Pain.
It seemed everything that mattered to him was replaced by this excruciating pain, settled deep inside his head, bugging him to the very depth of his being.
It was probably the worst headache Hitsugaya Toushirou ever had in his entire afterlife.
And worse, he didn't know where or why he got it.
The tensai, although not feeling tensai as of the moment, tried to concentrate on the past events that had probably shook his soul into this state. Unfortunately, he could only make a blur out of his memories, as if a big chunk of what happened before he ended up like this was erased.
He felt like a helpless kid. Oh, how he hated to admit that!
Focus, Toushirou!
He slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the scarce light that was there, wherever he was. For a moment, he thought he was in his private quarters, realizing he was fully covered with cloth.
By…a thick, dark cloth. Probably black 'cause he can't see a thing, and he was starting to get suffocated.
What the hell?
He tried to move a part of his body, starting with his fingers. His eyes widen in surprise.
Why can't I feel my fingers?
This got Hitsugaya into high alert, as he moved from being sprawled to the cold ground to touching his body, checking why he couldn't move freely.
But as soon as his 'hands' brushed on the surface of his 'skin', err…what he thought to be 'skin', he gasped.
W-what the?!
He immediately felt something hairy, all silky, smooth and thin, were all over his body. After that, he tried to pull it off away from him while wishing this was some kind of sick joke Matsumoto did to him (gluing 'hair' onto his skin was the most stupid prank, he thought), however…
Itte!Realization hit him full force.
F-fur?!
Then that means…
The creature that was now Hitsugaya wiggled his way out of the cloth restricting him. After a few seconds he then saw himself so low to the ground, as if he had really shrunk in size. Glancing around the area he knew he was in his office, since the first thing he saw were the hidden paperwork his lieutenant had hidden under the sofa.
A low, almost inaudible grrrr came out from him. Which he took as a bad sign, a very bad sign.
He then set out to crawl (he couldn't use his legs 'cause he still felt like crap) to the nearest cabinet which he knew had a glass cover and could probably show him what his appearance might be, even if Toushirou almost knew what exactly would he be.
I-Impossible!
Wide blue-green eyes, black-pointed nose and two ears standing up. Fluffy white fur all over his body, plus a cute wagging tail that he couldn't stop wagging. Two small paws tapped slightly on the glass reflecting Hitsugaya not as the cool and composed captain of the tenth, but as a cute little white puppy with his mouth wide open in shock, revealing his (surprisingly white and sparkly) sharp-pointy teeth.
H-how?
But he couldn't understand why. And why him? Of all Shinigami, for goodness sake!
His head turned around. Blood drained out more from his face at the sight beheld.
There on the floor were his Haori, his Shihakusho (the dark cloth) and the white juban underneath , his sword…
And his freakin' Boxers.
W-What?
If his headache wasn't there he could have frozen everything that comes to his path. Fortunately, he kept his cool checked.
A voice suddenly boomed into his ears. Toushirou!
Knowing too well whose voice was it, he called out. Hyourinmaru! Do you know what happened?
I was about to ask the same question, Master. I couldn't reach you a while ago in our world. You were not responding to my calls so I thought…something happened.
I'm at lost. I can't remember why I turned out to be…like this!?
Do not fret too much, child. We will soon find out the truth.
A short silence filled the air. Hitsugaya sighed, trying to calm the frustration and anger towards the one responsible for this. With that he felt much more relaxed with the help of Hyourinamaru's words and decided to investigate. He was about to begin looking for clues in his office (the scene of the crime) when…
"Man, what a terrible hangover."
His head snapped to the door.
Matsumoto!
Sensing that she's on her way to the office, the little dog (now Hitsugaya) quickly glanced around the office on all directions, like the way he observed his surroundings during a battle. Good thing there was no sign of abnormal activity in the area, except for the exposed clothes on the floor.
The dog ran (he stumbled at first, but being a genius, he learned how to move on four legs) to his clothes and tried to pull them, but his little paws couldn't hold on to all of them.
Master, I suggest you use your teeth.
No way, I'm not gonna—
He heard the footsteps getting louder. He had no choice. Matsumoto MUST NOT know, so the dog bit the clothes and hurried over his desk, hiding.
The door slid open.
"TAIIIIICHOOOO!" She greeted with her usual cheery tone. Silence greeted her back.
"Eh, Taicho's not here? That's so strange." The busty lieutenant muttered in wonder, realizing her captain's very odd absence at work. She neared towards the desk, and put her hands in her hips as if complaining. "He even left his paperwork. That's so unlike him."
Hitsugaya, who was just underneath his table, heard her and growled in annoyance. That was supposed to be YOUR paperwork, stupid! He also remembered the hidden papers under the sofa. Yes, once he returned to normal, he would have to freeze all the sake stashed around in the office. An eye for an eye!
The captain decided to halt the flow of ideas on how to punish Matsumoto for her laziness and in turn, focused on the present.
Matsumoto's curiosity soon vanished and was replaced by excitement. "Oh well, too bad for him. Now I'm free to go to the bar without my butt frozen to the chair."
Given his que, Hitsugaya peeked from the edge of his desk to find his lieutenant about to leave the office. He closed his eyes and lowered his head in relief. But he didn't expect it to be short-lived.
"Huh?" Feeling her foot kind of step onto something like a cloth, Matsumoto looked down and picked up the foreign object. "What's this?"
Hitsugaya saw what she was holding in her hands.
The shameful sight bolted the dog, his eyes wide.
Oh no…
The dog immediately dug on the heaps of clothing beside him, desperately looking for something.
This is not happening…
That something was now on Rangiku's hands.
This is not happening!
He left his boxers while he was pulling his clothes to safety.
At that moment he felt his reputation and dignity bursting like a bubble.
Matsumoto, confused as stretched it out, like what she does when shopping for clothes.
"A boxer?! Who's—"
She eyed the design. On the dark-blue cloth was a print of a sky-colored dragon. She also noticed the unusual size…which could only belong to…
An amused smile etched on Matsumoto's face, followed by loud laughing. "W-why would he leave t-this in the office?"
YOU…I DIDN'T LEAVE IT IN THERE! Hitsugaya was now fuming beyond control. This was just too embarrassing for someone of his caliber, and while he was cursing his lieutenant and his damn paws, he didn't notice his throat was making this grrrrr sound again, until Matsumoto picked it up and looked behind her menacingly.
"Who's there?" Her tone turned serious.
At the same time, Hitsugaya retreated back to hiding behind the desk. However for him, Matsumoto didn't miss the suspicious creature spying on her. She stepped forward as silently as she could, while slowly unsheathing her sword.
Being a dog, Hitsugaya caught the sound and mentally cursed. He couldn't let Matsumoto know his condition because he was still investigating when she showed up, and whether she's his lieutenant or not, everybody was a suspect.
But when he thought about it rationally, despite being an annoying, lazy drunken vice-captain, Hitsugaya see her as a trustworthy right hand man..err woman. Surely she couldn't have crossed the line, knowing full well the consequences.
"Show yourself. I know you're hiding in there."
The dog rolled his eyes (yes it's possible). Never mind about suspecting Matsumoto. The reason he didn't want to let her know was that he didn't want her to bug him for being a "cute" fury white little dog. Who knew what the woman was capable of?! Hitsugaya wouldn't dare take that risk.
CRASH!
Hitsugaya's eyes widen in surprise; his body simultaneously jumped onto the heaps of clothing to hide. Normally his reaction would be just like a captain's reflex, but the sound of metal cutting his desk in half was making his eardrums sore and hop to safety. He was almost caught by the attack; he could have sworn it was just a hai…fur's distance.
So he really turned into a dog.
Damn it.
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT MATSUMOTO? He wanted to shout but muffled bark only came. So it wasn't just the appearance and his body functions, but speaking as well.
This is turning out to be a really big problem for him.
And speaking of big, he snapped out of his thoughts when he heard and saw Matsumoto's footsteps. Her gaze looked down on the floor and found out her captain's clothes.
"T-that's Taicho's too!"
Inside, Hitsugaya was desperately praying kido could work without verbally chanting it. Bakudo no juuni: Kyokko (Bending Light). Bakudo no juuni: Kyokko. No!
"Does that mean…" he felt he was suddenly being lifted. Matsumoto exclaimed in realization, "Taicho went streaking!"
The declaration was too loud it sounded like a public announcement. Having the ultrasonic hearing of a dog, Hitsugaya heard the gasps from his subordinates and other wandering Shinigamis outside the office. Some of them even laughed, which made the cute puppy's fury shot up to a whole new level.
"GRRRR…ARF ARF!"
(MATSUMOTO!)
In turn, the busty lieutenant looked even closer at the clothes she was holding. She swear she had heard a sound coming from it, so she put it down and began unwrapping the cloth around the being that was…
"ARF ARF ARF ARF!"
(MATSUMOTO… YOU…WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DESK!?)
...
"A puppy?"
Not just a puppy, she thought. She stared at the fluffy white furball that was scratching its ears and eyes with its little paws.
"AHHHH YOU'RE SO CUTE!"
And that was precisely what Hitsugaya feared the most if Matsumoto saw him as an animal. The busty lieutenant instantly grabbed the poor dog and was now crushing him between her great valleys of death (by suffocation) while squealing in delight.
"Mmmrrpphhh! Mrmmmphhh!...MRMMPH!"
(MATSUMOTO AIR! CAN'T…BREATHE!") The dog responded, waggling its way out from those big boobs.
If only it was Hinamori's…wait! What the hell am I thinking?!
"MRMMPHHH Phwah!" (MATSUMOTO…Gwah!) Hitsugaya was soon released after seconds of bone-crushing hug. Out of habit, he turned his angry face at his vice-captain, and shouted:
"Grrr RAF RAF RAF RAF RAF RAF!" (ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!) Just then he remembered he couldn't speak like a normal Shinigami. He closed his eyes and put one free paw (he was still being held by Matsumoto) on his temples and began rubbing it "Grrrr GRRRRR!" (Damnit. Damnit!)
He heard a surprised gasp coming from Matsumoto. "W-what…" The woman looked closely at the sour-faced (but still cute and adorable) pup and pried its eyelids up which made the dog almost bite her hand. In return, her eyes widen; she almost dropped the creature in shock. "You..your eyes!"
She felt the dog heaved a sigh and tried to cross his arms, although it was too short. His eyes glared at her in irritation, being the most obvious sign that he wasn't just an ordinary puppy.
"No way! Taicho is that you?"
"Raf" (Yes). She took it as affirmative. "W-what happened to you? How did you end up like this."
The question got him more frustrated but he decided not to bark. He only shook his head.
"Oh…" It looked like Matsumoto got the message clear; one thing he was grateful for. After that, he narrowed his eyes on her, "Do you have anything to do with this?"
"What?! No, how could you say that to your favorite lieutenant!" That moment she put down his captain now turned puppy on his broken desk and placed her hands on her hip, complaining. Hitsugaya only rolled his eyes at her.
"Seriously Taicho, I didn't do a thing! Last time I saw you, you were still normal, and I was out all day and night drinking with Kira and Hi—oops." She gave him a nervous chuckle as opposed to his stern gaze.
It wasn't like Hitsugaya didn't know she was out drinking again and ditched her paperwork. Heck, he lived all his Shinigami days being with her like that. The only thing he made him bothered was the "favorite lieutenant" part. Truth be told, he shuddered at the thought.
Going back to his intentions of investigating, he jumped out from where he's standing and hurried to the huge (in his point of view) door.
"Taicho where are you going?" Matsumoto asked and then recalled his captain's inability to speak. She soon followed to where he was.
Hitsugaya tried to open it by pushing his body onto the edge (it was a sliding door) but he couldn't open it no matter how hard he tried. Without a doubt, his physical strength left him also.
As usual, he doesn't want to ask for someone's help. So stubborn. Matsumoto thought. She easily pushed the door open. Afterwards, the dog ran back to where his clothes were, bit them and pulling it along towards outside.
But before he could go outside, he felt he was being scooped up in the air again.
"Geez Taicho. I thought you're a genius. What would others think if they saw some dog gnawing your clothes in the middle of the day?"
She got a point there. Besides, I could sense you could not use shunpo in your condition. His zanpakuto backed up the vice-captain's words. Hitsugaya just lowered his head in defeat and buried his head and body in the safety of his bundle of clothes.
_
Minutes later, the two arrived at the captain's quarters; Matsumoto reasoned that it would be awkward if people saw her with all of her captain's clothes. She placed them in the laundry basket that was empty at first.
She was a bit reluctant for leaving his boxers behind. Just when she picked it up earlier in their office, a brilliant idea flashed to her mind: she would use it to get her Taicho and his childhood friend (aka his crush, though he denies it always) together. The plan was to surprise Hinamori by putting his underwear to her bedside while she was sleeping. Oh, how she wanted to see her expression when she wakes up!
Sigh. Matsumoto would have to delay that for a while. Now that her Taicho turned into a dog, who knew how the world would function especially since he could not be left alone (or now that he turned into a dog, she would have to do those damn paperwork. More importantly, she couldn't afford to drink freely as before).
Sigh. There must be some way to… Her thoughts were abrupt by her captain stomping his paw on her foot. His expression was blank (She swore he was holding back his tongue inside his mouth – well, according to her knowledge about dogs, they open their mouth to roll of their tongue in waiting. But there's Komamura-taicho. And this dog below her is her taicho. So…)
"Where are we going next?"
Hitsugaya ran to the garden just outside his room, halted on the sand and drew using his paw a "1". He was referring to first division. Scooping him up again and covering him the pink scarf that she constantly wears, she walked towards the head captain's division.
They were nearing the first division halls when out of the sudden the busty lieutenant felt a familiar reiatsu running towards them…err her. As soon as she recognized who it was, a cunning smile etched on her face.
Similarly, Hitsugaya too felt the presence and it was approaching much closer. He wiggled a little enough to see in front was his childhood friend with paperwork on her right hands clutched to her chest while the other was waving to them.
Next to Matsumoto, and knowing Matsumoto…
He looked up to see his lieutenant looking at him as if he has fallen into prey. He could see her sly smile getting bigger and bigger.
No. No you wouldn't…
He turned his attention to the cheerful girl who almost tripped herself in front of them. "Rangiku-san!"
He inwardly cursed.
"Good afternoon, Rangiku-san." Hinamori greeted, softly huffing from the running. Then her chocolate brown eyes gazed down to the pink scarf the other Shinigami was holding.
"Uhm, what's that?" The petite lieutenant of the fifth pointed to the cloth.
"Oh this?" Responding to her question, Matsumoto peeled of the scarf…
No, Matsumoto! Don't you dare…. "GRRRRRR RAFRAFRAFRAF!"
…and revealed the creature to Hinamori. Her brown-colored eyes widen in surprise.
"T-THAT'S—"
To be continued… AN/:
Constructive comments are very much welcome. I hope you all enjoyed (and I promise to make the succeeding chapters more fun and enjoyable. ^_^