This is, like, my first real angst, and it's also my first HitsuMatsu. Two firsts are not a good combo. So feel free to criticize. I'd really like to know what I need to do better. But please don't flame.

Disclaimer: Me, own Bleach? Ha. I wish.

He was lying on the ground when she finally spotted him. His eyes were closed, which scared her even more than the blood that spattered his clothes, leaking onto the ground around him. Lightning flickered briefly across the sky and illuminated the shallow rise and fall of his chest. Somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbled.

The rain, coming down sideways fast and furious like a never-ending hail of arrows, made it hard to see. She stumbled as she ran, her feet slipping on the muddy earth.

She fell on her knees when she reached him and tried to ignore the way he looked lying there – broken. A shattered piece of the shinigami who was her captain. She leaned forward, and a strand of chestnut hair that had not yet been plastered to her head and shoulders fell across her face like a curtain.

"Taichou," she said, touching his shoulder. Her voice cracked slightly. She wanted to shake him, to scream at him. Wake up. "Taichou!"

A moment passed.

He opened his eyes. She almost cried with relief and fear – or maybe she was already crying. It was hard to tell the difference between the rain and her tears. Maybe there was no difference. Maybe the skies were crying her tears.

"Matsumoto," he said, and her thoughts stilled. His gaze was still the same; turquoise, piercing. On look from him could freeze everything inside her.

"Taichou." Her voice rose desperately. Her fingers clenched at his robes. "Taichou. Don't worry – you –"

He shook his head, just barely. He looked tired. He never looked tired. Except when Hinimori had been sent to the hospital after trying to attack him –

"Don't," he said. His eyes closed. "Just...stay."

Something inside her went out like a lamp being doused with icy water, leaving a gaping hollowness behind. "No," she whispered. "You can't." He couldn't go. Not now. Not yet. The rain zigzagged down, stinging her face.

She reached out and took his hand. His breathing was growing shallower now. "You can't," she repeated. A plea.

His answer was so quiet she almost didn't hear. "I'm sorry," he murmured. His hand moved in hers. A flash of lighting, blinding, split the sky in two. It was followed, by a deafening clash of thunder that shook the ground. His mouth moved – he was saying something and she couldn't hear him, damn it –

She leaned closer. "Taichou!" she screamed. "Taichou!"

The thunder drowned her voice out and Hitsuguya did not answer. She looked around for someone - anyone. This wasn't the end. It couldn't be. Someone – help –

They were alone. Through the water that blurred her vision, she could see that the plain around them was echoingly empty. And when she turned back, he was gone too.

This time, she could feel her tears through the rain. They burned.