This story is a collection of mine, which will contain HitsugayaxHinamori stories that are specifically set in a High School universe. This universe may or may not be the same in each chapter, so keep an eye on the author notes of each chapter, where I will mention if it is connected to any of the others in the collection. As of right now, the third chapter may relate to the second, but the third hasn't been written yet.

Anyway, please enjoy this story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or the title of this story, which belongs to Blink-182.

Reckless Abandon

By Kouzumi93

Chapter One: Car Crash

Stop!

That was all I could hear in my mind.

Stop! Stop the fucking car! Step on the brakes and stop the fucking car, Toushiro!

Tires squealed and there was a loud crash that resonated throughout my entire existence. All I could feel was pain and I soon blacked out.

~Flashback~

I had been in a hurry to get to Hinamori's house, as I had overslept, and now the both of us were going to end up being late for school. I was taking all the back roads to avoid as much traffic as possible. I figured I was over the speed limit, but I never looked down to see exactly how fast I was going.

At seven fifty-two, I pulled up outside her house. School started in only eight minutes and, on average, it took us twenty five minutes to get there. We were going to be really late, all because I had forgotten to turn my alarm on the night before.

Hinamori was waiting on her porch when I pulled up and she jumped in the car. No sooner had she shut the car door, I was driving off. I made sure that she put her seat belt on, just in case we managed to get pulled over for speeding, since I knew I was, I just wasn't sure by how much.

Seven minutes later, we were almost halfway to the school, thanks to my fast, yet rather reckless driving. And the fact that we had not managed to hit any light red yet. Slowing the car down safely for one would have been a bitch.

"Hitsugaya-kun, slow down. It's no big deal that we'll be late for school. I've never been late yet this year, so it'll be okay for me."

I said nothing, hardly moved. I kept watching the road, not relaxing the speed at all. I wasn't allowed to be late or my father was going to revoke my driving privileges based on how late I was. One minute equalled one day and I would be grounded to my house for that whole time as well.

"Getting pulled over is much worse than being late to school, Hitsugaya-kun. Please slow down."

"We're almost there. Cops aren't even out at this time, and they don't bother patrolling the back roads or the area around the school. It'll be fine, Hinamori. Nothing is going to happen."

"We're going to be late anyway, Hitsugaya-kun! I just want to get there safely and without any sort of problems whatsoever. So will you please just slow down?"

I looked over at her. "Hinamori..."

A horn blared and when I looked up, I realized that I had accidentally swerved into the other lane. We were only about twenty feet away from driving straight into another car that was headed straight towards up.

"Hitsugaya-kun, stop!" Hinamori screamed, obviously just as panicked as I was.

I couldn't move. I was frozen in fear, afraid of the fate that would await us in just a few seconds. I tried to hit the brakes. I tried to change back into the lane that I was supposed to be in, but it was inevitable.

We were going to crash, and I'm certain that I saw my life flash before my eyes. I vaguely remember yanking the steering wheel to the left, but I don't even know if I did. Maybe I thought I did because it was the thing I wanted to do most to avoid the collision.

Hinamori screamed and I probably did too, but I don't remember. I think that Hinamori's screams may have drowned out any screams that I had made. I guess I'll probably never know.

~End Flashback~

I woke up in a dimly lit room and my body was numb all over. I couldn't feel anything and for a moment, I truly thought that I had died. I could hardly remember what had happened to me, nor quite how much time had passed.

Then the memories hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt the whole experience all over again and nearly passed out. Only one thought really dug its way into my mind through that thick memory that was currently plaguing my head: Where is Hinamori?

I looked around the room as best as I could with my injuries, but I could see clearly that I was all alone in the room. Through the curtains and the window, I could see that the sky was dark. That would mean that at least twelve hours had passed since the accident, since it had occurred so early in the morning.

Hinamori was nowhere to be found by me, and because I hadn't wanted to be late to school, I was in a hospital room. Damn it! I'm such a fool! I hadn't listened to Hinamori's serious advise, and now I was paying the price.

Not just me, though. Hinamori was too, and so were the people who were in the other car that I hit. I knew at once that this mistake was going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I wished that my life would just end right then.

For now, since I couldn't sit up or move or do anything, I would just rest and deal with all of this when I was up and able to stand on my own two feet. I drifted back off into a dreamless sleep, hoping that when I awoke, some answers would be available to me.

Or that all of this had just been a horrible nightmare that fate was locking me up in until I learned my lesson or it felt that I could be released.

I'm not exactly sure how long I slept for after that, but when I woke up, the sky was blue outside. I noticed someone sitting in the chair on the right side of my bed. I tested my range of motion, turning to look at the figure, surprised when I saw that it was my father. His elbows were propped up on the edge of my bed and his face was buried in his hands.

He wasn't crying, he hadn't been, I figured, and that made me relax a bit. I hadn't seen my father cry since my mother had died three years ago, so if he was crying, that would mean that I was probably not going to make it or he thought that I was already dead.

"Otou-san..." My throat hurt pretty bad, so I was certain that I had spoken much to softly for him to have heard me, but he lifted his head from his hands and turned to look at me. His eyes widened in surprise.

"You're awake, Toushiro. How are you feeling?"

"I can't move much and I can hardly feel anything, but other than that, I'm alright I guess. I mean, I'm alive."

"Yes, well the doctor said that it will be a while until your movement has returned completely. Maybe another two weeks. Until then, you are to rest and restore your energy."

I nodded as best as I could, then decided that I would risk asking the one big thing that I really wanted to know. No, what I just had to know. "Where is Hinamori?"

My father's expression hardly changed, but it did seem to have the aura of foreboding to it. "Rest, Toushiro, and gather your strength. I'll go inform the doctor that you have awakened."

"Hey, wait! Otou-san, tell me where Hinamori is at!" I began to cough, having over-extended my voice past its current limitation. I hated that he wasn't telling me anything about the whereabouts of my best friend.

"Don't worry about it so much, Toushiro. Rest for now and we'll talk later." He left the room and I lay there staring at the ceiling.

Just rest? How could I when I had this eerie feeling in my gut that told me that Hinamori was dead? I couldn't live with myself if I had killed her and my father should have known that silence only brought more questions. Not to mention guilt.

I was not going to rest until my father gave me an accurate, straight answer. I was sure that I had enough willpower to keep me going until my father came back.

But of course, what I really wanted to do was nothing compared to what I desperately needed to do for survival, and I soon found myself slowly starting to sink back into the dark abyss of unconsciousness. I'd have to wait to worry and find out about Hinamori until I was able to stay awake for a long period of time.

So much for willpower, eh?

I almost didn't want to wake up again. If there was even the slightest possibility that she was dead, I didn't want to go back to living in the world that I had cruelly taken her from. Everyone would hate me and I would never be able to face her parents so as to apologize. No, it would be better if I were dead too.

Despite my negative outlook and wishes to stay asleep, I woke up again in that stark white room. My father was not present in the room this time, and I wasn't quite sure whether that was a good or a bad thing.

I'd say it was a mixture of both. Good because I didn't have to hear him lecturing me about resting, but bad because I wouldn't be able to ask him about Hinamori. Though I wasn't sure if I was quite ready to be told what I was convinced was true, so I lay still, glancing around the room while testing to see what I could and couldn't move.

I managed to sit myself up just a bit using my right arm only, as I discovered that my left one was broken. From the looks of it, both of my legs seemed to be broken as well, but I couldn't be quite so sure, as it could just be that my movement had not returned to them yet. I had to be careful of moving, as everything hurt from the cuts, bruises and burns that covered my body.

After I had myself situated, I managed to get a better view of the hospital room that I was stuck in. It was the standard white room, the only major colour being the light green curtains hanging from the window to my right. Directly across from me rigged on the wall was a silver clock, next to which there was a television that I could probably watch if I wanted to.

That room would have been no problem for most people to deal with, but I hated it. I hated white, especially when it covered an entire room like it did. For some reason, white had always reminded me of death, and that principal had escalated after my mother died.

Suddenly, I heard the door open and then close again. When I looked up to see who it was, I couldn't believe my eyes. I rubbed my eyes just to make sure that I wasn't hallucinating. Nothing changed.

It really was her! Hinamori was standing in my doorway! And-she was alive, albeit somewhat banged up.

"Hitsugaya-kun..." She started, but trailed off as if she didn't know what to say.

"I'm glad that you're alright, Hinamori." I had almost let it slip out that I thought that she was dead, but I caught myself just before I said it. It wasn't the least bit important.

"Yeah." She walked over to me. She sat down in the chair and looked down at the floor as if she was the one who was sorry or ashamed. "I...I thought that you weren't going to make it. Every time that I came in here, you were out cold and up until three days ago, your father told me that you had yet to wake up. I thought you were gone, Hitsugaya-kun."

She began to cry, making me feel even worse for having not listened to her that day in the car. If only I had slowed down, this probably never would have happened. Hinamori wouldn't be sitting there crying, and I wouldn't be so helpless.

"Please don't cry, Hinamori. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry."

Hinamori said nothing, but it was obvious that she was making an attempt to stop crying, as it became quieter, then was replaced with hiccups.

I'm not entirely aware of exactly when I fell back asleep again, but I'm sure that Hinamori was still in the room. I don't quite recall hearing the door open or close, and I figure that her soft cries and hiccups were what put me to sleep.

I woke up a little while later to someone tapping me on the shoulder. I slowly opened my eyes only to be greeted with brown ones. Hinamori... "What is it?"

"You've got a large group of visitors, Hitsugaya-kun." She pointed over me to the other side of the room. I turned my head and saw seven of my school friends sitting around in the room.

With all of them, it made the room a little too crowded, but when you're trapped in a bed and can't move, it doesn't really matter. Besides, they added some splashes of colour around the room, overpowering the white that I so hated.

Thanks to my friends, I found out that I had missed nearly three weeks of school already. Apparently, there was a lot of speculation that I had died, and a large number of students were convinced that that rumour was true. It scared me a bit that they could believe something so serious like that when there was clearly no evidence to prove it.

Eventually, visiting hours ended and all of my friends were forced to leave. Forced to leave me alone in that white room once again.

Two weeks went by like that. My friends would visit, tell me all about what was happening in school in my absence, all while my movement returned and wounds closed up and healed. My father visited me too, and from him I found out the extent of my injuries. My legs had not been broken, I merely could not move them due to the numbness of my body. My left arm, though, was a different story.

Apparently there had been a delay in the airbag system on the driver's side of the car, and during that short delay, my arm had managed to become caught in the steering wheel. When the airbag had finally gone off, it had been disastrous.

I also had a concussion, three broken ribs, and I had been in a coma for two weeks because of the severity of my injuries.

I had also asked about Hinamori and had found out that she was a hell of a lot better off than I was. She too had a concussion, though not quite as severe, a broken collarbone and a few broken ribs. She had been in the hospital for about a week and a half before being released.

I was to go back to school one week after I returned home. That week was for me to get back into the swing of things and do as much schoolwork that I had missed as possible. I wasn't near ready to go back, not after having been gone for five weeks and having half of the student body thinking that I was dead.

To me, it would feel as if I was worlds behind the other students in the work, though I had managed, unfortunately, to keep up with drama, rumours and gossip thanks to Matsumoto's blabbering about every little detail in everyone's lives during the daily visits to my room.

I didn't see how that kind of stuff was going to help me catch up in school, but it would keep me out of trouble with some of the students-recently-turned-bullies. Kids like Grimmjow Jaegerjaques were bullying other kids from lower and upper grades, such as Hanatarou Yamada and Asano Keigo.

If I had not known that he had become such a bully during my absence, it could, and probably would, get pretty ugly.

I had learned one, no, two very important things from this experience of mine: reckless driving very likely could get you or someone you cared about killed, and if your friend gives you advice, you should probably seriously consider it.

It could save a life.

What do you think? I tried to make it as realistic as I could, but I'm not sure if I've reached it quite yet. I've been told that it's really well written by many (my mother included), so I do hope that you have enjoyed it. I certainly enjoyed writing it for you.

Review please! Other chapters may come eventually, but this is it for now. :D