Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Done like dinner, lol.. Too easy, for someone who writes for a living and often participates in NaNoWriMo XD Rated PG-13 at best, by the way, language and violence, the usual Bleach *subbed* stuff))

The assignment was supposed to be simple enough.. A rescue mission of one of the Seiretei's princesses from a simple band of insurgents who were demanding the overthrow of the Soul King and destruction of the Shinigami 13 Squadrons, the usual mess.. So simple that it was simply assigned to only four Shinigami: Matsumoto Rangiku, Kuchiki Rukia, Kurosaki Ichigo, and leading them was the young Captain prodigy Hitsugaya Toushiro.

How things got so complicated, though, wasn't too hard to imagine..

"What.. Did you say..?" Were the surprised words that continually echoed in Toushiro's mind, along with the response from Captain-Commander Yamamoto that still engulfed his thoughts hours later.

"This is no ordinary Princess, Captain. We have been thorough in investigating all leads to cover all bases and ensure this mission is successful, and in doing so we uncovered a lost heir to the throne. Believing this person of mystery could be behind this abduction, we investigated the matter further, and discovered it was in fact you that was that missing heir, Captain Hitsugaya."

Though Toushiro's face was as surprised as it could be then, now it was laser-focused as usual on the task at hand, as the four Shinigami arrived at last outside the enemy stronghold. A standard militarized base, consisting of three bunker housings, a large storage house, a sentry tower, and a large steel wall surrounding the perimeter with guards marching point at regular intervals atop it.

"It's too plain.." Toushiro spoke in enough of a whisper for only the others to hear. "They can't be operating such a large operation from such a small base, there has to be more.. Watch yourselves, this may be a trap, and they may be expecting guests."

"So nice of them to roll out the red carpet for us, then.." Ichigo spoke, looking to the others with a nod. "So, should we let them know in person that we'll be cancelling our reservations, and the Princess' too?"

All four gave serious nods to each other, before disappearing quickly. Ichigo and Toushiro were able to scale the wall on foot quickly enough, slicing down several of the guards on top quietly enough to avoid raising alarm, before separating to take down the rest with similar precision. Rukia was able to cast Kido to put the tower sentries to sleep, before Matsumoto used a sleeping gas to knock the rest out. Checking silently through each bunker house, disarming traps as they went the four of them could find no trace of the princess, regrouping and deciding now was the time to check the Store House.

Hitsugaya poked his head through as he slid open the door gently, eyes darting quickly in all directions before his hand raised to give the all-clear to enter. But, no sooner did all four step inside, than a weighted trap-door opened underneath them, sending the group down into the abyss..

"Daiguren Hyourinmaru!" Toushiro spoke calmly, as the temperature suddenly grew chill, the ice that formed his zanpakutou's power source giving him clawed talons of ice upon his hands and feet to grab Ichigo and Rangiku with, a tail of ice extending to grasp Rukia by her waist, and wings of ice extending from his back to allow him the lift to soar back to the floor above with the group.

As soon as they were up on solid ground once more, the ice shattered and absorbed itself back into Toushiro's zanpakutou, as Rangiku looked down into the hole to see a large and gruesome pit of sharpened katana stuck into the floor as a makeshift spike-pit, which already housed the skeletal remains of some of the more careless guards of the base.

Gathering themselves, they resumed their journey down a spiralling staircase, which led to a door where light cracked through the frame, and raised voices could be heard within. Pressing their faces to the door, heads atop each other's with their right eyes gazing through into the room, all four observed the princess chained down to a chair, sobbing as her lieutenantlay bleeding on the floor, trying to grasp at the cut across his chest while three guards kicked at him painfully with laughter. Toushiro, as they all pulled away from the door, gave hand signals to direct the others, before they snuck themselves into the room.

Before the Princess could blink, the three guards suddenly dropped to the floor with agonized grunting. And once she blinked again, she could feel her wrists and ankles were freed, looking down to see the chains binding her had broken off from the ice that was quickly melting off of them. And when she looked back up, her eyelids opened wide in shock as she saw Toushiro hunching in front of her, offering a hand to help her up while Rukia tended to the lieutenant's injuries.

"You are.. Shinigami, a Captain of the Protection Squads, right..? My name is Hitsugaya Firshiro, Princess of the Royal family Hitsugaya.."

The name suddenly dropped the collective jaws of Rukia, Rangiku, and Ichigo, before they looked comically back and forth between Toushiro and the princess, jaws dropping even farther when the resemblence between the two hit them like a ton of bricks.

"H-Hey, wait a minute Toushiro.. She looks like she could be your.." Ichigo started.

"She is.." Toushiro spoke, interrupting Ichigo as he helped Firshiro up. "My twin sister.. I am Toushiro Hitsugaya."

Now it was the princess' turn to be surprised, her lieutenant as well, before she suddenly smiled and lunged at Toushiro, throwing her arms around him in a happy hug with a giggling fit. Toushiro smiled for a moment as well, hugging his newfound sister back, but then broke off from the hug with a serious stare aimed at the ceiling.

"We're still not done here yet.. It's time to leave, but first we'll need to give these rebellious forces a new reason to think twice about performing such actions again.."

"You can leave that to me." Ichigo spoke, and as the group ran out and took to the skies, Ichigo remained behind for a few moments, clasping Zangetsu with both hands and raising its blade high to the skies. "Getsuga Tensho!" The blade of Zangetsu swirled with an ominous dark aura, before Ichigo sliced it in a long downward arc, a burst of energy resonating the same aura streaming down towards the base right as the insurgent leader exited the restroom and looked to the sky with wide eyes.

Toushiro and the others glanced back as they soared away, seeing the explosion in the distance as Ichigo rejoined them in a blur with a sheepish smirk on his face. And, as they continued their journey, the towering citadel at the peak of the Seiretei coming ever-closer into view, Toushiro and Firshiro both knew they wouldn't be going home alone, and Toushiro knew now he could finally start piecing together the lost fragments of the life he never knew.

The End

emotion_kirakira Just waiting for more entries ninja