Author's note: It started with 'I want to write a fanfic about Hitsugaya sleeping over at Ichigo's.' This is the result. Please read and enjoy.
Day 0
It could most definitely not be called the greatest day of Hitsugaya Toushirou's life, nor the most glorious as the white-haired Shinigami Captain lay in the middle of a small alley, with his left arm immobilized and hurting like hell.
He couldn't really recall how he ended up there, last thing he knew was that he had started to walk through the Senkai Gate towards the real world in order to make a check-up of Karakura Town together with Matsumoto Rangiku and some other officers, Kuchiki Rukia, Madarame Ikkaku and Abarai Renji included.
Now he was alone in the real world, with a blank in his memory and in a broken state he couldn't believe he had ever lived through before. All of a sudden he had tumbled down towards the ground at high speed and failed, despite his keen reflexes, to brace himself against the fall.
The youngest Captain in Soul Society slowly rose to his feet, winching slightly at the pain in his left arm, he was almost certain it was broken, it sure felt like it, and took out his cellphone from inside of his cloak.
"This is 10th Squad Captain, Hitsugaya Toushirou, requesting status report." He spoke normally, despite the sharp pain, a Captain couldn't show weakness and he was most curious to know why he was alone. Yet everything he heard in response was static silence.
"What's wrong with it?" He muttered silently to himself and started to take in his surroundings properly instead of staring on the unresponsive cellphone. Trying to trace the others reiatsu proved to be difficult, the terrible ache was blocking out other reiatsu so he couldn't sense anyone else than himself.
This was most definitely Karakura Town, so he wasn't completely lost but unsure of his exact position, but finding the way to Urahara's shop shouldn't prove too difficult. He clutched his arm in hope of steading it ever so slightly but the pain almost made him let out a small cry, breaking something like this wasn't an experience he had ever hoped to add to his list but there was nothing to do about it now, he would need help to mend it completely. As he started to walk down the street an unexpected voice called his wavering mind back from the plan he had started to conjure up.
"Yo Toushirou! Is that you?" Orange hair and a tall but slim body structure greeted the white-haired Shinigami as he turned around and stood face to face with Kurosaki Ichigo, Karakura Town's own Shinigami Substitute.
"That's Captain Hitsugaya for you." The youth replied with a poisonous tone, his mood not at its peak because of his injuries and his lack of information of what exactly was going on. He didn't have anything personal against the Substitute but he had a tendency of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, far too often.
"What are you doing here? Mission?" Ichigo replied, completely ignoring the other's statement. His eyes quickly darting to the smaller man's arm that he clutched to his side with a pained expression on his face. "You okay?"
A frown appeared on Hitsugaya's face and he was almost struggling to keep the cool in his voice.
"No, as a matter of fact I'm not. I went through the Senkai Gate, ended up here though I remember nothing of the inside of the gate and I'm pretty sure my arm is broken." He stated matter-of-factly, making Ichigo's eyes go wide with his words.
"W-what? We should take you somewhere to look at it."
"Just a minor problem with your idea, nobody can see me. Besides, I was already on my way to Urahara Kisuke." Hitsugaya replied with a sigh and started to walk, just to find Ichigo walking alongside him.
"In that case you're going the wrong way, Urahara-san's shop is over there. Don't tell me you've caught Kenpachi's absolute sense of no direction." The orange-haired said but Hitsugaya wasn't late to notice the concerned look upon the other's face which only made him feel irritated. The pain wasn't making the feeling easier to handle and he was strongly against being seen as a person in need, of anything. Yet he bit his lip in order to not blurt out a nasty retort and went the correct way.
"It's just hard to navigate from the ground when you're not sure of where you are." he muttered as an excuse and soon found himself escorted by Ichigo, all the way to Urahara's.
The former 12th Captain was fairly surprised as he saw the pair enter his store, the smaller figure with a distinguished look of pain on his now pale face, which he was obviously trying to hide and Ichigo with a look of worry upon his.
"Well, well, an unexpected visit." Urahara said curiously, not bothering to ask how it had happened, at least for now. So he took them both inside, letting Tessai take care of the 10th Captain's wound, also supporting him with his gigai in order to be visible and hopefully recover from the broken bone faster.
"Now, would you perhaps mind to share what has happened to you with our humble audience Captain Hitsugaya?" Urahara asked once the indeed broken arm, that was broken in gigai form as well since it was damage inflicted on the soul, was wrapped in bandages.
"I stepped into the Senkai Gate since I, Matsumoto and a few more officers were supposed to make a regular check-up mission for Hollows here in Karakura. Next thing I knew, I was here, tumbling through the sky, breaking my arm in the fall." The 10th Captain admitted it with slight shame but lying wasn't something he was fond of. "I can't detect the others reiatsu, nor get in touch with Soul Society and my own main question is why."
The scientist made a small frown.
"Did something seem strange inside the gate?"
"I'm. . . not sure. I can't really remember being in there but I'm sure I stepped inside." Hitsugaya replied with a thoughtful look on his face, Urahara was silent for a few moments, fanning his face at the same time before he got up from the floor.
"I will make a try to contact Soul Society about you being here, not completely whole but in safety." Urahara offered. "But I can't offer you to stay here I'm afraid, since there is a snowstorm coming, we will head for another location for a few days. Being here alone with a broken arm wouldn't do you no good."
"Sheesh, I forgot about that. Good thing Dad, Karin and Yuzu aren't meant to come back until next week." Ichigo said, Yuzu and Karin's school had gone on a skiing trip just the other day, their Dad tagging along since the teacher had asked for help.
Hitsugaya held in a sigh, he didn't find any problems with a snowstorm, on the contrary, he liked snow far more than he'd probably admit if anyone asked. But no contact with Soul Society was a problem, being hurt and stuck in a gigai in order to recover another issue as well as the question of where he should stay.
"What about that girl?" He asked, thinking about Inoue Orihime whose home he, Matsumoto, Ikkaku and Yumichika had occupied for a period during a mission and its owner had gone to Soul Society to train for the battle against the Arrancar.
"She's out of town together with Tatsuki so her place is out of the question. But I guess you could crash at my place for a few days." Ichigo finally offered and shrugged, he had his house to himself so Hitsugaya wouldn't need to questioned by his father, nor did he need to sleep in Ichigo's closet like Rukia always did.
Plus, Kon wasn't there, he had gotten himself lost somewhere since a week back. Ichigo wasn't really worried since that Modified Soul had an exceptional ability to get through tough situations, one way or another.
". . . Fine. I appreciate it." Hitsugaya replied quietly, kind of relieved that he didn't have to sleep outside, even if the winter was his favorite time of the year he wouldn't be comfortable sleeping in the park and his arm still hurt a lot, all he really cared for right now was getting some sleep and that was definitely not like him.
"Well that's decided. Please take care of him Kurosaki-san. We will let you know if we get any response from Soul Society." Urahara concluded and waved his fan in goodbye, as the two Shinigamis went on their way to the Kurosaki Clinic.
Although Ichigo first showed him a quick tour of the house, Hitsugaya was mostly interested in the room where he would be sleeping, Ichigo's, while the Substitute himself took the sofa in the living/waiting room.
Since they both agreed that Ichigo's clothes was too big for the small Shinigami it was decided that Hitsugaya would sleep in one of Karin's more neutral pyjamas since it was the same size and not as girly as Yuzu's.
Hitsugaya only needed to stare at Yuzu's pyjamas, decorated with multiple flowers in vivid colors, with an icy glint in his glare for Ichigo to understand that the young Captain never would put that on. He also refused Ichigo's help when he had to change into the pajamas so even though it took a little while he managed to dress himself, even if the shirt ended up inside and out.
Ichigo couldn't help but to feel a bit awkward about the situation, he had never really had a real talk with Hitsugaya so he barely knew anything about him, except that he was the youngest Captain among them all and possessed an impressive intellect, but seeing the other in his younger sister's yellow pajamas didn't really provide confidence to the truth.
No one normal would see Hitsugaya as the cunning individual he indeed was if they saw him in that state, Ichigo had a feeling Matsumoto would squeak about how cute he looked if she was there to see her Captain in pajamas.
Yet, Ichigo felt a bit unsure about the whole situation.
Why couldn't Hitsugaya remember the gate and why was he alone if several others were supposed to have come too? Thinking wasn't really Ichigo's strong side though and his thoughts was interrupted by the Captain in question.
"Kurosaki, I'm retiring for tonight." The turquoise eyes gave proof to the fact that Hitsugaya was tired, the pain had obviously exhausted him a bit as well because he was still a bit pale so Ichigo wished him goodnight.
"If you need anything, you know where to find me."
". . . Right." Was the reply he received before Hitsugaya retreated from his presence, settling himself upon Ichigo's bed in deep thought. He couldn't help but find it strange, all that had happened.
Was he really that incapable, not being able to brace himself from falling to the ground, breaking something? And what was going on? He couldn't sense Matsumoto or any of the others in the real world, hadn't they entered the gate at the same time?
Tiredness and the pain that was thankfully kind of numbed now thanks to Tessai made it a bit hard for him to focus on the matters at hand. Hitsugaya found nothing better to do than wishing for receiving some kind of contact from Soul Society soon, including an update about what had happened but for now the Shinigami Captain wanted nothing other than sleep.
Soon after laying down on the bed, he drifted off.
To be continued
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