Hello everyone!

So…. We aren't exactly new here. This is Cherryblossom hime (Xisa) and Poisoned Shinigami (Zangie) at your service!

Cherry-Hime: Yay! I'm super excited! Poison came up with the best story idea ever!

Poison: Yeah I did! Now everyone bow down to me! (Evil laugh)

Cherry-Hime: (coughs) Uh Poison-kun, do you have to uh…. Scare the readers?

Poison: I'm not scaring anyone (pouts) right, right, RIGHT!?

Cherry-Hime: Owie! That's my ear Poison-kun!

Poison: Stop being such a baby, Hime-chan.

Cherry-Hime: Demo…..

Poison: Ok everyone, so this our first co-written fic, which is named Athazagoraphobia, or Atha for short for people who hate long words.

Cherry-Hime: Yeah! Zangie asked me to co-write with her since she knows that I am a dedicated HitsuHina fan!

Poison: Okay, so this is how the story goes:

Cherry-Hime: Listen to Poison! She will explain it!

Poison: (Vein protruding on forehead, annoyed) Hime-Chan, can you manage to be quiet for one minute!?

Cherry-Hime: mmmm okay, let me count the minute.

Poison: (Glares and Sighs) Okay, so the summary…. So here's how it goes. Toushiro and Momo are childhood friends, but Shiro has to move away..

Cherry-Hime: Hey! If Hitsugaya-Taicho was here, he'd freeze you for calling him that!

Poison: What happened to the minute of silence? And besides, he's NOT here, so I'll call him whatever I want. So anyway, years later, Momo ends up in a mental asylum with symptoms of schizophrenia, and althazagoraphobia. Her old psychiatrist disappeared, and his job is taken over by none other than…(Please feel free to imagine a suspense-themed music here)…

Cherry-Hime: Hitsugaya Toushiro!

Poison: Hurry and gasp, everyone!

Cherry and Poison: -gasp-

Poison: Yeah. So that's how it goes. WARNING: AU since I don't know how asylums work here and furthermore there's no shinigami-hollow-quincy magic-magic story involved.

Cherry-Hime: DISCLAIMER: We should kidnap Kubo Tite and tell her work for us someday! Lol Just kidding.

Poison: Aww, but that was a good plan.


Athazagoraphobia

...By Xisa and Zangie...

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The staff of the Rotten Apple Asylum took their thirty-minute breaks at noontime everyday. One would expect the lounge to be bursting in sunshine because of the time of day, maybe decorated with a vase of flowers over there and a working water cooler over there. But it was not so. The Rotten Apple, which had formerly served as a hospital, was a building that had been standing for over 100 years. The building was ancient, even rumored to be older than the city that housed it. No one has bothered to improve it one bit, unless they were willing to pay for the cost. The lights were dim. One would attempt to walk through the halls and get lost because of the largeness of the asylum and the lack of lamplights. The lounge was no exception from the melancholy atmosphere.

It seemed the only source of cheeriness in the Rotten Apple were the staff members and some of the more hyperactive patients. There were two of the nurses now in the lounge, sitting on hard chairs holding coffee mugs and sugar-free doughnuts. They were talking endlessly, being the women they were, but their voices were hushed.

"So did you hear about Patient 3605's personal psychiatrist?" the first nurse asked the other. Her fingers were twitching nervously against her hot mug of coffee.

"You mean Doctor Aizen?" the second nurse said. "What about him?"

"You don't know, Orihime?"

Inoue Orihime shook her head.

"What happened to him?" she asked. "Isane, what happened?"

Isane looked at her for a long time, as if having a mental battle with herself about whether or not she should tell her. Finally she set her mug down.

"Dr. Aizen disappeared yesterday."

Suddenly the two heard a noise outside the closed door. They exchanged a glance with one another and quietly stood from their chairs. Isane reached for the doorknob and turned.

Outside stood Patient 3605 Hinamori Momo, clutching a little ragged teddy bear and looking at them anxiously. Her delicate body was shaking underneath her pajamas. It seemed she was in her little-girl mode.

"Momo-chan, what are you doing here?!" Inoue exclaimed.

"How did you get out of your room?" demanded Isane. She reached out to grab hold of her, but the girl opened her mouth to speak.

"Doctor…Aizen," she whispered. "Is gone?"

The nurses fell quiet.

"He…left me?" the patient continued. Her doll fell to the floor, and so did she. "But he promised he's never going to leave me!"

A shrill, panicked scream tore from her throat and she started squirming and kicking.

"DR. AIZEEENNN!!!"

Isane dropped to her knees and tried to hold Hinamori down, but only succeeded in getting kicked on the stomach.

"Inoue, get the guards!" she yelled. Inoue nodded and rushed for the security button by the wall.

In a moment two of the guards, Kurosaki Ichigo and Abarai Renji, rushed into the scene. Without even talking (except for Ichigo who uttered a little curse), they pinned the shrieking patient's arms to the cold floor and waited for Inoue to inject her. The nurse knelt beside Momo-chan and placed the needle against her right arm.

"No! Please don't! I want Dr. Aizen!" Momo hollered.

Inoue looked down at her sympathetically and shook her head, saying, "I'm sorry Momo-chan. He's not here."

And she pierced her to sleep.

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Histugaya Toushiro was the youngest psychologist-turned-psychiatrist in the country. Maybe even the world. At the age of 15 he knew how the mind mainly worked. He studied the newly-discovered enneagram as a hobby, and even learned how to get other people to follow what he wanted. But that was partly because of his charm. The silver-haired boy was so handsome even a handful of men were attracted to him. He came from a wealthy family as well. His father was the principal of the only private academy in the city. His uncle was the owner of a mental asylum called the Rotten Apple Asylum.

And that brings us back to the topic.

Toushiro, now 18, was also the newest psychiatrist to work for the Rotten Apple. That was the reason he stood outside the building now, dressed in a black suit and holding a suitcase. His handsome face was devoid of any emotion with the exception of boredom. He knew that this place was just another piece of cake. Sighing, he made his way to the glass doors and entered.

A whiff of air introduced him to the scent of dry apples that the building held. Apples, he should have expected that. This was the Rotten Apple after all. Looking ahead he found a counter with a petite woman on the other side. She noticed Toushiro and made a sign to please wait, pointing to the phone she was speaking into. The young man nodded and waited, leaning against the counter. After a few minutes the woman hung up and turned to him.

"Welcome to the Rotten Apple," she said monotonously. "May I help you?"

"I'm Hitsugaya Toushiro," replied Toushiro. "The new psychiatrist?"

"Oh, you're the boss' nephew?" the woman seemed to perk up a little. "Hi, I'm Kuchiki Rukia."

The two exchanged a handshake.

"Follow me," she invited. She simply jumped over the counter and started walking. Toushiro followed.

Rukia led him into what they called the lounge. Inside were two men and two women, conversing quietly.

"Everyone," Rukia called out to them. They turned their heads and looked. "This is Hitsugaya Toushiro, our new psychiatrist."

"Ah!" the orange-haired girl stood from her seat and waved. "Hello, Hitsugaya-kun, welcome to the Rotten Apple! I'm Inoue Orihime, and these are—,"

"Kurosaki Ichigo," said the orange-haired man.

"Abarai Renji," said the other man.

"Kotetsu Isane," said the last. "Welcome to the Rotten Apple."

Toushiro nodded and forced out a smile.

"Where are the others?" he asked.

"The other psychiatrists are still talking with their patients," Rukia explained. "And the rest, they're probably wandering around still."

"Speaking of patients," said Isane. "Hitsugaya-kun, you will be treating mostly one certain patient. Her personal psychiatrist disappeared, so another needs to replace him."

"I see," the silver-haired said. "Who's that one certain patient?"

"Patient 3605, Hinamori Momo," answered Inoue. "She's the third room in the second floor, third wing."

Hinamori Momo…it sounded familiar for some reason…

Why did it sound familiar?


Poison: Ahaha! How was that chapter, hm? I know it was short, but STILL! Now go and review!!!

Cherry-Hime: I said don't creep them out!

Poison: Oh yeah, right. I forgot...