Author's Note: Well…if you're wondering why I'm not updating The Mask of Ice anytime soon…it's because I have to stop at chapter 23 because if I go on to chapter 24, there will be major spoilers (in a sense) for the end to this story, and I can't have that. Besides… -grins evilly- it'll give me a chance to leave everyone with a good cliffhanger. -cackles-
It was a joke XD But really, I'll need to finish up this one first. Don't worry, it won't be long, it won't be that long. Yup, thirteen more chapters excluding this one won't be that long! -is unusually optimistic-
Disclaimer: Read previous chapters.
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Chapter 7 – The One Being Trusted by the 11th Division
The dawn's morning sunlight beamed through the window of the 10th Division captain's room, the sun's warm rays dancing on his face. His brows, once in a straight line, furrowed together as he pulled the blanket over his head and moved towards his right to so-called shield himself from the annoyingly sure-to-piss-him-off sun. He still hadn't fully recovered from the sugar rush that he got the day before, as Matsumoto noted that he was still a bit feverish and immediately ordered him to go to bed once he stepped foot in his office. Psh. It was just a good excuse for her to slack off from her job. He already knew without her even saying anything about going to the bar.
So perhaps that was why he thought he was going to faint from euphoria (and his high fever) when he saw Matsumoto doing paperwork.
His eyebrow twitched upon landing his teal eyes on the sight of his strawberry blonde of a fukutaichou signing after paper and paper diligently. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't experiencing another hallucination, but it was still the same sight. To further exaggerate things, Hitsugaya even ran to the bathroom and washed his eyes but when he returned, it was still the piggish Matsumoto, dipping the brush into the ink, and making a messy signature on the paperwork. His eyebrow twitched all the same. This had to be a dream.
"Ah! Taichou!" Matsumoto squealed when she noticed just how cute he looked without the black half of his shihakushou and his haori. "You're finally up! Lookie here, I made breakfast!"
Hitsugaya, however, didn't care about breakfast. He raised an eyebrow. "Matsumoto, what do you mean by 'finally'?"
"Oh? You didn't know, taichou? You've overslept by six hours."
Hitsugaya could've sworn that now it was his eye itself that was twitching. "Overslept."
"Mm-hm."
"By six hours," he confirmed, speaking monotonously like as if nothing had happened.
"Mm?"
"And you," At that, he pointed an accusing finger at Matsumoto. "didn't wake me up."
The big-busted fukutaichou got the picture. Hoo boy, was her captain ever pissed off early in the morning already…or should she say, noon time? "Gomen ne, taichou!" It didn't sound like she was apologetic at all… "But Toushirou-kun told me not to wake you up. He wanted to go to the other divisions to play."
Hitsugaya blinked. "What?! Where did he go?"
Matsumoto brought the end of the brush to her mouth in thought. "Mmm…I think he said he wanted to go to the nearest division to play."
"Baka!" Hitsugaya scolded, losing his cool. Yup, he still hadn't fully recovered, alright. His temper was still that of a girl having her monthly period. "He could've gone to the 11th Division, for all we know!"
"…So?"
"So?! What do you mean, so?!" Hitsugaya snarled, trying to contain his reiatsu from leaking out. The dragon within him was cooling him down (literally) but it didn't seem to help. "Argh…Matsumoto, what if Zaraki-taichou finds him and begins the thing he loves called fighting?"
Matsumoto, however, tilted her head to the left in confusion. "But taichou, you shouldn't worry about that. Zaraki-taichou isn't that violent to cute children, including you."
A vein popped from his forehead. "…You're implying…that I am a kid."
"Wah! Sugoi, taichou!" she exclaimed excitedly before attempting to give him a little glomp with her valleys of heaven. "You're so smart!"
Hitsugaya calmly stuck a foot out and tripped Matsumoto before she could even get any closer to suffocate his face. Sighing, he went back into his room, grabbed the rest of his shihakushou, and dashed out.
＜ブリーチ＞
Toushirou picked up another plate of sushi and began munching down on the Japanese delicacy. Yachiru stared expectantly, Ikkaku blinked countless of times, Yumichika backed away further and further with every bite Toushirou took as it was deemed too ugly for someone his taste, and Zaraki was being just Zaraki; tapping his gigantic foot impatiently for the kid to finish eating all of his division's food before he could get into a fight with the kid, just like he promised. After all, after being cooped up in division after division, Toushirou was bored out of his mind and as children get bored easily, they tend to get dangerously devilish (A/N: Courtesy of how I behave when I'm bored…You do not want to see me bored, period). As a result of hazardous boredom from kids, Toushirou crazily went to the nearest division – he chose the 11th because he didn't want to be dissected in the 12th – and came to an agreement with the fighting fanatic of a captain that he would spar with Zaraki only if his stomach got filled to the brim.
Apparently, Toushirou was a very hungry child.
Well, like they always say, he's a growing boy, alright.
"Pachi-chan, Pachi-chan."
Zaraki turned to face the ravenous boy who had finished his thirtieth plate of sushi. The ends of his mouth had bits of sticky Japanese rice (don) and there were small tiny pieces of tuna and other kinds of seafood on his face. Either he must've had eaten at a very fast rate, or he was just a messy eater. Either way, his face was all messed up. "Whatzit to ya now, kid? I ain't got the time to get you another plate."
"I know, Pachi-chan." With that, Toushirou gave a loud burp which triggered laughing fits from Yachiru and Ikkaku, as well as a puking attempt from Yumichika. Zaraki only grinned. "I'm not hungry anymore. You wanna fight now?"
Zaraki's sadistic fighting-induced grin only widened at the innocent question. "You got spunk, kid. I like spunk, even though you're just a little boy. Come!" he exclaimed with excitement, bringing down his zanpakutou threateningly. "Let's fight to the death!"
The white-haired child didn't seem to be scared out of his wits or didn't even change his usual cute expression either. It was like he was totally prepared for the fight coming up. "Ah. Ok." And for some reason, he dug his hand into his shihakushou, as if trying to find something. Zaraki could only smile even more at the sight. The kid was probably bringing out his zanpakutou; this was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to see a suspect bringing out his weapon! How special Zaraki felt, to have this opportunity walking up to his door literally. Perhaps the kid was powerful for such a youngster; so that must've been why the old fart was so worried. Snort. Yachiru hopped onto Zaraki's shoulder and waited. Ikkaku and Yumichika edged back to join their captain and lieutenant.
What they saw next shocked them out of their systems immediately.
Meanwhile, Hitsugaya was rushing off to reach the 11th Division to stop the younger version-like of himself getting into an unnecessary fight with the scary fighting fanatic of the combat division. What the hell was Toushirou thinking?! Was he asking for a death wish, running off to the 11th Division without telling him?! Hell! Toushirou was too innocent and he wasn't that knowledgeable…was he? Argh, who cares?! For all Hitsugaya knew, he might be the one bringing a bloody and tattered Toushirou to the 4th Division…or maybe he'll be the one Zaraki would want to slaughter, next to freakshow Kurotsuchi Mayuri (Mayuri: Hey, a test subject of such a delicate age and captain level reiatsu is something that I will probably never ever see again! Authoress: Shut up, ugly head.) and there was absolutely no way he was going to let himself get sliced up that easily…
"Toushirou!" he called out once he opened the doors to the 11th Division office. The sight that was right before his eyes sent shockwaves to his brain. His eyebrow twitched and he couldn't feel his fingers.
Toushirou turned to face his caretaker. "Ah! Hyousetsu-oniichan! You've come! Sit down, sit down! You're missing a good fight!"
"…What the hell is the meaning of this?" Hitsugaya asked once he settled down next to Toushirou.
"Oi brat, stop asking stupid stuff and lemme concentrate," Zaraki insulted as he shot Hitsugaya a fierce look. Normally other shinigamis that weren't of captain level would buckle under the enormous reiatsu Zaraki emitted, but Hitsugaya didn't care about the high reiatsu and glared back. After a few quiet moments other than beeping noises, Zaraki was practically screaming, "Stupid insolent weak piece of shit!!! Damn you, Deoxys!" (A/N: No offense to Deoxys lovers. Heck, I like it too. But it's one of my least favorite legendaries XP)
Yachiru gave Zaraki a small poke on the cheek. "Ne, Ken-chan?"
"Yeah?"
"It's already damned."
"Oh right…"
"Pachi-chan…" Toushirou spoke next, his voice still high-pitched and just so adorable (think Hani-kun from Ouran, except not as cute). Zaraki looked up from the Gameboy he borrowed from Toushirou and was surprised to see tears swelling up in those dazzling sapphire orbs. "You…you think Deo-Deo is weak?"
"…"
"Tell me, Pachi-chan, do you think Deo-Deo is weak?" Hitsugaya backed away with a sweat drop.
"Eh…"
Toushirou moved over and grabbed Zaraki by the collar. "If you don't think Deo-Deo is weak, why did you call it a stupid insolent weak piece of shit?"
Hitsugaya moved to a corner, and as much as he was trying to keep up an indifferent expression, he was very stunned to hear Toushirou learning bad words so quickly. "…Yes, it's a weak piece of crappy hellish shit," the scarred captain answered, folding his arms. This was boring.
The young white-haired boy lowered his head, letting his white bangs cover his eyes. "I see. Well then, if you think Deo-Deo is weak, I'll let you see Xys-Xys."
"…Ya got two of em?"
Toushirou's personality took a 180 degrees turn. He gave a bright smile. "Haiiii!!!!"
"Thought ya said there's only one of em in every game, you cheeky lil' bastard of a cheat."
The said cheeky lil' bastard of a cheat pouted. "Ne, are you retarded or something? I got two different games, so I got two legendaries, baaaaakaaa!"
"This kid's a tech pro…" was the thought that passed through everyone's minds at the sentence. Of course, that was what they thought, since they hadn't played Pokémon in their entire lives and afterlives before. Toushirou just got more and more mysterious with each passing day, Hitsugaya concluded.
In the end, Zaraki Kenpachi, the ferocious captain shunned by all out of fear for his crazy and insane fighting style, lost to the mystery child Toushirou. Apparently, when Hitsugaya asked his 'otouto (younger brother)' why he suddenly ran to the 11th Division just for a wireless connection fight, it appeared that Toushirou was truly bored out of his mind and wanted to duel against someone with the two Gameboys he somehow managed to get his hands on – coughebaycough – and when he heard that Zaraki was desperate for a fight, he thought about it in a wrong way and that was how their Pokémon battle began. Well, not like anyone was going to care about that anymore anyway.
Except for Yachiru.
"Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Toushirou-chaaaaaaaan! Why don't you gimme the pink one? Stinky little boys like you shouldn't like pink!"
And for some reason, Zaraki couldn't find Yachiru anywhere in his division, until he stumbled upon an ice sculpture that was the splitting image of Yachiru.
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A/N: I did say OOCness was to be expected. -laughs sheepishly-