Of Birthdays and Siblings

Into the Fire

The small child found that Gin's advice about conserving energy had been right as he felt his eyes eventually begin to droop. Of course, this could also have been due to the fact he was getting cold despite having worn winter clothing. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes hoping that someone would come soon.

"You could have taken his advice and dug yourself out." The dragon's voice jarred the boy awak.e

"I can't trust him Hyorinmaru." Silence greeted him for a few minutes before a rather weak voice spoke up.

"Shiro-chan, you said that out loud."

The boy found himself swallowing and closing his eyes. His stomach suddenly grumbled and he placed his free hand over his stomach. His lips felt cold and he found himself licking them. He closed his eyes before letting out a cough. He felt his hand suddenly drop to the ground as he released the rieatsu. As he swallowed, he thought he could hear the sound of scrapping.

"You can hear it. Open your eyes." The boy's eyes snapped open and he put up the fire again, blinking a couple of times before scooting over to the place he saw a hole appearing.

"Hey, Toshiro. Are you all right? What about Ichimaru Gin?"

"Kurosaki?" Toshiro found himself crawling over. "I'm exhausted, so I may have received an injury when we fell. He's worse off then me, but I held off killing him." There was a bit of silence. "Is something the matter."

"No. We're going to get you out of there. You got it Toshiro."

"It's Hitsugaya." The boy closed his eyes and began to breath a sigh of relief when the Quincy companion spoke up.

"Are you a moron Kurosaki? He asked you if something was the matter and you couldn't tell him that most of our group has been taken to who knows where as prisoners while you and I have remained with a small group in order to help dig him out."

"Ahh... yeah. I kind of forgot about that because I was worried about him." The hole slowly began to widen and finally Ichigo was able to pull himself into the small cave. He glanced up. "I'm really sorry about this. Its kind of my fault that the whole thing came crashing down on you guys. Good thing you used Hyorinmaru when you did."

Toshiro let out a deep sigh. "I want out of this place. You being in here only makes things even more claustrophobic."

A few hands reached to pull him out as the boy licked his lips again despite the fact his tongue was dry. He looked up to see Gabrielli looking at him. "I take it that a lot of people are pretty angry at me right now."

The female helped him to a standing position. "Get that other person onto a gurney."

"Gabrielli..." The boy frowned at her. "What is going to happen to Kurosaki and the others?"

"I don't know. His majesty isn't known for taking things lying down." The older female turned to look at him. "You're honestly worried about their fate despite the fact they tried to harm you?"

"I don't know about Ichimaru Gin, but I don't think the others intentions were to cause me harm." Toshiro glanced at the ground. "This is particularly true when it comes to Kurosaki, though he can be an idiot at times."

"I heard that Toshiro." The substitute shinigami came out of the cave and stood up.

"I am not understanding why he calls you by your first name. Particularly after you obviously objected to him doing so. I could punish him now if you want me too."

"No!" The boy raised his hands up. "He has a bad habit of speaking to others in an informal manner."

"Then I'll cure him of that bad habit right now as I do not like him." The female made to step closer to Ichigo only to have Toshiro step in between them.

"No!" The boy frowned at her. "I said it was fine that he calls me by my first name. The whole bit about me correcting him... I don't do it because I'm correcting it."

Ichigo suddenly reached out to ruffle Toshiro's head. "What he is trying to say is he finds it amusing."

"Yeah, but someone should correct you of that bad habit of calling people by their first names Kurosaki." Uryu came out and pushed his glasses up. "I'm guessing you will be taking us prisoner now as well."

"I don't have any choice in the matter." Gabrielli turned towards Toshiro. "Can you walk?"

The boy narrowed his bright teal eyes. "I'm not a child."

The orange haired teen raised his eyebrows. "Take it from me, don't push the issue. My calling him by his first name is a joke. Call him a kid or call him short and you'll have officially pissed him off."

The female with the dual colored hair simply glared before him. "Well, we are off."

M

Schwarz watched as the person in charge of the infirmary finished bandaging his chest. "Now that I've finished your highness, care to feel me in."

"They should hopefully be bringing me nephew in to see you soon along with..." The man found his words interrupted when a man suddenly stuck his head in through the door frame. "What is it?"

"The young highness has been brought into his majesties court along with the three prisoners."

The dark haired man suddenly darted up, only to have a female grab his arm. "Now you listen to me, you shouldn't be moving about as fast as you are. You stay here."

"Why wasn't my nephew brought here or the other person he was buried in the avalanche with."

"The silver haired man was rather uncooperative once we got him near here and the young highness wished to see how your father would deal with the prisoners that were just brought in."

The man's eyes suddenly widened. "I have to make sure that nothing bad comes of this."

"Your highness..."

The man paused as the woman continued to tug on his arm. "The silver haired man is Silbern. My nephew knows what his relationship with the Shinigami is, but he doesn't know what his relationship with us is."

"Silbern?" The woman's face suddenly turned white. "If he is injured he's going to be like a wounded animal!"

"Which is the other reason I need to go. My brother has some issues."

"Your brother sir?" The solider blinked a couple of times. "You mean he is Lady Bambietta and Lord Toshiro's father."

"Yes, but don't tell either one that as they don't know as of yet."