A/N: Hello! Just wanted to say that I've been recently reading a lot of fanfictions lately. I noticed that my writing is so horrible in comparison. So from here on out, I will be giving it my all of the quality of my work. Once again, thank you to hitherelovely for your wonderful review.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bleach! No copyright intended.
*WINTER*ANGEL*
© Tale Slayer
Chapter Six.
Even though they were the 2nd and 3rd arrancars I'd ever seen, I had a feeling that they were on a whole different level. It was as if something was weighing me down. I shuddered. Toshiro took out a pez dispenser and popped a green candy into his mouth. He separated from his human body. My eyes bulged.
"Go take care of Yukimura," he muttered.
"Okay!" the human Toshiro saluted. Then he ran over to me and proceeded to drag me away to another place. I was too shocked to protest. But apparently, the arrancar took notice.
"Yukimura Katsumi?"
I was flabbergasted. Why do all these arrancars know my name? What have I done?
Apparently Toshiro was wondering the same thing. His eyes stormed. "What do you want with her?" he demanded.
"Who knows? Aizen-sama is the one who wants her. But you don't need to know anyways. You'll be dead soon," Shawlong said as he unsheathed his zanpakuto. Then he suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Toshiro and struck. But Toshiro saw it and blocked it with his own zanpakuto.
"I apologize. I never fully introduced myself. I'm Shawlong Koufang, 11th arrancar. Fraccion of Grimmjow," he said, smirking.
"Hitsugaya Toshiro. Tenth division captain," Toshiro replied curtly.
"The Tenth Division captain and the girl Aizen-sama is looking for. Magnificent news for me. This means I've hit the jackpot," his lips curled into a cruel smile. Meanwhile, the other arrancar, Nakeem Grindina, began to battle with Rangiku.
I could hardly follow any of their movements; they were incredibly fast so I could only stare in disbelief.
The human Toshiro giggled, "Hehehe so fast!"
I was dumbfounded that he had spoken. "W-wha what are you?"
He looked down at me with a goofy grin. "Mah name is King! Hitsugaya-taichou's gikon."
"Growl! Haineko!" I heard Rangiku command. Her blade turned into ash and surrounded the enemy. I could just tell from looking that she was having trouble. I bit my lip, feeling utterly useless. Unfortunately, Toshiro also seemed to be struggling, much to my surprise. Blood slowly trickled down from his forehead. I gasped.
"Sit upon the frozen heavens. Hyorinmaru!" I watched as his blade became ice and the sky grew dark. I swore the temperature dropped ten degrees. The ice grew and grew as huge ice dragon flowed out of the tip of the blade. The end of the hilt was connected to a long chain.
"King, what's that?" I pointed with amazement.
"Ooh, pretty~" he was too distracted by the falling bits of ice to answer my question. I sweat dropped. Despite Toshiro's efforts, he was still losing. Rangiku wasn't doing so well either. After more fighting, he grimaced.
I saw him stop and he shouted, "BANKAI!" His arms and legs froze over. Two large ice wings sprouted from his back as well as a long tail. Three ice flowers floated behind him.
"So that's a captain's bankai? Impress me," Shawlong sneered.
Toshiro let out a shout and attacked him in his new form. Next thing I knew, he had encased Shawlong in ice. After a moment, it seemed that the battle was over. But then the ice cracked and Shawlong reappeared, dusting off the ice as if it was nothing. Then they continued to fight and once again, I couldn't follow their actions very well. A large blast went off somewhere on the other side of town. Shawlong stopped for a moment.
"Those flowers behind you act as a countdown right?" I glanced at what he was talking about. Sure enough, the three flowers that had been there had been reduced to one.
"So what?" Toshiro retorted.
"When your Bankai disappears, killing you will be too easy. Saying how weak you are would be rude to you, a captain. While you remain in that form, at least let me defeat you with my greatest fighting ability."
My brows furrowed. He was hiding even more power?!
"Snip, Tijereta." It was as if he set off a smokescreen, I couldn't see him at all. When the smoke set aside, it revealed a new, transformed version of Shawlong. His hands transformed into long, bony claws. I could tell Toshiro was worried, so was I. Rangiku laid there, defeated by her enemy. I stared in horror as he slowly walked toward her. He lifted a foot to finish her off. But at the last second, she snapped right back up and easily held him off.
"Captain! We've been authorized to break the restriction!" she shouted. A flower glowed on her chest.
"It finally came?" Toshiro pulled back his kimono to reveal the same glowing flower on his chest. They both shouted, "Limit release!"
"What's this?" Shawlong asked, confused.
"In order to avoid unnecessarily influencing spirits in the real world, captains and vice-captains of the Gotei 13 have their reiatsu drastically limited by means of a seal, unique to their squad, before we come here." He explained. "The total amount of power sealed is 80% of our maximum." He paused. "In other words… five times stronger now. It's over Shawlong Koufang." He grasped his hilt.
Shawlong tensed. "Pull back! We're retreating!" He called out to his friend. But he had already lost to Rangiku.
Toshiro chased after him. "Ryuusenka." A ring of ice shot out and completely trapped Shawlong. It broke into pieces, and he died with no remains left. I sighed in relief. Thank goodness.
My relief turned into despair when I saw Toshiro's ice wings shatter. He staggered, and then fell.
"Toshiro!" I cried out.
By the time King and I got up to the top of the building he fell to, Rangiku was already speaking desperately into a small headset. "We need Orihime-san! Now!"
Shortly after, a red-headed guy with tattoos came along with a girl. She was beautiful with a curvy body and long orange hair. I recognized her as Inoue Orihime, a junior at my school. As soon as she saw Toshiro's state, she put her hands up to her two hairpins and said, "Soten kisshun, I reject!" An orange light appeared over his body. I watched in awe as his injuries slowly faded away.
"She's healing him," a quiet Rangiku explained to me. Her expression was a mixture of relief and sadness.
I nodded, with a twinge of envy that I couldn't do anything to help. After a while, he started moving again. He sat up with a quiet groan.
"Hitsugaya-taichou! Are you okay?" Rangiku asked.
"Yeah." He thanked Orihime. The red-headed guy returned with two other people, an unconscious female shinigami, who appeared to be Kuchiki Rukia, and Kurosaki Ichigo. Wait, Kurosaki Ichigo?! He also donned the shinigami uniform. My jaw dropped in astonishment. So many people I thought were normal turned out to be involved with Soul Society. Orihime proceeded to heal the rest of the people.
"Oi, are you okay?" Toshiro asked. His turquoise eyes stared at me.
I suddenly felt a little happy. I slightly laughed. "Here you are, all beat up and you're worrying about how I'm doing?"
He pouted childishly. "I'm not worried about you, idiot."
I smiled. Then for some reason, my body moved without the consent of my brain. I hugged him. "I'm glad you're alright Toshiro." His first name just flowed out my mouth. I froze, preparing myself for a lecture about not calling him by his first name or not touching him. I released him so quickly it was as if I had just burnt myself.
"Ahahaha," I awkwardly laughed. "I mean… who cares about what happens to you?!" I hoped it was dark enough to hide my blush. He looked embarrassed.
"Wow, you're amazing Katsumi. Every time I call Toshiro by his first name, he just yells at me," Ichigo whistled. The red-headed shinigami and Rangiku stifled their laughs.
"Oho, taichou, I'm surprised at how close you two have gotten," Rangiku teased.
I saw Toshiro flush. I tried to get out of the situation. "T-that's not it! I- I was just…" I stammered. "I don't care about that bastard one bit!" I shout. Toshiro's veins popped. "Um. Anyways is he a shinigami too?" I pointed dumbly to Ichigo, trying to change the subject.
"Hm? Yeah I am," Ichigo replied.
"This is gonna be a long story. We'll talk on our way back to Inoue's house," Toshiro gestured. Orihime was done healing everyone, so we started walking.
"Ok first question! Where's Orihime-san's house?" I inquired.
"It's the house you've been coming to this past two weeks. Orihime just hasn't been there since she was training." Rangiku explained.
"I see. Umm," I looked at Orihime. "Are you human?" I blurted out. She smiled at me. She explained to me how she received her powers from her hairclips and how she got involved with shinigamis. As if on cue, Ichigo told me he was a substitute shinigami, meaning he was still human. He introduced Kuchiki Rukia, whom he received his powers from, and Abarai Renji, another shinigami. I knew a bit about Kuchiki Rukia, remembering how she suddenly came to our school and mysteriously disappeared. No one remembered her so it felt like she was just a dream.
I shuffled along. "Ehh, so all this time you've been protecting Karakura Town and I had no clue." Then I walked beside Toshiro. "Ne, Toshiro, your zanpakuto's an ice type right?"
"Yeah," he confirmed.
"Oh that's pretty cool," I commented.
He rolled his eyes, "That was lame."
"Hm?" I realized I accidentally made a pun saying his ice type zanpakuto was cool. I smiled with a mischievous glint in my eyes.
"Ahh, don't be so cold," I chided.
He glared. Everyone else started giggling.
"That's quite an icy stare," I noted.
"STOP IT!" he exploded comically, a vein on his forehead pulsing.
Everyone laughed hysterically. I doubled over laughing. Then I straightened up.
. . . "Geez, take a chill pill." With that, I took off laughing my head off as he chased after me. I'm so lame. But it's alright to be cheesy if it means I can lighten the mood a little.
"You're all so immature!" he ranted.
"I wouldn't say that when I'm the shortest one in the group~" I called back teasingly. That really ticked him off.
"Damn you!" he yelled. I giggled. Then I stumbled and tripped. Right as I was about to hit the ground, I felt someone grab my hand. Toshiro helped me from falling on my face once again.
"Hehe," I sheepishly grinned. "Thanks…"
He smirked smugly. "Serves you right." He dusted himself off. I realized that we were right in front of Orihime's house. I looked down to see that he hadn't released me yet. As if he read my mind, he instantly let go. We waited for the others.
"Is everyone here?" Toshiro asked as we all gathered in the living room.
"Ah, Ikkaku and Yumichika aren't," Renji said.
"Who?" I wondered out loud.
Rangiku explained. "Eh, they're just two idiots. One is bald and carries a wooden sword and the other is a gay narcissist." I had trouble picturing this.
The door was slammed open. "I'M. NOT. BALD." An angry figure stood at the doorway. His shiny bald head sparkled. He might've actually looked intimidating, had he not been wearing such an embarrassing shirt. It was white with pink polka dots and hearts. A smiling bear was in the center of the shirt. My hands flew to my mouth to contain my laughter.
Rangiku, Renji, and Ichigo on the other hand, did not suppress their hysteria. "Bwahaha! What the heck is that?" Rangiku bawled.
Ichigo's reaction was priceless. He fell over laughing, slapping on the ground because he couldn't breathe from laughing too much.
The bald guy glared. "What do you think you're laughing at, you punks?" He roared. "Damn you all! You're laughing too much!"
The other guy, who was extremely feminine-looking, wore feathers on his eyelashes. He too, broke out laughing. "Now, now. I think he- looks- quite- fashionable!" He said between gasps.
I sweat dropped at the scene before me. Toshiro slammed his first down. "Enough! Sit down you imbeciles!" They all immediately obeyed.
Rangiku introduced me to the two people. "Baldy's name is Madarame Ikkaku. Feather boy is Ayasegawa Yumichika." Yumichika looked at me up and down and eventually gave me a nod. Ikkaku observed me for a split second. They both started to argue with Rangiku but stopped when Toshiro shot them a death glare.
"S-sorry Hitsugaya-taichou," they apologized meekly. Toshiro's authority was evident.
"Now," he started. "We're here to discuss our next course of actions regarding Yukimura Katsumi."
I pouted. "If you're planning on guarding me 24/7, I don't need it! I don't need to be babysat."
"Shut up!" he snapped. "We don't know what Aizen wants with you." His eyes grew dark as soon as he mentioned this 'Aizen' person.
Rangiku looked very serious for once. "I know you don't like the idea of being watched over Katsumi. But please, this is best for all of us." She pleaded with me. I bit down on my lip.
"I don't wanna be a trouble…" I trailed off.
Renji spoke up. "We're here to protect Karakura Town and everyone in it. It's no trouble at all. It's our job." Everyone else nodded. I felt touched that they all felt the need to protect me, even though they barely knew me. But a nagging voice in my mind taunted at me, "It's not that they care about you. It's just that they don't want you causing even more trouble."
I grimaced. "Okay," I gave in reluctantly.
Toshiro gave an approving nod. "Then it's decided. As for finding out why you're targeted by the arrancars, only time will tell." They decided on who would be with me on certain days. After that was settled, everyone went home. Orihime, Rangiku, and Toshiro did not have to go anywhere of course. Rangiku walked me home, not taking any chances of me getting into trouble. She chatted animatedly on the way.
"Oh, Katsumi! I didn't mention it earlier cause I didn't want you to notice but..." she said with a sly smile. "You are absolutely drop dead gorgeous without your glasses and your pigtails!" She winked.
I grabbed my hair in horror. As she said, my hair was not braided and I forgot to put my glasses back on after work. I blushed, opening my mouth to speak but Rangiku was already skipping away.
"Goodnight Katsumi! Sleep well! I'll see you tomorrow," she waved. I let out a sigh with a smile and went up to my apartment, humming along the way.
As soon as I went in, I happily complied to Rangiku's suggestion, snuggling into my bed.