Nakama
Author's Note: Again, I shall say this, HIRS (HitsuIchi Rush Syndrome) rocks. Scream…! Actually, I've got four ideas in my mind, but the fourth idea is a multi-chapter one so I'll have to leave it aside temporarily. Now, just enjoy a rush of HIRS. Remember, people, have a daily dosage of J-pop for one hour if you want HIRS. XD
Disclaimer: I do not own anything concerning Bleach. If I did, Hitsugaya would hate Hinamori for life.
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The orange-haired adolescent trudged his way in the direction of his home, his boots nearly sinking into the mud and rain with every step he took. The strong cold winds howled as they blew in his face, and he could feel the icy raindrops batting against his face as well. He struggled to bring his umbrella forward, but the winds were proven to be too strong and they blew his umbrella away instead. Damn. Now he had nothing to protect himself from the rain and winds from.
Things just couldn't get any worse, could it?
The streets were practically deserted, and void of any living things. Not even the trees were spared from one of the strongest typhoons ever to strike Tokyo and everyone was probably already at home, preparing hot cups of mocha. Kurosaki Ichigo was trying to get home, but it wasn't his fault that his lunatic of a father plainly dumped him in the village school instead of the city school and the way home was very long indeed, even though he was dropped off at the nearest bus stop from his home.
"Ugh! Finally!" Ichigo complained to himself. "I'll just need to cross the street and I'll be home in no ti-huh?"
A figure. A shadowy figure.
He was lying by the side of the pavement, head tilted sideways so that the back of his head was facing Ichigo. His left arm was stretched outwards while his right arm was stretching out sideways towards the drain. His attire couldn't be seen properly; the heavy rain was disrupting whatever clear view Ichigo thought he could take. Frankly speaking, he wasn't the kind who would leave someone in need of desperate help even if he had to rush home, away from the typhoon, so he took a closer look. There was something shiny in the figure's left hand that caught his eye and he held the hand so that the palm was facing him. Ichigo's eyes widened in horror. It was a penknife, which had already drawn a lot of blood, judging by the edges smeared with blood – dry and fresh alike – and the fact that the figure had a bloodstained hand.
Ichigo turned to his left, where the figure's outstretched right arm lay, and picked that hand up as well. It was just as he expected it to be; bloody. Especially at the slit wrist. Ichigo touched the blood and found his fingers stained with it. It was fresh blood, and it was warm, even. The wrist-slashing person he found must've had just slashed his own wrist not even more than five minutes ago. The blood from his cut veins and arteries oozed out continuously, and the fresh warm blood was being washed away into the nearby drain by the heavy rain, but it was eerie seeing the blood mixed with muddy rain flow into the drain like that.
Ichigo needed to know who this person was, and why he slashed his own wrist. No matter how shitty things were, he shouldn't attempt to end his own life like that!
He carried the figure to his lap and cradled his mud-stained head to take a closer look. Holy crap…It just couldn't be…
The white hair was a complete giveaway and it was even more obvious with the wisp of white hair covering one of his closed eyes. The school uniform was what he expected it to be, and the nametag that read Hitsugaya Toushirou said it all. It was the thirteen-year-old genius in his class; he heard that the brainy kid jumped forward by two grades since he skipped the Fourth and the Fifth, going straight to the Sixth (A/N: In Singapore, I suppose that we can say that he skipped Primary Four and Five to go straight into Primary Six. I'm open for correction) and even coming in top in his school for every single exam and test he encountered. Ichigo thought that having a second brain was the key to having a luxurious school life, but now, seeing that it was the very same genius who slashed his own wrist, he guessed not.
Truth be said, he had been watching the kid genius from afar many times during class. The stunning white hair and sharp emerald orbs never failed to distract him from paying attention during class. The kid just seemed so…I don't know, mesmerizing to him. The way that he found class boring was one thing cute about him, and the other was him pouting whenever the teacher asked him to write the answers on the board, which was at least four times a day.
Snapping back to the present, Ichigo carried the subconscious prodigy in his arms bridal-style, and tried to move as fast as he could to the nearest hospital. He felt Hitsugaya shift uncomfortably in his arms till his head was leaning against his chest. As much as Ichigo felt his cheeks burning up, he could feel Hitsugaya's forehead literally steaming. Damn, he probably fell sick getting caught in the rain, and some major blood loss didn't help at all. Ichigo had to hurry. And hurry he did.
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"Are you a relative of the patient you just brought in?"
Ichigo locked eyes with the doctor who had the nametag Unohana Retsu on her left chest area. "I'm his classmate. How is the kid?"
Unohana blinked. "You're his classmate?" It seemed pretty awkward to know that an elementary school kid like Hitsugaya had such a…tall classmate who looked like a middle school student. Maybe there were such things was the unexpected in this world after all. "Well, Hitsugaya-kun has lost a lot of blood, and his fever's running at a high forty degrees. We need to get his family's consent to operate on him."
"Oh ok…" Ichigo trailed off before shaking his head. "Wait wait wait! Operate on him?! Is it that serious?!"
"There is a need to donate blood for him. If he doesn't undergo this operation, he might die from blood loss," Unohana whispered before looking away from Ichigo's gaze. There was something else. "And…this isn't the first time he has been brought in here…" Ichigo stared wide-eyed at the head doctor with a WTF expression. "…Hitsugaya-kun has had many frequent trips to the hospital about the blood loss from slashing his own wrist…" Unohana explained, her voice barely above a whisper. "His father would accompany him to the hospital before disappearing…We never had the chance to get his contact number or even his consent to operate on his son. His appointed operation was supposed to be two months ago. I'm surprised he has been able to handle the blood loss so well."
Ichigo couldn't find the right words to say out. Hitsugaya didn't handle the blood loss very well. Two months ago, she said. That was when Hitsugaya began ditching class and his absences were way off the charts. The principal even tried calling his family but it later turned out that the contact number was a hoax. Sometimes, the prodigy turned up for class, but the teacher had to punish him often for either sleeping in class or using the toilet as an excuse to play truant. Now Ichigo knew Hitsugaya was not playing truant at all. The sleeping in class deal was, in actuality, fainting spells that the white-haired genius experienced countless of times during class and even during break times. It scared the wits out of him when he saw Hitsugaya staggering before slumping to the ground, seemingly dead, during break. And Ichigo knew that the toilet excuse wasn't an excuse, not even the slightest bit. The first time Hitsugaya said that he wanted to go to the toilet and later never returned to class, Ichigo volunteered to go in there and check on him. The horrifying sight of the child prodigy foaming at the mouth and vomiting umpteen times urged him to tell the teacher straight away, but Hitsugaya begged him not to.
"If you ever tell…Ukitake-sensei…I will…never…forgive you…"
"…and if you do tell him…I will personally…personally…"
And then he vomited.
Ever since then, Ichigo used a lie saying that Hitsugaya was playing truant and wasn't in the toilet.
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Ichigo ran into the rain, straight into the dangerous typhoon, and tried as hard as he could to flag for the bus to come, but no buses ever came in the first place as it was too dangerous for anyone to be out there during a typhoon, for goodness sake. But he had to get to school as soon as possible; he knew that during emergencies, the students were allowed to leave school early to get home for safety, but the teachers, on the other hand, would stay in school and correcting and grading homework during perfect times like this. So, from natural disasters, the teachers in the village school had everything to benefit, except for earthquakes of magnitude five and above, of course. Four was already bad enough; teachers were already complaining about the way their coffee spilled over the homework.
"Dammit…At this rate, Toushirou'll die any moment!" Ichigo cursed, trying to think of an alternative. Just as he was thinking, a particular memory flashed in his head.
"Wow, Toushirou-kun, you've brought so much candy for us! Where'd you get all this candy?"
"My…uncle…operates a candy shop downtown, near the city hospital…"
"Ooh…! Next time, Toushirou-kun, you gotta bring us to your uncle's shop! Will we get discounts?!"
"…I'll see."
Candy shop…Candy shop…
If he could find it, he might be able to find Hitsugaya's uncle!
Thus, Ichigo ran once more, his head turning from left to right and vice versa for the candy shop. There was only one candy shop in the entire district that was near the city hospital; the other candy shops were either located in the malls or far away from the hospital. Ichigo ran down the street pavement, and accidentally slipped on a puddle of water, sliding downwards and falling on his ass. As he got up, he rubbed his butt, and mumbled a curse before moving to find the shop once more…till he realized it.
The shop was just next to him.
He was amazed, actually, to see the shop still open with the dim lights in the shop on. He pushed the transparent door and entered the shop. It was candy heaven in there; no wonder Hitsugaya managed to bring all that much candy to school that day. The shop might be small, but it was filled with all sorts of sweet temptations he could think of, and there was even a small cake corner for customers to pen down orders for the cakes they would like to have and Hitsugaya's uncle would deliver the cakes personally, even offering door-to-door service. If his uncle weren't the only manager and staff of the shop, business might be booming by now and he might even manage his own company some day.
Wait, this was not the time to think about candy fantasies.
"Hey! Is anyone there?" Ichigo called out, moving closer to the counter.
Out came a white-haired man with bags under his eyes and a huge smile on his face. "Welcome to Shirou-chan's Sweets! How may I help y-Ichigo?!"
"U-Ukitake-sensei?!"
Ukitake leaned against the counter and stared at Ichigo. "Ichigo-kun, what are you doing here?"
"Sensei, you have another job?" Ichigo shot Ukitake a quizzical look. "You're moonlighting?! But in school, you always teach us that moonlighting is not a good thing!"
Ukitake sighed, "I know, Ichigo-kun, and I guess I shouldn't teach you kids about things not to do when I do them…Anyway, are you here for the candy?"
Ichigo looked at Ukitake straight in the eye, seriousness expressed clearly in his burning eyes. "No, sensei, I came here because Toushirou's gonna die if you don't help him."
Ukitake stumbled backwards till his back hit against the wall. "W-what?!"
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The documents had been handled and Ukitake signed every single dotted line on the paperwork for the operation to take place as soon as possible. Ichigo watched as he leaned against the wall, staring at the unconscious Hitsugaya in the ward. When Ukitake finished signing and dealing with the documented papers, he slumped down in his chair and buried his face in his palms. Ichigo took a seat next to his teacher. "Ah, don't worry, sensei, I'm sure Toushirou will be fine now that you've agreed to his operation."
"…Yes…" Ukitake mumbled quietly. "…I'll be back later, Ichigo-kun…" he whispered as he stood up from his seat, eyes burning with an intensity to…kill?!
"Eh?"
"Call me if anything happens."
Before Ukitake said anything else to his orange-haired student, he ran out of the hospital speedily, giving Ichigo no chance to say anything. "Oi! Wait! Sen…sei…" Ichigo looked at the ground, then at Unohana who was urgently processing the documents for the operation to take place. He gave an audible sigh in frustration. There were things his teacher was keeping from him, and if it was about his nephew…Ichigo would personally uncover them on his own.
He casted a worried glance at Hitsugaya's ward before sighing once more, and chased after his teacher.
＜ブリーチ＞
The place was a complete run-down!
There was mud that looked like a piece of shit all over the place, and twigs were sticking out of the shit. The trees were dead, leafless, and the barks of the trunks were falling apart, piece by piece. The house shouldn't even be called a house; there was no damned roof and it had a gigantic hole in the planks of wood of which the house was made of for a door. There were no windows, and no furniture whatsoever inside save for a tea table, a bed and a tattered unwashed rag on the floor. Why would Ukitake come to a place as run-down as this? Whoever lived in there should just go and get a job as a beggar instead! The place reeked! Not even the poorest of families would want to live in a dump like that!
"My, it's a pleasure to see you again, Juushirou."
Ichigo hid behind the planks of wood that were falling apart as he occasionally took a peek from the large 'door' outside the house. He could hear the floor cracking. "And it's not a pleasure to see you, Ganryuu." (A/N: From Bleach Memories of Nobody film. You know, that bad guy who had a wisp of hair that looks eerily a lot like Hitsu's? I'm making him OOC since…he doesn't show that much of a personality in the film anyways)
"Why the intense greeting?" Ganryuu taunted with a maniacal grin. "As brothers, we shouldn't be so cold to each other."
Ichigo nearly puked. Ukitake had a brother living in a dump as shitty as this?!
"As brothers, we shouldn't keep secrets from each other, especially when it's about Toushirou," Ukitake replied, still as coldly as before.
"Oh, so this is all about your precious son, isn't it? Wait, let me correct myself; this is all about my precious son, isn't it?"
Ichigo felt something churning in his stomach. Whatever he said about the dump, he would take it all back. He had no idea Hitsugaya stayed in such place. And did he hear correctly? Hitsugaya was Ukitake's son? No, Ganryuu's son? This was so confusing.
"If I had known Toushirou would suffer like this, I would've never given up the case all those years ago."
"But even if you had kept on fighting, it would be pointless, Juushirou. Of all aspects, I had the complete advantages. Custody of your son would still be given to me and your dear wife."
"Enough!" Ukitake banged his fist against the tea table as it shattered into nothingness. That was one piece of furniture gone. "I entrusted my son to you so that you would love him and give him the family he always wanted. I didn't entrust him to you so that he would have a rag for his bed and slash his wrist every single day and end up lying in the hospital, awaiting an operation!"
Ichigo ran to a deserted spot and threw up.
"But look at you now, Ganryuu…" Ukitake growled, regaining his composure. "You've lost everything. If we take up another lawsuit, who do you think the judge will hand the custody over to?"
There was a pause. Then a hiss and a snarl from Ganryuu. "You wouldn't…"
"Try me," Ukitake challenged, folding his arms. "I've lost my son once; I don't want to lose him again. Or maybe we should settle this in a more matured way. Just hand the custody of Toushirou back to me and we will stop bothering you." Without letting Ganryuu say another word, Ukitake left the house and was shocked to see Ichigo puking endlessly.
＜ブリーチ＞
Ukitake took a sip from his cup of hot milo before beginning his explanation, "Ten years ago, when Toushirou was three, my wife left me for another man who turned out to be my elder brother Ganryuu. He was my half-brother, and had the Hitsugaya family name. I was angered by the adultery, but my heart sank when my wife's motive wasn't just to marry Ganryuu; she wanted Toushirou as well. They brought up a lawsuit, and tried as I might, I still lost custody of my son to them." Ukitake shuddered at the memory while Ichigo was placing his hand on Ukitake's shoulder to calm him down. "Ganryuu was rich, so he had the financial advantage, as I was just a candy shop owner. Moreover, Toushirou would grow up in a full family instead of a single parent family, and the judge decided that the environment would be best if he didn't grow up in a single parent family. So my son went from Ukitake Toushirou to Hitsugaya Toushirou."
"When Toushirou was nine, his mother died. Hacked to pieces by the loan sharks. It turned out that Ganryuu owed huge debts and because of that, he lost everything that he owned, except for Toushirou. They lived in the run-down place ever since. That was when Toushirou came by my shop and downed his sorrow in candy. I recognized him straight away; he is my son, after all. I gave him all the candy he wanted for free, and told him that whenever he had the urge for candy, I would give as much as he wanted for free. He was grateful for that. Two years later, he apparently remembered me from his toddler past and pestered Ganryuu to reveal the truth. Ganryuu somewhat lied by saying that I was his uncle and he acknowledged me as his uncle ever since. However…"
"…Now he's thirteen, and to my utmost horror, he had been abused by Ganryuu continuously. Ganryuu vented all of his anger on him. I tried to stop him when I heard of it from Toushirou when he came by but my elder brother was drunk at that time and he spouted the entire truth about the past to me when I went there. I had no idea then that Toushirou had been there all along, listening. It was only till he came by the shop, wrist wrapped up in bandages, and asked for a lot of candy. He said he wanted to give them to his classmates. Every time I see him come to my shop, I would see his wrist covered in bandages. I was worried so I applied for the teaching job at the school he goes to, but I still couldn't find anything. Thanks to you, Ichigo-kun, I finally learnt of what transpired all this time…Thank you."
Ichigo was looking away, hiding the sorrow expressed in his eyes. "…It was nothing…sensei."
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Lights. Blinding lights. Curtains. Blue curtains. A pillow. A white, fluffy pillow. And a blanket…
Hitsugaya Toushirou's eyes snapped wide open, his vision instantly clearing up. The hospital…? Since when did he…?
"Toushirou!" Ukitake exclaimed, hugging him. "You finally came to!"
Hitsugaya blinked in confusion. "…Otou-san? What are you doing here? What am I doing here?"
Ukitake released Hitsugaya from his death hug and gripped his son by the shoulders. "You had to undergo the operation to replenish your blood loss. You could've died out there."
"…I'm…alive?" Ukitake didn't say anything, even though he was shocked by the fact that his son wanted so much to die. Not that he could blame him. "I…I shouldn't be alive…"
"Now, don't you go spouting nonsense. I don't want your blood dripping all over my carpets and sweets when we get home," Ukitake joked with a huge smile plastered on his face.
At first, Hitsugaya arched a silvery white eyebrow, not really getting the meaning behind the sentence, but after applying the inferential and comprehensive skills he learned in school, his eyes finally brightened up, but there was still the matter of his usual scowl on his face. "I don't have to live there anymore?"
Ukitake's smile widened. "Of course not. You are my son, aren't you?" He then left it at that and changed the subject altogether. "Oh yes, Toushirou, do you remember the one who brought you here to the hospital?" he teased jokingly, even though he knew perfectly well who it was. "Well, he's that orange-haired boy in your class, Kurosaki Ichigo. My, I had no idea that he cared for you that much."
"…Stop teasing or else I'll stop eating candy," Hitsugaya retorted, pouting.
"I just wanted to know my son more. We have a lot of catching up to do." Ukitake brightened. "So, Toushirou, tell your old man: who is Ichigo-kun to you?"
"……He's just a friend, otou-san. A very…special…friend…"
At the word special, Hitsugaya's cheeks flushed a bright shade of crimson.
And it wasn't because of the fever he still had.
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"Oi, Kurosaki. Remember, don't tell Ukitake-sensei or else."
There was a chuckle, he remembered. "Alright, alright, Toushirou. You're looking bright today. Had a good night's sleep last night?"
"Can it, Kurosaki."
"Aw, c'mon, you gotta admit that my closet is at least slightly more comfortable than the floor."
"I took up your offer to sleep in your house only because I don't want you pissing me off everyday just so that I sleep over in your house."
"Wow, so mean…" There was a slight scuffle of some sort before Kurosaki held him by the wrists, he remembered. The pain of his slit wrist was present, but he didn't seem to care. "…But I love you for it."
"…You're an idiot, Kurosaki."
A smirk. "And you love me for it."
As Hitsugaya could remember exceptionally vividly…there was a kiss that they shared after that.
Because for once in his entire life…
He felt loved.
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A/N: …Did anyone notice the blotch of blood on Hitsugaya's shihakushou somewhere during the DiamondDust Rebellion trailer?
Sorry, that was completely random; it had nothing to do with the story. Something's whacked up with me XD
Anyways…what do you think? I wasn't intending for it to be love-love relationship between Hitsu and Ichi, since the title means friend and I wanted for this to be a friendship thing, but…I guess my inner HitsuIchi fangirl couldn't resist typing down the flashback.
In any case, please review! I have another HitsuIchi fanfic idea due to my lovable HIRS but it's a multi-chapter one so…oh, and another idea for random crack pairings I love in Bleach, including HitsuIchi (would that count as crack?), but it's also multi-chapter so…you get the idea. I'll need to finish one of my major fics before I get on with them so please be patient. It'll be worth the wait; I swear!
Reflect the truth of which you see
Tsuki-no-Kurokage