A/N: I'm so sorry about the wait, but I had a massive case of writer's block! Arrgh! It's all good now though, I know how most of the story is going to go!
Please Enjoy!
Chapter 4 – A Fortunate Encounter
"I couldn't help but overhear that you needed help finding a few Shinigami."
Toushirou whirled around, his hand on Hyourinmaru's hilt, only to find Kisuke Urahara standing in his green-striped hat.
"U-Urahara-san?" said Toushirou, relieved. There was no telling who it could've been, especially considering the fact that Karakura Town was devoid of all life.
"Correct!" he said jovially, bowing at them. "And you're lucky it was only me," he continued, this time serious.
"What do you mean?" Toushirou asked, looking around the alley though there was nothing to see but Momo and Rangiku.
"I found you three so easily," replied Urahara. "All I had to do was follow the reiatsu."
"That's impossible," said Toushirou. "I've been masking mine and Matsumoto's is too weak unless you're within a few feet."
"Hitsugaya-taichou," said Urahara, shaking his head. "Search for it."
Toushirou let himself feel for reiatsu around him and his eyes widened before he whipped his head around to look at Momo. Her reiatsu was astronomical for a human, equaling that of a Vice Captain. The only thing about it was that it felt different than a Shinigami's. It had a human edge to it—the same human edge that Ichigo's had when he was in his human form. Toushirou couldn't believe he hadn't felt it before, it was a beginner's error. "H…Hinamori-chan?" he asked, looking wide-eyed back at Urahara.
"Two for two!" said Urahara, flipping his fan out and waving it in his direction a few times. "I can't believe you made such a beginner's error!"
"Uruse!" said Toushirou. "Will you hurry up and put a masking barrier around her?" Momo would have to be taught to hide her reiatsu as soon as possible.
"Very well, very well," said Urahara. "Now how about you three get up and I'll do it on the way to the hideout?"
"The hideout?" asked Momo. "Hitsugaya-kun, what's going on?"
"It's alright, Hinamori-chan, he's on our side," said Toushirou. "We'll just be going back to his sweets shop."
"I said hideout," said Urahara. "Not sweets shop. Aizen knows where my sweets shop is."
"So where's the hideout?" asked Rangiku.
"Ta-da!" exclaimed Urahara, gesturing to the building behind him.
"You've got to be kidding me," said Toushirou, eyeing the sign on the front of the shop. It was another sweets shop, just in another part of town.
"I know. Amazing, isn't it?" asked Urahara.
"It looks great!" cried Momo, grabbing Toushirou's hand and dragging him into the shop. "Candy!"
Toushirou sighed and was dragged throughout the shop reluctantly, Momo 'ooh!'ing and 'ahh!'ing at everything! It was as if she had never been in a candy shop before. Toushirou felt pity when he realized she probably hadn't. But at that moment, the fact that it was Momo's first time in a candy shop didn't really matter.
"Isn't this a bit obvious?" asked Toushirou of Urahara, not letting go of Momo's hand.
"Not really," said Urahara, shrugging. "There are plenty of sweet shops. I don't think Aizen would expect me to do something as stupid as this."
"Brilliant!" said Rangiku weakly before coughing up a bit of blood. She was obviously still very weak.
Toushirou had to (reluctantly) let go of Momo's hand to go to his Vice Captain. "Hinamori-chan, come here quick!" he said as Rangiku lost consciousness.
"It's all right, Hitsugaya-san," said a kind voice from behind them. Toushirou turned around to find Unohana standing behind them, her kind smile on her face. "I can take care of your fukutaichou. Why don't you go downstairs and join the others?"
The others? thought Toushirou, relieved. So some of the others had survived! This time Toushirou grabbed Momo's hand and pulled her downstairs to the basement (a basement much like the one in his old shop) with him. What met Toushirou's eyes was…a bit of a disappointment, to say the least.
Sitting there were Yoruichi, Tessai, Ururu and Jinta. Along with them was Hiyori, Nanao, and…"Ahh…Hitsugaya-san, I see you finally found an interest in the opposite sex," said Kyouraku, smiling from under his hat.
Toushirou quickly let go of Momo's hand, both of them looking down at the ground and blushing. "She's just a human I met. We're…friends," he said, glancing over at Momo, who smiled at him, for some reason making him blush again.-
"I see," said Kyouraku thoughtfully, lowering his head and the brim of his hat to smirk at the ground.
"Kyouraku-taichou," said Nanao briskly, pushing her glasses back to the top of her nose. "Now is not the time for such things. We must work on what our next step is!" she finished, hitting her captain on the head with the thick book she had been reading.
As Kyouraku rubbed the back of his head, he smiled at his Vice Captain and said, "Of course, Nanao-chan. You're absolutely right."
"I need to know what happened first," said Toushirou, joining the circle along with Momo, who looked a bit frightened.
"Let's see," said Hiyori, scratching her head. She jumped up and kicked Toushirou in the face knocking him down. "We got obliterated! That's what happened, dickhead!"
"Settle down, settle down," said Tessai.
"Let's see," said Kyouraku thoughtfully. "Aizen got us, killed Kurosaki-san, almost killed you, then Yama-jii showed up. While they were fighting, Unohana-san grabbed me and Sarugaki-chan and fled. Unohana-san was already healing Sarugaki-chan and I was the most alive out of the rest of us, so I was taken with. Nanao-chan showed up here a few days after I woke up, which was two weeks ago."
"I had been watching the battle and followed Unohana-taichou," elaborated Nanao. "But I lost her. Kyouraku-taichou's reiatsu flared for an instant, but that was enough to find him."
"Oh, Nanao-chan knows me so well!" said Kyouraku, a beaming smile on his face…until the book hit said face. For some reason, Nanao's cheeks were pink as she stared down at her captain.
"Oh, shut up!" said Jinta. "Enough about that. We need to know what to do next!"
"You, Ururu, and Tessai are going to hold down the fort," said Urahara from the bottom of the stairs. As he walked toward the circle. "While the rest of us find the other Shinigami."
"The…others?" asked Toushirou.
"The ones who got out of Hueco Mundo," explained Urahara. "Two Gargantas were opened. Only one of them was by Aizen, and that was from the Soul Society where he was creating the Ouken. There was another one from Hueco Mundo to the human world, somewhere near Tokyo. The survivors."
"Who's in that group?" asked Toushirou.
"Well, assuming they all survived, there's Kuchiki-taichou, Zaraki-taichou, Kurotsuchi-taichou, Abarai-fukutaichou, Kusajishi-fukutaichou, Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou, Kotetsu-fukutaichou, Kuchiki-san, Sado-san, Ishida-san, and Inoue-chan," said Urahara.
"We definitely need to find them," said Nanao.
"Wait," said Ururu quietly, just loud enough for everyone to hear. "What about Yoruichi-san?"
Toushirou was just about to say 'what about Yoruichi-san?' when he looked at the former captain of the second squad.
She was sitting motionless, head down, eyes looking at the second squad's haori…Soi fon-taichou's haori. It was ripped with a dark bloodstain along the rip, and it was freshly coated with drops of water. Toushirou realized with a start that the drops of water were Yoruichi's tears.
"Yoruichi-san?" asked Urahara, squatting in front of her. "Yoruichi-san? You ready to get your revenge yet?" After several seconds passed with no response, he said, "Yoruichi-san will be staying here, then."
As Urahara stepped away from Yoruichi, Toushirou saw Hiyori bend down in front of Momo, their faces inches apart. "And what of the human girl?" she asked. "She looks brittle."
"Hinamori-chan knows what she is getting into and can take care of herself," said Toushirou. "I just need to work on a couple things with her."
"Take care of herself, can she?" asked Hiyori disbelievingly. "Leave her behind…she's nothing but dead weight. She doesn't even have a drop of reiatsu. I'm surprised she can even see us."
Toushirou saw Momo glare at the annoying girl and he was about to say something, but Momo beat him to the punch. "I…I can take care of myself!" she said in a strong voice, standing up to glare down at Hiyori.
"Oh yeah?" said Hiyori, sneering. "Why don't you prove it?"
Nothing happened for a few seconds and Hiyori snorted. "See, look what I—"
The rest of what she was going to say was cut off as she was knocked flat on her face from Momo's reiatsu breaking Urahara's barrier and exploding outward. Everyone watched in awe as Momo recited the incantation for Soukatsui perfectly and release the giant blast of blue energy, almost bringing the whole place down as it hit a wall.
"Woah, woah, woah!" cried Urahara. "Tessai, set up a proper masking barrier, will you?"
"Sure thing, boss," said Tessai, doing as instructed.
"We can take it off when she can learn how to hide her own reiatsu," explained Urahara. "For now, I say we keep her. As long as she knows what she's getting into and is willing to go along, she could prove to be a very valuable asset, especially with the small amount of numbers we have."
"I second the motion," said Hiyori strongly before Toushirou had a chance to do so.
"All agreed then?" asked Kyouraku.
There was no dissent, so Urahara said, "Well then, Hinamori-san. Welcome to the squad."
"Arigatou," Momo replied, bowing her head in thanks.
"We'll leave tomorrow at dawn," said Urahara. "Until then, Hitsugaya-san will need to teach her what she needs to be taught.
"All right, Hinamori-chan," said Toushirou. Everyone had gone upstairs after proper introductions and Unohana had popped downstairs to tell Toushirou that Rangiku was going to be perfectly fine after a night's rest. "I removed the reiatsu-concealing barrier around you and placed one around the whole basement, so I can feel yours and know if you're doing the exercise correctly."
"I'm going to be masking my reiatsu?" asked Momo. Toushirou nodded and Momo's eyebrows furrowed. "What exactly is reiatsu?"
"Basically," started Toushirou, "the more reiatsu you have, the stronger your soul is. You're harder to cut with a zanpakutou, you can use higher level Kido, and your Kido is more powerful."
"Kido is what I used to kill that Hollow, right?" asked Momo.
"Correct," replied Toushirou. "But the higher your reiatsu is, the easier you are to track."
"Which is why I have to work on hiding it," concluded Momo.
"Exactly," said Toushirou. "Now…let's see…you should close your eyes and empty your mind." Momo did as instructed. "Focus on slowing down your breathing and feel for your reiatsu. I can't exactly explain what it feels like. You'll just know when you feel it."
Momo nodded, trying her hardest to do as Toushirou said. But it was harder than she thought. She couldn't even clear her mind. As soon as she banished all thoughts from her head she got the feeling that Toushirou was staring at her. Which he probably was, since they were the only two in the whole basement. Wait, they were all alone? They were all alone and Toushirou was staring at her. Now her cheeks were heating up. She was blushing furiously.
Toushirou watched Momo as she tried to follow his instructions. For some reason she started blushing, her cheeks flaming. And then Toushirou started blushing as he realized why she was blushing. Toushirou cleared his throat uncomfortably and Momo opened her eyes. "Um…Hitsugaya-kun…would you…um?" she practically squeaked.
"Y-yeah…sure," said Toushirou with a dry throat, turning around.
Momo was surprised Toushirou knew what she was asking through her squeaks, but nevertheless closed her eyes, willed her cheeks to stop flaming, and focused on clearing her mind again.
…It was going to be a long night.
A/N: Well, there you go! I hope you enjoyed it!
Don't forget to review! I love reviews!