Last chapter! No lemon in this one, for those who didn't read second chapter, basically they've now fallen asleep-- Hope you are enjoying. I'm sorry the name constantly changes from Hitsugaya to Toshiro. Mmm…. To Ichigo, he's Toshiro but to others and himself, he's Hitsugaya, if you see what I mean? That's why the name keeps changing. I hope it's not really ruining the story, let me know what you think.


You are my rescue by Heuk Ya Ch.3
Hitsugaya opened his eyes slowly and realized it was still late at night. Something had waked him up. Feeling slightly irritated at being woken up from once-in-a-lifetime deep sleep, he looked around to find what got him out of his peaceful slumber. And he didn't have to look far.

Ichigo was looking horrible. Absolutely pale, pallid and soaked with sweat, he had curled into a tight ball. The tension in all the muscles were easily visible and tears were constantly flowing down his cheeks. And yet he wasn't making a single sound. Nothing escaped through the tightly shut mouth. Ichigo wasn't allowing himself to make any sound. Or he was too paralyzed to even make any sound. Now that he felt for it, Hitsugaya realized Ichigo's rietsu was just crazy now. Trying to retain and calm Ichigo's rietsu within his own, Histugaya started to shake Ichigo to wake him up.

"Ichigo!!!! Ichigo!!! Kurosaki Ichigo, open your eyes!!! Wake up!!"

Ichigo was back in the world of his nightmare. His mother dying in front of his eyes. Blood dripping from his small hands. The black room, filling up with the thick, red blood. His own voice yelling at him, echoing around the room. He didn't know what to do. Even if he did, he couldn't. He was just paralyzed.

'I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry...'

With his eyes tight shut and hands over his ears, he just repeated those words over and over again. Even he covered his ears with his hands, his own voice shouting at him could not be stopped. 'Murderer' and 'killer' echoed around the room, the blood vibrating every time. Blood was now up to his waste.

'I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry...'

Then he thought he heard something. Something that he had never heard in this room. Something that did not belong to his own voice.

-...go... Ichi... Kuro... Kurosaki Ichigo!!!!-

As Hitsugaya's voice rang out through the black room, suddenly everything froze over. The voice stopped. The whole room was now covered in glistening ice. Ichigo slowly put his hands down, opening his tearful eyes. The torture room had suddenly changed to something so beautiful. He finally managed to find his voice and croaked.

-...Toshiro...-

Hitsugaya stopped shouting when he felt Ichigo suddenly relax. Then slowly, Ichigo's eyes opened. For a while, they were glazed and out of focus, tears still streaming down.

"Ichigo, look at me."

Ichigo's eyes, still filled with fear, turned to Toshiro's voice, soon finding the cerulean eyes.

"...Toshiro."

Without saying a word, Hitsugaya hugged Ichigo as hard as he can. He wouldn't say it out in words but when he couldn't wake Ichigo up, Hitsugaya had panicked. To see Ichigo, THE Kurosaki Ichigo, who he never really had to worry for his safety, who single-handedly saved Soul Society, like this was something he definitely had not expected. Hitsugaya could feel Ichigo still shaking slightly in his arms.

"Toshiro."

Ichigo put his arms around Hitsugaya. His eyes were coming back to focus and his voice was coming back to him. He could feel his hands trembling and Hitsugaya just hugged him tighter. For a while, they just shared the silence while both of them calmed down.

"..Do you want to tell me anything?"

Hitsugaya broke the thick silence first, still keeping his arms around Ichigo. After a while, he could feel Ichigo nodding. So he waited in silence again, and Ichigo started talking with small sigh.

"Tomorrow... June 17th is... the day my mum died."

"..."

"She... was killed by a hollow that I tried to save, not realizing it wasn't a real person. I.. was too young to tell."

Hitsugaya's arms tightened around Ichigo. With Ichigo being bigger than Hitsugaya, it wasn't cocooning warmth, nevertheless Ichigo was feeling safe and thankful for it.

"I'm normally ok... but just for this night every year... I... have nightmares. Of the time mum died. Then this black room filling up with blood. My own voice screaming at me, calling me murderer and killer."

Ichigo sighed again. Then he finally realized it was still late at night and that he had woken Hitsugaya up just as he worried.

"I'm sorry, I woke you up, didn't I..."

"So that was what you were worrying about."

"..."

"Baka."

"I know."

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I... didn't want to leave you alone in Soul Society with things like this... I... I didn't think we would get break tonight either and.."

"We would have done fine without you here for few days. Although, maybe it was good that you stayed over here with me. "

"I know. I still didn't want to leave you."

"Your mother might not be too happy to hear that."

"I think she might have scolded for leaving my lover behind in battlefield actually."

Ichigo could hear Toshiro snorting softly and couldn't help but smile a little. His Toshiro, his ice prince was his rescue, he rescued Ichigo from the depth of his own nightmare, freezing everything. He tightened his hold around Toshiro's waist and nuzzled his nose in the soft fresh-scented hair.

"...Arigato."

"...Baka."