Christmas Nightmare (Bleach Fanfic)

Panic

As Toshiro sped off on her, Matsumoto found herself taking a very deep breath. If there was one thing that Ichimaru and her small taicho had in common, it was the fact that when they didn't want to be found, no one could find them. Bitterly, she opened the door to the Kurosaki household and approached the one person she hadn't wanted to speak to.

"Gin..." Rangiku's tone was dark and she watched as the man suddenly glanced up, over the edge of the couch. It was obvious that he wasn't pleased with her either.

"Are you going to listen to me now?" However, he suddenly turned his body towards her, concern on his face. "Chibi taicho isn't with you? Where's the kid Rangiku?"

At that, the woman glowered at him, walking over to where he was sitting. "Taicho took off on my, Gin. He couldn't stop yelling at me about how he hates the both of us and that he's had enough of this whole mess."

"Well, I honestly don't blame him. You've been stubborn about talking to me, despite the fact that I have something important to tell you. It was something that was important to him too Ran-chan. Do you really hate you that much?" Ichimaru stated, he then turned his head away from her. "I don't care if you hate me. At least have some consideration for his feelings in this matter."

At that, he stood up, still speaking to her, refusing to look the woman in the face. "Are you going to listen to me now? If not, I would like to go and..." He paused, suddenly seeing the object that Rangiku held in her hand. "How did you get that? He was supposed to give it to you for Christmas, after I talked to you and explained things."

"I am going to ask you a serious question, Gin. I want to know exactly what lies you told taicho. He is the last person I ever want to see hurt. If you lied to him, you know this is something you can't take back, right." Rangiku stated, her lip trembling.

"I think you know that I didn't lie to him. Ran-chan." Ichimaru's mood turned dark. "But if you don't believe me, just ask my mother, someone you've heard Chibi Taicho refer to as his grandmother."

At that, Matsumoto found herself biting down on her lip and she found her hand reaching out and slapping the man's cheek hard. "How could you Gin? Do you know how much I wanted to always hold that child in my arms? Of all the cruel things you could do, why this?"

"Simple. Would you rather Aizen have gotten his hands on that child? You know very well how manipulative that man was. If he could have gotten his hands on a child genius, even before he entered academy, what do you think would have happened to our son? What kind of person do you think he would have ended up being?"

Rangiku found herself chocking back her tears. "It's still cruel. Plus, you had to tell him before you told me. Why would you do such a thing? All it's done is put a strain on our relationship Gin!"

"There is a strain on the two of your relationship because you refused to listen to me. I could have told you a long time ago, what I already told him Matsumoto. Plus, I had a reason for telling him first." Ichimaru took a deep breath. "But that isn't something we should be talking about right now, is it? I'm not blind to the fact that Shiro-chan's run off and it might take some time to find him."

The female shook her head at him. "I'm going to go look for baby right now. Don't think that this is over yet. He's likely hiding someplace up high. He's always liked high spots."

At that, Gin grabbed her hand, which caused Rangiku to try and pull away. "There is something you need to know, if you manage to find him. His exact words about why he is upset with you, is that he feels that he is a replacement for himself. That is why he is hurting." At that, he let her pull away and exit through the front door.

Instead of heading straight out to look for the small taicho, Ichimaru headed up the stairs and knocked on the door of Ichigo's room. The substitute shinigami opened up the door, his mouth twisted up with curiosity. "Is something the matter?"

"Rangiku showed up." Ichimaru stated firmly. "Let's just say, things didn't go as well as I would have liked them to have gone. Toshiro took off on us and I would like help finding him."

"I'll get Rukia then." Ichigo stated, heading over to knock on the girl's room.

Isshin poked his head out of his room. "I was wondering how that would go. If you don't mind, I'll stick around here just in case he comes back here. Plus, I've got my girls to watch out for."

"I completely understand." Gin gave the other person a weak smile.

Rukia stepped out of the room. "If Hitsugaya Taicho is hiding his reiatsu from us, he's going to be impossible to find. You and Rangiku have any idea where he might go if he's upset?"

"Rangiku commented on the fact that he likes places up high." Ichimaru stated, his smile rather weak.

As Rukia headed off, Ichigo turned to look at Gin, who was remaining outside his sister's door. "Aren't you going to look for Toshiro?"

"If you and your father don't mind, I would like to ask your sister Karin something." The man stated, catching the substitute shinigami off guard.

"Well, won't Toshiro be some place high? It should be easy for us to find. But whatever." At that, the orange haired teen headed out himself.

"You don't think that Toshiro will be someplace high this time, do you?" Isshin asked, watching the other man.

"He's my son. He's intelligent enough to know what the first place Rangiku will go looking for him is and he doesn't want anything to do with either of us. Your daughter has spent time with him before, so she may actually know where he may have headed."

"Feel free to ask." Isshin stated. "I trust you with them."

At that, Ichimaru knocked on the door and found it opened by Karin, who had a rather worried look on her face. "Toshiro is doing something stupid, isn't he?"

"I wouldn't call what he is doing stupid. Not unless something bad happens to him." The man stated. "You've spent time with him while he's been here in the world of the living, right? Is there any spot that stands out to you as a place he would go?"

"Well, there is that bend in the road. He likes going there. But he wouldn't go there at this time of night because he goes there to watch the sunset." Karin frowned. "You might try the soccer field or the park."

"Arrigotto Karin-chan." The man smiled at her, and then whispered something into her ear. "I know that you are tempted to go out looking for him yourself, but don't worry your father." At that, he pulled away. As he headed out the front door, he grabbed his jacket and the one that Toshiro had neglected to grab when he had stormed out.

The night was cold and he had the feeling that Toshiro was starting to feel the weather on his young body. Despite the fact that the white haired child had control over ice, he was subject to the extremes just like anyone else. Gin's step was quick and he paced himself to get to the places that the black haired twin had mentioned, hoping that his theory was right.

The first place he came to was the soccer field. Glancing around, he saw the lights shining down on the grass and the seats and knew that if Toshiro was there, he would have quickly found him. Letting out a deep sigh, he headed to the next spot, his hopes that the small taicho would be there. The part was also well lit.

He walked around, looking carefully through the park. The place wasn't very big and he eventually came to where the swings were. There, he saw a small figure sitting on the swing, staring at his feet. Letting out a deep sigh, Gin called out to the child, a smile on his face.. "Shiro-chan?"