|
|
Post by Haku "Katsumi" Yamamoto on Nov 29, 2024 0:35:01 GMT -6
Bleach Unrated: REBOOTEDCurrent Arc: The ChaosEpisode 587 “The Power Within”: Haku ran down the halls of Tenth Division, dodging the officers who roamed the halls while tossing them a good afternoon. He was on a mission. He had to see Toshiro again. He had to talk to him about what his zanpakuto spirit had said. Haku wasn’t sure if he was supposed to take what the phoenix had said literally or figuratively, but he knew if anyone could help him make sense of it, it was Toshiro.
Not to mention the captain could probably also use the advice his zanpakuto spirit had given him.
He arrived at the captains office and didn’t bother to knock this time. He threw the door open. “Toshiro-nii!” |
|
|
|
Post by Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya on Nov 29, 2024 0:35:56 GMT -6
Toshiro, startled, flinched at the loud sound of the door flying open and the unmistakable sound of Haku shouting his name. He had been standing in front of the bookshelf on the other side of his office, putting away files and documents onto the already full shelve of reference materials. The thick tomes in his arms slipped as he jerked, clattering to the floor in an equally loud flutter of pages and thump of the bindings against the hardwood floor. Slowly, he turned to look at Haku with a blank stare, finding him rushing towards him clutching the Asauchi he had given him.
“Haku… was it really necessary to—”
“There’s no time for that!” Haku grabbed Toshiro by the shoulder and shook him. “I have to talk to you! Ice wielder to ice wielder! It’s important!”
Toshiro flinched at Haku’s grip and… shivered? He actually shivered at Haku’s colder-than-ice touch. He grimaced and grabbed Haku’s wrist, which was also ice cold, and pried it off of his shoulder. “Gods, Haku, you’re freezing. What the hell have you been doing?”
|
|
|
|
Post by Haku "Katsumi" Yamamoto on Nov 29, 2024 0:37:10 GMT -6
Haku rolled his eyes, pulling his hand from Toshiro’s wrist. “Come on, Toshi-nii. You of all people shouldn’t be surprised that I’m freezing cold.” He lifted his Asauchi which was still frosted over in some places.
“I was training. I was trying to put as much of my spirit energy into the Asauchi as I could. I have to get back on track before the start of the year at the Academy!”
Toshiro glared at him, crossing his arms in his sleeves. “And what part of what I told you last time implied that you should try and rush things?”
“Ugh!” Haku threw his hand and Asauchi up, turning to walk over to the couches. “You sound like my zanpakuto spirit!” He flopped down onto one of them, tossing his sword onto the wooden table in front of him.
Toshiro blinked and followed him to the couch. He sat down next to the boy. “What do you mean? Did you perform jinzen again?”
Haku nodded, leaning forward onto his knees. “Yeah. Lot of help he was. He refused to tell me his name because he said I wasn’t ready. He said that I need to learn to control my emotions so that I can control my power. He also said… that I’m afraid of my power.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya on Nov 29, 2024 0:38:13 GMT -6
Toshiro listened carefully as Haku spoke, nodding as he followed along. “I see… I suppose that’s to be expected.”
“But that’s not why I’m here,” Haku added on quickly, pivoting to face Toshiro. “I’m here because of what he told me after that.”
Toshiro blinked at Haku, raising an eyebrow. “And what would that be?”
“After I asked him how I was supposed to learn to not be afraid of my power if I can’t use it, he told me that every Soul Reaper has ‘echoes of their own power even without Shikai,’” Haku explained. “He said that his power is my power.”
“‘Echoes of… their own power’?” Toshiro repeated slowly. He stared down at the frost covered Asauchi then reached down and wrapped his fingers around the sheath, only to yank his hand back with a wince when he discovered that even the sheath was so cold a single touch felt like sticking his hand into hot coals. He rubbed his palm against his leg to warm it up.
“Fucking hell,” he cursed uncharacteristically as his palm still burned. He lifted his hand to look at his palm, finding it red. The very beginning stages of frostbite just from one brief touch. Like touching a hot stove. He looked back to Haku with wide eyes. “How… how did you carry this here? You had it in your hand the whole way here, right?” When Haku nodded Toshiro grabbed his hand that had been carrying the sword. The skin was slightly pink but nothing serious.
|
|
|
|
Post by Haku "Katsumi" Yamamoto on Nov 29, 2024 0:40:30 GMT -6
“It… wasn’t that bad actually,” Haku pulled his hand away gently and made a fist, then opened and closed his hand a few times. “Actually, I felt… hot. Like my blood was on fire.”
Concern flooded Toshiro’s chest, producing an ache of fear. He stood up quickly and rushed around the couch to his desk without a word.
“Toshi-nii? What’s wrong?” Haku turned in his seat to allow his gaze to follow the captain. He watched Toshiro rummage through his desk drawers. He blinked at him. “What are you doing?”
Toshiro didn’t answer. He found what he was looking for and pulled it out of his desk drawer. A first aid kit. One with a thermometer. He rushed back over to Haku and sat back down on the couch, opening the small plastic box and pulling out the digital thermometer. He turned to Haku. “Open up.”
Haku stared blankly at Toshiro. “Uhhh, I’m not sick. I don’t even have the sniffles.”
Toshiro rolled his eyes and huffed. “Just do as I say.” Haku grumbled but obeyed. Toshiro stuck the thermometer in Haku’s mouth then felt the skin of his cheeks and forehead.
“Wha’re ‘oo—” Haku tried to speak over the thermometer but was immediately silenced by the captain.
|
|
|
|
Post by Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya on Nov 29, 2024 0:42:15 GMT -6
“No talking! I’m checking your body temperature to make sure you don’t have hypothermia. During the later stages of hypothermia, you actually stop shivering and can feel hot because of the blood vessels becoming tired from restricting so much. They relax and the rush of warm blood can make you feel overheated when you’re actually freezing to death,” Toshiro explained to Haku, waiting for the beep of the thermometer.
Haku’s eyes widened, his eyes saying everything his mouth couldn’t at the moment. You think I’m freezing myself to death?!
“It’s just a precaution. It could be nothing. You did run here, after all,” Toshiro shook his head at the look in Haku’s eyes. Suddenly the thermometer beeped and Toshiro pulled it from Haku’s mouth. He looked at the number and immediately went stone solid.
“What? What does it say?!” Haku felt panic rise in his chest at the look on Toshiro’s face. He leaned forward to see the number. “Am I dying?!”
“There’s no way,” Toshiro shook his head and stood up, walking back over to his desk.
His thermometer had to be calibrated incorrectly. He grabbed a cup from his desk and walked over to a drink cart he always kept nearby. He grabbed a pitcher of ice water and filled his cup, then hit the reset button on the thermometer. He dropped it into the cup of ice water and waited. When it beeped, he checked the number again. It was just above freezing.
He shook his head. “That’s… impossible.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Haku "Katsumi" Yamamoto on Nov 29, 2024 0:43:50 GMT -6
Haku stood from the couch, moving closer to Toshiro. “Would you say something please?! You’re freaking me out!” He tried to look at the thermometer again but Toshiro had already cleared it.
“The read from you said 101.1,” Toshiro told Haku. “You’re technically running a fever, but your skin is ice cold.” He watched Haku’s mouth pop open as he tried to comprehend what he’d just told him. “How do you feel right now?”
“Uh…” Haku’s face scrunched in confusion. He paced around the room, lifting his hands and looking at his palms. “Hot? Cold? Something in between? No, that would just be normal, wouldn’t it? I…” He looked back at Toshiro. “I don’t know… Don’t you get the same thing when you use Hyorinmaru? You’re cold on the outside, but on the inside you feel like you’re burning up.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya on Nov 29, 2024 0:46:15 GMT -6
Toshiro shook his head slowly, crossing his arms tightly. “No. I’m always cold, but that just feels normal for me. I don’t do well in heat. I’ve checked my temperature often over the decades since my Academy days, and my core body temperature sits somewhere between 95 and 96. After using Hyorinmaru I can get as low as 93 if I’m using my Shikai and 90 or lower if I’m using my Bankai for extended periods of time. But I always reach my normal body temperature within twenty-four hours typically. Extreme hypothermia temperatures are typically having a core body temperature of 82.”
“So then… why am I both hot and cold?” Haku walked back to the couch and fell back on it, tossing his hands up. “That doesn’t make any sense! I could understand if I had a dual type zanpakuto, but I don’t! I may not know his name, but that much is obvious.”
Toshiro walked back over to the couch but sat on the arm this time. “What does your spirit look like? What is its form?”
Haku sat forward and turned on the couch again to look at Toshiro. “It’s a bird. A white phoenix.”
“Phoenixes are typically associated with fire,” Toshiro pointed out. “You may not have a dual type, but it’s possible that part of your powers include the ability to raise your internal body temperature in order to prevent you from being seriously injured by your own powers.”
Haku held up his hand that had been frostbitten. He shook his hand in Toshiro’s face. “Then explain this!”
Toshiro gave him a bland look. “The extremities are the first to get affected by frostbite. Fingers, toes, nose. Anything that’s usually exposed to the elements and has poor circulation. Also, you may not have been able to access this part of your ability at that time.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Haku "Katsumi" Yamamoto on Nov 29, 2024 0:47:28 GMT -6
“But… why would it happen now?” Haku pulled his hand back to stare down at it. “Because I’ve accepted what my powers are?”
“Possibly. What were you doing when you began to feel hot? Did it start on the run over here?” Toshiro asked him.
Haku shook his head. “It started while I was trying to push my reiatsu into the Asauchi. I thought I was just feeling hot because I was angry because my zanpakuto kept preventing me from putting my reiatsu into the sword.”
“That may have triggered it. You were unleashing your reiatsu while in a heightened state of emotion. Anger often results in feeling hot because of your fight or flight reflex. The hormones released increase blood flow, resulting in the same effect as when you’re hypothermic,” Toshiro placed a hand on his chin as he explained. “Maybe… maybe that’s the answer. Maybe you’re able to use kido to increase blood flow in your body which increases your core body temperature, protecting you from the below freezing temperatures of your powers.”
Haku’s eyes widened and a huge grin spread across his face. “A safe zone. Or I guess in my case it’s more like a ‘failsafe.’” He would have to practice and see if he really could control his body in the way Toshiro suggested. He turned back to Toshiro. “Anyway, you never said what you thought about what my zanpakuto told me.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya on Nov 29, 2024 0:49:11 GMT -6
Toshiro nodded. He had gotten distracted by the nature of Haku’s reiatsu and then the improbability that he could be running a fever instead of nearly keeling over from hypothermia. He took a seat on the couch properly.
“Right… echoes of power, right?” He reached out to touch the Asauchi again, this time with just a fingertip. It wasn’t as freezing cold anymore, but still uncomfortable to touch, so he left it where it was. “Well… it’s obviously a reference to the fact that our reiatsu has the attributes that our powers share. Ice. That is to be expected. But to think that Soul Reapers could use portions of their powers without Shikai… I’m not sure.”
He opened his hand, palm up. “Maybe it’s easier for elemental wielders because it’s a naturally occurring thing, and not some abstract concept like Sakura petal blades or gravity. Perhaps we’ve just never tested the limits of our abilities without our zanpakuto… maybe I need to do the same…”
|
|
|
|
Post by Haku "Katsumi" Yamamoto on Nov 29, 2024 0:49:47 GMT -6
Haku nodded and opened his hand next to Toshiro’s. “I think… that’s what I’m going to do. My zanpakuto spirit said that I need to stop being afraid of my own power. So maybe training with my reiatsu—with my natural power without Shikai—is how I do that. He told me I could already use my power. Maybe he wanted me to learn to control this little bit of power before I’m ready for the real thing.”
He released some of his reiatsu into his hand, letting the cold energy pool into his palm, causing his hand to completely frost over. When his joints began to ache, he recoiled the energy and shook his hand, the frost flaking off and dispersing into nothing. Some of it evaporated into thin air.
He grimaced at Toshiro. “Maybe I should work on that blood flow thing too. It really hurts when I put my reiatsu into my hands.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya on Nov 29, 2024 0:50:28 GMT -6
Toshiro gawked at Haku’s brief display of power. He watched as the frost on his hand immediately evaporated. He looked at Haku with wide eyes. “Haku… when you disperse the ice from your reiatsu… does it always evaporate like that?”
Haku nodded, clenching his hand into a fist. “Yeah. I know there’s a name for it when ice does that, but I don’t remember what it is.”
“Sublimation,” Toshiro answered his unasked question. “There are several things that can cause it, but the primary cause is rapid increases in temperature and exposure to strong thermal energy. The molecules in the ice heat up too quickly to move into a liquid state from a solid state. The result is the water molecules changing directly into a gas from a solid.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Haku "Katsumi" Yamamoto on Nov 29, 2024 0:51:48 GMT -6
Haku tilted his head at Toshiro. “Does… yours not do that?”
Toshiro sighed heavily. “All ice sublimates to some degree. You can see it when you take an ice tray out of the freezer, but for large amounts of ice to disperse like that all at once…” He shook his head and looked back to Haku. “My ice usually cracks or shatters into snow when it disappears. My ice also contains a decent amount of water. Your ice seems to be more like dry ice. There’s no water to be found in yours.”
“You’re saying my ice isn’t actually made of water?” Haku gaped at him.
“No, not necessarily. I’m merely saying that it behaves like dry ice. Carbon dioxide cannot exist in a liquid state at normal temperatures. The large amounts of ‘smoke’ carbon dioxide produces is also sublimation. I’m simply saying that its possible your ice is so cold and the surrounding temperatures as well as your body heat are so warm in comparison that it can’t form water. Any water that touches your ice seems to freeze solid immediately.” Toshiro pointed at the Asauchi which was finally dispersing the last of the frost. “We may both be ice type wielders, but our powers are fundamentally different. As they should be.”
Haku sat on that thought for a moment, thinking over his powers. After his train of thought had completed its route, he turned to Toshiro and smirked. “So you’re saying I’m stronger than you?”
|
|
|
|
Post by Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya on Nov 29, 2024 0:52:43 GMT -6
“Colder does not mean stronger,” Toshiro deadpanned at him, flicking him in the forehead. “You’re not even in the Academy yet, brat. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You still have at least a century or two before you’re stronger than me.”
Haku recoiled and rubbed his forehead. “So you do think I’ll be stronger than you!”
“I never said you wouldn’t,” Toshiro stood up from the couch, taking the first aid kit with him to return it to his desk. “I would be concerned if you didn’t end up stronger than me. You’re younger than me. The next generation always needs to be stronger than the last. I may be the strongest ice type of this generation, but with hard work and determination, you’ll take my place one day.” He shoved the kit back into his desk and looked up at Haku. “So work hard and master your abilities. At your own pace. Don’t rush things.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Haku "Katsumi" Yamamoto on Nov 29, 2024 0:54:12 GMT -6
Haku sighed and nodded, leaning forward to pick up his Asauchi before standing and slipping it into his sash at his hip. “Yeah yeah, I know. I’m just… so close. I know I can get there before the year starts.”
“There’s no shame if you don’t,” Toshiro told him, moving back over to him as he folded his arms back into his sleeves. “Don’t take shortcuts. Do things right.”
Haku nodded then smiled at Toshiro. “Thanks again, Toshi-nii. You always know everything! You’re so smart. Smarter than some of the other captains!”
Toshiro fought the rush of heat that flooded his face. He turned away, grumbling under his breath. “Smart does not equal wise nor intelligent. And you’d better not let the others hear you say that.”
“Okay fine, you’re intelligent!” Haku laughed. He pointed at Toshiro and winked. “And I didn’t say which captains either!”
The heat left Toshiro’s face immediately. He turned back to Haku and lifted his leg, kicking him in the back to push him forward. “Get the hell out of my office. Go and train or… do something! Find another captain to bother!”
Haku laughed again and rubbed his back. “Okay okay. I get the hint. Sorry to bother you. See ya later, Toshi-nii!” He trotted for the door, throwing it open again.
|
|
