Life of Simplicity

~Simply Alone~
*Toshiro*

When Toshiro closed the door, his upset about finding out that Ichigo was in fact his former taicho's son, he didn't think to look and see if the room was at all occupied. Thus, when someone did in fact speak up behind him, he found himself startling. "Don't you know how to hide your reiatsu?"

At that, he stopped leaning against the door and turned his head to see the leader of the Vizard staring at him, looking right into Hisugaya's wide, teal eyes. In the bed next to the man was the short, blond female who had berated and chastised him before. At first, he wasn't sure what to say, and then he spoke up, fully showing how insecure he was at the moment.

"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." The man then spoke up to him, indicating that he in fact had an idea of what Rangiku and Gin were speaking about. He wasn't happy either, that the man used the nickname he disliked so much.

But when he thought about it slightly, he couldn't help but feel that the only reason that the man would bring up the issue of the two arguing, was if it involved him somehow. Yet, Matsumoto had made it clear she hadn't wanted him involved. Toshiro couldn't help but feel frustrated, not to mention confused at the way the adults around him were, to him, giving him the cold shoulder.

"Gin was always that way. I think the word creepy is better for him." Shinji piped up. Toshiro felt slightly awkward as the man stared right at him. He thought back to whether or not he also felt that Ichimaru was creepy. His mind wasn't sure if he did in fact find the man creepy, the words simply didn't fit his feelings.

And thus he blurted out the first thing that came to mind, though he honestly wasn't sure where that one came from. "I hate him." At that, the conversation continued, Toshiro's eyes falling to the ground, not liking the fact that the man seemed to take a liking of staring at him. However, the reason became clear after a bit.

"You are a mirror image of him, bizarrely enough." At that, Hitsugaya felt his eyes go wide and felt his chest suddenly seizing up, something that rarely happened since he had joined the academy, if ever. It was a dark feeling he didn't like. He blurted out then the fact that he wasn't Ichimaru, looking at Shinji despite the fact the pain was evident on his face. The man simply retorted, scratching his head as he did so, "Cool your temperature. Hiyori's resting."

Toshiro blinked a couple of times, his mind still troubled by the mentioning of the idea that he was like Ichimaru. Thus, his words came out before he could really think them through. "Don't you mean, cool my temper? And don't most people get better faster, when they aren't over heated?" Then came the further conversation.

First about how odd the comment was. Then it moved onto whether Toshiro could trust them. Finally, Shinji mentioned Rangiku, and his mind brightened up. Something made him want to know what his fukutaicho was like when she was young, possibly the odd sense of looking up to the woman he had ever since she basically saved him. "You know about Matsumoto when she was younger?"

Without realizing it, the caution he had about approaching a stranger vanished and he walked over to the man. To his dismay, the man ruffled his hair, much like his former taicho liked to do. Toshiro simply pushed it away as their conversation continued. In fact, it took a rather interesting turn of events.

Shinji brought up the idea of Toshiro having a crush on Rangiku of all people. Toshiro then rattled off the details between him and Matsumoto, something he normally didn't do. Then again, the word had used the word friend with him, which for some reason made him feel all right in sharing. However, all his friends ended up getting hurt, which caused him worry.

As he was telling Shinji the fact that he was bad luck, when someone came through the door. Glancing up, he recognized his former taicho and then glanced away. Shinji then spoke up, a slight lilt to his voice, as if he had found mirth in what Toshiro had told him. "So... you are the kiddo's former taicho? Would you mind telling him, he isn't bad luck?"

At that, Toshiro thought about how his former taicho had disappeared, just like a good deal of the other people in his life. He remembered blaming himself, ever so long ago, and thus his next words came, again without thinking about them. "Taicho is the last person to ask that of, because he is one of the people my luck's affected."

This caused the two to almost get into an argument about the subject, of which Shinji pointed out that Hiyori was still resting. Hitsugaya remained stubborn about his belief in the matter, and then... the man made a strange comment. "So like Ran-chan, stubborn wise, isn't he?" Hadn't the man said something about him being like Gin? The two things contradicted each other in the young shinigami's mind.

This thought got left in the dust as Isshin tried to reason with him, to no avail. To the young man's surprise, Isshin extended the familiar bond, but the small taicho's mind went to thinking about Karin for some odd reason and then his words became odd. "It's complicated taicho. You want me to call you oto-san, but not in the way I would like to now call you oto-san, not that I would ever truly admit that is the way I want to call you oto-san."

"What the crap." Shinji spoke up in time for Toshiro to glance at the man.

"What exactly did I mean by that?" The small taicho blinked a couple of times. "Not the way I want to call him oto-san..."

"It's called Toshiro logic." Isshin shook his head at him, a smile playing on his face.

"Young one, you just admitted that you like Kurosaki Karin." The dragon's laughter rang through his head.

"Did not!" However, the words he said definitely came across that way, and thus he decided to correct himself. "I take back what I said, because it was simply said because of something Matsumoto has said to me, and I really don't think that."

"She didn't happen to tell you what she and Gin were talking about?" Shinji stated rather suddenly.

"No... Matsumoto said I was too young to understand, basically." Toshiro narrowed his eyes at this. "Didn't he ask me this before?"

"What... do you know something I need to be aware of?" Isshin piped up, which caused Toshiro to mentally fret. Something... something was going on between Rangiku and Gin and no one was telling him what was going on. Shinji simply told him to watch Hiyori of all people.

Toshiro stayed there, waiting patiently in the chair that Shinji had vacated. He in truth hoped that the female was all right, and thus when she opened her eyes he asked, "Are you feeling better?" Which led to a whole pitched out argument between the two about Ichimaru Gin. As the two were about to argue if Toshiro was like the man, Isane came into the room.

She explained that something was wrong with the very man that they were talking about and Hitsugaya felt another tightening of the chest at that point. He became even more bothered by the fact that the two males decided to leave him behind, reminding him of how useless he felt. After the had left, Hiyori piped up. "So, I am stuck with the Ichimaru Gin look alike. You're just as creepy as him too."

Another pang went through Toshiro's chest. His mind fell to the fact that he didn't want at all to be like that man who hurt Rangiku. Then again, with as bad of luck as he was to the people he cared about, he might as well say he was like Ichimaru. Getting up, his mind wandered to the villagers and how they thought of him. "Since you want me to get lost, I'll just leave."

At that, his small feet beet a pattern on t he wooden floor of the forth division. He didn't head back to his room, but instead headed to one of the exists. Possibly due to the commotion of having so many people to treat and the incident with Ichimaru Gin, he found it overly easy to slip out and head back to his own division.

When he got to his room, he slipped into the main part of his shinigami uniform and then sat down on the bed. Glancing around, the place really wasn't his own, as he had never changed it since his taicho had gone away. This caused his depression to suddenly deepen and for him to close his eyes and lie back. "I am completely useless."

"I wouldn't say you're useless. You just have nothing to do at this point."

The small taicho then spoke up, his words biting. "Unohana doesn't think I was ready. Momo hates me. Gin and Ran... I thought I could be part of their lives, but I'm not to be. Kotetsu Fukutaicho wouldn't let me help. Taicho has a new family. The Vizard leader I would be bad luck for. And then Hiyori..." At that, the small taicho paused.

"You are thinking too much about this." The dragon's sigh reverberated in Toshiro's mind.

He however, choose to ignore the dragon and walked over to the mirror at one side of the room and looked at himself. The first thing he did was reach up and use healing kido on the scratch on his face. As he did so, he couldn't help but shudder at the fact that the blond female had been right... he did in fact look a lot like Ichimaru Gin.

Letting out a deep sigh, he turned and left the room, walking no where in particular. Glancing up, he wished that it was night time already, so he could look at the stars. However, since it was not, he let out a deep sigh. He then came to the gate to the living world and paused for a moment. One of the men spoke up. "Are you going to the living world Hitsugaya Taicho?"

"Yes..." The boy blinked a couple of times, his mind not completely there. For some reason, the two men didn't bother to ask why he wasn't wearing his haori at that point in time, but they let him head through. His footsteps fell on the floor and he headed to the exit, his mood rather dark. He came out at Urahara's show, surprising the man.

"Hitsugaya Taicho? You'll be wanting your gigai?" The man snapped his fan shut.

"It's still not night time, is it?" Toshiro stated, while the man watched.

"If you want to see the stars, head over to the planetarium." The man suddenly began to sketch out a map and then handed it to Toshiro. "Your gigai is in the back. You know I'll have to tell people that you are here, if they ask?"

"I know. Why aren't you stopping me?" The small boy titled his head at the man.

"Because it is at this point none of my business."

I won't update, until I have at least ninety-eight reviews.