1000 Years: One Shots (Part 1)

23. Death

Title: Death

Genre: Family, Angst

Characters: Toshiro, Rangiku, Schwarz

Summary: Being forced to accept a new life isn't a nice thing.

Rating: T

Date Posted:

Death

There are some things that feel like they will last forever until they are taken away. The feeling that occurred when Yamamotto's life suddenly sparked out was colder then anything that Toshiro had ever felt before. On top of the fact yet another person he was close to had passed away, there was the feeling of dread and the feeling of being unsure about the future. Never before had he not known what would happen.

And then the army came through and he watched as the Vandenreich army surged forward. He found himself unable to open his mouth, his eyes were wide with shock and he expected to quickly be killed. The man was looking right at him and instead he found himself and Rangiku suddenly being surrounded. "Your orders sir?"

Toshiro could also sense Rangiku suddenly tensing up. "Taicho..."

"Why don't the two of you simply come with us back to our home?" The man spoke up.

"If you think I am simply going to surrender, then you've got another thing coming. I'm a member of the Gotei Thirteen, I fight to the death."

A few of the Vandenreich raised their weapons but the man raised his hand to stop them. "I wonder how she feels about you getting yourself killed? I just offered the two of you safe passage and life."

"It isn't as if..." Toshiro suddenly heard a blade drop, and he turned to look at Rangiku with wide eyes. The look he gave her was utter betrayal. "Matsumoto! We don't know if they will hold up on their end of their bargain!"

"Taicho... the idea of you dying. I can't live with that idea. You know we can't fight them." Her hand touched his elbow while her back touched his. She refused to look him in the eye.

The small taicho let out a deep sigh and held out his blade before dropping it. "It isn't as if I can hear Hyorinmaru anymore. Since he's your prisoner then I'm also your prisoner."

"That is a strange way of looking at it." The man nodded his head at the ones surrounding them. "Detain them and move them back to our home base. I had better not see a hair out of place on the boy."

Toshiro felt his arms grabbed and held behind him. He glanced up in confusion. "Wait... you were after me this whole time."

"Taicho..." Rangiku's voice had the same confusion to it.

"You are a very important person Hitsugaya Toshiro." The man stated.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut the hell up!" The boy suddenly bent down so that the tears from his anger wouldn't be seen.

The man and the army stepped forward and he found himself in a rather large thrown room. Glancing around without looking up, he saw ice everywhere. There was also a familiar aura to the ice and the corner of his mouth twisted up. A few of the soldiers proceeded to take away their weapons and his head remained down.

The man came over and patted Toshiro suddenly on the head. "You can already sense it, can't you?"

"Taicho... what is he talking about?" Rangiku blinked a couple of times.

"The ice Matsumoto..." The boy suddenly let himself hang. "The aura is faint and faded, but its Hyorinmaru. There is no mistaking my zampaktuo spirit's feeling."

He could feel the soldiers suddenly move in confusion. The woman though spoke carefully. "Taicho... you died and came to Soul Society. How can your zampaktuo have made this place?"

"What... you don't remember?" The man let out a deep sigh. "I brushed off the fact you don't recognize me to many years having passed. You and my brother Silbern were close."

There came a bit of summering as Toshiro stood up straight. He looked at the man in defiance. "Leave my fukutaicho alone."

"You're no longer members of the Gotei Thirteen, you don't need worry about titles." The man let out a laugh.

"If I am not to call her my fukutaicho, then what am I to call her?" The boy glared at the man, disgust coming to his voice.

"Why not mother?" The man stated.

"What the fuck are you talking about!" Toshiro suddenly pulled against his captors. "She told you, didn't she! I died and came to Soul Society! I don't have any parents!"

"You certainly have her temper, don't you? So far I'm not seeing any part of my brother in you except for your coloring." The man continued to speak.

"Your highness..." One of the men suddenly paused. "If he is... should we be treating him in this manner?"

"I don't know my nephew well enough to know how he'll react. He is Silbern's son after all, so he should I should hope he has his intelligence. Our notes say that you're a child genius and you managed to graduate from the academy in a year." The man waited for a response. "You aren't going to answer me?"

Toshiro instead found himself suddenly going limp. He yelled out a loud sob and his body began to tremble. The man stepped forward and touched the white head of hair. "Don't worry, you and your mother won't have to worry about anything now... you're both safe."

"Silbern... you're referring to the man I know as Gin?" Rangiku herself was blinking a couple of times.

"Yes... you're the one who gave him that name. How he came up with Ichimaru I do not know." The man continued to ruffle Toshiro's hair.

Two bright teal eyes suddenly looked up at the man to see him smiling softly at him. "How can you talk about us being safe when you're killing people we care about?"

The man's smile quickly left. "And yet these same people made you a captain of the Gotei Thirteen."

Toshiro stood up despite the fact his face was tear stained. "That shows how very little you know about me. If I hadn't entered the academy, my abilities would have killed my grandmother, the woman who raised me and I consider to be family. If I hadn't learned bankai and become a captain other bad things would have happened to the people around me. I became a shinigami out of necessity, not because someone forced me too."

"Father said that our information indicated that Yamamotto had grown soft, but I have an idea why. You're very similar to her of all people, and she was known to be his one weak spot back then."

"Shut up!" The small boy found himself leaning forward, his breath coming as he tried to hold back his emotions. "Just lock me up already in a prison cell. It isn't as if I'll listen to you."

"I'm keeping Hyorinmaru safe for you. Unlike the others I've got a connection to you and your zampaktuo, as she is the one you inherited it from. That said, I'll show you to your rooms." The man motioned for the two to be brought forward and they were brought to a specific room. The next thing they knew, they were being locked in.