Soul Society and the Living World

By: Ryou's 01 Fan

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters in it. This is my first Bleach story.

Italicized words are thoughts.

Note: Ahh…….another note. I have not idea how Hitsugaya calls Rukia, Ichigo, or Ganju. I don't even think that Hitsugaya and Ganju have really met so……..I'll just let Shiro-chan call these three characters by their first names. He calls Renji "Abarai" but sometimes he'll call him "Renji" in my story so that's that. Sorry if it's wrong…if anyone knows…please tell me so I can change it because I have no clue! Also sorry about the action parts. It's hard for me to describe what it looks like.

Chapter 4: What is Hitsugaya-taichou doing here?

Where we last left off...

"Hey Rukia…it was….your lunch was…," Renji started to say but he was cut off by loud roaring. A hollow! The three stared at each other and the two guys stood up.

"Ganju, take care of Ichigo," Rukia told him, "We'll take care of it. It's just one hollow by the sound of it."

"Sure," Ganju said.

"Here," Rukia gave Ganju the paper plate she had been holding, "Give this to Ichigo. He's probably hungry."

"Let's go Rukia," Renji said. They turned and headed out the door.

"I wonder what else is there to eat," Ganju asked out loud to himself, looking down at Ichigo's plate.

Outside…

"Do you know where it is?" Rukia said, running with Renji.

"Yeah….It's at the park we were passing by earlier," Renji said.

"Let's hurry," Rukia told her friend. Both of them picked up their speed and headed towards the park.

Meanwhile...

"Aww…..there's nothing here," Ganju said after he had looked through all the cabinets. Everything he found was empty and the boxes that were not, contained difficult cooking instructions. Ganju had never cooked in his life and he wasn't going to start now.

Well I better take this to Ichigo, he thought to himself.

He went upstairs and opened Ichigo's door. He was sleeping, with his back facing the door.

I guess he didn't hear the hollow, Ganju thought.

Suddenly, Ichigo stirred and turned to look at Ganju.

"Hey Ganju," Ichigo said tiredly. He got up and sat on the bed. His orange hair was messed up and he looked very tired.

"Hey Ichigo!" Ganju responded walking in. "Here it's uh... made it." He handed Ichigo the plate.

"Really?" Ichigo said looking surprised. "I didn't know she could cook." He looked down at his plate.

"She can't…...well it's not that bad," Ganju said.

"I'm starving! Right now I'll eat anything," Ichigo said. He shoved the food in his mouth and ate it quickly in seconds.

"Wow. I've never seen anyone eat that fast!" Ganju laughed.

"Yeah….and you're right about the food. It's not that bad," Ichigo said, putting his plate aside.

"Well you could be the one to tell her that," Ganju said, "Renji and I didn't know what to say."

"Sure. Hey speaking of them, where are they?" Ichigo asked wondering why Ganju had come up to his room alone.

"Oh about that...we heard a hollow just now and they left while I stayed here with ya. Don't worry," Ganju said seeing a look of concern pass Ichigo's face, "They'll take care of it."

"Okay," Ichigo said.

Outside…

Renji and Rukia had finally arrived at the park.

"There it is," Rukia said looking straight ahead. The park was very wide and the hollow was in the center, moving towards the street.

"This will be easy," Renji said running towards the hollow. "Howl Zabimaru!" His zanpakutō immediately changed to its shikai form, with its multiple blades along the edge. He jumped high above the hollow and stretched his soul slayer towards it. The hollow was cut in half and vanished quickly after that.

"See what did I tell you? Let's go Rukia!" Renji said walking towards her. As he got closer to her, he realized that she wasn't really looking at him.

"Hey Rukia! What's wrong?" Renji asked her, standing right in front of her.

"Renji….look...behind you," Rukia said slowly, pointing behind him.

"What?" Renji said confused. He turned around and then he realized what Rukia meant. There were many black holes appearing out of the sky. Out of them, hollows were coming out. There must have been at least ten or more.

"What the…..What's going on?" Renji asked staring at the black holes. Usually, the holes would close after the hollow came out but this time they weren't. That's why more hollows were appearing.

"Let's go," Rukia said in a serious tone, "I'll take the ones on the right."

"Rukia. But your-," Renji started to say but she interrupted him.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine," Rukia told him, knowing what he was going to say. She still hadn't completely recovered all her powers.

"Fine," Renji said. He started running towards the hollows on the left side while Rukia ran in the other direction.

There were just so many for them. After getting rid of some, more would appear. This could go on forever. Renji turned to see how Rukia was doing when he saw a hollow coming toward her. She had her back towards it, fighting another hollow so she didn't see it coming.

"RUKIA! Behind you!" Renji yelled running towards her.

Rukia turned around and saw the hollow, coming straight at her. Suddenly, the air turned very cold and ice started falling from the sky. Hitsugaya appeared from the sky, flying with wings made out of ice. With his zanpakutō, he destroyed both hollows.

Then, a noise like thunder was heard from the sky even though there was not a cloud in sight. The sky flashed a light green and then it turned back to its normal light blue color. All the holes and hollows were gone.

Hitsugaya landed next to Rukia. His wings and tail made completely out of ice disappeared slowly.

"Hitsugaya-taichou!" Renji said surprised. What is he doing here?

"Are you okay?" Hitsugaya asked Rukia.

"Ah yes…Arigato Hitsugaya-taichou," Rukia said looking at the captain. She was as surprised as Renji was. What was he doing here? She had never seen him in the Living World before. Usually, it was Ukitake-taichou or Kyōraku-taichoum who came.

"Hitsugaya-taichou, what happened just now?" Renji asked him. "The hollow holes weren't closing."

"I don't know what just happened. I'm as surprised as you are. When I left, nothing unusual was happening," Hitsugaya said, not looking to happy to be here.

Renji looked confused "Then….why did you come here?

"For you," He said looking straight at Renji with his green eyes. "Kuchiki-san couldn't contact you so he asked me to come. He wants you to return to Soul Society. All the vice-captains were all busy with their paperwork, so that's why I'm here." Also, I was the first person he saw after deciding to ask someone to come here, Hitsugaya thought to himself.

"Oh….Sorry, taichou," Renji said, "Let's go and get Ganju. He and I were going to leave tomorrow morning."

"Well let's go then," Hitsugaya said, "I want to return quickly."

Matsumoto had better not have run away again, he thought.

The three shinigami headed towards Ichigo's house.

At the house…

Ichigo and Ganju were talking about the first time they met when the door to his room opened.

"Hey Renji. Rukia," Ichigo said when he saw them. Then he saw the white-haired shinigami. "Ahh……what's he doing here? You couldn't handle one hollow by yourself Renji?"

Before Renji could reply, the white-haired shinigami said, "It's Hitsugaya-taichou and there wasn't just one hollow. The holes weren't closing, so many hollows appeared."

"What?" Ichigo said looking confused. Ganju did as well.

"Anyways that is not the reason why I'm here," Hitsugaya said. He turned to Renji, "Abarai."

"Oh…hey Ganju, Kuchiki-taichou wants me to return so do you want to leave with us?" Renji asked.

"Sure," Ganju replied standing up. "I'm ready."

"Fine. Let's go," Hitsugaya said turning around.

"Bye Ichigo. Rukia," Renji said turning to follow Hitsugaya.

"See you later Ichigo," Ganju said.

"Bye guys," Ichigo said.

They left the room and went downstairs.

Rukia turned to Ichigo. "Did you take the medicine?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "Thanks again Rukia."

"I'm going to get some water," Rukia said, leaving the room.

Outside…

The three stood outside the house.

"I'll open it," Renji said getting out his zanpakutō. He held it right in front of him, like if it was a key opening a door.

"Unlock," Renji called out. Nothing happened. Usually, the zanpakutō would turn and the Gate would appear.

"Unlock," Renji said again. Nothing happened.

"Here," Hitsugaya said. "Let me try." Renji moved out of the way and this time Hitsugaya tried.

"Unlock," Hitsugaya commanded. Nothing happened.

"What's going on?" Ganju asked.

"The Gate isn't appearing at all," Renji told him.

Hitsugaya took out his cell phone. All captains had recently gotten them so that they could stay in touch with their vice-captains while they were far away. The vice-captains had them also but there were some problems. Some shinigami, like Renji, never had their phones with them and others, like Matsumoto, never picked up.

Hitsugaya called Matsumoto. You better pick up this time, he thought.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

Soul Society- 10th Division Quarters

Ring. Ring. Ring.

Matsumoto's purple phone rang. She had disliked the gray color of her cell phone, so she had her's made in a different color. Everyone else's remained gray. Hitsugaya thought that after she had gotten her phone purple, she would pick up whenever he called. Sadly, that wasn't the case.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

"Aww…I don't want to do all this paperwork, taichou!" Matsumoto said at the ringing phone. She was sitting on Hitsugaya's desk, looking at all the paperwork he had left her to finish. She hadn't even started. Now he probably wants me to do something else as well, she thought.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

She was surprised that the phone rang yet again. Usually, Hitsugaya would know that she wasn't going to pick so he would stop calling.

Matsumoto sighed. She got up from the desk and went over to the couch where her purple phone was.

"Hello?" Matsumoto said on the phone.

"MATSUMOTO!" Hitsugaya yelled into her ear.

"Oww…taichou! You hurt my ears," she responded holding the phone away from her ear.

"Listen, I'm in the Living World right now and the Gate won't appear," He said seriously. "Do you know the reason why?"

"Nope," she said. "I've been here all morning stari…umm I mean doing my paperwork."

"Really?" Hitsugaya responded.

"Um...yes," Matsumoto replied.

"Whatever. Do you really think I'm going to believe that? Get someone to open the Gate. I'm in front of Kurosaki Ichigo's house," Hitsugaya said.

"Okay…but taichou really! I've been here doing it," Matsumoto said defensively. She didn't want him to think that she was here doing nothing, even if she really was doing nothing.

"Fine, fine. When I get there, I better have HALF of that paperwork on my desk completed. It wasn't that much anyways. See you there Matsumoto," Hitsugaya said turning off his phone.

"What! Taichou! I…" Matsumoto yelled at the phone but he had already hung up.

"I'm so dead!" Matsumoto said out loud to herself. She dumped her phone on the couch and went to find someone to open the Gate.

Back to the Living World…

"Someone will open the Gate soon," Hitsugaya told them.

"I wonder what happened," Ganju replied.

"I don't know. Matsumoto doesn't know anything about it either," Hitsugaya said.

"Why did Kuchiki-taichou want me to return?" Renji asked Hitsugaya. He had wanted to stay here a little bit longer.

"He didn't say," Hitsugaya replied. "There's probably more work for you to do."

"Oh," Renji said.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

Hitsugaya's phone rang.

"Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya asked on the phone.

"Yeah, it's me taichou. I have bad news for you," she said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Hitsugaya asked. "Did you tell someone to open the gate?"

"Yeah…..but….here, talk to Ukitake-taichou. He'll tell you what happened," Matsumoto said.

"Hello? Hitsugaya-taichou?" Ukitake's voice suddenly asked.

"I'm here," Hitsugaya said. "What is going on?"

"We can't open the Gate. Something happened earlier that I believe is the reason why it won't appear. I don't know if you were there to see it but some hollows appeared near where you are," Ukitake said.

"Does it have something to do with the holes?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Yes. So you did see it," Ukitake said. "We were trying to close them, here in Soul Society, and something we must have done must have made the Gate close. I don't know how long it will remain like this. Right now, Kyōraku-taichou and I are trying to fix it. By the looks of it, you might have to stay there for the night. I'll call you later when we know more information."

"Sure," Hitsugaya said. He was surprised. How could this happen?

"Hey taichou!" Matsumoto's voice yelled. "Since you are going to stay there, can you bring me something back from there? I've always wanted to go…"

"No," Hitsugaya interrupted her. "You make it sound like I'm going to stay here for days. See you soon, Matsumoto." He turned off his phone.

Soul Society- 10th Division Quarters

"Taichou! Taichou?" Matsumoto said on the phone. "Hmph…..he hung up on me!"

Ukitake-taichou had already left the room. She turned off her phone and dumped it on the couch. She looked at the pile of paperwork on the desk.

"I'm going to take a little break," Matsumoto said to herself. She would come back and finish half of it by tomorrow.

Back to the Living World…

"So what's going on?" Renji asked the captain. He didn't look very happy about something.

"Soul Society was trying to close the hollow holes and in the process, the Gate stopped working. It probably won't be long before they can open it, but we are going to have to stay here for a little longer," Hitsugaya said looking at Ichigo's house.

"Oh well….let's finish that ninja movie we were watching!" Ganju said excitedly.

"Okay," Renji said following him into the house. Hitsugaya followed them.

In the House…

Rukia was heading upstairs with her glass of water when she saw Renji and Ganju enter from the front door.

"Renji, why are you guys still here?" Rukia asked.

"While Soul Society was trying to close those hollow holes, something happened to the Gate so we're going to stay here for awhile until they fix it," he said hurriedly. He turned and headed into the living room.

"We are going to watch that movie again," Ganju said following Renji.

"Okay," Rukia said. Hitsugaya appeared at the front door.

"Is it bad?" Rukia asked him.

"I'm still not sure. Kyōraku-taichou and Ukitake-taichou are trying to fix it," Hitsugaya responded. "Where's Kurosaki's room?"

"I'll show you," Rukia said heading up the stairs. Hitsugaya followed.

Minutes later in Ichigo's room…

"So that's what happened," Ichigo said. He was sitting on his bed. Rukia was sitting on the floor and Hitsugaya was standing near his bed. "It won't take long right? To fix the Gate?"

"Probably not. We'll be leaving soon," Hitsugaya replied.

"That's good. Not to sound rude or anything, but my dad is going to come home tomorrow," Ichigo said looking at the captain. Hitsugaya didn't say anything.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

Hitsugaya's phone rang. Ichigo looked surprised when the captain pulled out a gray cell phone. Hitsugaya ignored the look and answered the phone.

"Hitsugaya-taichou?" Ukitake's voice suddenly spoke.

"Ah…is it fixed now?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Well...

To Be Continued...


Ahahahahahah! Me so happy! FINALLY I did it! This was the longest chapter so far. About 9 pages. Thanks Sango Hikari for the advice I didn't know how long they should be so I just stuck with 5 but now I'll make them longer. I have so many ideas. One especially that makes me laugh just thinking about it. Me so happy right now, the latest Bleach episode I saw was 92 and oh...someone's jealous of Rukia! Ahahahaha! Anyways please comment!