The first thing he did was pick up the cat.

It was automatic. How many times had he done this? Swept some defenseless and unassuming creature off its feet and hauled it out of the way? More than he wanted to think about. The cat was still howling, a sound of pure unholy godlessness as Hitsugaya scooped it up with a hand under its belly and leapt.

The hand crashed down onto the dirt where he'd been standing, kicking up a cloud of dust in its wake. Hitsugaya tumbled as best as he could without squishing the cat. He straightened up and looked as the rest of the Hollow rolled out of the Garganta and onto the ground.

It was small. Comparatively speaking. If it were a Menos, that would have been worrisome, as the scale worked backwards in that sense—the smaller, the stronger. But this was your run-of-the-mill Hollow, and it stood at roughly twice Hitsugaya's current height. It looked like a weird combination of a frog and a spider: it stood on all fours, with thin, spindly limbs and an almost hilariously tiny head. It had no eyes, only a black hole of a mouth, out of which a shriek pierced the air and made the branches tremble.

"Get out of here," Hitsugaya said, and nearly threw the cat into a nearby bush in his haste. He pulled his Gikongan out of his pocket, and flicked the cap open to catch the pill that came shooting out with his mouth.

"Sit upon the—"

The Hollow's head jerked in his direction, and clambered toward him, legs moving with uncomely precision.

Shit, he's fast! Hitsugaya leapt into the air, and noticed, belatedly, what he should have seen at once: a back covered in jelly-like quills, which had been flattened to his spine. They bristled now and shot up like a storm of spikes into the air. Three grabbed him—two around the wrists, one around the ankle—and flung him back into the dirt. The impact hit his shoulder and left arm the hardest, sharp pain shooting up his entire left side.

It's not letting go, Hitsugaya realized, and tried to reach for his sword. The Hollow sensed his movement, and jerked his wrists away from his waist in response. Hitsugaya could feel himself being dragged through the dirt, and his mind raced for the first usable Kido he could yell.

Just then, there was another familiar-sounding scream, and a tiny whirlwind of black and white and orange suddenly flew into the Hollow's head. There were no eyes to scratch out, but the cat did a fair job of clawing its mask enough to irritate it. The quills loosened around Hitsugaya's limbs—briefly, but just long enough.

"Bakudō Number 21! Sekeinton!"

An explosion of red smoke engulfed him, and Hitsugaya slipped from his restraints at once, leaping backwards to avoid being caught again. He unsheathed his sword. "Sit upon the frozen heavens! Hyorinmaru!"

The smoke was beginning to clear, giving him precious little time for an ambush. Hitsugaya sincerely hoped the cat was still not on that Hollow's face.

With a yell, Hitsugaya shot forward, emerging from the smoke like a bullet and thrusting his arm forward, the blade connecting with the Hollow's face and sinking in between two of its teeth. The Hollow stilled at once, and ice began to form where Hyorinmaru was buried, slowly growing outwards. With a grunt, Hitsugaya pulled out his sword, and the Hollow disintegrated at once, particles of ice and black matter dissolving into the air.

Hitsugaya tried to regain his composure, but he could feel his hand shaking. "Shit," he breathed, sheathing his sword. Shit. Shit. The Hollow had gotten up on him too easily. He hadn't even sensed the quills on his back until he'd been hovering right over them. It was almost as if his body was out of tune with his reflexes, which was ludicrous, because maturing was supposed to make things easier. He wasn't supposed to be fumbling like some kind of human teenager, trying to grow into his new limbs. How could he let such a weak Hollow get the best of him like that?

Hitsugaya spotted something out of the corner of his eye then, and bent down at once. The cat uttered no protest as it was hauled up by the scruff of its neck, raised until the two of them were eye-level with each other. Miraculously, not only was it unharmed, but it didn't even look like it was fazed anymore. It was as if it had not just taken on an otherworldly creature with nothing but its tiny paws.

"And then there's you," Hitsugaya said, glaring.

The cat flicked its ear but said nothing.

"You knew this place was dangerous, didn't you? You can see the Garganta. You can see Hollows. But you're here anyway. Only a dumb animal would do that." He brought the cat a little closer, eyes narrowing even further. "What are you, really?"

"Meow."

"Tch. Typical." Hitsugaya lowered him down again. The cat circled his ankle tightly and began to purr, happily oblivious to its companion's suspicion.

"Whatever it is," Hitsugaya muttered, "it's no good to me. I'd better find out what you are quickly, before you really get in my way."

"Meow."

-.-.-.-.-

"So," Urahara suppressed a burp into his hand, "if I understand you correctly, you suspect that this cat is either not a cat, or otherwise some sort of hypersensitive spiritual cat that someone may have tampered with."

Hitsugaya stared. "Are you still drunk?"

"Well, I may have been, but I can feel it wearing off now," Urahara replied, his tone as upbeat as ever, but his tired face and dark circles told an entirely different story.

"Why the hell would you let Matsumoto talk you into drinking with her?"

"Well, originally, she'd asked Isshin-san to get a drink with her—"

"Kurosaki too?!"

"Of course! A former captain and his lieutenant? I'm sure they had a lot of catching up to do. In any case, she said to me it only seemed fair to invite me as well, because I was hosting the two of you for an inconclusive period of time. Not that she actually bought anything, as far as I recall…"

From the other room, Matsumoto snorted loudly in her sleep, then rolled over and remained utterly dead to the world.

"I'm going to ban her from my sight," Hitsugaya muttered.

"But that's enough about me." Urahara leaned forward a bit and began scratching his chin, thoughtfully staring at the cat, who was sitting on the table between them. It looked back at Urahara calmly, not at all bothered with being the center of attention, tail swishing a little as it remained still. Hitsugaya had had ample opportunities to see the cat around, but for the first time now he studied it carefully.

Finally, Urahara leaned back. "I'm surprised with you, Captain Hitsugaya. I don't sense even a pin drop of spiritual pressure."

"What? But—"

"Of course, if you think something is amiss, I am in no position to say that you're wrong. But, it would be a great favour to me if no harm befell the little one. Ururu has taken quite the liking to her. You understand."

"…I suppose," Hitsugaya said flatly, glancing at the cat. Urahara wasn't wrong; there was no spiritual pressure coming from the cat, nothing to suggest its level of knowledge. But he couldn't shake off the feeling that there was just…something.

"Truthfully, if you ask me…" Urahara suddenly beamed. "I just think she's an exceptionally intelligent cat!"

Hitsugaya blinked. "What?"

"Look, watch this!" Urahara began to rummage inside of his right sleeve, and pulled out a squat, disk-shaped metal object, on which there was a bright red logo and a picture of a white cat face drawn on it. Kittens Feast Gravy Lovers, it said. Urahara placed it on the table before the cat, right in front of its paws.

For a brief moment, the cat stared at it, and a thought started to form in Hitsugaya's head, probably one of the dimmer ones in his career: Don't tell me the cat knows how to tear through metal. Then, with utterly ridiculous strength, the cat whipped its right paw out and smacked the can straight off the table, sending it flying into the wall nearby. The ensuring crash made it surprising that a dent did not remain in the fading wood. The cat glared at Urahara then, not quite hissing, but it scrunched its face up and made a displeased noise.

"You see?" Urahara said, eyes glistening. "She knows when she's being fed cheap canned food. She'll never accept anything less than human food."

"Oi, your tears are starting to fall."

"Cats aren't foolish," Tsukabishi said, stepping in from the kitchen, the rice cooker cradled in one beefy arm and a small plate of slivered chicken in the other. "Even a creature such as this understands that there is food, and there is unnatural garbage. My Princess was very picky with her food as well."

"She can do other things too," Urahara said, raising one hand to list them off. "She can unravel a ball of yarn instead of tearing it apart, she knows how to high-five—"

"Jinta tried to stick his finger in her mouth once while she was yawning," Tsukabishi said. "So she shoved her whole paw in his mouth."

"Okay, I get it," Hitsugaya sighed.

The cat just made little smacking and chewing sounds as it ate, oblivious to the world once again. Hitsugaya could only watch, unsatisfied.

"Don't let her cause you too much trouble, Captain Hitsugaya. Although, if you do find she's trailing you too much, I'll try not to let her out when you're busy."

"It's fine," Hitsugaya said. "You're probably right. Just let her be. Is there any way we can block off these holes somehow? While we're investigating?"

Urahara thought this over. "I can try. I'll start with 39 and work my way up. But, in any case, it's good to see that you're not hurt. Things would be a lot more difficult without the esteemed Captain up and about."

"Things are difficult enough already," Hitsugaya said darkly. "Seems I'm not used to this body yet."

"You've gone close to two hundred years in your usual one. That doesn't surprise me. Give it a few more days and you'll grow right into it. Did you need anything else in the meantime?"

"Yeah. Someone get Matsumoto off of my damn futon."

-.-.-.-.-

"Man, what the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Heita said, holding up the giant Moomin doll in his arms with a scowl. "If I had known this was the grand prize I would've thought twice about coughing up 100 yen. I thought they would've given me a drone or something."

"Nobody's going to be giving away a drone in a 100 yen lottery," Kei snorted. "Give it to your sister. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

"Yeah, and what has my sister ever done for me to deserve a Moomin doll?"

"Sorry, what are we doing again?" Hitsugaya deadpanned.

It had been two weeks. Two weeks since Hitsugaya arrived in Karakura. To say things had been quiet was an understatement. His original leave of absence was only meant to be two weeks, but he'd extended it twice now. The Garganta showed no signs of closing, nor were they spitting out any more Hollows than they already were. Kido had proven ineffective in keeping the holes blocked—no one could keep a spell going for that long. At Kyōraku's advice, Urahara had taken "samples" (what those entailed or how he got them, Hitsugaya didn't want to know) and sent them to Kurotsuchi for testing. Until they got results back, Hitsugaya had nothing to do but sit and wait.

But that was only figuratively speaking.

Karin's friends had succeeded in roping him in to any and all activities they did outside of school, ranging to club practice to tournament games to strolling downtown. Which was what they were doing today. Heita was looking for something called "action figures," which meant essentially nothing to Hitsugaya, but somehow he was still trailing them all the same.

"I look like an idiot carrying this," Heita said.

"I think it's cute," Kazuya offered. "Who knows. Maybe some girls like a guy who carries stuffed toys."

"Maybe, but that guy sure ain't me." Heita sighed. "Well, I think I give up. I don't think any of the stores are carrying the Accelerate GN-X yet. Probably have to wait another few days. Did you guys want to do anything else?"

"Heita, you know we have a physics test tomorrow, right?"

"…So, the library?"

"You, in a library? I think not," Eiji said. "Last time the rest of us were actually working and you wouldn't shut up."

"We were cramming, and I'd had three coffees, if you recall."

"I think I'm with Eiji on this one," Kei said. "I study better on my own anyway. See you later, guys."

"Wait! You all can't bail now! Someone has to tutor me!" Heita said in a panic, and threw his arms around Eiji's bicep. "Eiji-kun~"

"Ew, gross. Don't ever say my name like that again." Eiji sighed. "Where's Karin when you need her?"

"Stop. Don't invoke her name. She always hits me when I don't get something right."

"Has anyone tried texting her yet?" Kazuya asked.

"Yeah, actually. I did."

Everyone turned to Heita in shock. "You have? Did she respond?" Kazuya said.

"Surprisingly, yes. But her answer was weirdly…weird."

"What do you mean?" Eiji pressed, as Heita pulled out his flip phone. They all huddled in close, trying to get a look.

"Well, I texted her two days ago, saying like 'Hey, you're missing a lot of school, are you doing okay', and then she sends me this."

It was a little embarrassing to look so absorbed in a single text message from a girl, but curiosity got the best of Hitsugaya, and he leaned forward to peer over Kazuya's shoulder. Luckily the print wasn't too small, and he made out the words:

I'm okay! Thanks for checking up on me, Heita-kun! I appreciate it wwww I'll be back soon so don't worry about me~

Hitsugaya looked up, and to his surprise, all four boys were staring at Heita's phone, identical disturbed expressions on their faces.

"Something's wrong," Kazuya said.

"What? What do you mean?" Hitsugaya demanded. "What's wrong with her?"

"Creepy," Heita said, his face twisted in disgust. "It's so creepy. She called me Heita-kun. Have you ever, in all the years we've known her, heard her call me anything except 'Heita'?"

"What? Of course she has," Eiji said, looking up. "She calls you 'moron'."

"Shut the fuck up, Eiji."

"I don't understand," Hitsugaya said. "Did she write something strange?"

"Yes," Heita deadpanned. "The whole message is strange. She never texts like this, dude. You'd think someone kidnapped her and then used her phone to keep us from getting suspicious. It's so…nice."

"Don't you text her, Hitsugaya-kun?" Kazuya asked. "I thought you guys kept in touch."

"Uh, well…Normally we call," Hitsugaya stammered.

"Cute. Well, it's definitely weird, is what we're trying to say. To be honest I was too creeped out to text her back," Heita said, shuddering. "Even keeping this message on my phone gives me the heebie-jeebies."

"Well, you can always ask her when she gets back. I'm sure she's just tired and delirious from whatever it is she's up to," Kei said. "Anyways, I really should get going. I'll catch you guys tomorrow."

"Good luck studying. Bye, Hitsugaya-kun," Kazuya said, veering off as well with a wave.

Eiji sighed. "Alright, Heita. Let's go."

"Yes! You're a life saver, dude!" Heita exclaimed, slinging an arm around Eiji's shoulders. "See you, Tōshirō!"

"Yeah," Hitsugaya said, noticing Eiji's defeated shoulders as Heita babbled excitedly in his ear. Poor guy.

Hitsugaya glanced at his watch. 5:46. Tsukabishi would be serving dinner soon; they were having curry tonight. He looked around, uncertain at first which way to start walking, so he decided to just walk back where he'd come from. He'd probably recognize his surroundings eventually.

In some ways Karakura Town seemed a lot smaller than it actually was. Sometimes, it felt like all there was to walk through was neighbourhoods and residential areas. But then there was this, all of these tall shining buildings and bright flashing lights, the sidewalks crowded with people each trying to go their own way. The shops had displays in their windows for items whose purposes Hitsugaya couldn't fathom, some with eerie-looking white dolls that had no faces. A couple linking arms walked by, their heads close together and laughing. It was an odd moment; it suddenly made him remember that there was millions of people here, all living lives of their own. What a strange Earth this was.

Somebody bumped Hitsugaya's shoulder, shaking him out of his thoughts. He heard a quick "sorry" behind him, but by the time he glanced over his shoulder, the other person was already several feet away. The man was wearing a grey suit and carrying a briefcase, the heels of his leather shoes clicking against the pavement. Hitsugaya made out a head of thick black hair, neatly combed in the direction of his crown whorl, and then nothing. The crowd swallowed him whole. Hitsugaya gave up and continued on his way again.

His cellphone began to ring. Hitsugaya dug it out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Yeah?"

"Hello! It's Matsumoto. Are you still at club activities, Captain?"

"No, I've just finished. I'll be back in twenty minutes."

"Yes, yes," Matsumoto drawled. "Take your time, Captain. It's not like I'm rotting away of loneliness here while you play with your friends."

"I'm not playing," Hitsugaya snapped, but he could feel his cheeks burning with shame, because, really, that was sort of what he had been doing. "And they're not my friends. Look, I'll be there soon. And by the way, if you're really that bored then why don't you help with investigating instead of lazing around all da—"

He felt it.

It was as if an earthquake had struck and something was separating the very fibres of his body at the same time. The world around him suddenly shot out of focus, and Hitsugaya's knees buckled, nearly causing him to fall to the ground. There was an earthquake, he realized; around him everyone was screaming and stumbling over, the glass of the shop windows shattering from the impact. His brain felt like it was being pulled apart, and he clutched his head in pain, finally succumbing and falling to his knees.

"Captain!" Matsumoto's panicked scream, rigid with terror; his phone was still clutched in his hand. Hitsugaya knew, beyond doubt, that Matsumoto could feel it too. On the other end of the line, someone was crying in the background.

"Captain! Where are you?!"

"I'm here," Hitsugaya gasped, his vision slowly coming together again. "Are you okay?"

"I—I think so—Captain, what's—"

A roar rumbled through the air, nearly loud enough to get the ground shaking again. His phone beeped at the same time, and when Hitsugaya looked down he saw that his tracking map was open, a cluster of red dots suddenly appearing and blinking furiously at him.

A Garganta.

"Fuck," Hitsugaya hissed. "Matsumoto. Another one's just opened up."

"I-I see it—Captain, I don't know where Urahara is, Urara and Jinta are—"

"It's fine. Make sure they're safe first and then get over here. I'll hold the Hollows off."

"Captain, wait!"

Hitsugaya didn't have time to wait. Another roar grated against his ears, and he clambered to his feet, pushing past the hoards of people running away and fear and bolting straight towards the noise.

The Garganta had opened in the middle of the downtown square, not five minutes away from where Hitsugaya had been. It hung, a nightmarish portal about thirty feet off the ground, and already three Hollows had passed through and were sniffing the air from the ground beneath it. Most of the civilians had fled, and the square was abandoned, leaving only Hitsugaya and the danger ahead of him.

Leave it to Urahara to disappear at the most convenient moment, Hitsugaya thought, gritting his teeth. I'll have to keep them contained to this area until back up comes.

He reached into his pocket.

For a moment, Hitsugaya thought he was still delirious from the effects of the Garganta opening earlier. His hand dug around, reaching again and again and finding nothing but the cotton folds of his own trousers. Alarmed, he started reaching into all of his pockets, turning them inside out in his haste, allowing his cellphone and other belongings to clatter to the ground. Nothing. It wasn't there.

His Gikon dispenser was gone.

Hitsugaya's mind reeled. For a brief moment he tried to remember, tried to work back and trace his day from the beginning—pocket before school, locker during gym class, pocket again before lunch, backpack during soccer, cellphone, money, shopping, walking—

The man.

The man in the suit.

"Found you," something trilled, and Hitsugaya snapped out of it to see a Hollow advancing on him, running on all fours and pushing off the ground with its massive forearms. Hitsugaya leapt out of the way, landing on top of somebody's abandoned car as the Hollow skidded past him. It planted its hind legs into the ground to stop itself, and turned sharply to face Hitsugaya again.

"You're not running," the Hollow said, a large tongue sticking out to hang from between its oversized teeth. "You smell very good, too. Why?"

Hitsugaya straightened his back, fists clenched at his sides. The other two Hollow began to approach but didn't say anything, flattening themselves close to the ground and prowling forward like lions. The three of them would have him surrounded soon enough.

"I'm a Shinigami," Hitsugaya said.

In his peripheral vision, Hitsugaya saw something dart along the sidewalk, a small object that disappeared inside one of the abandoned clothing stores nearby. He glanced over briefly but saw nothing.

"Shinigami?" The first Hollow tilted its head. "No sword?"

Hitsugaya's jaw tightened. "I don't need it."

The Hollow laughed, a slow, reverberating sound that took its time. "No. Shinigami doesn't need a sword to be eaten."

To Hitsugaya's right, one of the speechless Hollows jumped.

"Hadō Number 4! Byakurai!" Hitsugaya said, thrusting his hand out palm-down and pointing his index and middle finger out.

A burst of pale blue lightning shot out from his fingertips. It was small—much smaller than it should have been, to his chagrin. Without his Gikon he was trapped inside of his human body, and his powers were severely capped.

Still, it did what he needed. The lightning struck the Hollow mid-flight and sent it into a crash collision instead. The Hollow shrieked as it fell to the ground, and when the smoke cleared, there was a large charred area covering its right side. It tried to stand, and crumpled, unable to fully lift itself.

"Bakudō Number 9! Geki!" Hitsugaya said, whipping around and drawing the symbols in the air just as the second Hollow tried to race towards him.

A veil of red energy covered the Hollow, but Hitsugaya had been a beat too late—the force of its run still propelled it forward, even as it froze mid-step, and sent it crashing into the car beneath Hitsugaya's feet. The car was promptly knocked out from under him, and Hitsugaya lost his footing, falling sideways off of the car and landing hard on the pavement.

A large, oversized hand suddenly stomped down on Hitsugaya's chest. The force of it knocked the breath straight out of his body, and for a moment Hitsugaya couldn't breathe; the sheer weight of the Hollow's grip was crushing him, preventing him from being able to expand his lungs. He clawed at the hand pinning him down, choking, as the Hollow's face leaned in until it was hovering inches away.

"Small," the Hollow observed, as Hitsugaya struggled to breathe. "Not so tough. Next time, Shinigami might need sword."

And then, from behind where Hitsugaya lay, there was a burst of reiatsu.


Author's Notes

so I just...realized that I refer to almost everyone except urahara and toshiro by their first name dONT ASK I DONT KNOW WHY

special thanks to TheSmilingFallenAngel for writing this story's first review god bless your soul