Hi, Minna! RkInu241 here. I hope I didn't make all of you wait to long for this chapter. I was thinking on adding one more chapter to this story and put the second arc as the sequel, but since I already wrote the arcs, I'll carry on putting up the chapters on Frozen Memories. I was going to write something else for this chapter, but instead decided that it didn't flow very well with the current storyline. Thus, I'll be delaying that scene. Instead, I skip on to the chapter plot for the first chapter of the second arc. I hope you didn't find the first arc short. Anyway, if I continue rambling you guys would feel bored. So please enjoy the fourth chapter of Frozen Memories, Onegai Shimasu!

Special thanks to tsuki-fluffysama777, Death Skater, Crazy Hyper Lady, OShayO, Sesshoumaru Minion, Lady Light, LiL DraGoNs2er and Cerulean Soul for reviewing the last chapter. You guys made me feel like real glad that you thought the chapter and story was nice.

Summary: Hitsugaya meets his parents in Soul Society. His father is a captain, his mother's a vice captain. But here's the catch: Hitsugaya hates his parents. Big time. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing in Soul Society as spirits and Shinigami alike are disappearing suddenly, and it doesn't help that there are more Hollows and Menos appearing in places that they shouldn't be. Is this Aizen's new plan to traverse into the Spirit King's domain? What has Hitsugaya got to do with all this?

Spoilers: Until the latest Bleach manga

Genre: Drama/ Angst

Beta: feathersnow, Kero

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach and its characters, but the OC's and storyline do belong to me.

Frozen Memories

Arc 2: The Real Key

Chapter 4: Searching for Truth

Hitsugaya had apologized at the meeting the next day for the outburst. Everyone except Getsushirou had brushed the incident off as a rare display of the tenth division captain's temper. Work had resumed at a considerably normal pace after that, with the new captains soon getting the gist of the work, with a little help from their vices here and there.

The only thing that bothered him now was that during every meeting the captains had, Getsushirou eyes would always bore into Hitsugaya, as if trying to understand how he had managed to rise into the ranks. If that wasn't enough, every idea or plan that Hitsugaya had suggested would immediately be contested on by the man, pointing out all the faults he could find.

Hitsugaya didn't pay much heed to him and neither did any of the captains. Unless the fault could cause grave danger to Soul Society, most captains found his plans trustworthy and capable. The other captain's believed in Hitsugaya's sound judgments more than the way Getsushirou did his work, and knew that the child prodigy wouldn't mind if in circumstances his plan was revoked or changed for the better good of Soul Society.

During every meeting, Getsushirou would try to outshine the other captains by pointing out their own personal faults. This had nearly cost him his life at a few times. Such examples were when he commented that Zaraki, Abarai and Ichigo were incapable at leading their own divisions. Three said would have pummeled him into a bloody pulp if Yamamoto sou-taichou hadn't stopped them from doing so.

Another such example was when he said Yoruichi had shamed the name of a royal family by affiliating with a commoner and thus unfit for captaincy. He'd lost a few strands of hair when Soi Fong had thrown a kidou attack at him in defense of her favorite mentor. But even though Yamamoto sou-taichou had advised the man against commenting, Getsushirou stubbornly turned a deaf ear on the warning.

Getsushirou had been wise enough though not to comment on Yamamoto sou-taichou, Kuchiki-taichou and Ryuuhara. Commenting on Yamamoto sou-taichou would immediately have him lose his job, and Kuchiki-taichou and Ryuuhara didn't have any noticeable faults. Besides, they weren't easy to restrain when they were mad.

Getsushirou had commented once that Hitsugaya was still in infancy and his Bankai was incomplete, so he wasn't ready for captaincy. The man had immediately clammed up when the temperature of the room dropped a few noticable degrees. After that, he hadn't tried making anymore comments on Hitsugaya, though he would still stare at him sullenly.

Though Getsushirou had commented on Unohana-taichou being too soft and Urahara and Kyouraku being slackers, the three had shrugged the comments off as if it was nothing, making no movement to acknowledge or take notice of the comment directed at them. Getsushirou still commented about the captains, but that had severely lessened over the months.

It had been half a year after the new captains had entered when the problems started. It had been a minor case of spirits disappearing around Rukongai randomly until a severe amount of them had gone missing. Not only that, Shinigami from all the divisions had been disappearing too. Whether they were Onmitsukidou or seated officers, they were going missing all the same.

It bothered Gotei 13 that there was no trace of the people that disappeared or how they were abducted. Already ten seated officers including two vice captains had already disappeared, and Yamamoto sou-taichou had ordered war time order on all Shinigami. Even so, the disappearances still continued and soon enough a large number of spirits were reported be missing.

Yamamoto sou-taichou had entrusted the case with Yoruichi, Urahara, Soi Fong, Kuchiki-taichou and Kyouraku-taichou to deal with. Getsushirou had volunteered to help but he had been dismissed with the reason that it would be best to leave the case in trained and capable hands.

Hitsugaya was strangely, not included in the investigation, but Hitsugaya decided that Yamamoto sou-taichou didn't want Getsushirou complaining at the moment. For now, he kept himself busy by finishing reports and going about his division's daily Hollow patrol. He would wait for the result of the investigation's survey of the situation, and help the best he could when needed.

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Urahara couldn't remember when there had been such peculiar disappearances during his time, and neither did any of the captains that were investigating this case. There was absolutely no trace of the missing spirits and Shinigami, and the Hollows and Menos weren't changing back into spirits after they were slashed, so that ruled out the possibility of them being the missing spirits.

One thing they were knew was that this was all Aizen's doing. When they had last encountered, a door that was engraved with the royal family emblems that lead to the Spirit King's domain had appeared in the middle of Karakura city. The doors luckily had remained closed and that had stopped Aizen's plans and assured the Shinigami victory. The door had disappeared after the battle, leaving Karakura City unscathe.

Urahara knew that Aizen had missed out the most important thing. The key to the door. However, no visible key hole was seen engraved into the door. Only a circle with intricate markings had appeared before Aizen's feet, with the doors looming behind it. They had decided that the key was more likely a who, not a what. The only question is who it is.

The recent kidnappings had to be Aizen's latest attempts at finding the key. With the way the kidnappings were increasing rapidly, they had concluded that he hadn't found the right person yet, but with the rate it was going Aizen would find the key in no time. Unless Soul Society found him or her first.

Byakuya had managed to find something on the so-called Key by looking through the family archives. It seemed that the key, or O-Tenkagi as the people had called the person in the olden days, only appeared every millennium when the planets aligned. The description of the O-Tenkagi was vague, and the gender was unknown.

According to what was said in the archives, the O-Tenkagi was a being that resembled the highest purity and contained a power beyond its capacity. Urahara had decided that according to the line saying that the spirit had power beyond its capacity, the spirit had strong reiatsu and could be somewhere around captain level.. The meaning of the word purity though, had completely stumped the investigation team.

Each had a different opinion on what purity meant, and they had no idea which meaning was the right one. Now, as Urahara sat in front of the computer screen in the twelfth division pondering on the problem, he made his final decision. Putting the file down, he made his way to the first meeting room. The rest would be there with Yamamoto sou-taichou.

Urahara fervently hoped their deductions were right, otherwise they'd be protecting the wrong person.

Ok, what do you guys think? I think I made out who was the O-Tenkagi was very, very clear. If you guys have any comment on this chapter, be it good or bad, please don't hesitate to review and tell me. It only takes a push of the little purple button at the bottom left hand corner of the screen and a few minutes of your time. Anyway, I really hope this chapter met your expectations. I will post the next chapter as fast as I can. For now, Ja ne!