A/N: Yes, yes, a revision was not originally one of my plans, but its happening. Upon looking back at my former works, I reflect on just how far I came, or rather, how much my style changed. I have long been dubious on the actual quality of my previous work; but the more I myself read other fanfics, the more it seems to dawn upon me that the actual perception of a story's words is highly reliant on the reader. (I know, it seems obvious). When I look on my 'stories of old' I see vague descriptions and lacking atmospheric guides. Yet it seems the picture created is sufficient for some readers.

But I feel that a revision is in order, though the original is still being left up. I expect a few changes to the plot, or at least to some nagging details, but otherwise this story is relatively the same. I literally brought up a copy of the original and edit it as I read through, typically consisting of elaboration. But you can still notice a few scrapped parts that I deemed too rushed or otherwise dispensable. Like Yachiru's curiosity on Hitsugaya's original squad.

Flower In the Flames: Revised

Chapter 1: Ruseiko

Hitsugaya has not been informed why, but he has been summoned to an emergency captain's meeting. Yet somehow, this didn't surprise him at all "And here I thought things were going to be peaceful again….."

Running a hand through his spikey white hair, he let out a heft sigh.

He hated the way things kept on showing up; the Ryoka invasion, Aizen incident, Bount invasion, Zanpaktou rebellion; so many wars and so many battles. Most were within the same year. Hardly enough time to recover.

It's been a year and a half since Aizen's defeat and things were going very smoothly, all things considered, in the Gotei 13. However, there are countless reports of vacant officer and squad seats…and the damages to certain buildings that were still being done. However slowly the progress was, things were starting to go back to normal.

Amidst all of this recover, the thought of lofty days of past were a constant topic on his mind. After such times were ruthlessly shattered by chaos and disruption. He was looking forward to the days that would resemble the ones before the Aizen incident; peaceful days where he could wake up whenever he felt like it, finish paper work in peace, look over his squad activities, get his afternoon nap in, and other simple tasks. Such were the former days of normalcy. In those days, he needed not worry for the life of himself and his men, or his colleagues. In those days, constantly being sent out into the field was not the norm, working in the office all day was. The few times he was able to do other activities were cherished.

Yes, he was really looking forward those days. But it was a near taunting longing, one that he was sure may not come soon, but still wanted none the less. Even now, he felt like he still held a burden on his shoulders. To have himself finally relived of the weight of heavily acted leadership, if only temporarily, is a welcome thought. As a captain, he had long accepted that the death of his subordinates—be it by hollow or illness or accident—was guaranteed and an inevitable occurrence under his reign. It is but a small part of the active weight that often lay upon him as their leader.

But as of the recent string of wars, he began to clearly feel this burden all too acutely. The numbers of men lost in battle rung in his head, as did their screams. The requiem that he heard was the nonexistent memory of those who have not been found, having to accept the fact that there may be no markers for where they fell. His sleep, haunted by whatever unconscious fear or regret that was smothered by resolve in his wake. But even when he was conscious, going about that day's needs, there where whispers of the severity of those same deaths upon their families.

Had his will not been so resolute and unwavering to prevent a bigger loss, he was slightly sure that his mind may have succumbed to it entirely and drown him in despair. It was a sort of personal burden that he did not expect to experience, naïve as it was. But why wouldn't he expect it? The job of a captain was filled with loss.

However, though his head bowed as if the sea weighted down upon it, he himself did not quake: that was the common quality among the captains of the Gotei, and he did not shame that title.

Now that he thought about it….this would be his first real experience in an elongated set of wars wouldn't it? No longer was his mind dulled by the elongated peace of what used to be the Soul Society he was privileged to be raised in. He now fully accepted that darkness can seep up and consume even what seemed to be an invincible military. His mind was now attuned to the real thing, and the real horrors. Huh, no wonder Soi Fon is always so stern.

But what did that matter now? There was peace. No war. Though….he often had to remind himself of that. Apparently his psyche had been so drowned in his ultimate goal of revenge, he had recently realized that relaxing had steadily become a forgotten prospect to him apart from the usual nap. His waking hours were unconsciously filled with apprehension and still readiness for any sort of battle, half expecting some sort of turmoil to arise.

He let his war-saturated thoughts fade away for a small time as he remembered one little, small fact. Regarding his childhood friend at least, he was able to apply some sort of all-encompassing ease to his mind, allowing his psyche to break free from the chains of war for a temporary amount of time.

His dear Momo, it seemed, has recovered from her wounds completely now, and she was starting to act like her old self. A very pleasing sign to his tired figure.

Aizen was still a taboo subject, but there still existed the promising act she smiles-genuine smiles. Which was a wonderful enough sign on its own, but became even more so when she began her joyous laughter and happily talking. He let his tired lips form a smile, desperately wanting, in the back of his mind, to hear her sweet voice again; in those days that he was secretly sure were going to come.

He looked up as he saw squad one's symbol on the large doors that lead to the room where the revered captain's meetings are held, the atmosphere thick with anticipation. The guards opened the doors once they saw his renowned figure, quickly pushing the solid wood to allow him entry.

Being only half filled with captains, since he came here well ahead of the scheduled time, Hitsugaya almost instinctively wandered over to his normal position within these meetings, having to remind himself that this is as it should be. Seeing those blank positions was normal, especially now that the situations weren't so dire.

Shunsui, noting his droll demeanor, glanced at him with one of his infamous smiles "Hey, don't be so down! I'm sure that Mayuri just accidentally spilled some experimental gunk in the fresh water supply again!"

Hitsugaya only responded with a grimace, as this was not the most credible person to listen to in regards of serious news. He also highly suspected that he was the one who paid for Rangiku's drinks a little earlier, which is why he still has to do overtime as soon as he gets back to his office after this.

The mentioned mad scientist sharply turned to them at the mention of his name "That was years ago. It was only because that clumsy lieutenant of yours knocked over the liquids!" he pointed a crooked finger at Shunsui, his eyes slightly bulging and his teeth grinding. He seemed easy enough to irritate.

"You call my Nanao-chan clumsy! I think of it as childish of you to blame my sweet Nanao-chan for your own mistake." he lazily said, averting his eyes as if he was guilty of nothing and only poking fun.

It was at about that time that Komamora, stiff and rigid in his domineering approach, filled into the room with a sort of huff. Ukitake followed shortly after, coughing with a vast intensity before he took his own statute by the door.

"It's the truth! She should've stayed away from my experimental area, otherwise none of that would have happened!"

Waving his hat as he started dismissing the matter, he cheekily replied "Now, now, what's done is done. No use crying about it."

"I'm not taking that from you!"

A gruff tone silenced them, apparently Hitsugaya wasn't the only one who was fed up with the argument "That's enough! That is not what this meeting is about!" the Head Captain raised his voice in order to quell the fighting, and as if on cue, Kenpachi arrived, not even bothering to make his footsteps a little quieter as he went to his assigned spot, already grumbling his discontent at being called here from his "training" regimen.

The Head Captain wasted no time, not even bothering to allow a moment for everyone to collect their bearings before he began "I have called this meeting for one important reason, so I'd better not here any squabbling on the matter!" he was taking any sort of shenanigans it seemed, and that meant no patience for the more 'troublesome' captains. "An unprecedented and severe development has arisen, and it seems the world of Hell is involved."

More than a few eyebrows were raised as all eyes locked unto his figure. It wasn't every day that shinigami, who only concerned themselves with the Soul Society and the World of the Living, were to turn their heads toward the world of sinners. In fact, doing so was illegal in almost all cases. All cases except one: Spiritual Governing—the absolute and supreme duty of the shinigami.

So the situation was not only unusual, it could very well be threatening to the balance in some manner.

Focusing his sharp eyes on the head captain, he began the addresment with the most obvious question so as to get this meeting under way "So what is it?"

Taking a small inhale and meeting his gaze, he promptly replied in a straightforward manner "A spiritual anomaly called a kuseiko has formed within its depths, and as a result the tapestry of hell is compromised. This can prove detrimental to the balance of souls."

Kurotsuchi took the stand as he finished, being quick to take over the conversation "For those of you who don't know, a kuseiko is merely a rare object formed within hell from the agony, pain and spiritual power of the sinners that dwell within. Under normal circumstances, the responsible personnel in hell would make sure that such an even does not occur, but it seems that they failed at that duty. We now have to deal with this ourselves."

Soi Fon, not pleased with the little amount of information given, interjected with a stern stare "Why is this object so dangerous? If it's enough to call an emergency meeting then we should have more information. Plus, if it has formed then why don't the "responsible personal" in hell fix it? What reason is there that we have to interfere?"

Kurotsuchi eyed the captain "I wasn't finished you know….." he looked around the room before he spoke again "Once this kuseiko is formed, the residences of hell cannot see or sense it and even if they could, they cannot interact with it, their skin just passes through it. Truly a troublesome thing. The reason it has been brought to our attention is because of the same reason we try not to allow it to form. The kuseiko manipulates space in such a way, that it threatens to tear into the same world that it's in parallel with, eventually ripping the universal tapestry completely, making one world the same as the other, merging, so to speak."

After a few more moments he adds "If I had to give you a comparison, it's kind of like when a Menos Grande uses kumon*1 to enter the Living World, literally tearing away the world's tapestry as it does so. These, as you should know, are very and exceptionally unstable to the point that we have the Kido Corps mend the distortion as quickly as allowed. It may close itself, but the spacial and time distortion remain chaotic enough to cause problems in the future, particularly in concerns to when a soul is in the process of passing on; such distortions can interfere with transmigration, and can lose or distort souls when they are in the right circumstances. This item, this kuseiko, it completely destroys the spatial boundaries all together…..the distortion of a kumon pales in comparison to the consequences that a kuseiko can create."

There was an uneasy silence in the room as everyone registered the stakes, now being able to fully comprehend the consequences of their failure and the severity of the problem. Their sole reason for existence is to maintain balance, and thus preserve the world. Now hell seemed to be the plane that was disturbed, and thus threatened their existence.

Soi Fon immediately called for discourse "Then let us open the gates of hell so we can fix this immediately!"

Leering at his colleague, he looked at her as if he was talking to a child "Like I said, the kuseiko manipulates space in its dimensional tapestry. We manipulate dimensional principles ourselves when we open any sort of portal, including the typical senkaimon. But because of the way the kuseiko is randomly manipulating space as well as time, opening a gate to hell is simply impossible. Even in the off chance that we could stabilize the currents to allow any sort of connection to the other side, then the soul that ventures in will undeniably perish!"

"Then how are we supposed to solve this?"

"If we knew that then would we be here?" There was a standstill, being unable to think of any course of action. How were they supposed to fix the problem if no one could enter the dimension?"

It was unusual for Komamora to voice any sort of input in these matters, but apparently, he was the only one willing to put any suggestion out, despite how meager it was "What about machinery? If we can create a connection, is it possible to send something in that is not alive?" It was not the brightest idea, but it was better than nothing.

"Unfortunately I'm not sure….the chances of even making the pathway stable for any amount of time is slim. It is a microscopic chance, if anything else. Personally I don't even think it's worth trying. But if I have to, I will."

There was more silence befalling upon them that undoubtedly made this the least progressive meeting in memory. But one could always count on the commander to shatter the atmosphere of indecision "I hereby order captain Kurotsuchi to explore all options and possibilities on how to solve this problem. Captain Komamora and Captain Unohana are to assist him by any means they find necessary. All other captains are to inform their corresponding lieutenants of this incident and to answer any questions they may have. Lieutenants without a captain are to be informed by a captain of another division and I will leave it amongst yourselves to decide whom. I will assume there will be resistance if we do manage to enter hell, so it would be wise to prepare for battle. If there are no other questions, then this meeting is dismissed!"

Banging his walking stick on the ground, it was cue for the captains to leave and perform their acquitted duties. One by one, they all filed out; some were apprehensive while others silently mute on the matter.

Kenpachi loudly muttered his discontent once they were outside the meeting hall "Tch! There is not even a conflict to distract myself in! It's just a matter of finding some damn artifact!"

Turning his head to gaze at the irritated captain, Hitsugaya realized that Ikkaku's rambling was correct: The world could literally be ending and he wouldn't even care. All he cared about was bloody conflict. Granted, he knew he was a blood thirsty demon in comparison to the rest of the captains, but he failed to see to what extent until just now.

Hitsugaya then spoke to him, raising his head in order to look at his gigantic figure, and to his slight chagrin, the taller beast had to actually bend down his spine to peer at his smaller one "You know captain Zaraki….if the world of the living ends, then it would be safe to say that hollows will largely be uninterested in even approaching the world of the living. They would rather cower in Hueco Mundo and cannibalize each other—and of course we would likely be unable to reach that dimension as well. "

Zaraki winced as his rusty mind processed the idea. He scratched the back of his head to show how discontent, a sure sign that his attention was caught—even if only slightly.

So he continued "…the head captain is bound to seal the senkaimon as a precaution. It really would be a pain. To spend all day idly waiting for a civil conflict in the Rukongai while the stronger hollows are so completely out of our reach."

Zaraki now stopped dead in his tracks, and Hitsugaya figured that his strategy worked. But truth be told, it was no so much to motivate him as much as it was to break the boredom. He was tired of Zaraki's typical disinterest in anything not involving combat.

Zaraki quickly left his side using shunpo, and he did not particularly care where he was going. Yachiru always managed to catch up with him.

In his stead, Soi Fon took his spot as his converser "I'm not sure if I want him even attempting to 'help'. He is more likely to cause trouble than fix it."

"Captain Soi Fon" He greeted. He has long gotten used to the fact that a lot of captains have been paying more attention to him. They may try to deny, may try to hide it, but their actions proved the existence of their curiosity. If that didn't then their obvious look of pride would—Ukitake's in particular was so painfully obvious that he inwardly wished no one ever blabbed off about his constant temporary leaves to North Rukongai. Couldn't they just say that he was taking small vacations? Or perhaps just looking at the sights? Apparently that was too otherworldly for him. Due to the mass power he has been gaining at an almost unprecedented rate, the sharp sensing Unohana was the first to notice the increased intensity of his reiatsu, even when restrained. A few murmurs from her to Shunsui and some bottles of sake, and then every captain practically held it in common knowledge. Thus, he has gained himself the curiosity of his peers. Even if it is only due to, perhaps, their own will to make sure that they never become so dull as to be defeated by him. He has noticed Kurotsuchi's eager tinkering in his pocket near his person one too many times.

Now he looked back at the captain who was always interested in the power of a potential betrayer "It was mostly for a change in pace. But I honestly would not be surprised if that freak of nature actually proved himself useful. I'm sure even the dull have their days…."

"Yes. I suppose you could be right." She mused.

"-and if worse comes to worse, we could ask Mayuri to open an unstable gate to hell and send him through it. Unlike us, he might actually pull it off." He said this half as a joke, and half serious. He was trying to lighten the mood, despite how unskillful he was at it, and despite how off-character it was of him.

It took him quite some time for him to navigate the maze-like structure of the Seireitei back to his Squad. Had it not been for his years inhabiting it, he would not have made it in even three times the time. He was sure he knew the way so well that he could be blindfolded and still manage to find his way back.

It was almost an unspoken fact that Hitsugaya took interest in anything that could potentially involve Hinamori, so it came as no surprise to the captains when they heard that the tenth squad captain took to informing her of the current situation.

The whole ordeal was rather brief, and mostly consisted of meager expansion on the qualities that a kuseiko can possesses. All in all, barely lasted five minutes. If even that. There was barely anything to discuss, it was literally "something formed and it threatens the world. We can't get to it right now either". Truly a bitterly vague situation. But it was a real, legitimate threat. It is not meant to be taken lightly. So he gave himself the extra duty of fully divulging the very concept of a hell without bounds, making sure to accentuate the fact that the very concept and process of human transmigration will be deteriorated to near nonexistence should it happen.

"-So that's the situation as it is. If you have any questions you are free and encouraged to ask."

Noting how far her barracks were from his own, he saw to it that she was called over the moment he had access to a hell butterfly. He, for one, had no interest in visiting two separate squad barracks. With the situation as it is, he was unsure of when exactly when or how the situation would be at its critical stage, and though it was only recently discovered, he knew better than to act like the world had patience.

Hinamori was obviously unfettered by the explanation, with her hand unconsciously grabbing at the cloth near her chest. She knew what he told her was not a farce, not even a typical accordance of their duties; but a real and dangerous threat to existence. It was so surreal, the situation now was like someone announcing that the endless sky was falling, or the constant ground of earth was splitting. But he made to accentuate every reality and possible outcome, and despite comprehending all that he said, she found herself unable to properly fathom the consequences should the situation go unchanged.

But she knew this much; it terrified her "So we currently have no idea how to fix this problem? At all?"

Turning his gaze to her, he offered his dear childhood friend the most sincere look of apology he was willing to give. He had long noticed her sudden change of mood once he laid out the problem for her, completely understanding her concern—hearing about the potential end of the world is supposed to unnerve as person, and lay thick the seeds of doubt and worry "It is unfortunate, but no, we don't have a course of action right now. Kurotsuchi is looking for potential options and possibilities right now as we speak. Given that it's Kurotsuchi we're talking about, it is highly suspected that he will find something."

That last line was a little bit of a lie. Kurotsuchi was impressive at what he does but he wasn't a miracle worker. Given the peculiarities of the situation, there is not much to be done in regards to a dimension that is fluctuating so wildly in its shape or form. But for now he is willing to put any meager sugar coat to sweeten the dismal predicament. Even as he stands here, giving them all the facts they needed to know, he had within him some doubts of his own; for this situation is the normal battle that he typically encounters. This onslaught of a situation was filled with neither soldiers nor blades. Not even strategic placements or traps. It is a situation that could not be solved by tactic or wit or any amount of might.

No. This situation was made purely out of circumstance, being independent of person or will. It is a foreign aspect to him. It almost seemed like they were fighting against the very world itself, and were being prisoner under time.

As if mirroring his own untraceable uneasiness, Rangiku looked short on breath herself "Even though the Soul Society isn't going to be directly affected by hell, isn't there some way to still maintain the balance of souls? At least enough to maintain our own existence?"

"No. Our world in indisputably tied to the world of the living. Their fate mirrors ours. That is certain. We can only hope that the officers in hell have or will be going through some sort of action to prevent that outcome. But should they fail, and the boundary is ripped, there will be no saving all of the souls left under hell's new influence." His response was blunt, but it served its purpose. He could not afford to have them hope for impossible things, such things could be fatal.

Despite the current situation mostly regarding an entirely different world, it was highly expected that the judges and sages of the Soul Society's highest and only court were evaluating the situation. But given how the military was currently inept at doing any action, she suspected that the wise men and women of the Central 46 may be reviewing old documents (or whatever it is that they do) for their own answers to determine a course of actions. Of this, Momo was intensely curious "How's the Central 46 taking this?"

"From what I've heard, they too are exploring all options. They're discussing on what to do next right now."

She didn't want it to show, but the response made her heart fall. The situation was becoming more and more dismal the more they lingered on the matter, even though that was all they could do. Even the Central 46 was hard pressed?

She didn't like to think about it, but fact of the matter was, if they were desperate enough, the Central 46 is likely to order something drastic. It could be harmful to everyone if they felt the cause was all the just they needed.

That being said, even if as much as a hundred, or even a thousand lives were sacrificed in order to gain any foothold on the situation, she was sure they were going to take it. No matter how awful it may seem.

However, it has long been a standing rule that anything related to hell, including study or documentation, is forbidden. To say that there is little to go on would be an understatement. Due to that law, everything even remotely related to hell was silenced. They have a few methods used to enter hell in the rare occurrences that their action was necessary, but obviously, such methods were worthless now.

But still…that didn't stop people from trying to research hell anyway. In fact, she knew for a fact that that was true. There did exist people who were more than willing to study hell, sometimes through immoral ways. But the real question was if the Central 46 was willing to use those forbidden methods themselves….

Hitsugaya's voice snapped her out of her thoughts "All we can do is wait. But the head captain issued an order not to long ago that we're supposed to have our zanpaktou on our person at all times and that we're now in a state of emergency." Hitsugaya started walking toward the door "-we're also supposed to stay within our squad barracks until instructed otherwise and to inform all squad members of this situation." He opened the door, making a small gesturing with his hand for Momo to exit first. It was quite late, and it was encouraged that she return to her squad as soon as possible.

From her sitting position on floor, her hands reluctantly leaving their places from her knees, Momo silently rose. Her crisp uniform made small sways as she walked through the doorway, her feet taking her toward her barracks almost instinctively.

-X

She continued thinking on this whole hellish situation, delving into her own worries and concerns. Even though it was futile, she still probed the recesses of her memory for any possible little hint that may be found there to help out. These thoughts made her already crazed nerves more finicky than they already were, and thus she didn't notice Toushiro following her. He was matching her footsteps perfectly, almost like he was her shadow, combined with the fact that he was concealing his reiatsu (as captains often do), it was only his distinctive shadow on the wall that alerted her to his presence "Umm…You don't have to follow me..."

Without changing either of his possible not-so-intentioned tactics he continued on with almost the same leisure as if it was a normal day for him "I know, but since I'm going to be confined to my barracks as well, I thought that I might as well walk you to your home safely."

"Oh…" Momo had nothing to say to that, she liked his company. Even in this circumstance, he still carried that air of seriousness and authority, with his arms in their typical crossed position. Yes—it would be hard to say that Hitsugaya was acting any different than the norm. Only Hinamori was able to tell that he was slightly concerned, his furrowed brows being more prominent and deeper than normal.

They continued walking in silence, neither were speaking for the fear of shatter this calm moment between them. It was like the calm before a chaotic storm. But be it for the unbearable tension or a precarious whim, it was Hitsugaya that broke the silence "You know…it's not like the Soul Society is ending with an explosion; even if the world of the living does end, and the balance is indeed no more….I will still protect you."

This made Momo stop. She heard it, though it was in a hushed voice, but it still shocked to hear it coming from his mouth. It was an unusual thing for anyone to declare anything like that, and yet he seemed to have no hint of doubt in his voice. She looked back at him, a look of bewilderment on etched on her face, but he still looked as stoic as ever, and it didn't seem like he was going to grace her with a repeat of his earlier statement. He knew she heard, her face told him that, yet he was not surprised that she doubted what he said. It was very possible that she just dismissed it as false hearing on her part.

But that will change nothing. He decided.

She turned away and walked on, her shoulders slightly sagging a bit more, inwardly deciding, or perhaps, coming to a revelation that even if she did have his protection, it won't save her.

And even with his protection, he could do little about hell. Hell, she knew, is a thing well beyond even Hitsugaya's comprehension. But she also knew, despite how much she earnestly wished it wasn't true…that hell wasn't beyond her.

She had no idea why she did what she did, but out of an apprehensive reflex, she turned back and smiled at him. A smile that, had she not been so good at faking it by now, she was confident he would know was forced.

-x-(revision end)

Kumon*1- It is the method of travel used by Menos Grande. It literally tears at the space between it and the Living World. Unlike the more stable gargantas that higher level hollows use, these can cause spatial distortions, and is the primary method/type of garganta used by Gillians.

A/N: How do you think I characterized Hitsugaya? Even though I wanted to emphasize his growth since the latest war, I can't help but think I made him too "light hearted" in the previous version.