Disclaimer: I do not own bleach nor do I own any of its characters

Here is the sequel to "A present for the sadist" Enjoy!!!!

That's all he can do

The cabinet slowly opened as if in perfect unison with Hitsugaya's widening eyes.

"Shirou-chan, is the coast clear?" a tiny voice sounded from the cabinet. A voice too tiny to be Aizen's

"Hinamori?" Hitsugaya calmed down as he found his childhood friend to be the one opening the cabinet. He double checked the reiatsu to make sure that it wasn't Kyouka Suigetsu. Nope, its not. This is Hinamori.

"Hinamori, what are you doing here?" he asked feeling his fear slowly drift away.

"I heard about what happened to you" she said as she got up and walked beside his bed.

Hitsugaya remained silent after that urging Hinamori to continue. And continue she did.

"I'm really sorry about what happened to you, Shirou-chan" she lowered her head.

"Don't worry about it, it's not your faul" Hitsugaya turned away from Hinamori, in favor of looking at his hands lying on his lap.

Silence fell on the room as the two contemplated on their thoughts. It was long and the tension in the air is so thick that not even Komamura's Bankai can cut it. Then, Hinamori spoke…

"You don't really believe Aizen taichou did it right, Shirou chan?" Hinamori looked at her childhood friend.

Hitsugaya looked up disbelievingly at Hinamori. His eyes wide with surprise.

Aizen raped him for three times and yet his childhood friend still maintained loyalty to him? What the hell?!

"After all…" Hinamori continued "…that is something that Ichimaru taichou would do right?"

"Hinamori…." He began softly "….I know who attacked me. It was Aizen—"

"IMPOSSIBLE!!!" Hinamori cut him off "AIZEN TAICHOU IS INNOCENT. WHY DON'T YOU BELIEVE ME. I THOUGHT YOU'RE MY FRIEND!!!!"

Hitsugaya was obviously shocked, not to mention hurt, by Hinamori's outrage.

"That's enough out of you, Hinamori fukutaichou" the air suddenly became heavy as another person came in the room.

Hinamori turned to look her back "Kuchiki taichou?"

Kuchiki Byakuya stood behind Hinamori. Kenseikan nowhere in sight and he's only wearing a yukata. His zanpakuto is in his hands suggesting he came here in a hurry. The disheveled hair of his proved that.

"Visiting hours to Hitsugaya taichou are over. You may visit him tomorrow morning, before and after his exercise routine"

"H-Hai" Hinamori mumbled as she exited the room with a lowered head. After bowing to Hitsugaya and Byakuya, she left.

A few minutes passed by in silence then Byakuya decided to leave as well

"Kuchiki taichou" Hitsugaya said hurriedly stopping the nobleman by the doorway.

"Ummm, Arigatou" he mumbled bowing his head. Byakuya simply 'hmph-ed' then left.

Byakuya watched from afar as Hitsugaya lifted the 80 kg barbells. Its been three weeks since Hinamori's visit so this is his third week of rehab. The nobleman could clearly see the improvement in Hitsugaya's stature as his skinny form returned to its lean, muscular self.

However, despite the progress their making on his physical state, the Kuchiki couldn't help but frown as he saw the bags under Hitsugaya's eyes become darker and larger everyday.

"We're making great progress, aren't we, Kuchiki taichou?" Unohana walked up beside the nobleman and joined in watching Hitsugaya shift from bench press to sit ups.

Byakuya merely nodded and started counting Hitsugaya's sit ups. This is absolutely necessary because sometimes, the boy would space out and wouldn't realize that he had exceeded the prescribed number of exercise.

Byakuya learned that the hard way as he once left Hitsugaya alone for 30 minutes. When he came back, the boy was still doing bench press!!! Also, he had a vacant look in his eyes.

"But we have to improve his emotions and alertness" Unohana contemplated on how to help the boy.

"Its useless trying to help him, Unohana taichou…" Byakuya commented "…Only he can help himself" with that, he jumped up the tallest roof of the Kuchiki mansion to get a birds eyes view on Hitsugaya's jog around the mansion grounds.

'Only he can help himself' he repeated inside himself as he watched the boy start the long jog 'Even I am powerless to help you, just like how I was powerless against Hisana's death and Rukia's execution'

He can't help but feel somewhat guilty that despite his power and pride, he can't protect those who he deem precious. In fact, when he learned about Hitsugaya becoming a captain, he strongly objected.

Its not that he doubted the boy's abilities. Heck, the boy is as strong as he is, he just needs experience. But the thing is, if Hitsugaya were to become a captain, he would be exposed to obnoxiously dangerous missions and that would be bad.

Unfortunately for him, majority of the captains, specifically the general and Ukitake as well as Unohana, were thrilled to find such a rare shinigami.

"He is as skilled as anyone of you even in this early age. And he will become stronger making him a great captain" the general said.

"I've always wanted a fellow white haired shinigami and a grandson" that came from Ukitake

"I never had a son" said by Unohana.

Although Ukitake and Unohana's excuses were ridiculous, he knew better. Hitsugaya is more than qualified to be a captain.

He jumped down from the roof as Hitsugaya finished the last lap and proceeded to do pull ups.

He'll just have to keep a close eye on him, that's all he can do.

Byakuya laid on his futon as the night settled in. He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take over.

Today had been like any other day. There were no incidents and the progress continued.

The nobleman ignored the disturbed reiatsu that crawled through the halls of the mansion. It was Hitsugaya's reiatsu. Like any other night, the boy can't sleep, afraid of the monster hiding beneath the curtain of illusions. Afraid of being attacked once more.

Like any other nights, the boy's tired body would eventually take over the fear and he would fall to sleep that would last for 2 to 3 hours…3 hours and 30 minutes at most.

And like any other nights, he can only observe and feel the boy's fear…that's all he can do.

To be continued.

Its official, this fic is now a HitsuByaku fic

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