Frozen
~So Close ~
After racing through the many halls of the castle, Mizuki found her way to her room once more. As always, she was going to lock herself away from the world, but stopped herself abruptly before opening the door.
Staring at it, and removing her hand from the handle, she backed away two feet from it.
This is what it must've looked like for thirteen years: a closed door; locked, yearning to be opened. Her crystal blue irises softened a little.
Funny; just an hour ago she was intimidated by the thing and now, she actually feels pity for the inanimate object.
After finally seeing her home again after so long, she almost didn't want to box herself in anymore. For once she felt free, but at the same time, a hostage in her own home.
She didn't want to, but she had to. She had to keep everyone safe from her. She was a monster. Everyone would hate her if they found out.
"The door will never open if you continue to stare at it."
Perturbed, Mizuki gasped and spun around quickly; a little too quickly perhaps as she slightly lost her footing and stumbled upon the door with her back.
Her icy orbs came in contact with turquoise ones.
It was the captain . . . what was his name again? Hitsugaya . . .? Yeah, that sounds right.
Outré, he's rather short to be a captain; has much too youthful of a face; he couldn't possibly be one; he's much too young. Of course, that's probably the pot calling the kettle black. After all, she's not that tall either and she's to be dubbed head of the Osaka Clan in two months. Talk about ironic.
He was leaning against one of the walls, arms crossed in the oversized sleeves of his shihakusho, staring intently at the girl before him—his left eye almost omitted by his white bangs.
"What do you want?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes and straightening her posture—albeit quivering with fear inside.
And though she hid her fright well, the captain before her—as strong as they were—could see the fear in her eyes; hear her shaky breath.
Teal eyes narrowed. Was it he himself who scared her—that, honestly, wouldn't be a surprise—or was she shaken from his sneaking up on her? He couldn't tell for sure. But something told him, it wasn't either of the two.
He inhaled sharply through his nose to say something, but someone beat him to it.
"There you are!"
Hitsugaya exhaled a long sigh and looked to his left—his intent gaze becoming a rather irked one as his busty lieutenant made her way towards him.
"What is it now Matsumoto?" he asked in a deadpan voice, pushing himself off the wall and standing in an authoritative manner.
"You completely walked away from me without warning! I have been searching all over the place trying to find you!" complained the strawberry blonde.
"Well, seeing as how it didn't take you that long to find me," the captain said suppressing the urge to roll his eyes at her exaggeration, "I'm sure you didn't 'search all over the place'."
"How do you know?" she tried. "Maybe I did."
"Because it hasn't even been five minutes since I left you," he stated.
The strawberry blonde pouted and crossed her arms under her chest as she went to say something about being cold hearted and never having fun.
Mizuki stood there watching the two of them bicker, wondering how they could be partners if all they did was fight. Just then, she turned her head towards the door. Her eyes widened and she stepped slightly to her left before looking back.
Hitsugaya sighed and returned his gaze back the platinum blonde whose icy eyes were full of fright—more than just a second ago.
'What is it she's so afraid of?' he wondered narrowing his eyes again to try and study her.
She flinched under his gaze and pressed her back against the door, groping it to find the handle for her fingers to latch onto. Shakily, she said, "P-please. Stay, stay away from me."
"Why? We won't hurt you," the busty woman said exuberantly. "Captain may look and act like a Neanderthal, but he really has such a kind heart!"
"Matsumoto," Hitsugaya growled; the temperature threatened to drop to 273 degrees Kelvin.
"Oh come on Captain! It's true!" she exclaimed earning another growl of her name from his lips, although it sounded like he was on the verge of yelling it.
Finally wrapping her gloved fingers around the handle of the shoji door, Mizuki slid it open and pleaded again, "Just, please, stay away."
And without another word, she entered her room, closing the door after her and locking it.
Hitsugaya's already intense stare grew even more potent as he tried yet failed to comprehend what this young noble was so afraid of. Why she implored they stay away from her. Why she wore gloves when it wasn't even cold out.
"Captain," the lieutenant said; she knew something was up.
Hitsugaya frowned at the door, then turned and walked away, leaving his lieutenant to look at him skeptically.
Already dozens of questions were swarming in his mind, and he's only been here for a little over an hour. Just how many secrets are hidden in the walls of this castle?
~:~
Mizuki stood in front of her door with her hands on it; her breath coming out in quivering puffs of condensation as the air around her began to cool.
That was close . . . too close perhaps.
When she was wondering how the captain and lieutenant got along, frost began forming on the door. Had she stayed out any longer, the entire door would've been encased with ice and they would've known.
She can't let them know. She can't let anyone know.
Mizuki grit her teeth and shut her eyes tight.
Why did her mother bring them here? What use would they be to this family? They'd only get in the way and end up dying. No one can balk Kurage; no one.
A cracking sound brought Mizuki out of her thoughts. She opened her eyes and saw a thick layer of frost slowly covering the door from under her gloved hands. Then suddenly:
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The blonde whimpered slightly as she pushed herself off the door, causing the frost to spread quickly, but stop short.
"Mizuki-chan?" the voice asked; it sounded like Matsumoto's. What could she possibly want?
"G-go away!" Mizuki pleaded as she back away from the door, oblivious to the ice manifesting under feet.
"No. Look, Captain and I are just here to help alright?" Matsumoto said softly. "We're not here to hurt you."
"But I might hurt you!" Mizuki yelled to the woman through her mind—though she knew she couldn't hear.
"Understand that whatever it is that's bothering you, you can talk to me about it okay?" Matsumoto said.
"N-no," the noble stuttered. "I, I can't. Go away, please."
"I'm not going to hurt you," the lieutenant said, then pouted, "Ya know, you're beginning to act a lot like my captain: cold hearted, pushing everyone away. No one wants to be alone. Just tell me what's wrong and—"
"I said GO AWAY!" Mizuki screeched, interrupting the lieutenant who flinched and backed away.
Her cyan eyes stared wide at the door for a few seconds before frowning. Wondering what was wrong, but not daring to ask, Matsumoto did as the noble said and walked away.
Mizuki stood in her room; eyes shut tight, hands balled into tight fists, shoulders clenched. Damn was that woman persistent! Why wouldn't she leave her be? Why was she trying to pry her open?
This whole thing with these two here will only cause chaos. If they found out about her secret, for sure they would leave and call her a freak. It's only logical that they would.
Yes they're here to protect her, but who'll protect them from her? She'll only end up hurting them; she doesn't want to harm anyone else.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, Mizuki relaxed her shoulders and hands and slowly opened her eyes, only to gasp sharply at what she saw.
An enormous snowflake made of crystalized ice had manifested from under her feet and was covering the entire floor. Clusters of ice shards were growing from the corners in the ceiling and frost flowers were growing in the windows.
Her gasp was released into a shaky sigh. No matter what she does, her powers continue to find a way to be emitted from her body and cause ice to form wherever she went.
She rubbed her arms as she walked to her bed and sat down on the mattress, then stared at her gloved hands.
What was she going to do? If her powers continue to grow more and more omnipotent, sooner or later, the entire Seireitei will know about her—no doubt through those two.
And these gloves; they're not doing much for her anymore. She wears them, yet her magic still seeps through. They won't be of much use to her soon . . .
No. Snap out of it, she told herself, shaking her head. The longer she keeps ruminating like this, getting all depressed and crestfallen, the more her powers would show.
It wasn't the gloves that were the problem it was her. The gloves do their job—they inhibit her powers just enough so that no one knows.
She can't let them know.
But how? What will she do to prevent them of getting suspicious of her—as if they already weren't.
She looked up when suddenly, an idea popped in her head . . . she'll run away; tonight, after everyone's asleep. They'll be safe that way and no longer have to worry about her. She's nothing but a burden to this family and household; if she stays longer, it'll only get worse.
~:~
Hitsugaya stood on the roof of the castle, early in the afternoon, overlooking everything.
Wind danced with his hair and clothes as he spotted the Seireitei. It seemed so close, yet so far, as well as many of the districts. The walls which surrounded the castle had a few Zen gardens, ponds, pagodas, and many rare trees. It was an amazing sight, but everything looked slightly run-down—as if people tended to them, but not as often as they should.
His arms were folded over his chest and he thought deeply about this family; asking himself all these questions that he couldn't figure out the answers to . . . everything about this castle and the people who reside in it are just an utter enigma.
The one thing that's bugging him the most is when he overheard the Osaka heir say: "'look at what happened the last time you tried to protect me.'"
What does she mean by that? What happened when her mother tried to protect her? Obviously something that wasn't to their liking, but what?
He narrowed his eyes when suddenly, his vision went dark and he felt his head being squished between something soft.
"Guess who!" a joyous voice said.
"Quit it Matsumoto," he growled, a vein mark appearing on his forehead.
He heard her gasp, "How'd you know it was me?"
Scoffing, he removed her hands from his eyes as he stepped forward to get his head away her cleavage, then spun around to face her.
"Because you've done it to me before and anyone would be able to guess it was you," he retorted, crossing his arms again.
"Oh c'mon! Can't you just ever play along?" she said, "You look so plagued; I was only trying to lighten the mood!"
She held her hands behind her and leaned back; lips pursed.
Quickly changing the subject, the captain asked, "Did you find anything out about her?"
Matsumoto then stood straight and her tone became serious. "No," she said. "She pushed me away and yelled at me to leave. She sounded . . . pleading, like she thought I would hurt her."
Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes in frustration, then turned his back toward her.
"Captain—"
"Rally up some of their guards," he ordered, "I'm going on a search in half an hour and I want you to stay here and guard the castle should anything happen here while I'm gone."
Hesitantly, the lieutenant concurred, "Yes, sir." But before she could shunpo from the roof, her captain added:
"And Matsumoto," he said perilously, turning so his fierce gaze met her eyes. "Do not let your guard down," he exhorted.
Nodding, the busty lieutenant vanished from the roof, leaving Hitsugaya to contemplate.
'Until this Kurage woman is killed, I won't be able to receive any answers from the mother, her daughter, or any of the servants here,' he concluded.
Removing his eyes from where his lieutenant stood, Hitsugaya eyed the mountains that weren't too far from the castle as what it seemed—must be some sort of illusion. He exhaled through his nose and shunpo'd from the roof.
~:~
It was late in the evening by the time Hitsugaya and the search party he led returned to the castle.
They hadn't really found anything, other than some hollows in an area in the mountains the young captain thought was suspicious.
He had ordered the group to split up to search in different areas and one of them was attacked by a miniscule, yet powerful hollow—potent enough to the point where Hitsugaya had to release his zanpaku-to to vanquish the spiritual monster.
What furthered his suspicions was the way the hollow was built—it seemed so . . . unnatural. Its skin acted like an iron plate that was virtually indestructible, no hole was spotted anywhere on its body, and its mask wasn't made of bone—something he can't describe as being real.
It looked like it was there to guard something.
And it wasn't just that one; about five more appeared not ten seconds after the first one was killed. They tried extirpating them, but the hollows were impregnable and proved too much for the captain and group.
As much as he abhorred it, Hitsugaya had to retreat in order to keep the royal shinigami guards from being killed by those unreal hollows.
'They had to have been created by something,' the captain thought, 'or someone.'
Call him crazy, but another thing that seemed peculiar—they were emitting no spiritual energy . . . at all. Not even an ounce.
He wasn't even sure if he should call them hollows, but they had many similar qualities one would have—albeit many differences. Scratch that; they weren't similar to hollows at all.
Hitsugaya and the group had returned with many injuries—none life threatening, but enough to be concerned about.
All of them had lacerations—deep and shallow, bruised bones, either small or spiral fractures, and few to little burn marks.
It was safe to say they looked devitalized. They had been out for hours, fighting off unnaturally created hollows, only to be overpowered and have to retreat; finding no evidence of Kurage's whereabouts.
But these unnatural hollows could be a vital clue that the sorceress could still be alive.
~:~
After bathing and having his injuries checked and healed (for the most part), Hitsugaya was in the room he was told he'd be staying in, about ready to pass out and call it a day.
His torso, right forearm, and left bicep were wrapped in cloth bandages; as well as his right calf. He felt sore all over as he sat on the comfy mattress of the bed—he'd probably feel better in the morning after having a nice long rest.
'Why is it that the other times they had been sent in groups to find Kurage, they hadn't run into those "hollows"?' Hitsugaya pondered. He'll have to look further into that and ask about it tomorrow.
He was about to lie down when he heard something like quick footsteps outside the door.
Getting up, he walked over and opened it. He looked left and saw nothing but an ajar shoji door—wait a minute, that's the nobles' room. A faint creak echoed down the hall and when he looked right, he saw a purple cloth round the corner of a wall.
Slightly alarmed, Hitsugaya walked quick and swift to the slightly ajar door and opened it. He stepped inside and saw no sign of the noble heir, then quickly realized that that was her who rounded the corner of the hallway.
Curious—but mostly leery—as to what she was doing, Hitsugaya followed her.
~:~
She stood just before the large doors to enter the castle—an amethyst cloak obscuring her from head to toe.
This will be the very first time she has ever gone outside the castle.
Looking back to make sure no one was trailing her, she opened the door and walked out into the cool night.
As she made her way to the gate—being sure to stay hidden from the guards on night duty—her icy eyes wandered up into the cloudless midnight sky where the stars glittered and crescent moon shined. Never has she been under the stars like this; always behind a glass window bound by a wall on all four sides.
She felt so tranquil at the moment, forgetting about everything that's happened thus far.
Even though it was dark, under the moonlight, she could see how beautiful the gardens were, the ponds, the few pagodas, and all the rare and exotic trees which provided shade during the day.
It would be better to take a good look at it now, seeing as this would be the first and last time she'll ever see her castle from the outside.
She was just a tree away from the gate, when suddenly a voice inquired:
"What're you doing?"
She gasped and spun around to see the white haired captain staring intently at her, arms crossed over his bandaged chest.
For a moment, she lost her cool, but quickly regained her composure—so her powers wouldn't show—as she stared at him with equal strength.
"None of your business," she answered causing him to narrow his eyes in aggravation.
"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" God, he sounded like a parent.
She scoffed, "Look who's talking," then turned away from him.
A spark of lightening bolted through his head and he snapped, his arms fell by his sides and he balled his hands into tight fists.
"That's it, I've had enough of you," he rejoined, causing her to look back at him. "I don't know what it is that's bothering you, but I will not let you take out your anger on my lieutenant.
"Matsumoto and I are here to protect this household and you especially, so I can't let anything inimical happen to you. Hate me and my lieutenant all you want; if you want to yell or scream at someone, scream at me, but do not ever yell at my subordinate again. We're only here to help."
She blinked—his voice, eyes, and posture were strong and held much authority.
"I don't hate you or your lieutenant," she stated calmly, averting her eyes from his to look solemnly at a pond—one which reflected the moon's light; Hitsugaya loosened some of the tension in his shoulders and hands. "But you—you have to stay away from me."
"Why? Why do you push us away? Why do you shut the world out?" he interrogated. "What are you so afraid of?"
She flinched and backed away two steps, cradling her arms with her gloved hands; still refusing to look him in the eye.
"I—I can't tell you," she answered closing her eyes.
"You can't or you won't?" he questioned, furrowing his white eyebrows.
Her icy eyes flickered open and stared at him; his gaze was strong, fierce, determined; she averted her gaze once more making him sigh.
"I'm not here to defoliate your secrets," he said, "but I'm not here to keep quiet either. Do I really care what happens to you? No, but because I was assigned to protect you, I'm not allowed to let anything harm you.
"I will find this Kurage and kill her. That's all I'm here for—not to be your friend. Do you understand?"
She nodded.
"Good, now am I going to have to drag you back into your home or are you going to walk back and not cause a disturbance? You may be a noble, basically a princess, but I'm not afraid to do that."
She looked back at the gate. Damn; she was so close to being free—so close.
Hitsugaya took a wary stance, ready to stop her should she be thinking about running out the gate, but was surprised to see her turn her head and back and walk towards the castle.
"Fine, you've twisted my wing," she half laughed, half sighed as she passed him and walked back into her home.
He watched her carefully before following suit.
It's amazing how many events take place in one day the earlier you wake up.
A/N: Oh my gosh, I had changed this chapter like three different times (probably exaggerating there) I had had it written where Toshiro and Rangiku find out about her powers and all this suspense and what not, but then I was like, "No. I need to write it in a way where they don't know yet, but have their suspicions."
Hopefully that's how you all see it.
I also hope I got Hitsugaya's character down, it seemed like it to me (and Matsumoto's).
Thank you's go out to the people who have reviewed, favorited, and/or followed.
I wonder what Kurage is up to . . . if she's alive that is. What do you guys think? Is she dead or alive?
What's in store for Mizuki? Toshiro? What are these mysterious looking hollows?
So much stuff is going on. I can't wait for you guys to find out. What do you think will happen in the next two months?
Comment/Review. Both are welcome :). Also, if I've misspelled anything, or something doesn't seem right, don't hesitate to tell me. I'll see if I can go back and fix it.
TTFN, akafyi