Not Mine Valentine
Lecture Hall

The small taicho found himself following Kensei with complete reluctance, but Toshiro found with an arm around his neck dragging him along he had little choice in the matter. The man finally let go of the boy and then spoke up. "He said that the reason for you wanting to dye your hair wasn't because you wanted to express yourself. What is up with that?"

The boy found himself looking at the ground. "I'd rather not answer that. I don't want to be lectured by you anymore then I've been lectured by other people. I barely know you, you know. The only reason I know Hirako is because he's my foster sister's taicho, so it is a little hard not to know him."

"From what I can tell you're not one to get to know people in the first place, yet that doesn't mean myself and others haven't gotten to know you. You're... different."

"I don't like being different. It's always been worrisome. Again, I don't want a lecture"

The man grabbed his shoulder. "I'd heard that you had a strange way of looking at things, but I didn't realize it could be this bad at times. You're not getting out of this you know."

The boy let out a sigh and pushed the man's hand away. "I'll follow you willingly to wherever you want to take me, but to be honest... I really don't want to talk to anyone."

The man let out a deep sigh. "Oh, I got that. I also got the fact you don't really like talking to people and would rather normally keep yourself."

"That..." Toshiro's mouth snapped shut and his eyes narrowed. He glanced away as they walked along.

"At least it is a nice day out."

"What ever." The boy glanced up in time to see the man giving him a dirty look. "What exactly did I do wrong?"

"You're hitting puberty, aren't you?"

"I am not!" Two bright teal eyes looked at the ground and the small taicho began to mutter under his breath. Some time passed and he found himself crashing into the back of the ninth division taicho. The child prodigy looked up and found himself taking a deep breath. "Why are we at the academy?"

"You don't like the idea of being lectured because it means you are in trouble, but back when you were in the academy you had many lectures and you were never in trouble." The man continued to walk forward, only to realize that the boy wasn't following him. He turned to look at Toshiro who was thinking.

Finally the white haired child spoke up. "I really can't argue with that logic."

He then followed the man in, glancing around and remembering back when he was an academy. The boy honestly wasn't sure what to think about. Kensei found one of the senei. "Could I and captain Hitsugaya borrow one of your empty lecture halls for a few minutes?"

"Sure..." The teacher gave him a strange look, but showed the man to the empty class room. Kensei went and sat on the desk while the boy slipped into one of the seats. Toshiro folded his arms across his chest and opened his mouth to say something, only to have the teacher speak up. "It would be wonderful if either one of you would come and teach a class."

The small taicho's eyes widened and the corners of his mouth turned down. He then shook his head. Kensei looked over. "You should have more confidence in yourself. But I guess that's what we came here to talk about in a way." Toshiro's mouth opened to protest, only to have Kensei wave his hand at the teacher. "Hold on. We'll both teach a class."

The small boy found himself suddenly spluttering and his cheeks turning red. "I... I can't."

"Don't worry, we'll both be teaching the class."

"Yeah... but..." Toshiro glanced away before letting out a deep sigh as the teacher nodded his head and left. "I don't get it."

"It's part of growing up and finding out who you are." Kensei watched as the boy fidgited.

"I know who I am. I'm Hitsugaya Toshiro, captain of the tenth division."

"That isn't what I'm talking about." The man let out a deep sigh. "Kyoraku's the captain of the eighth division, but he's also an old pervert. Kuchiki is the captain of the sixth division, but he is a stoic nobel. What adjectives would you use to describe yourself."

"Freak..."

The man opened his mouth but then snapped it shut. He then shook his head. "All right, so you do have an idea of who you are, but a person shouldn't define themselves with such negative connotations. What it means to find yourself is to..." Kensei found himself stopping. "It's pretty much the things you like to do, how you like to dress, how you perceive yourself, your favorite colors. Things like that."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?" The man frowned at the boy.

"Why do I need to have a certain way I like to dress or a favorite color?"

"Normally people wouldn't ask that kind of question. Surely there is something you like."

"I like Kurosaki."

"The substitute shinigami?" Kensei found himself taking a deep breath.

"Well, I do like him. But no, I'm talking about Kurosaki." Toshiro stated. "I also enjoy playing soccer with her." The boy watched as one of the man's eyebrows raised up. "Did I say something wrong?"

"You said her. Whose her exactly?"

"Who else? Kurosaki's sister Kurosaki."

"You really should break yourself of that bad habit."

"What bad habit?"

"If you're going to refer to two people of the same name you need to differentiate between the two, otherwise you'll confuse someone." The man suddenly smirked. "Everybody likes something."

"Even Aizen?"

"He's what we call a narcissist. He likes himself."

"What is the opposite of a narcissist."

"A narcissist? I don't know." Kensei let out another sigh. "Yes... I guess you are the opposite of a narcissist as you don't like yourself. Which is rather ironic considering the flower for your division."

"I like the flower for the tenth division. It is very simple and doesn't stand out."

"You do realize if you dyed your hair that you would in fact stand out more then you do?"

"Is that why Ichimaru, Matsumoto and Nanao said no?"

"Prob... wait? What does Ichimaru have to do with this?" The man shook his head.

"He's the first person who told me no and because he told me no I wanted to do it, but then I forgot about it."

"How did the subject of you dying your hair even come up with him. Actually, why are you visiting him. You really don't know him."

"Matsumoto knows him. And he's fun to annoy. Plus, it was the fukutaicho of the eleventh division who came up with the idea. When I realized it would annoy him, I thought I would do it."

"Why though?"

"He upset my fukutaicho."

Kensei folded his arms across his chest. "But you don't know if you really want to dye your hair or anything like that."

Toshiro glanced away at that point. "Truth be told I never had thought of it before."

"It's the wrong reason to change your hair color though."

"And me not liking my hair and eye color isn't?" Toshiro shook his head at the man. "What reason does one go and do stuff like that other then to annoy people."

The man held his left hand up so that the palm was up. "To express oneself. I cut my hair the way I do because I feel that the style I have it cut in represents myself. I also have a tattoo of ninety-six... or a nine and a rotated nine on my chest because it represents my division. Of course... you're still young so you don't want to make any decision that will be permanent until you are older and have thought about it more."

"Like dying my hair with a kind of dye that doesn't wash out and instead has to grow out?"

"Yeah... there is that. There is also the issue of tattooing yourself or getting piercing. If you want to go the route of piercing I suggest getting an ear cuff because it you don't have to do anything to your body." Kensei watched the boy. "What are you thinking of?"

Toshiro had decided to glance away and didn't speak up at first. "Is this why Matsumoto dresses the way she does? And why girls normally change their looks? It is a way of expressing themselves."

"You know... the fact you say normally kind of bothers me?"

"Kurosaki doesn't change her look." The boy glanced at the man. "She's kind of weird like that, but I also like that about her." The small taicho then flinched and held up his hands. "I don't mean that she's unable to dress up mind you, she just prefers not to."

"Uh...huh. Yeah... it is pretty much all about expressing oneself, or at least it is supposed to be. For girls its also a way..." The man paused. "I'm not sure if I should be saying that in front of you, but it is a way for girls to attract a significant other."

"Is that why girls normally go through a whole lot more trouble expressing themselves then guys do?"

"Yes... I guess so." The man watched the boy's face. Toshiro was obviously thinking about something. "This isn't something you want to rush into anyways, its something you're going to want to think about."

"Ahh... well, I guess I need to go and think about it." The boy stood up to head to the door, only to find the back of his shirt grabbed.

"Just keep in mind we need to talk about the class we're going to be teaching, got it?" Kensei heard the boy let out a gagging sound but choose instead to ignore it.