Disclaimer: No, I don't own Bleach, no matter how much I wish I did.

A/N: I have no excuse. I'm just a very lazy baka (oh and I discovered One Piece *dies*). Sorry for taking so long to update, and I promise the story will not be abandoned (it's finished, I only have edits to make…) Tell me what you think, and if anyone could offer CC I'd be grateful. Thanks to Yemi Hkari for letting me use their idea.

WARNING! This chapter contains (graphic? I'm not sure if it is…) suicide.

The Road to Home

Chapter Two

Thin Ice

"Captain of the Tenth Division of the Gotei Thirteen, Hitsugaya Toushirou, I have to request that you come with me," the black haired man said, perfectly calm.

"Eh?" Matsumoto exclaimed, surprised. She looked at her captain, who forced his widened eyes to narrow into a cold gaze.

"Why would I do that?" he asked the Stern Ritter who had stolen his bankai a week ago. He couldn't help but feel particularly angry at the man for the loss of contact with Hyourinmaru, the only one who knew him inside and out and the only one he could trust completely. But he let none of that show, instead keeping his icy exterior.

"You are a child, and we cannot let children get hurt. So we are taking them away."

"I am a taichou of the Gotei Thirteen, not a child," he threw back without missing a beat. "I don't think your actions concern me." He changed his stance, letting the other know he would attack. The Stern Ritter's expression did not change.

"Very well, but if I win, you are coming with me, whether you want to or not."

Meanwhile, a different Stern Ritter had engaged Matsumoto, and she was fighting for her life. At the other's words, she almost lost her focus, and felt an attack barely missing her good shoulder. This was not going to go well.

…

"I see everything went well?"

The scarred man nodded, carefully lowering his burden onto the ground. The unconscious shinigami did not even stir as he was restrained.

"Shinigami are such weaklings, and to think we let them almost wipe us out… It makes me want to puke!" Bazz-B spat on the ground near the shinigami in disgust.

The 'I' was still looking at the small figure contemplatively, and his companion noticed his scrutiny.

"There are only three ways this could go. Either way, he dies," he said drily. "It's too bad though that we don't get to torture him a bit, I wanted to have some fun," he continued, looking genuinely sorry about that fact.

The other looked away. If the plan was to kill the kid captain either way, then he should have been ordered to do it on the battlefield, not disrespect his honour in such a way. He said nothing about that though, keeping his views to himself.

As the day wore on, more and more boys and girls started filling the place. Most were silent and withdrawn, not really understanding why they had been brought here. Some were cheerful and viewed the situation as an adventure, particularly among the boys. Others were crying, trying to find their caretakers among the soldiers milling around, obviously not accomplishing anything. Some made it their personal goals to stay away from the creepy little shinigami with white hair, but a select few had dared approach him, though none as close as to try and free him. Maybe they felt some sense of security, though why that was, since it was apparent he couldn't help them, was not clear.

"Do we really need the brats in one piece, anyway?" complained the other once again. The 'I' did not answer, though he was getting tired of his companion's constant moodiness. "I mean, sure, we lost the sol-"

"Bazz-B," Cang Du spoke for the first time to the other. He looked at him, and he gave a nod at the general direction of their captive.

"What, you think he can hear us?"

Cang shrugged. The boy's reiatsu had been depleted by the fight, and it was difficult to sense whether he had regained consciousness or not. In his opinion, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Nah, what good is it going to be for him, even if he can hear us?" In any case, the conversation (more like angry monologue) changed direction then, and Cang did not feel the need to interfere.

…

Toushirou awoke to the sound of weeping and whispers. Before anything else, he analysed his situation, keeping a firm hold on his reiatsu. He was not greatly injured, and that was a big relief, but his reiatsu was drained. The only visible injuries would be four parallel slashes on his right cheek, almost reaching his eye, but he could easily take care of it later. Other than that, he could not move his hands, or his legs. He could neither speak nor see, but he could hear and sense what was going on around him. But he was bound by simple rope and cloth, and it would take him less than five seconds to break free if he wanted.

It seemed like the Vandenreich had really done it; he could hear childish voices all around him and small feet pattering about. However, he focused on the conversation he could hear a few feet away. Okay, one would not be able to call it conversation, as that implies a dialogue, and that was mostly a monologue of complaints. He had yet to hear the Stern Ritter who had fought him say something.

"I mean, sure, we lost the sol-"

"Bazz-B," the scarred one cautioned. Damn, he was a clever one. After that, he could not hear anything of value, except how someone named 'Bambietta' was apparently, 'hot but kind of a sadist'. He kept himself aware of any movement from the Stern Ritter toward him, but thankfully they were content with keeping him in sight.

"Hey," he heard a voice whisper. "Shinigami are not bad, they're trying to protect us!"

"Do you really think so? I heard that some of them took a group of souls with them, and no one's ever seen them since."

Ah, Kurotsuchi's attempts to maintain the balance…

"I don't believe it! They might have taken them to train, and even if they didn't, I'm sure they had their reasons!"

"Why would anyone do that?"

"I don't know…"

Then, a different voice was heard. "Yuu-chan, where is Jii-chan?" The little girl was evidently ready to cry, and her voice was wavering.

"They're not far, Yoko, I promise," whispered the one who was trying to justify the actions of the shinigami. "Everyone's probably searching for us right now." Her quiet sobs were muffled then, probably by a hug. Slowly, the sobs subsided, to be replaced with steady breathing. The little girl had probably fallen asleep.

"What about, you know, him," his friend whispered. "He's dressed like a shinigami, but he's just a kid."

Said kid would love to glare at the child so hard he froze on the spot, but that was out of the question. Just a kid, indeed…

"I guess they just took all the children, even the shinigami ones…"

"Ha, that means I'm right, Yuuichi! They want to protect us from the shinigami!" he exclaimed in a triumphant whisper.

"Yeah, but he's tied up. And they're going to kill him, either way."

That was good to know. It meant that whatever pretty words they tried to cover their actions with, they had some ulterior motive about kidnapping the children. Was it simply to create chaos, or were they planning on using them for something?

"How do you know that?"

"I heard the one with the scar and the other with the weird hair talking about it earlier."

"Well, he's a shinigami!" Toushirou smirked internally. So now he was a shinigami, although before he was a child… Were all children so quick to fit things into their version of reality? "He'd probably murder us while we slept otherwise!" He took offence to that! He could just as well kill them while they awake, but he figured they were better off not knowing that. It wouldn't help the shinigami's case any.

"Kenji, stop it!" Yuuichi snapped quietly. "Look, they're coming here!" Abruptly, they stopped talking.

Someone bent over him, and he recognised the reiatsu of his attacker. "If you value the children's lives do not try anything deceitful, Hitsugaya Toushirou," he whispered, barely enough for even the person in question to hear. Then, he threw him over his shoulder and started moving, presumably to where they had come from. At his left, Bazz-B was impatiently shouting for the kids to move, and Toushirou exasperatedly wondered why they had not seen fit to send women to round the kids up. Then again, judging from the conversation before, maybe that was a good thing…

Then the air around him changed, and he knew they had passed this gate or whatever it was that the Vandenreich used to move between worlds. He wished Kurotsuchi had a way of collecting samples from the environment around him, because that was one of the most important problems with the Quincy army. The question of how they managed to cross over to the Soul Society and bypass the defences of Seireitei was an unanswered one, and they would surely stall them for a long time if they could somehow stop them from gaining access to Soul Society. For all their power and equipment the Quincy were at an obvious disadvantage. They were alive. That meant their base was in the World of the Living, right?

Suddenly, it was much colder than before, something that immediately improved his mood. Now the clothes they wore made much more sense, if their Headquarters were this cold. With his icy reiatsu, he didn't mind the low temperature one bit, and probably could stroll around in a yukata just fine, but that was not the same for humans. He could not see it, but he could feel the presence of ice surrounding him from all sides. That could prove useful sometime in the future.

Of course, that was providing he would survive that day to have a future…

He concentrated on the activities around him, paying close attention to everything from mannerisms to reiryoku to the direction and distance they were moving in. Finally, after what must have been three minutes' time, Cang Du stopped walking and opened a door. Bazz-B was still with him, having abandoned the children somewhere at the middle of the distance. The man put him down on a mattress, and if he judged by the distance, he knew it was western-styled, raised from the ground. Perfect!

"Listen up, brat," the other said. "You have two choices. The first is a quick, painless death. But if you don't want that, you could pick the second option, which is for us to destroy your soul chain and soul sleep and send you on your merry way."

"I assume you know that if we do that, you won't ever be a shinigami again," interjected Cang Du. Toushirou nodded slightly.

"You have until sunset to decide, unless of course you've already decided." He remained motionless, and Bazz-B laughed. "Guess not," he snorted.

They turned to leave. At the door, the black haired man paused. "Sunset comes in half an hour." His companion did not wait for him, since he probably knew what he would say. "You can try to escape, but it is futile."

They were toying with him! That was the only conceivable reason they would leave him a window of opportunity! Damn them, oh they were going to pay for that, since it made things for him impossibly easier. They thought they were clever, but that did not mean they could not fall prey to arrogance, underestimating him only because he was a child. It was in this sense that he and Matsumoto never failed to agree on. Both of their appearances were lying about their true strength, and the benefit of surprise was always useful.

The man at the door left, and Toushirou was left alone. They should have known better than that. With a small burst of reiatsu, the rope around his hands was encased in ice. In the space of half a minute, he saw that he was a in a small, bare room, just big enough for a bed. No matter, it was enough. They hadn't bothered to take his sword, undoubtedly to make his inevitable – in their opinion – attempt to escape hurt more. Idiots…

He walked to the centre of the room, kneeled down and carefully lowered Hyourinmaru onto the ground. He took the piece of cloth that had been over his eyes and wrapped it around the blade a few inches above the tip. Then, he opened his kosode and the white garment under it. Picking up his sword, he held it by the wrapped portion of the metal, took a deep breath and stared straight ahead.

In a swift, clean motion, he plunged the blade into the left side of his abdomen. A moment later, he proceeded to make a deep, horizontal cut to the right. The pain was excruciating, but he still did not make the slightest sound. Once that was done, he smirked wryly and pulled the zanpakutou out.

After that, all that was left was to wait, but he had another thing he wanted to do before allowing the pain to claim him. He took the sword into his hands, and started carving lines onto the floor, as deep as he could make them under the circumstances. His reiatsu was disappearing rapidly and the walls of the room were already invisible behind a thick layer of ice, a stunning backdrop for the bleeding child.

降り頻る太陽の鬣が

薄氷に残る足跡を消してゆく

The constant shower of the sun's mane will erase the remaining footprints on the thin ice.

A/N: This is Kubo's, and I don't own it.