The blood was splattered across the walls of the young girl’s home, painting it in crimson. The smell of rust and salt was over powering every other smell, the sounds of the man’s dying breath over took every other sound, and the view of his eyes slowly rolling to the back of his head took over every other view.
She woke up…
**
Hitsugaya Toshiro was in a very bad mood. He shuffled his papers attempting to get them in order. He desperately looked around him for a file that had to be put away. It was ironic, but for an intensely serious Captain, sometimes he could be seriously disorganized. However, his disorganization came only when Captain Yamamoto sprung a new mission on him when Toshiro never expected it. Thus, he became a mess—something that he hated with extreme prejudice.
The mission wasn’t only for young Toshiro; it was actually for every Captain of Soul Society. Every Captain was taking an apprentice under their wing, special Shinigami that were trained specifically to become a Captain, later on in their lives. The point of the apprenticeship was for the young reapers to see what it meant to be a captain. Apparently, Captain Yamamoto, Soi Fon, Kuchiki Byakuya, Tosen Kaname and Toshiro himself were getting very…enthusiastic apprentices. Captain Yamamoto believed it’d do them well to be under serious Captains, in order for them to see that being a Captain wasn’t all fun and games.
Unfortunately, these apprentices were coming at a very bad time, what with Rukia’s very long disappearance to the human world. It was very aggravating, but, like most things in Toshiro’s life—it couldn’t be helped.
Toshiro gave up trying to clear his desk; something that didn’t occur very often; giving up was just another form of slaking off that Toshiro did not approve of. He collapsed in his office chair, completely drained, and gave a great sigh.
“Captain?” a voice called, immediately disturbing his small moment of peace.
“Yes, Matsumoto, what is it?” he called, recognizing the voice.
Slowly the door of his office slid open, and his lieutenant stood there with an annoyed expression upon her face. This was surprising to Toshiro—their expressions actually matched today.
“Your apprentice is here.” She snapped, walking away immediately.
Toshiro raised his eyebrows and stood up, astonished by his lieutenants actions. He made his way around his desk when his apprentice, did indeed walk in.
The young captain frowned; this girl looked the complete opposite of enthusiastic. She had a bored face with grayish brown hair and matching eyes. Not any taller than the captain himself, nothing was intimidating about this girl. Her hands were deep in her pockets, she wasn’t even dressed as a proper soul reaper.
The girl, whom Toshiro knew from his files, was named Mira Kyouka, arched her brow at Toshiro; she cocked her head to the side.
“Who are you?” she wondered.
Immediately, his eyebrow twitched. Was this some kind of joke? “I am Captain Hitsugaya.” He mumbled.
She stared at him. “You look a bit short to be a captain…”
His annoyance refused to die down. “Size is no guarantee of power.” Like this twerp was one to talk anyway, she wasn’t any taller than he was.
Mira walked in lazily, staring around the room. “For a Captain, you sure are messy.” She frowned at a few papers that stuck themselves to her boots. As she attempted to shake them off, Toshiro closed his eyes in anger, attempting very hard to calm himself.
“You caught me on a bad day.” He said through his teeth.
“Regardless,” she murmured as he opened his eyes. She was sitting on the floor, carefully peeling away the documents from her attire. “If I had company, I’d clean up a bit.”
“I didn’t know you were coming today.” He snapped, surprised that this girl had the guts to speak to a captain as she did.
“Shouldn’t Captains be more organized?” she looked up at him, setting her boot down.
Toshiro’s mouth twitched violently, but he refused to answer the smart mouth. He’d have to have a talk with the Commander about this.
**
“You must gain her trust.” Yamamoto spoke in a calming tone, but Toshiro’s anger still did not waver.
“I have to gain her trust?” he asked, outraged by the very thought. “Last time I checked, I’m the captain! Not her!”
Yamamoto sighed. “Toshiro, have you read Miss Kyouka’s file properly.”
Deciding it was best not to lie, Hitsugaya shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”
“Perhaps you should. You’ll find out some very interesting things about your apprentice.”
Toshiro opened his mouth to ask his commander a question, but was interrupted suddenly by a burly soul reaper from the 3rd division. He was panting, and there was a crazy look in his eyes.
“Captain Hitsugaya! Thank goodness I found you!”
“What is it?” Toshiro inquired, his adrenaline beginning to pump through his veins.
“It’s your apprentice!” he gasped. “She’s at a bar and there was a fight.” But the man looked too tired to actually explain what happened.
Toshiro, already knowing the feel of his apprentice’s spiritual energy, quickly apologized to his commander, gave a low bow, and quickly set off through the streets of Soul Society, searching desperately for an abnormality. His heart was pumping madly, how did his apprentice already manage to get into trouble? More importantly, what kind of trouble? Toshiro hoped for her own safety that she hadn’t gotten into a brawl with a lieutenant, never mind fighting a captain. But no…she couldn’t be that stupid…
“What the fu—” he gasped, stopping abruptly in the street, his emerald orbs enlarging.
Medical shinigami were removing a man from the scene, taking him away with a stretcher. Many others were gazing over at a short girl who nearby, she seemed to have bloody knuckles, but the blood wasn’t her own.
Hitsugaya strained his eyes to look at the man in the stretcher…
“Renji?” he murmured, thoroughly surprised. Yet, his astonishment was slowly taken over by fury. “MIRA!” he yelled out, anger rising about him.
However, Mira thought nothing of it. She walked lazily toward her new Captain and stared at him.
“What?” she asked.
“You beat up a lieutenant?” he asked, outraged.
She shrugged. “He asked for it.”
Toshiro pulled her closer by her shirt, snarling in her face. “Don’t get cocky with me. What possibly possessed you to do such a thing?!”
“He asked for it.” She repeated, her expression not wavering once from the laziness that it held.
“What do you mean?” he hissed, agitated.
She shrugged again. “We were talking for a while; he said I didn’t look very strong, so I said I didn’t care what he thought. So then he asked if I wanted to fight.”
“and you…agreed?” he set her down slowly, not being able to believe that she actually beat up a lieutenant…and that she didn’t even have a scratch. Even though he had seen it with his own eyes, Toshiro couldn’t believe it.
“Of course I agreed.” For the first time all day, she smiled lightly. “I have to make myself known properly in these streets.”
Toshiro stared at the girl, how very interesting this apprentice would be.
From the rooftop, Hisagi stared at the young girl who was smiling ever so faintly at Captain Hitsugaya. With a heavy sigh, he turned around to depart from the scene, wondering why on earth, after so many years, his past was coming back to haunt him.
