Chapter 4
After her lash out at the 4th, Hinamori was being guarded around the clock by squad 2. Also, her zanpakuto had been taken away and her reiatsu had been sealed for the time being to make sure she wouldn't lash out again. And just to make sure nothing would happen, only captain Unohana and lieutenant Kotetsu were allowed to go to her room. This decision was made by Captain Soi Fon and the head-captain himself, so there was nothing to do about it. Toshiro knew this, and he was pissed. He was blaming himself, Aizen and Ichimaru for Hinamoris condition, which caused him to give off a killer-aura. So basically, nothing had changed.
It had been almost a whole week since the accident at the hospital. Toshiro was sitting in the squad 10 office, finishing paperwork. Alone. Matsumoto had sneaked out again, only this time not because she wanted to skip. She just wanted to escape her captains freezing aura. Toshiro understood her completely, he wouldn't want to be around either if he was in her shoes. So he was just trying to finish his work. Then, suddenly and completely out of nowhere, the office door was busted open and a certain orange-haired captain rushed in, slamming the door shut behind him. Ichigo leaned his back against the door and panted heavily for a while before making eye contact to the very confused captain of squad 10.
"Sorry for rushing in like this Toshiro. Do you think I could hide here for a while?" Ichigo asked the small captain, who just nodded. Ichigo sighed and flopped down to the office couch and leaned back. They were both silent for a while, and the only sounds in the office were the scratching sound that came from Toshiros pen and Ichigos' panting when he tried to even out his breath. After a few minutes Ichigo had managed to catch his breath, causing the office to go completely silent. Toshiro gave Ichigo a quick glance and put his pen down to the table.
"Want some tea?" he asked the orangette, who just nodded as the white-haired captain stood up to boil some tea. Once he was done, he placed the cups onto the table in between the two office couches and sat down to the couch opposite to Ichigo before opening his mouth to speak.
"Why did you want to hide here Kurosaki?" Toshiro asked the older teen. The 5th squad captain frowned before speaking.
"You know, you could call me Ichigo. I mean, it's not like we don't know each other..." the orangette said and reached to swipe some stray hairs off the smaller teens face. Now, it was Toshiros turn to frown as he slapped Ichigos' hand away.
"Just answer the question Kurosaki." he said with an irritated tone. Ichigo pouted as he pulled his hand back.
"I was running from Grimmjow." he said and took a sip from his tea, blushing a little. Toshiro looked at him like he was crazy. Ichigo sighed and placed his cup to the table.
"I have no idea what's wrong with him; he just keeps following me around. Seriously, it feels like he's... stalking Me." the orangette said. Toshiro stared at the teen for a few seconds before doing something completely unexpected: he let out a small laugh. It wasn't loud and it didn't last long, but it was a laugh.
"Excuse me, are we thinking about the same person here? Why on earth would Grimmjow stalk you?" Toshiro asked the other teen, still chuckling a little. Ichigo shot the white-haired captain quick glare before speaking again.
"I don't know, I was actually hoping you would know."He said, getting a confused look from Toshiro.
"I mean, aren't you being stalked too?" Ichigo continued. Toshiro blinked a few times before saying anything.
"...I have been feeling like someone's watching me, but I thought it was you so I paid no mind... Don't look at me like that, we both know you still do that from time to time. But if it's not you then who the hell..." the young captain stopped mid-sentence when Ichigo interrupted him.
"It's Ichimaru. I've seen him follow you around from a...safe distance." the orangette told the boy. Toshiro was shocked to say the least. He had known someone was following him but he had assumed it to be the orange-haired idiot for a captain. He had done stuff like that after that...party six weeks ago. Toshiro frowned and looked at Ichigo.
"Why would Ichimaru follow me around?" he asked. Ichigo shrugged his shoulders.
"Beats me, I have no idea. But, if everything goes well and the head they brought proves to be fake, they'll be executed and everything will be fine, right?" Ichigo said with an assuring smile.
Few days later, Squad 1 barracks:
"...excuse me?"
"I believe you all heard what I said. The head was, in fact genuine. That head did belong to Soosuke Aizen." captain Unohana repeated, making most of the captains and lieutenants gasp in surprise. Ichimaru and Grimmjow were standing in the middle of the room, under the watchful eye of the head-captain himself. Then, Grimmjow opened his mouth to speak.
"So, what are you guys gonna do to us now?" he asked loudly, directing the question to the eldest captain. All eyes in the room were on the old man, waiting his orders. After a while, the head-captain took a deep breath and gazed straight at the two men.
"As I promised a week ago, you will be allowed to stay in Seireitei. You will get your swords back and you will serve the Gotei 13 as shinigami. Grimmjow, you will be serving in squad 5 as the 3rd seat officer. And you, Gin Ichimaru, will serve as the 3rd seat in squad 10" the eldest captain took a deep breath and laid his eyes on the said squads' captains before continuing.
"Captains Kurosaki and Hitsugaya, I wish for you to keep an eye on both of them. As for the rest of you, if anyone sees either one of these men acting in a way that can be considered treason, you have permission to kill them on the spot." the old captain said loudly and banged his staff against the wooden floor, signaling the end of the captains meeting. Soi Fon gave the two men their swords back with a look that would probably kill a normal human. Ichimaru merely thanked the small woman and bowed before leaving, but as soon as Grimmjow got his sword back, a full toothy grin spread across his face. 'Suck it losers!' was almost readable on his face. Although, after seeing the evil glare from Soi Fon, his grin disappeared and he walked to Ichigo.
"So, what am I supposed to do now, captain?" Grimmjow said with a mocking tone. Ichigo glared at the blunette and motioned him to follow. His dislike of the whole situation was pretty much written all over his face. But comparing Ichigo to Toshiro, the orangette looked almost happy with the situation, while Toshiro looked like he was going to commit a slow, bloody and extremely painful murder. He had left the room as soon as the meeting was dismissed, leaving Matsumoto to deal with his brand new 3rd seat. He himself made his way straight to squad 4, planning to fill Hinamori in of what happened. But when he reached the infirmary, he was stopped by one of the healers.
"I'm sorry sir, but captain Unohana gave us orders not to let anyone inside tonight." the small woman told him with a trembling voice. Toshiro let out a small, frustrated growl and rubbed his temples. He asked the woman if he could leave a message to Hinamori. She nodded and brought him a pen and a piece of paper. Toshiro wrote Hinamori a short letter, explaining what had happened. When he was done, he left the infirmary. He slowly made his way back to squad 10, not even trying to walk with his normal quick pace. When he finally reached his squad, Matsumoto was waiting for him right inside the gates. The strawberry-blonde woman had a worried look on her face.
"Are you alright sir?" she asked him. Toshiro just shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll manage. What about you?" he asked as they started walking. Matsumoto gave her captain a small, unsure smile.
"I don't know. It will take a long time before I can trust him again." she said sadly. They bid eachother goodnight and went to get some sleep. Toshiro was laying wide awake for hours, thinking about everything that had happened.
"Things couldn't get too much worse after this..." he sighed right before falling asleep.
The next morning:
"Captain! Captain, wake up!"
The sudden sound of Matsumoto's yelling made Toshiro jump out of bed and run to the door.
"What the hell Matsumoto, it's seven in the morning." he said, rubbing his eyes and trying to get his hair off his face. Matsumoto was looking at him with a face filled with panic and tears in her eyes.
"Captain, it's Hinamori. She... she was found dead an hour ago." she told him with a broken voice.
MBA: *dodging things thrown at her* I'm so sorry this took so long, I've been super-busy with school!
Angela: You didn't seem too busy when you were writing this in Finnish class…
MBA: Shush, they don't need to know that.
Angela: Anyway, you sure took your time with this. I mean, it's been, what, a month since the last chapter?
MBA: *sits in gloomy emo corner*
Angela: *sigh*
Grimmjow: WOMAN! WHY AM I A FUCKING STALKER IN THIS?
Ichigo: That's what I want to know too!
Lambtron: And what's with that IchiHitsu moment? I hate you!
MBA: *gone*
Angela: And she managed to make people angry again… Anyways, Angel doesn't own Bleach, Tite Kubo does!
Grimmjow: LET ME BACK INTO THE MANGA DAMNIT!
Ichigo: Give Angel reviews, maybe she'll update faster!