Note – I accidentally posted chapter five as chapter four, but didn't realize it until I went to post the next chapter.
My Sunshine, My Strength
Ice Against Metal
The small taicho finally woke up with a crick in his neck and reached up with one hand to rub the stiffness out of his joints. Matsumoto was nowhere to be seen and a slight agitation came over him at not being able to see her. The young taicho felt a nausea hit the pit of his stomach as he remembered seeing Matsumoto fall to the ground after Cang Du dumped her from his cloak. A thin hand reached up to touch his mouth lightly, and he didn't see the food left on the table for him by his fukutaicho.
Toshiro stood up as his hands shook and for a brief second the shaking hands grasped his arms. His small feet pushed against the ground in an attempt to flee only to step on the edge of the uniform he was wearing. The youth let out a curse before grabbing the now dry uniform from the back of the couch and in panic he quickly changed from the oversized uniform to the smaller one before hurrying out of the room knocking the trey of food over. He left his captain's cloak behind.
"Stop running young master."
"Where's Matsumoto?"
"If you stop and feel for her rieatsu you'll find her."
The young taicho blinked a couple of times as he tried slowing down long enough to feel what was around him, but the panicked feeling he felt wouldn't go away no matter how much he tried shaking it. The white haired youth ducked in through a door and found himself in a restroom equipped for males. He stepped over to the white sinks and leaned over as he tried regaining control of his breath. Eventually one thin hand reached out to turn on the sink so he could splash cold water into his face.
Toshiro's body couldn't stop trembling as the cold water dripped from his white strands of hair. His nose involuntarily twitched at the smell which typically accompanied the men's restroom. The boy finally managed a deep sigh and began to push himself up from the sink only to catch a glance of himself in the mirror, and his throat tightened as he recognized the familiar features which looked so much like another person he knew. Involuntarily bile slid up his throat and out into the sink to run down the drain with the water.
"I wish I could be strong like Matsumoto instead of like him. Fat chance of that as he's my parent and she isn't."
The door to the bathroom opened, and Toshiro heard tw young males speaking with each other. The voices stopped quickly, and Toshiro turned his head to see the three Quincy starting at him. The looks on their face as they looked at him matched how he felt about himself. The young taicho slowly stood up and braced himself for what the two young Quincy would do to him. The blond haired Quincy narrowed his eyes at Toshiro. "What's a Shinigami doing in Quincy territory?"
The young taicho remained silent as he narrowed his teal eyes at the three. "Say the wrong thing and there is no telling what they do. Say nothing though..."
The silence remained for a few minutes and Toshiro moved slightly so he move easier if he needed to. The young taicho also swallowed without realizing it. The darker haired Quincy glared at Toshiro as his speech slurred. "We should do something to him to send a message."
The blond Quincy made his move and shoved Toshiro in the chest area causing the young taicho to stumble slightly back into the stalls. One hand reached out to touch the metal stall with a couple of fingers so the metal began to frost over slowly. The look in the eyes of the two young Quincy said they weren't pleased to see him. "Are you trying to spy on us?"
"Spy?" Toshiro's teal eyes remained narrow, and he swallowed again.
"Yeah. Spy. You came into the area you Shinigami assigned to us because you don't trust us. Why can't you just leave us alone?"
The young taicho took a deep breath and tried looking away slightly. "What the hell have I walked into. I may not know why I've come into the Quincy area twice, but it isn't to spy."
The metal stall continued to frost over, and some of the frost touched his back as he waited for one of the Quincy to make a move. He didn't know what powers the two Quincy had making the planning of a counter attack problematic. For a third time the boy swallowed, and the tension in the room continued to grow. The door to the bathroom suddenly slammed open with a loud bang causing Toshiro and the two boy's to jump.
The young taicho blinked a couple of times upon seeing a violet haired female step into the room. He swallowed as he felt his cheeks and tips of ears heat up. His throat also tightened up as he watched the female Quincy enter the men's bathroom. The words he chocked out were almost inaudible. "Bambi-chan..."
The two male Quincy looked at Toshiro in horror as the girl pushed her way into one of the stalls. The black haired Quincy stuttered as he looked at the stall the girl entered. "Basterbine... what are you doing?"
"I'm using the restroom."
Toshiro chocked on some spittle as he heard what the girl said. "It's the men's restroom. Is she crazy?"
The blond grabbed the front of the young taicho's uniform and leaned in close to Toshiro's ear so only the young taicho could hear him. "How come you're acting all familiar with Basterbine? She hates it when people call her that."
Two teal eyes blinked a couple of times as his mouth opened. "What does he mean?"
"You called the girl Bambi-chan. I would call that being familiar."
"Well I certainly don't have an answer. Maybe I'm just on edge because of... that. That thing I'm thinking of." The toilet flushed and the girl stepped out of the stall. The door clattered shut while she stood between the two boys. The dark haired male looked at her with wide eyes. "Basterbine... you do know this is..."
The young taicho quickly flinched when a loud explosion went off in the stall. The frost which extended from his hand quickly spread out across the rest of the stalls. He turned his head to see water leaking out from the stall the girl just used. "Did she just blow up a toilet? Why?"
The blond haired Quincy turned to look at the girl. "Basterbine..."
Toshiro took a deep breath as he looked at the three Quincy. "They want to say something to her, but they're also afraid of her. And what the hell is up with her? This is the men's restroom." He took a deep breath. "Why did you come into the men's restroom?"
"I felt something familiar and then had to go to the bathroom. This was closer."
The young taicho felt bile come to his throat again, but swallowed it back down. "This was closer? Is she some kind of idiot."
The girl reached up to twist a lock of hair in her fingers in the same manner Rangiku did. The blond haired Quincy turned to the girl. "We have a Shinigami here..."
The female Quincy turned her head to look at Toshiro and her violet eyes widened. "Shiro-chan."
"Um..." Toshiro took a deep breath before looking away.
The blond haired Quincy's mouth curled up. "Basterbine? Why are you acting familiar with a Shinigami?"
"Shinigami?" The girl blinked a couple of times.
"Seriously. Why are the two of you acting so familiar? You two aren't crushing on each other?" The blond haired Quincy sounded like he wanted to spit on the ground, but instead found himself restraining himself.
"Ew... no."
"We..." Toshiro took a breath. "One of your own turned both of us into zombies. That's when we met."
The girl's violet eyes blinked a couple of times. "That's not when we first met. You're also not a Shinigami. You're a Quincy." The young taicho felt his eyes quickly widen as he looked at the other three, and he felt his chest tighten up. The two male Quincy twisted their heads around to look at girl in utter shock as she blinked a couple of times. "What? It's true."
Toshiro swallowed and averted his eyes as he felt the blond boy loosen his grip on his clothing. "It can't be true."
The white haired youth felt a sudden flare of fiery rieatsu from the girl. "What do you mean it isn't true? You and I were born here in Soul Society!"
"No, I wasn't." The young taicho took a deep breath. "I died on a plain of ice and came to Soul Society."
He then quickly flash stepped away from them through the doors. His zampaktuo spoke to him. "Why did you repeat that lie you've always told yourself? You believe Ichimaru Gin's your father, and that means you would have been born in Soul Society."
"I'm a Shinigami, not a Quincy. If..." Toshiro swallowed hard when he thought of what Matsumoto might think of all of this.