In Spite of Appearances

CHAPTER TWO

Hitsugaya stood with his arms folded, eyes sweeping the landscape around him. He'd sent Matsumoto out on a perimeter search, which while valid, was really just an excuse to get rid of her for a while. Talked his ear off, that woman, even when out on assignment. They weren't the Second Division or anything, but stealth counted for something in Hitsugaya's view, and Matsumoto's incessant babbling didn't help matters in the least.

But she had raised no complaint when he ordered her onto the search, heading off in a blur of shunpo. That was the most annoying thing about her; she decided when and where she would be competent, as though that quality was something that should be turned on and off. If she could stay serious while on the job, he would not scold her so often.

She could be a layabout on her own time. Work time was his.

A breeze stirred his haori, and he frowned. Damn summer breezes never helped anything; they were always warm. What in the hell was the point in having a warm wind? Frankly, he could hardly wait until this self-imposed assignment was over, so that he could get back to the relative cool of Seireitei.

Hyourinmaru rumbled in his mind, an agreement to his thoughts. And also a suggestion to head closer to the lake that he could see in the near distance; it was always cooler near water. Hitsugaya was almost tempted, but he still had a job to do, here. Even his zanpakutou was trying to slack off today; that was very unlike him. Damn heat. That had to be what it was.

"Not now," he muttered under his breath, trying to bring his zanpakutou in line. Stupid dragon.

"What's not now?"

Hitsugaya blinked for a moment, hand going to his sword, before realizing that the voice was Matsumoto's. He'd been so distracted by his thoughts that he had failed to notice her return. That was unacceptable. But he could blame that on the heat too, right? Of course he could. Wasn't his fault he'd lost focus.

He shook his head. "Nevermind. Anything to report?"

"Nothing useful." Matsumoto shrugged. "I mean, there are some really pretty views around here, but I doubt you're interested in seeing those. Right, Toushirou-kun?"

Hitsugaya gritted his teeth at the term of address. How many times had he ordered her to stop calling him that? And yet she kept doing it. Just like Hinamori still called him Shirou-chan, though she was starting to do that a little less frequently. At least someone was making the effort to be a little more respectful, and it certainly wasn't Matsumoto.

But he let it go this time, simply because he didn't have the patience to be arguing about it right now. "No trace of any foreign reiatsu? Not even the slightest?"

"When I said 'nothing useful,' I meant it, you know." Matsumoto's face was mildly disapproving. "Why is it you question everything I do? You want me to work, and I'm working. Suddenly, that's not enough?"

"You and I tend to have differing opinions on what's useful," he said bitterly. "And if you acted like you knew what you were doing more often, maybe I wouldn't feel the need to question. You constantly question me; I am your superior, and this is not allowed." His eyes narrowed. "On the other hand, it is perfectly appropriate for me to question you."

A faint, humourless smile touched Matsumoto's lips, and she reached out to ruffle his hair a bit. "The world's not that black and white, Toushirou-kun. When you get a little older, you'll know better."

"Stop that," he said flatly, swatting her arm away. Stupid woman was distracting him. Well, no more. This argument was officially over. "Nothing left but an interior sweep, then. Stay behind me. I hope you're capable of at least that much."

He did not wait for her before launching into shunpo. Hell, if the teamwork thing failed now, then it was on her head, not his. He had at least made a token effort.

But Hitsugaya felt her reiatsu just behind him, and he gave her a grudging grunt of acknowledgement. It was entirely possible that he was not giving her enough credit, much as he loathed to admit such a thing. Some of their people had been killed out here. To assume she thought that this mission was nothing more than a game suddenly seemed quite unfair of him.

Well, that was just great. Matsumoto had gone and made him feel guilty.

He cast his senses about him as he moved, trying to hone in on any stray flickers of reiatsu that did not belong. When he continued to detect nothing, he frowned. Had the Hollow that had done this fled the area? Or was it just concealing itself somehow?

The first thought was frustrating, and the other one was downright disturbing – and more plausible, considering what had happened. Hollows did not typically conceal themselves all that well, either lacking the ability, or being too preoccupied with searching for their next meal. If this one was hiding itself, it was likely of fairly high level and very intelligent. The kind of Hollow that could easily take down squads of lesser shinigami. Perhaps even those of higher rank, should they be caught unawares.

Which was something that Hitsugaya would not allow to happen.

He slid smoothly out of shunpo, the world around him regaining its stillness, and Matsumoto did the same beside him. They stood near the bank of the lake now, the slightly cooler breeze rushing over them. Despite himself, Hitsugaya felt a flicker of satisfaction; that was better than earlier.

"I didn't sense a thing, Toushirou-kun. How about you?"

He didn't bother to scold her. "Not a thing. It just doesn't make sense."

"Maybe it moved on?" Matsumoto suggested, though her hand rested near her zanpakutou's hilt.

"Perhaps. Or it could be hiding itself. I think the latter more likely." Hitsugaya sighed, sharp eyes scanning the open plain for signs of anything that they might have missed. And yet he saw nothing, as though the world were mocking his attempts to get a handle on the situation. There simply had to be something here. Even bloodstains from the fallen shinigami were absent, now that he thought of it. There was no sign of a battle being fought. Could he and Matsumoto have been given the wrong co-ordinates, somehow?

He shook his head. No. The Fourth would have kept a proper record of where they had found the bodies. He and Matsumoto had the right place, for all that there were no visible signs of it. There was no mistake.

Which left him with the concealment theory, again. By the second, that was making more and more sense.

He drew Hyourinmaru, the sheath evaporating into the air as he did so. That Hollow was here. It had to be, and hell if he'd let it get the drop on him. "Draw your sword, Matsumoto."

The telltale swish of Haineko being drawn whispered in his ears. Good. He didn't seem to have to worry about his orders not being followed in the field. Now that he thought of it, this was really the first time they had been on an actual mission together. Most of their field work had been separate, leaving the office work as their usual interaction. If she were going to listen to him, he might deign to take her on field missions with him more often.

"Toushirou-kun? Do you think we might have missed it?"

Hitsugaya shook his head. "No. But I can't be sure. If we did, we need to make another sweep. If we didn't, then there's only one place that I can imagine it might be." He nodded toward the lake. "It's probably down there."

"In the lake?" Matsumoto blinked. She narrowed her eyes at the water, as though trying to pierce through its depths to see what rested at the bottom. "So some sort of sea-creature Hollow, then? It would have to be, if it's been under the water all this time without once coming up for air."

Hitsugaya closed his eyes, letting his senses skim along the waves. He was more in tune with water when it was in its frozen form, but he still felt a connection while it was liquid. If there were some sort of disturbance under there, he should be able to make it out more readily than anyone else.

His eyes shot open. There is was. The impression was faint, yet very distinctly that of a Hollow. Concealed definitely, if this was taking out full squads.

"Matsumoto. Stand back." That was all he said before he pointed two fingers in the direction of the disturbance, kidou gathering at his fingertips. "Hadou four: Byakurai!"

Lightning crackled from his fingertips and pierced through the surface of the water. And a split second later, a cry of pain and fury echoed from below the waves. Direct hit, and probably all the more painful since he had conducted the kidou through water.

A direct hit indeed, but not enough to keep the Hollow from fighting back. Hitsugaya leaped out of the way just before it broke the surface, a huge wave crashing over the shore. He executed a shunpo in midair so that he landed several metres away, on dry land. No way in hell he was either going to slip or get stuck in the mud. He would not be humiliated in such a fashion.

A compunction that Matsumoto didn't seem to share. Evidently, she hadn't gotten out of the way in time – and why in hell hadn't she? He'd given the stupid woman a warning – and while she seemed to have stood her ground against the wave, she was having trouble extricating her feet from the mud. Had Hitsugaya been any other male, he might have greatly appreciated the way that the water moulded the shihakushou against her body, and darkened her wavy hair.

But he was Hitsugaya. Thus all he saw was his idiot vice-captain who clearly had too slow of a reaction time. He would make her work on that after they got back.

A long arm suddenly reached out for her, and Hitsugaya flew forward to intercept the blow. But abruptly, he stumbled back as Matsumoto shot her sword out to block the attack herself, nearly slicing through his side in the process. Couldn't she tell that he was there? Focus on an enemy was important, but not to the exclusion of all else. Hitsugaya found it mind-boggling that she had not only survived, but ranked highly all this time if this was how she fought. Damn it, was he going to have to teach this woman everything? How much time did she think he had?

He would have very much liked to yell at her for nearly slicing him in half, but then he would have been ruining his own focus. And she would love to call him on that little discrepancy, too. Just because she knew he found such things annoying.

Matsumoto managed to push the Hollow back, something he would not have credited her with having the strength to do, considering the creature's size. Never mind the icy glares he gave to anyone who said that they were surprised that he could even hold his own sword in a basic guard position. It was a completely different situation. Really it was.

Hitsugaya took up that guard position now, testing his footing; if he kept it light, then he should not be hindered by the mud that was threatening to suck his feet deeper into the earth. Still. Fighting inside of a quagmire was hardly his ideal. This was disgusting.

He didn't bother to shout instructions at Matsumoto when the Hollow charged them again. She had quite clearly demonstrated that she did not need his assistance in these matters, and if it turned out that she did, he was going to be angry as hell at her for giving him the wrong impression.

So he just leaped to the side, thankfully out of the mud. Even so, some of the mud had stuck to the bottom of his sandals, and he slid a little on the landing. Not obvious to the naked eye, but he noticed it just fine, and it irked him. Something so simple as this should not have put him off balance at all; he had more co-ordination than that.

Well. He would just have to take that out on the Hollow, then. No better way to vent frustration than a little Hollow-slaying. He brought his sword back into a guard position, sizing up the creature. It was of impressive size, though extremely lean for being so big. Hitsugaya might have gone so far as to describe it as scrawny. The limbs were long and lean, the fingers and toes webbed together but still sporting claws. Even the head was fishlike, in the skeletal way Hollow masks were. Dead fish, really. The signature red glowing eyes were the only thing that gave its face any life.

And those eyes fixed on him suddenly, the Hollow evidently deciding that between Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, he was the more appetizing morsel. He didn't know whether to be pleased that it recognized his greater reiatsu, or insulted that it possibly thought he was an easier target. This Hollow didn't seem to be intelligent enough to speak, so he supposed he wouldn't know for certain. Not that it mattered.

He swung his blade out when the Hollow attacked, catching the claws before they could rake into him. From this position, he had a quite disgusting look down the creature's gullet; no doubt its intended destination for him. Like hell something of this level was going to so much as put a dent in him. Stupid Hollow.

"Little one. Little captain, is it? My, how delightful. No wonder your power smells so delicious."

Hitsugaya blinked. Well, hell. Looks like he had misjudged this thing's intelligence level. It was capable of conscious thought, and while that didn't actually mean that it was smart, it did mean that the Hollow could follow a logical thought process. He would have to take that into account.

Even so, he almost missed evading the other hand sent swiping at him, abruptly shoving the first away and rolling to the side. He sensed another blow coming, and he swung out his sword to intercept.

This time, the blade bit into flesh, and Hitsugaya was somewhat mollified by the shriek of pain that greeted his ears. With some effort, he yanked the sword out of the Hollow's body – had he the time to get his bearings he would have gone for the mask straight away – and put his free hand down in order to push himself to his feet.

Except that something suddenly latched onto the back of his haori, and he thought for a brief second that it was the Hollow. But the fact that he felt the world distort around him in a telltale sign of shunpo alerted him to what had truly just happened. Couldn't the damn woman just let him fight on his own? He was doing fine.

When the world came back into focus, they were at least a hundred yards from the Hollow. Hitsugaya was in no mood to be patient; he rammed the butt of Hyourinmaru's hilt into the wrist of Matsumoto's restraining hand. She was getting on his last nerve.

She yelped and let him go. "Toushirou-kun! What was that for?" She rubbed at her wrist as though it were actually in great pain. Please. He hadn't hit her that hard.

Hitsugaya landed in a deep knee bend, and rolled his eyes at her. "If you don't understand that, you're even stupider than you act. Did I say I needed your help, Matsumoto?"

"You never say when you need help," Matsumoto said in response. She stopped rubbing the wrist, and instead started shaking it out. "If I waited for that, you'd get yourself killed."

"Did it ever occur to you that I might not need help? I'm a captain, damn it!" Hitsugaya glared at her. She was just being too infuriating this time. "It may have escaped your notice, but I'm not that little brat you found in Rukongai, anymore! I know how to handle myself!"

Naturally, Matsumoto remained unintimidated by his temper. "Just because you're a captain, that doesn't mean you're invincible! And of course I notice that! You tell me often enough!"

"I keep telling you because you don't notice! If you did, I wouldn't have to say anything!" Honestly, that was hardly a leap of logic, here. She was just being an idiot again. On purpose, just to irritate him. There was no other explanation.

In the heat of the argument, Hitsugaya had forgotten that there was still a Hollow there for them to dispose of. Hyourinmaru roared in his mind just before his own senses kicked in, and he instinctively shoved Matsumoto to one side, while diving in the other himself. The ground between them split from the sheer force of the blow, spraying chunks of rock and dirt into the air.

Hitsugaya brought a hand up to shield his face, and gritted his teeth. Damn it. This was her fault again, being an idiot and working him up to the point where he lost focus. Was she trying to get them killed? Stupid woman. Another thing to lecture her about when they got back to Seireitei. The list just kept getting longer and longer.

"Oh, well done, little captain," the Hollow said in a surprisingly quiet voice, given its size. "It seemed for a moment that I had both you and your pretty mother, here."

Hitsugaya snarled. That Hollow was just asking for a more painful death, wasn't it? Calling him little again? Referring to Matsumoto as his mother? The latter was the most offensive of all. Even the Hollows made fun of his age, damn it all. Even the Hollows.

"Mother?" Matsumoto's voice rang out, and she sounded every bit as offended as he was. Well, at least they could agree on something. "Do you think I could still have a body this good after giving birth to him? And I'm not that old!"

The defense was a little uninspired, but at least Matsumoto didn't like the idea any better than he did. Hell, if anyone was the parent in their partnership, it was most certainly him. Backward as it might seem given their appearances.

"I was addressing the child. Not you." The Hollow actually sounded nonplussed. To top it off, it let out an exasperated sigh. "If you insist on interrupting my meal, I suppose you shall have to be first."

Hitsugaya let it move this time, figuring Matsumoto would block this attack as she had the first. And she did so, with some effort. That was good enough. Time to finish this thing off so that they could get back to Seireitei and have a serious chat about the way that she was treating him. They were going to need all night if their prior argument was any indication.

He adjusted his grip on his sword before blurring into a shunpo, coming out of it right above the Hollow's head. As long as Matsumoto kept the thing distracted, it would all be over in a mere few seconds. He poised his sword above the mask and started to bring it down for a clean slice.

Something slammed into his side, hard. He let out a grunt of pain, fingers reflexively tightening around Hyourinmaru's hilt to avoid having the jolt separate the two of them. Hitsugaya landed roughly, rolling a few times before he stopped. He immediately pushed himself onto his hands and knees, disgustedly spitting dirt out of his mouth. What in hell had just hit him?

He lifted his eyes back to the scene, Matsumoto evading strikes from each hand – one of which was bleeding, Hitsugaya noted. Must have been where he had scored a blow before Matsumoto's interference. But more importantly, the Hollow's tail lashed about as though it had a mind of its own. Well, that would explain what hit him, then. It was obvious that Matsumoto had not distracted it as well as he had assumed. One moment he underestimated her, and the next he ended up doing the complete opposite. Couldn't the woman be consistent? It would make his life a hell of a lot easier.

Then again, that was probably why she was all over the place to begin with.

Hitsugaya shook his head. He was getting bogged down by trivialities. Matsumoto was doing a good job at evasion, but it seemed that she needed some help in actually getting an offense going. Which was certainly no problem for him.

He approached more cautiously this time, mindful of the tail. Like hell he was getting caught off guard in such a fashion again. It should not have even happened in the first place.

The Hollow lashed out again, and this time, Matsumoto employed a different tactic. One that Hitsugaya took great care not to get into the path of. He was more powerful than she was, but that didn't mean that this wasn't dangerous.

"Growl, Haineko."

The blade of Matsumoto's sword dissolved into a cloud of ash, wrapping around her in a wildly spinning shield. When the Hollow tried to get through the barrier, it shrieked in pain and drew its hand back, blood dripping from countless tiny cuts. Both hands injured now. That would certainly work very well in their favour. The only real weapon that the Hollow had left was its tail.

It occurred to Hitsugaya to take the tail out first, but decided that it would just be a waste of time. So long as he was watchful, the tail was nothing to worry about. He made his move.

In the instant he slid out of his shunpo, he heard a disturbing cry pierce the air around him. Matsumoto. Somehow, the Hollow had gotten through the ash shield this time. Enough was enough. This battle was at an end.

Grimly, he brought his sword down onto the mask. The Hollow's shriek nearly deafened him, but the sound would fade along with its body. That was consolation enough.

Or it would have been, if the Hollow didn't grab him, sinking claws into his back, just as he pulled his sword out of the mask. Pain exploded through Hitsugaya's senses, flooding over nearly everything else. The only thing he could register outside of the sensation was that he had indeed finished off the Hollow. The body rapidly dissolved, waiting to take its proper form as a soul.

And with the body gone, there was nothing to hold Hitsugaya up. Limply, he fell to the ground. He was in no state to even try a proper landing and just flopped agonizingly onto his back. Damn, but that was painful. Maybe he should have tried to turn over and land on his face instead. Might have been easier on him after all.

He gasped through his pain a few times before his brain started working right again. Matsumoto. She was injured too, and he had no idea how badly. He could not just lie here before he knew she was relatively okay. Hell if he was going to crawl over to her, though. Talking was fine.

"Matsumoto?" It hurt to speak for some reason. He didn't know why; his chest and throat weren't injured. "Matsumoto. Are . . . you all right?"

For the first time, he heard shallow panting, and he wondered why it had only registered to him now. Perhaps he was too far gone for that unless he focused. Damn Hollow. It deserved worse than it got for doing something like this.

"I've been . . . better . . ." Her voice was no stronger than his. How in the hell had that Hollow gotten through her defense? "Toushirou-kun? You're . . ."

There was an inquisitive tone in the words, even though she had not managed to get all of them out. It was clear enough what she was asking, anyway. But there was that damn name again. Why did she have to keep calling him that? In a serious situation, she really should have been using his title. She just didn't understand anything.

Why did he keep her around, again?

"It's . . . not that . . . bad," he managed to choke out. And it wasn't. He could still talk. He could still move if he wanted to. Really. He just didn't want to right now. Never mind that he could still feel the blood leaking out from his back. Surely the cuts weren't that deep.

He heard a faint shuffling sound coming toward him, and he rolled his increasingly cloudy eyes over in the direction of that sound. Matsumoto was crawling over to him, one hand folded across her stomach. That was where it got her? Stupid woman shouldn't be moving like that. She was just going to make things worse. Obviously, he had to tell her everything.

"Stop that . . . moron . . ."

Why he had expected her to listen, he did not know; maybe he was too lightheaded. Whatever the case, she continued over to him, pained expression clear even to his blurry vision. She stopped a few feet away, folding over herself a little more, and took a ragged breath.

"The . . . hell it's not," she said. She fixed a bleary glare upon him. Impressive, considering her condition, though the one he gave her in return was surely more so.

"You never listen." He was surprised that he got a full sentence out before having to take in another sharp breath. Really, this speaking difficulty on his part made no sense. What had that Hollow really done to him? "Just shut up . . . and . . . and get in contact with the Fourth."

Matsumoto chuckled, and that chuckle turned into a cough. There might have been blood in that cough, too, but Hitsugaya couldn't see clearly enough to tell. And just what the hell was there to laugh about when the two of them were injured and bleeding like this? Matsumoto must be hysterical from blood loss. Yes, that made sense. Blood had rushed away from her brain and destroyed whatever wit she had.

"Can't do the first . . . if I'm . . . gonna do the second." This statement was voiced around the coughing. "Silly Toushirou-kun."

He didn't have then energy to glare anymore. Consciousness was fading fast, and he had to be out of it if Matsumoto was pointing out holes in his logic. That just didn't happen otherwise. There would be more glaring later. She deserved it.

Black spots danced around his vision, and sounds became even more muted. He couldn't tell if Matsumoto was following his orders or not. Hopefully, she had enough sense to do what he said this time. Failing that, she should have decided to do it on her own. She had to be a vice-captain for a reason, even if he wasn't seeing it.

That last, vague thought was his final one before drifting into blackness.