Hey :D here is the next chapter! This one is more serious so i hope you like it, there is a bit of hitsuhina in this chapter and there will become more in the later chapters ;) so anyway this chapter is over 4000 words long :O so enjoy hehe and thanx again to autumnsflowers for yumichikas fear (yes Yumichika is finally going to have a fear revealed) thanx for reading and reviewing :P
Chapter 6- Feel the fear
The morning was quiet. Everyone was up and sat around the fire but there was no talking, everyone was still half asleep. Rangiku and Shuuhie were basically still asleep and where sat side by side, her head had ended up on his shoulder and his head was resting on top of hers.
Izuru since he had some how ended up on cooking duty again was tiredly cooking toast, Momo was sat by his side helping him in anyway she could while yawning every so often. Toshiro was sat near the edge of the barrier just looking out into the forest, Ikkaku was sat staring at the fire and Yumichika was looking in a mirror making him self look nice.
Since Renji had left the night before everyone seemed to be more tired this morning, Toshiro sighed and stood up turning to face camp. He got annoyed at what he saw, the camp looked like it was full of zombies. He sighed and walked over to Izuru and Momo who had just about finished making breakfast.
"What's up with everyone this morning?" Toshiro asked as he joined them, apart from Yumichika they seemed to be the only ones functioning properly.
"I don't no I think every ones just more tired this morning" Momo answered as she covered her mouth to hide a yawn.
"Maybe after breakfast everyone will feel more awake" Izuru said as him and Momo started handing out plates. She gave Ikkaku his and he nodded his head in thanks before looking up and at Rangiku and Shuuhie.
"Who's gonna wake up the lovebirds?" he asked and Momo giggled as she looked at the two.
"You can" Toshiro said smirking slightly.
"OY YOU TWO!" Ikkaku shouted causing both Shuuhie and Rangiku to jump up and look around.
"Huh" Rangiku said as she rubbed her eyes.
"If your gonna do that, do it where no one else has to see" Ikkaku said and Rangiku looked confused before she looked at an equally confused Shuuhie beside her.
"What where we doing?" Rangiku asked confused, and Ikkaku rolled his eyes.
"Its not appropriate to say in front of the young ones or say out loud, just go do it some where private please" Ikkaku said and both Rangiku and Shuuhie looked at each other before turning away with blushes on there faces each having no idea what Ikkaku was going on about but equally embarrassed about what they had apparently done.
The others tried to cover there laughs at the looks on their faces and Ikkaku looked very proud of himself. Even Toshiro was smiling slightly at the sight of his normally loud and annoying lieutenant acting embarrassed and shy. Even though they where on a serious mission, it didn't mean there wasn't anytime for a little fun. Momo gave Rangiku and Shuuhie there breakfasts with a small smile which they both replied to with a smile of there own that is until Momo walked away.
"you should feel happy that she didn't see else she wouldn't be smiling at you like that at all, if you scared me imagine what you would've done to the innocent girl" Ikkaku said but so everyone could still hear it causing blushes to come back on their faces. Everyone ate there breakfast in peace and everyone was definitely more awake now. After breakfast Momo and Izuru cleaned up, Rangiku and Shuuhie avoided each other and Ikkaku sat amused watching them, Toshiro was on his soul pager and Yumichika was looking in his mirror.
"Because of the odd number of people now, three people will have to stay back and keep guard at camp today" Toshiro said and everyone looked up at him with nods and 'yeahs' before getting back to what they where doing.
Yumichika looked back down to his mirror and a shriek escaped his lips. Toshiro ran over to his side to see a hysteric Yumichika examining his face in the mirror.
"how? WHY? Nooo!" Yumichika exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" Toshiro asked as the others gathered around also.
"whats wrong? WHATS WRONG? This is what's wrong! Look at it, its hideous!" Yumichika yelled while pointing at his face. The others just looked at him confused.
"What are you talking about? You look fine" Toshiro stated as Yumichika started to hyper ventilate.
"How does this look fine! I look like Ganju Shiba! The most ugly guy in the whole soul society! No no this cant be happening, I'm supposed to look beautiful!" Yumichika shouted rubbing his cheeks.
"No you don't. You look pretty normal to me" Rangiku piped in and Yumichika looked back to his mirror to see that she was indeed right.
" Few. Oh thank god!" he said happily and Ikkaku rolled his eyes.
"Well I'm guessing that's the first fear of the day" Izuru said.
"well now that Yumichika has gotten every ones attention lets sort out who's going out searching today" Toshiro said as the others turned there attention to him.
"Ok Momo, Izuru I would like you two to be one pair, Rangiku and Yumichika are going to be the other, the rest of us will stay back at camp and try and get hold of Renji understood?" Toshiro said while everyone looked at each other.
"Actually captain Hitsugaya would you mind if I was to stay back at camp today and send Shuuhie in my place please" Yumichika asked as Ikkaku smiled slyly.
"Ok, Shuuhie your out on patrol with Rangiku, meet back here at 12 for lunch ok" Toshiro said and with that the two pairs set off to search and patrol while Ikkaku, Yumichika and Toshiro remained at camp.
"So why did you suddenly want to remain back at camp?" Toshiro asked curiously eyeing Yumichika.
"I thought it would be quiet funny to get the two people who are avoiding each other to have to work together right Ikkaku?" Yumichika asked while Ikkaku grinned.
"Yep, I don't no why they believed me but I'm glad they did, its serving as good entertainment" Ikkaku happily said while he went to sit down on the logs while Toshiro rolled his eyes. Toshiro also sat down on the logs and pulled out his soul pager to help him track where the others where, the screen kept crackling and going fuzzy but he could still see where about's they all where.
Shuuhie and Rangiku went along in an awkward silence which was becoming more unbearable by the minute.
"sooo" Shuuhie finally said to break it.
"soo" Rangiku replied.
"I think that Ikkaku was just trying to whined us up, I could here the others laughing" Shuuhie said.
"I guess I thought I heard some laughs but I wasn't sure... and we where asleep so we couldn't have done anything... inappropriate" Rangiku stated.
"I should've known, this is Ikkaku were talking about" Shuuhie said with a sigh.
"Oh he's going to pay when I get back, he's so annoying" Rangiku said punching her fist into her hand.
"It would be my pleasure to help you with that" Shuuhie said with a smile.
"why thank you" Rangiku said as the two laughed.
Izuru and Momo had decided to walk for a while so they could search better, both walked in a comfortable silence but neither of them having any luck of finding anything.
"We've been searching for over an hour now but we've still had no luck, if there's so many of them why haven't we found anything yet?" Izuru asked annoyed and Momo sighed.
"I don't no but we've just got to keep looking, we'll find something eventually, Renji and Rangiku did" Momo said determinedly as she walked on ahead of Izuru who started to follow with a sigh.
She had only walked a couple of steps when the whispering noise invaded her hears. She froze and turned around to tell Izuru but he was stood still a look of shock on his face.
"Izuru?" Momo asked as she walked towards him but he wasn't paying attention to her as his eyes widened in fear.
"Izuru what ever you see it isn't real! It's just an illusion" Momo said but before she could touch his shoulder the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as a cold shiver went down her spine. She gasped as she slowly span around and her eyes widened in fear.
"...what? No? It's just an illusion" Momo said but she couldn't keep her self from shaking.
"If I'm just an illusion then why are you shaking with fear Momo" the person in front her said and she shook her head forcefully.
"Im not, your not real, you cant hurt me, your dead!" Momo shouted as she watched the person slowly and menacingly approach her.
"Then how am I standing before you, aren't you happy to see me, you always did use to be happy to see me" the person said and Momo's fists clenched as she tried to glare at the person.
"You just used me, I may used to have looked up to you but now your nothing to me anymore Aizen" Momo said shakily as she clenched her fists tighter to try and keep her emotions in.
"it doesn't look like that Momo, but you where fun to manipulate, you did everything for me and believed everything I said, you even attacked your beloved child hood friend because I told you so, you where just to weak to no any better, like a puppy obeying its owner" Aizen said as he continued to walk towards Momo who took a step back, she couldn't see Izuru anymore, she could only see Aizen walking towards her.
"I may have been weak but I'm stronger now, why do I need to explain my self to you? Your not real, its an illusion Momo, an illusion" she mumbled to her self as she closed her eyes to stop the tears which had started to fall, her fists where clenched so hard that some droplets of blood fell from them and the whispering in her ears intensified. She opened her eyes to see Aizen right in front of her, she looked up and into his eyes.
"If you've grown stronger, then why are you stood there crying?" Aizen said as he reached down and wiped the tears from Momos eyes who froze under his touch which felt so real.
"If I'm an illusion how can I touch you? You can feel me" he said and Momo stopped breathing.
"you can't be real..." she whispered as she stared up into his eyes, her eyes where wide with disbelief and fear while his where calm.
"Then if Im not, tell me does this hurt" he said before his sword was forcefully shoved through her chest, the exact same spot as the time before. Momo's faces contorted in pain and shock as she slowly looked down to see the sword going through her chest, she gasped for breath as she slowly lifted a hand up to touch the blood falling from the cut. She slowly raised her head to look up at him to see the same expression on his face. A trickle of blood fell from her mouth before Aizen forcefully flung her body from his sword. She hit the ground before rolling down the slope she and Izuru had walked up earlier, hitting quiet a few trees on the way down when her body finally stopped after hitting a fallen log.
Her whole body ached but the most pain came from her chest which she gripped in pain. She slowly raised her head in pain to glare at Aizen who had started making his way towards her.
"You say you've grown stronger but I just easily defeated you, just like I did to your beloved 10th division captain" he said and Momo's eyes widened in panic and shock.
"No you didn't, Toshiro's strong" she choked out and Aizen laughed.
"if he's so strong then how come I've defeated him twice before hand, both of those times because you got hurt, see if you weren't so weak, he wouldn't have to stand up for you and whined up getting hurt. He would have been better off with out you in his life, all you did was cause his pain and misery" Aizen said and Momo's eyes grew wider in fear. She closed her eyes and tryed to concentrate on Toshiro's spiritual pressure but she couldn't sense it at all.
"That isn't going to work, he's already gone but don't worry, you'll be joining him again soon" Aizen said with a smirk.
"N no" she whispered as she choked on a sob and Aizens smile grew.
"You should of seen his face when you tried to kill him, he didn't even put up a fight as you cut his limbs off one by one before you ripped his heart out of his chest with your bare hands. The look on his face when he seen his precious Momo killing him was priceless. Of course it wasn't actually you but he didn't no that" Aizen described to her as tears started to flow from Momo's eyes as her heart ached for Toshiro in her chest.
"No, Shiro-chan... SHIRO-CHAN!" she cried in pain like a small child, every part of her just wanted to see him, to no it wasn't true.
"If your so desperate to see him again then I think its time to finish you off, don't worry I wont make it hurt too much, you served me well after all" Aizen said as he raised his sword and continued to walk towards her. The whispering sound in her ears intensified hurting her head and she seen shadows move from the corner of her eye. She looked up at Aizen in fear just as he was about to bring his sword down on her when Rangiku ran through him and he disappeared.
Rangiku gasped at the state Momo was in and hurriedly picked her up and held her to her chest, Momo's expression Didn't change and she continued to hold her chest as Rangiku flash stepped to the top of the slope.
"Momo, its ok your safe" Rangiku said gently but Momo remained the same her eyes staring off in fear at nothing. Rangiku met up with Shuuhie at the top of the hill who had an unconscious Izuru over his shoulder.
"Come on lets get them back to camp" Shuuhie said and Rangiku gave a quick nod before the two flash stepped towards camp.
When they got there a very concerned Toshiro ran straight up to Rangiku and Momo. Rangiku knelt down on the floor in side the circle of logs and Toshiro knelt down opposite her as Rangiku gently put the girl down on the floor as she continued to stare off and hold her chest. Shuuhie set Izuru down inside the log circle as well as Yumichika and Ikkaku came over to watch both.
"Momo, Momo can you hear me?" Toshiro asked as he stared down at her with a concerned expression on his face. Momo seemed to hear him and her eyes flickered to wards him tears brimming on the edge of her eyes. She sat up slightly and groaned in pain before looking down at her chest. She removed her hands and examined them but there was no blood or cut. She looked back up at Toshiro who was looking down worriedly at her and she burst into tears before flinging herself into his chest.
Toshiro's eyes widened for a second before he wrapped his arms around her shaking body and spoke soothingly to her even though everyone was watching them except Izuru who was still unconscious.
"Sshhh, Momo its ok, what ever you saw it wasn't real, calm down, no ones going to hurt you with us hear" he said gently as he squeezed her gently to try and reassure her. Her sobs started to become less before they finally stopped altogether and she slowly removed herself from Toshiro's chest who looked down at her with a slightly worried expression on his face. Momo sniffled slightly as she wiped the tears from her face. She unconsciously shivered as she remember Aizen wiping her tears away.
"Are you ok Momo?" Rangiku asked worriedly and Momo looked at her and gave her a small nod of her head. At the other end of the log circle Izuru could be heard gasping for air as he suddenly woke up.
"Are you alright?" Shuuhie asked him as Izuru sat up and examined his body looking slightly shocked.
"uh yeah, I'm fine" Izuru replied kind of confused as he looked at all the faces around him.
"Are you hurt at all?" Toshiro asked Momo and she became more aware of the aching of her body, she went to move her leg to stand up but gasped in pain and grabbed it.
"I think my leg may be broken" she managed to say and Izuru crawled over.
"Here let me heal it" he said but she shook her head.
"No its ok, I can do it, plus you've only just woken up" Momo said worriedly to her friend but he shook his head.
"no I want to, I'm sorry I didn't answer you earlier" he said as he began to heal her leg.
"Its ok, it wasn't your fault, I no how bad these fears can be, seriously" she said looking down. Toshiro put his hand on her shoulder but she didn't look up, she felt too ashamed after what Aizen had said to her.
Once her leg was healed everyone sat down on the logs in silence until Toshiro broke it.
"I know you two probably don't want to talk about what happened but we need to know" Toshiro said and Momo nodded her head with a sigh.
"we'll we where walking when I heard the whispering noise, I went to warn Izuru but he wasn't listening to me he was looking out into the distance so I guessed it was a fear and tried to help him but he was in a like trance" Momo said and Izuru sighed.
"I'm sorry Momo, I did hear you but as you said, I guess I was kind of in a trance" Izuru said apologetically to the girl.
"What happened Izuru?" Toshiro asked and he sighed.
"Captain Ichimaru appeared before me, I heard Momo but I was paying more attention to him, he was taunting me with how weak I was and such. We then had a fight but I lost and passed out and that's all I remember before waking up here" Izuru explained staring at the floor and Rangiku unconsciously froze at hearing Gins name.
"Was there anything more about it you could tell us like about the fight?" Toshiro urged, trying to find out any information he could.
"yeah, it felt real, just like a normal fight, everything about it felt real and when his sword hit me it cut me and it hurt and bled, well that was obviously part of the illusion as well since there's no cuts on me just bruises from hitting the floor and trees" Izuru said and Toshiro nodded.
"It sounds like they control your senses then" Shuuhie noted.
"They use everything they can to make you feel complete fear" Toshiro stated grimly and Momo looked down and examined her hands which still had cuts from when she had clenched her fists to hard. Toshiro turned his look to the poor girl and wondered what could have made the lively happy girl so shaken.
"Momo I no you don't want to talk about it but please could you tell us what happened?" Toshiro asked gently as he put a hand on her shoulder in reassurance and she nodded slightly keeping her head down, her hair hiding her eyes.
"As I was trying to warn Izuru I felt someone behind me so I turned around and and..." she said but paused to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat.
"And what was there?" Shuuhie asked gently.
"A Aizen. H he was telling me how weak I was but I new he was just an illusion I kept repeating it to myself that's until he stabbed me through the chest again, then I wasn't to sure anymore" she said emotionlessly. Every ones eyes had widened after hearing Aizens name, it wasn't a name they liked to here, especially Toshiro.
"He threw me from his sword and then he he he" she whispered before choking on a sob and Rangiku came to her side before enveloping her in a hug.
"What did he do?" she asked gently.
"he told me how he killed Toshiro, o of course I didn't believe him at first but then I tried to search for Toshiro's spiritual pressure but I couldn't feel it at all, and then he told me how he used an illusion of me to kill him, he was about to kill me to when Rangiku appeared" Momo said as a couple tears fell from her eyes. Everyone was silent especially Toshiro who was sat in shock at her confession.
"Is there anything you can tell us that might give us any clues?" Yumichika asked to break the silence as it didn't look like anyone else was gonna speak.
"yeah, the whispering, it got louder the more scared I got, it was giving me a head ach in the end, and before Rangiku came threw the Aizen illusion I swear I seen shadows moving out the corner of my eye, but it could've just been my imagination" she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I didn't think I feared him anymore but it must have been in the back of my mind" Momo said as she lifted her head and took a deep breath.
"But that's not the only fear they used against you" Rangiku whispered quietly.
"Don't you think its weird that only captain Hitsugaya and Momo can hear the whispering?" Shuuhie asked and the others nodded.
"Haven't you noticed that they're also the youngest as well, maybe it's because they are still kids that they can hear it" Ikkaku said which Toshiro frowned at unhappily and Momo pouted at.
"We're not kids" they both said at the same time.
"we don't mean it like that but isn't it weird how you two are the youngest and the only ones that can hear it, also that girl that we interviewed she looked much younger then her brother" Yumichika commented and Toshiro nodded.
"I do see your point" he said as camp went silent again this time the silence was broken by Momo. She stood up and out of Rangiku's embrace with a fake smile pasted on her face.
"Im not really hungry, ill be in my tent if anyone needs me" she said as she walked over to her tent though no one missed the tear that fell from her face.
"Ok change of plans after lunch, I would like Yumichika and Ikkaku to replace Momo and Izuru, I think that they could both use a break" Toshiro said and they both nodded.
Lunch went quiet fast and everything was quiet and nothing was said at all and it wasn't long before it was just Izuru, Toshiro and Momo left at camp. Izuru was cleaning up dishes and sorting out the food supply while Toshiro was staring at Momo's tent.
"Hey Izuru can you keep guard for a minute? Just let me no if anything happens" Toshiro said as Izuru nodded and Toshiro headed towards Momo's tent.
"Hey Momo, can I come in?" Toshiro asked as movement was suddenly heard from inside.
"yeah" he heard Momo say. He unzipped the tent and crawled inside before zipping it up again and turning around to see Momo who was looking at Toshiro with a huge fake smile on her face.
"Momo you don't have to pretend around me" Toshiro said as he sat in front of her and the smile disappeared from her face.
"I should've known it wouldn't work on you" she said with a half smile before her face went emotionless again.
"What's bothering you?" Toshiro asked and Momo shook her head.
"Don't worry its nothing" she said and Toshiro raised an eye brow at her.
"Obviously it isn't, is there something that happened with the illusion that your not telling me?" Toshiro asked and Momo sighed.
"Er no it was just the thought of him killing you, especially when I couldn't sense your spiritual pressure" Momo said twiddling her fingers as Toshiro looked sadly at her.
"II guess there was something he said as well" Momo finally said quietly and Toshiro rose his eyebrow.
"And what was that?" he asked quietly as he waited for her to reply, she turned her head to the side as she replied.
"That you'd be better off with out me in your life" she said and Toshiro looked at confused.
"No I wouldn't" he said but she just shook her head before looking back at him with tears in her eyes.
"Yes, you would, he was right. There's been Too many times when you've been hurt because of me, if I wasn't so weak and could stand up for my self, you wouldn't need to protect me so you wouldn't get hurt. I always drag you in on my problems and it's not fair on you" Momo said forcefully at him and his eyes narrowed.
"I don't no why you think like that but you shouldn't, your not weak, if you are then how did you become a lieutenant? And don't say because of Aizen, you earned your place because you are strong, and as for me getting hurt for standing up for you, that's my fault not yours, I choose to protect you" Toshiro said just as forceful back. Momo looked up at him teary eyed.
"And my life wouldn't be as good if you weren't in it" he said with a smile and Momo smiled back.
"Thank you" she whispered and Toshiro nodded before she looked away again. She looked back when she felt him grab her hands.
"I'm always here for you if you need me" he said gently as he released her hands. Momo looked down at them to see that the cuts that had previously been there had disappeared.
"Ill see you at dinner unless you come out before then, stay in here as long as you need though" Toshiro said as he exited the tent and Momo finally felt happy again.
Thanx so much for reading! :D please review so i can see your thoughts on this, they always encourage me hehe, well i really hope you liked this chapter, i thought it was about time to make things a little more serious which im not really used to :/ as you can tell by my writing ^^ well anyway thanx again and im just gonna say the next chapter is hopefully gonna be epic lol :P well dramatic it may be a bit shorter but its gonna be good so stayed tuned for it ;) see you in the next chapter hopefully :P
Starlight3395