This Light, The Will of the Heart, I See
"It is a very risky operation, but it is the only plan of attack we have. I wish you all good luck." – Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryusai (is that in the right order?!)
NOTE: This is the second revision of this fanfic. If you have been reading it before, ya might wanna go back through an' look through it again… All of the chapters have been revised.
Inspiration: This Light I See by Toshiro Hitsugaya (Bleach Beat Collection), Will of the Heart, and Empathy by KanonKyoya (idk if I spelt that right…)
Chapter Rating: PG-13 for minor fight scenes and minor fluff
Spoiler Warnings: None that I can think of.
(note: it's the typical Japanese way of saying names; last name first)
Chapter 1: The Arrancar
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Sakana Satoshi was a patient captain, even if it didn't seem like it. Her patience had earned her her position in the Court Guard Squads. But even still, her patience was tried and tried again, with the same result; a lazy gesture, a "yare, yare…", or something to that effect. It was rare when the fourteenth taichou was angry, and nothing truly angered her.
The taichou had just come back from an important meeting; apparently, fifth division fukutaichou Momo Hinamori had disappeared, leaving all the responsibility to the fifth captain, Amaya "Higashi" Aizen, the daughter of the traitor. Sakana's squad, being a squad that trained animals for tracking and fighting, was in charge of finding Momo, but with no luck. Finally, the taichou had sat down at her desk, staring off into space like she normally did.
Toshiro Hitsugaya was an icy taichou, rarely showing any emotion (but not a total block of ice like a certain scarf-wearing captain). He was a prodigy, known for his skills and sharp mind. When there was a problem, his squad was typically called in for help. When his patience was tried, he got more and more irritated, until the temperature had successfully gone below freezing and the provoker finally became scared enough to leave him alone.
This taichou was also at the meeting, but he hadn't paid any attention to it. Instead, he had spent the two hours staring at his taichou counterpart. They had been great friends in their childhood. Sakana was born like a noble, although her mother wasn't a member of the noble families. Sakana was a day and a hundred years older than Toshiro, although they looked the exact same age. She was short just like him (albeit only half an inch taller than him, which she gloated about on random occasions); so short that she had to carry her Zanpakuto on her back, and hated paperwork as much as Rangiku or Shunsui (avoided it like it was the plague), but knew her duties as a captain and (reluctantly) did it anyway.
The two seemed to be complete opposites. Even their Zanpakuto were contradictory; Toshiro, an ice Zanpakuto, and Sakana, a flame Zanpakuto. Nonetheless, the two were very good friends, until an incident that happened a few days later.
Sakana woke up to the sunlight in her face. Grumbling, she got out of bed and got ready. Quite faintly, she could hear a few soul reapers chatting, and Sakana, who had nothing else better to do at that particular moment, eavesdropped on their conversation from her quarters.
"Hai, I heard she came back yesterday."
"That's a relief. The 5th division is hopeless sometimes without both the captain and the lieutenant." The other Shinigami said. Sakana raised an eyebrow. If Momo had come back to the Soul Society, Toshiro and Sakana would have noticed it at once, and the captains would know before their subordinates. Something didn't sit well with the captain, so she went to go pay her friend Hitsugaya a visit.
"Toshiro!" Sakana exclaimed cheerfully, bursting into the office. Rangiku was nowhere to be seen, as usual; the lazy busty fukutaichou was probably either drinking or… drinking. Or sleeping somewhere other than the office. Sakana knew Rangiku avoided paperwork like the plague. Toshiro looked up at his fellow captain and sighed.
"It's Hitsugaya-taichou."
"Whatever. Hey, I overheard a couple of people talking about how Hinamori is back in the Seireitei."
Toshiro raised a slender white eyebrow. "How? We would have noticed by now."
Hinamori Momo, the girl who was basically Hitsugaya's sister, had gone missing about two months after Aizen defected. Many people were unsure of how to take the girl's sudden disappearance, but the basic idea was that she too had defected and went to join "her Captain Aizen". Toshiro had spent a week trying to find his sister, but to no avail. As the weeks passed, more and more people suspected she was on Aizen's side.
"I… just don't know." Sakana said, bowing her head slightly. She stretched. "It's so confusing. I just don't get it. It does not make sense."
Toshiro smirked, "I'm sure it's nothing. Nothing you can't handle, at least." He said, causing the other captain to flush slightly.
"Okay, yuki-ouji cut it out." She said, reaching out to ruffle his hair; the other captain shunpo'ed out of his seat onto the sofa as a low growl came from Sakana. Toshiro looked at her in alarm, and noticed the other taichou was blushing.
"I'm hungry." Sakana said sheepishly.
"Then go to your division and eat." Toshiro grumbled, crossing his arms. Sakana gave him a skeptical look.
"Remember, my division has a serious lack of food for no apparently reason." Sakana smiled. Toshiro sighed and got up, leading his friend to his refrigerator in a spare room. Sakana was always hungry because she burnt so much energy trying to keep her reiatsu from overpowering everyone. All captains had to do this; it took more energy for some than others. Sakana pulled out some food and began eating it.
"I hope you know we have to get going. Meeting." Toshiro said. Sakana muttered something that sounded like "again, dammit?!" and followed her fellow taichou out of the building.
True to the Generic Random Subordinate's word, Hinamori had indeed returned. Sakana sat in her spot, a very soft growl resting in the back of her throat. Hinamori walked past Toshiro and said, "Hello, Hitsugaya-Taichou."
"Hitsugaya-Taichou?" Sakana thought, skeptical. The 14th division captain was now very suspicious. Something was not right, but she couldn't just say "hey, I think this isn't Hinamori", so she stayed quiet. However, she still could not quell the low growl in the back of her throat.
"So, you really did return, huh?" Toshiro asked casually. Hinamori nodded.
"I sure did, Hitsugaya-Taichou. After all, I'm here." Hinamori said. She then went to go stand in her spot next to her captain. Sakana then had an idea, and went over to the 5th division fukutaichou.
"Ooi, Hinamori." Sakana said.
"Ohayo, Satoshi-Taichou." Momo replied, "Is there something I can do for you?"
"I was just wondering if you were okay, that's all." Sakana said offhandedly. Sakana could smell Hinamori's scent— that was for certain— but underneath it she could smell a much different scent that made her skin crawl.
Arrancar.
"Oops, the meeting's about to start!" Sakana said in a hurry, rushing back to her spot next to Toshiro (Mayuri was out on a mission to the world of the living to visit Kisuke on some important business). Yamamoto started talking about properly filing paperwork. In the middle of Yamamoto's lecture, Sakana leaned over and whispered into his ear.
"Something's not right."
"What do you mean?" the white-haired genius asked. Sakana looked over at Hinamori, who was paying attention to the soutaichou's every word.
"Her scent; I can smell arrancar underneath it."
Toshiro let out a soft gasp. "What?"
The soutaichou looked at the two of them, and they looked back rather innocently. He continued talking, and Sakana leaned towards Toshiro again.
"It's true. I can smell Arrancar underneath Hinamori's scent. Whoever that is… it's not Momo. I'm surprised Amaya-chan hasn't noticed anything yet." Sakana gestured at her former fukutaichou, who seemed to be drifting off.
"What'll we do?" Hitsugaya asked. Sakana raised an eyebrow in surprise; normally the young taichou would have something in mind.
"We'll wait for now. She just got back, after all." Sakana said.
"Hitsugaya-taichou. Satoshi-taichou. What is so interesting that you must interrupt my lecture?" Yamamoto's voice boomed out. The two taichou exchanged a brief glance before Sakana spoke up.
"We'll tell you later." Sakana said lazily, receiving a glare from the soutaichou.
"You two will stay after the meeting." He growled. Sakana couldn't help but laugh (on the inside) at the soutaichou. It was so humorous when old people got angry. Yamamoto dismissed the meeting a few minutes later.
"Hitsugaya-taichou, Satoshi-taichou…" Yamamoto's voice trailed off as he noticed that the two young taichou were not there. The old soutaichou's eye twitched angrily and he moved swiftly out of the room to give "those two whippersnappers" a piece of his mind. He was surprised to see the two taichou watching Momo leave.
"Huh? Oh, sumanai, Yamamoto-soutaichou." Sakana said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
"What were you two talking about earlier during my lecture?" Yamamoto asked. The two taichou looked at each other again.
"Well, we haven't exactly verified it yet but… we don't think that that's Hinamori-fukutaichou." Toshiro said, pointing in the direction the fukutaichou had stridden off. Yamamoto's eyebrow raised.
"And why do you believe that is?"
Sakana paused for a moment. She knew Ara, her third seat, told her that everyone had their own individual scent (like hers was ink and primrose), but until a few days ago she had not been able to smell such scents. She didn't want to mention this to the soutaichou, so she stated her other fact. "She called Hitsugaya-taichou by his title."
"And what's so surprising about that?"
"She NEVER does that. NEVER. I'm always correcting her." Toshiro said.
Yamamoto knew that the two could handle themselves, so he simply told them to keep a close watch on Hinamori and investigate it further. He also told them to take any action necessary after they found out what they needed to know. The two captains walked down the street, following Hinamori's path of travel.
"Are we going to stalk—"
Hitsugaya's words were cut off with a loud scream. The two captains shunpo'ed to get to where they thought the scream was. Hinamori was standing over Kira Izuru's body, Zanpakuto in hand. A hanyou hutokutei niji (A/N: Generic Random Subordinate, or GRS [HHN in Japanese]) had noticed this and screamed in horror.
"Mo…mo…" Toshiro said, astonished. The fukutaichou turned to the two captains, pointing the blood-soaked Zanpakuto at them.
"The Hinamori Momo you know is gone." She said. Sakana managed to get a whiff of the scent underneath Hinamori's. It was definitely an Arrancar, but how did it get into the Seireitei without them noticing something?
"Who are you?"
"Why, I'm Hinamori Momo, 5th division Fukutaichou."
Sakana's lips pulled into a smirk. She had her ace drawn, and was ready to play it. The answer to this question would determine if the taichou could attack or not.
"What do you normally call him?" Sakana asked, gesturing towards Toshiro. Momo laughed, making both taichou uncomfortable.
"Hitsugaya-taichou, what else?"
Sakana leapt forward. Neither Toshiro nor "Hinamori" saw the taichou disappear before Sakana landed on Hinamori with a loud thud. Sakana was now sitting on Hinamori, pinning her hands down with her own.
"Wrong answer. Now, who are you, really?" Sakana growled. "Hinamori's" face suddenly took on a hollowish grin, and Sakana could feel the Arrancar's reiatsu underneath her. The captain leapt off and landed back next to Hitsugaya.
"How nice of you to ask. I was ill-informed, then. My name is Gay, and I'm one of Aizen-sama's special arrancar. I can take the appearance of anyone." Gay said, turning into an arrancar. He had grey-ish red hair and silver eyes. He was wearing a Shikakushou (AN: The black kimono that soul reapers wear), which made Toshiro wonder if Hinamori had really sided with Aizen for a split second.
Sakana had to resist the urge to burst into laughter, but she failed miserably. "Gay? That's your name? Gay?!" The taichou almost toppled onto the ground with laughter. The arrancar turned an angry red and gripped his Zanpakuto even tighter.
"What are you doing here? Where's Hinamori?" Toshiro asked angrily; he had much more self-control than his fiery counterpart. Gay smiled again and lunged at Sakana, grabbing her. Sakana stopped laughing and looked alarmed for a moment.
"Hinamori has gone to Aizen-sama."
The cold truth settled on their shoulders. So the rumors that had been circulating around the Seireitei were right; Hinamori had defected as well. Toshiro gritted his teeth. She would be labeled as a traitor from now on. Even if she did come back to the soul society, it would not make a bit of difference. They would execute her.
Toshiro was now seething. No one dared to put a finger on his Sakana. He blushed inwardly when he realized he had claimed Sakana as his. Sakana was now squirming.
"There's no escape. You can't get out of my grip." Gay said. Sakana managed to put one hand (her right; she wields her Zanpakuto with her left hand) on her Zanpakuto.
"Who said I wanted to escape? Honouten ni Umuranzatsu!" Sakana shouted.
The air became insufferably hot for a brief moment, and Gay leapt away from the 14th division taichou. She now held her Zanpakuto in her left hand, a grin spread across her face. Toshiro knew that the girl was not one that craved fighting (like Zaraki), but she did enjoy a good fight now and then. And right about now, she was looking for one.
"Kaenrinmaru!"
Toshiro leapt onto the roof of a nearby building as Sakana swung her Zanpakuto. A dragon came from the tip of her Zanpakuto, but it was made of fire. Gay dodged the flames and released his Zanpakuto.
"Ahogar, Fuego-Asesino!" (1)
A torrent of water came towards Sakana, who had a mortified look on her face. The taichou was knocked off of her feet by the large amount of water. When it had washed away, Sakana was soaking wet and shivering. Toshiro leapt down and drew his Zanpakuto.
"Souten ni Zase! Hyorinmaru!" Toshiro yelled, protecting Sakana from another torrent of water. Sakana shook her Zanpakuto off and tried to attack, but all that came was a pillar of smoke. Damn, this was the worst opponent for Sakana: a fire-killer. Unless she could dry herself and her Zanpakuto off, she would be useless. (like Roy Mustang, lol)
"Damn…" Sakana grumbled. Toshiro narrowed his eyes as Gay attacked with a more relentless water attack.
"Sakana, go and get Kira to the fourth Division. I'll take care of… him." Hitsugaya said, not wanting to say his name without laughing. Sakana nodded and peeked out from the wall of ice Toshiro had created. Gay was standing a ways away from the third fukutaichou. Using shunpo, she dashed out from behind the wall, past Gay, and picked up Izuru.
"You think you can get away that easily?" Gay shouted, swinging his Zanpakuto at Sakana. Toshiro hadn't anticipated that, and rushed forward to freeze the water attack in its tracks. Instead, the water blast threw the 10th division taichou into a wall, where he slumped to the ground, blood seeping from his head. Sakana shouted his name, and he looked up. His sight was starting to get blurred, and the taichou fell unconscious, his grip on Hyorinmaru loosening.
"Toshiro! TOSHIRO!"
Sakana shouted at her friend, but he was unresponsive. Gay laughed at Sakana's expression; the taichou was now snarling, looking extremely pissed. A few fourth division members, Unohana Retsu included, came to the scene.
"Unohana-chan." Sakana said, waving her hand with her Zanpakuto in it. Retsu gently took Izuru from Sakana's grasp. "Who's that?"
"Nobody important, just an Arrancar that I'm going to kill." Sakana said, narrowing her eyes. Unohana didn't respond to the taichou, but turned to Isane.
"Isane-san, please retrieve Hitsugaya-taichou. He must be treated immediately." Unohana said. Isane ran to the small taichou and gently picked him up. Surprisingly, the frosty taichou was very light. Sakana leapt at Gay and their swords clashed. Sakana gritted her teeth and shoved Gay back before barking an order at the relief squad.
"Get out of here! I can't hold him off forever!"
Unohana and Isane nodded shunpo'ing away to the fourth division. The two combatants leapt away from each other, and Sakana removed her haori.
"Now that they're out of the way, I can finally get serious."
"Shinni? So you weren't serious before?" Gay asked, grinning. Sakana simply smirked at the arrancar. He wouldn't know what hit him.
"Bankai."
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Translations and kuso like that
Ooi: Hey!
Ohayo: Good Morning.
Yare yare: Oh dear, or my my. Shunsui has a tendency to say this a lot.
Hai: yes.
Yuki-ouji: Snow/Ice Prince. Sakana's pet name for Toshiro. She calls him that a lot when they are alone together.
Sumanai: I'm sorry.
Hanyou hutokutei niji (HHN): Generic Random Subordinate (GRS). One of those random filler characters that shout something in the background. Nobody cares about them. IT'S SOLDIER A! (ish listening to Soldier A by Vic Mignogna)
Honouten ni Umuranzatsu: the Shikai release for Kaenrinmaru. It roughly translates to Bring disorder on the blazing heavens.
Ahogar, Fuego-Asesino: The name of Gay's (snort) Zanpakuto. It's Spanish (I don't know if it's right, though. I'll have to ask my Mexican buddy.) for Drown, fire-killer. As you can tell, it's a water-type (Pokémon! Naw, joking.) Zanpakuto.
Shinni: Really?
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(1) They will figure out later that Gay is actually a really special Arrancar. He can take on the appearance of any person, soul reaper or otherwise. Therefore, he doesn't really look like an Arrancar. Another special think about Gay is his Zanpakuto. You know how arrancar change shape when they release their Zanpakuto? Gay doesn't do that. Aizen specially created Gay to infiltrate and blend in with the soul society.