Welcome to the second part on The Guardian Series. If you have not read part 1, The Guardian please take the time to read it first otherwise this may confusing, you can follow this link to it: s/11913212/1/The-Guardian . I do not own any Bleach characters, but I do own most of the dragons. Please enjoy the first chapter in this new adventure!

Deep in the rugged mountains, a silver dragon streaked through the sky, playfully swooping around clouds before diving to maneuver the dense forest below. The young dragon then rose into the sky and let loose a steady stream of ice in front of him. Grinning with satisfaction, the dragon landed back on the ground and let loose a roar that seemed to shake the mountains. And then with a burst of spiritual pressure, the dragon transformed back into a silver haired young man, the former captain of squad ten of the Gotei thirteen.

You're getting better at this, young dragon.

'This is definitely is getting easier.' Toshiro grinned.

You still need more practice on your ice breath though.

'I thought it was pretty good' he snorted.

You're not tapping into your instincts enough. It's powerful, but it can be much better still.

Toshiro rolled his eye and sat down on a rock near his makeshift camp. The sun was beginning to set in the distance. Feeling his stomach rumble, Toshiro hoped and set to skinning and deboning the rabbit he caught earlier. It had been a year to the day since he had begun training with his dragon abilities. It had taken him nearly a month just to be able to turn into a dragon at will, and at least another two before get got good at flying. It was starting to feel natural being in that form.

The young man set to roasting his catch over the campfire, and before he knew it, he was chowing down on dinner. As he chewed his food, he found himself delving into his inner world. The frozen plains were filled with swirling white flurries that blew around in the howling wind. The silver haired man searched in everywhere direction before screaming for Hyorinmaru, trying desperately to be louder than the wind. Hearing no reply once again Toshiro picked a direction and began running crying out aloud for his lost friend. After getting no response, Toshiro dropped to his knees. He knew Hyorinmaru was around here somewhere, he had to be.

You will find him eventually. His soul is not completely gone, just lost.

The Guardian didn't make an appearance in Toshiro's inner world since he was a fire dragon and didn't care too much for an ice world.

'Then why can't I find him' Toshiro breathed.

In time you will, young one. Now it is time for you to rest. I want you up with the sun this time.

Toshiro sighed and exited his inner world. The last traces of light were fading behind the mountains, and Toshiro settled into his little tent. Fortunately for him, he prefered cold weather because the temperature dropped drastically at night. He would find Hyorinmaru one day, and he refused to give up until he was able to locate his old friend.

/

The next morning was spent spewing ice streams one after the other into the sky until Toshiro landed on back on the ground to take a break. He felt like it was improving, and the Guardian agreed, but he could still do better.

After a few more hours, the silver dragon then focused his attention his aerial maneuvers. Swooping around clouds and performing hair pin turns around large boulders, Toshiro by far enjoyed this part the best. It was exhilarating feeling the wind whip against his face as he soared through the sky. Diving and twirling through the air brought a genuine smile to Toshiro's face for the first time in a long time. It was like nothing in the world mattered as long as he was freely soaring through the sky.

From high in the sky Toshiro rode a wind current as he lazily looked at the landscape below. Movement below caught his attention as he noticed two small figures scurrying along the ground. He would have ignored it if it wasn't for the larger figuring quickly pursuing the two smaller ones. He quickly tilted his winds and dove downwards successfully landing between the two small creatures and the larger one.

After landing, Toshiro realized that the smaller creatures were in fact small dragons; just a little bit bigger than a baby, if he had to guess. One was a light blue, and the other a dull purple. And pursuing these young dragons was a large red dragon that at least a whole five feet taller than him and slightly larger in girth too. Toshiro crouched down facing the larger dragon ready to pounce if needed. The three dragons froze in place momentarily at the appearance of the silver dragon, but once they realized he was coming to their defense the two smaller dragons moved to hide behind Toshiro.

"Do not interfere, Silver-back" the red dragon hissed.

"What are you picking on a couple of kids for?" Toshiro snorted.

"That is none of your business" he snarled.

"He's trying to kidnap up" the small blue dragon pipped in.

"Yeah, we were just trying to get home to our mom, and this meenie is trying to get us." the purple on added.

"It doesn't sound like you have any good intentions, so I'm going to ask you to back off."Toshiro growled. The red dragon growled deeply for a moment before snorting and trotting off.

'I'm surprised he backed down. He's larger than me so I expected him to at least try and fight.' Toshiro thought inwardly.

Perhaps he sensed your spiritual pressure. You're not one to be trifled with, young one.

Toshiro snorted and turned to face the young ones behind him.

"Thank you so much, mister." the both sang excitedly.

"We thought he was going to get us for sure." the blue one added.

"It was no problem really." Toshiro shrugged. "Where is your mother, you shouldn't be out here on your own like this, it's dangerous" Both dragons shrugged in response sadly.

"We were playing and before we knew it, we didn't recognize where we were anymore, and we don't know how to get back." the purple one explained.

"I will help you find your home." Toshiro smiled making the younger two smile as well. "I can't just leave you out here by yourselves. Let's go." Toshiro jumped into the air and the smaller dragons followed.

/

They spent hours searching around for signs of the young dragons' mother. They stopped a few times to let the young ones rest before continuing. Around sunset they finally spotted another dragon flying towards them from a distance. At first Toshiro was concerned that it was red dragon again, but he relaxed when the smaller ones excitedly flew towards the approaching dragon. Once they reached her, they happily flew in little circles around her as she nuzzled them in the air. Toshiro could see them talking away, and assumed they were recounting their adventure to her. And he was right as she whipped her head towards him and flew his direction. Toshiro landed on the ground and waited for her to arrive.

"You saved my babies, and for that I thank you." she bowed her head slightly towards him. She was almost twice his size and was a little bit brighter of a purple then her offspring.

"Don't worry about it, it was no problem at all." Toshiro snorted. She took a minute to size him up, making Toshiro a little uncomfortable under her gaze.

"You are just a child yourself." she snorted. "What are you doing out here by yourself?"

"I have always been out here by myself." Toshiro replied making himself a little sad with the response.

"This is no place for young ones. Why don't you come back with us and I will make you some dinner?" she invited warmly. Toshiro's stomach growled at the mention of food.

"Thank you, I would appreciate that." Toshiro bowed.

"It is no problem, young one. What is your name?"

"My name is Toshiro." he hesitated briefly before telling her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Toshiro. I am Yasashi, and my children are Hikari and Hoshi." she gestured towards the blue and the purple dragons.

"It's nice to meet you all."

/

"This is very good." Toshiro complimented in between bites as he chowed down on freshly roasted deer. He hadn't ever eaten in his dragon form before, but he quickly found out that he could consume way more this way. He had decided for now it was best to remain as a dragon. Most dragons couldn't transform into a human so he would for sure stand out if he revealed that he could.

"Thank you, young one." Yasashi purred as she attended to her children. They were in a small building that resembled a cottage except everything inside was much bigger. There were a couple piles of hay near one wall where the little ones curled up to go to sleep after eating. The house was nestled on the mountain foothills in a large valley deep within the mountains. No human could easily venture this far into the rugged terrain. They weren't the only dragons here though. The cottage was at the edge of what Toshiro could describe as a large village. Numerous buildings dotted the valley with varying lights shining out of them. A large medieval style castle sat on a hill at the opposite end of the valley. Each structure looked a little different, and he was kind of eager to see the place in the morning.

"You can sleep here as long as you need, young one." she announced after he finished eating. "I am forever in your debt for saving the lives of my children.

"Really it was no problem at all." Toshiro smiled. "I am glad I was able to help. I think I will take you up on your offer, but I can't stay more than a few days."

"I hope you reconsider, it can be dangerous out there for young ones. But I will not stop you when you are ready to leave, you seem strong enough to fend for yourself."

"Thank you again, Yasashi."

/

The morning light was beautiful as it gently bathed the serene valley in its golden light. Toshiro laying on top of the small cottage enjoying the sunrise. His tail swished gently as he took in the sight before him. He had never been around other dragons before, aside from Hyorinmaru and the Guardian, so it was fascinating to suddenly be surrounded by them. Little by little he watched dragons of varying colors and sizes emerge from their domiciles to begin their day. In a way the dragons behaved similar to human, with obvious differences on how they proceeded to their respective tasks though.

Some began what he assumed was chores as they blew dust out the front doors with their snouts and piled trash outside to properly dispose of later. Others herded their small ones outside on into town to what he guessed was probably school of a sort. Surprisingly others even had varying livestock on their properties that they were bringing fresh water and food to. Even though he could only see a portion of the town from here, it was still pretty neat to watch the dragons go about their day.

"Toshiro." the larger dragon called out making the silver dragon to reluctantly turn his gaze away from the scene to look down below. "I'm sorry to ask, but would you mind helping me with some tasks around here?"

"Of course." Toshiro glided on to the ground. "What do you need help with?"

"I have some business to take care of in town, would you mind escorted these two to their lesson? I hate to ask, but I can't be late."

"No problem at all. It's the least I can do."

Yasashi smiled and nuzzled her little ones goodbye before bounding out the door.

/

Toshiro followed the young dragons to their lessons. They go distracted a few times along the way, but overall they did a good job leading him to their meeting place. They followed a small path that lead partially up a mountain to a large cave that faced the town. Toshiro paused briefly to enjoy the view. This place was huge. He never imagined so many dragons still existed. Once the young ones saw their teacher and friends they quickly shouted goodbye to Toshiro and flew to join in on the pre lesson activities.

Not knowing what to do now, the silver dragon followed the path back to town and decided to sightsee a little. Most of the dragons in town moved around him without so much as giving him a second glance while others seemed to stare. Occasionally he would see what looked like a human walking by, but he remembered that the most powerful of his kind could take on that form. He guessed they enjoyed showing off that form when they could. These dragons would boldly walk in any direction they wanted and every dragon would move out of the way for them. He snorted at the arrogance of these beings.

You forget, you are one of these 'arrogant beings as well.' he laughed amusingly.

'I am not arrogant' Toshiro frowned internally making the Guardian smirk but otherwise remain silent.

After a few minutes of wandering around, Toshiro spotted Yasashi under a small market stand conversing with a dark blue dragon of similar size to her. He couldn't hear what she was saying but he saw her reach into a bag and pull out a shiny object to offer the other dragon. Toshiro strolled over.

"I will give you twenty gold pieces for that, Yasashi." the dragon snorted.

"Please I need at least forty." she pleaded. "This was my late partner's. It is very dear to me, and it has gold in it."

"I'm sorry, but I won't go higher than that."

"Please I'm desperate, I wouldn't even be selling this if I didn't absolutely have to." she begged and the blue dragon sighed.

"I understand, Yasashi." he paused for a moment. "I will give you thirty but no higher."

"Thank you, thank you." she sighed as she handed him the object for a small bag of gold. She turned and almost jumped when she saw Toshiro suddenly behind her.

"Toshiro? You scared me, what are you doing here?"

"I followed your children to school and then I decided to have a look around town. What was that all about." he gestured to the once again busy merchant.

"Oh that was nothing, just some business." she nervously chattered making Toshiro raise his eyebrow suspiciously.

"Hmph, I do not believe that was nothing, you appeared to be selling something of sentimental value, why?" he prodded and she sighed letting her head drop a little.

"Ever since my partner passed his spirit, it has been a little hard to make ends meet, so I have been selling what I can."

"If there is anything I can do to help out. . ." he was interrupted as a bell from a tower on the large castle rang throughout town. Everyone around him began to migrate towards the castle; some walked while others flew hoping to get a good spot.

"What's going on?" Toshiro asked as he flew into the air to follow Yasahi who had taken off just a second before.

"You really aren't from around here are you?" she smiled. "Our leader has an announcement to make it seems. He is a very powerful dragon names, Dagateru." Toshiro paused in the sky briefly following after her.

Something doesn't feel right, Toshiro. Be on your guard.

Toshiro nodded internally as they landed in the courtyard area in front of the large fortress. Nothing happened for at least another five minutes as the rest of the dragons filed into the clearing on way or another. Once it seemed that everyone had arrived the bell rang again as a massive silver dragon flew onto a platform in front of the audience with a man on his back. It was hard to get a good look at the man. Once the dragon landed, a crushing amount of spiritual pressure swirled around the dragon making some of the dragons around Toshiro cringe. Once the swirling energy subsided, it the dragons place was now a tall man with long silver hair and dark blue eye. Toshiro's eyes widened as he noted how much the man resembled him. He even had the same half bored look Toshiro himself always seemed to have, but his eyes were wild and dangerous.

'If I didn't believe you before, I definitely do now. . .'

Hmpf

He then turned his attention to the brown haired man standing next to Dagateru.

'AIZEN!?' he internally panicked.

Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I just love them! Please review and I will hopefully get chapter 2 written soon!