Don't Cry

Author's Note: And here I thought my HIRS has died down…

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, not even the plot. …Ok, so maybe I do own a bit of the plot. Point is, inspiration was from the scenes in which Haruhi (from Ouran) got comforted by Tamaki and Hikaru, so I own only a bit of the plot. Remember, I'm not claiming credit or anything. It's just that…I like the idea of a crying Hitsugaya and a crying Ichigo together, that's all, so don't hurl insults at me. -runs away-

Bold – sound effects, italics – Japanese words/news report, bold italics – emphasis/echo effect

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Please, taichou?"

"No."

"I promise I'll do the paperwork for you." Hitsugaya nearly snorted at the empty promise. His hands were already full of three things: paperwork, training and Matsumoto's big fat lies. "Please, taichou, you clearly need a break."

Hyourinmaru was nudging at the back of his mind that it was clear to everyone now that the young prodigal captain had been pushing himself to the limits and that he should heed Matsumoto's advice just this once. Hitsugaya, however, was not at the dragon's side this time round. "And as if you needed all those alone times with the sake sold at the bar," the 10th Division captain icily retorted.

Matsumoto pouted a little at the cold comment and placed her hands on her hips. "Aw, c'mon taichou, I'm only trying to help!" she protested. "After all, you've been really bad-tempered ever since Momo-chan's death, and-oops." Big mistake. The big-busted fukutaichou of the 10th Division covered her pursed lips with both of her hands when she saw the look on her taichou's face, instantly regretting running her mouth about things she shouldn't be nagging about earlier. The moments of silence between the two, other than the scribbling of the brush on the paperwork, nearly made Matsumoto's heart leap out of her throat once she realized her mistake. Neither spoke for a few minutes, and it was, to be expected, the strawberry blonde who broke the wall of silence that somehow constructed itself in the first place, "T-taichou, I…I'm so sorry. I didn't mean…"

"It's fine, Matsumoto."

"B-but…"

"I said it's fine," Hitsugaya coldly replied, shooting her his infamous death cold glare. This way, he knew, it would keep other people like her from discovering the child-like wonders buried within and at the same time, it would assure the others that he was perfectly fine with the mentioning of Hinamori Momo's death. He still remembered the coat of blood trickling down the extended blade of Shinsou, dripping to the floor tauntingly, as if Aizen had ordered Ichimaru to kill Hinamori just to lure him into a world of anger and despair, and thus, within that moment of distraction, they could proceed on with killing him off as well. Hitsugaya's grip on the brush tightened, and it did not go unnoticed by the drop-dead gorgeous blonde with big tits, the very one who ended the flame of Ichimaru Gin's life with a flick of her deadly ash fueled by her raging emotions, and in the end, she regretted not giving her savior a chance to repent when there was a point of time during the mess of blood and gore in which she could've had just let him mull over his mistakes, but she didn't. Seriously…Matsumoto was tougher than she looked; Hitsugaya would be willing to give her ten perfect points for her pliability and determination, in fact.

Said icy captain turned away from her gaze and tried to loosen the tight hold on his brush, but to no avail. "…Leave."

"But taichou-"

"I ordered you to leave, Matsumoto. So leave."

Knowing well that she was on the losing end, the fukutaichou sighed and nodded her head sadly. She turned away and walked towards the door, sliding it open before taking one last glance at her captain and stepped out into the hallway. Hitsugaya stared cold and hard at the sight of the kanji laid out in front of him in the form of something the devil sent to him called paperwork. He had been so absorbed in venting his anger out on the paperwork by having a glaring contest with the inanimate object with no eyes that he didn't notice the seeping reiatsu he was sending out. Migraine acting up for the seventh time that day, he placed the brush down and rested his head on the palm of his right hand and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. And of course, no thanks to the white-haired weather manipulator, it had started raining heavily outside the 10th Division barracks. Scratch that; it was raining in the whole of Seireitei, and let's not forget the Rukongai districts that were closer to Seireitei than the rest of the districts thrown in the rainy package deal too. It wasn't like he was doing it on purpose either, but Yamamoto was quite disturbed by the sudden sight of the heavy rain falling from the darkened skies full of gloomy clouds and the booming sound of the thunder clashing.

So when the old fart asked the young captain to take the rest of the day off, Hitsugaya strongly insisted that it was unnecessary and Yamamoto countered by telling him that peace had finally returned to Soul Society and that if Hitsugaya were to go on a short leave of one day, it was fine. The winter war had finally drawn to a closing procedure, but that didn't stop the many hollows from growing and attacking the citizens of Karakura. The soutaichou continued with his speech, explaining that it would do the white-haired captain some good if he could grab this opportunity to blow off some steam in the human world and not affect any of the souls in Soul Society with the storm that he had unintentionally caused. Hitsugaya was pumped to get into a small argument with the old man, having this urge to tell him that with reiatsu leaking out like that, it'd attract hollows in great numbers but yet, he couldn't bring himself to tell the soutaichou that straight in the face, what with giving the soutaichou some respect and giving in just one last time. After all…

What was the worst that could happen?

First thing Hitsugaya did when he got to the material world, he went straight to the rooftop of the Kurosaki household's, seeing that he might as well just lie down and get this stupid day off over and done with, having some quality time with the tiles of the roof. However, he had no idea that the idiotic buffoon was alone at home – his dad had gone to who-knows-where but Ichigo was silently hoping that it was the asylum; Karin had a soccer session scheduled for the afternoon and the evening; Yuzu just left the house to the supermarket to buy that day's dinner – watching some pointless documentaries to kill time, and the sound of the tiles of the rooftop shuffling for no apparent reason got him curious. Leaving the television on, the strawberry walked up the staircase leading to his room and opened the window, sticking his head out and craning his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was up there. The graceful swaying of the haori and a tiny hint of a tuft of familiar marshmallow-like hair gave him the answer to all his questions. Kurosaki Ichigo smiled.

"Hey, Toushirou!" Hitsugaya twitched and turned, his eyes boring into a familiar pair of chocolate brown ones. Ichigo still had that trademark goofy grin on his face. "Ohayou."

"Baka. It's afternoon," Hitsugaya scoffed, folding his arms as he got up from his seat on the tiles of the roof. He bent down and gave Ichigo a glare, making him get away from the window as the young captain invited himself in half-way. Head and torso the only body parts in the room, with his arms clinging onto the rooftop, Hitsugaya narrowed his mesmerizing emerald orbs. "In any case, what do you want? And make it quick; I don't like staying in this position."

"Well then, why do it in the first place? C'mon in, Toushirou. It's boring when you're cooped up at home and watching nothin' but those damn dull documentaries all day long," Ichigo suggested, smile widening.

"Then why don't you make yourself useful for once and patrol the town?" Hitsugaya challenged, words moving out of his mouth without even thinking twice. Hoo boy, Kurosaki's regular impulses were affecting him already…

"And…? Why aren't you?" Ichigo asked, raising an eyebrow. The goofy grin still plastered on his face, he knew that he had won the verbal match.

Hitsugaya opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. For once, and for once, the doofus was being smart and – dare he say it – logical. That little conversation had Hitsugaya thinking; perhaps…had the times they spent together made them switch personalities, in a sense, while still keeping traits of their own originals? All the more he decided that Kurosaki wasn't just an imbecile; he was a life-changing imbecile. He closed his mouth, bored look still not leaving his face, and invited himself in totally, landing on the bouncy bed belonging to the orange-haired vaizard. He sighed wearily. Well, maybe spending a little more time with the former ryoka wouldn't hurt…and it would keep his mind occupied with something else other than Hinamori's bloody death, as well as keep Kurosaki entertained for a while. So…it was all good, wasn't it?

A sudden boom shook Hitsugaya out of his thinking daze and he looked at his surroundings in all directions. "…What was that?" And why did his voice suddenly turn so soft?

Ichigo shrugged casually. "Ah, it's nothing. Just the damned documentary showing downstairs." Hitsugaya felt his chest relax with relief. Why the hell was he so scared anyway? It was just a stupid damned boom; a damned sound effect from some advanced technology humans created which they called television. There was nothing to be scared of…right? Right, so he shouldn't be feeling scared at all. Next time the boom came out again, he was not going to let his guard down and lose his usually cool, calm and collected composure again. Especially not in front of Kurosaki. …Was he a self-psychiatrist or what? Consoling himself like that…and was that his hand he saw rubbing his own chest to calm himself down? What the hell. No wonder Ichigo was giving him weird looks. "Toushirou, are you okay?"

Hitsugaya brought his hand down with a swish. "…Just fine, Kurosaki." To further assure the skeptical strawberry that he was fine, the white-haired captain gave him an if-you-tell-anyone-I-will-personally-freeze-your-ass-off glare which sent tingles down Ichigo's spine.

As much as Hitsugaya sure as hell didn't look fine, Ichigo decided to let it go, just this once. "Alright, Toushirou. If you say so. Let's go downstairs and watch it together, what do you say?"

The welcoming grin made Hitsugaya feel slightly warmer and fuzzy on the inside, but he just concluded it as a wave of relief that the doofus wasn't persisting any further. The dazed child wonder gave a nod of his head, making Ichigo's grin widen. The strawberry rushed downstairs and jumped on the sofa before relaxing and lying down in a more appropriate position. Hitsugaya stepped out of Ichigo's bedroom and down the staircase before a pang of sudden fear struck him when another boom could be heard, this time louder than before. He felt weak in his knees, and the jelly he had for legs wobbled, threatening to bring him down tumbling the stairs. Ignoring it and hiding it with his cold stance, he carried on walking down the steps and over to the sofa, sitting down on one end with Ichigo on the other end. It wasn't that far a distance, but still, Hitsugaya had never been so close to the strawberry before, with the exception of standing right next to him without him ever realizing how close they were, and he now realized that sitting next to him would be…awkward, so as to speak. And while he was watching the documentary, it was far from boring in his opinion, but from such a short distance away, he could even hear the orange head's yawns every now and then. Hitsugaya almost let out a snort upon hearing the yawns. Of course historical documentaries about wars and such would be boring to the sixteen-year-old. There were many things in the universe that Ichigo usually never gave a damn about, and documentaries were one of those things.

But that paroxysm of nostalgia from earlier on…could it be?

"…and thus the bombs came from the air force, not sparing any of the personnel and war ships any mercy. The bombing left four thousand killed and seven thousand injured." (A/N: Edited, of course, and I'm not implying any country or any particular war. It's just a random documentary)

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Hitsugaya stared at the television screen, his fingers subconsciously curling themselves and clenching his fist, his fingers digging into his skin. The sound of the tense knuckles cracking attracted Ichigo's attention as the strawberry tilted his head to look at the uptight captain. Was the documentary really that interesting? All he saw in that re-run was a grey screen and blurred tanks and ships and all those bombs raining down on screaming people. Sure, it was quite scary, but there was no need to get so tensed up. So why…?

BOOM

…The documentary had progressed into the near-end already, but Ichigo noticed that throughout the whole ordeal, the white marshmallow was still in his statue-like position, and hell, he had been stuck like that for nearly the past one hour with the historical recordings drawing to a close very soon already, and it was a wonder why Yuzu wasn't back yet. If the captain was just too embarrassed to say that he was taken aback by the sound effects, it should be expected. After all, Isshin didn't buy those new stereo boxes for nothing; he wanted to hear the full cinematic effect when watching things at home and it took a while for Ichigo to get over the winces and cringes with such loud piercing sound effects which lived up to their name. The bombing of that place thing was already over, and it all just left with some more bom…bing…ahh, so maybe that was why.

Ichigo leaned forward and nudged the awfully still captain with a poke. "…Oi, Toushirou…"

BOOM

WHUMP SMACK BUMP SLAP

CRACK

"Ow!"

Apparently, either the bombing sound effects were way too much for the young captain to handle, or Hitsugaya was in love with twisting Ichigo's wrist, because the orange-haired substitute shinigami was a hundred percent certain that his wrist had completely gone loose from the twisting. It wasn't like Ichigo couldn't stop him; you see, it was hard to stop someone from straining your wrist like that when his entire body was pressed against yours, with you lying on your back and with him lying on top of you like as if you were his mattress, one hand pining you down and the other, well, twisting your wrist. Ichigo suppressed the urge to moan. He knew Toushirou was scared (but too ashamed to say it) of the booming sound effects, but he had no idea that he was this petrified.

"…I…"

Ichigo looked up, casting worried glances at the whispering child. "…Toushirou…?"

Hitsugaya looked away from the screen, eyes narrowed to thin slits whereby Ichigo thought he couldn't see those beautiful emerald eyes that he loved to see. "…I…died."

"…Eh?"

"I died…during a bomb attack…like that…" Hitsugaya spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. By then, he had stopped twisting Ichigo's wrist around and both hands were gripping onto each other to stop each other from trembling so badly. He had gotten off of Ichigo's chest and back to his end of the couch, but that didn't stop him from explaining further, "…I…don't really remember what happened…but I can recognize the sound anywhere…it was shaking…everywhere I see, it was shaking…then fire…and I can't remember anymore…"

BOOM

A sharp gasp escaped Hitsugaya's lips quicker than you can say 'damn'. It escaped before he could even think fast enough to suppress it, to rein it, to hide it deep within himself like what he would usually do. Ichigo recognized the tone of that kind of gasp anywhere. It was a sign; a sign telling him straight in the face that Hitsugaya Toushirou, the stoic, icy, drop-dead fucking cold and beautiful captain of the 10th Division, was terrified to the very core of his being. Brows knitted together, Ichigo moved closer and stretched out his burly muscular arms, tugging the captain by the collar of his shihakushou tenderly and smoothly, and finally pulled him closer to his chest. He closed his eyes and stroked the white tuft of springy marshmallow-like hair, pressing the head closer to his chest. "Kurosaki…What are you…?"

"Shut up, Toushirou."

Hitsugaya blinked before he pushed against Ichigo's chest with both of his hands, moving away from such close contact with the other. "Oi, who are you to tell me to-?"

"I said shut up, Toushirou!" Ichigo snapped, grabbing the white-haired captain again and pressed the marshmallow head close to his chest once more, doing it gently and affectionately. "Listen."

Hitsugaya wanted to stare straight into the strawberry's eyes and give him a good what?-I'm-listening-baka glare but when he opened his mouth, only deoxygenated air found its way out when the ear pressed against Ichigo's chest picked up something…unfamiliar. Something that seemed totally alien to him, something weirdly strange to him. But after moments of complete silence other than the alien sound, he finally realized the meaning behind that one simple ordinary word Kurosaki spoke of: listen.

Ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump…

It was the calm and steady pumping of Ichigo's heart.

Upon hearing the new and unfamiliar sound of a human heart pumping, Hitsugaya felt himself loosening his clenched fist. Likewise, Ichigo felt his favorite little captain relax in his arms and opened his eyes with a triumphant grin. He gently stroked Hitsugaya's hair once more, enjoying the softness of the tempting white candy the boy had for hair and then wrapped his arms around Hitsugaya's slim and slender frame, at last succeeding in calming the child wonder down. "You feeling all better now, Toushirou?" Ichigo whispered smoothly, rubbing his warm hands on the white-haired taichou's back.

Hitsugaya closed his eyes and let out a contented sigh. "…Ah…"

Damn…it felt so nice…

The sound effects that were once loud and deafening to the ears sounded nothing more than a distant whisper to Hitsugaya's own. Hearing the steady pumping of his idiotic strawberry's heart had calmed him down by tenfold (A/N: No pun intended) and the continuous cycle of Ichigo rubbing his back then stroking his hair and finally one huge embrace to top it all off made him feel so calm and at ease that his vision began to slowly fade, heavy eyelids threatening to shut tight and for him to breathe easy to make sleeping all the more peaceful and refreshing. When the grounds began to shake, however, it soon stirred the young captain awake and through the commotion of noises ranging from the heart beat, which wasn't labeled as a noise of course, to Ichigo downright cursing under his breath. He could hear the distant whispering of the television reporter saying something, but it was nothing more than a mere whisper faraway so he couldn't hear it.

"Bloody hell, not now…of all the times, a stupid earthquake just chose to show up now?" Ichigo hissed in a hushed whisper, afraid of waking the beautiful Snow White from his slumber.

Unfortunately for him, his gaze soon met with a drowsy teal-eyed one. Ichigo had no idea that the majestic prince of ice looked soooooooooo adorable and loveable with half-lidded eyelids drooping over. "…Kurosaki…what's this shaking…?" he asked, making it sound like a demand when he was sleepy. "Is it an earthquake…?"

Ichigo mentally cursed but on the outside, he gave an assuring smile and brought the captain even nearer, his grasp tightening. "Baka. It's just…just…" as he trailed off, the hazelnut eyes glanced around slightly nervously, trying to think up of a feasible excuse that would give Hitsugaya the comfort he needed. A light bulb hanging invisibly above the carrot-top went off as one arm trailed across the white-haired child's shoulders and grabbed him there, while the other arm slithered underneath his perfectly figured legs. Ichigo then carried Hitsugaya a few inches off the couch, bridal-style, and brought his legs up to the sofa, sitting there Indian-style before letting the Snow White princess rest on top of the folded legs. He then pressed Hitsugaya's head back against his chest, letting the prince of ice listen to his heartbeat once more. "It's just…me shaking my legs. See?"

At that cue, Ichigo shook his legs like as if he were some rude gangster and to further exaggerate things, he bounced lightly on the sofa. Hitsugaya blinked and raised his hand, flicking his fingers on Ichigo's forehead. "You're the baka around here…why go to such a drastic extent just to make me feel better…? I can handle myself just fine, you know…" Hitsugaya mumbled sleepily, refusing to let his eyelids fall over his eyes again.

Ichigo smirked. "And why can't I go to that extent, Toushirou? Like you said, it'll make you feel better, won't it?" He carried on with his comforting cycle, letting the earthquake matter slide past him like as if it never happened. He picked up the remote and turned the power to the television off before cradling the young captain in his lap and warm arms. "So just…forget about the bad things that happened to you, Toushirou, and sleep. You look like you need three days off, not one." Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes to slits. The action of him bringing his newly clenched fists to his chest did not go unnoticed by the watchful and protective eye of the Kurosaki ryoka. Ichigo sweat dropped. He knew that stir in motions anywhere. "O-oi, oi, oi, don't cry, Toushirou! Don't cry!" Unfortunately for Kurosaki Ichigo (but fortunately for all you HitsuIchi fangirls out there), he felt Hitsugaya grip onto his casual t-shirt and bury his face into his chest. A few seconds later, it was wet. "C-c'mon! Ok, okaa-san, wherever you are watching me from, for all the other damn things I did to hurt others, it's my fault, but this time, it ain't my fault!!!"

Hitsugaya moved away from Ichigo's chest and stared at him like as if he had grown two heads. "Oi, Kurosaki, what the hell are you blabbering about?"

Ichigo caressed the face and brushed any of the evident tears found sliding down the captain's cheeks. "E-eh…Toushirou, whatever ya do, don't cry, okay?"

Blink. "…Why would I do something as childish as crying?"

Blink blink. "…Ehh?"

Another blink of the eye and Hitsugaya got everything clear in his head. "Mattaku…(really…/seriously…)Can't you tell the difference between yawning and crying, baka? Anyway, there's no good reason for me to cry. And even if I were crying, I certainly would not do it in front of anyone, especially for the likes of you, Kurosaki."

There was a slight pause before the knowledge of what really transpired earlier on sunk into Ichigo's pea-sized brain. He smirked with a soft sigh of relief and patted Hitsugaya on the head. "If ya say so, Toushirou." Scoff. "But…" Ichigo's face fell as he pressed Hitsugaya's head to his chest again. "…if you wanna cry anytime, Toushirou, don't forget to tell me, okay? You don't have to tell me anything; just…if you feel like telling someone about something you're like, damn troubled about, just tell me straight. And I'll be there for you, Toushirou." Ichigo buried his face in Hitsugaya's hair, realizing that it smelled of something sweet and tender and just plain suitable for his love. Lavender. And he was sure, for some odd reason, that it was a natural hair scent and not from whatever brand of shampoo or hair gel the white-haired captain used. His smile widened. Lavender reminded him of his mother, because he remembered that she used to smell like that too (A/N: I made that up). "I'll be there for you, Toushirou," he repeated. "But no matter what you do, little buddy, don't cry. At least, don't, if I ain't there for you."

Hitsugaya looked down, unable to express his feelings in any form or way. "…I…" he murmured softly, but just loud enough for both of them to hear. "…I…I wasn't planning on crying, until you spouted about some crap about it, you…you big fat idiot…" he muttered, trying to sound as captain-ly venomous as he could, but it only made Ichigo smile more. Hitsugaya clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes. "Arghhh…Dammit, Kurosaki…Can you…can you get any dumber?! You…you…" He didn't know why, but his vision started blurring and his nose was getting stuffy. With a silent sigh of defeat, he closed his eyes shut tightly and buried his face into Ichigo's welcoming chest once more, this time definitely not yawning at all. "…I wasn't intending to cry, you idiot. I wasn't intending to…"

Ichigo brought one of his hands up and placed it on one of Hitsugaya's trembling shoulders, huddling him closer than before. "Ah. I know. Gomen, but…don't cry, Toushirou. I hate it when you cry coz of me."

Hitsugaya, however, couldn't stop himself. The tears just came naturally, and no matter what he did in his willpower, he couldn't stop the tears from flowing. "You…bakayaro…"

"Hai, hai," Ichigo sighed, tilting his head backwards. "I said I'm sorry, didn't I?"

"When I'm finished, Kurosaki, you're going to instantly regret making me act like a child when I am not…" Hitsugaya growled, resisting the urge to sniffle his nose. When he received no reply from said orange head, he lifted his face from Ichigo's chest and stared at the other tilting his head backwards, raising an eyebrow. "…Kurosaki?" he asked, and with a blink of the eye, all the tears were gone. "You're not…doing what I think you're doing…are you?"

Who's to say that Hitsugaya's sharp intuition was ever wrong?

A sniffle from the stuffy nose was all the answer Hitsugaya needed and when Ichigo tilted his head back to its original position, the white-haired captain tried hard not to let any more tears fall again and blinked them away. Ichigo looked normal, if you defined normal as tear-streaked face, bloodshot eyes and crimson red nose that made him look like Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer the Second. "Y'know something, Toushirou? You really…you really…" Ichigo sniffed and flashed Hitsugaya a bright smile. "Has anyone ever told ya that you really remind me of my mom?"

…

Hitsugaya cocked his head to one side but snapped his head back in place so that Ichigo wouldn't think of him as one darn confused taichou at the moment, but the two separate actions altogether were easy to point out. "She was a really great mom. The best Karin, Yuzu, me and even Dad could ever ask for," Ichigo began by explaining, regaining his casual laid-back composure, but rubbed his nose occasionally. Well, at least his eyes weren't as red as before. "And I, well…I was the reason why she died." Hitsugaya looked away, averting Ichigo's gaze that fell upon him. It seemed awkward to talk to someone of the dead about death, but it wasn't like as if Ichigo really bothered about that. "Stupid hollow killed her when it wanted me instead. That's what happened."

"…And I remind you of her…how so?" Hitsugaya asked, finally looking up and straight into Ichigo's eyes.

Ichigo shrugged. "Dunno. You just do." His smile got considerably soft-hearted and he sat in a position whereby he pulled his own legs to his chest. Hitsugaya was sitting right next to him and was prepared to listen to whatever Ichigo wanted to spill out because he knew that wasn't all that the carrot-top wanted to say. "But ya know what, Toushirou? I don't give a damn anymore. Ever since she passed away, I've been telling myself that I need to get stronger so that I can have the strength to protect everyone. But…I just can't get over it…about Inoue…Rukia…Ishida…Chad…Inoue's dead coz of me now, and we have no idea where in the name of fucking hell Rukia is. Byakuya and Renji blame me for that too; warn me never to step into the 6th Division ever again when I visit ya in Soul Society, okay, Toushirou?"

"…"

"Oh, and Ishida and Chad…How are they in Soul Society's hospital? The – what you call that – 4th Division?" Ichigo gave a light snort as memories flashed in his mind. "If we never split up, Ishida probably wouldn't get his organs crushed like that, and Chad probably wouldn't even get so damn hurt too. And guess what, Toushirou? It's all coz of me this happened. It's all coz I didn't get strong enough. And I…don't think I'll ever give a fucking damn ever again…"

"…"

SLAP

Ichigo held his slightly bruised cheek, pupils almost dilated to the point where one could only see the whites and stared at the seemingly calm and collected taichou in front of him, acting like nothing ever happened. "Kurosaki." Hitsugaya's voice was unusually colder and deadlier than usual, with dripping blood effect in the background as he spoke venomously, "You claim that you wanted to become stronger for the sake of your mother, don't you? So tell me the exact reason why you said all that things that shouldn't have come out of that big fat mouth of yours." Ichigo didn't answer and Hitsugaya took this cue to continue, still being as calm as possible, "Inoue Orihime died. That's a fact. And it wasn't your fault that she did; we failed in our duty to protect her together. Kuchiki is missing, but there are search parties currently in Hueco Mundo trying to track her down, and listen to me closely, Kurosaki: her reiatsu can still be felt. You're just being too caught up being an idiot to notice it. Kuchiki-taichou and Abarai-fukutaichou were just worried about her safety, so it should be logical as to why they would vent their frustrations on you. And you shouldn't worry about the Quincy and your friend because Unohana-taichou said that they would be able to return to the human world anytime now. And after all this, all you can say is 'you can't give a damn'?"

"…"

"…Are you just trying to find a way to…make yourself feel better, Kurosaki?" Ichigo's head shot up but he said nothing. Hitsugaya sighed wearily and rubbed the temples of his forehead. "Mattaku…I came here to relax on Yamamoto-soutaichou's orders, but I ended up having a headache out of lecturing you, Kurosaki. I hope you're happy."

Ichigo blinked twice in rapid motion and he smirked. "I am." Closing his eyes smoothly, he leaned in and gave a quick peck on the taichou's lips before resting his head upon Hitsugaya's shoulder. Hitsugaya casted the strawberry a mix of a worried and a confused glance before he closed his eyes and sighed once more. "You're right, Toushirou. I wasn't thinking about what I'm saying; I was just being damned messed up." With a deep, hollow sigh, Ichigo nuzzled his face against the cold shoulder. "…Just this once, Toushirou…just this once…and I won't bother you about this anymore…"

Hitsugaya glanced at the tuft of spiky orange head, teal eyes examining the seemingly crying strawberry before they looked away. As he closed them, he sighed sympathetically and he saw his vision blur once more. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but…" As he whispered, his arm went up slowly and slung across the other's shoulders and clutched it tightly. "…don't cry…Ichigo."

"…Don't cry…Ichigo…"

Ichigo opened his tearful chocolate brown orbs. As one small streak of tears flowed down his cheek, he smirked once more. "If that's what you want, Toushirou…I guess."

"…Don't cry…Toushirou…"

Hitsugaya scoffed, tears gone quicker than the speed of a cheetah. "You're way too easy to please, aren't you, you doofus?"

"…Heh." At Ichigo's next words, Hitsugaya let himself reveal his rare (drop-dead gorgeous) smile as the moonlight from the newly risen moon dawned upon the both of them, highlighting their features and bringing out more depth of their equally spiky hair and sparkling eyes. "…Yeah…I suppose so."

"…Don't cry…"

How ironic it was to have the tables turn without either of them noticing it at first, but at least…

They won't cry anymore.

"…Don't cry."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A/N: …Ok, lemme have this chance to give helluva lot of credit to the HitsuIchi fanart I saw on a Japanese website (link is on my profile). I suppose it was most definitely this certain fanart I saw that melted my heart (practically all of them melted my heart, but…you get the idea) And if you're wondering where Ichigo's family went to…they're currently locked away to prevent any disruption to the story -laughs evilly until voice cracks-

Actually, I'm speaking from experience. You see, I was known as a crybaby since primary school (aka elementary school) and I had very few friends. Sometimes I thought I had none at all and I sorta became the loner I am now. Of course I wouldn't deny that one of my best friends cheered me up and was there with me through thick and thin. Mainly, whenever I'm met with a setback in life, I would turn to her first and the next thing I knew, I'm laughing and smiling like nothing happened. And you know what? Our friendship has lasted for a good seven years…and we are still really close. For that, I am grateful. –gives Isabel a virtual hug- Arigatou ne, Isabel-chan : -)

I believe it is safe to say that Ichigo and Hitsugaya were damn ooc. Just shoot me for that if you want to; I deserve it.

Reflect the truth of which you see

Tsuki-no-Kurokage

Edit: I edited the report because a reviewer said that with the 'so and so' thing makes it look unprofessional. Thanks for spotting out the loophole (I'm still dead tired and I have one more oneshot to go). I also noticed two more loopholes, but I suppose it wouldn't kill you to spot them out XP