Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Bleach series in any way. All copyrights go to Tite Kubo.
Author's Note: After getting a good amount of reviews for the first chapter, I've finally gotten the chance to post the next part to this story. Thank you everyone for being so patient especially my dear reviewers: icyangel27, j cloud xD, loriakari, sweet miracle 'michu 17', NeonCookies O.o, KnowledgeandImagination, serenity095, applestoapples, Samantha, lil'sayuri-chan, becomeafan, Rentontagezake, franchesca, afhfdrizzle, maili-chan. Without any further adieu, here is chapter two of Forget Me Not. Enjoy!
LEGEND
"Talking." "Thinking."
Forget Me Not
Chapter Two: Amnesia
They searched high and low around the area for the two missing members of the Gotei 13. However, no one was able to find them. "We're sorry Captain Ichimaru!" one of the lower ranked soul reapers apologized. "Our group was unable to locate the whereabouts of Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Hinamori anywhere!"
"Very well, you guys keep searching," the third division captain instructed.
"Yes sir!"
When they disappeared from his sights, Matsumoto and Kira appeared from behind. "So, any luck with you?"
Both of them shook their heads. "They're neither in the western nor the eastern sides of the area," Izuru said.
Noticing the worry look on his childhood friend's face, Ichimaru asked, "Are you worried, Ran-chan?"
She gave him a stern look. "What do you think, Gin?"
He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry too much about them; I'm pretty sure those two are together somewhere and looking after one another. Besides, Hitsugaya-kun would do whatever it takes to make sure that Hinamori-chan is safe."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
He nodded with agreement. "Now, shall we continue searching for them?"
"Hai."
When Hinamori regained consciousness, the peach girl slowly got off from the ground and sat on her bottom. She scanned the area, trying to figure out where she is. "That's right; I was dragged down from the cliff."
She then got on her two feet.
"I better find a way out of here. Hitsugaya-kun must be searching for me right now." With that said, she started walking. All of a sudden, she folded her arms over her chest and began wondering. "I could have sworn I was a goner. I wonder what happened while I was unconsciousness."
Momo then looked around. All she could see is a large blanket of flowers.
"There's so many of them." She stopped and knelt down to the plant's level. She took a closer look at it and let out a content smile. "They're pretty. If I recall correctly, I think they're called forget me not (1) flowers."
When she raised her eye's view, Momo noticed a familiar patch of snowy white hair in the bed of blue-violet flowers. She let out a gasp, stood up, and ran after it. Once she is close to the motionless body, she got down to her knees and began nudging him awake.
"Hitsugaya-kun! Hitsugaya-kun, wake up!"
It is when she saw his right hand twitch. Hinamori let out a relieved sigh.
"Thank goodness he's alright."
By the time he came to himself, the white haired Shinigami sat up and looked around. Everything around him is foreign like he's some sort of lost child in a large forest. When his eyes lay on the peach girl, he asked, "Who are you? Come to think of it, who am I?"
"Who am I? Why would he ask a question like that?" she thought. "What are you talking about? You know who I am; I'm Momo Hinamori and you're Toshiro Hitsugaya. We grew up together in Junrina'an (2) before we became soul reapers."
"I'm sorry, but I can't recall anything," he apologized as he lowered his head with some guilt.
"He has to be joking! That's right; he's probably doing another one of his old tricks back then when we were younger. It was mean of him to do that, but then again, I was gullible and naive to see through his actions," the raven haired girl continued thinking. "Do...you really mean it?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure who or what to believe. However, if what you said about us being childhood friends is true, then yes, I really mean it."
"I see." She turned her body to the side, placed a hand over her chest, and tilted her head forward. "He doesn't appear to be joking around this time. Maybe, for some reason, he really did lose all his memories."
"Um, is everything alright?"
The peach girl quickly resumed her attention to the confused Shinigami and offered him a small smile. "I'm fine. Daijobou, everything is going to be alright. I'll make sure to protect you until you regain all your memories and that is a promise I will keep."
"So ka?" He gave her a returning smile. "Arigato Hinamori; I really appreciate it and sorry again for not remembering anything."
"That smile of his; it is so bright and innocent," she thought. "Don't be sorry, Hitsugaya-kun. I offered to help you because that's what friends do, right?"
"If you say so..."
After that, the two soul reapers stood up from their seats. "I'll lead the way, okay?"
"Um, okay then..."
As the two began walking, Momo took a quick glance back to see Toshiro following her. Once she looked back at the front, she worryingly thought, "Whenever I'm in trouble; he's always there to help."
She raised her hand out in front of her and clutched it into a fist.
"This time, I'll be the one who will help him. I'll find out what caused him to have amnesia in the first place and help him recover."
"Hinamori."
The raven haired girl looked back and asked, "Hn, nani?"
"Where exactly are we?"
It is when the fifth division lieutenant stopped walking. After placing a finger on her chin, she thought for a moment. Turning to him, she replied, "To be honest, I'm not quite sure. All I remember was we were at East Rukongai District 40 exterminating Hollows when the both of us became trapped in a powerful barrier."
"A barrier?"
She nodded with agreement. "While we were trying to locate the person who created it, the culprit grabbed hold of our ankles and wanted to drag us down a cliff. You helped set me free first with your kido. After that, I was about to help release you with the power of my zanpakuto when used a binding spell on me and dragged me down here. From that point on, everything became a blur."
Hitsugaya looked up to see the cliff high above his head. "We were up there, huh?"
"I must have lost my conscious after bumping my head against a rock or something." It is when she thought of something. Holding her fists up in front of her, she looked at Toshiro in the eyes and asked, "Did you happen to feel any pain from your head right now?"
The white haired Shinigami slowly shook his head. "I don't think so."
"I see." She then let out a defeated sigh. "I guess a hard hit on the head wasn't the cause of your amnesia."
All of a sudden, she heard the sound of a sword being drawn. When she turned to where it is coming from, Hinamori immediately became concerned by no ends. She saw her childhood friend holding his zanpakuto out in front of him and examines it.
"Hi-Hitsugaya-kun, be careful with Hyourinmaru!"
"Hyourinmaru?" Toshiro questioned. "This sword has a name?"
"Yes, it does have a name. Please don't swing your zanpakuto around recklessly, okay?"
The curious soul reaper put his sword down. He pointed a finger at her sword. "Okay, does that mean your sword has a name too?"
"Yes, her name's Tobiume."
"So ka?" He further asked Momo, "Why am I carrying a sword anyway? Is it to eliminate those Hollows you were talking about a while ago?"
"Well, yes..."
"What is kido? Is it an ability we're able to use? If it is, I want to try it out!"
"No, I won't let you use kido! It's too dangerous for you to try because...well, you lost your memories and the ability to control your spiritual pressure."
"Really?"
"Now, promise me that you'll behave."
"Okay," Hitsugaya said. "But first, can you explain to me if there are more people like us living around here?"
Hinamori let out a defeated sigh. If only he didn't lose his memories in the first place, things would have went more smoothly. "Explaining everything to him is definitely going to take a while."
"Now this is what I call good evidence," Ichimaru said as Lieutenant Matsumoto and Lieutenant Kira are examining the area. "It is certain that Hitsugaya-kun was here."
Rangiku touched a layer of frozen ice on a tree, turned to her gray haired childhood friend, and nodded with agreement. "Yeah, he was here."
"Ichimaru-taicho!" Kira called out, ushering the female lieutenant and his captain to come over.
"What did you find?"
Gin stared at his subordinate's discovery for a brief moment. As the strawberry orange haired woman is about to touch it, he suddenly said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Ran-chan."
She pulled her hand back, looked over her shoulder, and asked, "Hn, what's wrong Gin?"
"If my guess is correct, a Shinigami has put up this kido barrier to prevent anyone from escaping. Of course, that would only happen when the target makes contact with it."
"Really? I never thought a kido spell could do that."
"Yeah," Kira agreed. "Back when we were at the academy, we were never taught how to do this type of spell."
"You didn't learn it because this spell isn't a part of the curriculum anymore," the gray haired captain replied. "The teaching of this spell was discontinued for about 150 years already."
Matsumoto gave him a stern look. "I'm pretty sure you didn't know this while you were in the academy."
"Of course, I didn't learn of it from there. I learned it from a book I read in the Daireishokairo (The Great Spirit Book Library) during one of my visits there."
"What should we do, Ichimaru-taicho?" Kira asked.
"Unfortunately, we have no control over this situation. We have to go back and report this to the Captain Commander about this. He'll be the one to decide whether he should send out a search team and look for Hitsugaya-kun and Hinamori-chan."
"No way," Rangiku said. "We're just going to leave them here?"
"Sorry Ran-chan, those are the rules we have to abide."
She let out a defeated sigh.
"Let's get going."
As she watched all the subordinates, Vice-Captain Kira, and Captain Ichimaru leaving the area, the strawberry orange haired woman turned her body toward the direction where traces of Captain Hitsugaya's and Lieutenant Hinamori's spiritual pressures are left behind. "Be careful out there you two."
Momo and Toshiro continued walking through the field of forget me not flowers when he heard something. All of a sudden, he took hold of the back of the peach girl's kimono and cuddled against her. When she noticed, she stopped and glanced back to see him shivering with fear; an emotion he never shown before. "Shiro-chan..."
The white haired soul reaper asked, "Hinamori, what was that?"
Then, he heard the echoing roars from a distance. He raised his other hand and gripped it onto her robe.
"There's that noise again."
Hinamori's eyes then narrowed with great suspicion. Suddenly, she removed her sword from its sheath and held it out in front. "Listen to me Hitsugaya-kun; once they start attacking us, I want you to stay close to me."
He slowly nodded with agreement. "Um, okay..."
When a garganta appeared and released a group of Hollows, they immediately surrounded the two childhood friends. Momo couldn't believe it; there were so many of them confronting them at once. She then took a quick glance at the fearful Toshiro. "He doesn't remember how to control his spiritual powers. That is why so many Hollows are here."
Hinamori closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
"Calm down Momo, you can do this because you promised to protect him."
She tightened her grip on her sword's handle and patiently waited for one of them to attack. By the time one of them roared, Hinamori immediately fired a fireball which is generated from her zanpakuto. "Hajike, Tobiume!"
When it made contact with one of the masked creatures, it cried out before disintegrating into thin air. Moments later, all the other Hollows began charging at them. Without any time to waste, the peach girl held out her hands and fired several ways of destruction spells.
"Hado Number 33: Sokatsui!"
She twisted her body to the side, facing another direction.
"Hado Number 32: Okasen!"
Momo did the same in the other direction.
"Hado Number 58: Tenran!"
"Hinamori!" Hitsugaya suddenly called out as began bracing himself for the upcoming assault.
Immediately, she turned around and fired a red fireball of spiritual energy at an approaching Hollow which is about to attack her childhood friend. "Hado Number 31: Shakkaho!"
As time continued to pass, Toshiro began noticing Momo's change of breathing patterns. "She's becoming exhausted because she wants to protect me."
He tilted his head forward and began reflecting.
"If everything she said about me were true, then I could have done something that would keep her from suffering like this."
The Hollows' roars became fiercer and began giving the raven haired lieutenant a hard time to defeat them. She yelled out her sword's zanpakuto ability, "Hajike, Tobiume!"
It is when some of the masked creatures from Hueco Mundo began charging up to fire their ceros at them.
"I have to do something quick!" Momo thought. Holding up the palms of her hand in front of her, she exclaimed, "Bakudo Number 73: Tozansho!"
An inverted pyramid shaped barrier is created around the female caster and her childhood friend. Focused on them, all she could do is hope that her way of binding spell manages to survive the blast. As for Toshiro, he thought differently. "Someone, anyone...please help her make all the Hollows go away."
All of a sudden, his wishes were granted by an unfamiliar voice.
"Hado Number 88: Hiryugekizokushintenraiho."
Japanese Word Translations and References
Gotei 13 - The Thirteen Court Guard Squads, Hai - Yes, Shinigami - Soul Reaper, Daijobou - It's Alright, So ka - Really/Is that so, Arigato - Thank You, Nani - What, Zanpakuto - Soul Cutter, Kido - Demon Arts, Taicho - Captain, Garganta - A portal that allows spirits travel to and from Hueco Mundo
(1) The Forget me Not's flower meanings are hope, remembrance, memories, and true love.
(2) Junrin'an is West Rukongai District One; the place where Toshiro Hitsugaya and Momo Hinamori grew up together before they became soul reapers.
Author's Note: Ah, poor Shiro-chan lost his memories! Who exactly fired the high level destructive spell to save them? You just have to wait patiently for my next update. In the meantime, please review while I go and start working on the next chapter of The Next Greatest Treasure. It needs an update as soon as possible. Thanks!
