In the Soul Society, the Seretei, the Tenth Division.
Toshiro Hitsugaya was asleep in his office. He had fallen asleep about an hour ago while doing paperwork. It wasn't due for days but he wanted something to keep him from falling asleep.
Normally it would be much later before he would be in danger of falling asleep but he had not had a decent nights sleep in a week, just a couple hours here and there. There was only one reason he was staying up. He could've gotten a good night's sleep but he didn't.
He was waiting for Momo to get back.
He just wanted to check that she returned safely. She didn't know he was doing this and he didn't want her to. On the other hand it would also make her feel bad. She would think that he was being overprotective.
His strawberry blonde lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto was asleep on the sofa trying to get over the effects of all the sake she had consumed. Both were fast asleep. A scream rang through the entire Seretei.
Toshiro Hitsugaya sat up quickly. He knew that scream. He knew who it belonged to. Panick and pure fear overwhelmed him. His lieutenant had also woken up. The scream of her best friend had snapped her out of her drunken slumber.
She looked worried and shocked, like she couldn't possibly comprehend that the scream belonged to Momo. Her best friend. What had happened? She turned to ask her captain.
" Captain-" she began but he had picked up Hyourinmaru and was already gone. Rangiku followed his lead. She retrieved Haineko and hurried to the origin of the scream. Momo's scream.
Toshiro Hitsugaya had never run so fast in his life. Everything he passed was a blur. He flash stepped the entire way, leaping from the top of building to building without pause. He noticed two other people on their way as well. He didn't care.
There was one thing he had dedicated most of his life to. Momo. Protecting her. Growing stronger for her sake. If she had been killed Hitsugaya knew he would never forgive himself. Her scream kept repeating over and over in his head like a tape recording.
She must have been in complete agony, he thought to himself. This only increased his speed. In what took only another minute felt like a century to Toshiro. He reached the outer wall and quickly exited the Seretei.
He looked around where he had landed in a crouch. Everything was silent. He was panicking now.
"Momo! Momo!" he yelled as loud as he could. It remained silent all around him. He saw a glint of metal a few feet away and hurried toward it.
He didn't want it to be what he knew it was. Momo's zan pacto. Tobiume. It lay on the ground, abandoned and with dried blood on the blade. Momo would never have left Tobiume lying around like this and Toshiro knew it.
He concentrated. Momo had been here, without a doubt. And hardly any time ago at all, only a couple minutes at the most. There had been someone else here too. The spiritual pressure was very strong but he couldn't recognise it. It felt familiar, he just couldn't put his finger on it. He sensed several people approaching his location he knew who they were.
Kiyone Kotetsu, Izuru Kira, Renji Abarai, Rukia Kuchiki, Shuhei Hisagi and Rangiku Matsumoto stood before the squad ten captain. All looked concerned and worried and there was no guessing why.
"It was Momo wasn't it," said Kiyone sadly.
"Th- That's Tobiume isn't it," said Izuru eyeing the zan pacto in Hitsugaya's hand. He nodded.
"Have you found out anything, like what happened?" asked Rukia a concerned look in her eyes.
"No I just arrived. So far I only found her sword," Hitsugaya answered quietly. The unease remained.
"Rangiku, Renji, Izuru, we'll see if we can locate the group she came with and discover anything we can from that. Kiyone, Rukia stay with Captain Hitsugaya and look around here," said Shuhei and they went.
Toshiro sighed. Kiyone and Rukia both looked extremely concerned. Hitsugaya scanned the area around him. Suddenly he saw something shimmer in the moonlight. He quickly and warily approached. As soon as he reached it Toshiro gasped in shock.
"M- M- Momo," he choked quietly. There on the ground before him was a small pool of fresh, warm blood and floating on the top was a familiar bright blue square of fabric.
"Momo," Hitsugaya whispered. "What happened? You can't be gone. You can't have left me. You've never been a selfish person or a cruel person. You have never deserved all the bad things that happened to you. Aizen, the war.
You didn't deserve to be part of something so horrible. Someone like you. You can never not deserve more. You deserve better Momo. I want to deserve to have you as mine. I.. I.. Momo. I've failed you…"
I need to pull myself together….. for Momo, he thought to himself.
"Third seat Kotetsu! I need you to go get Captain Kurotsuchi and bring him here to scan the unusual spiritual pressure. Kuchiki come with me. We'll find Matsumoto and the others," Toshiro ordered.
"Yes sir!" said Kiyone loudly before flash stepping away. Rukia simply nodded to the tenth division captain. Hitsugaya flash stepped away to find the lieutenants with Rukia close behind.
He felt like his life was falling apart. Without Momo there was nothing. No reason to go on. If she was dead he had no idea how he could live with himself.
He was supposed to have grown this strong for her. To protect her. It was his motivation and his reason. She was his reason to smile, train harder, get stronger and live. Momo was his world. He loved her. One thing he had never really comprehended was she loved him just as much. He just didn't know it. Yet.
"Captain Hitsugaya!" said Shuhei in greeting.
"Captain!" said Rangiku pretending to be cheery. Attempting to lighten the mood. She hated seeing everyone so down and worried. She was too. More than most she reckoned but…
"Lieutenants, Matsumoto, did you discover anything?" asked Hitsugaya anxious.
"Several things. We'll try and explain as quickly as possible. The first thing we found was on our way here. We reckon by the spiritual pressure and marks on the tree branches, Momo did head the direction of the Seretei, quickly too like she was running away from something. When we got here we found it,." explained Renji indicating the dead soul reapers around them. The group Hinamori had been with.
"We believe that there was an encounter here with a strange kind of hollow who took control of eight of the members. The two other members appeared to have been killed with a zan pacto so either by these guys or Momo, though I doubt it was her. She wouldn't have killed them without hesitation and there is no mark on them like the others which indicates they were being controlled. We finally managed to kill the last of them a minute ago though it was no easy task," continued Izuru.
Hitsugaya nodded. He was right. Toshiro knew it was unlikely Momo would kill her fellow squad members even if they were under hollow influence.
"That's all we found here but further up it seems they intercepted her about a couple miles from here with several hollows with strong spiritual pressures however it doesn't seem she fought them and knowing Momo she probably wanted to avoid taking a risk and tried to outrun them. That's it Captain," finished Rangiku sighing.
Hitsugaya thought for a minute. It all fit together someway but most of it still didn't make sense.
"Well I think it seems like she was ambushed," said Rukia quietly. Toshiro thought about it and it struck him. It made sense now. The eight members weren't enough to overcome her, so they confronted her again with several strong hollows.
When she avoided them... The very strong spiritual pressure back outside the wall. The blood and the piece of fabric she uses to tie up her hair. The others probably couldn't keep up with her pace so she was either not strong enough or caught by surprise outside the wall.
They probably injured her so she couldn't struggle or fight and left straight away then. But still, why did they want Momo? He explained his theory to the rest and they all agreed it was the most likely. Everyone was still confused by why they'd kidnap Momo in particular.
"She is a lieutenant I suppose.. She's quite skilled and strong not the most experienced though at fighting," suggested Rangiku.
"Kido!" said Rukia suddenly. Everyone looked at her. "Momo is a master of kido, one of the best in the entire thirteen court guard squads. Other than some captains she'd be the best at it. And it would be easier to get a lieutenant not only to come out of the Seretei but to take down as well before anyone realised it." Everyone agreed.
It was the most logical reason and the only one they had.
"It still doesn't make sense. Why would they need her kido?" asked Toshiro, saying it more to himself than the others.
"They're planning something no doubt," said Rangiku, angry her friend was being used like this.
"They obviously don't care if we know they took her or not," commented Izuru.
"I think I know why," said Renji. They all nodded. They all knew why.
They would think it impossible for them to rescue her as there was a slim chance of permission being given to save her. The same thing was running through everyone's heads. They were all thinking the same thing except Toshiro.
We'll come for you anyway Momo. You're our friend, they were all thinking.
Nothing will stop me from reaching you. I don't care how I get to where you are. I don't care about anything. Because I know now. You're my reason for everything. I'm going to save you and when we get back I'll tell you everything. How much you mean to me….
And how much I love you, that was what Toshiro was thinking.
Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo (which is not me).
