Chapter 1

Present Day

Toshiro Hitsugaya was bored. Being a private detective was boring. Always the same old same old. Most of the jobs he had were spying on couples and most of those jobs ended with proof of cheating.

Take today for example. Guy comes in because he believes his wife is cheating. Honestly it sounded to Toshiro that the guy already knew she was cheating, and all he wanted was the proof. And Toshiro got him that, less than four hours on the job too.

Taking out his phone Toshiro called his office assistant, Rangiku Matsumoto. He really did not know why he let her work for him, she never did paperwork and was always sleeping on the job. He was distracted from his thoughts when she answered the phone.

"CAPTAIN!" Toshiro was used to her screaming and knew not to hold the phone next to his ear. He waited a good few minutes until he deemed it safe.

"Matsumoto." He interrupted her rambling. "I'm calling it a night."

"What? You already got pictures? But this means less paperwork!" Toshiro sighed and opened his mouth to reprimand her for not working but his stomach decided to rumble at that point.

"Yes I already got pictures. Now I'm going to get something to eat and then head home. Do your paperwork." He hung up, cutting off her complaints.

Toshiro walked down the dark street. His snow white hair practically glowing in the dim light. The teal eyes were watchful, taking in all his surroundings. The 25 year old was especially attuned to the questioning eyes and whispers. Usually he heard 'What is that kid doing out here?' It was because of his height. He may be 25, but he was only five feet tall and was often mistaken for a child.

He listened and chose to ignore those whispers. He was used to them now even though they always served to piss him off. Toshiro dealt with these whispers all the way to the small grocery store. Wandering around a bit, he picked whatever sounded good at the moment. Which wasn't much. Toshiro was actually quite a good cook but he never felt motivated to. But he paid for the few items he grabbed and left the store.

Leaving the store he began to feel the hair on his neck stand up. Someone was watching him. Covertly glancing around Toshiro saw the shadows, it looked like three of them. Cursing himself for not bringing his gun with him today, Toshiro searched for options. He did know some fighting techniques but not enough to take on three people.

"Oi! Where you going lil' boy?" Toshiro's eye twitched at the last comment, but he knew he had to keep his cool.

"As far away from you as possible." He gave himself a mental slap for the sarcastic comment. It doesn't help the situation at all, but he was unable to keep his wit to himself.

"Aw don't be like that. We just want to show you a good time." A hand grabbed his shoulder and slammed Toshiro into the nearest wall. Panic was starting to cloud his rational mind. The situation worsened when the remaining guys surrounded them. Toshiro did the only thing he could think of: knee the guy in the crotch. As soon as he went down, Toshiro ran.

"What the hell are you doing? After the bastard!" Running footsteps echoed behind him. The next thing Toshiro knew he was on the ground. The cold cement did nothing to calm his rapid heart.

"You're gonna pay for that boy." He felt himself being rolled over and came face first to the man's clenched fist. The fist that was rapidly approaching his eye. The fist both slammed his eye and his head to the ground. His vision in his eye went blurry and his head throbbed.

"Hey! What are you guys doing!" Toshiro heard the new voice and was confused. The pain was not making it easy to think. He blurrily saw to shapes leave and heard sounds from a fight. Then the weight holding him down was gone too. He felt someone touch the forming bruise on his face and flinched.

"Hey you alright?" Teal eyes shot open. Immediately he saw orange. Gradually his vision cleared a bit to make out the orange as hair. Chocolate eyes looked down at him worriedly.

"Yeah." Toshiro tried to nod but stopped when the pain came back.

"Can you stand?" The orange head asked him. Toshiro immediately felt grateful for not just being picked up like a kid.

"Yes. I do not require your help." The snippy reply felt especially harsh given the situation but Toshiro couldn't help it. Strangely, it did not seem to affect the other man. If anything it made him smile.

"You got guts man but you can't even lift your head up. I doubt you can stand." Toshiro reluctantly agreed. He felt the man lift and hold him against a muscular chest. The warmth seeping off the man was very comforting to Toshiro and he felt sleep overcoming him.

"So what's your name?" The man asked casually as if things like this happened regularly.

"…Toshiro. Toshiro Hitsugaya."

"Well nice to meet you Toshiro, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki."