A/N: I honestly thought I'd never update this again... but apparently I was wrong. LAST CHAPTER. ENJOY

Figure Fourteen: Left

//Everything is perfect in the universe - even your desire to improve it. ~Wayne Dyer \\

Two weeks had taken me a long way. Two weeks since I found out about my Zanpakutou spirit. Its name was Shiratori, meaning 'White Bird'. I didn't quite understand it as her feathers are blue. I thought Aoitori have made more sense. She tried to explain it to me, but it went a bit too much into the technical side. Something about zanpakutou being able to 'purify' hollows, and that's why it was 'white' instead of 'blue'. I finally told her to just stop before I got too confused. When it was just casual conversation though, I called her 'Kohane', meaning 'small feathers'. I thought it suited her. She rarely calls me 'Master', but more of 'Ane-chan', meaning 'Miss' or 'Sister'. Either way, we'd grown very fond of each other in the 14 days since we'd met. I did not yet know her powers; all I knew was that she was of the wind element. Hitsugaya had begun to teach me about the Zanpakutou. He said this education was usually conducted during the second year of school, but since I'd already discovered the name of my Zanpakutou, it was necessary to start now.

"Your zanpakutou is a fragment of your soul, and thereby it will reflect you as a person." He smirked here as I blushed. I'd told him it was a small, chirrupy bird. Somehow, he found it immensely amusing. And since then, he'd been using that as a topic of which to throw jibes and taunts.

"And naturally, if you change as a person, the Zanpakutou will also undergo this change. That is what discovering your Shikai and Bankai is. Everybody grows, and finds new 'pieces', should we call it, of themselves. Shikai is the first piece, and Bankai is the second, harder to obtain, piece. Although I must admit, Shikai will be quite difficult too," he said, pacing up and down in front of me as I sat on the sofa listening, eyes following his movements lazily.

'Boy, he talks a lot doesn't he?' I rolled my eyes and almost laughed at Kohane's curiosity. She seemed much like a little child to which everything was new and interesting.

'No, just when it comes to technical stuff. He's usually quite as a rock, and always grumbling about one thing or another.' I said. Kohane gave a twittering laugh. I let a small smile slide onto my face.

"Oi, Takamori, are you even paying attention?" he snapped. I quickly nodded, focusing once more on his monologue about zanpakutou and their various forms, uses, levels, and what not. I found it genuinely interesting, but everything just seemed funnier with Kohane around. Maybe it's because of her childish nature, or her high voice that seemed to show all the emotions one such being as her could possibly feel.

'I like him.' The sentence was simple. I was not surprised. After all, if Kohane really was a part of my soul, then it would be only natural that she liked him. I liked him. No, 'like' is far too light a word to use for what I felt towards the white-haired captain. I'm not even sure 'love' would cover it all. But I knew that Kohane's attraction to him was merely that of interest. He was something that she hadn't seen before, and he wasn't like everyone else. At least not from my, or our, perspective. He was one in a million, and Kohane liked that about him.

'I know. I like him too.' Kohane paused for a moment before she spoke again.

'No. You love him. That's quite different from 'like', Ane-chan.' I smiled. Of course, she was right. I made a noise of consent but didn't have time to say much else as Hitsugaya had just finished with his lengthy explanation of zanpakutou.

"So, any questions?" I shook my head. Truth be told, I hadn't heard a thing he said past 'Shikai will be quite difficult too.' But I thought it wise to pretend like I did anyways. He didn't have his morning tea today. Matsumoto had forgotten to make it for him and I woke up too late. He, of course, didn't bother to make it himself, and had refused when I offered to make him some, saying that he'll just have it with lunch. But without his morning tea, I knew his temper would be abnormally short today, and just the slightest flare could set it off. The subsequent explosion would be monumental. I doubt the 10th Division building would survive if that happened.

"Good." He glanced at the clock on the wall. It marked three minutes to noon. Almost lunchtime. He turned back to me and heaved a great sigh. The paperwork had been finished early today, and we'd all decided that he should take the day off. It was Sunday after all, and Matsumoto had, on some odd whim, finished all their paperwork for the day. It was a rarity that could be compared to the appearance of comets in the night sky.

"Ne, Toushirou...?" He had closed his eyes and was lounging on the sofa next to me; his head tilted back, a solely relaxed expression on his face. My voice did nothing to faze him. He didn't even open his eyes.

"Hn?"

"How old are you?" The question seemed to have stumped him. His eyes flickered open and his forehead creased with a light frown. Apparently, no one had asked him such a question before. He gave me a sidelong look before turning his gaze back up to the ceiling. Closing his eyes again, he blew out a long breath.

"Much older than you are in human years..." his voice trailed off. I looked down at my hands, thinking. Of course he was much older than me. I'd known that from the beginning, but just how much older?

"Yeah... I know... but how much?" He didn't answer for a moment, then shifted so that his hands were placed behind his head like a pillow.

"I turned 148 last December." It came out as a sigh, though I don't know why. He seemed to not like his age. Maybe it was because he was the youngest of the Gotei 13, or maybe it's just because he disliked being young. Either way, he didn't seem too happy with his age. I gave him a sideways smile, which he saw nonetheless , although his eyes were half closed.

"That's to be expected, your birthday being in December I mean... It fits so well. What day is it?" I asked. I'd never bothered to find out the exact date of his birthday.

"The 20th of December." I counted the months on my fingers. There was only three more months left before his birthday. My eyes lit up and a smile split my face.

"There's only three more months! How do you want to celebrate it?" I asked, more eager than I should have been, considering the event was still a ways off. But the prospect of celebrating his birthday with him was something that I had not thought of before, and now that I have, the infinite possibilities as to what we could do was suddenly spread out before me like the stars in the Milky Way, just waiting for me to go and grab one. My enthusiasm, however, was met with nothing but a scoff.

"Tch... You do what you want. I don't want to make such a huge fuss out of it." But I wasn't listening. In my head, I was calculating on what day of the week it would be on. My grin grew impossibly wider as I realized that it would land on a Sunday, his usual day off. I had to hold back a squeal. He can't use paperwork as an excuse then. This is going to be awesome.

"Oi, are you even listening?" He was ticked off. I could tell, not that I much cared right at the moment. My mind was racing passed all the choices of the things we could do. It was only nine days from the Coming of New Year Festival that took place every year. Matsumoto had told me it lasted for about a week, and it started two days before the last day of the year, and went till five days after. I didn't want to combine the Coming of New Years with his birthday, so we'll have to do something special that isn't connected to the Festival. But what could we do?

"Takamori!" I jumped. I'd been so deep in thought that Hitsugaya's voice had not reached me until now. He was sitting upright, and his expression was that of someone who was slightly pissed off.

"W-what?"

"Pay attention when someone speaks to you. It's considered very rude if you don't." He closed his eyes again, and leaned back, hands behind his head, resuming his original position. I rolled my eyes. And I had to do something about that stick up the poor boy's ass. It's not healthy, acting like Kuchiki-taichou before he turns 200.

"Why are you asking all of these questions all of a sudden anyway?" he asked. I shrugged, kicking my feet a bit in boredom.

"Because I feel like I've known you for a long time, but at the same time, I don't know much about you. So... it seems weird to me. Besides, I doubt you know my birthday, anyway," I said, dejectedly. He'd never asked, and he never seemed to be interested in anything other than work. He never asked about me, just about school and how my scores were. I felt like he didn't care, though at the same time, I know he does. He just... shows it differently than how I'm used to. That doesn't stop it from hurting though.

"January 14." My head snapped up. How did he...? He smirked at the look on my face.

"You thought I didn't know?" I nodded, dumbfounded. But he never asked. We've never talked about my birthday, or anything near it. So how did he manage to find out?

"I asked your brother. I have to admit, he was a bit reluctant at first, but I managed to get it out of him in the end." There was hint of pride in his voice. It was evident that Onii-chan had put up a decent fight to keep this piece of information from him. I gave him a half exasperated, half amused look.

"Anything else you got out of him about me?" I asked, a challenge clear in my voice. His smirk grew wider as he opened both eyes, but continued to stare up at the roof. There was a moment's silence in which I briefly wondered whether or not he actually threatened Onii-chan with anything before he spoke and cut off my train of thoughts.

"Yes. He said you liked the winter." His voice was softer than usual. It was kinder, and perhaps, more like him, but in a rather out-of-character way. Thinking about this oxymoron-ish comparison, I gave him a small smile. It was true. I did like winter. The cold made me feel exhilarated... alive. I also loved snow. It was so beautiful, like nature decided to take out a pure white coat and drape it over everything. During winter, you could sit by the window with a good book, and a fire crackling behind you, watching the snow fall from the sky. It was such a cozy thought.

"I love the winter." As I said this, he reached out a hand and touched my cheek. I closed my eyes at the contact. It was so gentle and... loving. When I opened my eyes again, I found his looking directly into my own, filled with emotions that were formerly unknown to him. And with a small jolt, I realized that he'd changed. He was no longer the Hitsugaya Toushirou I met nearly five years ago, the one that gave out strict orders and refused to recognize the word 'fun'. He was... softer. Kinder.

The remainder of the month passed by without so much ripples as to floods of sparring lessons. Now that I'd successfully discovered my Zanpakutou, Hitsugaya seems to have taken that as a sign that it was time to take the training to the next level. At first, I thought it was going to be the same, just fighting with makeshift swords and such. But no, by the time we hit our 10th lesson, he pulled out Hyourinmaru. I was scared senseless when he pointed it at me and told me to draw my own sword, which, up until now had been safely sheathed and kept at my side. The following lesson had been horrific. I could only run around like an idiot, trying to avoid his blows until he finally stopped and taught me how to block and defend, while looking for holes in the enemy's moves.

"Of course, a real enemy would give you many more opportunities that I do," he said, rather boastingly. I rolled my eyes and picked up my Zanpakutou, twirling it around in my hand. So far, that's the only thing I've completely mastered, twirling my Zanpakutou. I was pretty proud of myself too. I could do lots of tricks and stuff. Hitsugaya only scoffed it off every time I tried to show him some new 'move' I'd learned. It was like Debate class all over again. All you learn to do is twirl pencils. Here, I'm learning to twirl the Zanpakutou.

"You know, showing off how many times you can make your Zanpakutou spin before you catch it again is not going to help you in battle," he said sternly. I shrugged, tossing it around. Kohane liked the tricks too. She thought they looked cool. I guess she really is part of me. He sighed, sheathing his own sword.

"I guess there would be no point in continuing today. Your concentration is at its end, and forcing you to keep on going would only result in mental injuries for the both of us. Come on. I've still got work to do." He led the way out of the training arena. On the way out, we passed a group of girls who were whispering and pointing in our direction. By now, I had grown used to this kind of behaviour and had mastered the art of shutting out whatever it was that they were saying. It didn't bother me so much anymore. So what if they didn't like me? It wouldn't hurt me any. I've never sought after popularity anyways. But now that I was forced into the lime-light, and not a very flattering lime-light might I add, it bugged me less and less. Surprisingly though, some of their words got through to me.

"Who does she think she is, hogging Hitsugaya-taichou-sama?"

"Yeah, I know. I bet she tried to seduce him or something. Pft, she's not even that pretty. I don't see what Hitsugaya-taichou-sama sees in her. She's not even that powerful."

"Tch... powerful? Are you kidding me? She can't even perform the most basic of Kidou. What powerful?"

"Oi..." Hitsugaya had paused on his way out the arena. He didn't turn, but the girls stopped immediately, all looking at him with a mixture of apprehension and admiration. Were they the 'fan club' Hino had told me so much about? Judging by the looks on their faces, they were. Hino had told to avoid them at all costs, because they are 'under the pitiful delusion that each and every one of them is suited for Hitsugaya-taichou,' or so Hino says. I personally thought Hino was exaggerating.

"You guys are loud... if you have something to say, then keep it to yourselves. We don't need your useless gossip around here." Then, he continued on his way, but not before turning and gesturing for me to follow. I took a quick glance at the girls as I hurried to catch up with Hitsugaya. They were whispering amongst themselves while glaring at my back. I sighed.

"Don't mind them. They're not worth it." He wasn't looking at me, rather staring resolutely ahead, an annoyed expression on his face. I almost grinned at his indignation on my behalf. It meant more than the world to me. Of course, I wasn't about to tell him that... maybe in the future though. If he ever asks...

The rest of the month passed by uneventfully, well... unless you count Matsumoto getting dreadfully drunk and trying to make Abarai and Hisagi do some sort of strip-tease. Actually, it was quite comical when Hitsugaya found them. Abarai was half naked, and Hisagi was in the middle of taking off his pants. Matsumoto was laughing so hard I was surprised she could still breathe, and there were sake bottles and glasses scattered all over the tables and floors. Hitsugaya's face turned about five shades of red in the span of three seconds, and he completely blew up in Matsumoto's face. I don't think I've ever seen him so hysterically angry in my life. His face kept changing colors as he yelled at Matsumoto, who only brushed off his insults and orders like flies.

It was mid November, and the holidays were only a month away. Everyone was getting pretty excited, and there were murmurs of a big surprise celebration at school. But, the holidays also meant: mid-term examinations. Hitsugaya had never come down on me so hard as he did now. I studied so much that I barely had time to breathe. I was drilled on the most specific of topics, such as the technicalities of how reiatsu can be channeled through irregular objects. True, I'd studied all of this before in class, but it was only in passing. And Hitsugaya was none too happy when I couldn't come up with an answer for half the questions he asked.

"This is how you've been studying for your mid-year exams?" he asked in a dangerous voice. I sighed, forcing down the urge to roll my eyes. It was the first year, they weren't about to test me on subjects so detailed. Why is he making such a giant fuss out of this?

"You've been studying for half a year, and you don't know such common topics?" I raised an eyebrow. I had had enough of this. Common? What common? No one in my year even knew half the things that I did and they were getting the same marks I was.

"Are you sure you didn't mistake the practice book from the last year for the first year? Because these don't seem like the questions they would ask for first years." I said bluntly. There was a thick silence. I could feel the air getting denser and denser until finally, the explosion came.

"You think that I mistook the questions? Do you? That I'm being too hard on you? Well then, you can go study by yourself, and leave me out of it!" He slammed the study guide down on the table, stood up, and stormed out of his office in a flurry of white and green. I turned, shouting at his back.

"It's not like I ever asked for your help anyways!" I huffed, folding my arms tightly in front of my chest, a pain growing steadily in my heart as my throat constricted. It's been such a long time since he'd yelled at me, and I didn't like the feel of it. It's true that I never asked for his assistance in studies, but I've always wanted it. It gave me another reason to be with him, to be near him.

'Great... just great...' I slumped back onto the sofa, my head lolling back onto the headrest, arms limp at my side. I frowned, closing my eyes. Hitsugaya's angry face was still clearly imprinted behind my eyes. I saw his face contort with rage and hurt before he stormed out of the office once again behind my eyelids. What had I done now? All he was trying to do was help me. Why couldn't we just sort it out without turning everything into a huge fight? I knew this was going to be a long one.

'Let him cool off for a bit... he'll come back soon...' I sighed at Kohane's words. Easy for her to say. She hasn't had to live through one of these rows has she? That boy could hold a grudge to the end of the millennium if he wanted.

'You're exaggerating again... he's apologized before, hasn't he?' I rolled my eyes and gave a sardonic scoff, sitting up straight again.

'Right... only after I apologized to him first.' This successfully quieted Kohane, leaving me to my own thoughts. It's not as if I wanted to start these things, it's just... my stupid mouth just blurted out whatever I was thinking as if the filter between my brain and my mouth was broken. If I'd just learned to keep my big mouth shut, this wouldn't have ever happened. And now I had to shove my pride and go find him to say sorry... once again. I was always doing this... but then again, I was always the ones who start the fights anyways. It's always been my fault and he's just been on the receiving end of everything. He had every right to be angry with me...

I picked up the book he left on the table and opened it. My eyes widened as I flipped through the pages. Each and every one of them was marked and annotated in Hitsugaya's handwriting. They were... lesson plans and notes for himself so that he wouldn't forget... to explain them to me. He has all this paper work and yet...

A tear splattered across the pen marked pages, blurring some of the words. I quickly closed the cover to prevent from further ruining his writing. He's doing all this for me and on top of that, he has a whole division to look after. Another tear made its way down my cheek. Guilt was slowly creeping up my body, shredding me apart as it swept over my insides. I fell to my knees, crying. I was such an idiot... such an idiot.

"Takamori?" I put a hand over my mouth to stifle my sobs. I didn't have the energy to get up and run to my bedroom like I wanted. Instead, I only sat there, trying to keep the tears from falling, but to no avail. They kept coming.

Footsteps, faster and faster until I saw the shadow of a very familiar someone towering over me. A warm hand placed itself on my shoulder.

"Takamori?"

I launched myself into him, letting go of all the pent up emotion in my heart. I clutched at his haori like a drowning man to a life boat, tighter and tighter until I was sure that it would rip.

"I'm s-so sorry... I di-didn't know... you were wo-working so hard... and y-you still m-made su-ure that I would..." I couldn't go on. My voice didn't allow me to. Instead, I buried my face in his shoulder, biting my lip. I felt his arms wrap around me, a gentle hand on my back, the other in my hair.

"Sh..." He didn't say anything else until I had quieted down. There was no need... He understood, as did I. It was one of those moments where words would only get in the way of things and silence had its way of conveying messages. As he held me against him, I felt as if we were melding into one. Sinking into one another to become one whole being. It's as if I could feel his heart beating next to mine, in harmony with my own.

"I'm sorry..." I said, raising my head slightly so that my lips were next to his ear. My voice was soft and slightly cracked. He only nodded. "Toushirou..."

December. A month of holidays and fun. Also, the month of his birthday. It was already the 15th. Only five more days before that special day, and I still had no idea what to get him. Walking through the bustling corridors of the Academy, I wondered when I could get Matsumoto to come help me pick out a present.

My class was sparring, which was really only a block of time when you could go to the school training grounds and practice your sword skills. So far, no one in my year has even got a zanpakutou yet, so needless to say, when they found out I did, there was an almighty uproar. Rumors spread like wildfire with a dry wind and those that wouldn't even come near me before all of a sudden found me immensely interesting.

They bombarded me with questions about my zanpakutou. What were its powers? How did I come to discover it? How long did it take? Did I feel any different afterwards? I tried to answer them the best I could, but I felt a bit claustrophobic with all of these people around me all the time. I liked a quiet life... or as quiet as my life could ever get because it's not entirely very normal. Still... being treated like some celebrity obviously wasn't something I was very fond of. I was never attention-seeking, and it's just my luck that I happen to attract an unhealthy amount of attention wherever I go. Whether it be good or bad... well, that depends on what fate feels like throwing on me for the day. Let's just hope it gets bored of this soon, because I was about to crack.

"Takamori-san!" I turned. A girl to whom I'd never spoken to before was jogging towards me. I recognized her from one of my classes. Yoko... her name was. Izumi Yoko. I distinctly remembered her whispering to her little group of friends about me a few weeks back, but now, she looked as if she was most excited to see me. I wonder why...

"Izumi-san." I gave a respectful little tip of the head. She laughed and flapped her hands at me, as if saying that I was being too formal.

"No need to do all that, Takamori-san. Feel free to call me Yoko-chan! I like it better than Izumi-san," she said. I nodded, hitching a smile onto my face.

"So Takamori-san, I was thinking –"

"Oi! Takamori-san! Matsumoto-fukutaichou calls for you!" A messenger was running towards me from the training grounds. I raised an eyebrow. Matsumoto? But I was still in school. What could she possibly want right now? I turned towards Izumi.

"Sumimasen, Izumi-san. I have to go. I'll talk to you later, ok?" And with that, I ran off towards the entrance of the school. Upon arriving, I found Matsumoto leaning against the school gates, a cheery expression on her face as she waved at me.

"Yo! Mina-chan! Let's go!" She was about to turn and leave when I grabbed her arm, forcing her to face me again.

"Where are we going? I'm still in school!" I said, a bit frustrated at her carefree manner. Hitsugaya would have my head if he found out I cut school to go somewhere with Matsumoto. Not to mention he'd put Matsumoto through the wringer.

"Taichou's birthday is coming up! Don't you want to get him something?" My grip slackened at her words. It was true. I did want to get him something... but now? I still had school...

"You only have sparring left, right? And I could easily help you catch up with that. Plus, this is more important! If we don't go now, all the good presents will be taken by the holiday shoppers!" I considered her words. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. The holidays were coming up, and the shops ought to be filled with shoppers, looking for presents and trinkets for the upcoming festival. If we don't go now, all the worthwhile presents will be snatched away. Reaching this conclusion, I sighed in defeat and followed a cheering Matsumoto off the school grounds.

"We have to find the perfect present! But since it's from you, I'm sure Taichou would be happy with anything!" Matsumoto flounced around, an enormous smile on her face. I gave her a sideways grin, a warm, tingly feeling spreading throughout my body. Yes, we did have to find the perfect present.

The perfect present for the perfect Taichou. The perfect boy. The perfect prodigy. He was perfect. But then again...

Everything was perfect now.

A/N: So there, the end to a trilogy that has been abandoned MANY MANY TIMES. I'm sorry about the UBERLY late update, and I've said that just about every single chapter for the past year... Still, it's done. Finished. OVER. I'm kind of sad, and I have all of you to thank for me finally updating this. Thank you all

I'm not sure whether or not I should continue writing on . My interests have erm... drifted, but then again, they are coming back at a rather alarming pace, so we'll see. ^_~ Until next time then,

Arelissa