HEY GUYS, THANKS TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED COZ I REALLY APPRECIATE IT…

DISCLAIMER: I DUN OWN BLEACH...

"Okay now," Ukitake began. "There are two options, you can both apologise to each other here or do some chores as a punishment for waking the neighbours to a colourful stream of swearwords. Which one?"

Momo stopped prodding her pancakes with her knife and shoved the plate away from her. Toushiro didn't do anything as he'd already finished eating the pancakes around five minutes ago. The two teenagers glared into each other's eyes icily. You couldn't see Hinamori's eyes due to her hair but you could tell she was glaring back at the farm boy.

"Sorry," She managed to spit out sourly.

"Me too."

"Now, shake hands!" Ukitake ordered and ended up being stared at by two pairs of widened eyes. "Ahem!"

The two sighed before giving each other a half-hearted hand shake and stormed off.

"Ah! Momo, can you come back here for a sec?"

Hinamori returned to the table and plonked herself on a chair in front of her uncle.

"What?"

Ukitake waited until Toushiro exited the house before looking around hesitantly.

'Why's he being so hesitant?...'

"Momo, as you know, Toushiro lives with us."

"Yea, so what?"

"He knows about your parents and-"

"Your point is?!"

'God… what's the point of this stupid meeting?...'

"He hasn't got any either…"

Momo froze. The farmboy that never really lost it (except for when she threw her shoe at him) was an orphan too? Jyushiro could tell that she was more interested in the conversation now.

"I shouldn't really tell you this because it's unfair to him but… He had a family like you too. Except, he-"

"UKITAKE!" The two turned around to see a fuming boy in the doorway. He grabbed the frail man by the shoulders. "I thought we agreed that I would tell her when I was ready!"

"Sorry Toushiro…"

Hitsugaya turned around and stormed off.

'What's going on?... k… he's an orphan but he has a hard time opening up… yup… that's gotta be it…'

Hinamori followed him outside to see him throwing stones across a lake. She sighed at the view. The lake stretched out for miles but the shores were visible. The crystal clear water reflected the sky and gently rippled at the gentle caresses by the summer breezes. It was so nice here…

"Sorry for yelling at you guys before like that…"

Momo turned around to see Toushiro looking down at his feet. She tried to read the emotions in his eyes. Rage, sadness, confusion, regret… there was so many…

"Nah, it's okay… you have rights…"

The boy smiled as he plonked himself on the ground and motioned the girl to come sit next to him. The teenager walked over and sat next to her companion. The wind blew the stray bangs out of her eyes. She squinted. The world seemed… brighter without the hair in her eyes.

Toushiro turned around and his eyes widened when they met Momo's deep, coffee-coloured ones.

'Her eyes… they're so sad… WAIT! I ain't no emotional chick!...'

Hinamori soon noticed that Hitsugaya was gazing into her eyes and quickly turned away, her bangs falling into her eyes again. When she turned around to look at the lake again, she stood up and walked towards a little wharf that reached around twenty-five to fifty metres. It looked so… naturally calming.

The girl took off her shoes and socks before rolling up her jeans and touched the water with her feet, dunking them in a little more at a time. A sudden chill went up her spine. The water was so frosty!

"I WOULDN'T DO THAT! THERE ARE HUGE EELS IN TH-"

"WA!"

SPLASH!

Before Hitsugaya could finish his sentence, Momo'd fallen in from surprise of the sudden yelling. She lost balance and tilted sideways before falling into the freezing aqua world. He was right… there WERE eels… big ones too… she couldn't tell if where they were as there she was tangled in a giant kelp forest. However, the female could tell that they were there by shadows. They were moving closer… and closer… her heart stopped when she caught sight of one…

Their beady eyes pierced the frightened girl as they showed off their spiky rows of sharp teeth, swishing through the water towards her. It was around two metres in length. And looked angry. She tried to swim away but her foot was tangled. Badly. And she was running out of breath.

'Shit…'

SPLASH!

Hundreds of air bubbles floated towards the surface, tickling Momo's chin on the way up, as a new figure entered the water.

'Toushiro…'

He quickly gave Hinamori an assuring nod before swimming downwards and ripping the kelp around her ankle apart with his hands. Momo instantly felt a decrease of pressure that was tied on her ankle. She immediately floated to the top but Hitsugaya wasn't following…

The girl looked down and her eyes widened in horror as she saw her white-haired saviour, trying to fight off the eel from before, which was now keeping its sharp jaws shut on his foot. He yelled out in pain, releasing the air bubbles from his mouth when the creature yanked on his foot, leaking blood around the water. Before she knew it, the saw the eel dragging its victim through the kelp forest, out of her sight.

"PA!" Momo quickly gasped for air when she broke through the surface. She quickly blinked the water out of her eyes before jumping out of the water and running towards the house. Her legs were taking her there as fast as she can. She could see her uncle washing the dishes in the kitchen.

"UNCLE! UNCLE! TOUSHIRO JUST FELL INTO THE LAKE!"

"He can swim…"

"NO! EELS ARE ATTACKING HIM!"

"Oh God…"

The uncle quickly ran outside of the house and sped towards the lake. Despite his fragile body, he was a pretty fast runner…

Hinamori stopped running when she saw a figure on the wharf in the distance. It was on all fours.

'Toushiro…'

She kept on running and started panting as she got closer to the boy on the wharf. He was holding an eel's head in his hand and his leg was severely bleeding. Ukitake stopped in front of the boy before stepping back in sudden disgust.

"Oh no…"

'What's gotten into uncle?... How did Toushiro break the eel's head off its body when he was in such a state?...'

"Retarded eel… Retarded lake… Retarded ankle…" The boy looked over at Momo before hobbling up to her.

"Tou-"

SLAP…

"If you can't swim, stay away from water… you're just being a burden on everyone else…"

Both Hinamori and Jyushiro's eyes widened at Hitsugaya's cold saying. Despite his cold exterior, this language just… wasn't like him…

"You will switch back this time right? I don't want you causing this boy any more trouble…" Ukitake growled as he squeezed the boy's shoulder.

'His eyes… they're different…'

Tears started to swell in Momo's eyes. Tears of anger, sorrow, regret, guilt and much more emotions.

"I'm sorry! I CAN swim! It's just that-"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SOZ… I HAD TO END THE CHAPPY HERE AND MAKE IT A SHORT ONE… THE MYSTERY STARTS FROM THE NEXT CHAPPY… WHAT'S HIDDEN WITHIN THE DEPTHS OF HITSUGAYA'S SOUL?...

THANK YOU…