I
Sparring
A soft sigh escaped the white-haired Captain. Leaning back, Hitsugaya Toushiro rubbed his neck. Bending over paperwork all day was never something fun, but dealing with new recruits had to be done. Thankfully, the Tenth Squad, the unit he was Captain of, had a light year this year. Previous years, he remembered, had been much worse. His cold eyes glanced back down at the stack of parchment he had just finished working on, producing a deeper frown than normal to cross his face. While he did enjoy days of easy work, paperwork was just too boring and dull.
He cracked his wrist once before looking over his shoulder to the window. Dusk was beginning to fall. He was happy the window faced west, seeing the sun set was something he liked to catch now and then. It was not the same as it was from the Rukongai, but it would do. Staring out, he got lost in memories while he absent-mindedly scratched his shoulder. So unfocused on what was going on, he did not hear the door to the office open, or the person calling out to him. Toushiro only noticed that someone else was there when more papers were placed on his desk.
"Captain Hitsugaya," came a voice that made him spin his head back around. Moving so fast, he nearly lost balance in his chair. Mentally, he cursed at himself for not noticing her arrival. A Captain should always be aware of what was going on around him.
"That's Captain Hitsu—" Stopping mid-word, he blinked. Looking up, he saw her one visible eyebrow rise in question. He had gotten so used to people calling him Toushiro when they should not that he had started to respond with the automatic correction. But, unlike other people, she had not made the informal mistake. "Ah, my mistake," he sighed.
She gave only the lightest of nods to show she accepted the apology. "I've finished the paperwork for this month," she explained, tapping the pile of parchment she had placed on his desk.
He wanted to smile in thanks, but he held it back. Such pleasantries were not needed from a Captain. But for her... Mentally, he shook his head. She would not notice or care. "Thank you, Lieutenant Shizuko." Shizuko San. No, it was not a term of respect in this way, San really was her first name. While she had only been part of the Tenth Squad for a few years now, Toushiro had known her longer than that.
The very first solo assignment he had gotten when he was training to become a Shinigami, that had been when he first met her. Even after all these years, he still remembered it as though it were yesterday. Back then, he had been hanging out at a house, waiting for a Hollow to come. Waiting at a house was normally no big deal, for humans could not see Shinigami, but her... It had been night when she noticed him, both of them only children. Before he even noticed she was awake, yet alone that she noticed him, she had asked if he was an angel.
"Angel?" he had asked back, brow furrowing. "Why do you think I'm that?"
She pointed to his head. "Your hair... It's white." San held that childlike innocence back then, something he had lost while growing up in the Rukongai and joining the Shinigami at such a young age. When he saw that look on her face, those wide eyes staring up at him in wonder, he had felt a little jealous of her. But then he saw a hidden sadness within her emerald eyes, something he was not jealous of her for.
"No, I'm a Shinigami," he explained. It was only then that the main question had crossed his mind. "You can see me?"
A hurt expression crossed her face at his town and implication. "I...I'm not meant to?" She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. "Guess I am a freak then..."
He immediately regretted his tone. That was another thing that growing up in the Rukongai had played a part in doing. Toushiro had built up a wall around his emotions, letting only a rough exterior remain. He had made sure to build it well, especially for one his age. Too well. Almost forcefully, he made his look a softer one. "No...you're not. Just...special." It was indeed true. A human seeing a Shinigami was no normal happening. It meant she had to have a rather powerful reiatsu to be able to see him clearly. "What's your name?" he asked after a minute of her not acknowledging him.
While she had been silent, he had studied her for a moment. She seemed normal in all other regards. That made him puzzled as to why she seemed used to the concept of being considered a freak. The young Toushiro then blinked. Her hair was green. In the current light, or rather lack of it, he had not even noticed it was different at first. But, when he focused, he could tell it was in fact a deep shade of green, and it did not look artificially coloured. Sighing lightly, he assumed it was because of that people would have called her freak.
"San... Shizuko San," she finally answered.
"San?" A light smirk touched his face. "San-san?"
She puffed out her cheek and looked back up at him. "Not funny." Despite her annoyed look, Toushiro could see her lips tugging into a slight grin as she relaxed at his tease. "What's your name, Shinigami?"
"Hitsugaya Toushiro."
"Toushiro..." she murmured, letting her legs not be so clamped up to her body. At least she had calmed down again. A light giggle escaped her. "It reminds me of the winter. I've always like the winter..."
He could not help it, a soft smile touched his own lips. It had been a while since something had made him smile. Though Shinigami were meant to just aid spirits...what was wrong in aiding someone who could see spirits? Especially one who needed it. His smile faded when he heard his communicator beep. Grunting lightly, he pulled it out and checked the information being displayed. Sure enough, the Hollow had arrived.
Without saying anything, he crouched up on the windowsill of her room. There was a task he had to get done now.
"Are you leaving, Mr. Shinigami?" asked San. Pausing before he jumped out, Toushiro looked back to her.
"Yeah. There are some spirits out there I need to take care of."
After a second of processing what he said, though he was sure she did not fully understand, San gave a small supportive smile. "Good luck."
He did not say anything back, or even acknowledge her, when he jumped out the window. After that first meeting, he had only had a couple more assignments that took him to that general area. Each time, he went back to check on San. She brought a small moment of peace and tranquillity to his busy life. He would wait to see if she noticed him, and then have a chat with her until he needed to leave. But, something weighed on the back of his mind about her after his first visit. Each time he saw San, she looked worse off than the previous visit. The young Shinigami wanted to ask her about it, but kept telling himself he could do that next visit. Until...
There were no more visits.
He had made it to Captain, being praised as a child prodigy, and with it, he no longer had the time to visit her. With the new workload, there was even less time to think about her, let alone visit. He never forgot about her, though. Those green eyes and green hair... Truly, someone special.
It was a while after that, during the matter with Aizen, the Arrancar, and the Espada, that Toushiro found himself having a moment to visit her. Normally, under such circumstances, one would not have such free time, but he was in the real world, so he took the chance he could. On the night of his first day back there, when Ichigo had wondered where all the Shinigami would stay, Toushiro had taken a moment to stop by San's place without anyone else knowing.
Not wanting to disturb the rest of the family, he had snuck around and gone directly to San's window and looked in. It was San's bedroom, he could tell, but she was not there. And her things...nothing looked as though it had been touched in a while, not even the bed. Brow furrowing, he went into his Shinigami form so he could check around the house without any other family members noticing. He saw pictures of the family, which only verified it was San's place, for she was in many of the photos. He then saw one picture of her that made him stop. It was not the photo itself, but the shrine around it that made him stop.
A shrine...that meant San was dead.
Toushiro cursed under his breath before leaving and returning to the matter that had been at hand. At that time, he only could hope she had not become a Hollow.
It would be several years before he saw her again. After the war with Aizen's army had ended, and things became relaxed, the young Captain would head out to the Rukongai when he could in search for San. But, despite his efforts, he could not find her.
One year, when the recruits for the Shinigami Academy had been quite high, Toushiro saw a name that had caught his eye on the list. Shizuko San. He had stared at the name for several minutes, allowing himself to believe it was the same San he had known. Shortly after that, he went to see the recruits in hopes of spotting this Shizuko San. His hopes had been right. Green hair standing out, he had spotted her. This San had to be the same one from his early Shinigami years. Without drawing attention to himself, he tried to get her attention, but she remained straight-faced like the other students. He mentally scolded himself. There was a very low chance she remembered him. Remembering things from one's life before death was extremely rare...and even looked down upon.
After being reassured that she was in the Soul Society, and in training to be a Shinigami no less, he had pulled some strings to make sure she ended up being in the Tenth Squad. And he did not regret making that choice. San worked very hard as a Shinigami, and was well schooled in all the skills a Shinigami should have, though she excelled at sword-fighting. It took a couple years, but Shizuko San rose up in ranks in the Tenth Squad, and eventually reached the rank of Lieutenant. Matsumoto was hardly a poor Lieutenant, but San excelled even her. Not to mention, San made sure to get her share of the work done without saving it to the last minute, and rarely got drunk...but that was beside the point.
Eight years after meeting San, and this was where they now where. San had been Lieutenant for two years, and Toushiro hoped she would remain his Lieutenant for much longer than that.
"Is that all, Captain?" she asked, drawing Toushiro from his wandering thoughts. San waited patiently to see if he had any further orders. Switching his gaze from the parchments to San, Toushiro paused for a second longer. Her hair, still that deep shade of green, reached around her mid-back. Bangs covered her right eye. Often he found himself wondering how she could fight so well with her vision so obscured, but somehow she managed. He also wondered why she would want to hide her eye, they were rather lovely after all...
Silently cursing to himself, he stopped his thoughts from wandering even more. "Yes. That is all. Thank you, Shizuko."
"Very well, sir." Like earlier, San gave only the slightest of nods before heading to the door. Back when she had first joined the Tenth Squad, Toushiro recalled that he barely noticed her nods. There were many cases where he had missed the response since she was always so subtle.
Leaning forward, the young Captain rested his chin on a hand and watched her as she began to leave. Now and then when she was around, Toushiro felt his expression soften. Not necessarily because of her being around, but because he saw the scowl that was ever-present on her face, and realized how often he wore a deeper scowl. It was no wonder people often thought of him as uptight. Gone was that innocent look he had been jealous of when she was little, and what replaced it was layer upon layer of defence against emotions. Like for him, living in the Rukongai had been tough. Toushiro had never discussed the matter with her, but he knew she had grown up in a rough district.
Though, hidden deep within that defence of hers, Toushiro could still see the same sadness in her eyes he had noticed when she was just a child. He was certain that if he had not seen it back then, he would not be able to see it in her today. But, sure enough, her sadness still lingered, no matter how hard she tried to bury it.
"San?" Toushiro suddenly blurted out. The Lieutenant turned around, her eyebrow raised ever so slightly. Once again, the Captain cursed under his breath for making another mistake around her. Here he always hated it when people got too friendly and used his first name, even if it was a slip-up, and yet he had gone and called San by her first name. "I mean...Shizuko?" he quickly corrected before it got left in the air for too long.
"What is it, sir?" she asked back.
"Would you mind coming to train with me?"
Her emerald eye widened slightly, only hinting at the surprise she felt from the request. "Train, Captain?"
It was the first thing that came to mind for him to request. But, as he quickly thought of a reason for it, it made sense to even himself. "Yes. You remember that by Bankai recently became mature, right?" Once again, San gave one of her signature near-invisible nods. The Captain sighed softly, glad he had gotten used to her action. "I'd like to train with you so that I can get used to its power a bit more."
"Understood. But..." Facing him, she placed a hand on her hip. "Why me, sir? Wouldn't another Captain or a Lieutenant who could battle you on equal terms with a Bankai be better for you?"
Toushiro smirked slightly. Her reasoning certainly was logical one, but he was one step ahead of her. "One, Shizuko, I know you are not busy where as the other Captains or Lieutenants may be. And second, your powers aught to be more than enough to handle my Bankai for a while. Otherwise...why are you still my Lieutenant?" San stiffened slightly at his remark. He had not meant it to sound rude per-say, just push her enough so that she wanted to train with him. "Consider it a performance evaluation, if you want to."
Returning to her normal pose, she gave a curt bow. It was quite rare for San to do this, even for those in higher positions than hers. "Yes, sir."
Holding back his smirk of success, the Captain rose. "Well then." As he paused, Toushiro took one more glance out the window to the setting sun. Summer was quite a lovely time, even though he preferred the colder seasons. "Let's go."
His Lieutenant waited for him to near before she headed out the door. Just as he suspected, silence fell between the two officers from the Tenth Squad. As they headed out, Toushiro made sure to stand as tall as he could. While his growth spurt had ended a couple years go, he was still growing slightly. San, who had been taller for him during her years of training, was now just a bit shorter than he was. All though he had grown quite a bit since he first became a Captain, the short jokes from the other Captains had not yet fully ceased.
:::
"Is this far enough out?" asked San once they were well passed the borders of the Rukongai. Using shunpo, they had made it out there in next to no time.
"It should be," sighed Toushiro. Crossing his arms, he looked around their current surroundings. While there were training grounds inside Sereitei, coming out here would allow much more freedom and room to use their skills. That, and no wandering eyes would be coming around to watch. "Now to just find an open enough clearing..."
"Afraid all of this will make my Zanpakuto stronger...Captain?" Blinking, Toushiro looked to San who was gazing across the forest. Her tone had surprised him. He could have sworn there had been a hint of amusement in it. She was correct, however; a place with a lot of nature made her powers stronger. For this purpose though, he did not mind. In fact, the stronger her attacks and defences were, the better.
"Hardly. But...while we're here, Shizuko, you may call me Toushiro."
For the first time since, well, since Toushiro had met San, a look of utter shock and surprise crossed her visage. "But, Cap—"
"Don't force me to order you," he groaned, crossing his arms. Starting to search for a reasonable place to duel, he set off walking. "I want to think of you as an equal during this, and only this, but I can't do that if you keep calling me Captain." It felt odd to be giving someone permission to call him by his first name, but he had his reasons for requesting it.
"Equal, sir?"
The young Captain felt his brow twitch. Normally, he was quite pleased that she never once slipped up on the formalities. But, getting out of that habit seemed to be harder for her than he expected. "Yeah, an equal." A wry grin touched his face, one that she could not see with his back to her. "I won't be holding back for this fight. If it doesn't feel your my equal, I won't be able to do that. Understand?"
It took her a moment, but soon her expression returned to its normal scowl. Giving a nod, though he could not see, San then caught up to her Captain's side. "Yes, Cap—"
"What did I just say?" Cutting her off, he shot her one of his colder stares.
"...Tou...shiro," she murmured, unused to using his first name. Had he not known better, he could have sworn she did not know it with how tentative she was in saying it. Like earlier, silence settled between the two of them as they searched for an opening. Behind them, the sun still slowly set. "You may call me San," voiced the Lieutenant after a while.
It was his turn to be surprised. His brow rising slightly, Toushiro looked over to San. The green-haired woman's bangs covered the side of the face he could see, as such, he could not read her expression. After watching her for a moment, he subconsciously blew the tuft of hair that fell close to his left eye away, still unable to believe how she could seem to see so clearly. Patiently, he waited for her explanation...not that he minded being able to call her by her first name.
"If we're are to be on equal grounds for this, then I'd ask you to call me by first name, as well. It would be nice to not feel as though I have to hold back against my Captain." That was twice now that Toushiro swore there was a hint of amusement in her voice. Twice in one day, not to mention twice in the entire amount of time since he had known her in the Soul Society. It was a little unnerving and yet comforting at the same time to know that she was capable of such things. At least she certainly seemed to be in the fighting spirit.
"San...?" asked the Captain after a few more moments. This would probably be one of the few times he could ask her something that had been on his mind for a while. She glanced over to him, her expression blank. A layer of her defences had been broken though, he noted, possibly because of the slightly friendlier air between them at the moment. "Do...do you remember anything from when you were alive?"
Even if it was just for a second, San's green eyes widened. Faster than ever, she looked away from him, once again using her bangs as a shield to hide her expression. Silence pressed in around them for so long, he wondered if he had asked too personal of a question. "Yeah..." she answered eventually. "I remember...everything."
Catching his breath, Toushiro stopped in his step. "Everything?"
The Lieutenant had continued on for a moment longer before she too stopped. "Yeah... I don't bring it up much, rather...not at all. But, I do remember everything from when I was alive. At first, they felt like were dreams...even dreams of a dream. But...they were my memories..." Toushiro hung his head lightly as she explained. It was no wonder she kept such a thing hidden. He recalled how she had been called a freak in the real world. Had she brought up how she could remember her living life, she would have been labelled one in Soul Society as well. "That...wasn't the true question you wanted to ask though, was it, Toushiro?" Gasping lightly, the Captain could not find his voice to give a response. Was she really able to read him so well? "You wanted to know...if I still remember you..."
It was not a question, but Toushiro nodded regardless. She really had been able to get his intent from the question. "Then...why didn't you ever bring it up?"
Placing a hand on her hip, she gave him a flat stare. "I could ask you the same thing. Besides...I'd figured you had just forgotten." Casting her eyes down, she rubbed her arm shyly.
Toushiro studied her for a moment, unused to seeing her so open and varying in emotions. For other people, the way she had acted in the past few minutes would have been considered quite stiff, but for her...she had been an open book. "I'm sorry..." he whispered. Glancing up to the setting sun that had begun to touch the horizon, he did not see San's expression to change from surprised to holding a soft smile. It was very rare to see her smile. In fact, it was one of the things she was known for: hiding her emotions. San knew what he felt he had to apologize for.
"Don't be... In fact, I should be thanking you."
That brought Toushiro's gaze back to the green-haired Shinigami. When he saw her hidden smile, the white-haired Captain felt an unfamiliar sense of warmth fall over him. Thankfully, he could still find his voice, for he quickly asked, "Why?"
Holding her hands behind her back, the Lieutenant tilted her head back and looked to the sky that was ablaze. "I was diagnosed with acute leukemia when I was young. My family didn't have the most amount of money, and when we found out I had it, it was already too far gone for treatment to do any good. I...I was afraid... I didn't want to die." Toushiro saw her clench a hand to try to keep it from shaking. "I didn't have many friends, since they thought me a freak for seeing ghosts and having green hair, but I still didn't want to leave my family...! I wasn't ready to die!"
The Captain could only listen quietly. This was not something she would explain to just anyone. He saw her steady her shaking by breathing deeply for a moment.
"But then I saw you..." The weakest of laughs escaped her. "I actually thought I had died when I did... But, after meeting you, I tried to learn as much about Shinigami as I could. And with getting to talk to you some more...I was no longer afraid to die..." As she looked back down from the sky, a slightly wider smile than earlier parted her lips. It was still a small smile, but coming from her, Toushiro it believed it could light up the world. "When I came to Soul Society, I worked as hard as I could to become a Shinigami. So, it's really thanks to you that I'm here." Finished, she turned back around and continued to search for a suitable place for them to train.
Standing still a moment longer, Toushiro looked down. So much had been revealed to him in this short amount of time, he could barely take it all in.
"Hey, do you still intend to train, or what?" called out San. Raising his gaze, the Captain saw the natural scowl had returned to San's expression, and that her defences had been rebuilt. The small moment of her openness had ended, and the still silence returned. In that time, the unfamiliar feeling that San had created in Toushiro when she smiled only grew as he thought about all she had told him. On top of that, the lingering sense of regret he had felt since knowing San dies had faded away. There had been nothing that needed to be forgiven according to her, and that was enough.
"This should do," announced Toushiro when they finally reached a clearing. The forest had opened into a fair-sized field. Though, for most trainings, he would have sought for a larger field, he was content with this one. A small area for him was no trouble at all, as long as he had a clear path to the sky above. The trees though could prove to be a problem, he surmised, especially with San's powers, but, that would prove to be a challenge in their current setting no matter how large the field was. This area was capable of playing to both their strengths.
"At least we found it before the sun completely set," commented San as she cast her eyes out towards the glowing orb barely hanging in the sky. Not saying anything else, the two of them entered the field and stood a reasonable distance away from each other.
A cool wind whistled by as they stared at each other. They had battled against each other before, yet they still tried to surmise the other's current state. Each fight was different from the last. Various contributing factors could make them fight harder or weaker than normal. As he tried to guess San's state behind her mask of anti-emotion, Toushiro tried to calm his own thoughts from earlier. To be distracted by what he had learned today would not be good. His Lieutenant may not have reached Bankai level yet, but he knew her strengths were hardly something to take lightly, even by a Captain.
No words or warnings needed to be said. Both knew. Reaching back, Toushiro gripped the hilt of Hyourinmaru, his Zanpakutou. The legendary blade sung in his grip to be used again. Battle, even if it was just training, was something Hyourinmaru always enjoyed. Across from him, San drew forth her blade, Midorinochi. She gave it a good slice through the air before charging for her Captain. The glint of the steel was green; her blade lived up to its name quite well.
Their Zanpakutou met in a clash of sparks. The first strike only proved that they had both started off with the same power and force. Loosening up, Toushiro made sure to jump back to dodge San's blade falling forward from the sudden force being removed from her. Blades danced around each other for a few more strikes as they tested to make sure their original observations had been correct. As they trained, Toushiro could not help but feel some pride for having one of her skill on the Tenth Squad. The Eleventh Squad had had their eyes on her, for her potential skill in battle, but he had made sure to get her. Each day he felt more and more reassured with that choice...especially today.
Rolling to the side, the Lieutenant barely dodged one of Toushiro's moves. No matter how talented she was, Toushiro still had several more years of experience under his belt. Though, with what he had learned in the past from fighting her, she seemed to almost enjoy letting some strikes get close to her; as if to know her limitations on how close a weapon could get. Behind them, the sun continued to set, making the entire field they were in be set aflame with the light.
"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!" cried out Toushiro after several minutes of them blocking, dodging, and parrying each other's attacks. He had hoped to test out his Bankai, just attacking each other with their Zanpakutou not released would not accomplish that. Calling forth his blade into Shikai form, the overflow of his reiatsu formed into ice that chilled the warm air about them. Hyourinmaru roared out once he was fully formed. Aiming with his blade, the Captain sent forth the ice dragon towards San. A moment before it was about to strike, San's eyes went wide.
"Rumble, Midorinochi!" called out the Lieutenant, summoning forth her Shikai. It was just in time, too. Bringing down her blade, San used her reiatsu to deflect the attack. The cold ice grazed an inch over her skin, trying its hardest to break through her defence. Standing her ground, San managed to withstand the attack. Once it was over, she lowered her blade and smirked slightly. "You may want to come up with some new moves, Toushiro. I've gotten used to that attack." Her near-smugness was short lasted.
Across from her, Toushiro felt a smirk part his own lips. It may have been a standard attack for him, but this time, he had added a little something more. The chain that came from the hilt of his blade when in Shikai form was coiled around San's left leg. Ice was spreading to her body where it came in contact with her. The Captain gripped onto the chain near him, and yanked back in attempts to unsettle her footing.
Jumping, San made sure the sudden movement from him did not send her tripping face-first into the ground. As she tried to break free from the restraint on her, Toushiro took a moment to admire her Zanpakutou. One of the strongest earth and nature Zanpakutou, Midorinochi was a unique sword and a rare one. Most Zanpakutou had only a single blade, where as San's had a blade on each end. The deadly weapon curved slightly, making it even more terrifying when in movement. On top of being a double-ended blade, Midorinochi could also be separated into two swords. Toushiro's grip on the chain loosened as San took her sword to slash away at his hold on her.
In the time where she was preoccupied with doing that, the Captain leapt into the air. High above, he saw San look up to him. "You won't be getting away so easily!" she called out. After she did, the Lieutenant thrust her blade into the ground beneath her feet. An aura of her rieatsu spread from the blade into the earth. Summoning forth her power and that of Midorinochi, San sent out several vines from the ground that shot up towards Toushiro. At least she hardly seemed to have lost her touch.
"Ban...kai!" called out Toushiro. Now, the real training would begin. The Captain's reiatsu surged as he summoned forth his Bankai. The vines that were still climbing up towards him were the first thing to be destroyed from his power. "Daiguren Hyourinmaru!" The air around him cooled rapidly. It grew so cold that the ice from Hyourinmaru began to form on his body as a full-bodied dragon, becoming one with him. Wings of crystal-like ice allowed him to go even higher into the air. His Bankai looked much the same as from when he first became a Captain, only now gone were the Ice Flowers that had acted as a timer for his Bankai. Aiming his blade back down, Toushiro zoomed through the air, aiming straight for San.
The Vice-Captain barely rolled out of his blade's path in time. Having such a large range, though, from his Bankai, Toushiro felt a tip of his left wing graze San as she tried to dodge completely. Though he had made it a fair distance past her, stopping just before the trees started again, a path of ice remained where he had travelled over. Rounding around, he saw his Lieutenant rising and dusting off her uniform.
"Well then...I guess I'm going to have to keep up to make sure this does not become a cakewalk for you..." sighed San. Blinking, Toushiro studied her as she held her Zanpakutou up. "I was hoping to save this as a surprise, especially since I still can't control it that well..." The Captain could only hover there, pondering. Could she possibly mean...? Toushiro faltered for a moment in the air for a sudden surge in reiatsu sent him off balance. This reiatsu...it was bordering that of a Captain's. Had it really come from San? "But, if training your Bankai is what you truly wanted here, then I suppose I have no choice." San's eyes seemed to flare with reiatsu. "...Bankai," she murmured quietly.
Beneath his feet, the earth rumbled. Attempting to escape from it, Toushiro broke from his amazed state that San had reached Bankai level without him knowing and rose further into the air. When he looked back down, her Bankai had fully formed. A dragon...no, not quite, a wyvern. It's body was made up of the earth, wings were like leaves, horns and talons seemed to be made up of branches, and a poisonous barb rested at the tip of its tail. When San looked up to meet Toushiro's gaze, a smirk was begging to break out across her lips. "Midorinochi...no Kinnoookan."
More pride shot through Toushiro for he had a Lieutenant that could summon a Bankai. He wondered for how long she had been able to do so. Being drawn from his thoughts, the Captain cursed under his breath for letting himself become so distracted. San had taken his opening and sliced through one of his wings. Though he quickly regenerated the wound, he still chastised himself for leaving such an open defence. Had he been younger, that would have been a much heavier blow. Spinning around, Toushiro attacked San with the tail of his Bankai.
Crying out, San rounded about and lashed out with the claw-like appendages at the tips of the wings. Her attack smashed away more of Toushiro's ice, while dealing some damage to her own Bankai. Before, the Captain had thought the sky would be the upper ground for him, but now it had become an even playing field. It was a new experience, finding out how San's Bankai attacked. It was hard for him to not just relax and watch what she was capable of.
Behind them, the sun had finally sunk below the horizon, leaving only a hint of rosy-red in the sky. Moonlight began to compensate for the lack of light from the sun. The warm glow and light faded further from the sky as they continued to train. Slowly, Toushiro could see that San's Bankai was taking a toll on her strength. There did not seem to be much left in her at the moment. While he could have continued for longer in Bankai form—he was only just getting started—the Captain did not want to strain his Lieutenant.
One final attack of theirs clashed in a massive burst of reiatsu. The force of such an attack shattered San's control over her Bankai, and she was sent plummeting to the ground. Since this was hardly a battle with an enemy, Toushiro used used his power of the water in the atmosphere to create platforms of ice beneath where San had fallen. He made sure to leave them soft enough so that they would not do her harm rather than good. When she landed on the ground, the Captain remained in the air and waited to see the result.
Though her Bankai may have been finished, San was not yet at that point herself. Rising from the dust that was settling, she sent up two more vines towards Toushiro. As exhilarating as the training was, it was drawing close for them to finish it up. Slicing away the vines, the Captain soared back down towards the ground. A trail of ice was left glittering in the moonlight behind him. When he landed, San was waiting for him with her Zanpakutou in its dual-blade form. She was growing tired, he could tell. Use of her Bankai had strained her more than she wanted to let on.
Somehow finding the strength, San charged for Toushiro, blades ready. But he was too fast. As he shot out the chain with the crescent-shaped blade at the end of it, the white-haired Captain used shunpo to erase the distance between himself and the Lieutenant. When he reappeared in front of San, a look of surprise crossed her face. She truly was weary for such a move to get past her defences. The chain wrapped itself around San's blades and brought them together in front of her. Ice once more spread to her body where his Zanpakutou had taken hold of her. Hands frozen, San could not break free from the chain he held taught.
Eyes wide, San stared at the tip of the blade that was an inch away from her neck.
"Guess I didn't...last quite as long as I wanted to," she murmured, her expression returning to its neutral state.
Toushiro let out a single chuckle as he lowered his Zanpakutou. "No, you did quite well. Especially considering you were able to call out your Bankai." The Captain then remembered his Bankai had not been un-summoned yet when he saw the breath from San condensing. Controlling his reiatsu, Toushiro called back his Bankai into its normal state. He also let the ice around them shatter into such small pieces that it all fell around them like snow flakes.
A soft smile returned to San's lips as she let her head lean back to watch the falling ice. Since the sun had fully set, only the light from the moon lighted up the ice, making all of it glisten. "I've always liked the winter..." she murmured quietly, almost too quietly for Toushiro to catch.
Watching her, the Captain smiled lightly as he completely released the hold he had had on her. He recalled her saying that back when they first met. The unfamiliar feeling then returned, and he tried to figure out why that was so. Thinking about it, he realized such odd things always seemed to occur around San. Getting slightly flustered, forgetting things, making mistakes... Normally, he was able to catch and stop them before they happened, but now and then, a couple would slip by his guarded personality. They always slipped out around her...
"San...?" he whispered, feeling his thoughts wandering. Drawn from watching the falling flakes of ice, San looked back to him. As she did, a cool gust of wind blew by, moving her bangs enough so that both of her emerald eyes studied him if but for a moment. When that happened, Toushiro felt his heart beat quicken. Just for a second, but it was enough.
It was not him being flustered. It was not something he had forgotten about. Nor was it some mistake. What he did next was something else that her presence had caused him to act upon without thinking.
He had leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.
There were some things in life that made complete sense or felt right once they occurred. For Toushiro, this was one of them. He could feel San was surprised at his actions; even he was surprised a little, yet he had been the one to initiate it. But, as the last few remnants of Toushiro's ice flakes drifted onto them and melted, San relaxed and kissed him back. It was a perfect way to end such a day. For a few moments, there was only them; nothing else mattered. When he pulled away, it was proving to be rather difficult to keep himself from grinning like crazy. Thankfully, he managed to keep it toned down to a quiet smile.
"Well...think it is time for us to return, Captain Hitsugaya?" asked San, a smile dancing in her own eyes. For now at least, the sadness Toushiro had become so accustomed to seeing in her eyes was gone. At least a hint of that child he had met eight years ago still remained. She was truly a special woman... The one he had fallen for.
Chuckling softly, Toushiro placed a hand on his hip. "It's not Captain Histugaya to you..." The side of his mouth curled into an amused grin as he placed his forehead on hers. Bringing his other hand up, he caressed her cheek gently. "It's Toushiro."