Chapter 03

Blooming Narcissus

Now—

"T-Toushirou?" Ichigo blinked, staring at the boy. "What the Hell happened to you?" He placed a hand on the boy's head. "You were up to my chest this morning." His hand rose higher as an example to what his height was, previously. "Wait… why are you even in Rukongai? I thought your birthday party was going to be in the Tenth Division. Or are you going to visit Hinamori? She's still on vacation, right?"

The boy just stared at him for the moment, trying to figure out what this man was blabbering about; it was obvious he had lost his mind. Not wanting to deal with him anymore was almost out of the question until he brought up Momo's name, and then it became serious. His arms crossed to intimidate the weird carrot top the best that he could in order to ask him some questions that were necessary.

"How do you know her?" Toushirou glared. "How do you know me?"

"What are you talking about? After ten years, you—" There was something missing in Toushirou's eyes that he suddenly noticed. Something was not right, how could Toushirou trip over a rock. Why would he run away and not fight? "Toushirou… where's your Zanpakutou?" In fact, where's his haori and shi—

"I told you, I just enrolled into the Shinigami Academy. Are you so stupid that you're deaf, Jii-chan?"

This struck a nerve. "Yeah… you're Toushirou alright." He heard familiar voices that caused him to look in the distance. It was Renji with Kira and Momo… but the redhead had no tattoos. "Crap," his attention went toward the abandoned guitar. "I actually slipped a few decades into the past, huh? Just perfect."

"Are you implying that you're from the future, Jii-chan?"

A vein popped at this. "Yes… I am, because the Toushirou I know wouldn't provoke me to do something that I would regret." Ichigo took in a deep breath before staring up at the sky. "If I don't get back, he's going to think that I was lying to him." Things were starting to get complicated now. "But if I head over to Seireitei now, who knows what will happen. I don't even know who's a Taichou in this world now…"

Toushirou twitched slightly; curious to know why this man would be concerned if he was going to be considered a liar to his future self—if he was telling him the truth. For some reason he felt compelled to believe him because he looked strong, but acted like a complete idiot for some reason. An elderly voice called to the boy, which caused him to panic because he did not know if this man was a danger or not. Ichigo glanced in her direction in time to see her that her right sandal was broken, and it was her turn to trip forward this time.

"Baa-chan—!" Turquoise hues widened to see the Strawberry catch her before she could fall and break her fragile bones. He quickly ran over to her. "Baa-chan, are you okay!" Toushirou watched her nod before she turned to thank the man for catching her, but he was busy molding her sandal back together.

"I don't believe I ever seen you around here, who are you?" The grandmother asked in a frail voice.
"Ah, I'm not from around here. I'm Kurosaki Ichigo—" damn, he probably should not have said his name.
"Ichigo, eh…?" She smiled at him. "Thank you for catching an old woman like me, and fixing my sandal."
He smiled in turn. "Baa-chan is important to Toushirou and Hinamori, so you're important to me too."
Hearing this, she looked to Toushirou. Slightly hurt at this. "Why didn't you tell me you made a friend?"

"I…" As much as he wanted to deny any relationship with this man, his grandmother seemed to like him.

"You know how Toushirou is, right Baa-chan? He gets moody when he has to talk about something he doesn't want to have revealed yet." Ichigo laughed softly once the elder began laughing at the true answer that he gave her. Toushirou, on the other hand, was not too pleased by the conversation. "Do you want help going back to your hut?" He stood up to escort the elder who nodded appreciatively.

"I'll escort her, thank you." Toushirou glared at the carrot top. "Don't you have somewhere else to go?"

Not wanting to fight with the once-friend, Ichigo backed away to allow the boy to take the elder to their hut since it was not his place. Turquoise hues saw the hurt in his eyes, but ignored it as he helped his grandmother away from the scene so she could rest. The Strawberry debated on what he should do, but decided to turn away and return to his guitar to think things through. Going to Seireitei was dangerous because there were many captains that he did not know about, plus, that Aizen Sousuke bastard.

Suddenly he sensed two familiar Shinigami nearing by in Toushirou's direction for a visit, which was perfect because he wanted to ask a serious question. However, if he approached them with his blinding orange top, it might cause trouble for himself, so he tried to make it black with the help of his Shihakusho for once. Grabbing his guitar case quickly, he appeared to the scene where a young man and woman stopped to talk with Toushirou and his grandmother. Placing a guitar aside against the hut that had Toushirou's lingering reiatsu around it, he used a flash step to appear between the two parties.

"I would like to have a word with you, Ichimaru." Ichigo demanded firmly.
Toushirou stared in confusion at the voice. "What the h—you were a—!"
"Weren't you taking Baa-chan home? Rangiku-san will help you." He snapped.
Rangiku looked at him curiously. "Eh? Do I know you? You don't look familiar at all."
His attention went to Gin. "I want to ask you something. Will you hear me out in private?"
The fox-grin male did not look pleased. "Oh my, with that kinda attitude, I guess I should, huh?"
"Gin! Do you know him? He looks like a Shinigami, but I can't even sense him!" The woman whined.

"It'll be fine." The Lieutenant of the Fifth Squad waved casually as he walked away with Ichigo. "I have a feelin' that ya had somethin' up yer sleeve if I didn't oblige to yer request." With some distance between the three that were watching them. "So what ya wanna ask me, huh? I'm guessin' that it ain't my name."

"To start with, so you know that I am on your side, I am from the future where we take down Aizen." He watched icy blue hues reveal themselves at the sheer surprise of these worlds. "I'm stuck in the past, and I don't know how far behind I am. How many years has it been since Hirako and the others went through their Hollowfication? From this, I can determine how far along I am in the timeline. And don't lie to me. You were practically Toushirou's height when it occurred, and I know why you're a Shinigami."

"My… my… yer a scary person, ain't ya?" Either way, it seemed there was no point in lying. "Fifty years."

Fifty… years?

Ichigo was sixty years in the past then?

"Now that I told ya, I'm gonna kill ya." Gin brought his Zanpakutou out and stuck the man. "Bankai!"

Ichigo was not in the mood to humor him, and caught the Zanpakutou with his hand as soon as came toward him to finish him off. He was unfazed by the supposed bankai that he could see clearly now—the power that he obtained as a Shinigami were returned to him, were heightened by ten times because of his newly equipped powers as a human. Not in the mood to play around, he brought his other hand up in the air, and shattered the blade without batting an eyelash. While Gin was stunned, he grabbed the hem of his Shihakusho, bringing him up in the air to glare at unhappily as he spoke in whispers.

"Do you know how upset Rangiku-san is without you?"
Gin frowned, not liking his words. "I would die for her."
"…I know." He set him down. "Spend more time with her."
"Ya make it sound like I'm gonna die." No answer. "Do I e—"
"Yes," Ichigo interrupted. "You manage to apologize to her."

There was a long silence between them before they made it back to the others.

Where, for some reason, seemed like everything just turned confusing, and weird.

"Anything else ya need from me?" Gin eyed him. "I'll do it for a price."
"Snake," he growled. "A list of the present first and second seats."
"Oh? Ya mean ya don't know who all the Taichou and Fukutaichou are?"
"I know Jii-san, Unohana-san, Kyouraku-san, and Ukitake-san are Taichou here."
"And ya know that mine is lurking about, don't ya?" This earned him a sharp glare.

"I'm aware of four. I don't know if Soi Fon or Byakuya—or Kenpachi are around yet." Yet alone his own father. The thought of this made him shiver. Immediately he cringed and held his stomach. "Toushirou didn't heal me enough it seems." Ichigo could feel the bruising rise. "Not surprising. It was only half."
"Now what are you talking about." The boy did not like being talked about, future-wise or anything else.
"Recently, a little girl was being attacked by a group of men that wanted to take advantage of her. To keep her safe from the attacks, I took the beating myself, and they used weapons." It did not dawn on him that the other Toushirou said something similar before. "You healed me when we were bathing."
"You're crazier than I thought you were." There was no way he would bathe with this idiotic moron.
"Rangiku why don't you heal him up? He's gonna be quite useful to us in the future." Gin semi-joked, but was serious. "I'm sure you can trust her, right?" Ichigo nodded slowly before standing tall. "Go on, he ain't gonna hurt ya. Something tells me that you're gonna be good friends. Ain't that right…" He paused.
"Kurosaki." That was all he needed to say to them.
The woman came over and parted the folds of his upper clothing to reveal faint bruises that were not fully healed. "Are you saying that this kid here was healing you with kidou?" She blinked. "I had no idea that he was at that level! He doesn't even need to go to Academy then! His reiatsu is dimmed down!"
"That's because I'm controlling it right now."

Everyone looked at the carrot-now-black top male confusedly; none of them knew the extent of his powers right now. Even though Ichigo had no reiatsu of his own, he could still easily maintain others in order to protect those that might not be able to handle it. The boy was staring at him with surprise to hear that, this man was making the one thing that made his grandmother suffer, subside in his presence.

"I don't know much of Toushirou's past, mostly what I do know is kept between us, but," Ichigo paused. "It's no secret that he became—entered the Shinigami Academy thing to protect Baa-chan. Since he's still new to it, I can help him lower the reiatsu around her to make it easier for her to be close to him."

"Well then, while Hitsugaya-han is at the Academy becomin' a Shinigami, why don' ya stay around n' help Baa-chan there?" Gin smiled happily. "After all, yer a bird without its wings it sounds like. Right?"
"I'm not an official Shinigami, I'm a substitute. Opening Senkai gates are not my job." Ichigo glared at him slightly for being nosey. "I want to know who I'm up against before I manage to intrude in Seireitei."
"Hold on you idiots! Why does Jii-chan here have to stay at Baa-chan's hut! I can—ow!" Ichigo began stretching his mouth widely as punishment for his insolence. "Leh go yo bah-staad!" He tried to fight.
"I'm not that old, damn it! If you call me that again I'll scar you for life!" The Strawberry released the boy's mouth. "Since I'm stuck here, I don't mind doing chores. I just need to find a place to stay until—"
"You can stay at the hut with me." The old lady interrupted. She got everyone's attention by this. "Come along you two, I would like to get off my feet for a while if you don't mind. Come on, hurry up now."

"Kurosaki-kun," Gin smiled as said male watched the elder. "I'll be… testing you sometime soon."

Rangiku finished fixing his wounds up to the best of her ability, and as she fixed his clothing, Toushirou's gift fell to the ground. Just as Ichigo was about to bend over to pick it up, the woman snatched it from the ground, and read the name off the tag. Toushirou turned around towards them at the reading aloud of his name, wondering why the gift would be for him—but it was for his future self. Right when she was about to open it, Ichigo snatched it from her hands before vanishing along with the elder and young boy.

Gin wondered about this newcomer now.

X—

"What in the world are you making, it smells disgusting." Toushirou lied quietly, sitting on his futon while watching the man cook. "How did you even manage to get the meat, did you steal it, J—Kurosaki." As soon as he saw that sharp eye on him, he had to make sure not to call him that name anymore. "Yes or no? Because if you stole it, I want no part in it—Baa-chan won't either." He defended his napping grandmother who had tea just a little while ago. "Are you going to answer me or not you big ape?"

The once again carrot top looked at the boy helplessly. "I did not steal the meat, I caught and killed an animal, cleaned it up, hid the meat, and brought some here to cook. And stop lying, your left eye twitches when you do." He stirred the pot of meat and vegetables. "There's a lot of meat for you, okay?"

He bristled at this as the man prepared a bowl of rice. "Why do you think you know me so well."
"I only know what you tell me." Ichigo added meat and vegetables, grabbed chopsticks, and gave it to him. "I'm about sixty years from the future, so you've put up with me for about… ten years or so."
"How could I possible manage knowing you for ten years? I don't even like you after the first hour."

Ichigo tried to think about this carefully; wondering what he could say to him that would make him feel more at ease with his presence. Things were so different though with the future captain being a moody little brat who had no interest in making any friends. Brown hues looked at the boy to see him confused at the portions that he was given: half a bowl of rice, just a little bit of vegetables, and almost less than half a bowl of beef. It dawned on him that Toushirou was surprised that he knew how much of each category he wanted of during the first bowl of food.

"I know others are afraid of you, Toushirou." The boy looked up at him without a scowl. He was too confused to be giving negative waves. "But I'm not afraid of you, and I'm not going to run away either. Trust me, you already tried pushing me away." Ichigo smiled weakly, trying to keep it light. "Now that I think about it. After you tried pushing me away, you began to rely on me a little more—for your sake, and Hinamori's." After he fixed himself a bowl, he sat on the lower level against the dirt where as the boy sat on the higher ground on his futon still. "Anyway, what I'm trying to get at, is…" He paused. "If you want, I can help you become stronger as a Shinigami. But you're a child prodigy already as it is…"

"I would appreciate that." Pales cheeks slightly reddened as turquoise liquid orbs stared into the meal. "There are things that you obviously know about me. So, I'm willing to take your offer, temporarily."

The man smiled before looking away with a frown.

'Toushirou,' Ichigo thought to himself quietly. 'Was I supposed to be drawn to this world for a purpose?'

There was a loud Hollow cry outside of the hut, which then turned to dozens—if not hundreds of Hollow cries before hearing equal amounts of Spirits screaming in horror. Ichigo set his unfinished meal down to change his hair coloring to black in order to protect his identity, and charged to the scene. Toushirou was curious to know if he would be strong enough to take on all of them by himself or if the man was just all talk. When he reached the bamboo shades of the hut, brushing it aside to see him swinging his Zanpakutou by the wrapping, and cutting them down in large quantities.

Sensing the onlooker, the Strawberry looked at the boy curiously while a Hollow slammed its feet on the ground, swinging a fist toward him. The boy told him to look out for the monster that was about to kill him while he was stupid enough to look in the opposite direction. A hand rose into the air, catching the enormous fist that attempted to impale him, and nothing happened to the man who just stood there. It took a second for him to decide what he wanted to do because he was so deep in thought about why he was here, was it anticipated by others? Not in the mood to deal with the creatures anymore, he destroyed all of the Hollow with a single blow before returning to the hut.

"Attempt, being the operative word." Renji's words filled his head. "The first time I did, I was punched." As he neared the hut, the subject became even clearer to him. "I didn't say he punched me, I said I was punched." His gaze went to his black colored hair, fiddling with it even. "It was a man with black hair—looked almost like Shiba Kaien, a former Fukutaichou for the Thirteenth Squad." If that was the case, then it must have been the Strawberry. "I made one little joke, and was eating dirt before I knew it. That guy packed a punch. Thought my jaw broke back then." Eventually, he stood in front of Toushirou…

The boy looked at him in surprise and admiration, this was the Hitsugaya Toushirou that he had wanted to learn about for the longest time. With a humble smile, Ichigo rustled head of snow-like hair gently before walking into the hut once walking around him. Their meals were not yet finished, and the elder was awake because of the loud disturbance earlier that was created by the Hollow. Debating on what to do about the situation he was in, it was decided that he needed to stay here until it was time to leave.

"It seems I was set up," Ichigo smiled, serving some food to the elder. "Coming here was inevitable."
"Inevitable?" The boy came in, sat on the futon, and grabbed his bowl. "What do you mean by that?"
"Whether I was prepared to come here or not, it was not by accident. The Toushirou I know, knew this."
His head tilted. "You were taken from the future to come here? For what purpose would that do you?"

"I don't know, but if this was what was expected from me, then I can't complain." It was obvious that he was going to stay here for a while. "Is today the 20th of December?" The boy nodded curiously. "Then I guess, if I give this to you, you'll have it in the future." Ichigo reached into his robe and brought the gift out. He set it next to the futon by the boy. "I know that you don't know me that well right now, but it's the thought that counts, right? So… Happy Birthday, Toushirou." After a moment's thought, he realized what he just handed over to the boy, and paled. "W—"

Toushirou set the bowl down and held the small box in his hand… contemplating whether or not he wanted to open it. His fingertips were holding the ribbon that was keeping it together, but eventually decided that he would not open it yet. If this was for him in the future, maybe he could wait those sixty years or so to open it—unless this man was stuck here forever. He wanted to know what was in the box, now more than ever, and he could no longer ignore his childish curiosity of the gift. The boy opened the box, and stared at the necklace that held a snowflake pendant in the center… an odd clip in the back.

"It might not mean much to you now, but you become one of the strongest men that I know." Ichigo hoped this would make things easier. "The snowflake represents your Zanpakutou, I would have went with a dragon, but H—" No, he could not say Hyourinmaru. "But it was hard to find one that looked like it. Since your Zanpakutou is the strongest ice-wielding one ever, I figured a snowflake would suit you more." He watched the boy bring it out of the box. Looking at the end of the chain at the flower. "It's a daffodil, the flower that represents the Tenth Squad. Though I guess that's something for you to look forward to now, doesn't it?" Toushirou was obviously amazed by the work that modern Living World could do, but he placed it back in the box and gave it back to the man quickly. "You don't like it then?"

"No—I do, but it's not for me, it's for your Toushirou." He made sure the man took it back. "When you return to your world, you can give it to me then so I can appreciate it." Toushirou began to stuff his face as if nothing happened. "If anything, it gives me something to look forward to." To be a strong man, a captain, and a friend that was willing to be there for him. "So what was your name again? Kurosaki…?"

"Ah… Kurosaki Ichigo, but keep my to yourself, okay? I don't want to start trouble around here just yet."

Toushirou nodded once, and returned to his meal—

Only to have an eating contest with Ichigo.