Of Birthdays and Siblings

Lock and Key

Two bright teal eyes watched the snow that was falling asleep and for a short period of time drifted off to sleep. When he woke up again, Toshiro found himself stirring and remembering the events that occurred during the night. The snow had stopped falling outside and a few hints of sunlight came in through his window, indicating that the sun was just breaking over the horizon.

Sitting up carefully and feeling his head spin, he found himself looking over to his side in time to see that Rangiku had fallen asleep. "She probably feels rather useless right about now. I know that some times she shirks her duties, but she doesn't do it all the time." His eyes suddenly narrowed. "She probably feels as useless as I do right now."

Glancing over at the table, he saw that a fresh uniform was next to his bed minus the haiori. Carefully pulling the covers back, he found himself dressing into warmer clothes and slipping on some socks to cover his feet. He could feel that he wasn't steady on his feet, but something from last night still bothered him and he had to research into the matter.

Before slipping out of the room, he carefully placed a blanket over Rangiku's shoulders so that she would keep warm. He then headed towards the door and glanced around. Seeing no one, he quickly moved down the hallway, ignoring the fact his head and side hurt. He slipped out of the division and found himself heading across the snow towards the place they held prisoners.

Upon arriving, he saw a guard and waited until he was looking in the opposite direction before slipping past the man to head down to one of the lower cells. The place was cold, but he tried his best not to let the weather bother him. He made a note to himself to ask about doing something about the prison quarters so that they were treating prisoners humanely.

Not many people were kept in the cells, thus finding the female was easy. He walked up to the door and let his reiatsu out, knowing that it would be only a matter of time before someone found out he was missing in the forth division and knew full well it was better to let them know where he was. Plus, doing this placed a strain on his body.

Upon feeling the blast, she turned to look at him with a smile on her face. "So you guys showed up to rescue me." Seeing his face however caused the smile to turn to a scowl. She turned her head away, hiding her eyes from him. He had caught the fact that they were definitely the same color as his. "Oh, it is only you. I doubt you're here to break me out."

"You're basically saying that there are more of you Baba-nee?" The boy spoke up, addressing the girl in the cell. He winced upon hearing himself call the girl that childish name.

"What did you call me?" Her tone wasn't nasty, but more on the curious side of things. She glanced up again so he could see her own pair of bright teal eyes.

It was his turn to glance away. "I'm sorry. I didn't call you anything. It was just a slip of the tongue."

"No it wasn't. Where did you hear that name? The only person whose ever called me that, or knew I was called that was Toto-chan." The girl suddenly stood up from the bench and walked over to look at him.

"What did you just call me?" The boy found himself pulling in a breath of air tightly, not realizing that his eyes had become hopeful.

"I didn't call you anything. That name belongs to someone else." The girl looked him straight in the eye, and her mouth twisted up. "Why did you call me Baba-nee? How did you learn that name?"

"Just... that name was the name of an imaginary friend when I was little, all right. Not that it has anything to do with you." Toshiro found the words snapping out, not understanding why he was pouring out his words."

The female looked at him, pondering something. She then spoke up, glaring at him. "I am not an imaginary friend."

"Of course your not. Last night was the first time I met you and I really did have imaginary friends when I was younger." Toshiro shook his head. "This is not going anywhere."

Letting out a deep sigh, he turned on his heels to leave. The girl spoke up behind him. "Where are you going?"

"I thought I could get some answers about why meeting you bothered me, but apparently that isn't the case." Toshiro felt that he could simply leave, but the words that she spoke next startled him again.

"Maru-maru isn't an imaginary friend either, but you should know that better then anyone." The girl stated. "Why don't you ask him?"

"Maru-maru?" The boy turned to look at her with a strange look. "For your information, Maru-maru is an imaginary friend I had when I was younger. My question is how you happen to know his name."

"Baka." The girl continued to glare at him, almost as if she thought he was an idiot. "Maru-maru is your zamapktuo spirit."

"You mean Hyorinmaru?" Toshiro found himself blinking a couple of times. His voice then strained as he thought about what she told him the night before. "Who are you?"

"Figure that out for yourself dummy." The girl glanced over at the wall in irritation. "You should know because you and I share a birthday Toto-chan."

The filling that something that had been missing for a long time wouldn't go away, but he found himself pushing the idea of who she was to the back of his mind. "That just isn't possible."

"And why not?" the girl looked him right in the eye. The fact that her eyes were the same color caused him to suddenly glance away.

"Because... I died and came to Soul Society over forty to fifty years ago. You look to be the same age as me, and yet you don't look like your an adult." Toshiro found that the words were chocking out of his mouth and he could feel a panic attack coming on. "You're a Quincy, aren't you?"

"Actually, we were both born here in Soul Society. We're both hybrids, half Shinigami and half Quincy. Your probably a lot stronger then me, considering the fact you were hindered by not wearing a lot of clothes and only knowing the Shinigami side of your powers."

"Not necisarily..." Toshiro stated, falling into conversation with her. However, he found himself shaking his head rapidly. "No, no. Why are you here?"

"You aren't mad that I shook up your little world?" The girl blinked at him a couple of times. "To tell you the truth, I wanted to do something different on our birthday, so I decided to bust up Soul Society because they to you, mama and papa away. It's as simple as that. Ironically, I didn't want to hurt anyone while I was here, but I ended up hurting you Toto-chan."

"Why?" Toshiro still shook his head, his words coming out in a sharp and abrasive manner.

"I told you, I..."

"No, I mean..."

"Look, you may be mad at me for coming here. But shouldn't I be just as mad at you for forgetting our connection and making me believe you were dead?"

"I'm not mad at you because you came here!" Toshiro yelled at her, causing her to suddenly shut up. He found himself glancing at the ground. "Truth be told, I'm glad to know that I have a blood relation who cares about me. It feels like something that has been missing has come back."

He found himself stepping forward and looking her right in face, the look becoming rather serious. "However, you're going to be executed as an intruder. You talk about me making you believe that I'm dead, despite the fact I was made to believe that you were just an imaginary friend I made up. Yet you don't stop and think about the fact I just found you again, only to lose you again?"

The female stared him in the eyes for a few minutes. "I just realized that I'm taller then you."