Disclaimer – I don't own Bleach. This is both my NaNoWriMo project for 2014 as well as part of the Bleach Writing Divercity challenge. It is for l-20, which is to write over 100k for a multichapter or series over one NaNoWriMo and the month before/after. Special dedication for this series also goes to Lucanite who wrote Shinigami Kids Society as she and that work are a major inspirations for this piece. Story diverges from canon plot as of chapter 603.

Finding Friendship has been in the plans for around four years. The story was always planned to be one of the AU routes I would take with Softly Snowing. Back then there were not nearly as many young characters in the series, but now there are the Quincy. There are still places these characters are needed to round out the cast to balance things out and fill roles that none of the canon characters can. This said... for a certain one-sided crush to be reciprocated... not going to happen.

Finding Friendship
Outward View

The Shinigami academy shut down its doors when the newest them attacked the Seireitei. Them was the name used for the latest enemy that threatened the peace of Soul Society until the students could find themselves getting more information about the events that transpired while they were sent to stay with their families. The leave of absence felt like an early vacation from school despite having heard the commotion of battle near the academy walls.

Hana's mind was a blur as the June weather beat down on her brown head of hair. Every week she returned home to her family in order to tell them about what occurred at the academy and what she learned despite how basic a first year students lessons happened to be. This time she was returning home to announce that the Shinigami were fighting with a new them. Her mind didn't comprehend what this meant beyond the fact everyone was excited about the news.

Her feet beat a quick pace back to the family home without out right running when her right foot slipped on loose gravel on the path. Hana's body began to fall towards the ground as the palm of her hands shot forward to catch her young body. The instinctive action didn't stop her from scrapping her nose on the ground. The brown haired girl sat up and rubbed her nose in irritation as she knelt on the ground with her legs sticking out each way.

"Kamoku-san?"

Hana's eyes darted up to see a boy from the same small village staring at her. "Terunori-san?"

"Don't act like you're surprised to see me when we do in fact live in the same area of the Rukogani." The boy's hand reached down to help her up. The two young academy students proceeded to walk back to their village in the Junrinan district. The fighting sounds that occurred within the Seireitei prior to the evacuation of the students became forgotten with the peaceful sounds of the district. The place lived up to the name "lush forest peace".

The two parted near Hana's house and she stepped up through the sliding door. She slipped off her sandals and greeted her mother. "Hana... weren't you home just a few days ago."

"They sent the academy students home."

"The academy never sends the students home." Her mother looked towards the Seireitei with worry. "Something must be wrong."

The young academy student brushed away any thought that something could be wrong and instead thought about going back to the academy later on. She didn't even worry when a fiery glow lit up the sky. Terunori showed up around this time and sat on the wooden porch with her. "You saw the sky, right Kamoku-san?"

"The sky was quiet pretty."

"Something didn't feel right about that sky."

"Are you worried about what is going on as well?"

Terunori frowned. "I don't know. If the Shinigami lose then I won't be able to become the youngest captain ever like I want to. Actually... if someone else ends up taking over then that means the entire government system will be over thrown."

"I don't understand how that kind of thing works. We're kids, so we're not expected to know those kind of things."

"Not know? We're supposed to be Shinigami. I mean... we're supposed to be training to be Shinigami. How can we not care."

M

A dull colored sunlight beat down through the clouded windows of the room where the head captain of the Gotei Thirteen sat looking over the maps for reconstructing the Seireitei. His fingers drummed on the table and his mouth pushed tight. A knock came at the door of the room and a sigh escaped his lips as he sat backwards in his chair. His gray colored eyes looked at the entrance as a familiar face with white hair entered. "Jushiro! Do you bring any good news?"

Ukitake twisted around from closing the door to the room before looking up at the clouded windows. "I see you're doing work instead of napping for once."

"Come on. I'm the head captain after all. It would look quite awful if I didn't put my foot forward to try and look like I was doing something productive."

Ukitake slipped into the chair near Kyoraku and opened up his papers. "I'm not understanding why you didn't have Nanao take care of this or even Okikiba."

Kyoraku's fingers continued tapping on the table. "Genshiro is taking care of issues at the academy for me. I'll assign him more as we figure out what each of the divisions need. My Nanao-chan is spending some time taking care of the business in the tenth division with Ichigo." Silence fell over the room. The head taicho took a deep breath. "I guess we should start with that order of buisness. How are the captains and fukutaicho who were turned into zombies doing?"

Ukitake let out a deep sigh as he flipped his papers. "Kurotsuchi says there should be no physical side effects for those who have been turned to zombies."

"You sound like you have problems with what he is saying."

"Don't you have problems with what he is saying? There is always a catch with what he says. His medicines always have some kinds of side effects. He can't hold back on using others as experiments. I can't see him as letting them go so easily. Since they are dead... or were dead... so I don't think he sees them as human anymore and feels he can experiment on them to his hearts content."

"There is that problem. The solution is to have Urahara look over all of them. He plans on doing it anyways."

Ukitake took another deep breath and looked at the paper again. "All four of them are under observation in the building part of the forth division. Make that five... one of the Quincy happens to be under the same observation. Otoribashi and Muguruma Taicho aren't acting like they are alive. Rangiku happens to be semi-responsive. She's worried about Shiro-chan."

Kyoraku took a deep breath. "Tell me about how our young taicho is doing."

"Is he alive?"

The head taicho's mouth opened as his gray eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"We don't understand how that one Quincy's powers work."

"Does it matter how that Quincy's powers work? He has a living body, does he not?" Kyoraku's mouth twisted up even more into a frown. "Is this something you and I are going to disagree with?"

Ukitake took a deep breath. "I agree that the body I see in front of my looks like Shiro-chan."

Kyoraku found his chest tightening. "There is something you observed that bothers you."

"When I walked into the room they've provided for..." The white haired taicho swallowed. "... I walked into the room and saw a child curled up in the corner of the room on top of the bed Isane provided for him. This child didn't respond to anything I said to him and kept is head buried ."

"Jushiro... if you treat him as if he isn't himself..."

"I know. He won't recover." Ukitake closed his papers. "As much as I want to help this child, tt feels like we've lost him forever."

"Maybe this is for the best." Kyoraku folded his hands in front of his mouth.

"What do you mean?" A cough escaped from Ukitake's mouth and he reached his hand up. "We aren't going to give up on him are we? I may have this problem seeing Hitsugaya Toshiro as Hitsugaya Toshiro, but I certainly don't wish to give up on him."

"What I mean is perhaps we can use this to our advantage." Kyoraku leaned back and waved his hand. "I know you're not seeing how this can be a positive thing. Normally you're the one who ends up seeing the positive light in these things." The head taicho pulled his hands behind his head. "How to put this..."

Ukitake shook his head and opened the papers again. "The Quincy girl is... was... in with three of the other Quincy girls we retrieved."

"You say was..."

"At this point in time she is restrained in another room." The corner of the white haired taicho's mouth twitched. "Apparently she doesn't get along with Quincy any better then she does Shinigami."

"So placing her in with Hitsugaya Taicho would be a bad idea." Kyoraku watched as Ukitake paled. "Rangiku is in with the two older captains who were turned into zombies."

"Yes..." The look on Ukitake's face remained horrified. He took a deep breath. "We can't leave her in isolation. Placing her with Hitsugaya... I know we want the Quincy who are left to get along with the Shinigami... but..." The man took a deep breath. "She really hates Shinigami."

"I was hoping though she would be willing to talk and interact with Hitsugaya Taicho."

Ukitake took a deep breath. "Yes. That is exactly what is going to happen when she wasn't willing to talk with the young Quincy females who were in the same room as her. Nope. I don't think that will work at all." A hand darted up the back of his head. "We don't exactly have any where else to put her. We could use the place she's been placed into as a storage area until forth division is rebuilt."

"Apparently he isn't going to talk back to her... not that he talked back much when he was himself." Kyoraku's mouth creased. "From the sounds of what you're saying there is a high chance this will end badly. I honestly wasn't serious about placing them in the same room if there wasn't a chance for them not to get along. Problem is..."

Ukitake took a deep breath. "...we do have the problem of space." The white haired taicho flipped his papers. "That Quincy who had the ability to turn people into zombies is placed into a jail cell."

"If she doesn't have her powers then what happens to be the issue?"

"She smashed the head in of the young Quincy she turned into a zombie."

"Perhaps I should make my own rounds of the forth division patients and prisoners. I know you wished to be tasked with this, but I think I may need to get my own idea of what is going on here."

"That honestly wouldn't be a bad idea." Ukitake closed the paper. "This said... I've heard that the academy area will be ready for reopening soon. It will be a couple of days before Soifon will be mobile, but a couple of weeks until Isane says she can go back to duty. Most of the others will be out sooner." The man paused for awhile. "Things are going to be rough, especially for the young Shinigami."

M

Hana couldn't help but think Terunori's fears were unwarranted when the announcement that the academy was opening back came. She headed back to the academy with a smile on her face expecting things to remain the same. The sunshine beat down on her face. Her smile fell when she stepped through the gate to see the mass amount of destruction in the Seireitei. Terunori followed close behind her with his bag swung over his shoulder. "I told you it wasn't good."

"Why would people want to do this?" Hana stuck close to the young male as she looked around nervously at the destruction.

"The only thing I know is this enemy was problematic enough for the Shinigami to evacuate the academy students. The place was under lock down after we left."

The two continued to walk. Rumors came to their ear that every single captain ended up injured during the war. The sunlight that once felt so warm no longer did. One of Hana's hands reached out to grab Terunori's sleeve. As they progressed towards the academy area they found the destruction to be less pronounced. The academy itself was a stark contrast. The two headed straight to the classroom where the other first years were gathering.

There they heard the rumor that the head captain had been killed during the war. Another rumor said that children had been hurt during the war. Hana turned to Terunori who was sitting near her. "The Shinigami wouldn't allow any children to be hurt, would they?"

"I don't know. I should ask them... they might know."