368"English"
"Japanese"
'Thoughts'
'Zanpakuto'
Catastrophe? Where?!
By the end of the first week back at Hogwarts Toshiro had already made a name for himself, much to his annoyance. Everyone knew about the strange white-haired transfer who had become the apple of the new Potions Master's eye and the bane of the old ones existence. While most Professors seemed to live the small teen for his work-ethics and politeness, the rest appeared to dislike him on principal.
Strangely enough one of the Professors that couldn't stand the boy was Trelawney. After their first and last Divination class together, that Toshiro dropped like a bad habit from his N.E. as soon as he left, Professor Trelawney refused to be anywhere near the Captain. She stated almost fearfully to everyone who would listen that 'He was wrong. That he was a void. And that it wasn't natural for the Fates to leave someones future blank'.
Toshiro was just happy the mad old Witch hadn't tried to read Kurosaki or Nel's future yet. He suspected she would see that they were the same and people would start wondering why. Toshiro assumed he 'didn't have a future' because he was already dead and that even a competent Seer couldn't look past that.
"What are you doing?" Ron scolded jealous, interrupting Toshiro's train of thought as he stared down at the two Captain's sitting on the damp grass outside the castle in the lotus position.
"Pardon?" Toshiro asked in a monotone voice, blinking up at the red-head.
"I've been looking for you everywhere, mate" Ron sulked, glancing between Toshiro and the new Professor suspiciously, even if the other Shinigami hadn't even opened his eyes or twitched since Ron found them.
He'd been looking forward to the weekend since he'd planned to spend it with Toshiro. Just the two of them, maybe Hermione as well, but that's it. To, ya know, bond like they used to! But the short Captain hadn't been at breakfast or lunch, and neither Gryffindor could find him, not that any of Toshiro's Housemates were any help when asked ether. To find him after hours of searching sitting closely with the new Professor in comfortable silence just felt like adding insult to injury.
"What have you been doing?"
"Training" Toshiro shrugged.
"With your sword? Like when you disappeared and came back with that cut on your face?" Ron asked doubtfully as he looked between the two, not really liking what was being suggested "Were you with him then too?"
"Yes" Toshiro nodded, not understanding why that was important to the taller teen "Kurosaki often offers to spar with me"
"It's a great way to relieve stress" Ichigo said, finally coming out of what seemed like a trance-like state, blinking his brown eyes open and grinning over at the chibi Captain "And Toshiro seriously needs to relax"
"No I don't" Toshiro snorted, crossing his arms. Yes, everything that had happened over the last week at Hogwarts was annoying, but it was nothing compared to his time at the Burrow and Order Headquarters. That had been insufferable in comparison. "And it's 'Hitsugaya' to you!"
"If you were dueling, what are you doing now?" Ron frowned, not liking how easily the new Professor got an emotional response from Toshiro while he couldn't. Harry was his best-friend, damn it!
"Meditating" Ichigo shrugged before standing and stretching his arms above his head carelessly.
"You need to discipline the mind as well as the body" Toshiro explained, patting his jeans down as he also stood up "It also strengths our connections to our Zanpaktos'"
"Don't worry, kid" Ichigo said, not really caring that the teen glared heatedly at him "Once your class gets past stamina-training I'll show you how to do it to"
"I don't see what sitting still has to do with learning to fight" Ron grumbled to himself, he might not like the guy but he didn't want to voice his doubts and get in trouble for being cheeky to a Professor.
"So, I'll leave you to it" Ichigo shrugged, ruffling Toshiro's hair affectionately before heading back towards the castle, much to the smaller Captains irritation. "I gotta go find Nel"
"...You left Oderschvank unattended since this morning?" Toshiro asked terror building as his mind raced with all the things the Hollow child could have done in that amount of time "What the hell were you thinking, Kurosaki?!"
"It's fine! I left her chasing after a group of those kids in green!" he called back casually, much to Toshiro's horror, before disappearing into the school.
"Ronald!" he barked, snapping his head around to face the startled teen.
"W-what?!" Ron squeaked in surprise at the sudden attention the shorter boy gave him. Freaking him out at how scared Toshiro seemed.
"Has anything happened since this morning?" Toshiro asked urgently.
"N-no?" Ron guessed, he didn't remember anything he would consider abnormal happening, but at the same time he'd been looking for Toshiro all day and hadn't really been paying close attention.
"Nothing?" Toshiro stressed seriously "No fires? Explosions? No one screaming in terror, scared for their lives?"
"No!" He'd remember something like that! "Bloody hell, Tosh. I know the kid isn't 'normal', but she's only like 6! Why are you freaking out?"
"Lieutenant Oderschvank may seem like an innocent child to you, Ronald, but never-" Toshiro growled, glaring Ron straight in the eyes "NEVER underestimate the amount of destruction and chaos she can inflict if she's away from Kurosaki for more than a couple minutes" The only reason Kurosaki got any work done was because that the Hollow child seemed fond enough of Toshiro to let him distract her for a couple of hours or if she visited Squad 11 to have a play-date with Lieutenant Kusajishi, which meant being babysat by Zaraki and an entire squad who was used to dealing with destructive little girls.
"Okay, okay!" Ron scoffed, taking hold of the Captains shoulders to try and calm him down, obviously not fully understanding the severity of what he was saying "Stop worrying. The Professor said he left her with some Slytherins, anything bad she did was to them so who cares!"
Groaning in annoyance, Toshiro pulled away from the other's grip before spinning on his heels and storming towards the school.
"Where are you going?!" Ron frowned, not understanding why he was mad at him, as he jogged to catch up with the chibi Captain.
"To the Great Hall" Toshiro scolded, not looking back as he continued on his way "It's nearly dinner-time so that's where Hermione will be, and if something has happened she will be the one to know"
"No. I haven't heard about anything" Hermione admitted when Toshiro asked her if anything important had happened.
Due to it being the weekend the students weren't banned from sitting at a table that wasn't their own House, so Toshiro was forced to sit between Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table by the clingy red-head.
"See? I told you; you were over-reacting" Ron shrugged, patting the annoyed Captain on the back.
"And I recall telling you not to underestimate Oderschvank" Toshiro scolded, shrugging-off Ron's hand before continuing quietly as not to be heard by the other students sitting around them "She is a Lieutenant for a reason. Just because she did not destroy anything this time is no reason to think she can't or won't in the future"
"Wait! Lieutenant?" Hermione stress whispered back in surprised confusion "I thought you said she wasn't a- …you know?"
"She's not" Toshiro sighed, now was not the time or place to explain to them about what Hollows or Arrancar's are, but he knew he was going to have to give them a full explanation soon since he doubted Hermione wouldn't be satisfied with anything less now she knew there was more to learn "Oderschvank is a different type of 'spirit' "
"What? But you said-"
"Not here, Hermione" Toshiro ordered firmly, causing her to snap her mouth shut with an annoyed pout.
"Fine" she sulked, but nodded in understanding as she glanced around the busy hall "But after dinner we'll find somewhere private and you can tell us"
"Unfortunately, I have a prior engagement after dinner"
"Oh right! You have detention with Snape" Ron remembered, shooting him a sympathetic look.
"Actually, Professor Dumbledore sent me a note" Toshiro explained, pulling the parchment from his jeans pocket to show them "He requested my presence in his office tonight"
"When did you get this?" Hermione frowned, grabbing the sheet and reading it quickly "He's giving you private lessons?" she asked jealously.
"So it seems" Toshiro scolded, hating how manipulative old coot kept trying to gaslight him. The way the message was wrote suggested that these 'private lessons' had been mentioned and agreed upon before he got the letter, but Toshiro knows they had no such conversation.
"Well, I suppose our chat can wait seeing as it's Dumbledore" Hermione sighed before narrowing her focus back to the short Captain seriously "But we'll talk soon okay? Now eat; you shouldn't be late"
Meanwhile unbeknown to anyone currently attending dinner in the Great Hall a group of 7th year Slytherins where hiding in the deepest, darkest parts of the school's dungeons. Shivering in abject horror as they listened fearfully for the sounds of tiny footsteps approaching their safe-havens, just as they had been doing for the last nine hours. Terrified that they will be found by the green-haired demon that had forced them to play hide-and-seek with it.
Unfortunately for them, they had no way of knowing that said 'demon' had grown bored of her little game hours before and had completely forgotten about them after being distracted by a hairy spider she'd found in the dungeon.
Nel sure hoped Itsygo would let her keep Mr. Fuzzy-Legs as a pet when she showed him!
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