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Life of Simplicity
~Simply Thinking~
*Shinji*

The fact that his efforts had accomplished very little in the Winter War was frustrating. He had not in truth, been able to rectify, or more of, get revenge upon Aizen for the atrocities against the vizard. This in truth stressed the former gotei taicho. Not to mention there was the fact that most of the vizard crew, needed to rest up from the ordeal. Particularly Hiyori, who had been cut in half by the person named Ichimaru Gin.

Shinji's mind was focused greatly on giving his former third seat a tongue-lashing. Truth be told, he might not be allowed to give the man a taste of his own physical medicine, but the man looked forward to lavishing out some good old verbal abuse. Asking around, he was able to find where Ichimaru Gin had gone off too. This was the same as when he was young, always disappearing on everyone, including Aizen. When he popped into the room, the first person he saw though was a busty female.

And as to his nature, he did the usual flirtatious hit on her, much to the annoyance of Ichimaru Gin, who Shinji could see sitting in the corner. A very miffed person, the female, took aim and responded that she had heard that line from him before, even though Shinji didn't remember ever meeting her.

"Hello Taicho," the look that Gin didn't give him, as the silver haired man maintained his smile and closed eyes, was instead interpreted easily by the influx of negativity in his spiritual pressure. Gin, obviously, was not at all happy to see the blond man.

Shinji though, didn't like the young upstart, using his title. It was, in truth, insulting to him, due to his disconnection, particularly with anything dealing with Aizen. "Do you really have the right to call me that? You were always helping him. It's always been what was the best interest of Ichimaru Gin. And no one else, I might add."

Not hearing the unsaid thoughts, what was blurted out, was enough to cause the smile to slip from Gin's face. Shinji knew then, he had started to make the younger man angry. The response was quick and sharp. "So says the taicho who never was able to look out for his subordinate.

The accusation that Ichimar put forth stung, and Shinji felt himself taking a deep breath, as it was supposed to be him causing the grief for once. He knew that his former third seat was leaning on the idea for some reason, possibly to try to make him feel guilty, for abandoning the silver haired man as a child, though Shinji really felt that he hadn't. He couldn't help but remember the day the third seat prior to a certain child genius suddenly disappeared.

"Why, would I ever look out for a brat, who killed to obtain his seat in my division," the vizards tongue shot out, knowing this wasn't the likely way to get the truth from the other male, but then, truth wasn't what he was seeking.

He watched as Gin slunk down, like a child caught in the cookie jar. His tone also reflected this. "You have no clue what happened that night. I don't like killing."

The female gave a rebuttal, along the lines of disbelief in the comment, something that Shinji couldn't blame her for. The man could feel his muscles tightening at what had been said. He was shocked that he had said this, and his words leaned towards Hiyori suddenly. His former thirds seat simply shook his head, giving an answer he hadn't expected. "No. That's not why."

This caused the blond haired man's voice to strain with anger, but then, he should have expected such an answer from this person. "That isn't why? What other reason would you need?"

"Nah, I respect you still too much taicho. She simply was annoying." This of course, quickly upset the other in the room, not to mention, served to set Shinji off.

"Simply… annoying? You aren't someone who has respect for anyone, except your own freakin precious Aizen! My Ass! Hiyori is always annoying everyone. To cut her down simply because she said something about that monster!"

"Makes me one too, doesn't it taicho? Gin's response was too calm, which meant he was likely hiding something. Shinji felt this, as this was something he had picked up from when the other male was a boy.

The leader of the vizards took a deep breath. "I mean, the only other annoying things she did… Hiyori's comments were rather mild, and not annoying. Except when she talked to the kid. Even I could hear them arguing."

"So?" Gin tried brushing the whole matter under the rug.

So was a good question. Shinji couldn't help but thing about the why, when he suddenly remembered Gin's little fiasco of knocking up his own child hood friend, sort of girlfriend. True, they were kids, and no one had explained certain things to them, about certain things. However, the one who ended up explaining them, had been Shinji, much to his own disgruntlement and Urahara's.

The whole thing had ended up with the girl having to hold off a year at the academy, only to have the baby supposedly die. Supposedly, because Shinji wasn't quite sure anymore, as that child taicho had the coloring of Ichimaru Gin. Not to mention, if he was a captain at this young age, he had to be a child prodigy also. Adding the rough physical age into the calculation, it was all possible.

Thus, in Shinji's own ire, he began to use his theory, and the information that went with it, to attack Gin, to confront him, and hopefully open up a huge wound. He got the silver haired man riled up, to the point he blurted out something that confirmed everything, not to mention hadn't exactly been expected, as Shinji thought his theory a long stretch. "Leave my son out of this!"

The next thing Shinji knew, he found out that the young woman, who threw the vase at their heads, was in fact little Matsumoto Rangiku, grown as much as Gin had, since he had last seen his former third seat. He should have known, neither one of them were children anymore, or really now, what one would call young teens. He had to personally mentally kick himself for not putting it together sooner.

Leaving, he made a promise in his mind, to apologize to the female later on. Also,on leaving, he crossed paths with the small taicho, who was obviously heading to the room, which caused him to inwardly curse his luck. It didn't really register, until the boy was actually completely out of site. He had defiantly caused a mess of things.

Slipping into Hiyori's room, he sat down, rather slack in the chair. He took a deep breath. "Well, aren't things rather crazy."

She of course didn't answer, as she as in a deep sleep. He sat there, in the silence, staring at the ceiling. About some time later, he felt an icy rieatsu coming out and heard the door to Hiyori's room open and close. He leaned his head back, so he could glance at the person who entered. It was the small taicho, the one that also happened to be Ichimaru's son.

The boy was leaning up against the door, his entire body shaking. His rieatsu also gave away that he was rather upset about something. Shinji raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. "Don't you know how to hide your rieatsu?"

He suddenly saw the boy turned to him, two bright teal eyes, filled with agitation, not to mention, a likely sense of insecurity. There were a couple of times, that the boy opened his mouth, then shut it. Finally, he found the courage to speak up. "I would like to argue, there is no reason to hide my rieatsu now, and that is the reason, but truth of the matter is, I stink at it, and it can be very draining."

Shinji shook his head at this. "What brings you to this room? Obviously you are in an agitated state, so did Gin and Ran tell you about that, Shiro?"

"My name isn't Shiro. It's Hitsugaya Toshiro. Ichimaru likes to tease me with Shiro-chan, which he knows I hate, and with chibi-taicho, his own little pet name. And no… Matsumoto refused to tell me what was going on. They were arguing about something though, and then Gin got weird," the boy stated, his frustration suddenly pouring out.

"Gin was always that way. I think the word creepy is better for him," the man stated. He watched as the boy suddenly turned towards him, and he inwardly winced. To him, Toshiro was a mirror image of Gin, except even younger. The way he looked, the way he spoke. This child, he hadn't been wrong in guessing that he was Ichimaru's son.

"I hate him," the boy stated, suddenly surprising Shinji. "He was probably trying to chummy up to Matsumoto, and beg for her forgiveness. She was in truth, his only friend, as far as I can tell. Then again…"

Shinji watched as Toshiro's eyes fell to the floor. A scratch was on the boy's left cheek. He got up, and then sat so he was sitting backwards in the chair."You are a mirror image of him, bizarrely enough."

He then suddenly felt the temperature in the room drop, as the boy suddenly looked up at him, horror written on his face. "I know that I don't have any friends anymore either, as Hinamori just told me to never see her again, and that I was going to say I was basically one to talk, however, I am not him!"

"Cool your temperature. Hiyori's resting," the man stated, letting out a sigh.

Hitsugaya suddenly gave him a look of confusion. "Don't you mean, cool my temper? And don't most people get better faster, when they aren't over heated?"

This odd statement caused Shinji to suddenly blink a couple of times. He then scowled at the child. "That was rather morbid."

"I get better when the rooms cool…" Toshiro then made a quick bow. "I am sorry for intruding, I had better go."

"No… wait. I take back what I said. It wasn't a morbid statement. More of, it was an odd one," Shinji beckoned him over. "I have nothing to do, so I might as well make conversation with you."

The boy inched closer, wary of the man. "Do you think that when Yamamoto gets better, he'll exonerate you. That way, you could fill the positions you had before you left Soul Society?"

"Why are you asking this, when you aren't sure that you can trust me?" Shinji gave a half laugh at this.

"I'm not wary of you, because you are… have that hollow side like Ichigo. I am wary of you because you are a stranger. Actually, I am wary about everyone, when I first meet them. Matsumoto complains about it all the time," the boy stated, again, sliding a little closer.

"What, little Ran-chan?" The blond haired man raised an eyebrow, and turned his head towards the bed, as he thought Hiyori had moved. However, she seemed to be in the same person.

"You know about Matsumoto when she was younger?" Hitsugaya's steps were suddenly surer as they came closer, not to mention faster. His eyes had a high level of curiosity in them, and he ended up close to the chair. This wasn't the way Gin had handled curiosity when he was a child, but was more familiar to the way young Rangiku had, which perked Shinji's interest, to figure out what traits the boy had inherited from each parent.

Suddenly, Shinji reached out and ruffled the boy's hair, a smile on his face, while two eyes became annoyed and brushed the hand away. "The way it works for us vizard, you be our friend, then we'll be yours. Does that sound good to you?"

"If it is me trying to help get you guys back in, you have my support, but I can't make any guarantees. Hell… I might very well be losing my rank, for the stunt I pulled. My question though…" Toshiro's eyes were rather pleading for the information, though Shinji couldn't figure out why.

"I meant friends, like how we are friends with Ichigo," the man stated, suddenly going to clean wax out of his ears. "What is your obsession with little Ran-chan? It isn't because you have a crush on her?"

"Little?" Two teal eyes gave a look of surprise. "No. Rangiku is pretty, but she is way older than me. Truth be told, Rangiku is the person who convinced me to go to the academy, even though she was a complete stranger. She's been looking out for me ever since, not to mention, if I hadn't gone to the academy when I did…"

"Something bad would have happened," Shinji let out a sigh of relief. He had in a way, wanted to laugh inwardly, if the small boy actually did have a crush on his own mother. His curiosity though was perked. "We're friends, so it stays with me."

"I would have likely have killed my granny, with my rieatsu," the boy stated, his tone dry, and not to mention bitter. "I have the bad luck, of hurting people around me. So… maybe being friends isn't a good idea, because then I'll bring you and the other vizards bad luck."

Shinji was about to counter this statement, when the door to the room opened again.

Author's note – Someone guessed it would be Yamamoto. Hadn't expected that guess, truth be told.
I will not update this until I have at least forty-eight reviews.