Moonlight

IchiHitsu

Chapter Two

He closed his eyes and jumped. A few seconds later he landed on the ground, his feet making a light 'crunch' sound. He looked up to the window and let out a low smile before he ran off. He didn't know what made him want to do it, all he knew was that he really needed to see the picture of his grandma, it felt as if it soothed his soul.

He continued to run and then came to the ally way, jumping onto a bin and then clinging to a pole. He then reached out for a window ledge and pulled himself up, his size causing him problems to get up quite often. As he reached the window, he raised an eyebrow to see that the window was open, then just shrugged it off. He probably left it open when he left this morning but when he entered the room he knew something was wrong. He knew every single location in the room and he had a rewind-able energy torch in the room.

He wound it up and looked round to see the dust had been disturbed all around the place. He then looked at the ground and widened his eyes. His music book had been touched. He hadn't touched that for over two years, not since his grandma had died he flicked it open and then scanned it, sighing. It was a piece he was preparing for college on his first day, unfortunately that day never came.

He had already been exceptional bright, so at the age of thirteen years old the college of Karakura town made a deal with him. When he turned fourteen years old he could join due to the fact that he had passed all possible grades the highest year in secondary school.

He was all set to go, but on the nineteenth of December, a day before his fourteenth birthday, his grandmother was shot in a supermarket. They could have saved her, but the weather that was day was severe and due to all the trees that had fallen onto the road, ambulances couldn't get there in time. She was the only person left in his life, and that was cruelly taken away from him.

He dint know what to do, he lived with his grandmother and he spent all his college savings on her funeral. He was then quickly kicked out of the small flat they had lived in and he was left to wander the streets of Karakura by himself, leaving him scared and afraid. He didn't know what to do, he played Guitar and played on the streets until he got mugged and that guitar was taken off him. Toshiro then began squatting, and since then he had been living in semi-comfort, due to fast food places thinking he was a homeless child, they would occasionally give him leftover scraps of food and drinks.

He had been trying to save up to get into college, he had managed to get jobs in café's and all, but then something would happen, as if certain customers getting arguments with him and then he'd get fired. It was as if he didn't belong anywhere. Toshiro shook his head, telling himself off for thinking about the past. The past caused pain, what he had to do was focus on the future.

He picked up his music book and lifted a pen, but nothing came to mind. He was lost already and he hadn't even thought about it. He never started a new song until he managed to finish the one he had been writing. He turned off his flashlight as he noticed it was now light outside, probably around 8:00-9:00am.

"That's a nice music book you have there, boy."

Toshiro froze and scanned the room, but saw no one.

"W-Who's there?" he said, trying to make his voice sound threatening but failed terribly, it came out in a barely audible squeak. He looked for the window and thought about running, but the question was, would he make it there before the stranger did.

"Is something the matter?" he snickered, coming from the dark corner of the room, "It looks like you are, but don't worry, I'm only after your music."

Toshiro took a step back and pressed his back into a wall, hoping he would sink back into it. He wouldn't give it up just like that, the music in this book was precious to him, he had made most of it for his grandmother and he wouldn't give it up, he'd rather be dead!

"Stay away!" Toshiro suddenly growled, causing a dark chuckle to come from the man in front of him. He flinched as he came ever closer and clutched at his book desperately, sinking down as a hand slammed against the wall.

"Give me the book and I won't hurt you." He hissed, his hand reaching down and grabbing the tuft of white hair. Toshiro let out a yelp and instinctively booted the man in the shins. He made a hissing noise and this is when he bolted, book under arm and leaping out the window. He hit the ground and then felt a shock go through his ankle and let out a cry of pain. He limped slight but then was forced to run when he heard a thump net to him.

He ran out into the street and kept running, causing people to look at him confused and started shouting and cursing as they saw the man in pursuit.

"Someone call the police!" shouted a female on the street, "That man is trying to kidnap that child!"

Toshiro let out a sigh of relief that he still looked childish but still let a vein pop onto his head since he knew he was a young adult who was smarter than most. He looked across the street and ran into a shopping centre. There was a high chance he would lose the man in there.

He kept running until his skull connected with another shopper.

"S-sorry!" he gasped, leaping back onto his feet and helping the girl with black hair back up.

"Hey wait! Aren't you that boy Ichi-nii brought into the clinic?" she said, staring at him, then turning towards the girl behind him, "Told you Yuzu, he wasn't dead!"

Yuzu gave a timid nod and smiled, stretching out her hand.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Yuzu Kurosaki." She said. Toshiro looked at her outstretched hand while he took a mental argument in his head. They wanted to meet him now? When he was running for his damned life?

He took it and then gave a small bow.

"Toshiro Hitsugaya." He said quickly, then turning towards the Raven. "So you two are sisters of Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Yup," said the Raven, "My name is Karin Kurosaki. Me and Yuzu are Ichigo's younger twin sisters."

Toshiro nodded and then looked behind him to see the infuriated man standing on the escalator.

"Sorry, but I need to go!" shouted Toshiro, running away.

"Wait!" shouted Karin, "Don't you want to see Ichi-nii? He's in the centre with us!"

Toshiro's heart stopped as his eyes widened. Ichigo Kurosaki was here? This was not helpful. He didn't want to drag the boy with the vibrant orange hair into this again. He ran through a clothing shop and when he reached the end of the clothing centre he stopped and gasped for breath. He looked round but the man was no where in sight. He let out a sigh of relief and unstuck his white fringe from his head and looked at the book in his arms.

"Toshiro."

Toshiro turned round and saw Kurosaki standing there, a bag slung over his shoulder. His brow was furrowed, mostly with worry but some out of anger. He strode towards him and whacked on the top of his head with his wallet, causing Toshiro to glare daggers at him.

"If you were going to leave you could have said something kid." Muttered Ichigo, "You had no idea how worried I was about you!"

"First things first Kurosaki." Muttered Toshiro, glaring at him still, "I am not a kid, I am sixteen years old. Two, you don't control what I do and three, you shouldn't even know who I am damn it!"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow and then kneeled down onto the floor, before looking at the book Toshiro was holding.

"It's a music book, right?" said Ichigo, causing Toshiro to grow confused, "it's got music written for a great number of instruments."

"H-how do you know that?" demanded Toshiro.

"Look at the books spine." Said Ichigo, pointing towards it, "it clearly says 'Music: Guitar, Piano, Violin, Saxophone and Bass Guitar'. I'm taking a guess you play these instruments?"

Toshiro's pale cheeks flushed an abnormal red before he nodded shyly.

"I've played since I was little." Said Toshiro after a thought, "But I don't own the instruments anymore, they were stolen from me when my grandmother di-"

Hitsugaya cut himself abruptly. Hadn't he just told himself not to think about the past? He shook his head and looked sorrowfully at Ichigo.

"Never mind."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow and shrugged. If it was personal then it was personal, he just couldn't help feeling worried for the poor kid.

"Whatever you-" Ichigo blinked when Toshiro suddenly shoved him out the way and got smacked to the ground, his music book skidding and hitting a wall nearby. Ichigo stared at an angered man who was now smirking as he shoved a foot onto the poor Snowflake's head.

"HEY, LEAVE HIM ALONE DAMN IT!" shouted Ichigo. "HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING YOU BASTARD!"

The man leered at him before picking Toshiro up by the scruff of his neck and raising him into the air, shaking him about wildly.

"If you want him back so badly…" muttered the man, taking a step back, "then take him!"

Hitsugaya went rigid as he felt himself get hurled through the air, but thankfully Ichigo was already there to catch him. The man the ran to the wall and picked up the book before scattering.

"H-Hey! Come back…!" shouted Toshiro, "Give it back!"

Ichigo frowned before he put Toshiro down.

"Don't worry, I'll get your book back, I promise!" said Ichigo, running after him. Toshiro sat on the ground, refusing to let tears fall from his eyes. His hand was resting on a book that had fallen from Kurosaki's back, so he quickly picked it up and planned to put it back until a piece of paper fell from it.

He flipped it over and then let out a smile as he recognized what it was. Sheet music. Sheet music for piano. He opened the book and his smile grew wider.

It was all well written, elegantly you could say, but Toshiro could tell it was most likely written by a female. It was more curved and italic like, his was more basic and complicated since it varied in instrument. He stared at the sheets and recognised the first songs to be in a Scottish waltz style. He had studied Scottish Music, but he had mostly focused on writing his own music anyway.

He looked up and sighed, shutting the book and putting it back where it was. He didn't really have the right t look at any of the music, but it was just force of habit for him to look at any form of music. Probably his need to learn new things… like normal…

His attention snapped towards downstairs as gunfire and screaming could be heard. He got to his feet, wincing slightly before he ran with Ichigo's bag on his shoulder. He kept running and the widened his eyes in shock and horror while he heard everyone screaming.

"Call an ambulance!"

"Does anyone know who he is? Who he was with?"

"I-I think he had his two sisters with him, but didn't he tell them to run away?"

"Hold on, wait! What about that white haired boy he was with? His brother perhaps?"

All attention tuned to him and gasped at his expression. Their instinct told them not to let him see what was going on, but… They all began shouting as he ran past them and stopped when he saw first aid surrounding a body. That's when he saw it.

The bright tuft of orange hair right at the end. He turned round the corner and saw his facial expression contorted in pain and agony. Toshiro would have ran forwards, but he was stopped before he could make it.

"Let the medics deal with this kid," said an older male, "if you wanna help, you could give us any available details on him…"

"R-right…" said Toshiro, "His name is I-Ichigo… K-Kurosaki… and… he's a c-college s-student…"

"Anything else?" he pressed.

"No…" whispered Toshiro quietly, "I only met him y-yesterday…"

The man sighed and nodded, saying something on the lines of 'well, as long as we have his name we can figure out the rest of his details… isn't Isshin Kurosaki his father?' but Toshiro completely blanked him out. It was his entire fault!

"Excuse me, but are you Toshiro?"

Toshiro froze and turned round to see a medic beside him, staring at him with worried eyes. Toshiro nodded.

"He's asking for you, he said he needed to return something." She said quietly. Toshiro walked past her and then towards Ichigo. Ichigo turned his head to the side and forced out a smirk.

"Told you… I would… get it… back…" he murmured, forcing his arm to move until Toshiro stopped it and took the book off him.

"Thank you, Kurosaki." Said Toshiro, bowing. "You don't realise how much this means to me."

"Heh, I can take a guess." Said Ichigo, biting at his lip slightly as he felt a stabbing pain in his side. Just his luck, he had to get shot in the middle of a shopping centre, right?

"You shouldn't take." Said Toshiro slowly, "You're just putting more strain on your body therefore you are putting more strain into our wound. Aren't you the son of a doctor?"

"Don't bring my father into this." Laughed Ichigo, wincing slightly, "I'll be an even better doctor than him."
Toshiro rolled his eyes until he felt someone tap his shoulder.

"The ambulance is here, you must move." Said a gentle voice, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder, "He needs to get treatment immediately."

Toshiro nodded and then got to his feet until Ichigo forced him to stay by grabbing his ankle. He looked down with a confused expression when Ichigo closed his eyes.

"Come visit…" he said, his grip growing slack around his ankle causing Toshiro to panic until the woman tightened her grip to bring him back to earth.

"Do not panic." She whispered. "It is quite normal for someone who had been shot to allow themselves unconscious, it's a mechanism to prevent more pain."

Toshiro gave a stiff nod and moved as medics rushed passed him and laid down a stretcher, placing Ichigo on it and taking him away. Toshiro remained stiff as people stared at him and the book he was holding.

"That man is going to pay!" growled one of the public, "Who knows how many people he has tried to kill!"

Toshiro turned to look at him in surprise.

"Who is this man?" questioned Toshiro, "Is he well known?"

"Have you never heard of him?" said the citizen, "That man is Sosuke Aizen, a man that usually kills the person and then robs them! I'm surprised that this man has not killed you."

Toshiro narrowed his eyes. So this 'Aizen' character is the one who tried to steal his music, attacked Ichigo when speaking to him and shot Ichigo? That's just plain disgusting. Toshiro thought he had life hard, but now this killer was still on the loose and was probably trying to kill Ichigo for defending him.

"I need to go!" Toshiro blurted out, pushing away from the crowds that had gathered around him and just as he got outside a huge flash happened right in his face and microphones were thrust at him.

"Toshiro Hitsugaya, you were with Ichigo Kurosaki when he got shot, correct?"

"Is it true that Aizen tried to murder you and the brave college student saved your life?"

"Hitsugaya Toshiro, from what we hear Ichigo Kurosaki risked his life to get your music book back, may we have a look?"

Toshiro stared at all these people, terrified. They weren't here to take him away, but he didn't really want his face all over the T.V and newspapers either. He pushed past them and kept running, many of them following and trying to get information out of him. He was running, running to- where exactly could he go? He couldn't go home, because Aizen knew he lived in that deserted flat now.

He stopped and looked round to see that they were still chasing. He really couldn't run anymore either, his ankle was killing him. Where could he go… where could he go…?

Snap decision. They wouldn't be allowed to follow him into a hospital would they? He turned on his heel once again and bolted, reaching Karakura hospital within seconds and then slowing down as he got to the door. Opening it quickly, he shut it behind him and walked into the waiting room to see a familiar face looking at him with surprise.

"R-Rangiku?" he uttered, the strawberry blonde bouncing up and pulling him into a death hug.

"Aw Shiro! I never thought I'd see you again ever since Grandma died!" she squealed, earning a warning look from the woman at the reception.

"Anyway, why are you here?"

"I-I'm here to visit someone…" said Toshiro, looking down, "But I don't think he's been t-treated yet… maybe he's still in the m-middle of treatment…"

"Awww, you're still as shy as you were last time I saw you! And you haven't grown an inch." She teased, ruffling his hair. "Uncle Ukitake has been worried about you, he couldn't find a trace of you actually. There were times when we assumed you were dead…"

"I'm sorry," said Toshiro, looking down, "I just… couldn't bring myself to go back after grandma died and-"

"Relax, said Rangiku, winking, "Wait here ok? I need to visit a friend."

"Who do you know whose here?" questioned Toshiro.

"You remember Rukia?" asked Rangiku, "She's here because when we had a night out things kinda went out of hand. Drunken idiots…"

Rangiku sighed as she began going over the details of her night out with the young Kuchiki. According to what Rangiku was saying, they went out because Byakuya, Rukia's older brother, wanted some time alone, and during that time they were being harassed by drunken men.

"Did you know Byakuya is engaged?" said Rangiku all of a sudden, "He's getting married to a woman called Soi Fon, apparently that family is quite well known for competing in lots of sports, so I'm taking a guess that she is quite athletic too. She's nothing like Hisana!"

"Remember Rangiku, the Kuchiki clan is a very rich noble family." Said Toshiro; "Being married means that if Byakuya were to die, the Kuchiki Company would at least have someone else to pass it on to if Rukia were not able to do it."

Rangiku nodded and ruffled his hair again, causing him to frown.

"How very smart Shiro." She bubbled, "Anyway, I'll talk to you later."

She went to the reception who then gave her a pass to the room Rukia was being held in. Toshiro knew that he had to go up to the reception and ask to go see Kurosaki, but when his shyness managed to kcik in…

No, he would ask. It didn't matter if he was shy or not. He slowly walked towards the desk and blinked, not knowing what to say.

"Yes?" she said, looking at him while filing her nails.

"I-I'd like to visit Kurosaki I-Ichigo…" he mumbled, looking at the ground.

"Sorry, Kurosaki Ichigo is only allowed to have family visit him." She said.

"Well, um… I'm his cousin." Bluffed Toshiro, not looking her directly in the eyes. She raised an eyebrow and stopped filing her nails and then picked up the work phone, dialling in four numbers and then began talking.

"Hello, we have a visitor for Ichigo Kurosaki- yes, he claims to be a cousin?" said the woman, pausing momentarily, "His name is-"

She turned to look at him with a questioning look.

"Toshiro Hitsugaya." He said bluntly, looking at the ground.

"Toshiro Hitsugaya." She replied, "Could you please ask Mr. Kurosaki if he could visit? Yeah… I'll tell him to hold on a minute."

A few moments passed and then shouting could be heard and a faint squeal could be heard from the other line. The woman dropped the phone in surprise but picked it up quickly when she heard talking again. She frowned before hanging up and turning to Toshiro with a pass.

"Ninth floor, Room Seventeen." She muttered, handing it to him. Toshiro gladly accepted it and ran off, his heart beating frantically.

Ichigo grumbled to himself as a nurse sat in the corner of the room, hiding her face with a clipboard. What was the big deal? He had already told the idiots to let Toshiro in when he arrived!
He sat for a few moments when he heard a timid knock at the door and smirked.

"Heh, that's Toshiro for ya." Thought Ichigo, watching the nurse scurry to the door and open it, revealing a dishevelled Toshiro standing there, twitching slightly.

"Toshiro, what's wrong?" asked Ichigo, tilting his head to the side.

"First of all Kurosaki." Muttered Toshiro, "I've been getting chased by journalists and T.V presenters asking about you, then I bump into my cousin downstairs and then I had to make excuses just to see you!"

Ichigo smirked and indicated to the chair next to him before glaring at the nurse.

"Can I have some privacy when I have visitors?" said Ichigo sharply.

"But Mr. Kuro-" she was cut off by his growling.

"I want some privacy! You can check my damn pulse rate later!" shouted Ichigo, causing her to whimper and run away.

"Don't you think that was a little harsh Kurosaki?" asked Toshiro.

"No, I just hate the fact that I'm forced to stay here and then they say I have to be supervised? No way!" muttered Ichigo crossly. Toshiro put his hands up into the air to show that he meant no harm by what he said, he'd most likely react the same way if he was being treated that way too.

"How is it…?" questioned Toshiro, "The, um…"

"Where I got shot? Fine, why?" said Ichigo, his mood lightening slightly, "If you think it's your fault, it's not-"

"But it is Kurosaki!" blurted out Toshiro, "It's all my fault! If I never stopped running, if I had run away you wouldn't be like this! It should have been me that got shot!"

Ichigo glared at him. How could he even think like that? No one deserves to get shot- but then again, maybe this boy was someone who always blamed himself for everything. Toshiro looked at the ground, trembling slightly as he bit his lip. He allowed the book he was holding to hit the ground, his most recent work falling out and hitting the leg of the hospital bed.

Ichigo sighed and painfully leant to the side but was stopped by Toshiro.

"It's fine Kurosaki, I can get it myself." He said quietly, kneeling down and picking it up without a word.

"Toshiro-" Ichigo was cut off quickly.

"Do me a favour Kurosaki." Said Hitsugaya silently, looking at him with dead eyes. "Stay away from me. I don't want you to get hurt over the most stupid of things. I attract trouble and if you stay near me the chances of you surviving are close to zero."

Ichigo opened his mouth to protest but it came out as a gasp of pain as Toshiro ran out the room quickly, book in hand. He winced when he tried to stand again but the ended up collapsed on the fllor. His attention was brought to a piece of paper in front of him. It was the music sheet he had dropped, but it was flipped over and writing could be seen.

Ichigo

Thank you, for everything

I didn't want to leave, but I don't want to cause any more pain, to you… or to me

Perhaps this makes me a selfish person. I never… wanted things to turn out this way.

So as a way of my saying sorry, please take the music on the other side as yours.

I wrote it for my Grandmother for me leaving, but unfortunately she died before she could hear it. In the future, if I'm still alive and that man hasn't come out to kill me again, I'll come play it for you…

I'm… so sorry.

Goodbye, Ichigo

Ichigo closed his eyes quickly but he could tear feel his tears hitting the note and smudging the writing. What had he ever done to deserve this? He had no one to look after him, the closest person to him was dead, but what was he to do now? Keep running? And what did he talk about, the man? Surely he wouldn't come after him?

Some things just weren't meant to be answered.


A/N: . I updated without a single review... wow. Anyway, I know some people read it because it's in 4 people's fav lists and 1 persons subscription, so I'm updating for that one person... If you read this, care to leave a review? thanks.