Author's Note: Hey guys. This is my first time posting anything on here. So tell me how it is. Constructive Criticism more than welcome. Sorry for any grammar and spelling mistakes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Wish I did, but don't. It belongs to the wonderful Tite Kubo.

*Edit*

Hey! I finally got around to fixing the mistakes int his chapter thanks to toushiro1310 who was kind enough to beta for me. I hope its easier to read and more enjoyable without all the mistakes.

At the Beginning

Matsumoto Rangiku didn't even try to hide the curse that passed through her lips.

Damn hollows had kept her out all night after they appeared in the forests near the edge of the eightieth district, the farthest place from Seireitei. They hadn't been more than some lower level hollows, but the amount that had wandered into Soul Society had kept her busy for most of the night. The sun was high in the sky when she finally made it back to the more decent areas of Rukongai. It didn't take a genius to tell she was wasn't in the best of moods.

At least she had gotten away from the leering stares of the drunks and could walk around without worry about having something stolen from her by the homeless brats that roamed the streets of the outer districts. Now all she wanted was to return back to her room in the tenth division and get some well earned rest and maybe a few glasses of sake.

The marble walls of Seireitei had never looked better to the strawberry-blond. Too tired to push herself into another shunpo after the hundreds she had already preformed to get this far, she dropped down on the top of one of the thatched roofs of the first district. Several citizens looked up at her in surprise, many carrying bags full of goods. Venders shouted out at the shoppers, each trying to sell their wares. She had obviously landed in the middle of one of the market places. Smiling down at one of the children who had noticed her and was staring with wide eyes, she hopped down from the roof and began the walk back to Seireitei.

One of the students of the Academy raced past her, long ponytails flying behind her. Matsumoto smiled and watched the girl as she disappeared in the crowd. She could remember her time in the Academy, even if it was almost a century since she had graduated and become an official shinigami. Now she was working her way to the top of the tenth division, already the fifth seat.

Her thoughts were disrupted as her eyes landed on a small tuft of silver hair. It wasn't the color of the hair that caught her attention, there were enough old people in Soul Society for the color to be almost the standard, but it was the owner's age. The boy couldn't be more than nine years old, nearing a hundred in human years. He was talking with one of the venders, exchanging a bag of food for the money he held in his small hand. Waiting patiently for the change, he watched patiently as the vender placed the coins on the counter beside his open hand.

Matsumoto gritted her teeth. The fool. What kind of person was so rude as to completely ignore one of their costumers? "Hey!" The entire street turned to look at her, wondering what the outburst had been about. Ignoring the looks, the blond stomped up to the counter behind the boy. " Dropping the change on the counter, is that anyway to treat you costumers," she demanded of the man. Eyes widening, the boy turned to see who had defended him. Matsumoto hid a chuckle as his short stature placed his face right into her chest. His body went flying backward with the force and he groaned as his head smacked into the counter, a trickle of blood flowing from his nose from the collision with the hard wood.

Muttering a short curse, he crumbled to the ground, holding his injured head between his small hands. Stepping past the boy, she glared at the man behind the counter. "Think you can get away with it because he's a kid or something? Who would have thought you could possibly be so rude!" The man stepped back in fright at her ire and held his hands up in surrender.

"I'm.... I'm sor... sorry ma'am. It... it won't happen again." Scoffing, Matsumoto turned away from the pathetic man to find the boy still cradling his injury. Frowning, she bent down and roughly grabbed the back of his kimono. He tensed in response, hands flying to dislodge the hands from his clothing. Rolling her eyes, she easy lifted his small body into the air and held him in front of her, staring sternly down at him. She was surprised when the boy returned the expression with more power than she'd ever be able to accomplish even with the tears of pain collecting in his eyes.

Bringing her forehead up to his, she scoffed again."And you, don't just lie there crying about it! If you're a man, you should stand up for yourself, little one!" It didn't matter that she couldn't picture the boy as a man, or that she had contradicted herself in that sentence. All that mattered was that the boy had now wiped away the tears forming in his eyes and glared at her with ice-cold eyes.

"You're the one you knocked me down! And I wasn't crying!" He struggled in her grip, legs kicking out at her, but her arm length was longer than his legs'. "Get off," he screamed, putting as much authority into his voice as possible. It was almost cute. Opening her mouth for another reprimand, Matsumoto froze. The reiatsu in the air twisted and lashed out with such intensity that the strawberry-blond had to double-check to make sure there wasn't a captain or vice-captain in the area. The energy was displaced and replaced with a freezing reiatsu so strong she felt her stomach turn. What bothered her the most was the raw energy was spilling from the enraged boy.

" I said get off!" Realizing she wasn't paying attention, the boy forced her hand away with the back of his and landed on the ground in a crouch. He quickly grabbed the dropped bag of food, and in a second, was half-way down the road, disappearing into the crowd.

"Ah! Hey! Wait right there!" Her hand was helplessly extended toward in the direction the boy had run. Her mind churned at what she had just felt. There was no way such a young boy could have such a powerful reiatsu. Yet, that energy had definitely been coming from that skinny boy. Her interest piqued, all thoughts of returning to Seireitei vanished.

Finding a little stand where she could get a much-needed bottle of sake, she asked around about the little boy with white hair. Of course, it wasn't that hard to find something about him. He stood out like a sore thumb. It turned out he hadn't been living in Rukongai for long. He lived with one of the old women in a small neighborhood in the first district. There was another girl who used to hang out with him, but she had joined the Shinigami Academy five years ago. She came back to visit every so often and could be seen around the village.

By the time she made it to the area in the first district she had been told about, the moon was already rising into the velvet sky. However, everyone had failed to mention which house the boy lived in. Sighing in frustration, the blond decided to wait it out on one of the roofs. The boy would have to either pass her on his way back to the market or would let some of his reiatsu slip. The reiatsu she had sensed earlier had been raw energy without any kind of control over it. Eventually, the boy would get emotional enough to let enough reiatsu slip for her to sense.

Senses stretching, Matsumoto dozed, feeling the soft purring of Haineko against her waist. The zanpakutou would tell her when there was a spike in the spiritual pressure around them. Of course it was just as she curled up for a nap that Haineko growled for her attention. The warning wasn't needed, as the sudden shift was enough to instantly pull her from her daze. Even after only feeling it once, she would know that chilling reiatsu anywhere. Jumping to her feet, a quick shunpo left her in front of the house where the boy and his adopted grandmother lived.

Haineko issued a warning growl in the back of her mind as she stepped up the door. The air around the house was freezing, her breath coming out in puffs of fog. The fifth seat knew it would be worse once she opened the door. Taking a deep breath of the frigid air, she slid open the door and rushed into the room. Ice covered the walls and floor, giving everything a glassy, crystalized look. Drawing in a ragged breath as her lungs protested at the cold, she followed the increasing amount of energy into another room.

Two figures lay in the center of the room, surrounded by a mini blizzard. The old woman shivered from the cold, wheezing as her frail lungs tried to take in the turbulent air. Groaning, she coughed and Matsumoto froze as blood splattered to the ground. Gritting her teeth, the blond squinted to see past the flying ice shards. Damn kid was freezing the old woman. Grasping Haineko's hilt, she pulled the sword from the sheath at her waist. "Growl, Haineko." The weapon glowed softly before disintegrating into a cloud of ash. The particles moved to form a shield around their wielder as the fifth seat carefully crept toward the pair.

The temperature dropped another ten degrees when she closed in on the sleeping figures. Shards of ice the size of her arm slammed into Haineko's shield, but the razor-sharp particles easily took care of the wayward projectiles. The boy moaned and turned, the storm picking up in ways Matsumoto didn't know it could. The wind raced around her, pulling her shoulder-length hair and clothes in every direction. The ice increased in size and speed, Haineko flying around her to keep her from harm. Even so, smaller spears made there way through Haineko's defenses and embedded in her arms and face. A stray shard skimmed over the grandmother's arm, blood leaving a smear on the floor.

Ignoring the wounded senior, Matsumoto knelt by the troublesome boy. His face was contorted with pain and confusion, his limbs thrashing at some unknown opponent. Taking a deep breath, the blond gathered her remaining reiatsu and forced it on the boy. His body shook as the foreign energy clashed with his unruly reiatsu. His breathing became shallow and he gasped for breath. "What the hell...?" The fifth seat looked up in surprise, but found the boy still asleep. The storm began to die down as the boy continued to growl under his breath. The ice slowly vanished, leaving no trace of its existence besides the cold. The old woman shivered under her blankets, her shoulder wound still bleeding. Waiting until the boy completely calmed down, Matsumoto bent over. She had never been good at medical kidou, but she could heal minor cuts like the one the grandmother had sustained. Her reiatsu flowed into the wound, forming new skin over the cut. Letting out a sigh, the shinigami looked over at the currently peaceful boy.

He was the picture of peace. His face calm and cherubic, still retaining some of its baby fat. His abnormal white hair fell into his closed eyes and shifted as his chest rose with each breath. Matsumoto shook her head. The kid was far too much trouble, and now her superiors were going to lecture her about her tardiness. Great, more work.

Shuffling over to a corner, the blond leaned against the wall, wishing she had a good bottle of sake right now.

He's a dragon.

Raising a golden eyebrow, the blond looked at the boy again. "I think you might have taken one to many hits back there. Look at him, what about him really screams 'dragon' to you?" The cat growled in irritation.

His reiatsu. It takes a practiced eye to spot it, but it's there. Matsumoto rolled her eyes at her zanpakutou's lack of modesty. This little episode was most likely caused by his zanpakutou revealing itself to him.

"Already?" The shinigami blinked, turning to look at the sleeping boy."But he's so young. He hasn't even had training yet."

There was definitely the presence of a dragon in this room. My hair is still on edge from it. The cat grumbled and was silent for a moment. That amount of spirit energy is too great to go uncontrolled like this. Someone can't be here every time he loses control. He'll have to learn to control it for his own good. The woman nodded and her zanpakutou was quiet for the rest of the night. It was another hour after he had calmed down that the boy moaned. Tensing, ready to stop the kid form covering the room in ice again, Matsumoto walked over to the lithe figure.

There was a gasp and small eyes opened to reveal huge teal eyes. Leaning over him and smiling, she gave a quick salute as the boy tried to even his breathing. "Hey!" Recognizing her, he quickly let a glare settle over his features.

"Why, you..." he turned himself over and propped himself up with his arm. The glare on his face disappeared for a second as surprise flittered across his face. "... from before." A smile tugged at her lips as the child tried to act like he was in control of the situation.

"Your reiatsu, stop leaking it everywhere and get some sleep." The boy seemed genuinely surprised at her order and looked ready to argue. "Your grandmother looks pretty cold." His expression froze and he agilely sat up and turned to see the old woman sleeping next to him. His teal eyes widened as they landed on the shivering woman and on the blood streaked on the floor. His voice caught in his throat as he stared with a disbelieving expression. Good, he understood the severity of the situation.

Straightening, Matsumoto put her hands on her hips and sighed. "Kid... you should become a shinigami." Several emotions flashed across his face for the briefest second, too fast for her to identify any of them, before his face became cold and calculating.

"What?" Taking a deep breath- she had been up for far to long to stay patient and friendly with the boy- she turned away from those smoldering green eyes. This wasn't going to be easy if the brat could easily give her a look she only received from her superiors.

"Kids with powers as strong as yours need to know how to bring that power under control." Not knowing what his reaction would be, she tried to keep her voice level. "You know, if you stay like this, you'll end up killing that grandmother of yours with that power soon enough." The air in the room suddenly drooped to the same cold that had permeated the house hours ago.

The boys face twisted with rage before he pushed himself to face the blond. "What are you..." Feeling her head begin to pound form the lack of sleep, Matsumoto gritted her teeth. This would be a long shot, but if Haineko was right, it should convince the boy to do what was necessary. Crouching down in front of the white-haired boy, she placed two long fingers on his chest. The pale exposed skin was soft and gave off a slight chill. The contact seemed to stop the boy from demanding an explanation as he looked at her in surprise.

"You hear a voice calling out, right?" The boy stiffened and watched her with wide eyes. "Once you properly discover that voice, you'll understand how to control it, but that means becoming a shinigami." She knew her eyes must look hard and uncaring from the partially concealed horror in the boy's eyes. She hadn't meant to scare the kid. Sighing for what felt like the umpteenth, she scolded herself for her uncharacteristic behavior and let her expression soften. "I'll only say it once more. Kid, you should become a shinigami." Pushing herself to her feet she looked down at the dumbstruck boy. Smiling at him, she turned to leave.

"Hitsugaya Toushirou."

Pausing, Matsumoto peaked over her shoulder, a golden brow raised in confusion. "What?" Sighing in irritation and rubbing his temple, the boy half-heartedly glared at her.

"It's not 'kid'. It's Hitsugaya Toushirou." He crossed his frail arms across his chest and watched her expectantly. Chuckling, she nodded. The kid had definitely spunk.

"Nice to meet you Toushirou- kun. I'm Matsumoto Rangiku." Looking him directly in the eye, the blond grinned. "See you in Seireitei." The boy just nodded and watched her with calculating eyes as she closed the door behind her.