Light assaulted his eyes from the window and the young prince groaned, pulling the covers up over his head. They felt oddly cold, which warranted curiosity, and he opened his eyes enough to see why the blanket felt so stiff.

It was coated in frost.

"Oops." He forced himself to sit up, despite how sore he felt, and noticed the entire room was in fact covered in frost. He wondered how badly frozen it would be when he recovered all of his Spirit Energy. This hadn't happened since he'd entered the Shinou Academy.

A delicious smell met his nose and he forgot about his frosted room to walk into the kitchen instead, startled to find Kirio there.

"Hikifune." He said with surprise and the purple haired woman turned to him. She seemed much slimmer than before. One look at the table explained why; there was food covering the entire length.

"Ah, you're awake!" The woman greeted him happily and he frowned; why was everyone such a morning person? "Go on, sit down. The girls will be here momentarily. Ruala said she was going into the forest to find someone."

Toshiro went ahead and sat down where Sofia jumped onto his lap. She purred as he scratched her behind the ears.

"When did you get here?" He asked the guardian.

"Just this morning." Kirio shuffled back over to check on various other dishes she was preparing. "Ruala knew you'd be short on Spirit Energy so she asked me to come over last night to perform my specialty! Don't worry you'll have all your energy back before you know it."

"I much prefer flying you over in your slimmer form." Sofia snorted with a grin.

Kirio Flash Stepped over to pinch the cat on the ear before returning to her work and acting like it didn't happen. Sofia hissed and jumped off Toshiro's lap to hide beneath the chair.

"I heard you met one of the dragons." Kirio attempted small talk.

"I did." Toshiro nodded. "Lilianna."

"She's such a lovely dragon, isn't she? Impeccable memory, too, wish I had that."

"Wouldn't everyone?"

That got the woman to laugh.

Ralæn walked in then, setting her zanpaktou to the side before taking a seat across from Toshiro. The boy's gaze lingered on the sword before looking away.

"Really, Kirio, we're not feeding the animals too." The woman smirked.

"You can be sure Prince Hitsugaya will be starving, and you and your sister both eat more than you think." Kirio pointed a large spoon at the blonde.

"When it's your cooking, yeah." She shrugged.

The two woman continued to converse while Toshiro ignored them and coaxed Sofia back out from under the chair and into his lap. He idly wondered who it was Ruala was trying to find. He was told no one else lived in the kingdom except her animals and the Greenleaf Family. Was it the Head of House she was attempting to find? Where was that woman, anyway? He'd only met her daughters and their pets. Well, some of their pets.

Ælfwyn soon joined them with her silent grace, Toshiro hardly noticing her appearance until she sat beside him with a smile and greeted him with the same energy she had the day before. He greeted her in return as he was used to doing but made it clear he wasn't awake enough for conversation. She obliged and instead joined the conversation between the cook and her sister.

When Ruala finally joined them, Toshiro attempted to search for whoever it was she had been looking for but saw no one new. He frowned, somewhat disappointed, but didn't let it bother him for long as Kirio finished up her cooking and sat down with them. The woman had slimmed down quite a lot, now a busty woman with bright blue eyes. She let her hair down out of its bun in thick curls. She looked almost completely different. Kirio noticed Toshiro's confused expression and laughed.

"I told you, didn't I?" She grinned. "My cooking takes a lot of my Spirit Energy so I slim down when I make big meals. Won't be able to make another feast until I plump back up so enjoy this one while it lasts!"

With that she started eating, preventing Toshiro from asking any questions, though his stomach stopped that anyway and he started eating as well.

What the five of them didn't eat, Sofia did. She even morphed into her panther form so as to do so quicker. The girls all giggled at that while Toshiro just rolled his eyes. It was like having lunch with Rangiku and her drinking buddies, only minus the alcohol. As his thoughts began to stray back to his life as a Captain he forced himself to instead wonder who it was Ruala had gone to visit. He was dying to know, especially now that he was trying to use it as a distraction.

"Hikifune said you were looking for someone." Toshiro said to the quiet blonde.

Ruala seemed confused for a moment before she remembered what she'd been doing that morning and nodded.

"Follow me." She said and pardoned herself from the table, walking outside. Curious, Toshiro followed. "He doesn't normally come out but he's interested in meeting you."

Well, there went the idea of meeting the Head of House. That meant it was a beast of some sort. But what kind, and why interested in him?

Upon stepping outside he was met with another dragon. He probably should have expected it, but it still surprised him to see one standing before him. This dragon was a dark blue in color with icy blue eyes that held a playful air. He was obviously young, scales still looking soft and only about eight or nine feet tall. There were sea-green stripes down his back and on his muscular canine legs. Short black spines that grew like armor plates ran down the dragon's spine and the back of his forelegs, two short horns on his head, one on his forehead and the other partway down his nose. Large blue wings were tucked in close to his body.

"This is Myndræl." Ruala introduced the young dragon. "He's only thirty years old and hasn't developed his ice power yet."

"He's an ice dragon?" Toshiro's eyes widened.

"I am." Myndræl smiled before bowing low, tucking one forepaw underneath him. "When Lady Ruala said there was another ice dragon here I was excited to see who."

"I'm not the ice dragon." Toshiro countered. "My zanpaktou spirit is a dragon of ice and water."

"You are his master, right?" The blue dragon questioned. Toshiro nodded a little hesitantly. "Then by dragon terms you are an ice dragon as well."

"You're not going to start calling me dragonling too, are you?"

Myndræl laughed.

"No because I'm one too. In fact, you're older than me, so calling you dragonling would be disrespectful."

"Good, I don't like being called that."

He heard Ruala giggle and glared. He didn't find that funny.

"Dragons of the same type stay together." Ruala hid her laughter for now. "Myndræl wishes to know if you would allow him to be your companion."

"I've already got one ice dragon." The young prince frowned. "Or, at least, I did. You hid him up on the mountain, which I'm still not happy about."

"I was hoping you could teach me." Myndræl scooted a little closer, lowering his head down to Toshiro's level.

"Teach you?" Toshiro really wasn't sure where this was going.

"As a senior ice dragon you could help me develop my ice powers."

There was no reply at first as the white haired boy tried to process this information. He, a Soul Reaper training to become king, teach a dragon how to be a dragon? He knew things were going to get weirder. They always did in moments like these. Now he just needed either a perverted Mod Soul or crazy ex-Captain to barge in and do something utterly embarrassing.

'I can't train a dragon…I'm still in training myself!'

He heard a faint rumble from Hyorinmaru that sounded like he was arguing back. His zanpaktou wanted him to train the ice dragon? He was answered by a pleased rumble this time.

'You've got to be kidding me, Hyorinmaru, this is crazy!'

Angry growl.

'Alright, fine! I'll adopt him.'

Teal eyes focused back on reality and he turned to the waiting dragonling. Huh, it felt good to call him that instead of the other way around.

"Okay then, with me you stay." He told the beast.

Myndræl beamed and rubbed his head against the boy's small frame with a loud purr. Strange, he didn't know dragons purred. Maybe Hyorinmaru did but he always considered it rumbling. It was too loud to be a purr. The blue dragon definitely had an aura of cold that made him feel comfortable, so at least if Toshiro froze a place over he could be confident his new dragonling would be fine. That was a plus.

The young ice dragon kept Hitsugaya outside most of the day as they learned more about each other, the Greenleaf Family plus Kirio watching from a distance as the two got along splendidly. Myndræl even got the young prince to laugh at one point and Kirio high-fived Ruala once they saw it. Toshiro's new friend could possibly speed things along in his training.

But Ruala had her doubts. Blazefang had told her about what made him hesitate and knew that without his older friends he would still be homesick. There wasn't really a remedy for that.

She remembered him saying how Toshiro was more worried about his human friend…Karin. Perhaps she'd pay this Kurosaki girl a visit to see if it was what Blazefang assumed it was…more than a friendship.

Here's the second chapter I promised ^^ So Toshiro gets his own dragon friend! XD I really like dragons and since the Greenleaf twins are both my OC's for Eragon and therefore Dragon Riders, I found the perfect chance to put in dragons! They'll actually get important much later on in the story. Especially now that Shiro has his own dragon partner. Anyway, next chapter is Karin! ^^