"Love in Battle"

Pairing: Hitsugaya x Hinata

Anime: Bleach and Naruto

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"Toshiro!"

Blood, slick and warm and red, gushed from the wound in his side. His legs gave way and he crumbled to his knees. Teeth gritted in pain. The battered and bruised arrancar let out a insane cackle and raised his blade; the silver glinted into the moonlight. Hinata cried out and charged forward and lifted her own katana.

Pain. Oh, the pain. The arrancar's blade sliced through Hinata's shoulder but his victorious grin faded no sooner then it had formed as he looked down; the tip of Hinata's sword had ripped through the skin on his mid-drift and carved through his insides. Shock painted his features. His skin grew paler and paler. His golden eyes located momentarily with Hinata's lavender ones and suddenly the gold grew dim and his body sagged.

With a tremendous heave Hinata threw the now lifeless shell onto the ground, where it materialized instantaneously. She drew a shuddering breath. And gripped the hilt of the arrancar's sword. She tried to pull it free and barely suppressed a scream.

"Hyuuga..." Toshiro's voice was barely audible. She heard him groan, she heard the sound of rustling fabric and moving limbs. Hinata looked round and saw her captain standing on shaky legs. Panting hard and gripping his side. His hand glowed green.

Hinata pressed her head against his shoulder. Toshiro rested his chin on her head. They stayed like that for the longest time before Toshiro suddenly wrenched the sword out of her shoulder. She screamed and clung to his shihakusho for dear life. The scent of blood reached her nose and pain coursed through her body.

And suddenly it was gone. She realized Toshiro was healing her with as much reiatsu as he could spare, perhaps more, and that he was shaking from head to toe. They were both battle worn and tired. Oh, so tired. They could've just collapsed right then and there and curled up together in the ruins of Fake Karakura Town, Rukongai in disguise.

That arrancar had been the last of them. The Espada had all fallen over the course of the battle; Tousen, Ichimaru and Aizen were all dead. But the shinigami had lost comrades too; Ukitake had fallen, as well as the vice-captain Hinamori Momo. Run through and ripped apart.

"...Toshiro-kun..." Hinata whispered and her voice was muffled by his chest.

He didn't bother to correct her. Not being addressed as 'Hitsugaya-taichou' was the least of his concerns at the moment.

"Nani? (what?)" His voice was gentle and soft.

"I...I l-love you." She needed to say it. She didn't know why; she just needed to. The battles, the blood, the death; it seemed like all the happiness had been drained from the world in those few horrifying hours. Love was the only thing she had left to cling to.

Toshiro buried his face in her hair. Her sweet-smelling, inhumanly soft hair. He breathed in her scent and held her tighter. Held her closer. Like she was his last remaining link to the world.

"I love you too, Hyuuga."

She was all he had left to cling to.

!I own neither Bleach nor Naruto!

Hi~ This is a random little (corny, -_-) story about HitsuHinata. It had nothing to do with Lavender Lily! It's completely random. As is the DEATHS! Just because Mori and Uki die here, doesn't mean they're dead in the actual series, so don't get upset!

Okay...

'Why not?' is gonna be basically a collection of one-shots of random pairings, either NarutoxNaruto, BleachxBleach, or NarutoxBleach, like HitsuHinata. You can request a pairing, if you so wish. I don't care what it is, no matter how crazy or plain silly it may seem. This story won't be updated too quickly, though; this is spare-time stuff. Lavender Lily is my main concern.

Anyway...thank you for reading! Please review nicely.

Also, I was inspired to do this at all by KoreanGal5's HitsuagyaHinata A-Z one-shots. GO READ HER STORIES!