The Pledge of Our Love

Author's Note: It's a sappy title, I know, but I just can't think of anything better.

Disclaimer: It's obvious that I don't own Bleach.

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…In the wet, rainy month of June…

Moonlight of a cool Saturday's crescent moon seeped into the 10th Division barracks, outlining the wooden desk and the unfinished paperwork waiting and standing patiently and proudly for its captain-in-charge to return from the captain's meeting and finish writing off signature after signature on every single piece. The doors opened with a bang, the shinigami walking inside obviously not having any intention to carry out the most basic form of respect which is to knock. The orange head glanced around, scratching his head, and groaned a complaint to himself. His favorite AHY (Annoy Him Yourself; a bad pun of DIY) taichou wasn't around for him to bug. All that was there was the pointless stack of uncompleted paperwork waiting to be done and approved with the signatures needed. Kurosaki Ichigo sighed as he shrugged to no one in particular and went ahead to lie down on the couch instead.

It wasn't that he had nothing better to do, as what the white-haired captain would most probably say should he catch sight of him. It was just that the 10th Division was most probably the only division in the whole of Soul Society that seemed…well, the most comfortable place to stay for the night. Karin and Yuzu had both gone on an optional school immersion trip, with Karin wanting to go because she didn't want to stay with her lunatic of a father during the holidays and waste time doing nothing. Yuzu just tagged along with her (actually, it was more like Karin dragged her along) and thus, leaving Ichigo with his crazy father, and it was most definitely a no-no to tell the carrot-top to spend the entire holiday with his dad; vacation had just begun and already Isshin was getting on Ichigo's nerves by blabbering on about some lovely father-son outings that would strengthen their bond together and make them closer than before. Yuck was the first thing that came to Ichigo's mind and he instantly ran to Soul Society, the first place he could think up of, and gave his father the excuse that he had gone out on a camping trip with his friends.

Ichigo stared at the concrete ceiling, hands supporting the back of his head, and waited. It was getting dull and boring without his favorite little taichou to annoy. He sure as hell got a kick out of it, despite the fact that Hitsugaya would encase him in an ice cage and shatter him if he were given the permission to. The soft material of the sofa and the small couch pillow soothed him as time passed by slowly, and without him ever realizing it, his eyelids drooped over. Ichigo mumbled something incoherent before he tossed and turned, finally getting into a comfortable position, and slept. It was way past midnight already. Just where the hell was Toushirou?

Hitsugaya came shortly after Ichigo had succumbed to a sleeping spell, not realizing the other's reiatsu at first. The first and foremost thing Hitsugaya attempted to do was to complete the hellsent papers and get a good sleep before he would receive the next stack for the next day's, but as his slender hand stretched out to grab a piece of paper, the realization that someone else's presence could be felt in the office dawned upon him. He moved away from the desk slowly, knowing fully well exactly whose reiatsu it belonged to, and took a peek by glancing over from the head of the couch. To his expectation, it was the one and only idiotic strawberry buffoon who had no intention to seal his reiatsu whatsoever. To his un-expectation, however, the berry-kun was sound asleep, and Hitsugaya was a little bit taken aback when he realized that Ichigo scowled in his sleep, just like what he usually did (but he didn't know if he should trust Matsumoto on that matter or not…).

"…Mattaku…" Hitsugaya mumbled quietly to himself, folding his arms. Teal eyes rolled to their right, as if scanning the area of anything that didn't seem right. When they rolled back to the front and had a short staring contest with the tuft of spiky orange hair, Hitsugaya sighed quite wearily. "…The stupid baka will be the death of me someday…" His arm traveled up to his shoulder when it stopped halfway, giving Hitsugaya to glance at his surroundings. Ok, good, no one was there, so it was safe to assume that his pride would still be intact if he were to give Ichigo a little present that would aid in helping him tide over the night. Arm traveling up to his shoulder once more, he tugged at the sleeve of his haori and slowly pulled it off his shoulders, moving closer towards the sleeping strawberry and covered him like a blanket covering a sleeping child. The 10th Division insignia staring at the ceiling, Hitsugaya tucked the blade of a sheathed Hyourinmaru in the arms of Ichigo before moving towards his desk and starting with the paperwork.

Well, that's one way to put the carrot-top to good use once in a while.

He'd do very well as a zanpakutou holder.

…On the fateful day of June 17th…

Hitsugaya had long noticed that Kurosaki had been acting out of sorts recently. He had become quite silent and stony, and it wouldn't be he who would normally start conversations with him; others would have to talk to him first, but all he would say was 'ah' and that was it. The white-haired captain wondered if it was because the other still hadn't gotten over the fact that the prodigy lent him his haori for the night like a blanket, but even so, Ichigo was acting just as strangely as he was to everyone, including him, so that would mean that this time, it had nothing to do with him. He figured that Kuchiki would probably know the reason why, but this was Kurosaki they were talking about; he'd get over it and be up and about pretty soon…right?

…No, not right.

Damn his curious instincts for taking over.

When Ichigo returned to the human world through the senkaimon, Hitsugaya decided to follow, despite knowing that it would very well mean that he would be breaking the rules by heading into the material world without informing any of the captains or even the soutaichou himself. He couldn't say that he had been sent on a mission, that's for sure, because it was the soutaichou who was in charge of the missions and even if it were a mission, there'd be no need to send a captain on it unless they were talking about a huge quantity of Menos Grandes. Not giving it any second thoughts, Hitsugaya jumped into the senkaimon and reached the material world with ease. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary; just Ichigo. Keeping his presence as a low profile, Hitsugaya followed Ichigo wherever he went (except the bathroom) and after wasting precious time, he finally got to a place where it was worth investigating.

The town cemetery.

Looking down from a tree branch way above, Hitsugaya waited for Ichigo and his family to do something that would most possibly lead him to figuring out exactly why Ichigo was behaving rather out of sorts lately. And what he heard made him intrigued. Something about his deceased mother, something about her death anniversary, something about how they spent their lives for the first half of the year, and Isshin left his children there for a while before heading off to buy them a drink each. They would be there for quite a while. Hitsugaya heard a bit of crying from one of the Kurosaki sisters, and how they affectionately called their older brother 'Ichi-nii', concluding that it was more like watching a family drama rather than investigating the reason behind Ichigo's odd behavior.

Yuzu looked up at the thundering skies and then back down at the gravestone which had her mother's kanji beautifully engraved on it. "Ichi-nii, it's going to rain. I think otou-san is telling us to go home now," she quietly spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, pointing at the waving old man down the pavement with a plastic bag of packet drinks.

"…Nah. It's okay," Ichigo replied, his voice a bit hoarse. "I think I'll just stay here for a while."

"Ichi-nii…"

"Yuzu, Karin, it's okay. Don't keep the crazy man waiting."

The fraternal twin sisters stared at each other before Karin shrugged lightly, sighing as she turned to leave with Yuzu following her. The brown-haired Kurosaki girl turned to cast her brother a worried and sad glance, turning round and back and left the cemetery. She wanted to stay, but it couldn't be helped if it was really going to rain. True enough, after barely fifteen minutes, beads of rain fell from the darkened heavens and lightning began flashing with thunder clapping in the background. Hitsugaya folded his arms, leaning against the bark of the tree from the branch he was sitting on, and continued watching. As much as he really didn't want to hang around, since there were loads of paperwork for him to be done and loads of excuses for the old bastard to hear, he felt that there was a need for him to stay just for a little while longer. Perhaps it was because he still didn't feel right about letting Ichigo stay in the rain like that without putting in a word for him to get out of the rain; he would get seriously sick if he did.

"…If I've said it before, I'll say it again; Kurosaki will be the death of me someday."

Shunpo-ing off the tree branch, he landed on the wet and soft soil next to where Ichigo was. Apparently, the other seemed to be too disheartened to even notice the icy presence right next to him, let alone say a hi or yo, Toushirou. Only when the cold taichou sigh did he notice that Hitsugaya was right next to him all along. He looked up from his squatting position, only to see aquamarine orbs boring into his own chestnut eyes. "…Toushirou?" he muttered out weakly.

"Urusei, Kurosaki," Hitsugaya spat, removing his haori for the second time that month. He waved his haori once with a light swish over Ichigo's drenched body, and let it fall gracefully on top of the other's head. Ichigo picked it up, confused at first, but when he earned himself a glare from the captain, he instantly shoved underneath the warm haori not exactly the perfect shield from the rain since it absorbed water, but at least it felt better than standing in the rain without anything above his head at all. "Baka. You'll fall sick if you stay in the rain like that."

For some reason, Ichigo had never felt so happy before.

"…And it's Hitsugaya-taichou to you."

Our love had been pledged.

"…Eh, Toushirou?" Hitsugaya spun around and faced the coated orange-haired substitute shinigami, waiting for the other to continue. Ichigo smirked and removed the haori, folding it. He stood up from his squatting position and handed the haori back to a confused captain. "You can take it back now. The rain's stopped."

Hitsugaya glanced at the dark skies and looming gloomy clouds, the sound of thunder clapping in the heavens still evident as the familiar feeling of beady drops of rain batting against his face. When he stared somewhat suspiciously at the grinning strawberry head, he initially had no idea what the latter meant by 'the rain's stopped' when a thunderstorm was still in their way. And then, it struck him like lightning striking a tree. "The rain may have stopped, Kurosaki, but the presence of the thunderstorm clouds shouldn't be taken lightly." He stretched out his hand and gently pushed the clenched fist gripping his haori back towards the strawberry. "Keep it. Just promise to wash it with detergent; I don't want to be infected with your baka germs when you return it to me."

At the very much expected answer, the smirk on Ichigo's face grew. "Uh-huh?" He tugged Hitsugaya's arm and pulled him in closer before landing his lips on the other's, causing Hitsugaya's eyes to widen with shock at first, but he soon relaxed and even took a liking to the sudden peck. Ichigo broke the kiss, grip not leaving Hitsugaya's arm, and placed the messily folded haori in one of the white-haired genius's hands. "Well, I just infected ya, so take the damned haori back. You can't be infected again when you're already infected, can ya?"

Hitsugaya blinked, stunned speechless. True; there was no other way to reject Ichigo's offer, was there? He looked at the haori in his hand and then back at the other, before he flashed him a rare smile. "If I find that my brain has shrunk to a size of a rice grain tomorrow morning, you are so going to get it from me, Kurosaki."

…In the cold, harsh month of December…

Winter snow drifted peacefully from the grey clouds in the frosted heavens, landing on top of the pavements gracefully and silently. Bored out of his mind, Ichigo stared out of his window, the glass condensed by his hot yet steamy breath. There was nothing much he could do when he was horribly cooped up at home; his family members were all at home but they were all busy with their own things, such as Yuzu cooking up dinner and Karin giving Isshin, aka her punching bag, a lesson that he would never forget after attempting to embrace her in a death hug to 'protect her from the cold', so as to speak. Orihime had gone on a holiday with Tatsuki and Chizuru, so she was a definite no if he wanted to spend the day with someone. Sado had also gone on a holiday, but he went to Mexico alone, and there was no way in hell Ichigo would spend the day with Ishida; they'd end up trying to kill each other over the most trivial of matters. Ichigo had already visited Soul Society countless of times and even if he did want to go there, he had clean run out of excuses to tell his family as to where he would be heading off to all in a sudden.

Sometimes he wished that Rukia and Renji would visit him instead. They did, in fact, but only on very rare occasions such as missions and etc. Of course his heart was dying for a certain icy prodigy to come along and see him, even if all he would say was hi or hn, but what were the chances of that happening? Zero, that's what. He could go over to Soul Society and bug his favorite captain, but then it would all go back to the fact that he had no excuse whatsoever to tell his family. He had repeated each excuse twice already over the span of one, two years after becoming a shinigami.

That was when a blur of black and white dashed past by his window. And along with it came a trace of familiar ice cold reiatsu as well as a very recognizable one.

Without thinking straight, Ichigo pulled the rikongan out of the stuffed toy lion who was sound asleep until the strawberry head forced him out and swallowed it, letting Kon take control of his body while Ichigo, in full shinigami form, exited his human form. Without saying a word, the orange-haired vaizard shunpo-ed out of the room via the window and followed the dashing blur with Kon sweat dropping and wondering why Ichigo was such a blockhead not to use him in the first place since he wanted to go to Soul Society so badly.

The echoing cry of an Adjuchas spread throughout the whole of Karakura, leading Hitsugaya Toushirou right to the park where the hollow, vacant reiatsu could be felt. Reaching out for Hyourinmaru, the captain shunpo-ed out of the way when the Adjuchas blasted a cero in his direction and re-appeared behind it, so close to stabbing it when the Menos Grande was alert enough to jump out of the way before blasting another cero. Hitsugaya brought Hyourinmaru up to parry the blinding red beam, the sheer force of the cero pushing him backwards and dust began flying everywhere from the friction between the soles of Hitsugaya's feet and the snow-covered grounds. A wave of blue energy came towards the Adjuchas, slicing the hollow in half, before it dissipated away into nothingness. Ichigo stepped in and rushed towards the captain. "Ah, ah, so Soul Society sent you here just to get rid of some Menos Grande bastard? Y'know, I can handle that just fine when I'm here."

...On the beautiful day of December 20th…

"Kurosaki!!"

"Eh?"

Hitsugaya pushed Ichigo out of the way and shielded himself using Hyourinmaru's blade once more, only to meet with another blast of cero, more powerful than the one before. As the light died down, Hitsugaya gathered up some reiatsu and called out the name of the spirit that dwelled within his zanpakutou, shunpo-ing out of the way and high into the sky, the manifestation of the ice dragon forming at the tip of its blade and rushing down towards the Vastro Lorde. Stopping the most powerful of the Menos Grande classes in its track temporarily, Hitsugaya glanced over his shoulder. "This is why Soul Society sent me here, baka!"

Ichigo jumped up to his feet, Zangetsu held firm in his hands. Hitsugaya ran over to his side, ready to pull out bankai at any moment now. The Vastro Lorde burst out of the ice, only losing a bit of its crimson liquid for the cold rush of the waters from Hyourinmaru's attack had peeled off a small portion of its rough skin. It generated another cero attack, and while it was charging Ichigo sent out another wave of Getsuga Tenshou while Hitsugaya requested help from the dragon once more. The Menos Grande swiftly avoided the attacks like they were nothing and blasted the cero. Hitsugaya managed to shunpo out of the way safely, just in the nick of time, but it was proven to be quite a good and bad day for Ichigo as the cero had barely missed him, only managing to strike a hit on his leg. Wincing a little, the strawberry tried standing on both legs but the one that was injured sank in and he fell on his left knee, panting a little.

"Kurosaki!" Hitsugaya rushed over to help but the Vastro Lorde came flying in and the captain had no choice but to protect himself with Hyourinmaru again, trying to fend off the Menos Grande. "Kuso," he cursed under his breath. Seeing that it would be the only way to hold off the enemy, Hitsugaya moved the blade down and kicked the hollow on the human-like belly area within that precious period of time, sending it flying backwards. Grabbing this chance to freeze the entire park void of human beings, Hitsugaya shunpo-skated across to catch up with the hollow and stabbed it on the face where the porcelain mask was worn, cracking it into two before the Vastro Lorde finally disappeared in bits and pieces. (A/N: Sorry to those who think Hitsu's like the weakest captain; I know I made him stronger and Ichigo looked weaker. I know I did) After purifying the hollow, Hitsugaya skated back to where Ichigo was (since the ice hadn't melted away yet) and bent down, meeting Ichigo at eye level as he stole a glance at the horribly burnt lower half of the leg. "…Hold still."

"Eh?"

"I said hold still, Kurosaki. What are you, deaf?" Hitsugaya pulled the plaids of the hakama up to Ichigo's knee level and took a closer look. His skin had been peeled away, revealing the soul flesh underneath, but it wasn't that serious a burn since there wasn't much bleeding and only some parts of the skin had been burnt away.

Our love had moved on to a higher level.

The white-haired captain sighed a little as he removed his haori, placing a sheathed Hyourinmaru down next to him, and dressed Ichigo's wound with the soft fabric. "…Erm…Toushirou…"

"Shut up." As if the two words were all that it took to shut Ichigo up, it did its magic trick. The strawberry watched as his death cold boyfriend bound the slightly stained but flinchingly cold haori tightly, the 10th Division insignia nowhere to be seen in the mess of the dressing. "You're not bleeding much, but this will at least cover that ugly burn of yours and it should prevent serious infection kicking in before we get you real medical help."

"Er, Toushirou…" Ichigo nudged, even though he knew that the other was going to tell him to shut up again.

To his surprise, the white-haired genius was willing to listen this time round, but he still sounded very frustrated. "What?"

"…I can always use Zangetsu, you know…"

Hitsugaya stared cold and hard at the bandage-like strip from Zangetsu's hilt before looking away. "…Shut up."

And Ichigo smirked when he saw a tinge of rose staining the child-like captain's cheeks. He leaned in and caressed the adorable facial features before pulling the stunned captain closer and gave him a longer kiss than usual. Their tongues interlaced with each other, feeling each other's taste buds on their respective tongues, and exchanged breaths through their kiss. Hitsugaya furrowed his brows a little from the cut-off supply of oxygen and widened his jaw a little, taking in whatever oxygen he could before closing his jaw again, meeting Kurosaki's lips that did the same. When both parties decided that it was long enough (staying in that position for ten minutes is taxing), they broke away from each other and Ichigo's smile widened. "Tanjoubi omedetou, Toushirou." (Happy birthday; this is the more informal way of saying happy birthday. The more formal way is to say 'otanjoubi omedetou gozaimasu' but since when is Ichigo formal, especially around Hitsugaya? XD)

Hitsugaya glared at Ichigo, albeit he looked a tad bit shyer which was strange coming from the captain. "You baka-head."

…And if that love had to be put to the test…

Ichigo moved up to his cheek and felt the smooth plastic plaster there which had stopped the bleeding from his cut. The cut that he received from the sharp blade of Hyourinmaru, the deep painful cut that the orange head would never forget even if there wasn't going to be a scar. Rukia and Renji looked at him, equally sad and worried expressions clearly shown on their faces. When Ichigo removed his hand from his dressed up wound, he remembered how his lover, his secret lover, had dressed up a wound on his leg before, using the haori which he wore with such dignity and pride, and blinked back into the present, fingers rubbing themselves against the supple cloth. How ironic it was to be hurt by the person who dressed your wound before with the very same haori, and in the end abandoned the symbol of their love together right under your nose without you even realizing it.

Ichigo straightened out the haori and gave the insignia with the kanji of ten clearly and nicely printed on it a cold glare. "We found it," Renji spoke first. "lying around at your place when we arrived."

"…" Ichigo didn't want to say anything. He blinked and averted the other two's gazes as he found himself staring at the floor sadly. 'No. Toushirou couldn't have…He couldn't have, dammit. I believe in him, even if it's at the cost of my life. I believe in him, that little bastard. Why doesn't he ever confide in me…?'

…we'll just show them…

"Oi! Toushirou!" Ichigo yelled across his shoulder, already in bankai and fending off a horde of hollows.

The cloaked shinigami glanced back at him, the blood red skies thundering above them. "What?!" he shouted back, obviously not in the mood if the other was up to any of his stupid tricks again. Slashing across the chests of some more hollows, blood splattering out from their wounds, Hitsugaya cursed. There wasn't much time left... And that was when something came flying at his face, something with a hint of millennium green of some sort. He removed the soft, comfortable fabric and stared at it with a raised eyebrow before slashing at another charging hollow. Blinking as he caught the familiarity of said fabric, his eyes widened.

"If you really didn't betray us, Toushirou," Ichigo spoke once he noticed the action of the widened eyes. Hitsugaya glanced at him and he saw the warm and smug smirk plastered on the strawberry's face. "then put that damned thing on already. I've been keeping it for a long time, and it's about damn time you put it on again!"

Hitsugaya blinked slowly, straightening out his captain haori and stared at it. He didn't know, at this point of time, if he could even call himself worthy for the title of the 10th Division captain and put the haori on, but…now wasn't the time to be reflecting on past events. Slashing at one hollow after another till the coast was clear temporarily, he gripped onto the mantle he was currently wearing and pulled it right off, tossing it over his shoulder and gave it the freedom to dance along with the dangerous winds, further and further away from him. Ichigo smirked as he fought off some more hollows, glad that his boyfriend had finally decided that it was time to bury the past and live for the present and the future. The ends of the haori dancing along with the wind, an arm slipped into the white sleeve, followed by another arm, and Hitsugaya ended it by placing his sheathed lifelong partner and the emerald green sash across the shoulder.

Hitsugaya Toushirou gave his longtime childhood friend-cum-rival Kusaka Soujirou the death cold glare that he was infamous for, shunpo-ing off the side of the rocky cliff he was standing on and unsheathed Hyourinmaru, slashing at yet another hollow before mentally asking the dragon to help him in this battle that would ultimately seal his fate.

…the pledge of our love.

"Ban…kai," Hitsugaya whispered, the wintry reiatsu exuding from his body soon overwhelming the hollows that came in his way, bits of frost and ice forming on their rough skin. Ice wings sprouted out from the young captain's back along with a blast of stiff cold ice coming from the blade of Hyourinmaru itself. Hovering above the ground, Hitsugaya in bankai form brought the blade of his partner up. "Daiguren…Hyourinmaru."

Ichigo swung Tensa Zangetsu down and got rid of several hollows at once easily. "Toushirou!"

Hitsugaya sent a mental nod to both the dragon and Kurosaki for there was no need for anymore words to be spoken and began unfolding the ice dragon wings, spreading it out as small chunks of ice fell to the ground, flying as quickly as he could towards Kusaka with the blade of a now Daiguren Hyourinmaru thrust in front of him, but of course not forgetting the pledge of his love that he shared with Ichigo, which he wore with healed pride – and for a whole new reason altogether.

…Right, Toushirou?

Hn.

…But you're still a baka-head.

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A/N: Actually, I was very much intending to continue with Ore no Koori Koushi but after reading the most recent chapter about our dear Hitsu-chan and his beautiful Hyourinmaru, I can't help but plan out another oneshot. It's not HitsuIchi, but it's of course proven to be quite a feat for me and I'm currently too tired to continue on with the main stories. Oopsie…

Oh well. Can't help it; I did need to come up with something to celebrate Hitsu's birthday, and my brain instantly came up with that once I read the chapter. But if someone posts a similar idea before I do, I don't know what I'll do then… -sighs- Life is never easy.

Reflect the truth of which you see

Tsuki-no-Kurokage