A/N: Soooo, this is a short idea that came to my head a bit ago. It's based off some fanfics I've read. Oh yea, the part in italics is a flashback and for the record I have no idea why Momo is so scared of thunderstorms. She just had to be.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, that belongs Tite Kubo
The lighting came a few seconds after the clap of thunder, which was still echoing around the walls of the little house. A girl's scream accompanied the flash, waking up the small boy in the bed next to hers. Few people were aware of how scared Momo Hinamori got during thunder storms, but Toshiro Hitsugaya had lived with her long enough to know there was no sleeping in the same house as her during a storm. He let out a sigh, knowing that Momo wouldn't calm down until the disturbance had passed.
Toshiro sat up in his bed and looked over at the girl not much older than himself huddled up under her covers, visibly shaking. "Not again Momo. I was trying to sleep."
Another clap of thunder shook the house, accompanied by Momo's scream. The storm was only a few miles away from them now, and the closer it got the louder the girl shrieked. "I'm sorry Little Shiro," she said to him, her voice muffled by her thin blanket. "But I can't help it. I don't know what it is... but storms scare me, and I don't know why."
"Stop calling me that!" Toshiro snapped back. "No wonder you still wet the bed. How are you planning on becoming a soul reaper if you let a little noise scare you?"
Momo's only reply was another scream following a flash of lightning.
Hyourinmaru and Tobiume slashed through the air together, slicing the hollow they faced in half. There was an infestation of hollows in a secluded forest near the northern Rukon district, and Toshiro and Momo had been assigned to take care of it. A light rain was falling when the two started their mission, and it had now increased to a downpour as the last hollow fell.
Toshiro turned his face towards the sky, his normally spiky white hair weighed down by the rain. "It's starting to get dark. A storm is coming. We'd better start walking if we want to get back to the Seireitei before morning." As he spoke the last word, the first clap of thunder was heard in the distance. He started walking when he realized Momo wasn't following. He turned back around to see the lieutenant in the same spot, her face ashen.
"Please, Toshiro, can we just try to find shelter somewhere close by? I don't really want to be walking in this..."
Toshiro suddenly remembered Momo's fear of storms, something he had forgotten since they didn't live together anymore. He thought about her request. It would be better to get to the Seireitei as soon as possible and turn their reports in. Also, they didn't know how long this storm would last. If Momo refused to leave now, who knows how long they'd be stuck there. They also weren't sure if there was any shelter nearby. But Momo was so scared...
"Fine," he sighed. "We had better start looking for someplace to go."
The two soul reapers started walking together, the rain making their vision blurred. After a few minutes, they came across a small cave cut into the rocky mountainside. They hurried inside, soaked and shivering. Once they were settled, Toshiro turned to look at his old friend leaning on the wall opposite him. Her face had a look of fear on it, and he wondered for the hundredth time why she was so scared. Maybe it had something to do with her old life, before she came to the soul society.
As another clap of thunder came, Momo stood up and made her way over and sat down next to her best friend, shivering from the coldness of the cavern.
"Here," Toshiro said, handing her his captain's haori. "Take this. It's soaked, but another layer of cloth could make you warmer."
Momo took it and smiled thankfully. But as lightning flashed, her smile was quickly replaced by a frown; she whimpered and suppressed a scream. Toshiro put his arm around her for comfort and warmth.
"I don't get it." He said. "You battle life threatening monsters everyday, risk your life in battles on a weekly basis, and even put up with Renji Abari. Yet your scared of a noise that can't even hurt you, and a flash of light miles and miles away."
Momo looked at him, her big brown eyes meeting his turquoise ones. She placed her head on his shoulder, and Toshiro let her. She said, "I don't know what it is. A feeling of helplessness, I guess. Nobody can control the weather, you can't block out the thunder, and if you get hit by one of those 'flashes of light' you toast. Literally. I don't like when stuff is out of anyone's control."
"I guess I understand what you mean," Toshiro said. He thought back to last fall, when Momo's beloved Captain Aizen had betrayed her and the soul society. There was nothing anyone could do about it, and Toshiro knew Momo was still emotionally scarred from the whole experience. "But you have nothing to be afraid about. I'll always be here to protect you."
Momo looked up at him again, and she knew he didn't just mean with weather. There would be hard times ahead as the soul reapers went to battle against Aizen. It would be especially hard for her since she had so admired Aizen. But Momo also knew that she would have someone there, to help her through the hard times. Her best friend Toshiro, her own personal guardian angel.
"Thank you Little Shiro." With that she fell asleep, her head still on his shoulder. And for once, Toshiro let the name slide.
Gahhh it's finally over XD This took me way too long since I got writers block then forgot about it. Though now that it's done I'm not too happy with the way it turned out. It's soooo completely out of character X( Stupid sword fiend arc made me forget how GOOD characters in the show act :P Anyway, it did turn out sweet, so I hope u like it
