Toushiro paced his captain's room back and forth, and back and forth again. He was limping, and favoring his right foot, but kept on going. Every few minutes he would rake his slender fingers through his snowy hair. His brows were tenced. The room was spinning slightly as his heart raced in his chest. His stomach was way too tight now and he felt as though he might vomit. Teeth were mashed together, as he tried his best to hold inside of him, a shout of anger and stress.

Hinamori, in this last battle, had been critically wounded. And it was souly his fault. He had insisted that they take a walk together, which had in turn lead up to their usual playfulness when it was just the two of them around. It was his fault, he had let his guard down around her.

Flashback

The autumn weather felt perfect. It was warm, yet a refreshing cool breeze was always with the couple as they walked together, on a hidden path in the woods. Each was quiet, being very contented to be solely alone with the other. Because, this was a rare opportunity for them to talk and they hardly ever got the time to be together like this. They were side by side and Toshirou watched Hinamori from the corners of his bright and unusually colored aqua green eyes. Bright orange and redish colored leaves crunched softly beneath their shoes.

'She's been so quiet today...' The ever so present and serious look on his face deepened as he studied her in secret. Hinamori raised up her eyebrows suddenly as she too, stared ahead.

"Hey Toshirou...what's on your mind? Why have you been staring at me for the past five minutes, hmm?" Toshirou's eyes widened as his jaw dropped open at the same time that his heart skipped a beat, he had been completely caught off guard!

"W-what!" He scoffed as he went to fix her with an icy stare as if to say I-would-never-do that but at that one point in time when he was so seriously distracted by Hinamori's embarrasing accusation,which was derived from a very guilty conscience, from whence he knew he had always had a very big liking to Hinamori, somewhere deep deep down, which his side that was in denial said that he only cared for her as a little sister, he did not pick his foot up high enough to step over a large tree root protruding from the ground, and he slammed his toes right into the tough bark, which then the force of gravity, along with the mix of off-balanced captain, pulled him down and planted him face first into the leaves and dirt of the forest floor.

"Mrph!"

It had happened so fast. In the blink of Hinamori's eyes.

"Whitey-chan-?" An empty space stood beside her where her best friend had once stood. She blinked again. 'Did he shun-po away from me...?' Anger boiled up. "Toshirou Hitsugaya-" she growled. "Come back and answer the question right now! Are you a captain or a-"

"grrr. l am right here, you idiot!" He retorted loudly from somewhere down below.

"Oh!" Her anger immediately dissipated as she found him laying on the ground with a pissed look on his face. "Whitey-chan! I thought you were running away from my question..." she said with innocent, wondering eyes, but then she pouted. "...but it turns out you just...tripped...wow...what a graceful captain you are!" She playfuly told him and giggled. Hinamori held her hand out to help pull him up from the ground, but Toushiro swatted it away. The chocolate eyed girl only smiled knowingly. "Toshirou...you know you can be vulnerable sometimes...it is just me here you know." Her voice was dissapointed.

He caught that, and sighed annoyed. His defences had immediately been melted away, disconfigurated. With only a tone of her voice. He was dissapointed and angry in himself too, that he had hurt her, once again.That she controlled him so easily. Him, the captain of squad 10! But Hinamori had taken it the wrong way. Toshirou was trying to be masculine for her and kept hurting her feeling's in the process. That drove him crazy sometimes. He had sat up by now and just stared quietly away from her into the distance.

"Here...l'm not your average girl anyway's...I'm a lieutenant!" She piped up getting quickly over the misunderstanding. That got a smirk out of him.

"Sure, sure.." He agreed, giving in to her this time, and let Hinamori grab ahold of one of his warm, sword-callesed hands with both of her soft, and petite ones. He secretly enjoyed how soft her hands were. She pulled him up from the floor smiling. "See? It wasn't so bad...neh, Whitey-chan what are you suddenly thinking about? Why have you not been talking much anyways?"

"Hnn...Just thinking."

"About?"

He smirked at her. "Nothing." Hinamori sighed.

"Your so impossible."

"And you are still here, so I must be tolerable." She rolled her eyes at him and continued walking forward.

Toshirou was painfuly aware of his aching, swelling foot. It felt hot, and painful spasms were shooting up his leg. Nevertheless, he took one slow step at a time, favoring his aching foot. He did not want Hinamori to see he had hurt himself from tripping over a root. He had just landed wrong though, but still...He felt ashamed for doing so. Hinamori glanced over her shoulder, and threw a puzzled look his way.

"Are you coming, mr. slow-poke-?" She saw immediately after she said that that something didn't look right about his face. He had the look of someone who was trying to hide something important but was nervous about it. She turned around. "What is your deal!" Would they ever stop arguing today? She silently wondered. What had gotten into them! 'It must just be one of those days...' She guessed.

Looking him over, she noticed that he was leaning his weight off of his right foot which was swollen profusely, and from the part she could see, where his sock was not covering, was turning purple and green. She gasped. "Hitsugaya! Your hurt!"

"Pft...this is nothing." He retorted annoyed. She quickly ran back to him with shocked eyes.

"You really are hurt! Shirou...it looks like it's sprung, and badly sprung at that!"

He glared up at her, because she was slightly taller than he.

"Look. That is all it is. A sprain at the most. I'v been stabbed, burned, poisoned...and everything else. l'm not going to die from this..." His voice was lecturing and held slight annoyance at how worried she was over this little thing. He was mostly embarrased at how he had hurt himself though. Then he sighed at her worried expression when he looked into those chocolate brown eyes. "Look. I'm telling you that I am o-kay."

"How are you saying that!" She was exasperated. Bright and angry aqua-green eyes met determined and concerned chocolate brown in a battle of death glares. "It still hurt's you doesn't it...Histugaya..."

'So it does matter because your in pain...' She thought sadly.

"Not at all." She frowned at him and leaned down.

"So let's see here..." She stared at the highly swollen ankle, trying to not show exactly how annoyed he was making her. "So if l did this it wouldn't hurt." She lightly poked his swollen ankle with her pointer finger.

It took alot, to hold in the yelp of pain that wanted to rip from his being, and his face turned a hint of red from holding it inside. Hinamori looked up at him, smirking knowingly at her accomplishment. They stared eachother down for a moment once again. Hitsugaya wanted to kill her. Metaphorically speaking, of course, as more pain shot all the way up his leg and to every tender nerve ending in his body.

"Not very much of a reaction? Hmm...maybe alittle harder this time will do.." She reached out to poke his ankle again and he fell backward's onto his butt to escape.

"Hinamori NO!"

"Ahh-HA!" She chimed. "I was right then! it is painful."

"Of course it is!!! it's a sprang you-" Suddenly, something very cold, a chilling feeling slid up his spine, making him almost shiver. He saw Hinamori's sudden reaction to it, her countenance had shifted, her body became alert. They looked solemnly at eachother and each understood. There was a very strong hollow, and it was close. Hitsugaya stood quickly, completely ignoring the pain he felt, he stood on both feet, and gripped the hilt of his sword. His current injury really was nothing compared to others he had had in his past. He prayed that his ankle wouldn't hinder him too much in this fight though.

Each of his senses were on high alert for this thing. It was hiding somewhere in the trees. But why couldn't he see it?

Pride and complete confidence in himself kept him from calling for back up. And Hinamori trusted in him that if he had that much confidence, they could take down this hollow easily, once it showed itself.

They were not counting on it to be such a kaniving hollow though.

"Hinamori!" Hitsugaya called out. "Stay close to me. Stay on your toes." He was looking off to the side. Hinamori stared at him, his voice slightly calmed her on edge nerves.

'lf l can just find the hollow...then l can slash off it's mask quickly and that will be the end of this...'

"...Yes. Of course." She responded after a moment. She padded over to Hitsugaya and stood slightly behind him, as he had ordered. He noticed she was gripping onto her sheath tightly. Toshirou was getting the feeling that this was not going to be an ordinary battle, and he suddenly berrated himself for not calling for back up when he had had the chance.

Since she had awoken from the coma which Aizen had put her in for two straight years, some several years ago, Hitsugaya had been ordered to become her new captain. She was now the much cherished fifth seat member of squad 10, put there in hopes that Hitsugaya could heal her emotional scares, and keep her safe from Aizen, who had not been found as of yet. Hinamori herself was not too happy about the move, and to this day Hitsugaya was unsure that Hinamori truly knew Aizen was the bad guy. Or if she just didn't care. It was an extremely touchy subject with her, of course. And it was very hard to talk about with her. But she had been getting better, especially as of this most recent year. Day by day she seemed to be returning to normal, so long as no one spoke of Aizen.

Hinamori suddenly felt a very, very all to familiar spiritual pressure in her presence. So familiar...but it couldn't be...it was impossible, but maybe...it could be...it was. lt really was. She could recognize that spiritual pressure anywhere in the world. Her heart began racing faster. She had to find him!

Hitsugaya had the body of a twelve year old, because that was how old he was when he had joined the death god school, but in death god years he was around three hundred and twelve. Which was very,very young because death god's lived for many centuries easily, if they were not killed. They also aged very slowly. Hinamori had come to the death god academey at least three years before Hitsugaya, which meant she was about six hundred and fifteen years old. lt was still not old at all. She was considered very young also.

"Ah! Hitsugaya- look out!" Hinamori screamed. She was looking somewhere off to his side, when there was clearly a hollow behind her, and not to the side! It was about to attack. Before Hitsugaya had the chance to get to her, Hinamori had thrown all of her weight into Hitsugaya to shove him to the ground. As they hit the ground hard, Hitsugaya squeezed Hinamori tightly to his body, making sure it was he that soaked up all of the collision and not her.

"What the hell were you doing stupid!" He berrated her. His head was swimming from hitting the ground so hard as he made them sit up together.

She looked up at him with worried eyes, she was still being held in his arms.

"It was coming for you-"

Somehow she felt so warm and sheltered...

"What are you talking about! It was obviously after you!" 'Has she lost her mind again? That thing was not even focused on me at all...' They both stood up quickly, stood back to back, and drew their swords. Hitsugaya was looking at the nasty Hollow standing about ten feet in front of him. It was truly discusting. It had a very long slender black neck, with a round head that was just an eyeball, which had a mouth in the middle of it that resembled a praying mantices. The white mask was all around the outside of the eyeball, shielding it. The hollow wasn't very big at all. lt stood at about four feet tall. But he could tell it was fast. There was no way it could match his shun-po move though, Hitsugaya thought. It's body looked like a black stick bugs that was standing on two feet, and it had wings.

"So...today is the day that you picked to die..." Hitsugaya said cooly after taking a few mental notes about the hollow.

"Not hardly." The hollow retorted in a low mechanical sounding voice.

"Right, right...so they all say." He smirked at the hollow, being full of confidence.

Hinamori wondered breifly what in the world Hitsugaya was staring at. But she did not have time to contemplate on it. She was back to back against Hitsugaya, staring down a large and yet skinny hollow. It stood taller than Aizen, at alittle over six feet, and it resembled a praying mantice. A very large one. It had the body, and it stood on two legs, it's head was black and just an eyeball while the mask was around the outside of it, it's neck was also long and skinny. She assumed that it's neck was so skinny so the head could maneuver around and dodge attacks.

"Neh...Hitsugaya- what in the world are you staring at over the- eeeh!" She almost fell backwards onto her butt when her back support had suddenly shun-po'd away from her. She managed to plant her feet in the ground however and hold herself up. 'What in the world is he doing over there!' She managed to steal a glance behind her at Hitsugaya who was running in the opposite direction straight into the woods. She froze, and she was utterly lost. He was either running away, running for help, or battling an ivisible enemy of some sort. Which none of those seemed very likely at all! Who had ever heard of an invisible enemey after all?

"Aaaah!"

Something flew into her stomach, making her fall backwards and slam her head and back into the ground. It forced all of the air out of her lungs and she yelped. Her head started spinning and she blacked out for a few seconds.

'What...where am l...' Her instinct's were telling her to get up quickly and look out for an enemy, but her body was reacting much slower than her mind was working. It was like her body and mind were working against eachother instead of with. "mmm..." she mumbled. 'Enemy...there...is an...enemy...enemy...l must...stand up...' She kept repeating it over in her mind trying to get the meaning down. She dug her hands into the dry leaves, pine, and dirt of the forest floor as she tried to get a sense on things again. She had hit the back of her head pretty hard. There was a shape looming over her...an odd shape...it was familiar but she couldn't place it exactly...and that familiar spiritual pressure had been constantly nagging at her. Captain Aizen's very own spiritual pressure. Though it was faint she could certainly feel it. Her heart began racing fast again, and adrenaline pumped.

Her vision began clearing up...the thing befor her was that nasty Hollow. It had hit her and sent her flying while she was off guard!

"Your going to be a delicious little snack for me..." It cooed at her in a low and raspy voice. "Don't worry...l'll only play with you alittle bit...so you won't feel too much pain befor you die."

"Shut...up..." She growled in annoyance. The thing only laughed at her.

'Please stand...please stand...' She thought over and over to herself. She slowly crawled onto her hands and knees. Her vision came back full force. Her heart stopped. She had crawled herself right at the Hollows nasty bug like feet. "Eeh...oh...not good..." She said breathily, looking up with wide eyes at the hollow and her eyes began to shimmer. "aaah...HITSUGAYA!!!" She screamed and closed her eyes, waiting for her impending doom.

Hitsugaya had the hollow cornered. His sword was raised above his head, ready to send the hollow a final death blow, when he heard her scream his name.

"Looks like your little friend is my brother's lunch today." The hollow chortled. lt's eye dilated like a crazy mans eyes, out of a ferverent happiness that even if he died, Hitsugaya would have something obviously very important taken from him too. "Even if you kill me...you still loose."

Hitsugaya turned away from the Hallow, looked to Hinamori, and for the first time he could see that there was another hallow looming over her, lt's razored arm raised up about to deliver the finishing strike to her as well.

"Hinamori!" His eyes were wide. There was no time to hesitate, he was just reacting. He used his shun-po move and easily came standing between Hinamori and the Hallow, which he had no idea how he had not seen it until now. His sword collided with the hollows arm and cut it off. lt let out a scream and tried to turn away to run, but Hitsugaya raised his sword again, his eyes were full of fury, and in a clean swipe slashed the hollows eye, head, and mask in two down the middle.

"Gaah...l'v been defeated...Taicho...l'v failed..." and his body dissipated into dust.

Hitsugaya's chest was heaving. Hinamori...she had been so close to dying again...he had almost lost her once again... His heart was pounding, hands shaking, as he stared down at her. She was visibly trembling too, and her eyes were shining with unshed tears. He reached his hand out to her and she took took it in her hands, letting him lift her up too easily. And he stared her straight in the eyes. Hard.

He told her something, he told her true feelings, that could not be truly put into words, with just his eyes. ln all basicness he told her 'l am so sorry that l let you down, from now on l will protect you no matter what.' Hinamori stared seriously back into his eyes. His face was sweating, his eyes were too serious, his chest was still rising noticably up and down, and he just looked more mezmerizing than she had ever seen him look ever before. They were so close, their bodies, their faces, and she wanted to be closer. She forgot about the danger at hand, and reached up to his face, to his cheek, she was so caught up...she wanted to just...

"Nooo brother!!!!!!!" The other hollow screached out suddenly. "I'll make sure you suffer! l will make sure that you suffer like no one has suffered before...your pain will be so great that you will not be able to bear living! l will avenge you, my brother, and l will honour your wishes- my captain Aizan!"

"Aizen-taicho..." Hinamori whispered. "He's alive..."

Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes and zoned in on all of his senses. 'He's the one behind these two hollows...he deliberately sent them after us...'

"Hinamori. Get behind me."

"Eh..." She stayed for a moment longer, pulled her hands to her chest, and set herself behind Hitsugaya without a question. She had a horrible sinking, nagging feeling that something very bad was about to happen. But also...Aizen was suddenly number one on her mind.