Title: The Return

By: Metamorcy

Rating: T

Pairing: Hitsugaya x Ichimaru, Ichigo x Hichigo (later in the story), Grimmjow x Ulquiorra (later too). The last two pairings will show up as it processes, sorry.

Disclaimer: don't own Bleach

This is an Ichimaru x Hitsugaya fanfic. It's the first time I'm trying this pairing out. There with be 13 chapters in all or maybe more.

I'm a slow typer so it could take a while for me to update but I shall ever abandon a story (unless of course I don't like it or must). Title may change at sudden occurrences when I think up of a better name.

Oops, almost forgot, this is an AU, so yeah.

Chapter 1

Hitsugaya hated this place, this empty dark square room. It was a prison, surrounded by thick stone walls that prevented him escaping or doing anything. There was no light, no window to the outside world only the iron door that was in front of him with a tiny peep hole and a barred little door below to toss in plates of food. He despised this place intensely. It was obscurity here, very sinister and lonely. He curled up, squeezing his fingers tightly, head between his legs, burying into the warmth of his flesh. The clothes he had been forced to wear were thin and dirty, not enough to keep his heat safe. Screams came from the other side of the door, people being dragged down the hallways for questioning and testing. It was always like that along with the numerous footsteps that followed with the heavy loads. The asylum was run by a mad scientist named Mayuri Kurotshuchi and his daughter, Nemu, Mayuri was truly a mad man who loved to do anything in the name of science even if it went against the law like injecting drugs and what not into people. No one liked him, Hitsugaya had only seen him once and he never wanted to ever again. Nemu, on the other hand, was the kinder of the two but acted like a slave for her father, doing whatever she was told to do without a second thought. In the building, there were three areas, one for the weak powered, one for the medium powered and the other for the vigorous ones. Each type had different style of structures to hold them in, he was in the toughest, and there was no chance of escaping from this.

The light from the peek hole was the only source he had, standing right beside it. Luckily, the walls seemed to reflect it, making the room dim enough to see but it was still dark. A rustle came from the other side of the wall, the sound unfamiliar to the prisoner. Hitsugaya gazed up from his spot, his white hair sticking into the air and glanced over to the little hole that was in the wall. It was large enough to fit a hand or two through, nothing more than that. Hitsugaya gazed into it from away but saw nothing inside. But there was someone on the other side but it wasn't possible or he would have noticed earlier. There was just no way, he had been here for a while and had never heard anyone behind it before. It was odd and he was really in tuned with these types of things, it was after all, lonesome in here.

"Hello, is someone there?" A voice called out from the darkness of the other side. It was muffled out by the stone wall but loud enough to be heard clearly.

Curiosity came to the albino, crawling on his knees to the little hole. The rustle from the other side was getting exonerate. He replied back, his voice cracking from the underused of it. "H-Hello?"

"Ah." The voice, a male by the looks of it, spoke calmly. "Are you okay? You sound a little tired."

"I do?" Hitsugaya muttered to himself, he wasn't sure what time it was, he had lost that sense a few months ago. He noticed instantly that the man didn't sound like him, he appeared too cheery for someone in this type of place, and it was suspicious. "You don't sound all too concerned with your situation. Are you new here?"

"New?" It sounded amused. "Nope, I've been here for over a year, in and out. I always managed to escape but now that I've been placed into this cell that seems impossible. Ah well."

Hitsugaya thought he could sense the person shrugging as if this was all but a game to him. The man didn't have any concern at all and replied blandly. "I see."

He felt jealous of the other yet sorry at the same time. The only reason he had been thrown in here was because of his powers, his ice abilities. Hitsugaya was better known as 'The Ice Prince', the strongest of the ice users, people that had magical abilities but they all had different types like fire and lighting. His powers allowed him to make the atmosphere turn cold, change the weather and turn any liquid into a solid at thought; he could even control it by will too. Everyone's were all different but they were all treated like crap. People were afraid of them; they feared their powers, seeing as they could level buildings with ease. And that was where Mayuri came in and this hell hole.

No one wanted to be here in the first place, they had been kidnapped and trapped in these cells, he would know, after all, he was here as well. Everything had a tight lock on him but somewhere in his heart, a new light was coming back to his eyes perhaps this person could keep him company and sane.

The young ice user called out to the other, leaning onto the wall. "I'm Hitsugaya Toushirou."

A soft teasing chuckle answered him. "Good to meet ya, I'm-"

"Whitey-chan! Wake up!" A female cried out from behind a door. She knocked loudly on it, startling the white haired man away from his slumber. He rolled around in his bed, not willing to wake up just yet; it was too comfortable to get up. Burying his face into the pillow, he tried to fall back asleep but to no avail as the woman cried out again. "Whitey! Are you awake?"

The guy finally sat up from his bed, stretching his limbs and yawned, proceeding to rub his eyes. "It's Hitsugaya and yes, I'm awake, Hinamori." He called out; heaving the covers off and slid his feet off the side of the bed, touching the cold ground with the bare soles. He ignored the cold sensation that ran up his spine; he was the ice prince, someone who was born and lived with the cold. A little shiver wouldn't affect him, heat, however, was a different story.

He wandered over to the window, ripping open the curtains, letting the sunlight beam in. His skin warmed at the light and took a deep breath of the morning air, staring out into the town from his apartment. He turned back to his room, the dream still fresh in his mind. Wandering about it, his eyes went a little dull from the memory. Shaking his head, he ignored his thoughts for the moment and observed his little room. It was tiny but livable and it wasn't as if he liked getting those million dollar condos, he didn't like to show off his fortune. His mind went back to his dream without him noticing; a sour expression filled his face. It was his past, a life he never wanted to repeat again. 'I haven't had it for a long time, I wonder why now.' Pushing the question away for the moment, his emerald pools went to the entrance of his room.

The door room opened, revealing the female who had called out to him. Her hair was tied up in bun and she had a smile on her face, obviously in a good mood. "Breakfast is ready."

He gave a nod, motioning her to leave and proceeded to get dress for another day of work and stress. Why the stress you ask? Well there was a problem with poor Hitsugaya; he was short, incredibly short. So much so, that he was often made fun of for it. And his white hair only added to it with the list continuing. On that so called file, he was deemed a genius, a cold person that looked like he was still in elementary school and much more. He hated being called a shorty or anything along those lines that contracted his small size as well as being called by something else than his real name.

A lot of the conversations at work went something like this.

"Hey kid, this is a place for adults, play time is over, go home to your mommy."

Hitsugaya would twitch and reply back with a icy voice. "I'm the leader of the division here."

"Really? How old are you?" It was a common question since no one really believed that he worked here.

"Eighteen."

"Do you have a high school diploma? Part-timers aren't allowed here since the schedules are pretty tight."

Yes."

"What about your collage degree?"

"I got my masters when I was sixteen."

Of course, if he could convince everyone that asked those ridiculous questions, it would be a miracle. "I don't believe you; you're too young-looking to be able to get that far."

"It's true." With that he would walk away since there was nothing else to be said.

And that ended the discussion, hoping that Hitsugaya wouldn't have to fire the new guy or some jackass that hated working under people that are younger then them, he went back to work.

After making sure that everything was in order, he headed out to meet the others that lived with him. Hinamori was at the kitchen table, gulping down some juice, orange by the looks of the color. His emerald pools went to the other two, a red head named Renji and a blond one named Kira. Renji was a strange man that appeared to be some gangster; he had black tattoos all over his body and an arrogant attitude. Kira, on the other hand, was the weakest-willed of the three with a blond bang covering a portion of his face and was the most emotional. He was usually the one that broke down the easiest and maybe panicked too. But basically those three were all good friends and had decided to live together to pay off the rent which was quite high in these parts of the neighborhood. He, alternatively, had been dragged off the streets by his childhood friend, Hinimori and forced to live here until he had somewhere else to go. Hitsugaya had no parents nor support since they both had died when he was young by events he'd rather not remember.

His eyes went down to his right hand, there on his middle finger was a ring decorated in a plain gold with numerous moon crescents in a pattern around the top. Underneath it was the Karats numbers and two letter but they had been worn out over time. His fingers massaged it gently feeling the bumps under his flesh. Heading over to the table, he sat down, examining the others as they ate. He, apparently, wasn't hungry today, that old dream had taken away all of his appetite, luckily, no one noticed this which he was grateful for. He hated to be mother-hen like a little baby and it was mostly done by Hinamori, her and her bubbly personality. Renji just continued to scarf down what looked like pancakes (no one could really cook so most of the time the food never turned out how they were supposed to look like but fortunately, it was still edible) while Kira was finishing his.

Hitsugaya sighed mentally; keeping a straight face on, sipping on the glass of milk he had poured himself before rising up from his seat. Unlike the three here, he'd like to get to work a little ahead of time, miss the heavy traffic and not be late. Putting the empty cup into the sink, he headed to the door inaudibly. "I'll be going now, bye."

He didn't give them a chance to say anything before exiting, closing the door on their faces. It was quiet again but he had gotten used to it being like this. The silence could no longer bother someone who had lived in it for months. Hitsugaya glanced back to the door with a strained stare before shaking his head, proceeding away from his apartment. Exiting the building, he went to the nearest bus station, fortunately catching a ride from the one that had just arrived. The trip was noisy with the numerous people trying to get to work just like him, not that he cared too much about them; his trip was short either way compared to some others. His eyes kept watch for his stop, gazing through the windows for the familiar skyscraper building he worked at. It appeared around the next corner, the famous corporation of Seireitei. Though it employed many talented people but even he knew of how corrupted it was on the inside, many of them that worked there were greedy beyond imagination. There were ten main head groups, the top one, which is the first and the one that lead that group was the boss for the entire company. (There were originally thirteen but man of them had to be closed down) He happened to be one of the top ten in the eighth group that collected projects, made the bids on things here and there. He also had a subordinate named Matsumoto but to be completely honest, she didn't do worth crap. All she did around the building was drink and mingle around with the coworkers, distracting them too. What annoyed him the most about her was when she made those silly comments about her gigantic breasts but altogether, she was a good person.

His roommates also worked here but they were in different divisions. He didn't care much about them and how they were doing unless it caught his attention.

When his stop came, he pushed his way through the crowd to the door and stepped onto the sidewalk, standing right in front of the building. He couldn't help but gaze up to the top before heading over to the front entrance, reaching to his pockets for his identification card. The security team (which is one of the ten teams with a man named Kenpachi leading them) took one glance at him and two of the rushed forward.

"I'm sorry but children aren't allowed here." A bald man named Ikkuka stated rudely, blocking the pathway.

The albino's right eye twitched, raising his identification card up into the man's face. "I'm Hitsugaya Toushirou, the head leader of the project department. Now unless you move, I'll take your actions against me into account and report it to your boss."

Immediately after that, he was allowed entrance, no one messed with him until he made it up to the 20th floor (there are 60 floors in all but the departments are all scattered around). As the door to the elevator opened, he was greeted with the work area where numerous of people were working with computers and talking on phones. He went through the middle area, ignoring all the comments from his co-workers until he passed one of the desks where a group of gossipers were chatting to each other. He was about to make a remark on demanding them to get back to work when the left one started speaking, completely ignoring the face that her boss was right behind. "Hey, have you heard about this little rumor that's going around?"

"What rumor?" The other one responded with earnest.

"They say that there's someone that's going around knocking on doors of everything even in the bathroom but when someone goes to open it, there's no one there."

The one on the right snapped her head up. "I think that rumor is true, it happened to me once in the meeting room with my friend. We were talking about one of the projects when the door started knocking. I went to open it but there was no one. I closed it but it started again right after I took a few steps away. I asked the security people to check on it but they said that there was no one there the whole time."

The girls gasped together as if entertained. "How weird."

Hitsugaya shaked his head, pushing the information back into his head and continued on. He wasn't going to bother with telling them off, they weren't going to listen to him anyway. He made it into the safety of his office and finally was able to relax. His room was isolated from everyone else and it blocked out all the babbling of the outside area. He sunk into his chair, turning on his computer, waiting for it to load up and sighed, folding his arms.

It as at that moment, a woman came into the room, carrying a large stack of papers, towering up to the head. Hitsugaya kept a straight face as he watched the nightmare come closer and inwardly groaned. How he hated paperwork. 'Better get to work then'. He started immediately on organizing the paper stack into different categories the split second the woman left. It was going to be a long day, he knew that. As he began the first sheet from the stack on the far left, he scanned it, writing down his signature. When he was about to grab the second sheet after completing the first, the door knocked and opened before he could give his consent. He didn't realize who it was until he stood to look over the gruesome amount of paperwork to see. His eyes froze on the person that stood before him, the frown transforming into a scold.

"What are you doing here, Ichimaru? Don't you have work to do yourself?" Hitsugaya sneered, flopping back down on his chair, deciding to ignore the older albino.

Ichimaru grinned, his eyes closed, he looked like a fox, mischievous and dangerous. He skipped over to the younger man's side, glancing over the shoulder. "Ah, is that how ya greet little ol' me? How mean and here I was trying to say 'hello'."

"I doubt what you have in mind would be a 'hello'." It was a instant reply, something he said every time the man came in.

Ichimaru chuckled, carefully pushing aside a few of the paper stacks, making sure that they wouldn't tumble over and sat on the desk comfortably. He grinned, flapping his a hand at the younger man. "Well, how's your day been? Mines been great."

Hitsugaya continued to ignore him, his concentration on the paperwork. The older man was someone that regularly visits the company, delivering items to certain people from his store where he worked. The ice prince was sure about what the man delivered though and he didn't want to find out. The older albino was very mysterious, holding that tone and accent to whomever he talked to. When he spoke even when he was saying some kind words, they sounded murderous and twisted, someone that couldn't be trusted with their very life. Eccentrically whenever the man came to the building, he made a point in seeing him as well; pestering the busy worker for an hour or two just chattering about something or sitting in total silence as Hitsugaya scribbled on the papers and checked the prices. Today was like no other, an eerie silence but that was broken when Ichimaru spoke up suddenly.

"You always have such pretty white hair just like snow." Ichimaru patted the head gently, rubbing it, shifting the locks. He ran his boney fingers through it, the smooth feeling in-between his hands.

Hitsugaya whacked the hand away. "Stop that, I have better things to do than entertain you."

"Aw." Ichimaru pouted. "And I came all this way to see you, that's really cold, kicking me out." The older man gave this dramatic gesture but the eyes remained the same. He wrapped his arms around the other's neck after jumping off the table. His head was on top of Hitsugaya's, nudging into it in amusement. The younger man ignored it, this was a regular action, but at least when Ichimaru did that, he could hide his growing blush. After a while, Ichimaru retracted back to the table and sat back down. He swung his legs childishly as if he was on a swing and stared at the chibi.

"Hey, you look a little pale, are you eating enough or maybe you're sick?" He leaned over, placing a hand on the forehead as if feeling for a temperature, the sickening grin still there unaffected by anything. "Well there's no fever."

"I'm fine, Ichimaru, now if you don't mind, please leave." The younger swatted the offending hand away, getting back to work. The older man was the only person that could make him crack out of his tough shell he had spent years building up. Ichimaru just had the natural talent in getting pass it and with ease.

"Okay, okay. I get it, Snowy-chan; I might come tomorrow so you better be well by then." For the first time, Ichimaru was actually leaving early for once but not before getting a quick response of 'It's Hitsugaya!'. The younger albino began to feel empty at the sudden departure. Shaking his head in denial, he kept working even after the man left.

Extraordinarily when he appeared in his room, no one ever wanted to enter until after Ichimaru left. No one liked the man not that he blamed them on it. It was ironic; he got rid of one problem while gaining another. What was even worse was how his heart beated around the man. Even at the beginning when he had first meet the guy, his blood had coursed around his body as if he was on fire without a reason. He had this sense of familiarity but Hitsugaya could never pinpoint why, he didn't remember ever meeting the person before. A grin like his would have plastered itself into his memory.

His emerald pools when back to the paper stacks, pushing the thoughts of the other away. He had to get all this filing down by the end of the hour; he was going to have to rush on this. Oh well, when was that ever a problem?

Alright, I got so many things to work on.

N/A- I'm not going to do the accent for Ichimaru or anyone else for that matter, its gets confusing later on if I do that so I'd like to avoid confusing people and myself.

How do you like the beginning? I'd like comments and things. Please, review.