Disclaimer- Bleach is not mine-

Author's notes- thanks to the people that gave me a review

Training

It was a big room, with a comfy sofa and many shelves filled with books. The boy with silver hair and icy green eyes was sitting on a desk with mountains of papers. You could hardly see him. The only sound you could hear was the scratching of a quill on a piece of paper. Suddenly the door was open. The boy didn't need to lift his head to see who it was; he already knew.

"Good morning captain Hitsugaya!" she said in a happy tone.

"Good morning vice-captain Matsumoto," Hitsugaya said in an annoyed voice.

"It looks like you woke up on the wrong side of bed today, captain," she said while sitting on the sofa. He looked at her with angry eyes. She was late again. "Matsumoto you are late again, why?" She was nervous now. Since Hinamori's death the only emotion he showed was anger. "Mmm…well you see, it's kind of funny…je, je, je…." she said with a nervous smile. "Hurry up! I don't have all day!"

"Yes sir! Yesterday I went to a party with vice-captain Kira and vice-captain Renji sir!" He looked at her, with an annoyed face. It was always the same with her. She was always in parties or on dates. Couldn't she see that he was already stressed enough with Hinamori's death?

"Oh my gosh; this time he really looks mad. I knew that I shouldn't have gone to that stupid party. I'm sure he is going to use bankai on me." There was silence. The atmosphere was cold.

"You are dismissed Matsumoto." This was a dream. She couldn't believe her ears. "Captain, are you feeling well?" He was already in the doorway. He looked at her over his shoulder "Why?" She looked at him with worried eyes. "Well," she said while scratching her arm "It's just that every time I came late you usually threaten me by saying that if a come late again you would use bankai on me."

He thought about what she said. It was true. Every time she was late, he would threaten her with his bankai. But now he didn't feel like saying it. It was pointless. "True," he looked at her before turning around and saying "I will be going now," and started walking.

"Captain, wait!" He stopped. Without even turning to face her he said "Yes?" "Where are you going?" "To train," he said and started walking again. She looked at the spot were he stood. "If you want to talk I'm always here," she said, but it was too late; he was already too far to hear.

It was cold. The leaves of the trees didn't allow the sun to pass. It was dark in there, but not dark enough to lose your way. The wind was cold against his face, but he was used to this. People didn't call him the ice dragon for nothing. In this cold forest he felt a little more relaxed. This was his favorite place to train or just to think. Nobody knew about this place.

That was why he was surprised to feel somebody else's presence. 'This is weird. I thought nobody knew about this place. Who could it be?' he thought. He walked to where the person was and hid behind a tree. 'I think I know who it is,' he though with a smile and came out of his hiding place.

"Good afternoon, Kuchiki-san," he said. Rukia immediately stopped what she was doing and turned around to face him. She was a little bit surprised. She didn't expect to see him this soon. After all, only four days had passed since the incident in the graveyard.

"Good afternoon captain Hitsugaya," Rukia said while bowing. After she finished bowing she noticed that he was staring at her with curiosity. They were silent for a moment. Rukia thought it was better to break the silence. "Sorry if I'm being rude but what are you doing in a place like this? Shouldn't you be with your squad?" He was silent. Rukia thought that maybe she was being to rude. "Sorry for being so…" He cut her off. "You don't need to apologize. I came here to train. And you?" "I also came here to train."

An idea came to him. "Your zanpakuto ability is ice, right?" he asked in a mysterious way. "Yes," she responded with a nervous voice. She didn't like the way he was smiling; it was scary. "Good," he thought. She had just enough time to grab her sword and put it between her and his sword. "Captain what are you doing?" He just smirked at her and jumped to the other side. "You said you came to train right?" She just moved her head; she knew she wouldn't like what he was planning to do. "Then train with me. Our zanpakutos are the same ability; I want to see which one is more powerful." It was official; he had finally lost what little sanity he kept after Hinamori's death. "What? You are joking! I'm not that strong; you would win for sure!"

"I don't care. I still want to see your zanpakuto's fighting skills. And besides you can't refuse to fight with me," he said with a smile. "Why not?" she asked while putting some distance between them. "Because I'm a captain and I order you to fight me," as soon as he finished saying this word he jumped in the air and shouted "Hyorinmaru!"(1)

It was night when Hitsugaya decided to stop their training. They were sitting beside each other breathing hard. He turned his head to look at her. She was sitting very unladylike on grass and was sweating a lot. "Liar," he said. She looked at the boy sitting beside her. He was staring at the sky. "Excuse me?" He moved his gaze to look at her eyes. "You said you weren't strong enough and that I will win for sure, but you gave me a good fight."

She could feel the heat forming on her cheeks. "Thanks for your compliment but most of the fight I was running away from you," she told him with her eyes looking down. She was ashamed of herself; she was a Kuchicki and she should have fought with more courage. Rukia felt a pair of fingers under her shin. He moved her face so that she would meet his gaze.

"I still think you fight well. I have fought with many powerful people and you have been on of my most skilled opponents. Don't think so low of yourself," he told her. He didn't know why but, every time he was with her, she would make him act very different from his usual cold self. Like the time on the graveyard. He usually hated people that tried to hug him because they thought he was cute. But that day he was the one to give a hug.

After Hinamori's death he felt empty. He just didn't know what to do without her. People were always trying to cheer him up, but no one could bring a smile to his face. His days were filled with pain. But most of the time he felt angry with himself for not being strong enough to save Hinamori. So he kept coming back to her tomb and asking for forgiveness.

But that day at the graveyard she changed something without knowing. "Captain Hitsugaya, are you ok? You have been staring at me for a while," He then looked at her as if it was the first time he looked at her. He didn't feel the cold he just felt warm. He smiled at her before saying:

"Thank you for making the cold go away." He then stood and walked away leaving a very confused and flushed Rukia behind.

(1)That is the name of Hitsugaya's zanpakuto

Author's notes- tell me if this chapter is good or if I'm making Hitsugaya to OCC.