This is the product of my attempt at a HitsuHina fanfic. Okay, question, is it just me or does it feel more natural to say 'Toshiro' and 'Hinamori'? Anyways, I'm used to my characters being Sasuke and Sakura, so I apologize if I got the personalities or any other details wrong. But hey, no one's perfect, right?
EDIT- Turns out it's not pnemonia, it's hypothermia. Please pardon my medical stupidity.
Disclaimer: Tch, I wish I owned Bleach.
Wounded
"Captain Hitsugaya! Look out! It's coming your way!" Matsumoto called, readying Haineko.
"Right!" The captain slashed his sword in a downwards diagonal stroke, missing by only a centimeter.
"It's fast, so be careful!" He warned, sharp eyes tracking to no avail the motion of the Hollow. Its stills mocking them tauntingly, for not even their shunpo was capable of matching it's speed. Finally it stopped. It was cat-like in body and its mask resembled that of a chameleon.
A large mass of Hollows had gathered around the outskirts of the Seireitei, just outside the barrier. The Fifth and Tenth Divisions were called to take care of the problem.
The Hollow shot out its tongue, leaving a trail of slimy holes in the treetop battlefield before disappearing into a catastrophic ribbon of mirror images.
"Momo! Are you alright!" Captain Hitsugaya yelled, aware that the lieuntenant was previously standing in the path of the Hollow's tongue.
"Hai! I'm fine!" She called back, peeking from behind the damaged tree she had ducked behind.
"It can't attack while it's moving, so when it stops to attack, that's our chance!" Matsumoto observed.
The Hollow suddenly appeared behind Hinamori, her eyes widened and terrified. As time slowed down, Hinamori tried to evade the attack. The Hollow prepared a short range attack with its claws. Hitsugaya utilized his shunpo and pushed his friend out of the way. Momo fell to the ground, but escaped unscathed.
In the process, however, he sacrificed himself.
Toshiro's blood stained the surrounding trees and spilled from his mouth. His eyes opened wide as he took the full brunt of the attack into his torso. The Hollow's claw retracted, retreating into the shadows.
"Shiro-chan!" Hinamori yelled up as Hitsugaya's body fell to the ground. She jumped up into the air and caught him, landing softly on the forest floor. "Shiro-chan! Shiro-chan!" Hinamori cried, tears in freefall. Hitsugaya coughed up blood into his hand pressed against his lips.
"It's Captain Hitsugaya, dammit . . ." He managed before blacking out.
"Matsumoto-san! Shiro-chan's unconcious!" The crying girl screamed, pressing her hands against Toshiro's wound, desperatly trying to halt the flow of flood.
"Get him out of here! Hurry!" Rangiku ordered, hardly dodging another one of the Hollow's attacks. Hinamori nodded, wiping her tears and hoisting Hitsugaya onto her back. He groaned in pain and she could already feel his blood soaking into the back of her robe. Hinamore hoped to find some sort of shelter in the wooded area as she activated her shunpo.
After a while of meandering around the forest, and trying to contain her panic, the lieutenant found a rotting wooden house that stank of mildew, but it was a house, nonetheless.
Hinamori slid open the door.
"Hello? Anyone live here?" She called meekly. Taking the answering silence as a definite 'maybe', she set Toshiro on the small bed in the center of the cabin floor. The Shinigami rummaged around for supplies.
She came up with some preserved berries, a couple canteens, a length of rope, an old washcloth and a wooden bowl. Hinamori felt she could use everything, except maybe the rope, to her advantage. She retrieved water from the outside spring, filling the canteens and the bowl . Upon returning to the house, Hinamori set the bowl on the ground next to Hitsugaya's head and removed the torso of his shinigami robes. Dried blood splattered his skin and the blood was still running from the wound, albeit a bit sluggish.
The lieutenant dipped the washcloth in the water and wrung it out, proceeding to clean the captain's wounds. With the wound cleansed, Hinamori could clearly see the horrible nature of the injury. An ugly, frayed, maroon ribbon decorated his chest and stomach. After checking that the injuries weren't fatal, Hinamori released a heavy breath of relief. But for safety measures, checked for a heartbeat.
She leaned her right ear above his chest, hearing a faint but rhythmic heartbeat.
"Momo."
Said girl jumped a little, a squeak escaping her lips. She faced the source of the voice.
"Oh Shiro-chan," She breathed, "You scared me!"
"Are . . . Are you hurt?" Hitsugaya's labored breathing worried her. Momo shook her head 'no' and smiled. He managed a small smile himself and took her hand in his, interlocking their fingers and holding them up so he could see. A blush crossed Momo's face and she turned away, although she made no move to free her hand.
"Good," Toshiro finally said, unable to continue the conversation. He closed his eyes and put his hand down, still grasping Hinamori's. He wasn't asleep, but he was tired. Hinamori couldn't look at his face, but instead settled for his wound.
Minutes later, when Hitsugaya had fallen asleep and released her hand, Hinamori set to work. She teared off her Shinigami robe sleeves and continued to rip them into smaller strips. As she tore the last of them, one of Hitsugaya's teal eyes caught her.
"Momo, what are you doing?" He asked in a low voice. The Fifth Division lieutenant began to tie some together, finding that he wasn't asleep as she had thought.
"I'm making bandages to dress your injuries, can you sit up?"
"I think so." He did; although it was a bit difficult and he required Hinamori's help. He braced himself against Hinamori's shoulder as she wrapped the cloth around the broken flesh.
When she finished, Hinamori replaced Hitsugaya's robes and laid him down gently. She moved to peek outside through one of the many cracks in the house.
"Night has already fallen," she told her Shiro-chan, who had fallen asleep with Hyorinmaru at his side. Hinamori removed her own zanpakto and took up residence in a corner of the house, provided there was only one bed. She leaned against Tobiume and closed her weary eyes, allowing sleep to claim her.
Cracks of sunlight threw themselves through the openings of the wooden house. One in particular landed on Hinamori's eyes, awakening the slumbering Shinigami.
"Good morning, Shiro-chan." She yawned, forcing her eyes open.
No response.
Where was he?
Hyorinmaru lay abandoned on the ground. The bed lay empty. Horror crossed Hinamori's face. What if the Hollow had come while she was asleep? He he stolen Shiro-chan away while in his injured state?
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Hinamori scolded herself. "I should've kept watch at night!" Fear for her precious friend drove something inside of her. Hinamori took up Toshiro's sword as well as her own and ran outside.
"Shiro-chan! Shriro-chan! Please! Answer me!" Her voice echoed off the trunks of great trees, giving birth to an eerie, hopeless aura.
"Shiro-chan, where are you?" She sobbed covering her eyes with her hands.
"Momo, I'm alright . . . "
Shaken with surprise and relief, Hinamori looked up from her hands to see Hitsugaya supporting himself on the cabin wall, apparently coming from the back of the house where the spring was located.
Unable to stop herself or the tears, Hinamori ran towards Hitsugaya and threw her arms around him in an embrace. Taken by surprise, Hitsugaya's eyes widened for a moment, softening into some sort of an at ease feeling, and returned the embrace.
"Oh Shiro-chan, I thought the Hollow returned and got you! I was so worried!" She cried, pulling him closer. She cried a bit longer, but finally released him, mindful of his injuries, her eyes locked with his, tears still running down her cheeks. Hitsugaya felt compelled to wipe the tears, although he couldn't bring himself to do so.
"I'm sorry for worrying you, Momo," He replied, not even bothering to correct her on his name, "I can't feel Rangiku or the others' Reiatsu."
"Ah, does that mean . . . They were defeated?"
"More than likely they returned to Sould Society."
"Mm, we should head back too," Hinamori suggested, handing Hyorinmaru to him, "You should've at least taken your zanpakto with you when you left . . . " She added in a small whisper.
"Even if I did, I wouldn't be able to fight without reopening this wound," He reminded her, placing a hand on his chest and clutching the fabric in his fist.
"If not to fight, at least for a supoort." He nodded
"You're right," Histugaya complied. Momo was shocked that he would admit that she was ever right. Ever.
They embarked on their journey with their meager supplies from the cabin and a foggy idea of what direction they were going. Hinamori insisted on carrying Hitsugaya on her back.
"For the last time, Momo, I won't. I can manage."
"But Shiro-chan, it's a long way and you shouldn't use shunpo in your condition!"
"Exactly, I doubt you can carry me the whole way."
"You're small enough in my opinion," She mumbled.
A battle lost, Toshiro was allowed to walk, although Momo walked closely enough to catch him if he were to fall.
An awkward silence shrouded the two, Hinamori not daring to speak. The unnerving crunch of leaves were rhythmic, and Hitsugaya's breathing became heavier. At last, dusk came.
"Shiro-chan, perhaps we should rest-"
"No, I can keep going." And to prove his point, he collapsed on his next step, his hands still clutching Hyorinmaru's hilt.
Momo quickly scanned the area, finding a tree from which the earth under the large roots had fallen away. It wasn't any house, but it was still shelter.
After settling in the encampment, and Momo almost burning down the tree with her Shikai as she attempted to light a fire, she broke out the preserved berries and water canteens.
"I think we can make it to Soul Society by tomorrow afternoon if we start out at day break."
"It seemed much faster getting here . . . " Toshiro observed, popping a cherry into his mouth.
"It's because we used shunpo." She shrugged.
The crackling fire was all that was heard as the two consumed the remaining berries, silence returning to them.
An unfortunate wind whistled through, putting out the dying fire for good. Darkness rushed upon them, the cold which was not a problem for Toshiro, was biting at Momo, who had sacrificed her sleeves for his bandages and didn't have a tolerance to the cold.
"I'd . . . rather not risk burning down the tree, even to be warm . . . " She joked, nestling herself in an alcove where the wind couldn't reach her.
Toshiro sighed and came over to her, shrugging off his blood-stained captain robe. He laid down next to Momo and draped it over them.
"A-ah . . . is this really okay?" She stammered.
"It's cold, and it's better than nothing." He answered, propping himself up on his arm. "Thank you for tending to my wounds."
Momo raised herslf up and put a hand on his forehead.
"What . . . are you doing . . . ?" Hinamori laughed and withdrew her hand.
"Sorry, I was just wondering if you were sick. You've been unusually kind lately, and you don't even get mad at me when I call you Shiro-chan!"
"Tch, just don't wet the bed, Bedwetter Momo." He rolled over again, away from her.
Momo only scooted closer and wrapped her arm around his arm, hugging him from behind.
"Momo . . . " He warned.
"I'm cold! And if I begin to get hypothermia, you know what that means!" Toshiro relented, knowing full well what the . . . ahem . . . prevention method was.
As daybreak approached, Toshiro roused himself from his sleep. Discovering that along the course of the night, Momo's head had become tucked into his chest and their arms moved into an endearing embrace.
"Momo . . . " He whispered. She opened her eyes and snuggled closer.
"Morning Shiro-chan . . . " Momo smiled groggily, tilting her head upwards. "Cold hearted" Toshiro moved his arm around her and hugged her closer.
"It's Toshiro." He said, as opposed to the usual 'Captain Hitsugaya.'
"Toshiro?" Momo tried, half testing it out, half a real question.
"Hm? Hinamori pulled away to look him in the eye.
"Do you . . . Do you like me?" She asked blushing. He put a hand on her cheek.
"I love you." The moved in for a sweet, short kiss.
"Well, we better get going!" Momo said, standing up (Much to Toshiro's distress).
"Yes . . . we should ."
"Captain! We were just about to send a search party!" Matsumoto exclaimed, running towards the pair (couple?).
"Thank you for worrying, Rangiku."
"I'll tell them to disband the search-Did you just thank me for worrying?" Poor, confuse Rangiku stared, shifting her gaze to her fellow lieutenant.
"Are you sure this is Captain Hitsugaya?"
Realization struck.
'It was after he disappered that morning that he really started acting strange . . . ' Momo though in a wild panic. 'But then again, before that he did take my hand . . . '
She snapped out of her thoughts and put her head in her hands.
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK ANYMORE!" She yelled up to the sky.
"Hi Toshiro!" Momo sang as she entered his office with a plate of watermelon in her hands. "Sorry about getting you sent to the Twelvth Division to have you tested for the real you."
The younger shinigami stood with his arms crossed, facing a collected stack of paperwork that had amounted while he was away and Matsumoto was procrastinating.
"It's okay." He turned to her, spotting the watermelon. "From Grandmother?"
"Just like old times, huh?"
"Bedwetter Momo."
"Shiro-chan."
Fin