they are alone.

(5)Kuraitsuki: means Dark/Black moon in Japanese. Hyourinmaru can also be seen as a full moon aka the ice ring, that´s why I choose this name. About the moon, you can read it in Wikipedia, so it´s not something I made up.

And I´ve decided to call Hitsugaya Toshiro in all of the memory chapters. Because that he has a father and a mother, whose surname is also Hitsugaya. That´s why it would seem too weird.

And so far, in not only this story, this is the longest chapter I´ve ever written. Yay!!

Anyways, I´m not going to update that soon, maybe once every third week or something. I´ve got tons of homework to do, so I won´t have that much time. Especially, if I also have to read some fan fiction too. Oh, and please remember to review. Thank you!

So, until we meet again, have some sweet dreams

See ya