I now have forty reviews.

Life of Simplicity
~Simply Hurting~
*Toshiro*

Truth be told, staring at the ceiling of the forth division, left a lot to be desired. It was something that kept the mind numb, not in the way that allowed you to forget what you wanted to forget, but that it happened to make you keep bringing up what you wanted to forget, or better yet, not think about. The small taicho of the tenth, couldn't help but stare at the ceiling, many things bothering him, about what was going on.

His restlessness, and inability to sleep, caused him to finally sit up, get out of bed, and wander around, trying to visit people. He figured, no one would be in Yamamoto Taicho's room, and he had heard that the man was still unconscious. He hadn't performed well during the Winter War battle, and had the feeling that he would receive a huge lecture from the old man, when he did wake up, which could be more intimidating then anything the fourth division captain could do.

"I might as well apologize, while I have the confidence to do so."His dragon remained silent, as he slowly opened the door, his mind still doing flips. He paused though, when he saw that someone was there, and his tone had a bit of surprise to it. "Unohana Taicho?"

The woman suddenly glanced up, giving him a typical Unohana smile, which was in itself, frightening. "Did you not expect me to be in here? I thought I ordered you to bed rest?"

"I couldn't sleep," came the boy's reply. He swallowed hard, knowing that she tended to get irritated whenever someone disobeyed orders meant for their health, thought he tended to ignore them anyways. However, for some reason, it actually bothered him this time.

"I know… you're making it so I can't sleep either…" the dragon hummed in annoyance.

Toshiro walked over to her, and stood beside her, a tad nervous, saying what was in truth worrying him. "Do you think he will be mad at me, when he wakes up?"

He watched as Unohana flinched, almost as if she were trying to avoid answering the question, or as if she was trying to keep the truth from him. "That isn't something to think about until he does, as we don't know if he will wake up."

Toshiro felt his chest suddenly clench, and he couldn't help but glance at the ground. "If there is a chance for Yamamoto General-Taicho not to wake up, then wouldn't this be a good time to say I'm sorry for messing up, even if the chance for him for giving me is slim?"

The female taicho gave him a rather said look, and mentioned something about that not being something he should be placed on his small shoulders. She handed him the extra cup of tea. He thanked her for the cup, which he hoped would relax him, and for the fact that she hadn't brought up his age. That possibly wasn't the best thing to do, he realized, when she began to talk further. There was a sad look in her eyes.

"To put it as kindly as possible, Hitsugaya Toshiro, I worry about you because of your age. It is not so much about how you react, but how much you are keeping in to yourself, and how much someone of your age normally has to deal with. If an adult such as myself has problems dealing with these things, even though I've lived a long time, how is it for you?"

Toshiro swirled his tea, and felt his face twist up. "How can I answer that question, when I don't know the answer myself? Can I ask something? I need a truthful answer to this question. Do you think I was ready for something like this?

He heard her take a deep breath, knowing then; it was yet another answer that she was trying to avoid giving. "No… I don't think you were ready."

"Again, arrigotto. I needed an honest answer," Toshiro set his cup down, and left the room. "I've been thinking… should I ever have been made captain."

"I don't think, child that is what she was referring too at all, your abilities. You should take her words about not keeping things in to heart," his dragon suddenly purred, trying to comfort him.

"That's… hard to do. Plus, Shingami are supposed to be emotionless," the boy, sighed, the idea to visit Momo popped into his head. "I've got to apologize for what happened. I really messed up."

He walked carefully over to the room he could feel her warm spiritual pressure coming from, a little bit of jealousness coming to his stomach. She had always had the ability to make friends easy, and her rieatsu, unlike his, had always been warm and welcoming. He swallowed hard, then knocked on the door, and opened in slowly. "Hinamori… can I…"

He stopped short, as four pairs of eyes suddenly stared at him, one of which, the one female in the room was looking at him lividly. His eyes went wide, as suddenly he found a bowl hurtling at his head, smashing at the door. He felt one of the pieces gaze his cheek. He swallowed hard. "Hinamori… I came to apologize…"

"For trying to kill me Hitsugaya!" Her words made him jump, but he didn't realize that it had made her friends also startle.

His eyes closed, having trouble getting what he wanted out. "I didn't try to k…"

However, she interrupted him rather quickly. "If you hadn't tried, you would have come to see me sooner… in fact, already!"

"Perhaps it is because I am a coward?" Toshiro swallowed hard. "I'm sorry… perhaps I should visit later…"

"I DON'T want to see you!" the female stated. The small boy couldn't help but notice the tears running down her cheeks. He closed the door behind him, and shook his head. He could feel his eyes dampening.

"I am seriously, not going to cry," he thought to himself, as his dragon tried to sooth him with sounds. He bit his lip, and then decided to go see Matsumoto. His fukutaicho always knew what to do. On his way to her room, he passed Shinji, who seemed distracted by something. To his concern, he heard yelling coming from the room, and tensed realizing one of the voices belonged to Ichimaru.

He hurried towards the doorway, and into the view of Gin, who raised his eyebrow at the small boy. Rangiku had her back turned towards him, and had yet to notice him. "There is still no justification for what you did. Just because…"

"Chibi-taicho…" The small taicho found himself bristling at the nickname, but said nothing at first.

"Don't make him part of this. Unfortunately…"

Unfortunately, Gin tried to interrupt her again. "No, I…"

"Matsumoto?" Toshiro decided to make it clear that he was actually there. To his surprise, she spun on him, her eyes completely wide, and giving him a weak smile.

"Taicho? How long…" Toshiro's eyes drifted over to the ex captain of the third division, who had tilted his head.

Something was bothering him about this behavior. His young mind focused on the idea, that Gin had been bothering Rangiku, which wasn't a surprise to him really. "I wanted to see you, and heard loud voices… what's going on? If he's bothering you…"

"No… taicho… this isn't… it's a private conversation really… I might explain later…" the woman stated, her words stinging, as he knew something was wrong.

Ichimaru's eyes were still focused on Toshiro, and this caused the small taicho to shiver involuntarily. Whatever as wrong was not usual, even for what might be considered normal Gin behavior. The man suddenly walked over, and his hand settled on the boy's chin, which caused Hitsugaya to flinch. He felt his face being tilted, so that the man could see the cheek that had come to be scratched. "Who hurt you.

The question was strange, to say the least, for he couldn't figure out why Ichimaru would ever be concerned about such a thing. However, the next thing he knew, Matsumoto had shoved between the two of them, forcing Gin to let go of his chin. "Taicho, leave, now… you aren't ready for me to explain this to you."

"But…" peeking around, his eyes fell onto the other man's, which seemed to be a pale coloring of his own. He wondered if Matsumoto would be safe with the man, but he couldn't be sure.

"Taicho! Now!" the woman repeated, and he numbly turned and walked away.

After he had gotten away from the room, the numbness and shock wore off a little. "I am too young, to cowardly… should never been made a captain… completely, completely useless."

"Now stop this. You do this way to many times. This is a dark depression you are going into," his dragon warned.

A thought though, perked into his head, about how he could do something, and he headed toward the kitchen, hiding his cheek behind the doorframe, so as Isane wouldn't freak about it too. He happened to arrive, right in time, to hear someone speak up. "Perhaps… did you hear about Hitsugaya Taicho?"

"And what about him, is so important to gossip about?" Isane then started on about how it was a bad thing, to be saying anything.

As kind as it was for her to do this, he had his curiosity perked. "I want to hear what they have to say."

"Hitsugaya Taicho!" Isane spun around, completely surprised, not to mention, her eyes were taking him in.

"Can I help?" This was his plan, to do something, to make himself feel like he was in some way useful, even in the slightest. She made a similar comment, as Unohana would have, however, he continued to ask, no… in a way beg. "I can't sleep, and I need to do something. Can I please help?"

Suddenly, he felt himself grabbed under the armpits, by one of the males from the forth division, and lifted up. At first, he thought he was going to be forced to go back to his room, however, instead, he found himself placed indignantly on top of barrels, out of the way, like a small child, which caused him to go deeper into his depression.

"Rumor had it, you got hurt bad. It is good to see you up and about, though I agree that you should be resting, rather than helping us," one of the women stated, her opinion firm.

"I just want to help. Am I that much of a burden on people?" he thought to himself, only to catch onto something, someone said.

"What about that rumor that the ex-taicho of the tenth actually being alive?"

This caused him to perk up, physically and emotionally. "You mean to say, Isshin-san Taicho is alive… and no one bothered to tell me?"

"Yes…" However, at that, he had hopped down, and was heading away, feeling for the old baka of a taicho's rieatsu, however, Isshin had always been good at keeping it hidden. He glanced up at doors, looking to see who was placed in the room. However, when he came to one room, he heard a muffled, but familiar voice. A small, yet slight smile spread on his face, as he opened the door.

"I get your point dad," came another familiar voice, as Toshiro's two teal eyes took in the scene.

"I…" He had been planning to say something to his former taicho, however, his smile quickly dropped. He chocked out some more words. "Kurosaki… did you mean to say… he's your father?"

He opened the door further, and watched at Ichigo looked at him, his face filled with concern. He flat out said, "I guess this is where I got my soul reaper powers from."

"I guess… that isn't so surprising," Toshiro glanced at the ground. "I of all people… I should have known… I knew Taicho had a chance of being alive… I'm such an idiot."

"Did you need something Toshiro?" Ichigo asked.

"Ahh… no, I didn't need anything. I am sorry for interrupting." The small boy took a quick bow, then hurried off. "It isn't something I needed, it was something I wanted, and I should know by now, I don't get those kinds of things. I should have known, things had changed. I am a huge idiot…"

"Knock it off…" his dragon sighed.

Suddenly, Toshiro darted into the nearest room, and closed the door, taking deep breaths, and placing his hands on the door, leaning up against it. To his surprise, someone spoke up. "Don't you know how to hide your rieatsu?"

Author's note – About coming from the point of view of Ukitake… not likely, with the way the story is planned.
I will not update this until I have at least forty reviews.