Rukia's POV

Tweet, tweet!

The birds are singing. Their songs are all so beautiful. BUT DO THEY SERIOUSLY HAVE TO SING SO EARLY IN THE MORNING?! I want to sleep! Stupid birds shut up!

After yelling at the birds in my head a while longer, I gave it up and got up. I sighed. What time is it? I checked my communicator. Oh, my gosh! I'm going to be late! The stupid birds weren't singing early! I was over sleeping!

I got dressed and rushed out of the manor. I ran all the way to the 13th division. When I saw the barracks, I slowed down and composed myself. Hopefully, no one will notice I'm a little late.

I entered. I was about to go to my captain's office to help with paperwork, but I was interrupted on the way there. It was Kiyone and Sentaro. For once they weren't fighting. They were just running towards me… with scared looks on their faces. Why? Did something happen to my captain?!

"Rukia! Captain wants to see you in his office! Right now!" they said in unison as they ran to me.

"Me? Why?"

Kiyone got close to me and whispered, "Can't talk about it right now, Rukia. It's a secret. No one can know."

"Why?"

"Just come with us and you'll see!" Sentaro said. He and Kiyone grabbed both my arms and practically dragged me to my captain's office. When we got there, they threw me into his office and slammed the doors shut. They stayed at the doors, as if guarding them. What's going on?

"Ah, Rukia, you're here. We need to talk about something. Or, more specifically, you," my captain said.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked.

"No, it's nothing bad," he replied.

"Bad! If anyone finds out, she'll be mocked for the rest of her life! This is way ba… AGH!" Sentaro was saying before Kiyone hit him in the stomach.

"Idiot! You're supposed to keep it quiet! What if the others heard you?!" Kiyone yelled.

"What are they talking about, Captain Ukitake?" I asked.

He sighed. He took out the envelope I gave him yesterday. He opened it and took out what was inside. "They are talking about this," he said. He placed several pictures on the desk. I looked at them. They were pictures of the frozen river! And, the trees and grass that were covered in frost! Why does he… Kisuke!

"Rukia, do you know what these are?" Ukitake asked.

"Yes. And, no," I said.

"I see. These were in the envelope you gave me yesterday. You said it was from Kisuke." I nodded. "There was a letter, too. In short, it said that, from hat he knows, you caused this. Is it true?"

"Yes. I don't really know what happened, Captain Ukitake."

"Well, it says here that he believes you lost control of your emotions and that caused this to happen. Did something happen in the World of the Living that would cause you to lose control of your emotions, Rukia?"

I sighed. I didn't feel like talking about it. Not right now.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it, Rukia. I'm just worried. This is a great deal of power. You froze an entire river and covered a large amount of land with snow. It seems that you've had some power hidden in you!" he said, trying to make things better. "The reason we're talking about this is because it's not wise to let you go on without having control over this. This could make things... difficult for you."

"How so?" I asked.

"People… other shinigami could use this against you. This is a lot of power. Others might see it as… a bit of a treat. People want to be on top. If they see the power you have, they'll look for any excuse to bring you to the bottom. Do you understand?"

"Yes. What should I do?"

"Don't worry, Rukia. Sentaro, Kiyone and I will be with you through all of this! We will help you learn to control your powers better. Isn't that right?"

We looked over at Kiyone and Sentaro. They nodded.

"Thank you," I said.

"No problem, Rukia!" Kiyone and Sentaro said in unison.

They were about to start fighting again, but Ukitake quickly changed the subject.

"So, we have to start with some training. You have a snow type zanpakuto, right?" I nodded. "Ok, none of us are snow or ice types. That makes things more difficult!"

He makes it sound like a good thing. Why must he always be so happy?

"Captain! I have an idea!" Sentaro said. "I know someone with an ice type zanpakuto! That's close to a snow type."

"Who is it?" he asked.

"Captain Hitsugaya," he said.

"Oh, yes! How could I forget about Shiro-chan?! But the problem is will he want to help us?"

"Who knows?" Sentaro said.

Kiyone suddenly gasped. "I know! Captain Hitsugaya loves watermelon! We could bribe… I mean, use that. First, we ask him, though. We try our hardest to persuade him. If everything we have fails, we'll use the watermelon! He won't be able to resist! But then again, he's had years to outgrow that obsession. I have a plan B! If he does resist, we'll use Rukia!"

"What? Use me?" I asked.

"Yes! Who could resist Rukia! If you flirt with him a bit, he'll definitely…"

"Kiyone! I will not do that!"

"Fine, fine. I was just brainstorming."

I sighed. "Is Captain Hitsugaya the only person that could train me? I wouldn't want to bother him."

"Rukia, stop putting yourself down like that!" Kiyone ordered.

"Rukia, I'm sure Shiro-chan wouldn't think of you as a bother. And, he's the only person I can think of," Captain Ukitake said.

"Fine, I guess I should go ask him."

"We're coming, too!" Sentaro said.

"No, it's fine," I said.

"Rukia, we said we'd help you," Captain Ukitake said. "So, we're coming with you!"

I smiled. I am so glad Ukitake is my captain. And I'm glad I have friends like Kiyone and Sentaro.

I just hope Captain Hitsugaya will help me. Hopefully, what happened yesterday won't make his opinion of me bad. I hope he'll train me. Even if I don't like the idea too much, I want to try.

We left the 13th division's barracks and headed to the 10th. Before we went there, we stopped and got a watermelon. Kiyone and Sentaro fought about who would carry it and Sentaro ended up winning the argument.

As we got closer to the 10th division's barracks, I started to realize just how nervous I was. I felt my hands getting sweaty and my heart pounding. Maybe it's not too late to back down from this. How bad would it be if someone found out I couldn't fully control my powers? Not too bad, I think.

"Rukia, are you ok?" Kiyone asked.

I looked at her and put on a fake smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She just looked at me for a while. Does she finally know the difference between my fake and real smiles? But, when I think about it, when have I ever truly smiled in Soul Society? The only times I can think of aren't even in Soul Society. They're all memories I had with Ichigo. I have to stop thinking of him!

"Rukia, we are here," Ukitake said. "Do you want to ask him? Or, do you want me to?"

"If it's all right with you, could you ask him?" I asked.

He smiled at me. "Sure, Rukia. I'll be more than happy to!"

"Thank you."

We entered the barracks and went towards Captain Hitsugaya's office. Captain Ukitake was about to knock, but stopped when we heard the yelling.

"Matsumoto! I told you to stop bringing sake into my office! How many times do I have to tell you?!" It was Captain Hitsugaya.

"But Captain, I was working this time!" Matsumoto said in a slurred voice. "Look! I'm almost half way done!"

"I don't care! I told you to stop drinking in my office!"

Captain Ukitake had opened the door by now. They hadn't noticed us and Captain Hitsugaya was still yelling.

Captain Ukitake coughed to get their attention. "Uh, Shiro-chan, is this a bad time?"

Matsumoto saw I was there and gasped. She dropped the sake she was "protecting" from her Captain and rushed to me.

"Rukia," she said as she wrapped her arms around my legs. "Help me! Captain's trying to get rid of my sake! Tell him to stop! I was working this time but he still wants my sake!"

"Shiro-chan," Captain Ukitake said. "Should we come back later?"

"No, it's… Did you just call me 'Shiro-chan' again? I told you to stop calling me that!"

"But it's such a cute name for a cute person!"

"No, it's not! And I'm not cute!" he said. He looked so angry that it was actually kind of… cute. He sighed and calmed himself down. He went to his desk and sat down. "Anyway, what is it that you wanted?"

"Well, it's about Rukia," he said, pushing me gently in front of him. "I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?"

"Kiyone, Sentaro, stand outside the door. Make sure no one hears this," he said. "Rukia, do you have the envelope?"

"Yes, here it is," I said as I handed it to him. He opened it, but stopped abruptly. "Shiro-chan, if I show you this, you have to make sure no one outside this room finds out. If someone does, Rukia, who is my subordinate, and a very important one to me, will be the one that will be impacted the most."

Captain Hitsugaya's eyes shifted to me. "Yeah, I won't tell anyone. Matsumoto, this isn't something to gossip about. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she said.

Ukitake placed the pictures on Captain Hitsugaya's desk. He looked at them carefully. He examined each one slowly.

"What is this?" he asked.

"This is Rukia's doing. She froze an entire river and covered a great amount of land with snow. Of course, she didn't mean to do this, though. From what we know, Rukia did this without knowing. From what someone told me, she couldn't control this at all," Captain Ukitake explained.

"This is a dangerous amount of power to have. Especially if you can't control it," he said, looking at me.

"We know that. That's why we're here. Normally, I'd train her. But as you can see, it'll take more than that. It would take another snow, or ice, wielder to help her control this."

"So you want me to train her?"

"Yes, Shiro-chan, please say you will."

He looked at me then at my captain. Then he looked into space. He was considering it.

He finally looked up at me. "All right, I'll do it."

"That's wonderful! Thank you so much Shiro-chan!" my captain cheered.

"Stop calling me that!"

"Anyway, we brought something in case you'd say no. I guess we don't need it anymore! But, I wouldn't want to waste it! Kiyone, Sentaro, come in!" They did. "Give Shiro-chan his watermelon!"

"Watermelon?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes, we got you the biggest one we could find!"

Sentaro gave Captain Hitsugaya the watermelon. His eyes brightened and I think I saw some drool at the side of his mouth. He looked like a child. It's actually cute. To think that all the things people say about him never smiling and always looking so mature for such a young person are wrong. He looks like he should for someone his age. Come to think of it, he's younger than me. I wonder how he feels about having so many responsibilities at his young age.

"Enjoy the watermelon, Shiro-chan! When can you start her training?" Captain Ukitake asked.

"Tomorrow," he said. "Could I keep the pictures for a while longer? I want to look at them closer."

"Of course, keep them as long as you'd like! But, please, make sure they're hidden from others. It's very important that no one finds them."

"I'll keep them safe. Tomorrow, I'll stop by your office to get Kuchiki. Oh, and I'll need her files."

"All right, what do you want on her?"

"Everything," he said.

"Rukia, do you want to say something to Shiro-chan?" Captain Ukitake asked me.

"Yes." I looked at him and bowed. "Thank you so much. I'm very grateful that you'd take time to train me."

"It's fine," he said. "Matsumoto, you asked if you could leave early today."

"Yes," she replied.

"You wanted to take Kuchiki somewhere, correct?"

"Uh, yeah, I did."

"You said you'd do your paperwork if you could. You worked hard enough. Go."

"What?"

"I said go."

"Really?! I can leave?!"

"Just go before I change my mind!"

"Let's go Rukia!" she said as she dragged me out of the room at high speed. "Captain Ukitake, I'm taking Rukia out for the day!"

"All right, that's fine!" he yelled to us.

I wonder where she's taking me. Yesterday, she said she was taking me somewhere to make new friends. The thought of meeting and talking with unfamiliar people made me nervous.

I hope they'll like me. Please tell me they will.