TRILOGY OF A DIFFERENT SETTING

by VacantEyes

This is an Hitsugaya x Matsumoto pairing where the settings are a bit different from the original plot line of Bleach as specified at the preamble. This is set after the flight of AizenTousenGin from Seireitei.

BETRAYAL

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I edited the Japanese parts to my best effort and divided the prose legibly. No additions as yet, but easier read.

Here the plot of "Bleach" is a bit changed.

Gin and Matsumoto are captain and vice-captain for 3rd division, Hitsugaya and Hinamori are captain and vice-captain for 10th Division but before that Hinamori was Aizen's vice-captain. She was however, transferred to be Hitsugaya's vice-captain at Aizen's approval because she lost a bet to Hitsugaya when she claimed that he could not be a captain before she became a captain. Aizen and Kira are captain and vice-captain again for the 5th division. The set up of Hinamori going against Hitsugaya is the same but here, Aizen was a foster father/ mentor to Hinamori as well as her secret love .The betrayal of Aizen, Tousen and Gin are all the same. Hitsugaya doesn't know Matsumoto that much here, in fact, they have never actually spoken to each other. The scenario at the beginning of this story is the aftermath of the escape of the traitor trio from Seireitei.

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Matsumoto blinked. She was looking outside her window seated on a chair, hand on cheek, her dreamily blue eyes gazing at something faraway in the sky invisible to the eye.

She remained behind. Nothing was there that had held her back but then again why? Why had she stayed behind?

She knew the answer. She knew that despite her personality, she had a very strong sense of justice and she had always lived on her own terms. She knew that had she left, in retrospect, she would always, always regret following him. Time had taught her she would not rise in his regard no matter what she did and that she could not live with herself if she was compelled to commit deeds that were plain right wrong even if it involved letting go of the man she loved forever. " Forever?", she thought. "Forever", she said. She sighed. She heard a footstep behind. She turned. It was Shuuhei Hisagi. He was looking at her with concerned eyes.

"What's with the look?", Matsumoto demanded with drawn eye-brows. He looked down for a moment and said looking up, "let's drink, Matsumoto-san". Her eyes softened a bit when she thought Shuuhei was in the same position as her. Almost.

Two hours later, Matsumoto was bawling expletives on the traitor-taichous and Shuuhei was loudly agreeing.

"Sumimasen, Matsumoto-fukataichou".

"Eh?", Matsumoto drunkenly turned around.

"Yamamoto-sama has requested your audience, Ma'am", a subordinate shinigami bowed.

"Eh?", Matsumoto blinked, "Damn".

-----------------------------

"Matsumoto-san, it has been confirmed that you had no inkling of the plot in which your ex-Taichou was involved in and neither were you privy to his and his comrades' unlawful actions and discussions. I hereby declare you have been cleared of all suspicions of being involved in any way against Seireitei"

"Glad to be notified of that, sir"

" However, might I count on your loyalty so as to return to active duty at this moment?"

"I am honored to do so, sir"

"With your consent, I would like to appoint you Fukutaichou of the 10th division"

"I-I beg your pardon, sir"

"You would be acting as the working captain of the 3rd Division and perform all the duties as an acting captain but by designation, you would be the vice-captain of 10th Division, you would also be reporting to the 10th Division captain"

"But-but….how about the 9th division vice-captain?"

"I do not see this matter to be of your concern, you may leave now"

"I- …please excuse me"

-----------------------

Outside, Matsumoto was in towering rage. "Such humiliation!", her blue eyes blazed in fury and she stared at her tight fist.

"Matsumoto-san"

"Have you heard about yourself from the General?"

"Ah-…yes" Shuuhei replied in a small voice, looking sideways.

"Even, you have not been promoted, have you?"

"Well no, I have been made vice-captain of 13th Division though I would be performing all duties of the 9th Division captain", he explained.

Matsumoto raised an eye-brow thinking to herself," I am surprised that Ukitake-taichou would agree to this" but saying out aloud, "Know what this means?"

"Yes"

"It means we both will be in constant supervision but will not attend the captains' meetings plus take all the workload of our Division along with extras from the other"

"well, I can hardly blame him for still being suspicious of us"

"Well, why the hell not???"

"Matsumoto, have you seen how deep and expansive the whole thing has been? Menos Grande actually penetrating Seireitei?? It has been planned all too grandly for us the most probable witnesses to actually miss all of it? 3 Divisions loosing their captains and 2 their vice-captains, and could they actually believe , both of us between all these were innocent and pure?"

Matsumoto actually felt a little overwhelmed with the sense his explanation made and was silent for a moment.

"I guess Ukitake-taichou and Hitsugaya-taichou saved our asses a bit when they agreed to supervise us", Shuuhei mentioned.

"Uh, so that's why Ukitake-taichou might have assented to take you as his vice-captain?"

"I think so too, though I have no idea what the alternative might have been; but I think, it could have been worse"

"How about Kira, Hinamori and the 5th Division?"

"Kira is on trial for following his captain's orders and Hinamori is on trial for not following her captain's orders as well as going against him while the 5th Division will come directly under the General"

"Quite the dictator, isn't he?"

"Shhh, please don't get us more involved than the mess we already are in!!"

" So the subordinates pay for the master's sins, right?"

"Hmm (nod)"

"So we wont be able to be involved in the first hand discussions against the traitors"

"Nope, most probably we will get the filtered information though but with Ukitake-taichou whom I have known for a while, I guess I will be able to be a bit more active"

"My case is pretty dire in comparison. I don't know whether or when would I get a break at actual captaincy or the-as-of-now-number-one-priority mission in Seireitei"

"I don't think you have to wait for long since it seems Hitsugaya-taichou might actually hold you in some respect"

"??…for saving his fukataichou? Hmmm, I also heard she is his childhood friend. You might just be right"

"Well, that also but that's not the reason I say this"

"Then pray tell me why?"

"Because, I think, though this mode of handling us was devised by Ukitake-taichou , it was Hitsugaya-taichou who recommended your name for his vice-captaincy position."

"WHAT???"

-----------------------------

"Then pray tell me why?"

"Because, I think though this mode of handling us was devised by Ukitake-taichou , Hitsugaya-taichou recommended your name for his vice-captaincy position."

"WHAT???"

For some reason, these words kept coming back to her as she walked towards the 10th Division headquarters. She didn't know whether it was a boon or curse. If the taichou was grateful to her for saving his lieutenant-cum-childhood-buddy, it was just pure 'chance'. She remembered that night; the dark sky with a strange blue light, frozen ice all around and Gin's sword piercing through it out of no where towards a sprawled figure apparently unconscious and defenseless. Her instinct caught on and she faced Gin defending Hinamori with her Haineko. She saw how his face fell and she defiantly faced him, all the rumors that she heard ringing true suddenly. She felt an unknown strength to deal with the matter at hand at that moment. Unthinkingly, she had given back control to her mind for the first time with Gin in front of her. Thinking back now, she wondered how she could have actually reacted at all. Before , Gin had been dissuading her in missions all along keeping her away from himself and a bug had crept into her mind then. But her thoughts and heart were waging a war inside her. She gave control to her heart all the time, the trust that she had given him, all those years. She thought that the starving boy who had the kindness of saving a dying girl with his last morsel of bread could not be all that bad. She heard a person whose eyes you could not see, who wore a smiling mask always, who spoke in a suspicious accent was not trustworthy. She would mentally scream "Chingao! you don't know him like I do, he just looks so. But inside, he is actually very kind." She often thought he enjoyed looking like the bad guy.

she smirked . "At least, the one who looks like your total opposite is the boss of the bastards. " She believed it was nature's irony. Somehow, now, it turned out everyone was right and she was wrong. Even Gin wasn't wrong. She never questioned him but expected him to tell it all from himself. Does that mean she could have prevented him it, prevented him? "Since when did I lose control of myself? …Maybe I haven't been in control of myself? Maybe it is I who is to be blamed.."

She stopped mid-way. Somehow, all the blame, all of it seem to come on her shoulders.

She murmured, " Gin, why? Why? What eluded you that you took this measure? Do you want what Aizen wants? What do you want? Why didn't you ever tell me? What hindered you? Why did you betray me? Us, all of us! To think I trusted you… If I couldn't trust you, who could I trust?... what is trust now?.." She closed her eyes and ran the fingers of both her hands through her luxurious hair as if trying to hold in her exploding brain as she closed her eyes and breathed face down standing on the street. She sighed deeply, again. "To think, it has been more than a month and I still can't understand your reasons. I somehow hoped that it would all be a lie and you would return… it seems trusting you has been my greatest weakness, the reason I still have a hard time getting myself together….Trust, no more". She opened her eyes and felt the cool spirit breeze . " Trust no more", she decided. "That's my key now".

She continued walking towards the headquarters of the 10th division.

About five yards behind, a pair of emerald-green eyes had been watching the female shinigami for sometime. They seemed to have read her thought process through her body language. "Tcheh!"

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Toushirou Hitsugaya had not planned to make Rangiku Matsumoto his vice-captain from the start. About a week ago, Ukitake Juushirou called upon him late one night when Hitsugaya was returning from his visit to Hinamori.

Ukitake: "Shirou-kun, I have some news to give and a proposition to make"

"What is it?", the 10th Division captain looked quizzically.

U: "Well, Yamamoto-sama has finally reached a decision about the three Divisions that were captained by the traitor-trio"

Toushirou: "I haven't heard it in the last captains' meeting, have they had an impromptu one this night?"

U: "It seems that since we captains don't belong to those divisions so our opinions won't be entertained"

T:"That sounds like this decision to be executed will be absolute and maybe pretty drastic"

U: "Well, it is. They have decided to dissolve all three divisions"

"WHAT???", the green-eyes widened and it seemed that the gems in them quivered.

T: "What about the two lieutenants not counting Kira, and all the first 20s of all three squads?"

U: "They would all be disarmed for now and facing at least a verification and interrogation before they could re-form or even join other squads which with the present state of matters might not be for a long, long time"

T: "Would the General consider promoting at least the two lieutenants to captaincy though it might be risky?"

"My thoughts exactly!!" , interjected Ukitake.

"Huh?", Toushirou raised an eye-brow.

U: "I was thinking perhaps they could work as captains for their respective divisions under supervision"

T: "Supervision? Who will supervise?"

U: "Why, us , of course!"

T: "What? Meaning you and me?"

U: "We-ll, yes!"

T: "A captain over another Division's captain?"

U: "Not quite, both of them haven't achieved their Bankai as yet so at least designation-wise, they will not count as captains in front of Yamamoto-sama"

T:"But why us?"

U: "We are the only captains that don't have any lieutenants at this moment so we can take them under our wings"

"hmmm, why are you being so benevolent to them? And for all we know, there might be some traitors left behind implanted in any of the three Divisions. Moreover, are you willing to replace Shiba-san so easily?", Hitsugaya demanded.

A shadow crept into Ukitake's face. Hitsugaya instantly regretted his prodding but the other explained," No one can replace him and I doubt anyone can replace anyone but I can't stand to watch 3 old Divisions destroyed simply because of the greedy ambitions of three immoral men of power. I have to hand over this position to someone someday and I know both Shuuhei and Matsumoto are very capable shinigamis. Besides, don't you owe Matsumoto a favor?"

Toushirou blushed and Ukitake grinned. "I have to say I would prefer Matsumoto in my team. There seems to be a dearth of pretty women in my team and her presence could instill some action in my men!"

Toushirou scowled at the old man's joke and gravely replied, "I still have Momo-san as my vice-captain and as you know, one captain and one vice-captain is more than enough for a squad ".

"Uh-about that.. I have been wondering how I would broach the subject.", the Ukitake quietly continued," you do realize that Yamamoto-sama would not allow a lieutenant who has betrayed her own captain to stay alive let alone return to duty. Your best chances might be to strike a deal"

T: "Strike a deal?"

U: "Hmm. Since the one who could take her responsibility has fled and betrayed, the next person would be you- her captain/childhood friend. You could promise that you would make sure that she wont betray Soul Society or do anything like she has done now and keep her at guard or out of mischief, she could at least be kept alive"

T: " What makes you think the General would take my word for it?"

U: " The General isn't as hard-hearted as you would think and I bet he is waiting for you to make a move. He has his soft spot for the child and disregard he may have for your age but to keep her safe, the old man knows he can count upon you"

Toushirou coughed. Ukitake smiled, "Well worth a try, don't you think?"

T: "That aside, how many people's responsibilities do you expect me to take?"

U: "Just two at the moment, the one you hold dear and the one who saves your dear one's life"

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"Hmmmmm", the wrinkles seem to crease threefold as the old General pondered over the proposition from the two captains.

Yamamoto: "I expect you have spoken to the two vice-captains about this"

"Never, sire, not without your consent", Ukitake cheerfully admitted. Toushirou began to feel a little nauseous at the other captain's obvious 'buttering'.

Y: "Very well, since you two are without lieutenants, the workload on them might keep them busy for a while also and keep them out of mischief so to say. "

"Sir, I have another request", Toushirou bowed and the General raised his eyebrows.

"…about Hinamori-san"

After relating the request, the General agreed on the condition placed and another condition of his own. For her own good, her powers were to be sealed.

Toushirou protested, "But sir, she almost died, for her safety, …"

"…which now is your responsibility.", the General finished and turned to leave the meeting room.

"Uh! I think that went pretty well", Ukitake whispered to a knitted-brow Hitsugaya when the General turned to them again and said, "By the way, since I will be making the appointments and summoning the vice-captains . Your choices are…?"

"Matsumoto", Hitsugaya mumbled absentmindedly and then looked up surprised himself to the two other surprised men in the room. "…-san"

"My, my, what familiarity" thought the other Taichou before cheerfully replying, "Shuuhei Hisagi"

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TRUST

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Matsumoto felt she towered over the child captain as he had to really look up to her. It would have registered as a little comical situation but the thought was pushed to the back of her mind when she saw the determined look on his face and the set jaw which suggested strength of character. She would have lowered her eyes but the clarity of his eyes struck her. She could barely stop staring when she noticed for the first time how really green his eyes were and wide and so clear. It occurred to her then she hadn't actually seen him this close because, perhaps she never really bothered to. She wondered why.

Matsumoto was brought back to the present situation with the sound of his voice.

"I see that you have received the General's orders for your appointment. From today onwards, I shall be your captain. As you know, I am Toushirou Hitsugaya. You may call me Hitsugaya-Taichou or simply Taichou. What may I call you?"

"?"

"Sorry, I didn't get that"

"Matsumoto"

Toushirou remembered the incident in the meeting room with Ukitake and Yamamoto and turned around before he could show her his flushed face.

"Let me show you around"

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" You may leave now", Toushirou said without looking at her.

"Eh?"

"You have been staring at the paper in front of you for the last 15 minutes with a blank look"

It was almost 9 pm but not quite. The so-called office hours was till 10pm and even all night in any division depending on the workload and on the nature of the Division or rather how the captains and vice-captains kept their respective headquarters.

"He has been watching me", she thought, " So this is my supervision". Mistrust crept into her. She felt a strangling sensation which passed. She resigned to the thought with the slackening of her shoulders and gave way.

"Hai, I shall take my leave then"

She stood up and left under the watch of her new captain.

Once, outside the door of the building, she heaved a sigh of relief. It was the third day and all these three last days, Hitsugaya Toushirou and Matsumoto Rangiku spent 12 hours working on adjacent tables wordlessly not looking at each other. Occasionally, Matsumoto would steal a glance at her new taichou and observe him working seriously and oblivious to her existence. It pissed her, it puzzled her. Then there were times when she felt he was looking at her but every time she would look up to find him buried in his papers.

-----------------------

"What's your verdict?"

" More honest than your means of supervision, I should say. How long were you standing there, Ukitake? No work at the 13th Division? "

Ukitake scratched the back of his head with his hand with an embarrassed smile. "Oh, my! You knew!"

It was 9 pm in the 10th Division captain's office.

"She isn't herself, I see", Ukitake continued.

Hitsugaya gave Ukitake an accusing look as if to say, " And you think it's me! "

Ukitake rolled his eyes, "Erm, at least stony silence wins no good impressions. You do need her to cooperate, she being your new fukataichou"

"Wagatta, you don't have to tell me!" , Toushirou folded his hands in protest.

"Ooo-kay, I shall leave then", Ukitake almost scampered off but stopped at the door, "And Lord of Winter,.."he said without looking around.

"Huh?"

"…Break the ice!"

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It was a full moon night. Matsumoto could not sleep. She was sitting on the roof top of her new quarters, unusual for her and staring at the moon.

"The moon is really big tonite". It was a Friday night, normally she would have been off to have sake with Renji, Kira, and Shuuhei and…Gin. The thought of him not being there sort of cured her of drinking.

"How ironic", she thought. "How idiotic", she said aloud.

"What is?"

The sudden rough boyish-but-almost-womanly voice made her almost fall of the roof and she turned around half afraid, more surprised. It wasn't, was it?

Toushirou stood looking at her, the moonlight reflecting on his young sculpted features. Under the heavenly light, his hair seemed really silver and made him look unearthly almost as much as his presence made her feel.

"T-taichou??!"

"Nani wo shite iru no?" (hopefully it means "What are you doing?")

Matsumoto gulped and replied without thinking still wide-eyed, "That's the most personal question you have asked me till date."

Hitsugaya almost winced at her sarcasm.

Toushirou managed to cover it with, "Ahem, may I sit here?"

"Um-Of course……taichou", Matsumoto was still goggle-eyed, wondering whether she was indeed drunk? Chatty after almost 3 days of silence. It was past 12 midnight.

"Ahem, um….how are you finding work?"

M: "…"

T: "..I-I mean, do you think its too much for you? Do you mind the conditions? Is there anything you don't like about it?"

Matsumoto suddenly understood. This boy had trouble talking or rather fraternizing. He could deal with work level conversations but friend level, so to say, was probably made out of scope due to his early breaking into captaincy. It amazed her how it explained so many things. And how she could understand all this just now and so quickly. She felt a little embarrassed that she had completely overlooked his age in a way with all her mistrust building up.

"Come to think of it", she thought, "she had met Gin when they both were older than Hitsugaya was now. She still believed that back then, Gin was still good and unadulterated from all the sins that had ravaged his current adult self."

She felt saddened. " Will this child also be capable of such deceit?", she thought.

" Everyone is betrayed once in a while by the one they trust the most"

"H-how did you….?"

"You had a pained look in your face. I heard you knew Gin for a long time and actually started off together. "

Matsumoto looked away.

"I think I can understand your pain."

Matsumoto was surprised once again. "Is he trying to console me?", she thought.

"I am sorry but I needed to tell you this.", he said looking at the moon shining over them, "Arigato"

"Thank you for saving Hinamori san's life"

She thought she could hear his voice tremble a bit. She felt the genuineness of his gratitude. But she didn't feel that what she did was a big thing after the incident at the center of Seireitei. She hadn't heard the details but she thought the gist was pretty horrifying.

"It was nothing. I am sorry for her current condition. Both of you were attacked again and were almost killed, I heard"

"I think you might have been kept in the dark about the incident. How much do you know?"

She related that after going against her ex-captain, he did not openly punish her as she did save him from being an openly witnessed murderer but she became a Fukutaichou in name only. She was surprised how much of herself she gave away while relating the past incidents. She wondered why was she giving away her trust so easily on her third day to her new taichou!! In a way, Hitsugaya seemed to understand her position and repaid with equal amount of information about what had actually happened in the central 46 chambers.

Matsumoto begun to understand how deeply the plot ran. How deeply betrayed both Hinamori and Hitsugaya were and she felt a bit of a loss at how Hinamori and Hitsugaya were so close as friends but how much they didn't understand each other.

It hit her how much similar in a way it was with her and Gin, supposedly close and yet she knew so little of him. She then realized Hitsugaya must have kept a distance between himself and his ex-vice captain more for the reason for protecting her while in her own case itself, it was for hiding his traitorous deeds or was it….to protect her?

She shook her head at her own thoughts.

" You don't have to decide on the reasons now, you know "

She jumped into a defensive posture .It was eerie how easily her thoughts were read. "Scary kid!", she thought.

He lowered his eyelids and looked at her with folded hands and a scowl," You think too much"

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"Yawn". Matsumoto rubbed her eyes. As she got ready for her day at work, she pondered over the last night's conversation and felt a bit skeptical about that actually happening.

" You're late!" Hitsugaya remarked at her while handing a paper to a subordinate standing beside his table, as she entered the 10th Division head office. The accusation seemed to be given in a less pointed manner and more in a sort of frigid irritable way.

Matsumoto felt she could settle down with a puppy-eyed look, " But taichou, you kept me awake all night!"

Hitsugaya was speechless and all red as much as the poor shinigami beside him was, who quickly excused himself and escaped.

"Oi, Matsumoto!"

"Mou taichouuuu! I wasn't lying, was I?"

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Days passed, weeks passed, a few months passed.

Matsumoto settled in the 10th Division so smoothly after her third day that even the other squads began to sense that their partnership went amazingly well. His permanent scowl and steadfast manner and her light spirit and playful manner seemed to complement each other. Unbeknownst to Hitsugaya, many were thankful to him that Matsumoto seemed to return to her old cheerful and pleasant self.

Shunsui Kyouraku commented over his choko of sake to Ukitake, " There's nothing like youth to cure the ailments of the heart. What say you, friend?"

Ukitake replied, "I guess I unexpectedly made a wise choice and …."

"… a great couple (Ukitake: "Erm..")", finished Shunsui, " the boy needed some humor in his bones and the lady needed an anchor- Yes!"

It seemed everything went well in other people's opinion but Hitsugaya steadily began to regret his 'giving way' to his fukataichou. She slackened on her paperwork, started 'resting' on the couch during office hours and would often disappear for hours to revel with her drinking buddies who gathered courage again to pursue and accompany her in drinking. These things along with her new found tease, snaring him with her ample, overtly exposed bosom (which he very soon steeled himself to) seemed to add to his distress. But an unspoken bond had also developed. She seemed to understand what he wanted her to do at a blink of an eye or raise of an eyebrow. She appeared at a moment's notice whenever he needed her for an official task and unquestioningly abided him to the letter for any mission bestowed on her. Her practical moments at these times surprised Hitsugaya at first but it soon became second nature to both of them to regard each other to be always there without question or doubt. For all her faults, even with his short period of experience, Hitsugaya knew he won't meet another lieutenant who was as loyal to him as her. So he kept up his tolerance to her 'mischief'.

Matsumoto, on her side was surprised how much he had actually valued her decisions and role in all his official deeds. She began to understand why those green wide eyes seemed so clear and mesmerizing when they first met. They seemed to say, "I have nothing to hide. I am your commanding officer and I will protect you with all the support you will give me". She thought had he been the captain of a ship, he would actually be the last one to leave a sinking ship, such is his dignity and pride in his duty even though he will never say the exact words throughout his life. She wondered where he got his character from and what drove him but she felt, wherever that came from, she could not help giving out her loyalty whole-heartedly to him. Especially, when she saw how hard he was trying to learn from his mistakes. He was taking care to make sure his current fukataichou is completely aware and a part of all the 10th Division's as well as the 3rd Division's processes. She never felt so close to a superior as much as she felt to him. Their perfect coordination during battles seemed to strengthen her opinion.

The first time she really saw her Taichou's Bankai was about a month after she joined 10th Division as vice-captain. He had offered to train her to get her to the Bankai level but his words were "I need to complete the final release of my zanpakutou". She couldn't help feeling that he wanted to coach her to take the reins of the 3rd Division. She did get a bit cold feet when she thought she would face Hyourinmaru in all his fury. But when her captain blazed with his reiatsu and Hyourinmaru appeared in all his glory, the dragon god of water and ice bathing his bearer and himself with a heavenly blue light, she believed the whispers that she had heard so much when he first appeared in the Gotei 13.

"He must indeed be the Heavenly Guardian.", she breathed into the frosty air.

If she had any doubts about her chibi-captain's fighting ability, they were laid at rest forever.

Despite Hitsugaya's rising esteem in Matsumoto's eyes, she could not ignore the fact that he was quite a child. The first time she caught him sleeping at his desk, while sneaking into the headquarters in the night to pick up her secret stash of sake, she almost fell on him while tiptoeing around. "T-taichou??", she stammered but he was too deep in slumber to notice the intruder.

"He's still here??", she stared hard at the slight figure, with folded arms pillowing the tired head.

Her heart melted for the hard-working captain who grew up so fast and she took it upon herself that she would take care of him during these defenseless moments. She draped him with the warmest blanket she could find and made sure from henceforth, that a hot steaming cup of tea would greet him every morning. It took sometime for Hitsugaya to accept Matsumoto's motherly care and concern but he grudgingly conceded at the end.

-----------------------

The Arrancar and the Espada appeared on Earth and the Earth forces was mobilised under the command of Hitsugaya Toushirou.

Qu Fong Shawlong proved to be a surprisingly strong adversary considering he wasn't a part of the Espada and Hitsugaya anticipated it would get more out of hand if Aizen decided that he would attack with more than a few Espada on earth considering he was the only one of Gotei 13 captains that was currently on Earth. As he quickly healed from his initial wounds, he felt they would strike again very soon. His sharp sense of intuition pricking him, as he reported to the headquarters.

When Hitsugaya taichou, his vice-captain and Inoue heard the facts from the commander, he felt at the back of his mind, it would be soon before the Earth force would be recalled back to the soul society. He knows the Commander generally liked to deal with the enemy from his fort.

"No time to lose", he thought as he turned to follow his vice-captain into briefing the specifics of the new tidings.

"Just a moment, Hitsugaya-taichou", the commander stopped him, "There is someone who wishes to speak to you"

Matsumoto carefully closed the door leaving a little gap to hear what was left unsaid by the General.

She heard, "Omae", Hitsugaya breathed, "you….Hinamori"

A soft voice beseechingly uttered , " Hitsugaya-kun"

She decided she wouldn't hear anymore. It was not her place. As she left the building, she felt a nagging sensation. She said to herself, "The fool will forgive her". She wondered why she thought it should even be otherwise. After all, it was a misunderstanding rather than betrayal. She knew she should feel happy for their patch-up but a part of her couldn't forgive Hinamori for doubting her captain now that she knew him so well.

She wondered had it been so on her case, how would have Hitsugaya-Taichou reacted?

-----------------

Time was at a stand still when Matsumoto was rendered helpless pinned down by the bratty-natured Luppi who claimed to be the newly appointed 6th Espada. Half of her was concerned with his threats of pricking her body full of needles and the other half with her falling captain. She felt Hyourinmaru still throbbing which allayed her thoughts soon after he fell. She had known had she followed him then, the young captain would later deal with her severely because at all his fights, he had specifically instructed beforehand. " If I fall, don't come after me. If you do, I will have you kicked out of both Divisions! In the presence of the enemy, you still fight to overthrow the enemy".

At the sight of the glistening needles, she thought, "This couldn't be it! "

She knew her captain was preparing for another attack. But she wondered whether he would be on time to save her.

Urahara unexpectedly appeared at her rescue only for her to be grabbed again by another tentacle of the vine-armed Luppi who seemed to despise her at sight. Urahara was distracted by a weird Espada who seemed to be fascinated by the former's technique and Yammy rejoined the fight opposite Urahara. With Urahara's hands full now, Luppi returned his attention to Matsumoto who realized that she had to stall him for her captain who was almost completely revived. She was buying her time with goading comments to the hateful brat in front of her but it resulted in pushing Luppi more into his zealousness of finishing her off.

When he felt his tentacles freeze with ice.

"Wha? What the hell-is this thing??", said a very surprised Luppi.

" Don't you know the meaning of 'following-through'? You are pretty careless for attacking an opponent and leaving it at that..", said the wise-beyond-his-years captain.

Luppi was riveted by the fact that the chibi-captain was still alive. He had grossly underestimated him. Before he could retaliate, he was engulfed with ice. His elimination was not completed as the enemy forces unexpectedly fell back. Luppi eyed the Hitsugaya while fading to his world.

"You couldn't finish me off… Remember my face, boy-captain. Next time, I will kill you"

Little did he know, he wouldn't be able to keep his promise.

----------------------

Even though the reason was not what Hitsugaya could predict but nonetheless, his forces were recalled to Seireitei. He felt a bit piqued when Byakuya and Zaraki were actually sent through to prevent protests but he knew that dealing with Ichigo Kurosaki might take all that he had at the moment and more so.

He had to get stronger, he decided mentally.

"Eee-no, ka?"(hopefully, it means, "is this okay?"), Matsumoto worriedly enquired. They were already in the 10th Division headquarters.

"For a boy who moved the soul society into submitting and recognizing his powers and abilities with such a short period of experience. He will be able to save Inoue. Besides, I am sure he has his able companions with Rukia and Abarai definitely to join him soon", he replied.

"How can you be sure?", Matsumoto quizzed him.

"That's the way they are"

-------------

THE ULTIMATE CHOICE

-------------

After being briefed about the state of matters, realizing Aizen was behind all this, Matsumoto felt a little apprehensive at her free moments. She would have to face Gin again. The last few months with the hectic missions and her new appointment had spared her from idle thoughts or so she thought. But now when she had begun to think about him again, she felt somewhat braver and more at peace with herself. She was surprised to realize that she had indeed begun to heal. "Is this all thanks to her captain?", she thought, "By the way, where was he??"

She came into the office on their second day back and was surprised to find that he hadn't been in after last night's briefing. She asked around about where he could be. No one knew. Then, it came to her, "He was with her."

She felt a slight twinge and decided it was because, he hadn't told her where he was. She should have known. The only times, he didn't tell her where he was ,was when he went to visit Hinamori. She didn't know whether it pissed her because, in the midst of all their hectic work, he still found time to visit her or was it because, somehow unknowingly , she herself had deigned her as the 'other woman'. She colored up a little at the thought and hit her forehead lightly a few times to banish these thoughts. "Wasn't it enough that he reinstated the trust factor in you, you silly older woman!", she said to herself. She stretched her hands, " Well, if the captain decides to take sometime off to visit his sweetheart. I can follow suit and take sometime off and escape his supervision."

"When had this trust begun? ", she thought, "Trust no more, I had decided."

Matsumoto was sitting under a tree gazing at the peeping sunlight through the rustling leaves above , the bough gently swaying with the summer breeze.

"I still don't trust him that much, do I ? after all,…it isn't my place. With Hinamori all well, Yamamoto-sama just might decide to reinstate her. In that case, I will return to managing the 3rd Division all by myself. But maybe not before facing Gin once again"

She wondered if Gin could still change his mind. Hoping against hope. So much like a weak woman in love. Blind faith. Maybe it wasn't trust. It was pure blind faith. She wondered, she wished that with Hinamori making up with Hitsugaya, the latter apparently readily forgiving her treachery , somehow she could have such a love-story with a bitter-sweet ending.

"I don't want to be left alone", she thought.

"Oh Gin, you BAKA!!!", she said aloud in a frustrated voice but in her mind, the pain had lessened. It was easier to think of him, say his name with lesser heartache.

"What's with you catching a nap under a tree with all the paperwork piling up?"

Matsumoto jumped. "OMG! Taichou! You were here?!"

Her bosom rippled with the impact, and she was about to hastily drop an off-colour remark but the experienced Hitsugaya stopped her with a bark, "Off to the headquarters! Loads to get done in a short time!", it was a bit malicious in tone.

Matsumoto opened and closed her mouth and moodily stomped off like a child caught red-handed.

"He heard, didn't he? Is he going to think I might sway in the other direction once Gin comes in question?", this thought propelled her to say no more.

"I just can't leave you alone, can I?", Hitsugaya mentally pondered, "…………………….What draws you to him?" . He turned around half-stricken someone else had actually suggested the latter thought to him but there wasn't anyone there. It occurred to him, a stray unwanted thought had crept into his mind unwittingly and he felt a little exposed inside.

" What is this thing?", he wondered.

The truth was the same morning, Hitsugaya was woken from an unnatural dream. He had seen it many times. But this time, there was something different. He saw a smiling Aizen stabbing a shocked Hinamori. He could feel himself running with an outstretched hand towards her reaching out for her falling form. He had knelt beside her body, her eyes open and blind as death with droplets of red blood spilling from her mouth. He felt an anguish building up in his heart as he screamed out her name.

He drew out his sword for battle when he heard a soft voice calling out to him.

He turned around to see Matsumoto smiling sadly behind him, standing. " M-Matsumoto?!", he stammered. What was She doing in his dream?

" Sayonara………..taichou"

She seemed to sadly beckon him goodbye. Her long tresses gently floating in a breeze and her blue eyes, the liquid eyes tingling. She looked just as beautiful as she did when he first met her in the 10th Division. A pair of pale hands appeared on her shoulders cradling her face, taking possession of her. A tall figure stood behind her.

"Too bad, Hit-su-ga-ya taichou. You can't seem to hold on to your women.", said the all-too-familiar hateful voice with the characteristic lisp.

He watched her close her eyes in resignation and disappear into the shadow as Gin pulled her back with him.

He rose from his reverie and ran after her disappearing form with an outstretched hand screaming ,.

"M-matte! -Matte!"

He could feel how futile his voice seemed to feel. She couldn't hear him, she couldn't. Somehow, he felt more desperate to catch up. More desperate for her to hear his voice.

" MATSUMOTO00000000!!!!"

Her eyes on her fading face opened for an instant and she soundlessly mouthed something he couldn't hear, he couldn't understand.

He woke up with a start, his hand still outstretched, beads of sweat on his forehead, his heart still beating violently. He fisted his hand and pressed it on the left side of his naked wildly throbbing chest. His eyes looked stricken.

" What the hell was that????"

----------------

Hinamori looked up and smiled in a hesitant manner.

"Hitsugaya-kun", she greeted.

The young captain sat moodily beside her. Inside, he tried to drive off the remnants of the memory of his dream.

She felt thankful he forgave her. When she looked into his eyes, there was no malice, no accusation, it was just the way he always looked at her. But there was something else today that she hadn't seen before.

A veil.

She became a bit anxious for a second but kept it to herself. She tried to engage in a little light conversation and gelled with Shirou-kun in the way she always had before. Nothing seemed to have changed.

But the veil in his eyes, the distance………. or was it an unfamiliarity that she could see in his eyes? It wasn't something she had seen before.

"Hitsugaya-kun, you have changed."

"Hitsugaya-Taichou! And in what way?", he enquired levelly.

" You have changed………in a way….. I can't describe it.", she stubbornly stated.

"It's just your imagination", he dismissed her observation casually.

She didn't say anything after that but just watched him.

---------------------------

Matsumoto splattered herself on the table. The captain seemed to be in a really piqued mood today and loaded her down with all the paperwork he could get his hands on not letting her rest for a change. Whenever she tried to weasel out to the tempting couch beside, his bark would keep her movements in check.

"Is it just my imagination, or is the taichou being a wee bit too malicious today?", she thought, " I wonder what happened today?"

Hitsugaya was extremely peeved with himself. The two reasons that instantly popped into his head added to fuel his immense irritation. One was the dream that he had that morning, the unnatural ending which hadn't happened before and the second was even more unacceptable but still try as he might, he couldn't ignore his annoyance at hearing "Gin" from her lips.

"She still thought about him"

Why, why was this thought so vexing to him? They have a history together, they might have been very close friends, …..lovers even. He almost gnashed his teeth at the mental unrest it was causing him.

"Aits Onna"(hopefully, it means "that woman")

"Taichou, daijob desu ka?" ( hopefully, it means "Captain, are you okay?"), Matsumoto looking puzzled standing right beside his chair.

"When did she?", the captain wondered. He seemed to not have noticed her creeping right beside him.

Matsumoto perked up visibly after catching her captain in surprise, it was rare to find him a bit off guard. She smiled mischievously and went on to massage his shoulders.

"Oi Matsumoto!!", the captain indignantly protested but Matsumoto would not be deterred.

"Taichou is a bit low-down today. Let me make you relax. Don't you worry! I am very good in massaging. It has health benefits"

The scene might have a little bit hilarious with a Matsumoto gleefully 'manhandling' her protesting taichou, his arms flaying in all directions. But to Hinamori observing the scenario, outside the window, it seemed to her as if her heart had stopped for a moment and her tears seemed to glaze her eyes. She grabbed on to something tightly close to chest. It looked like a small black purse.

--------------------------

"His shoulders aren't as thin as I imagined them to be." She smiled to herself as if feeling proud at how much her "little brother" had grown up.

"Before long taichou, you will have left me behind.", she sighed looking up to the night sky.

There was no moon in the night sky. The sky looked like it was covered with a dark blanket studded with shimmering jewels. She was sitting on the rooftop once again. It was good news that she received late at night. Ichigo and his friends have returned from Hueco Mundo bringing back Inoue with them. She felt extremely relieved and a bit happier. She wished she could sit and talk with someone.

"Matsumoto-saaaaaaaaan"

She heard a voice from below. It was Abarai Renji. Behind him stood Shuuhei Hisagi, Madarame Ikkaku, Tetsuzaemon Iba and Izuru Kira!!

"Occasion to celebrate! Wanna go drinking?"

She bolted up and to their horror, jumped from the roof top but landed straight in the midst of them which they hurriedly cleared, perfectly.

"Let's go!", she smiled brightly.

----------------------

"Long day, I am glad it's over."

Hitsugaya sincerely hoped he would wake up happier the next day as he trudged towards his quarters.

He felt tired, very tired. As he walked under the night sky, he pondered over the day's events like he usually did. Analyzing whether he had done his due and planned for the next day. Further ahead on the street, he could see a gaggle of subordinate shinigamis presumably going for another night out drinking.

"Tcheh!" He was glad that he was above this.

"Hey! Where are you guys going drinking?", he overheard one of them asking his friends.

"Lets go to ! Matsumoto-san has turned up there with some other lieutenants"

"Oh yaaay !! Let's hurry or there wont be any place left for us!"

Hitsugaya was well-aware of how popular his Fukutaichou was among his fellow shinigamis as well as subordinates. He wasn't surprised to think that she would invite lots of attention. But he was a bit unprepared for the attention they would get walking together. He drew attention for the stark contrast between his stature due to age and status and now, compounded with his fukataichou's charms, it seemed they attracted eyes wherever they went until the shinigamis actually grew familiar at the sight of the pair and Hitsugaya found a little more peace in being less noticed than before. His lieutenant's dress sense did bother him but he never wanted to bring that up lest she misunderstood it in some way or the other. He knew better than to argue with her on this point.

He felt a bit curious when he heard that shinigamis would actually crowd over a drinking place based on the fact that Matsumoto was there. He felt she did in a way enjoy a mini-celebrity status in Seireitei perhaps. But so did all the captains and vice-captains but not so much for their physical charms.

"How crude", he observed.

The surroundings being dark, he thought he could take the advantage of the cover it gave him to actually visit . Till date, he never had understood why he chose to covertly observe what she did while drinking that very night. He followed the unsuspecting men.

----------------------------

"Like I said, Matssumo-to ssan", Kira whimpered looking very pathetic, "I am sssso-ssso v-very ss-soorrry"

" Ara! Ara! Let it go, Kira. I never took the fight seriously anyway", Matsumoto cheerfully consoled him. Somehow, it didn't seem to boost up his spirit and Kira gulped down some more sake.

"Matsumoto-san, you are great! You are so forgiving" , Iba declared loudly. Both Renji and Madarame eyed him with interest. It was no big secret, he was one of her 'fervent' admirers. He was a sharp contrast to his so-called rival, Shuuhei. Renji and Madarame looked at each other with evil smiles.

"What are those fools up to? ", the captain-in-hiding wondered. He had been standing outside in the shadows for about an hour. The place was almost empty except for the Lieutenant's group and two other people who sat far away.

"Matsumoto-san!", Renji stood up.

"What?", Rangiku queried a bit surprised in her drunken state.

"I have a very important confession to make"

"What is it?"

"Among all these men including me, there is one man who is willing to give his all for you. Tell me, will you take his hand?"

Shuuhei winced. He seemed to be the only one who seemed to still be with his senses.

Matsumoto smiled and decided "What the heck! Let me have some fun too!"

"Ohh! I would love to but I take no losers. I need to see some proof of strength"

She stood up on the table. She loudly announced, " See this pink scarf around my neck? I will marry any man, and I say ANY MAN who can take this scarf off me??!!"

Both Iba and Shuuhei instantly sobered up. Renji and Madarame looked up at her in wonder, both thinking inside, " She took the bait!". Kira was snoozing with his mouth open on the table, long knocked out.

Outside, Hitsugaya exclaimed to himself "The Drunken FOOL!! Now it's gonna be a riot in there!!"

Hitsugaya hesitantly peeped inside. Shuuhei and Iba were looking at each other very seriously through their red-rimmed eyes. Out of nowhere, a crowd suddenly emerged ; whether they were there to watch the fight or pounce upon the prize, he could not say. All he just knew that in a way, it was the fight that was stalling everyone from actually reaching the table Matsumoto stood upon.

Iba had already started brandishing his Zanpakutou which looked like a scimitar while Shuuhei raised his Katana-like Zanpakutou and swore, "For the protection and the honor of my lovely Rangiku-san, I will not let the likes of you touch a single strand of her hair".

"What do you mean by the 'likes of you'?", spat Iba.

The evil-duo Ikkaku and Renji watched the scene like naughty goblins grinning at each other," Omoshirou", they agreed. All eyes were riveted upon the opponents. Who will strike first? The atmosphere seemed tensed.

Iba suddenly thrust his long forked Zanpakutou forward while Shuuhei deftly dodged him by moving sideways. Iba rotated his weapon which almost caught onto Shuuhei with its pick-like protrusion but the latter shifted more to the side and escaped for the moment with a long thin scratch on his forearm. A trickle of blood leaked through the long thin scratch. Shuuhei didn't remain stationary and waved his sword turning about suddenly as if to strike Iba's neck. Iba ducked and Shuuhei changed the trajectory of his strike about to almost slice his head off his neck. This time Iba threw himself down to an lying position and jumped up again from the other end.

Renji began to think that maybe it wasn't a very good idea to pitch the rivals against each other. He somehow didn't think they would get this serious about it! He turned aside to ask Madarame to help him but he was missing. Renji looked at the front again. Madarame, his blood charged with the fighting spirit jumped in headlong into the love-rivals' fight. The scene became pretty confusing soon as everyone decided to join in, forgetting the prize. Only two people stood apart. One was the sleeping Kira, the other was Abarai who still couldn't quite believe what it had turned into.

He finally manage to speak, " Well, Matsumoto, seems like they all loose, you win".

He turned around when he received no response.

"Matsumoto?", he looked at the table which was almost empty except for Kira who was drooling and almost falling to the floor.

The prize was gone!

--------------------------

"No, no I don't like bearded men, but with some free sake…", Matsumoto giggled.

" Quit wriggling, will ya?", Hitsugaya complained at the creature on his back. He had a bit of clumsy time balancing a heavier being with his smaller frame. On the top of that, he was running.

He thought that with a few drinks, men behave like beasts. It's a good thing that while being intoxicated, their brains could only hold one thought at a time. Thus, he found it easier to slip out safely with an almost toppling over Matsumoto as the whole crowd was engrossed in the fight. Fearful stuff, liquor.

"Oh Taichou. You are too strict-", she mumbled with her eyes closed.

"Well, sorry to be so", Toushirou panted as he ran with his heavy burden. He dearly prayed that they would meet no one on the way.

" Couldn't you be a bit more sweeter?"

"Sorry, that wasn't how I was made ", he rolled his eyes.

"Maybe, if I was Hinamori, you would have been nicer to me"

Toushirou stopped and instantly felt a pain shooting up his ankles, he had been running for quite a while. " Lets rest"

"Hmm? Hmm-okay", Matsumoto agreed good-humouredly.

He brought her down carefully at the side of the paved street. He looked on a head. Not far to go, he mused. Just about 5-6 minutes.

He settled down beside her to catch his breath. He glanced sideways to see whether Matsumoto had indeed drifted off.

"Oi, Matsumoto! Don't fall asleep! Oi" He shook her gently. She showed no signs of waking up.

"Pshaw! I just can't leave you alone, can I? What would have happened if you really were let off in the crowd with your current state. "

Though the night was dark, there were some street lights close by and Hitsugaya kept watch whether anyone was nearby. He didn't want to explain his situation at present and wanted to be spared of any gossips. He stood up and gazed at the street.

"Taichou", Matsumoto mumbled again.

Hitsugaya watched her nodding in her sleep as he stood.

" Seems you are troubled by me in your dreams also", he whispered and smiled.

In the dim street light, he could see the silken strands of her hair loosening from their place and falling on her face. He knelt and gently shifted them away from her face and put them behind her ear so that they didn't irritate her. His hand naturally came down to her cheek. He stroked the skin on her cheek and felt how smooth it was. He was in a trance. He looked at her thoughtfully, his eyes had the softest look it could register.

" What am I to you, Matsumoto?", he gently whispered, " Your captain? Your friend? A close one or just one you encountered on the way? A tease? A victim? A joke? A little brother?..."

" Mmmph..", Matsumoto moved suddenly in her seated position and swayed sideways with her back still supported by the wall. She was about to topple over and Toushirou caught off-guard tried to grab on to her but instead managed to grab on to her fabric which didn't stop her from falling sideways. Her shoulders lessened the impact but she was jarred awake by it. She opened her eyes and he looked at her anxiously worried that she had hurt herself somehow. She looked at him dazed and confused for a moment as if trying to recognize him.

"Taichou!!", she then called brightly and he realized she was still in her inebriated state. She supported herself with her hands and seemed to be trying to get up still unsteady. Hitsugaya tried to convince her not to stand up but she stubbornly stood up.

When she finally did, she smiled in her simpering way and Hitsugaya didn't know whether to be annoyed at how foolishly she smiled and acted or concerned because she looked like she could fall down any moment.

She smiled at him with both her hands behind her back and looked at him as if she knew a secret.

"Tai-chou! Know what?"

"What?", Hitsugaya looking around her wondering which part of her to hold on to prevent her from falling flat on her face or rather on him.

She then moved forward and fell on his shoulders, hugging him tightly, "Matsumoto!! Oi, MATSUMOTO!!" He began to feel thoroughly annoyed.

"Taichou", she whispered in his ears before she fell unconscious again, "you win…"

"Wha-?", Hitsugaya mumbled under her weight which he could handle but her frame was still troubling to balance. As he held her by thrusting his arms under her shoulders, he felt a piece of a soft fabric still in his hands. In the dim light, it looked like a pink scarf.

----------------

(A/N: What follows is a blowing out of proportions of Bleach storyline since the plot after the escape and during the rescue of Inoue hasn't been released in the manga so I have to make up stuff from here onwards and of course, I cant take it to gigantic proportions as Kubo Tite but I will try my best.)

" What am I to you, Matsumoto?", he gently whispered, " Your captain? your friend? a close one or just one you encountered on the way? a tease? a victim? A joke? A little brother?..."

She woke up with a start.

"Oww! Oww!", she cringed with her throbbing head and fell back. "Perhaps I had a bit too much to drink last night."

She managed to finally get up, get ready and head to the 10th division headquarters.

--------------------

She felt a bit chilly walking towards the building and remarked as she hugged herself, bringing her pink scarf around her neck, " Its almost winter"

Once in the headquarters, she was surprised to see everyone run helter-skelter around.

"Am I missing something here?", she thought, " I must ask the captain"

She stepped into the main office to find out that the captain wasn't there but his seat wasn't empty.

A very thoughtful Ukitake was sitting there looking at something that looked like a letter. He looked up and smiled wanly, "Oh! You're here!"

"Ukitake-taichou??", she said quite surprised, " You are here? Where..?"

" The Lieutenants are yet to be briefed properly but I dare say I could give you a gist of what's happening. Aizen has finally begun to make his move. As you can see 4 months have passed. It is almost time when Hougyoku will awake. Aizen has sealed the entrance to Hueco Mundo and it hasn't been possible to enter since approximately this morning 3 am. We have however, detected that there has been an entry but how many people, we don't know. However, the portal had opened by itself…"

Matsumoto's heart skipped a beat as the captain's voice trailed off.

"….it has been discovered Hinamori-san has been missing but her absence could have only been detected by the one who had erected a barrier around her.."

M: "H-Hitsugaya taichou…."

U: "…Has also been discovered missing since morning"

Matsumoto felt alarmed, very alarmed.

U: "Don't worry, I am sure that your captain hasn't betrayed us but I am sure that he did go after her. The portal to Hueco Mundo opened by itself at the gate for a few minutes, we might not be very wrong to assume that Hinamori went through it and…"

"…Captain followed her through", finished Matsumoto.

--------------------------

Matsumoto felt very unsure of herself for the first time in months. She felt very angry that she couldn't have foreseen this. And she thought, "With the gateway sealed, it would be impossible for me by myself to tail them"

Anyhow, she already had orders to follow. She had to join the Earth force this time headed by four captains. Many shinigamis were headed to Karakura city which was supposed to be annihilated to resurrect the Ou-Ken. Falling under the soul society's jurisdiction, they were responsible for its protection and at this point, existence.

"Hinamori is your responsibility. I wash my hands off this matter. You breached the rules and I am no more bound to you. "

She was surprised at how lenient Yamamoto-sama sounded as he delivered the final briefing. Yamamoto had specifically pointed out in the briefing to the captains which was also passed on to lieutenants that as Hitsugaya's position at present was undetermined, he would be labelled as a traitor as long as he didn't return. If he did return on his own accord with important information, then he would be judged. He seemed to have wanted to give Hitsugaya a chance. Though a part of her was happy about the decision, a part of her wanted some harsher terms for him as he left all of them in a lurch without as much as a note. Nothing was mentioned about Hinamori.

At the academy, they had been taught that once one had been appointed as an official shinigami especially as a Lieutenant or Captain, any action they take should be under orders and bound by the rules. The higher you go, the more lives you are responsible for. If one on a whim stakes these rules, they are to be marked as traitors. One of the biggest rule for the captains was not to leave Seireitei without orders during war as that left a possibility of capture and disclosing of important information. It was a sin to be captured.

It was a very problematic rule. The captains couldn't step out of soul society without orders or a prior approval or permission of Commander Yamamoto or the court or both. The breach of this rule was usually execution without trial.

"Hitsugaya has staked his position, not to mention his life for you Hinamori, do you understand his sacrifice? Are you worth it?", Matsumoto said to herself as she hurried to the appointed place.

-------------------

"Tcheh!", Hitsugaya spitted out the sand that blew over his face, "Where are you, Hinamori?"

He squinted and surveyed the barren waste land. The sand was very weird, almost quartz like, with it blowing all around made it seem that the world was white. He picked up a handful and felt its texture. It glistened as the coarse dust flowed out of his hand.

"So this is the land of the hollow"

He expected a hollow to rise out of the sand any moment, the wind was strong blowing sand everywhere lowering visibility.

He looked carefully and presently realized that the place wasn't as structure less as he had observed before. He thought he could see a stationary construction which had a peculiar shape. He wondered whether it might be a hollow whose size could be just as big. He didn't have any other option than to guardedly advance towards it. He bent himself to keep out of view not that he could have hid anywhere in front of it. The wind was getting stronger and the sand biting his skin.

The figure grew more and more prominent as he neared it but he still couldn't make out what it was. Closer, closer. It was huge.

The skeleton of a hollow.

He first took out his zanpakutou ready to attack but he presently realized that the thing whatever it was, was dead. He stood staring at it for a few seconds. Then he felt some movement behind, he swung around ready to attack. A hole appeared on the ground and something slithered back in. It could see its skeletal tail.

"Creatures, hollow creatures", he observed. That's right, he had heard that there were such beings Ichigo encountered on his way to save Inoue. He heard that the civilian hollows could be bigger and considered shinigami as their greatest enemy. He looked at his garb.

"Well, Hinamori. You didn't give me enough time to pack"

He wondered at the level of craziness that had consumed Hinamori.

" Even after all he has done, you still trust him. Where is the gravity in you, Hinamori? How can you mistrust your sight, ears, even logic and still think he was somehow misled? "

He unwittingly thought about his current Lieutenant or soon-to-be-ex Lieutenant, he thought with a wry grin. He knew she would think he had got his priorities wrong. She is really strong, that woman. She went through the same thing almost as Hinamori but she stood by her ideals. He looked up at the dark sky covering the white land.

"You are stronger than me. Looks like I am not so different from Hinamori, myself"

The strong wind was dying down now.

"Eaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Hitsugaya turned to find a small figure running from a crowd of- were they hollows? They looked pretty comical to look like hollows but all the same they had masks on them. They seemed to be chasing the small figure who looked like a child but something was wrong with the picture. The pursuers seemed to deliberately try not to catch up. Presently, the child ran out of breath and panted on her knees. They stopped and rushed forward.

"Are you okay?", they asked crowding around her as if she were a precious friend or something.

"Hmm, they might be enemies but I have no way to find out where to go since I have been lost for the past few hours"

"Oi", he called out to them loudly standing right behind them.

They looked at him goggle-eyed. They hadn't noticed him before then.

The little child pointed at him and cried out, "SHINIGAMI! ENEMY! ATTACK!"

All of them lined up side by side waving their hands.

"Er-! Wh-what is this?"

"Why? Our attack position!", the little child replied looking very serious and eyeing him very suspiciously.

"Looks more like a line-up of a circus troupe"

" You look like a kid!"

A vein popped on Hitsugaya's forehead.

"I am very sorry for that but appearances can be deceptive", he returned levelly. He knew he had to keep his temper in check because he needed to ask for directions and fight for them even.

"I need to know something otherwise I wouldn't have bothered your 'play'"

"You knew we were 'playing'??", the child asked wide-eyed. Hitsugaya was coming to think that it might be a girl, and maybe a hollow also as he took note of the mask on her head.

"The shinigami before didn't have any idea and started attacking my brothers"

"Shinigami? Brothers????", the father must have had more than one wives then, which is still unlikely. Hollows with families, eh?

"Ya", the girl replied chattily, "Ichigo, he was very nice shinigami. Saved Neru many times"

"Neru? Is that your name?", he asked.

"Yes, this is Pesshe, my big brother and this is Donchakka, my other big brother", Neru introduced all of them and then pointed at the huge worm saying, "This is our pet Bawabawa".

"Hollows with siblings and pets", Hitsugaya thought, his head reeling a bit and said out aloud. " Anyway, do you know Ichigo? So were you the one that took him to Las Noches? Can you show me how to get there?"

All of them exclaimed, "You wanna go there? Why?"

He coughed and decided, no use hiding it. "I want to save a friend of mine"

Neru asked, raising a brow, "Is she a lady?"

Hitsugaya raised his brows disinterestedly and nodded, affirmative.

"Hmm, isn't that the same lady who was in there before?", Peshhe remarked.

"Nope, that was Orihime. This is another friend of mine...Onegai", he gritted his teeth and bowed a little.

They were a bit taken aback. He was sort of begging them!

Neru replied, "Its ok. We will help you out. After all, you are a friend of Ichigo"

----------------------------

"Why was your friend taken to Las Noches?", Neru enquired as they rode upon Bawabawa.

" She went there on her own free will"

" Then why are you going after her?"

"To bring her to her senses"

"Ni-saan"

"Eh? Why do you call me that?"

"Because, I think you look like my brother"

Hitsugaya gritted at the prospect of actually 'resembling' her 'brothers' , but he said nothing.

"Ni-san, are you strong?"

" I think so."

"Hmm, I thought I shouldn't say this but please turn back"

" Why?"

" Because they are very dangerous, there were five of them and all of them returned, very hurt. The Onei-chan was helping them recover but now if you are hurt, do you have anyone to heal you?"

" I don't think so"

" B-but you could die!"

"I doubt that would matter now. Now that I have left everything behind"

"Your mother will cry"

"Don't have one"

"Father?"

"Nope"

"Brother? Sister?"

Hitsugaya shook his head.

" How about the nei-chan you want to save?"

" Seeing what she is like now, I doubt she has eyes for anyone but one person, who isn't me"

"Ooooooh! That is soooooooo sad", Neru burst out crying.

Hitsugaya waved his hands frantically trying to calm her down, "D-Don't cry! Don't cry!"

" I cant help it! Sniff! Sniff! You are so alone! Don't worry! Neru will be by your side!" she rubbed her eyes and then brightened up suddenly when an idea popped into her head. "I KNOW!!"

"Err-what?", he somehow felt he wouldn't like what she had in mind.

"I WILL BE YOUR GIRL FRIEND!!", she hugged him tightly as he flayed his arms wildly trying to ward her off.

"Whoa! Whoa! Wai-t ! Waitaminit! How was this decided?"

"Neru has no boyfriend but many brothers, so you can be Neru's boyfriend and we will always be together!" , she surmised happily.

"Are you sure?", her brothers around her asked anxiously but they didn't look very hostile to the prospect.

"Why do you guys look like you agree?", Hitsugaya asked slowly with knitted brows.

Pesshe scratched the back of his head and sheepishly admitted, " Well, you see in Hueco Mundo, we couldn't find someone worth Neru. All of them look like death. You have a nice face to go with our cute Neru."

Hitsugaya didn't know what to say.

----------------------

Matsumoto looked around the third Division main office. It was finally open for her to visit. She heard that the officials from the investigation department found nothing that could point them to the misdeeds, no clue, no incriminating evidence.

"Yea, like they would find something that I couldn't find.", she thought.

Why was she back here again? Just after the final briefing, she heard that the ID (Investigation Department) had finally released her former work-office. She tried to ignore it but she couldn't press it any longer. She had to come here once more. Even though they were soon to take off to the human world.

She looked at the seat where she used to sit and where he used to sit. They seemed further apart than where she and Hitsugaya normally sat.

" I can't believe that I am actually comparing them both. Treacherous-Taichous! Is it just something about me they run away from?"

She sighed. She knew she would be labeled with something ridiculous like "the Lieutenant that the captains left behind". She felt like she had a criminal record or something!

She tried not to stop and talk to anyone between her briefings and the tasks that she was ordered to do. She could feel all eyes looking at her, some pitying her. She tried not to imagine what the others were thinking about her. She felt too exhausted about all the things that happened from the morning. Her shoulders felt heavy for a different reason today.

She looked around again, touching everything that seemed to hold a memory. Presently, she came upon Gin's chair. It was a normal wooden chair with four legs and heavy padding as the seat. She wondered whether she would feel the Gin's warmth if she sat on it.

She placed herself and looked at the view of the room from the former captain's point of view. She observed, her place was pretty out of vision if one looked straight ahead.

She stood up suddenly not wanting to crowd her mind with the memories that sprung up from within her. The chair fell with that impact.

She turned around to pick it up and just as she held the ankles of the leg to tilt it up, she noticed something curious. One of the base of the leg was unlike the rest. It had a deep hole with diameter of a ring. She studied it and then tried to look through it. It was dark. She blew into it. It seemed like just an empty hole in the wood. She circled the rim of the hole. It was really a small one. She wondered if she should cut the leg to see what was on the end of the hole. She felt mystified.

Then, she thought maybe she could put her finger through it. But what if an insect was at the other end and stung her finger.

She didn't mind. She felt she was too mixed up in her mind to feel pain. Maybe there might be a note or paper inside she thought but then the ID would have discovered it. She inserted her finger and felt the hole. It was empty but as she pressed her fingertip on the cold wooden end of the whole, she heard a click.

She looked up to see a very small wooden drawer pop up from the front of the seat.

In the drawer, she could see an even smaller box almost the size of the drawer, made in such a way that one could not feel that there was a hollow area in the wooden mass.

------------------------

"Look at that tall building! That is Las Noches.", Neru pointed out to her new 'boyfriend'.

Hitsugaya stared at the building. He had heard the report but it seemed the description couldn't suffice as to how frigid and unwelcoming it looked. He saw Neru look around as if searching for something, half-afraid.

"What are you looking for?", he asked.

From behind, Pesshe declared, " Brother, after this point, we can't follow you".

Hitsugaya blushed a bit. He was really thankful that they had bothered to actually bring him here at all.

"No! No! Its OK!", Neru clung to Hitsugaya, " He doesn't have to leave. We can manage. We are supposed to be together"

Hitsugaya smiled at the child who looked like she was about to burst into tears again.

" Don't worry about me. After this point, there is a fearsome guardian, isn't there? I have to deal with him without you getting hurt.", he patted her head.

He climbed down, much to the protests of Neru.

" After I come back, how about you come with me to the soul society? It must be dangerous for pluses here, isn't it?", Hitsugaya said as he looked up at her, still seated on the huge worm-like pet.

"Y-you knew?", Neru mumbled, wide-eyed.

It wasn't in the report but Hitsugaya could see it. He also observed that she seemed to have absorbed some hollow powers too. He smiled at her in his own way again that made him look a little bit naughty.

Neru rubbed her eyes and said with renewed spirit, " I will wait for you here then. Promise me that you will be back to take me."

She struck out her little finger and bent down.

Hitsugaya locked her little finger with his and said , " Yaksuku. I promise".

----

"Are you sure of this?", Ukitake asked, looking concerned.

"Hai"

" Didn't I see something like this with..?"

"I believe so too.."

Yamamoto from behind said, " It is very risky but the scriptures say that such is the power..if awakened"

----

"You better be okay, Hinamori", Hitsugaya murmured under his breath as he hurried towards Las Noches. He felt for certain she was alive.

He felt the wind pick up as he neared the enemy fort.

" The enemy will appear"

Sure enough, the sand in front of him suddenly started swelling and growing up towards the sky till it reached a gigantic height with ears, mouth, a crown shaped head and two hands appearing on the sandy mass. The hollow in between the sand giant marked him as the enemy.

"I AM RUNUGANGAI", it spoke with a booming voice, " AND THIS IS AS NEAR TO THE CASTLE YOU WILL GET!"

Behind, he could hear, Neru crying out at him, being held back by her brothers.

He had heard he was made of sand. He took out his sword and called out,

"HYOURINMARU!"

The Dragon of snow and ice erupted from his sword, blue heavenly light emanating from its transparent self lighting the whole place up. It slithered through the air as it charged towards Runugangai who tried to grasp it with both his hands but couldn't touch the surface as Hyourinmaru transformed itself to suspended water and coiled around the sand monster. Then, instantly it froze, transforming the guardian of the enemy gate into an ice replica.

As he sheathed his sword, Hitsugaya turned around to make sure they were alright.

"2 seconds", Pesshe mumbled when he found his voice. He was still staring at the ice structure in wonder as his companions were.

" He finished him off in two seconds, Neru!!". He looked up at the worm's back but Neru was gone. She was already running towards Hitsugaya in full-speed and pounced upon him like a little ball with such force that he almost toppled over.

"Oi", Hitsugaya cautioned.

"I LOVE YOU!!", she said rubbing her face on his sleeve as she held on exuberantly.

--------------------

Aizen looked up lazily from his throne. Gin was standing in front of him.

" Is she here?"

The moronic smile still pasted on his lips, Gin replied, "she is"

" Come forth, our newest member"

A figure appeared at the doorway and advanced towards him.

"Did you enjoy the tour?"

Aizen smiled.

"I had always thought this uniform would suit you better"

--------------------------

Hitsugaya panted. He was bleeding from the cuts that he had incurred while fighting with the Privaron Espadas on his way to the centre of the Arrancar headquarters. He knew he was in no shape to actually face Aizen. He thought that though he had fought five ex-Espadas in a row and God-knows-how-many Números, he sensed that security was a bit lower than expected. There was no preventive barrier on the outside, only a detecting barrier which worked very weakly as defence. With the skill of the 3 ex-captains, anyone could have erected a really strong barrier.

Another curious fact was though the Espadas as well as the three ex-captains might hide their reiatsu very well, he suspected that most of them weren't there. Even then, he was glad he had convinced Neru to stay behind. It was, however, more with her brothers' help and force, he could keep her from coming with him. They seem to have experienced such a situation once before.

His sharp sense of intuition had grown within the last few months but his strength didn't grow that considerably. He cursed his age at moments like these. Despite the fact that shinigamis aged slowly in decades and scores, he was all of his 12 years of existence and nine months to be exact. Bodily, he actually grew like human beings corresponding with human years. This was his little secret which was known to Hinamori only. When he started to notice his rapid growth, he had figured death would come just as sooner. This was what propelled him to become a shinigami and later awaken his soul-cutter to its initial and final release.

He heard footsteps and braced himself for more battle.

"They just don't stop coming, do they?"

This time it was Números again but they arranged themselves as soldiers with the foremost one who stood in front like the captain stepped forward and spoke,

" Shinigami! Are you Hitsugaya Toushirou?"

" So what if I am?"

"We have been instructed to take you to appear before Aizen-sama. Please be assured, we shall use force if necessary if you don't comply"

Hitsugaya knew he had to conserve his strength and he knew better than to fight if they were taking him where he wanted to be.

"Please follow us."

A few of them surrounded him as if he were a prized hostage and they marched towards the interior.

" Aizen, what are you planning?", Hitsugaya thought to himself.

-------------------------------

With all 10 Espadas down on earth including 15 Privaron Espadas and uncountable Números, the Gotei 13 captains of which only 4 were present consisting of Zaraki Kenpachi, Byakuya Kuchiki, Sajin Komamura and Soifon found their hands pretty full.

"Aizen is nowhere to be seen and so is the other two" , reported Soifon to the General who appeared on-screen.

"I see", Yamamoto observed, " It is just what I was afraid of"

The latter part was delivered in a very low tone.

" What was that, sir?"

" Nothing, Soifon. Tell me, can you perceive any of the forces falling back or returning?"

"None at the moment"

"Have that boy, Ichigo and a few others be prepared to follow in case there is any of them retreating. That might be the only chance at the moment of entering the Hollow's world"

" Yes, sir"

-------------------------

The centre of Las Noches was vast, too big for the limited number of members it supposedly housed. Hitsugaya felt a little bit conscious of his size. He eyed the lone person seated on the 'throne'.

"Sashiburi, Toushirou- kun"

"Ai-zen",, Hitsugaya growled.

"You seem to have grown a bit since the last time I saw you. You grow up really fast, unlike the kids I know"

Hitsugaya flinched a bit.

"Oops! I seemed to have spilled out a secret", Aizen drawled as he got up and began to walk towards Toushirou.

Hitsugaya said nothing but looked at him fiercely.

" But that's because there are no secrets between her and me", Aizen continued toying with Hitsugaya, " Of course, she can't keep any from me. I, on the other hand.."

He had come quite close enough to stand beside him and place a hand on his shoulder. Hitsugaya tolerated it. He needed to see that Hinamori was safe first before he made his move.

"I , on the other hand,..", he repeated, "..find it so incredibly easy to fool her"

Aizen adroitly dodged the blow Hitsugaya directed at him without seeming to have moved at all.

"Oh, my! You have become faster. And to whom do we owe your current level of skill? Your new fukataichou perhaps ", Aizen remarked walking past him already.

With his back towards Aizen , Hitsugaya asked between gritted teeth, " where is Hinamori?",

" In due time, my friend, in due time. But let me first introduce you to our newest member"

" Cut the crap! I want to fight you", Hitsugaya half turned around

" Fight me, you say. Not today, my friend, not today", Aizen ventured, " Today you fight her"

He seemed to be showing someone who stood with him behind Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya turned around slowly, expectantly, fearful of the person he was to see.

He looked at the 'newest member' starting from the her toes and slowly his eyes traced her form up to her face.

His eyes as wide as they could be,

"Ma-Matsumoto?!"

----------------------

" D-DAD!!", both Kurosaki Ichigo and Ishida Uryu exclaimed in synchrony, both of them already pushed by the impact, to be seated on the ground side-by-side. Then they looked at each other and pointing at each other, exclaimed together again " That's your father?!!!"

"Shut up, you two", scolded Ishida Ryuken in annoyance, " You sound like twins"

Kurosaki Isshin let out a hearty laughter. "Well, boys, now you know"

"Oya-ji, do you know each other? About each other I mean?", Ichigo asked wide-eyed.

"On both professional levels", Ryuken replied for Isshin.

"Ichigo, you didn't know your dad was a-?", Ishida Uryu guessed.

"No, did you know about your-?", Ichigo returned.

Ishida Uryu pressed the nape of his glasses looking at front with his face tilting downwards. Ichigo assumed, he meant 'yes'.

"Just goes to show how much 'bonding' you have with your children", Ryuken remarked looking obliquely at Isshin.

"Hmmph!"

------------------------

For a moment, Hitsugaya felt the world got a bit fuzzy.

"Why? Matsumoto, why?"

He felt something break inside him.

Matsumoto was standing in front of him fully clad in white. Her trademark exposed chest was covered in skin hugging white. It seemed ironic that the colour of the garb of both sides represented the opposite colour of Justice.

"Draw your Zanpakutou, Taichou"

He looked up again and saw she had already positioned herself for combat with her Haineko, ready to strike. She was serious!

"Move aside, Matsumoto", he commanded levelly, his eyes showing a dense green hue, " I am here to fight Aizen not you"

"Bold words, very bold words, Hitsugaya-kun", Aizen said. He was watching the scene with folded hands standing back a bit. He came forward, unlocked his arms. He held her shoulders and drew her back towards himself in close contact.

Hitsugaya's blood boiled but he didn't let his features betray it. He, however, tensed a bit and his shoulders tightened. This tiny gesture didn't escape the eyes of Aizen who smiled and cocked his head to her ear level,

"...And Matsumoto, this garb that you wear, it isn't mere clothing. It means with your body and soul, you swear eternal allegiance to me. It means that every thought that goes through your head, every pulse of your veins, every piece of your flesh, every movement that you make and every drop of blood down to the last drop that runs through this body... ", he spoke softly into her ear but loud enough for Hitsugaya to hear, as he ran the back of his hand down the side of her face, her shoulders, the side of her chest till her waist where he let his hand hold her, "...belongs to me. Now, you have no ties with that boy in front of you. In fact, you don't have to address him with respect anymore. He is now just plain Toushirou to you. Go on, address him so."

"Toushirou", she repeated mechanically.

"Good". He kissed her hair and turned around towards the exit.

Toushirou's reiatsu had already begun to flow dangerously since the moment Aizen touched her shoulders and anyone could see he was beginning to loose himself to blind rage. Only his eyes were hidden by a shadow. By now, his reiatsu was giving off a blinding light and the surroundings seem to darken.

As Aizen left the hall, without turning back or stopping, he said to the figure leaning on the pillar hidden by the shadows, " Take care of them for me"

Gin replied, " As you say, taichou". The unwavering grin still stuck to his face.

Aizen walked out the door.

Gin wasn't smiling anymore now.

---------------------

Hinamori pressed the portal key tightly to her chest. She couldn't wait anymore. She had finally met Aizen again after all this time and all she got to meet him for, was a few minutes. She was apprehensive at the beginning that he might stab her again. She already decided, in that event, it was better to have died than to endure living without him again.

The months that took her to be recuperated, when she awoke. She felt so desolate. The only solace being Shirou-kun with his visits, the only one whose behaviour and feelings didn't change. But even with all his care and concern, she couldn't bring herself to say it.

She had discovered something left behind in her robes that she wore the night Aizen stabbed her. It looked like a purse so no one questioned as to where it came from. It even puzzled her until she discovered a thin folded paper inserted very ingeniously. She opened it to read Aizen's handwriting.

He wrote that he was sorry for taking such a drastic measure to let his ideals being known. He claimed that a sacrifice was unavoidable and that he used her because he trusted her so much, he believed she was strong enough to revive from it and show him her ultimate loyalty.

She had cried happily when she first read his letter.

He wrote that he hadn't hurt anyone to kill them. The proof enough was she reading this letter and having Toushirou still by her side. He believed that the court and the king were disinterested in commoner's lives and the lives of the shinigamis who worked day and night to keep the balance. He knew he needed greater power to overthrow them and hence his research on hollows and alliance with them was for the purpose of building a stronger army. He ended the letter with the footnote that he was waiting for her to join him in his kingdom.

The portal key appeared to be a leathery item with a flap. When the flap was lifted, there was a hole on the other face, through which if she and only she inserted her finger and pressed it, the doorway to Hueco Mundo would open up even if it were sealed from inside or outside.

She was scared to try it, but she kept it with her all the time. She felt that maybe if she could convince everyone that Aizen was right then perhaps, all would come back to normal. She didn't understand neither felt supportive nor interested about whether the king or the court was good or bad. She only thought, "Anything! Oh, anything to keep him close!"

She thought she would try to first convince her strongest ally but he was gone for so long commanding the earth force. When she heard that the Arrancar who he was fighting against was actually aligned with Aizen, she requested the General to see Toushirou.

Seeing his face for the first time in months and his face looking so earnest, she remembered how she had attacked him and despite all that, how he had come visit her unconscious self regularly, took care of her, and seemed to forget how treacherous she had been. She apologized with the rush of realization. She tried to insert the request of not killing Aizen when his face darkened and she could not bring herself to expound the ideas from Aizen's letter and she side-tracked the issue by claiming he was perhaps misled.

All these things Hinamori had related to Aizen once she met him because, he had asked whether she had spoken about the letter to Hitsugaya. Aizen was perceptive enough to pick up the main facts that interested him.

He understood that Hitsugaya, naive as he is with matters concerning Hinamori, still believed that Hinamori imagined Aizen was controlled by Gin and Tousen. He knew it was beyond Hinamori's scope to realise how much she meant to Hitsugaya and how much he weighed and absorbed every word she said. The implicit bond at least from his side that was forged between them, since Toushirou was a young child was something that bounded him and perhaps will bound him forever as it is with childhood bonds. Aizen was satisfied with what he heard and had dismissed her.

He was glad that he had called her at the opportune moment by making the portal key throb and thus giving her an indication that he was summoning her.

"Everything is falling into place", he smiled as he watched his hostage waiting for him, from an unobserved place behind a white curtain on the doorway. He enjoyed to make others suffer for various things but most of all, he relished to make people suffer for love.

---------------------------

The fight between the ex-captain and the ex-Lieutenant were as unbalanced as they could get here. But Hitsugaya understood the message that Aizen had tried to convey loud and clear.

" Defeat your ex-vice captain and then I shall face you"

From her strikes, Hitsugaya was finally convinced Matsumoto was serious.

" Since when have you been a part of this? Why are you here? ", he tried to ask but she replied with a more malicious strike. It sliced through the air and almost hit him but he jumped back and counterattacked. The zanpakutous Hyourinmaru and Haineko clashed, Hitsugaya could feel his weapon shudder at Matsumoto's force. With the fierceness of her attack, he did all to ward her off and was extremely thankful that his captain-level skill of fighting allowed him to do so. At present, he was defensive and she was offensive.

As the fight went on, Hitsugaya could feel his energy ebb and he began to be less and less quicker to counter her attacks. At this rate, he knew, he would have to retaliate soon to keep himself alive. He became more and more engrossed in the fight, when he found a loophole and struck forward. His blade stopped about an inch from her neck as he came to his senses. She didn't counterattack at the moment but simply lifted her eyes and looked into his.

The moment their eyes met, his mind reverted back to sanity, " What am I doing???",

Gin struck from behind with the hilt of his sword and the tired captain fell to the ground, unconscious.

-----------------

Hitsugaya saw a dream in flashes. Aizen's face twisting in a smile, Hinamori screaming out with tears streaming down her face, Gin's face with his immovable smirk, all faces circled around him. They cleared for him to see his memories as if he were an invisible being that stood beside his younger self. Momo and Shirou sitting side-by-side digging in melon pieces in the summer sun. Those were carefree days. He saw all the times he spent with her one-by-one and felt that if life were to return to the same stage, then maybe...

Slowly, as one after the other, the scenes faded, some new scenarios emerged that he didn't feel were a part of his memory.

One was a battle scene, he could hazily see familiar faces, whose faces were these? Ichigo? that Quincy? red-hair Orihime? A big quiet guy? Abarai? Rukia? They were fighting against masked men who looked extremely strong, Espada? They were almost at their limit. But one-by-one they were winning. It looked like Earth, Karakura city. He realised that what he was envisioning was the true vision of the battle that was going on Earth to save Karakura city. But he could feel that even though the enemy was defeated one by one, the Earth force was tensed.

The king of the enemy was nowhere to be found!

He understood, they were looking for a gateway. He felt he had to do something.

" ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

He felt pain shooting up through his body at the split second of consciousness and then his mind blanked.

---------------------------

Hinamori looked at Hitsugaya unable to believe her eyes.

" Beautiful, isn't he?" Aizen said standing behind her.

Hinamori subconsciously felt that this might be one of the adjectives she might have described the view before her if it were not happening in reality. And she realised this only after she recognised him. Initially, all she could do was stand captivated by the sheer beauty of the object before her.

"Wha-what is this?"

Hitsugaya's naked body was floating in a giant cylindrical glass-like shelf filled with an almost transparent blue liquid which had a peculiar glow. The liquid gave an ethereal radiance to his body. The sculpted muscles, his lean face with chiselled features which looked realxed for the first time, his silver hair curving and floating with the liquid all around him gave him an almost, unrealistically angelic look.

She extended a hand and touched the glass, still finding it hard to believe, it was him.

"Why? Aizen-sama, why?"

"Don't worry, this liquid that he is floating in isn't an embalming fluid. He is not dead. In fact, he can breathe in it. Come with me and lets take a look at his back", Aizen beckoned.

She followed him around the glass cylinder and stood behind with him. She had downcast her eyes and at Aizen's bidding looked up.

She gasped.

On his back was a huge dark tattoo-like mark. It was somewhat shaped like a dragon with the dragon wings forming a half circle and the dragon body it self projected as a snake between the wings.

I haven't seen it before but I have seen his bare back numerous times! How could I have missed it. This is not Shirou-kun! Where is he?", Hinamori asked anxiously.

"Calm down. This IS the Shirou-kun you know! About this mark, I doubt he himself is even aware of it!", Aizen calmly explained

"Wha-what do you mean?"

"You see my dear Hinamori, there is also something else in this fluid. You can see some particles glistening in it, can't you?"

Hinamori looked carefully and sure enough there seemed to be tiny particles glinting which she realised was what gave the liquid its strange glow and also something else. They seemed to be uniformly spaced like a network dividing the whole liquid mass into uniform sections.

"What does this mean?", she asked carefully with furrowed eye-brows.

"Seems like you have noticed. When I brought Inoue here, I gave her an impression that I wanted Hougyoku revived as a whole to its foremost stage when in fact I needed it to be in particles. She did that for me thinking she had destroyed it into fine powder while in fact she had given me the same jewel broken into tiny pieces, each individually having much lesser power by itself but when suspended in a network, surpassed the powers of the jewel compacted into a ball-shape that it originally was. "

" Th-then it..."

"... was not destroyed. It was all going perfectly according to my plan", Aizen completed her sentence.

--------------------------

Matsumoto was overhearing the duo, staying out of sight by the doorway perfectly aware of the fact that Aizen definitely knew she was there. She looked at Hitsugaya's face from afar with an inscrutable look in her eyes.

"It isn't very nice to eavesdrop, Ran", drawled Gin.

" Aizen-sama is definitely conscious of my presence", Matsumoto returned.

" So I see", smiled Gin and he leaned with his back to the wall, beside her.

" Looks like you will spell trouble for me again, Ran but that what I always liked about you"

" You always did have a twisted way of 'liking' people, Gin"

" Very few people understand me the way you do, Ran. Is that why you keep coming back to me?"

After a moment's thought, Matsumoto replied.

" You're right. I always do, don't I?"

------------------

The battle on Earth was almost over.

" DRAT IT!" , screamed Ichigo in a frustrated tone, " Where the heck is Aizen?"

"Beating the Espada still doesn't guarantee that you can beat him, they don't just follow him around merely on a whim, you know", Shinji Hirako pointed out.

The Vizards had joined the battle a bit later when the shinigami were about to fall back exhausted. With them on the side of the shinigamis, the odds increased to their favour but as the commanding heads now had more time to think, an idea permeated through them, that this was somehow a ruse and something worse was still pending.

-----

Back in the Shinigami world, Ukitake exclaimed that some documents related to the Hougyoku had been skilfully removed from the others. It was done in such a way that it took them that much time to figure its existence and thus removal.

Shunsui remarked that since it was found that the Ou-ken was connected to the Hougyoku, the missing information might have been something that involved the location of the former. Perhaps, even the resurrection of the former.

Yamamoto heard the reports from the two captains and simply replied, " Perhaps the rumours were true then"

--------------------

"But that doesn't explain the mark" , Hinamori complained.

"Patience, my dear. Of course, it doesn't. I am not finished yet.", Aizen continued, " When Urahara created the Hougyoku. He thought it broke the barrier between the powers of the hollow and a shinigami but actually it broke the barrier between any coexisting sources of powers in the same body. The stronger the barrier, the more stronger the force Hougyoku must assert. I have had research carried on inserting the powers of a hollow in a shinigami but I thought, what if something stronger than either powers came into my hands. If it were too strong, it might not be possible to control it. However, it might just be possible to use its release for something else"

Hinamori looked blankly. Aizen continued on for the person he knew who was still following the logic of his explanation. It wasn't supposed to be a secret anymore. He, however, wickedly, changed the course of his conversation.

" Hinamori, have you ever wondered why I chose you out of Kira and Abarai as my Lieutenant?"

" Was it not because of my credentials, my qualities and my loyalty?"

Aizen looked at her with a glint in his eyes.

" After all this time, Hinamori, do you think you are strong enough as either of them? Do you think you could beat either of them in battle?"

Hinamori was speechless, her lips were trembling. Her heart started sinking.

" But that would not have served any purpose to me, anyways. I don't need a Lieutenant who could fight for me. I had Gin. "

Hinamori held herself lest she would fall on her weak knees.

" No, that was not it. I saw a glow in you. "

Hinamori brightened up for a moment.

" I wondered to myself, whether you indeed had something that I needed in you"

Hinamori looked at Aizen expectantly.

" It took me sometime to realise it was borrowed. I had you under a watch and decided wherever you went, the spark would follow. All I had to do was to lead you and you would lead him to me!"

Hinamori shivered when she suddenly understood what he meant and what he would say next.

" You were the bait, Hinamori and your little follower, your Shirou-kun is the catch!"

--------------------

Matsumoto removed the portal key from her pocket and looked at it for sometime. It looked almost like the one Hinamori had except that it was brown and not black. She thought that had she not found it in the box from the secret drawer in Gin's chair ( 3rd Division office), where would she have been? The note left in the box was so like him.

" In case you change your mind..."

She knew a bit of what Aizen was going to say to Hinamori so she left them and went on to explore the central core of Las Noches as much as she could until she found an empty corner. Looking both ways to see whether anyone was around, Matsumoto decided this was a safe place for the moment.

She lifted the flap of the portal key and put out her index finger indecisive about whether it was wise to put her finger through it.

" Trying to run away already", Gin whispered into her ear from behind.

Matsumoto jumped. It was really annoying how captains had the ability to hide their reiatsu and Gin was no exception.

" Gin!"

" That's a one way key. It can bring you in but can't take you back"

" I wasn't trying to..."

"Oh-o..", Gin smiled looking mildly sceptical.

" You do know that once .. I leave everything behind, there is no turning back"

" So you say", he looked at her leaning forward. He was much taller than her and rested his fore arm above her head, on the wall. She had to push her back to the wall as she felt cornered by him.

Matsumoto, for the first time with Gin, found herself uncomfortable in this position. This was a normal occurrence when they were captain and vice-captain. They were lovers then so why did she feel so awkward now? Wasn't this why she came here? She felt a slight twinge as if this close contact made her untrue to her heart.

She turned her head away but felt his breath on her cheek and neck.

" What are you doing?", she asked in a low tone.

"Reliving old times", he replied completely at ease with himself, not a bit fazed by her coldness.

She began to feel uneasy as she felt his face coming closer and closer. She tried to hide her face with her hair.

"Love-birds!", a female voice called out. Gin frowned and turned to the owner of the voice.

It was a young girl with short hair. She looked like a normal pretty teenager except that a broken mask was covering the right side of her face.

Matsumoto batted her eyes with a silent sigh of relief which Menoly noted but didn't comment about it. Gin couldn't see it as he had his back turned to her and demanded in a dangerously calm voice, " What is it?"

" Aizen-sama wants to see you both"

-----------------

Going back a bit in time.

" That can't be true." Hinamori defended, " You tried to kill me and then him. Why would you do that?"

She was still struggling with her feelings and her body collapsing.

" That is not the question you should ask. The question you should ask is why would I need him at all?"

" Yes! And the Hougyoku you are using is useless on him. He has no hollow powers"

" No. He doesn't. But in fact, he has something greater in him, that is harder to control and harder to manipulate but nonetheless useful in something else. Its a pity that once released, it will destroy his body."

"No...", Hinamori drew back in horror, " He- Shirou-kun is going to die!!"

Aizen continued without paying attention to Hinamori," The strongest powers exist are created by nature or what you might call the 'heavens'. He has been called the 'Heavenly Guardian' time and again but do you know what it means ?"

Hinamori managed to shake her head and was already sitting on her knees that had given way.

"It means according to these----", he showed a bunch of papers in his hand, " that if within him lies 'Heavenly powers', the power should be gradually released and revealed from when he turns a teenager and onwards. It is a power that is more powerful than all other powers given to nature. After all, the 'Heavenly Guardian' is to rule over the 49 heavenly spirits and as he grows and his power is released step by step, he would have to discover and win over them one-by-one."

Aizen paused a bit and his eyes shone as he looked at HT, more like an object of art than a living breathing soul.

"But the time I found him, he was too young to contain them so when he was reincarnated..."

"..reincarnated??"

" Yes, he has to be a heavenly being to hold such powers and to have existed on earth, and died so young seemed to have been his fate. However, since he is the reincarnation of the 'Heavenly Guardian', he is actually the reincarnation of an- "

"- Angel", Hinamori breathed.

-------------

Ichigo repeated, " So we have to wait for..?"

"..the portal to open..", Rukia said both of them facing Yamamoto onscreen. The whole room of Shinigamis were silent wondering how long they would have to wait.

They would just have to take the Commander's word for it that it would open by itself at all.

--------------------

" But why try to kill him and then capture him now, after all this time?"

"He was much too young, when I first discovered him, to be tapped at all. I needed his hidden power to strengthen but his barrier, which was strong as ever, to be weakened", Aizen replied.

Then he went closer to the glass shelf and looked at it, like a scientist proud of his creation.

"See the Hougyoku network in the liquid and the cable connected to the glass case", Aizen pointed, " The sparks that you see occasionally from the particles are actually concentrated and charged flow of spirit energy. They energize the particles to provide something like electricity to the body suspended "

Hinamori noted that to Aizen, Hitsugaya has been converted into a vessel of high power. He is no more a living being with thoughts and feelings in Aizen's mind.

"Shirou-kun is suffering, he is suffering a lot!", Hinamori's heart cried out for Toushirou for the first time.

" Yes, he is. All the more to break the barrier"

"Barrier?"

"Since his body is too young to hold the power gifted to him, his creator has provided an extremely strong barrier that can't be broken all together at all. Hougyoku with its extreme strength at this moment is working bit by bit to break the barrier and due to all the things that I had planned out, is succeeding in unleashing it faster than it would have, had everything gone according to his pre-determined fate"

"all the things that you planned...?"

"I had to break his spirit in the sense, his heart, make him go through the brink of death, make him feel hopeless time and time again, fuel his depression. All of it weakening the barrier because of his weakened spirit"

writer's note: the spirit in the last dialogue means mental strength while in all former cases and further cases mean spiritual energy

Aizen continued in triumph, " I guess I have to thank you in breaking him down. Its all thanks to you..!!"

" All thanks to me.." Hinamori repeated.

------------------

Back to present time again, Aizen had gathered all the members that had remained and had not been ordered to destroy Karakura city.

Matsumoto and Gin entered the room where Hitsugaya's unconscious body was kept. Lolly and Menoly were there. Matsumoto saw Tousen and a curious looking Arrancar called Wonderwice. She looked at the latter with some interest. She was yet to see what powers he harboured as of many others but his childishness made her feel that he might be really intimidating. Margera suddenly whizzed his head around and looked into her eyes with a buck-teethed smile. A slight shiver ran through her body as she pulled her eyes back to observe the scene ahead.

Hinamori was sitting on the floor. Her eyes looked blank and it seemed she couldn't move anymore. It was as if she had received a shock from which she could not recover. Matsumoto felt a slight pity for her then braced herself to look at him. The luminous naked figure floating in the glass case. The liquid seemed to be swirling around him giving the glass a smoky appearance with parts of Toushirou's body unclear. All the same, he looked extraordinary, like an untouchable masterpiece in an Art museum. Matsumoto could not breathe. "I am sorry, taichou. This could not be avoided." Inside her, these words were not enough to describe what she was actually feeling. She hoped to God that it all will be over with soon, and that he will be okay at the end of it.

" The Heavenly Guardian is almost awake", Aizen announced. He meant that the power was almost on the surface. He was behind the glass shelf, he could see the dragon mark on the back of Hitsugaya was very prominent and showed new features. Hitsugaya's shoulder blades were showing a semi-circular protrusion as if the power from within was trying to get out.n

His tall body now shrouded the shelf that Hitsugaya was trapped in. " The Hougyoku has almost broken down the barrier"

Aizen studied the energy charts continuously regurgitated from the slot on the control panel behind the cylindrical glass case that Hitsugaya was entrapped in.

"The energy levels are phenomenal", Tousen concluded from behind.

"Still, this can't be all of it", observed Aizen unsatisfactorily. "How many barriers, are there?"

" What is going on?", Matsumoto whispered to Gin.

" Back-up plan is already in motion", Gin answered in a whisper.

"I have to act fast!!", Matsumoto reminded herself but she didn't know how.

------------------------

"First barrier releases by itself at 15", Yamamoto explained to Ukitake.

Shunsui asked, " How many are there?"

"Ah! That is the thing I don't remember", Yamamoto replied resignedly

"Will the first release suffice for the resurrection?", Ukitake asked.

" It will be considerable, close to the city's destruction, I imagine", Yamamoto said stroking his beard thoughtfully, " If the boy survives it..."

"If he dies..?", Ukitake asked, worried.

" Before the end of it? We might be saved for the moment" Yamamoto decided, " But we loose our saviour of the prophesized Apocalypse"

-----------------------

"He who holds the power to destroy the world"

Aizen thought to himself.

"Ah! I see. His power is much like the earth. The core is protected by many layers. With the stripping off of each layer, the heat of the core is released bit by bit, coming to the surface. A layer comes off when he has mastered the heat that escapes the pores of the layer he has to strip off."

He folded his hands, and remarked to himself with a smile, " Its a pity that you would die before you impart all the power that is reserved within you. I suppose it's a shame also that all that power will go back with you to the heavens to where you belong."

"Don't die on me, taichou. I have to find a way...", Matsumoto decided in her mind.

" What are the results from the human world?", Aizen turned around and asked Tousen.

" The shinigamis have almost finished the war. As instructed, none of our forces have returned."

" Hmm, that will do", Aizen said.

-----------------------

In Hitsugaya's mind,

" All this pain, so much pain from all around. I can't think anymore. What is happening?"

A blue figure materialized from the darkness. Hitsugaya couldn't see it properly but guessed,

"Hyourinmaru?"

"You have been very hasty, haven't you? I suppose some of it is my fault"

"What do you mean your fault?"

"Realise, captain. I am not a mere Zanpakutou as you are not a mere shinigami-captain"

"I am not a mere-? What do you mean?"

"Have you ever thought why only your Zanpakutou actually has the form of a sacred beast and even materializes ?"

"Don't play games with me? Come to the point"

" There are no shortcuts in the path you are destined to follow, even if someone decides to change your fate!"

" I-I still don't know what you mean"

" I am not only your Zanpakutou, I am also your protector"

"Protector? I don't need a 'protector'!"

" Oh yes you do. Tcheh! To think your character in this life would be so weak! And DUMB!!!"

" You are flinging insults with no clear reasons at all"

" Find your strength, chief, find your reason. Find why you must fight and stay alive"

" Stay alive? Am I going to die?"

Hyourinmaru narrowed his eyes as he disappeared into the darkness, " That's for you to decide".

----------------------

Aizen started working with the buttons on the control panel. The screen came to life as if it were on a screen saver before and showed a level meter which suggested, that he was trying to increase the level of some variable. Hitsugaya's body convulsed a bit. It stopped after Aizen let go of the buttons. The convulsions created ripples in the fluid Hitsugaya's body was floating in making it impossible to see him. As the undulations cleared, his comatose body could finally be seen again. His head had fallen back with his face angled upwards, blood trickled from the side of his mouth. Hinamori came to life and sprung crying and hugging the glass,

"No! Shirou-kun!"

Matsumoto tightened her fist and bit her lip till blood came out. Her blue eyes tingling as she refused to blink. If she did blink, tears would come out. She could not risk it now.

"Just some time alone and unobserved", she thought, " Please no more. Please God, no more."

She wished she had the luxury to scream like Hinamori, beat her head in the glass till it cracked and blood spurted. Her heart and mind felt like an ocean in storm. It took everything in her to hold herself back. Her immense control when situation demands it, was one of her greatest attributes. She felt her insides were like a mirror broken in to millions of tiny little pieces. But her exterior didn't betray anything.

She wasn't aware that Gin was looking at her very carefully as she had eyes only for the boy in the glass case.

" You know, your fight with Hitsugaya was the most boring fight I have ever seen", Gin remarked to Matsumoto who fortunately came to her senses at the sound of his voice.

" Why?", she managed not to stutter and appear calm and collected.

" None of you released your Zanpakutous." Gin observed, " All I did see was a plain sword fight"

-----------------------

Urahara's underground world.

Orihime and Hacchi projected their powers together towards a common point but it all seem to be absorbed by a dark hole which would disappear instantaneously. It seemed that they were trying for sometime. As both seemed dead beat. Urahara saw them try for the umpteenth time and told them to rest.

Urahara answered," No luck" as he stood on the 'hill' of his created underground world looking down on Ichigo. Ichigo was standing with Rukia, Sado and Ishida. Two Vizards, Hirako and Hiyori were standing with them. Yoruichi, Soifon and Byakuya seemed to be discussing something between themselves and were standing apart from the others.

Ichigo stood with his hands on his waist and looked up.

"Can't believe that we defeated the whole lot and can't enter Hueco Mundo.", Ichigo said to no one in particular then looked at the Vizard duo and said, " Anyways, why are you guys here? I thought you guys weren't going to help the shinigami."

"Don't get us wrong", Hiyori scowled, " We are here to give Hacchi company in case you guys decide to run off with him"

Many in the group rolled their eyes when they thought that Hacchi was bit too big to 'run off' with.

Hirako simply stated, " Common enemy decides a one-time truce."

Abarai was running with haste towards them. He seemed out of breath a bit.

"Where's the fire?", Ichigo questioned Renji who stopped to catch his breath.

"News flash", Abarai exclaimed, he was listening to his mini headphone, " Remember we couldn't find out where some of the Espada escaped to? Its true that they didn't return to their world. They are in Rukongai at the moment."

" WHAT???", all exclaimed except the Vizards.

Soifon declared, " No time to loose, Byakuya, lets head back to Soul Society."

Byakuya showed no reaction but also made no motion to budge.

"Byakuya is right", Yoruichi said, "I believe there are enough people to guard Seireitei at the moment. I still think, we should wait here for an entry point to Hueco Mundo to open up"

Ichigo thought that, "But Byakuya didn't even say anything!". He said out aloud, " But there is no saying when will this doorway open up? Shouldn't we deal with the place more accessible at the moment?"

" Don't underestimate the Gotei 13 captains, boy", Byakuya said flatly, "I am pretty sure they can handle this. Our orders were to penetrate Hueco Mundo and destroy the enemy. And that's why we are here. Soifon, any reaction on the dimensional connector?"

"None", Soifon replied taking out a cylindrical device which had a depressed soft end on one of its heads. She pressed it, but nothing happened.

"Th-that thing!", Abarai exclaimed, "I thought it was a legend when we read about bu-but its-"

"-real!!??", Rukia said, equally amazed.

" What's that?", Ichigo asked, curious.

"Our last hope", Yoruichi replied for Soifon.

---------------------

Hitsugaya felt his body gain form in the dark. The pain had subsided or rather maybe he was growing immune to it. He looked at his hands, he could now see them. But he could still feel that he was not in reality yet, this was his mind.

He began to see a light which grew behind him. He turned around to gaze at the source. It was like a small opening that let in light.

Hyourinmaru reappeared again and spoke to him, now a bit anxious, " Hurry!", he said, " Hurry! Before that light engulfs you! You must fight it for you will be lost to all if it catches up to you and you will never live to see your dear ones again!"

Hitsugaya started to run away.

He thought as he ran away, " Never to see my dear ones again. Am I dying?"

He felt a very pointed pain on his back as he ran.

The dear ones' faces flashed in front of him.

Hinamori's face, Oba-san's face and then one by one every one he knew in Soul society, almost.

The Gotei 13 captains, even Yamamoto's face.

Then the treacherous captains' faces.

Aizen, Tousen, Gin!

He looked at the faces he hated the most .

Aizen! Gin! For hurting Hinamori and...

And..?

He had realised with a shock, there was this face, this face which hurt him the most.

Matsumoto. The image of her face didn't disappear as if he held on to it by will.

He stopped to look at it, oblivious suddenly of the advancing light that spread behind him and of Hyourinmaru's cries of warnings. The whole world felt silent as he touched the face that had no body.

" Taichou" , she seem to murmur and then smile, " You win..."

He felt his back ache like millions of needles passing through it. But that was nothing compared to how he felt his heart crushed.

His back exploded, as he stood, with an even brighter light that almost mixed with the pursuing light behind him, somehow, outshining it.

" ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

----------------------------

Matsumoto stood very still.

" Whatever do you mean?", she tried to dismiss it away lightly if she were prepared for it!

She hadn't even noticed!

"Taichou!", a small voice spoke to him within her, " You didn't release your soul-slayer against me."

" Behold", Aizen brought their attention towards him, " So it starts"

They all looked at Hitsugaya's direction. The fluid around him had begun to swirl, his body now standing straight but still floating. A large pipe connected to the top of the glass shelf had begun to shake with the waves it created. The fluid showed large waves of blue light.

" is it his reiatsu?", Matsumoto asked to no one in particular. Even Gin's attention was pulled towards the scene before him and what he saw, he had seen before but it never ceased to mesmerize him.

Matsumoto counted the seconds. She knew she couldn't wait anymore. Even if, she wanted to see what was going on. She had to look for an opportunity to run.

She mulled over the whole structure of Las Noches that she had explored during the last few hours that she had been here. She had to find out the origin of the barrier. She knew where it was that could have been the central point of the barrier. she was very sure that the portal key had throbbed when she drew close to it. Her mind rapidly traced her steps and tried to pick out the place she had experienced it. She knew that she was onto something when she was kept away from it during her tour with Gin.

She mentally, cemented her attention to that place.

"That has to be it!".

--------------------------

" What is this?", Hitsugaya yelled in indignation. His body in a crouching position, bound with large black strong cords emerging from the floor.

" Your hide-out for now", Hyourinmaru said, " I will fight the invasion and you will survive till I am not defeated."

Hitsugaya protested, " Let me out!! I WILL fight it!! Why these cords?"

" So that you would not distract me! This will give you sometime to sort yourself out!! You can't fight with your current level of strength! Gather your heavenly powers, O Heavenly Guardian! Otherwise, this trip of life and reincarnation will all have been for nothing."

" H-Heavenly Guardian?? Reincarnation? ", repeated Hitsugaya incredulously, " W-ait!!"

He shouted at the disappearing figure of Hyourinmaru.

"Heavenly Guardian? Reincarnation? Of what??", he said very puzzled.

He wondered suddenly why his back felt slightly heavy, he fingered his back with his hand trying to pull away from a cord that bounded it. He did manage with one hand. He touched a smooth surface which felt higher than his back. It was like scales, no-not scales, something softer.

"Wings? But how? Without Hyourinmaru??"

But these were different. They weren't solid like the ice scales he would have when he summoned Hyourinmaru. They were feather-shaped but...texture-wise..unlike he had ever felt before...it felt like air with warmth as if he had touched nothing!

He tried to pull off one from his back. It hurt! He tried one at the peripheral end. It seemed loose enough and came off. He brought it forward for inspection.

It was like a large feather which was made of light, a very warm and soft glow. The softness made him feel it would disappear or fall apart any second. he tried to crush it, it simply melted into his hands and to his surprise, his hands absorbed it and began to glow.

" Nani wo Kure?" (Hopefully it means, "What is this?")

--------------------

Hinamori felt her chest below her neck just above her breast, over her robes. On her skin, hidden by her garb was the seal, which sealed all her powers.

She was powerless. She had no weapon as she was disarmed when she entered the Las Noches.

"Protocol", the Número had explained.

" What can I do?", Hinamori said to herself, tears streaming down her cheeks as she saw, the colour of Hitsugaya's reiatsu , change right in front of her eyes.

She thought hard, "I have to do something! I have to save you! Shirou-kun!"

She felt clawed her head in a self-detrimental way, as if, if she were to hurt herself, he might be saved. She felt her hair getting dishevelled and found a hair clip.

" Something sharp!", she realised. She took it out stealthily taking care Aizen didn't notice her action. But he was too busy watching the fruition of his plan.

" Pride comes before a fall", she thought, her eyes starting to show the first signs of despise for Aizen.

But what could she do with a mere hair-clip?

She suddenly couldn't break the glass which looked as thick as to be unbreakable. She knew it was useless.

She looked around in desperation and then she found a way.

"I might die for this!", she thought before she made her move, " This time Aizen will really kill me! But if this helps in any way in making up for what I have done to you...hope you get to know this and forgive me"

She struck the hair-clip with all the force her fragile body could muster, she plunged it into the spirit energy cable. The point retaliated by electrocuting her. It died down after she convulsed a bit.

She fainted.

Aizen was surprised by her move for a split second.

Then he reacted, by kicking her unconscious body which lay senseless on the ground.

"Gin!" , he ordered in fury, " take her to the isolation chambers!"

Matsumoto who had been backing out in small steps, decided, " This is it!" and after taking a last glimpse of Hitsugaya, fled the scene.

" No harm's done, the barrier has cracked." ,Tousen remarked to Aizen, looking at the charts, as Gin carried Hinamori's unconscious body away.

" It will be soon before his powers are tunneled to the target point and Ou-ken is resurrected", Aizen concluded.

It was only Menoly who noticed that Matsumoto had disappeared. She quietly drew back and followed the escaped Lieutenant.

---------------------------

Matsumoto moved as fast as she could, as if her life depended on it.

"Taichou- please hold on a bit longer. I know you have the strength. I just know it from the first moment I met you. You will NOT DIE on me!!! YOU CAN NOT DIE!!!", she screamed in her mind.

She curved through the corners and at last reached her destination. She took out the portal key and smelt it. It had a slight rotten smell. And it throbbed as if at the close proximity of something it recognised. But it was a blind wall.

She fingered it and tried to look for holes. She found one when she pressed some blind point on the wall, but it seemed like a slot again which appeared from nowhere. It wasn't a finger slot.

" It won't open that way", Menoly said.

Matsumoto whizzed around and found the Arrancar calmly leaning on the wall opposite of her. She took out a small knife.

Matsumoto turned defensive about to take her Haineko out.

Menoly didn't look like she was bothered, she closed in and gripped Matsumoto's hand that was reaching for her Haineko and pierced her finger-tip.

Matsumoto was surprised and asked, stricken, " What are you doing??"

"Put a drop of blood into the hole of the portal key and slip the portal key through the slot you found.", Menoly said and then turned around.

" Wa-it!", she asked, " Why are you doing this?"

" Foolish women make me mad.", she said and disappeared.

--------------

After inserting the portal key into the slot, the doorway miraculously opened that is the wall shifted.

An incredibly rotten smell hit her nose, "what is this?"

A staggering view came to her sight as the wall closed behind her.

She felt she would faint from the smell.

Hundreds, no more than a hundred of dead bodies of what? Hollows?

She saw a cylindrical mound of numerous dead bodies of Hollows, degenerating, and surrounding a light whose source she could not see.

She held her sleeve to her nose and went around the mound. It was like a stadium whose ground she could not see. She went around the perimeter until she could see an opening.

She entered it to see a light in the middle of the ground.

The light was coming from a ball-like object on the platform. At first, she thought it was white, but as she neared it, she realised that it was a black hole with an eerie white glow around it. It seemed to have no surface but swirling waves around it.

" This must be the source!"

She gazed at it for sometime and realised that the bodies closest to it was sucked one by one and the fact that she was below its platform had kept her safe.

" How do I destroy this???!!", she wondered incredulously.

" Don't use this until you have to. With the strength of the barrier, it might just be a black hole. If it is, then you can use this", Yamamoto had said giving Matsumoto one of the pair of the dimensional connector, " Use this with care. Its the only one of its kind, Matsumoto Rangiku."

" So I guess, its the last option, hey?", Matsumoto said.

She took out her Haineko and lifted one of the legs of her trousers. There was a very thin line drawn on her calf muscle.

She breathed for a moment with her eyes closed before, she placed the blade of her weapon along the line and made a cut of about 2 inches. She winced at the pain. It hurt like hell!!

" Damn! That Mayuri!!", she said between gritted teeth.

Nemu had said the blood letting would be minimal while inserting one of the dimensional connector surgically. She had assured that once cut, it would not impair her movements like walking and running, provided that she cut herself strictly along the line. Mayuri didn't agree to have Matsumoto operated on at first, at least he pressed on the fact his department would give no help. After being ordered by Yamamoto, he consented on the condition, agreed to and assured by Shunsui who had accompanied her, that she would donate her body to the Medical Research department on the event of her early death. She had shuddered at the thought but Shunsui promised, " Don't worry! I am sure you won't feel a thing then!"

"Uh!" she grimaced as she put her fingers through it. She took out a cylindrical object from the gash.

From a small container in her pocket, she took out some cream-like semisolid and applied it on the cut. It was a specially concocted gel, designed to heal a wound faster and block blood flow as it merged with her skin almost instantly when applied. It was a parting gift from Nemu. It didn't kill the pain but it was mollified a bit.

When she set off for Hueco Mundo, Ukitake anticipated as well as she did, that she would have a total body check. Probably, even disarmed. She was surprised when she wasn't disarmed but she did have a body check. Hence, the surgical implantation was a good idea. The reason for her not being disarmed came to her when she was introduced as a new member to Hitsugaya. She was thankful that, she was told about it fifteen minutes before she faced him. she was torn between her allegiance to her mission and her heart. She steeled herself as she tried to arrange her priorities. Karakura city or risking blowing her cover. She did know however, that neither Aizen nor anyone in his group actually believed that she had switched sides. The least she could have got out of it was some freedom and less surveillance which she got.

"But at what cost?", she had thought when she saw Hitsugaya's floating body.

She pressed the soft end of the dimensional connecter as she pointed the other end towards the point she believed to be the centre of the sphere. A red line shot out from the other end of the cylindrical dimensional connector and ran towards the centre of the black hole.

From outside of Las Noches, Neru and her brothers who were waiting and hiding behind a frozen sandy mound that once was Runugangai, they could see a red line which shot up from the middle of the structure and pointed towards the sky.

---------------------

Another scene appeared before Hitsugaya's eyes as his pain subsided. It was Hinamori being kicked by Aizen.

He flew with rage and tried to intervene in the scene but his hand passed through the image like it were a hologram.

"Wh-why ? why is this happening? I can't even protect her! What sort of a shinigami captain am I ??"

He screamed in frustration.

"I have to fight! I need strength!! I need strength!!"

He remembered the words, Hyourinmaru had left for him.

"Gather your heavenly powers, O Heavenly Guardian!"

"Heavenly Guardian!", he mumbled, " But how?"

He looked at his hand still glowing.

" Find your strength, chief, find your reason. Find why you must fight and stay alive"

"Why I must stay alive? What is my strength?"

He closed his eyes and thought of Hinamori. She was like a mirage to him. He had always followed her and tried to protect her in all the ways he could. He had taken her away from her coveted position and brought her to his vice-captain position. He was thankful that she never openly disapproved of it. He had brought her near, but he couldn't capture her heart. He had kept her from active duty, giving all the freedom to do what she pleased. Still, she had chose Aizen time and again.

He had thought his strength was his love for her. His tendency to cater to her every desire. She had kept close to him but time and again proved, he could never be what she really wanted. He was not Aizen, he thought bitterly, or at least what his projected image was.

Unknowingly, he had tried to be everything she wanted. He became a captain for his own ambition but it was instilled by her ambition to join the shinigamis. He wondered would he have joined if Hinamori didn't follow her dream to be at Aizen's side?

He had cruelly snatched her from Aizen's side but she still spent most of her time with Aizen anyway. He once overheard Kira remarking, " She knows Aizen-taichou better than me"

" I never had you, did I?"

Come to think of it, he had never had any of his fukataichous, did he?

But he somehow, found that it was easier to have dealt with Matsumoto. A pain pricked his heart again.

" What was this?"

He wondered. Even she had betrayed him but it was not like he had trusted her as much as he had trusted Hinamori at least. Or did he..?

She fought very seriously, he thought. Seriously? He asked himself. He suddenly realized, she never once uttered, " Howl, Haineko" during their fight.

"Why?"

Then he realised, that was why he didn't release Hyourinmaru. Would he have released his Zanpakutou if she did release hers?

He didn't know. It has never happened.

"It will never happen", said someone.

" Who is that?", he shouted to the voice. Someone was standing in the shadows. The figure came towards him.

It was Matsumoto.

"Ma-Matsumoto??"

Why did she have a proper form in his mind and Hinamori didn't?

She cocked her head and smiled gently, " Taichou, are you hurt? Let me help you", she knelt down to him.

"Wa-wait!", he protested but he couldn't move because of the bondage.

She held his head with both her hands and put it on her breast, cuddling him tenderly. This is so familiar, so reminiscent. He closed his eyes, relaxing. For a moment, all the war was forgotten.

He remembered how much she took care of him. he never had actually found her demanding in anyway. She, in fact, had given as much he had wanted, always.

Her motherly instinct took over every time she felt he needed some Tender Love and Care which was about most of the time. She fussed over him, irritated him with her laziness and truants, teased him with her assets, consoled him with her silence and companionship, backed him up during his fights and followed his instructions to the letter. He was the mother he had never had, the friend that he had needed whenever he felt desolate , the partner in work who tuned to him without communication, the one who was constantly beside him, he never felt alone for a split second.

He felt he could smell her from this dreamlike form of hers. He felt he knew each part of her – personality at least. He knew her more than Hinamori which is why she had a form in his mind. He felt he could rely on her whenever. He also remembered that whenever she wouldn't be around, he almost always made it his business to find out her whereabouts. He ...

He lifted his head and looked at her ethereal face.

As she smiled, he said to her, "I just can't leave you alone, can I ?"

------------------------

"It lit up", Ishida said pointing at Soifon.

She felt her pocket throbbing and looked at it as others did, a red line appeared from her pocket which emerged from a dark hole on the sky of Urahara's underworld.

"So what was it again that we do now?", Ichigo asked hastily. They were briefed about the basics of the contraption by Soifon and Yoruichi about half an hour ago but Ichigo was a bit thick-headed about stuff like this anyway. He looked at Ishida in desperation. The latter let out a sigh and was about start explaining, when Yoruichi said, "No time now."

Soifon took it out, and thrusting it forward with both hands, said, "Grab hold of me"

"Wh-what??", Ichigo exclaimed, scandalized.

Byakuya dutifully went behind Soifon, coughed a bit and after mumbling a disclaimer, "Much against my wishes", held her from behind by the waist. Yoruichi joined suit followed by Rukia then Renji. Orihime went on and all the others, even the Vizards. Only Ichigo was the one pending. Everyone in the line turned around looking at him.

"Are you coming or not?", Renji yelled.

"That looks preposterous!!", Ichigo shouted with his hands folded and his back turned, "I REFUSE to be caught in such an embarrassing position!!"

" Chicken!", Rukia said raising her eye-brows.

Ichigo turned around, his face cringing, still unrelenting.

"OH NO! I am called 'chicken' by the woman I love! How am I ever gonna live down this embarrassment?". Urahara said in a sing-song voice from behind.

Ichigo retaliated turning to him, "Will you QUIT making up thoughts for others??!!"

" she's right, you know", Yoruichi said, " So quit acting like a baby and hold on before we take off."

" Heck! I even am in the line, loser!", Hirako said.

" Who are YOU calling a loser, weirdo!", Ichigo said as he grudgingly went on to join in.

"Weirdo?! Look who's talking, Mr shinigami-cum-hollow-cum-God-knows-what!"

" Hear! Hear!", agreed Hiyori for once.

The problem was not the ridiculousness of the situation anymore, the new problem turned out to be how he was going to hold on to Hacchi who was the last on the line. Finding no other way out, he just grabbed on to the back of the tuxedo.

"Everyone hold on tight! All set?", Soifon asked.

Urahara gave a thumbs up sign.

"Here we go!", Soifon announced.

All of them felt pulled suddenly and very strongly as Soifon pressed the soft end of the dimensional connector. It was like a roller coaster as they all whizzed in alone into the small black hole which widened like a mouth swallowing all of them up.

When they disappeared, Urahara commented to the other people of Urahara shoten hiding behind a rock.

"This is GOTTA be interesting!!"

----------------------

"EAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Each and everyone in the line-up screamed (except Byakuya, Soifon and Yoruichi). Some like Orihime closed their eyes. They were travelling at top speed. There were blurry, unrecognisable images all around but what made it harder to actually keep one's eyes open was the trajectory of their inter-dimensional 'journey'. It wasn't straight. It curved randomly and they had the tendency to rotate. The sounds of them shouting coupled with the whizzing sound due to their speed made their ear-drums nearly numb. Ichigo wondered why hadn't they gotten hold of ear-plugs. He would get to know the reason soon.

They also found it hard to hold on as the more they were pulled forward, the more they felt the weight of the people behind pulling them back. It would have been really funny hadn't they felt that if they let go any moment, they might be lost forever in some unknown dimension- as per the briefing given to them.

Finally, Soifon shouted on the top of her lungs, " WE'RE Near TO the end of the journey NOW. So remember guys, hold tight and try to be rotated as hard as you can to have a soft landing!!"

"Wha-what? Wha-what did she say?", Ichigo shouted to Hacchi.

" She said-", he started.

" ROTATE!!", Rukia shouted back.

"Wh-WHY?" Ichigo screamed.

By then, they passed through another small black hole which widened like the one in the beginning and swallowed them.

" Ah! Stationary land!", Ichigo said, glad and relieved before he realised they were falling!!- on top of the solid masonry of Las Noches, " YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

All of them had let go and dutifully rotated to build up enough centripetal force to not hit the building but the sand around. Ichigo who didn't get what was said realised his folly but was a bit too late. He nearly landed on the edge of the top of Las Noches, bonked his head and landed close to the foot of the building.

He got up rubbing the sore-side of his head when he felt a whack on the back of his head. Turning around, he saw the culprit was Rukia. He was about to scream, " What the heck was that for?" when she said, " That's why!!"

"...you should have rotated.", explained Hacchi.

"ICHIIIIIIIIIIIGOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

"Wha-?", Ichigo looked at the direction of the owner of the voice.

A small ball hit him with force and as he toppled over, he recognised 'it', " NERU!!"

" Who is she?", Soifon asked with suspicion.

"Oh! Don't worry, she's good, she's good!", Ichigo defended Neru and the 3 hollows creeping behind her. He explained.

--------------------

" You have grown", said Ichigo affectionately patting Neru's head.

"Ya", she replied very happily but then as she remembered something, her face darkened, " Oh Ichigo, you have to save him!!"

"He has been in there for a long time. Neru thinks he might have been captured and might be killed by Aizen-sama! Please hurry!!", Neru wailed.

"Who?", He asked.

"She must be taking about-", Yoruichi offered

Both Yoruichi and Neru said simultaneously, and respectively,

"-Hitsugaya"

"My boyfriend!"

"Eh?", Many of them echoed , even Yoruichi.

"Oh! We must be speaking about different people", Yoruichi concluded.

"No! That's his name! He has lovely silver hair and green eyes and is shinigami. Neru's boyfriend"

"Now that sounds familiar", Ichigo said.

Abarai observed, "Man, that boy has something about him, doesn't he? He bags a woman of every age group. First it was Hinamori-san, then we had Matsumoto-san and now ..whats-your-name-again?"

"Neru", Neru replied with a pout.

"..Neru-san", Abarai concluded.

"Uh-guys, aren't we forgetting about something?", Orihime asked sheepishly.

"Hello-! The mission?", Hiyori said.

Soifon and Byakuya were already looking at Las Noches and were contemplating how to enter.

"Looking for an entrance?", Ichigo asked with triumph in his voice as he felt this was his turf, "No entries, we BREAK IN!!"

--------------------------

The waves around the glass case had reached a colossal level. But it was getting sucked out from the pipe and redirected to somewhere unseen from the room. Aizen, Tousen, Lolly and Menoly were looking at it. Gin came into the room and joined them. He looked around and noticed one was missing.

A Número soldier came rushing in screaming, " Aizen-sama.."

"They are here, aren't they?", Aizen guessed.

"Uh! Th-that is..yes, Aizen-sama", the Número bowed.

" Gin, Tousen, come with me. Time for some fun", Aizen declared.

"Lolly , Menoly. Guard this room with your life! I trust you two", Aizen said and left the room with his trusted followers.

----------------

The bonds had broken away when Hitsugaya felt enlightened, the dawn of a new self-realization. A wall of darkness shifted and Matsumoto's smiling form disappearing.

" You have found your strength, taichou", she murmured as bits of her image broke and sort of flew away.

" See you in real-life", Hitsugaya said.

He shaded his eyes for a moment from the blinding light and then looked forward to see Hyourinmaru standing in front of him, who had formed a watery shape of a man with a sword.

The invasive light still behind him had formed a raging fire-like ball and it seemed that Hyourinmaru was cutting its edges with the sword to prevent it from spreading. The darkness was Hitsugaya's mind and the light was his enemy.

" Seems like you found your power. The bonds break when you realise your true strength."

" Yes, I understand what is important to me now. Thank you, Hyourinmaru! Stand aside, please"

" Watch Out!!", Hyourinmaru shouted to the ball of fire, as he stepped aside, " The boss is back in business!!"

" Yes!", Hitsugaya said with renewed passion, the wings behind him glowing with a purifying light.

" I AM BACK!"

--------------------------------------

To be continued..

I am WELL-AWARE, this story has MILLIONS OF CONTRADICTIONS!! but this is my first attempt. Please comment if you want me to continue with this story which I hope to give no more than 3 parts. Please don't criticize me for blowing the story out of proportions or if I used too much pompous language. I will get the writer's block, you know. Damn! Its really hard writing stories! I just re-experienced this. As you will note, I actually stuck to the main story. I am mainly following the manga rather than the Bounto arc as in the anime. Many parts are repeated and are a sort of summary of Hitsugaya's role in the manga itself as much as I could allow within the scope of this setup. The anime will begin its Arrancar arc while the manga is between it and Hitsugaya's role apparently has been taken out of the picture. I think Kubo Tite has somehow toned down Hitsugaya's role after his rise in popularity. He might have been scared that he could undermine Ichigo at some point of time, but that's just MY supposition. Ever note one thing, Hitsugaya hasn't manage to kill anyone, not the Bounto he fought, not Luppi, neither Aizen nor Gin though his fights show that he fights to his limit and always always release his Bankai. I somehow think Kubo Tite may have made plans for him at the beginning but is going to cancel him to a nobody towards the end of the anime. At present, he does project Hitsugaya as the weakest of all the captains as admirable as his final release might be. The Bounto arc actually constantly pushes Ichigo to the frontal position and his attachment to Rukia. This is very dragging. I am very disappointed in Kubo Tite though I thank him for inventing Matsumoto and Hitsugaya. Lets hope we see the spark of the young captain in the next anime phase of the Arrancar as we had seen during the first phase of Seireitei.