Let It Snow (Bleach Fanfic)

Frozen Pathway

Everything felt wrong.

Bazz-B found himself unable to explain why everything felt wrong, but everything felt wrong. The man left the fukutaicho of the forth staring at him from where she sat at her desk, and he proceeded to storm down the hallways with his hand shoved into his pockets. The corners of his mouth twisted into a frown, and the nasty feeling simply wouldn't go away.

"She has a child. That child is that scrawny little brat." The man found himself stopping outside of the door to the boy's room, and he saw a familiar dark haired female sitting on the bed near the boy. Bazz-B's eyes narrowed in annoyance, and when the surprise faded he moved to grab the girl by the scruff of her neck. "What are you doing Basterbine?

The girl looked up at him then, and her violet eyes attempted to bore into his mind. He choose to ignore the death glare, and instead returned one of his own. When she didn't respond he simply pulled her out of the room, and tossed her out. "Shove off Basterbine. Don't be messing with things which don't concern you."

He slammed the door shut, and he turned back to the white haired boy. Toshiro now stared at him with his bright teal eyes wide with fright. The man stepped closer, and noticed how Toshiro moved from where he'd sat when Bambietta was sitting on the bed to the back corner away from Bazz-B. The man walked over and sat down on the bed, and crossed on leg over the other. "We need to talk."

Silence fell over the room as Bazz-B collected his thoughts and waited for the boy, his nephew, to say something. Nothing came and he instead found himself lost in his thoughts. The nasty feeling kept nagging at him, and he found himself looking at the boy for answers as to what was bothering him. "This child is the kid I fought? What a wuss. My nephew is a damn wuss."

His free hand went up to rub the bald part of his head as the frown on his face remained. "Why do I feel nasty about thinking that kind of thing? I never felt bad for ragging on Cang-Du for getting his ass handed to him, nor do I feel bad ragging on Jugrahm for following Jubach like he did." Another thought pierced through. "He's my nephew. He's also acting differently then before. I don't like the fact he seems terrified of me."

Bazz-B turned his head back. "Are you afraid of me?" Toshiro's wide teal eyes stared at him for a few seconds, and then blinked a couple of times as the boy turned his head to look away. The man finally turned away. "Yeah. He's afraid of me."

He simply sat there wondering where he should take the conversation next, but nothing came. A small voice next to him spoke up. "Everybody."

The man looked the boy in the eye only to see Toshiro couldn't look him in the eye. "What?"

"I'm afraid of everybody."

The male Quincy felt his jaw drop slightly, and then clamp shut. "At least he's being honest." The man continued to look at the boy. "I honestly don't get him. Not that I've really hung out with kids except..." Bazz-B's eyes narrowed as something clicked. "Was he afraid of Basterbine? Must be because they're of similar age." The need to figure out what to say next remained, and finally the man thought of something to say. "We need to talk."

Another silence came over the room as he waited for the response. When Toshiro didn't look up, or say anything he took the necklace and looped it over the boy's neck. He watched as the child's head looked up and he found himself able to look into the boy's eyes. "He's panicking. He didn't panic when I fought him." He watched as Toshiro looked away, and his small hand went to clench the crest at the end of the necklace. The boy then looked at him, and his eyes flashed with anger. "Does he want to say something? Why doesn't he say anything?

Bazz-B looked out the window and saw that the snow began to fall faster to match the boy's fluctating rieatsu. "It is caused by him." Without thinking about what he was saying he started speaking. "What have they told you about your fukutaicho?"

Toshiro looked away, and tried avoiding eye contact. After a few minutes the boy spoke up. "I believe I told you she'll die just like everybody else if I go see her. Why did you take her necklace? She never goes anywhere without it."

The man stared at the young captain taking in what the boy said. Eventually a response formulated. "It doesn't matter whether you go or not. There is a very high chance she won't be waking up." Bazz-B watched as the boy finally made eye contact with him. "Since that's the case why don't you go ahead and at least say your goodbyes and make peace with her?"

Two teal eyes stared at the man, and Bazz-B wasn't sure if the look Toshiro gave him was an indicator of utter hatred, or if the grief was setting in. After a few minutes the boy spoke up with eyes still wide. "Why? Why are you telling me this? Why didn't any of them tell me?"

"Who? The Shinigami? I imagine they feared you couldn't handle the truth. Me, I'm doing this for completely self-centered reasons. I'm not doing it to help you in any way." Bazz-B watched the boy continue to stare at him. The child's shoulders began to shake, and the boy's head hung down. A strange sound as if the boy was struggling with breaths came then, and Toshiro's hands gripped the bed sheets.

The male Quincy then winced as a few tears splashed down staining the bed sheet. The child's rieatsu fluctuated, and the man looked out the window to see the snow was falling faster. A hand went up to rub the back of his neck. "Man. This kid is supposed to be my nephew?" The man could feel his neck stiffen. "Come on. Instead of bawling your head off say what you want to say."

A shudder ran down the man's spine as the thought of taking care of a child crossed his mind. "I know nothing about this, so why am I even bothering." An answer quickly came. "He's her kid. I've got nothing better to do either." He could see the child's shoulders quake as he contemplated how to toughen up the kid, but then the sobs came at full force. "Seriously! I didn't say anything mean to him, so why is he taking offense. I want to seriously smack him one." A sharp fault followed that one. "That's not how you deal with kids. It's a good thing you never had any."

Bazz-B took a deep breath. "Hey."

The sobbing slowed down so the white haired child could choke out a few words. "I want Matsumoto."

"Then go to her."

"She said that."

"What...." The man took a deep breath as his frustration grew. "He's on a different train of thought."

"She said that to." The sobbing started to increase. "I don't want her to die."

Bazz-B took a deep breath. "Did I open a can of worms? I seriously don't know what to do."