After scavenging the borders of the forest, I finally came back with a rather large leaf. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and kneeled in front of him, rapidly wrapping the herb around his wound.

I looked up to see him wincing in pain and immediately held his trembling hand. "You're gonna be okay. My mom is a medic and she taught me a few handy tricks."

His hand stopped shaking in mine, and he lightly gripped my hand back. "Thank you,,"He mumbled under his breath. I smiled at him and said "I'm almost done. The last step is the hardest, but I'll try my best."

I jogged over to the river and placed my hands in the water. I then closed my eyes and focused on the movements of the cool blue river water dancing past my fingertips.

My hands began to tingle, not because they were cold. It felt as though the water in my cupped hands carried electricity. I walked back over to the boy, trying not to spill any water. Once I was in front of him, I bent down and stared at my hands, praying this would go as planned

Slowly, I pulled my hands about a foot away from each other. It worked.

Floating in the air between my two palms was a sphere of water. I lowered my hands, the water staying parallel with them, until it was encased around his ankle. My hands began to go numb, and I could feel the energy leaving my body.

Seconds later, my arms fell to my sides and I exhaled loudly, clearly tired from what I did. I pulled the leaf off of his ankle, and both our eyes widened in shock. All that was left was a mere scar.

"How did you do that??" The boy stutters on his words as he stares at me with his glassy turquoise eyes.

"It's something my mom taught me. I just took the energy from the water and used it to heal you."

"How old are you anyways?" He asked with a silver brow raised.

"I'm 12 years old, but I'll be 13 soon." I responded shyly. "What about you?" I shot the question right back at him. He grinned. "I'm 13, about to turn 14."

We stood there in awkward silence until he spoke up again. "I really appreciate your help. I probably would've died if you hadn't grabbed me."

I smiled softly. "Yeah, about that— why did your friends back there push you? That was messed up." His face fell, and he looked down at the ground.

"Those weren't my friends. I don't really have any friends." He laughed nervously and scratched his neck.

A twinge of sympathy panged through my chest. "Well, I'll be your friend!" I patted his shoulder. "And I promise I'll make sure you never get shoved like that again!"

The boy looked at me with a warm gaze, but it instantly changed into a horrified expression as he looked behind me.

"Watch out!" But it was too late.

I felt someone's knuckles collide with the top of my head and I curled up in pain.

"Y/n, what the hell were you thinking???"

My face instantly heated up in anger when I realized who it was.

"" I turned to glare at my older brother before running to him and yanking at his long red hair.

He shoved me away and scolded me some more. "Why did you run from the guard? Did you know you could have died?"

I slapped his arm and fired back at him. "If I had left with the guard, my friend would've died!" Renji looked at the terrified boy behind me, and his fiery eyes softened.

"Just be more careful next time, you dingdong. You better come home soon, or you're gonna get a real earful from dad." And with that, my brother left as quickly as he appeared.

"So, your name is y/n?"

I turned to face silver-head, and nodded, obviously embarrassed. "Sorry you had to see that."

We stood facing each other awkwardly again until we realized the sun was already setting.

"It's getting late out." He muttered. I nodded. "I should probably start heading home, before my brother comes back and kills me for real." I laughed a little.

Toshiro had an uneasy look on his face, and his cheeks had a bright tint of pink. "Do you think maybe we can sit by the river again sometime?"

My face lit up at his question. "Yeah, definitely." He smiled. "Well I guess this is goodnight, y/n." I smiled at him, sad that I had to leave my new friend so soon. "Yeah, goodnight...?" It hit me that I never asked for his name.

He read my mind and smiled.

"My name is Toshiro. Toshiro Hitsugaya."