Okay, as you know, I made this story to go with the plotline of the movie, The DiamondDust Rebellion. Well now it's out in subtitles and it will assist me in making this story better. Starting now.
Please enjoy.
Refusing The Truth
Chapter 2
We have been looking for six hours. Not a trace of his reiatsu. It was maddening, my Taicho was out there, alone and a wanted man. I felt like screaming.
I began to think of what I would do if I were to find him. 'Hey Hitsugaya-taicho, you've been named a traitor and I wanted you to come back and prove your innocence'. Yeah right. He probably run away.
I began thinking what was the point of going after him? Why would he want to listen to me? He left me standing there, without even the slightest detail or reason as to why he did it.
He just shot me a sad and apologetic look and ran away. But why?! Why did he do this to me?! To Soul Society?!
It wasn't just me who probably felt upset by this. All it took was one name to make me feel insignificant to him.
Hinamori Momo.
It only took that one name to make me fell totally out of place in his mind. I know my Taicho more than anyone else in the Gotei 13 besides Hinamori. And I know well enough that she means more to him than anyone else.
I had an idea to try and get Hinamori to come with us to find and get him to come back.
But Renji had said that if Hinamori were to get involved, and we were to get in trouble, she'd suffer the punishment as well.
I didn't want anyone to suffer our punishment if we got caught. Especially Hinamori, if Taicho were to survive this, he'd be brutally hurt if she was taken out of his life. I'm sure he would be less saddened if I were to take the punishment.
But that doesn't stop me from wanting to help my Taicho clear his name. He doesn't deserve death when he was doing his duty as a Shinigami captain.
I want him to be back in his office where he belongs. I want him to yell at me for not doing paperwork again. I want him to be around me again. I just want to see him again. I don't want to go through life without seeing him ever again.
Life is too hard when someone close to you is gone. I know because one person I thought I loved left Soul Society with Aizen a long while ago. And he'll never come back.
Stop! I can't think of Gin. He's the past. The past is the past. The future is all I should think about. And my future I see a very much alive white haired Taicho.
"Rangiku." Renji's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "What is it?" I asked. "We've been searching all day, and found no trace of him. It's nightfall. I think we should stop for the evening." He informed me. It really was nightfall, too dark to see for a normal human.
We stopped running and I turned towards them. "Fine, but at dawn we start moving again." I said and I walked away from the group.
I walked through the trees and found an old oak, it looked dead. Not one leaf.
"Traces of winter. He's probably been hiding his reiatsu." I murmured to myself. It always snowed whenever Taicho hid his reiatsu.
The traces of winter felt so comforting. It was as if he was standing here beside me. I was never one to enjoy the cold, but when it reminded me of Taicho, I always loved the feeling of winter.
"Where are you trying to go?" I asked aloud. Just where is he trying to wander to? Someplace that he has to be alone to do it? So many questions.
Nothing but questions, all needing answers. But none can be answered. So once more I ask again.
Why?
The next morning I awoke to a gloomy surrounding. I had promptly fallen asleep under the dead oak and suddenly felt more alone than I should. I sighed.
"Better get the others." I said and got up. I wandered my way back to where I left the group. They were standing and ready to go, also with strange looks on their faces.
"Matsumoto." Rukia called to me when I was in her sight. Renji appeared at my side.
"What's wrong?" I asked urgently. "A hell butterfly found us and told us something urgent. The first Division has discovered we did not go on our mission, and has placed the 10th Division on house-arrest. Also, they took away all of their Zanpakuto." He explained, my eyes widened.
"H-House arrest?! How did they find out we lied?!" I demanded.
"A shinigami placed on duty here found us and hurried back to Soul Society. The butterfly reported that if we return to Soul Society willingly, we won't suffer too much punishment." He said.
I snorted. "It's too late for us now, we either go on or we walk right into our own execution. Let's move." I said and began walking in the opposite direction.
"But Matsumoto, your own division is helpless and your walking away from it?!" Rukia called.
"I'm not walking away from my division or my duty, I'm walking away from giving up trying to find my Taicho. I will find him, and I won't hand myself over until I find him." I said over my shoulder and kept walking.
"But-" She was interrupted by an explosion in the distance over the trees. I recognized the path of that explosion.
"It's them." I murmured. "Who?" Ichigo asked.
"The females from the attack. They're here." I answered and I saw Ichigo flinch.
"I've seen them before." He said. I turned to him. "When?" I asked. "The day Toshiro disappeared." I smacked him upside the head. "Idiot! Why didn't you mention that earlier?!" I demanded.
"It slipped my mind!" He defended. I groaned. "Come on!" I said and flash-stepped towards the explosion with the others close behind me.
We stopped on the treetops right by where the explosion took place. I saw traces of fire and electric force. Yup, it's those two alright.
"Hey, looky here!" I heard from above and flashed out of the way of a burst of flames that hit the branch I was standing on seconds before.
"Well well, it's the shinigami from before." The blue female said. "Yeah, and the substitute from the other day." The red female said. They were both arrancar...
"Who are you? Name yourselves!" I ordered and they just giggled.
"We only obey Kusaka-Sama. Anyone else is just a maggot to us." The blue said. I clenched my teeth, they were annoying.
"Who is Kusaka?" I asked. "Oh? You don't know? Aha! You shinigami are so dumb. You're as ignorant as that one man from Soul Society..." The red said.
"What're you talking about?" Renji asked.
"That captain of the 8th division, what was it? Kyouraku? He was beaten down by Whitey's own zanpakuto." The blue laughed.
"K-Kyouraku?" I then realized that this Kusaka had been in Soul Society and crossed ties with Kyouraku. But what did she mean beaten down with Taicho's own zanpakuto?
"I've had enough of you!" Ichigo growled. "Wait Ichigo!" I said and held out a hand to stop him, he paused.
"You two, explain your purpose!" I ordered. "We already said, we only take orders from Kusaka-Sama. Maggots like you are filth." That broke my patience.
I launched myself at them and struck down at them only to have my zanpakuto caught by the blue one's whip.
"Unare, Haineko." I said and it dissolved into ash, releasing my from her grip. She scowled and jumped back.
"We don't have time to deal with you, and we certainly can't leave you alive. You cannot interfere with Kusaka-Sama's plans." The red said. "Hollow!" They said together and a giant group of hollows appeared and charged towards us.
I used Haineko and cut through some but more came. The others spread out and took their own group.
"Mae, Sode no Shirayuki!" Rukia called and her zanpakuto came to life and a white ribbon appeared at the end.
"Some no Mai, Tsukishiro!" She called and a big circle surrounded her and a big portion of the hollows. They all froze and dissolved away.
"Getsuga tenshou!" Ichigo shouted and an energy blast flew off the tip of his blade and destroyed hollow after hollow and even almost hit the two arrancar women. They of course dodged it.
"Hoero! Zabimaru!" Renji shouted and his zanpakuto extended to great lengths and swiped the area clean until no hollows were left.
"Damn you! We told you that you could not interfere!" The blue arrancar cursed.
"Interfere with what?!" I demanded.
"Oh you'll see, come the ultimate event that you will ever witness, really soon." The red arrancar said and they vanished.
"Damn it!" I cursed, another dead end!
"What do we do now?" Rukia asked. I lifted my head. "Ain't it obvious? We keep going. Taicho is wandering somewhere, injured and alone. He has to be slowed down by his current state. We better get going, before this scene catches Soul Society's attention." I said and sped off.
The others followed close behind me and I led the way over the trees, through even the gloomy clouds, I figured great heights would help.
I spotted a shrine of some kind from above. I sensed traces of Taicho's reiatsu. "Down there!" I called and shot down and landed in front of the shrine.
I walked up to it and opened the door. He was here! He really was here! I feel him all over this room. Traces of winter everywhere. But, i noticed something on the floor.
I walked over to the spot on the floor and ran a finger through it. I gasped. Blood.
"He's still hurt, and it's only getting worse." I murmured. "Matsumoto!" Rukia called fom outside. I got up and ran outside and my eyes widened when i actually looked at the scene.
Ice traces, all over the ground and trees. There were even feels of Izuru and Hisagi's reiatsu here. They had found him.
"Hitusgaya-Taicho must've been found and he obviously resisted." Rukia noted. "It just doesn't make sense. Why is he doing this? He's injured and in enough trouble as it is, why is he resisting like this?" Renji question.
Again. Why?
So many questions, so little answers.
"Like i said before, this Kusaka is someone Taicho knew, and this person obviously wants the King's Seal because of some grudge towards him or Soul Society. This mystery is very irritating." I sighed and ran hand through my ratted hair.
I felt so lost and stupid. This mission was so hard without Soul Society's help. normally i'd have their guidance to assist me and help me go the right way.
But no. I can't look to them for help anymore. i have to go about this on my own, and with Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji's help, i will find my Taicho and prove Soul Society wrong!
Going back to the search was easy, and then thinking about all the evidence i've gathered was hard. Even with so little evidence i was starting to piece together what the arrancar women said.
Kusaka struck down Kyouraku with Taicho's own zanpakuto. That means he either had Hyourinmaru or he had a zanpakuto with the exact same power.
Since Hyourinmaru can't be wielded by any other shinigami, it had to be a zanpakuto of the exact same caliber.
But that's impossible, there can't be more than one Hyourinmaru, could there? Hyourinmaru, from what i know, is a heavenly being that's reborn into a soul every few centuries. It's impossible for him to be rebon into two souls at once.
None of this makes any sense! There can't be two Hyourinmarus. It's logically impossible.
But then if there were two Hyourinmarus then one of them had to have been destroyed because there can't be two in one existence. I'm sure Soul Society would know something.
If only i had contact with the Research and Development guys. I'm sure Kurotsuchi would be thrilled to have a challenge in digging in Seireitei's secret files.
Kusaka. Taicho. Kusaka... Taicho... Something doesn't add up though. Even if Taicho knew Kusaka, why is he disbanding himself from Soul Society?
Why is it everyone leaves me behind without saying a word?
He's not like Gin... Haineko's voice echoed. I sighed and nodded. I know... He's so much more honorable. I responded.
Which is why i can't give up. I won't hand over myself or anyone in this group to Soul Society until Taicho is found.
That's the end of chapter two. I loved the movie by te way, it was better than the first one and all the episodes combined in my opinion. Anyway, please comment and just wait for the next chapter. It'll be longer i promise. Next time, on Refusing The Truth, we find danger and possibly, Taicho. Solve the mystery of Hitsugaya's past. Cool, ne?
Laterz! RedPearlVoice.