OMG! THANX FOR ALL THE REVIEWS AND COMMENTS! THEY'VE HELPED ME SSSSSSOOOOOOOO MUCH! HOPEFULLY, I'LL BECOME A SCRIPT WRITER FOR MOVIES AND ANIME WHEN I GROW UP…
It had been a week since Hitsugaya had been let out of the 4th Squad Relief Unit and was starting his Shinigami duties again. Everything was back to normal. They way they should be.
There was no sign or reports of the hollow that nearly killed him the other night. Captain Kuchiki's 6th division did a search but nothing was found.
Thinking about it, Captain Unohana said that she couldn't do anything about the blood exchange with the hollow but there was no serious effect so far… besides the jackal scar on the back of his neck. It stung whenever he touched it or felt like something was slithering under his skin when his stress and anger built up but it was probably nothing. He was stressed for most of the time anyway.
As usual, Toushiro sat at his desk with MORE paperwork to do. A mountain of paperwork was stacked up in his office when he came out of the relief unit.
Why couldn't Matsumoto at least do a few sheets of paperwork while he was gone? She was always "busy" filling up on sake, taking naps or flirting with other men of the Gotei 13. Hitsugaya just sighed and carried on with the paperwork.
"But I've got to admit, it was pretty boring just lying in bed and staring out the window at the relief unit…" mumbled Hitsugaya as he signed something and stuffed it into an envelope. It was almost becoming a habit now… signing more than half the amounts of paper he saw each day.
Just signing… stuffing into envelopes… more signing…
Hitsugaya sighed and laid his head on his desk.
For somewhat reason, he wasn't being himself lately… more frustrated and stressed than keeping his cool… skipping meals… falling asleep while doing jobs assigned to him…
Toushiro's eyelids began to fall over his eyes…
"I can't fall asleep here. If I'm going to fall asleep, I can at least make it to my room," he sighed and trudged out of the room before checking the clock on the wall.
7:35pm
The white haired captain's eyes grew large. Only 7:35pm? He was normally able to make it till at least 4am! He shook his head and walked across the hard wooden corridors to his room.
After at least thirty seconds, he started to feel a deep burn in his chest.
"Huh? What's wrong with me?" grunted Hitsugaya but kept on walking, ignoring the pain. "GREAT! Now I'm having chest pains! I should really have a day off!"
He staggered along the halls, hunched down, grabbing his captain's robe and panting rapidly. He could feel it again… something slithering under his skin on the back of his neck… A burning sensation took over his body. It felt like there was a knife stabbing his stomach… again and again… His head felt like it would fall off whenever his ears picked up sound. He could feel his blood sizzling within him…
Unable to take anymore, Hitsugaya tried to walk faster to his room. Staggering… staggering…
He saw a familiar figure walking in his direction. The figure kept on walking towards his direction, not realising that Hitsugaya was in pain. Toushiro squinted his eyes to see who the familiar shinigami was.
Brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, pale skin… Hinamori!
Hitsugaya tried to turn around but his legs wouldn't move. SHIT! He couldn't let her see him like this and get freaked out!
Hinamori could see someone staggering in her direction just a few metres away. Wondering who it could be, she walked towards the "stranger."
Toushiro couldn't escape now! He tried to use flash steps but couldn't gather up reiatsu.
What the hell was going on?
"Hitsugaya-kun? What's wrong?"
Shit… too late…
Hitsugaya couldn't take it anymore. He fell to the ground and vomited blood… blood… and more blood…
Hinamori's eyes widened.
"Hitsugaya-kun!"
"Hina... mori… it's moving…"
"What? What is?"
Hitsugaya could feel it. The tattoo wasn't just slithering under the skin behind his neck but he could feel it moving around his body. Things were starting to go black now… Hinamori's screams were drifting away… until everything went black…
Hinamori started to panic. Other shinigami of the 10th Squad ran towards their captain's weak reiatsu to see what was causing the commotion.
"SOMEONE! PLEASE CALL 4TH SQUAD! PLEASE!" Hinamori burst into tears.
Why was this happening? All from just a few drops of blood from a hollow…
"Hinamori! What happened to Hitsugaya-taichou?" It was Matsumoto Rangiku.
"I don't know… he just vomited blood and passed out!"
Matsumoto used a nearby hell butterfly to contact Captain Unohana and her relief unit.
"Captain Unohana and her relief unit should be here," Matsumoto tried to calm Hinamori down. All Hinamori could do was to let Matsumoto calm her down and wait for Captain Unohana to arrive.
AT THE 4TH SQUAD EMERGENCY UNIT
"I was afraid of this," Captain Unohana sighed as she stopped examining Toushiro.
"What were you afraid of, Captain Unohana?" Matsumoto asked nervously. Hinamori squeezed Hitsugaya's hand and stared at his unconscious face. By the tone of Captain Unohana's voice, she knew Hitsugaya's condition wasn't very pleasant. She didn't want to know what was causing him to suffer… but she had to.
"I'm afraid that the blood from the blood exchange with the hollow is circulating through Captain Hitsugaya's body instead of his blood cells killing them off! I'm very sorry to say this but Captain Hitsugaya might not make it if it is serious!"
Hinamori's eyes widened in shock. That disgusting blood was circulating through Toushiro's body? It could kill him? Rage started to rush through Hinamori's head.
Why did this have to happen?
Why did the sequence of events from the night of the incident lead to this?
It simply wasn't fair!
Toushiro was suffering because he saved her! There was a chance of him DYING!
"But the chances of that happening are only 20 or lower!"
Hinamori's temper immediately went down.
She felt like an idiot but that was natural! Hinamori burst out laughing.
Matsumoto and Captain Unohana stared at her until she calmed down.
"What is it Hinamori?" Matsumoto inquired, curious of what had caused Hinamori to suddenly burst out laughing at a time like this.
"I feel like such an idiot!" explained Hinamori. "I was about to cry and scream at Hitsugaya-kun not to die but I forgot that he'd rather be called Shiro-chan than die young!"
Matsumoto smiled her usual warm smile.
"What's this ruckus?"
A voice behind them bellowed. Everyone turned around… it was Hitsugaya.
"What's with him? Waking up half an hour after vomiting blood and passing out!" thought Hinamori, bewildered.
"What's with that cowardly expression? Momo-chan?"
Momo? Hitsugaya NEVER called Hinamori THAT before!
Hinamori started to cry.
"What is it?"
"Hitsugaya-kun! You worried me! Don't do that again or at least stay here until you heal… COMPLETELY!"
Hitsugaya just shrugged and got out of his bed and slipped his captain's robe on, despite the fact that it was drenched with his own blood that he vomited before.
Hinamori watched him as he slipped his zanpakuto onto the right side of his waist instead of having its hilt stick over his right shoulder.
Momo-chan, shrugging and putting his zanpakuto in the wrong spot instead of its usual place… all of it seemed… suspicious… even Matsumoto and Captain Unohana noticed!
"You're not Hitsugaya-kun! What did you do to him?"
"Hinamori!" Matsumoto tried to stop her but it was too late. Hinamori was already getting carried away. Hitsugaya just stopped at the door way and smirked.
"First of all, Hitsugaya-kun NEVER called me Momo-chan before , never shrugged his shoulders and places his zanpakuto over his right shoulder instead of in his waist. Where is he?"
Toushiro turned around and stared at her as if she was a bug. Hinamori clenched her fists. This time, she was yelling.
"GIVE HIM BACK! MONSTER!"
"Hinamori-" Matsumoto cut in but was interfered by Toushiro, using his flash steps to suddenly appear in from of Hinamori. "Hitsugaya-taichou's just stressed! You shouldn't worry too much either! Right, Taichou?"
Instead of replying, Hitsugaya slapped Hinamori across the face… hard.
Matsumoto and Captain Unohana stared at "Hitsugaya" and Hinamori, who was traumatized by the sudden slap across her face.
Tears started streaming down Hinamori's cheeks. Hitsugaya-kun wouldn't go that far to shut her up.
She looked at Toushiro and her eyes locked with his. His jade eyes were somewhat… different though… the character in them was gone… it was almost as it his eye pupils were all one colour…
One thing was for sure…
THEY WEREN'T HITSUGAYA'S EYES!