Chapter 4. Sacrifice
Yeah the whole 'owning Bleach' thing, not workin out so good
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Hitsugaya leaned against his division's building. Hinamori should have been here a few moments ago, but he knew she would be stressed and nervous for her big debut. He would give her a while longer, then if she had not yet shown up, go and look for her.
He watched the snow still steadily falling from the sky and sighed at one of the last snowfalls of the year. He closed his eyes and could have sworn he heard a long, familiar cry, coming from the forest.
Hinamori squeezed her eyes shut, but the fangs never met her throat as she had expected. Instead, when she opened her eyes the white wolf was standing in front of her with it's head raised to the sky. It let out a long, desperate wail, as if to blame the sky for all of its agony. When it lowered its head to her, Hinamori saw worry and distress in its eyes.
What was wrong? Had she done something? No, impossible. She hadn't moved or made a sound. Was it afraid of her? The questions buzzed around in her head like a swarm of insects.
The dogs' cousin gave her one last look of hopelessness, and darted past her. Without a second thought, Hinamori turned and followed it; she knew she had to. It wanted her to follow it, that wolf needed help. It was so unbelievably fast; she had to run at top speed just to keep it in sight.
Finally, the wolf halted at the last place Hinamori wanted to be. They were standing in front of the frozen pond where she had fallen in, the tree branch laid on the side covered by a new frost. Snow still fell; therefore the pond was frozen over again, but not completely. Here and there were cracks and places where the water was still visible. It would definitely crack if any more weight were added to it. The amber-eyed wolf bore its majestic fangs and wailed a long, desperate howl again and looked back at the brown-eyed girl.
But what caught Hinamori's attention was a small figure crumpled on the ice. A tiny white wolf cub was whimpering helplessly, as the ice beneath its body began to break away, bit by bit. And what stood around the pond was a sight the 5th division fukuutaichou never thought of seeing.
A pack of these endangered wolves, young and old stared at her with various colors of gorgeous, hypnotizing eyes. The amber-eyed wolf she had been following was now next to a wolf with dark green eyes. They were mates. The two stared at the girl again, glancing at the pond and back again. Now she understood. They wanted her to rescue the cub. They looked at her expectantly and whimpered as the ice beneath the white dog cracked again.
Hinamori gathered up all of her courage and stepped forward. The wolves in front of her stepped back, but the amber-eyed wolf and her mate stepped to the pond's edge with her. Hinamori tried to measure the distance from the land to the cub. She knew trying to walk across the ice would just make it break faster. The only option was to run fast and get there before the ice broke. But she knew, even if she succeeded in rescuing the cub, she would not make it back.
She stepped to the edge of the frozen water, and stepped onto the deadly thin ice. She ran as fast as her feet would allow, slipping and sliding towards the small animal. She heard the terrible noise of the thin ice cracking behind her, but dared not waste time to look back.
She reached the whimpering wolf and picked it up quickly, panting with the effort. It gave a yelp of surprise and bit her, not knowing if she was an enemy or not. She winced as it's knife-like fangs ripped through her left arm, and its claws tore at her stomach as it kicked. Wincing, she turned as fast as she could and began to run back across the chunks of ice that were still strong enough to hold them. The water drenched her ankles now as the ice fell away.
Then the ice gave in underneath her and as fast as her reflexes allowed she thrust the wolf across at the land and watched as it planted its claws in the snow safely.
Hinamori untied the blue cloth in her hair and threw it onto the ice, in hopes of leaving a clue, before she went under with a scream that was cut short.
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Hitsugaya was now making his way towards her division's building. She was late, very late. Then he heard a noise that made him stop dead in his tracks, a noise he knew all too well. He turned towards the forest where it was coming from and dashed through the trees.
"Hinamori."
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Hinamori was engulfed by fear. The water was so indescribably cold, enough to freeze an icicle ten thousand times over. She couldn't move before she went under, her feet had already gone numb. Now the numbness had spread throughout her body like a disease, causing her lungs to stop working, her long, loose hair drifted around her. She couldn't breathe, but she knew the water had filled her frozen lungs. She was in death. She felt it's horrible stillness, she tasted its emptiness, she smelt its bleakness, heard its eerie silence, and saw its terrible nothingness. As she failed to attempt one last gasp for air, her eyes closed, and a memory of her beloved flashed through her mind. Then all was black, and still.
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Hitsugaya finally arrived at the clearing and stopped. The pack of white wolves was clustered around the lake and some looked out over the water and cried out. Others looked his was and went over to him. The amber-eyed wolf looked at him helplessly then nudged her frightened cub closer to her.
"Teiketsu." He said to the mother of the cub. "What happened?"
He knew it was useless to ask for she did not understand and could not respond, but he needed to know. But she seemed to understand his question and glanced over to the pond. He followed her gaze.
Has one of them fallen in? He shuddered at the thought of one of the last of the species dying in that frozen wasteland.
He had found this surviving pack a few years ago, and given the older ones names. Every Winter he would come to visit them and give the newborns names. Their numbers were steadily increasing. He swore he would not tell anyone about their existence, for he did not know what the Shinigami's reactions would be. He did not even know where the wolves lived when Winter was not the present season. The other three seasons the wolves seemed to disappear, then return with their camouflaging snow.
He walked over to the water's edge and saw large cracks and an open pool near the center of the pond. Then he saw what Teiketsu had wanted him to see. A blue piece of cloth was lying on top if the ice and he remembered the scream he had heard.
"Hinamori…" He quickly reached behind his back, gripping the sheath, and called out one word.
"HYORINMARU!"
He drew his sword as the majestic ice dragon appeared, and obeyed his masters' wish. The mighty creature dove under the water without hesitation.
Some of the white wolves backed away, giving the ruby-eyed creature his space. To them, he was the mightiest creature in all existence, and therefore they acted as his slaves, always letting the dragon do as he wished. If that dragon was loyal to this boy, then he was their God of Winter, he controlled all ice, all water; he controlled their season. The water settled as the dragon disappeared under the frozen ice.
Then a few seconds later, the entire pond flew apart and ice water rained upon the white wolves and the white-haired taichou. Hyorinmaru re-appeared with the figure of a girl placed carefully in his claws. The loyal dragon let out a roar as he landed next to his master. The wolves turned to Hitsugaya and Hyorinmaru, and lowered their bodies in a deep bow of respect.
Hyorinmaru stretched forward and unwrapped his claws as his master gently removed the drenched, bleeding girl from his claws and laid her on the ground, her long, loose, brown hair fell over her shoulders. When the mighty dragon knew his task was completed, he withdrew to his mater's sheath.
"Hinamori!" Hitsugaya cried desperately. "HINAMORI!" He saw the deep wounds on her right arm and stomach; they looked like they had been made by teeth and claws. Then he suddenly understood what had happened.
She must have tried to save on of the wolves and sacrificed herself for it.
The pack of wolves around them slowly crept in closer, their heads bowed in complete respect and mourning. The little cub stepped forward but it's mother pulled it back with a whimper. Hitsugaya laid Hinamori's head on his lap and immediately knew something was wrong. She wasn't breathing.
"No." He whispered.
He grasped her wrist but felt only an indescribable cold; he was cold. He place his hand over her mouth, to feel if she was inhaling or exhaling, but no air went in or left her body. Panic and grief flooded through him. Then he pulled her body up to him and leaned back against a tree behind him. He buried his head in her shihokshou but heard nothing, no breathing, no heartbeat. His left arm around her shoulders and his right arm across her waist, he laid his head next to her neck, nothing.
He sat up, tears filling his aqua eyes. Then he rolled up her left sleeve and saw the bite mark still bleeding. He did the only thing he could and froze her wound to stop the bleeding and did the same for her stomach, he refused to admit she was gone. No, she was alive, she had to be, she could not leave him.
No.
He pulled her limp body to his own and wept. He looked at her frozen face, her closed eyes; he remembered their beautiful color. Her laughter, he remembered her lovely voice. He remembered her warmth, her smile. Then Hitsugaya gasped and opened his damp eyes. He felt the slightest tremble, like a gnat on a leopard. He looked past the tears in his eyes and saw her eyes flutter.
"…Hina…mori…?" He whispered. At the sound of her name, she opened her gorgeous, dark chestnut eyes, and she let out a trembled breath.
"…Shiro…chan."
"Hinamori." He whispered. Tears once again began to flow down his face. "Hinamori!" He pulled her head over his right shoulder and held her in an unbreakable embrace. She gave a weak smile and whispered again,
"Shiro-chan." Then she too began to cry, pure joy and relief. Her breath trembled and she gasped for air as she chocked out her tears. She quivered in his arms and panted as she wept. The wolves raised their heads and called thanks to the sky, happiness and joy in their howls. Hitsugaya did not know how she had woken up, for he had truly and bitterly thought, deep down, that she had been dead. But something, happened. She was given a second chance because of her sacrifice perhaps?
But as she lay crying in his arms, he realized he did not care. She was alive now and he would never loose her again, never.
As they sat there, weeping together, the snow continued to fall, one snowflake for every tear they shed that evening. Every tear, of grief, or hopelessness, of mourning or agony, of joy or faith, of caring or love.
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A/N: Just to clear this up at the beginning of the chapter it says that Histugaya heard a familiar cry when Hinamori first met the wolf. Then it say that the wolf howled but she hadn't made a sound. That familiar cry Hitsugaya had hear was the wolf not Hinamori (cause she hadn't made a sound). It was a familiar cry because he had already known about the wolves, and knew what they sounded like. He didn't even know that Hinamori was in the forest until she screamed when she went underwater. But anyway next chapter is almost finished, I think it sux, but I'll try to make up for it in later chapters. (There are 8. I already wrote the entire story I just need to revise it) Reviews plz: )