AN: hey everybody!! runs behind rock to avoid vegetables and other dangerous objects... i know, i know, it's been forever! here's to hoping this five chapters and then a three-month break thing doesn't become a habit... O.o anyway, chapter's finally done! celebrates. as it's been a horribly long wait, i'm sorry to it's also one of the shorter chapters (as opposed to last time, when it was twice... or something). i've got a few things to say before we get started, and all of them are pretty important, so i'd appreciate you bearing with me... sweatdrops. first off, i know that before this story was top priority. but now, i'm writing about five stories and some occasional one-shots... so i'm negating the top priority thing. so there is no top priority story. pretty much, whichever one i feel most inspired for and has been neglected for a while... so if there's no update after this one in the usual two weeks, that's why. . second... this story's a monster. and by that, i mean, it's like epic, in both plot complexity and sheer length (well, not yet, but trust me, it will be). and though i have the climax very well planned, the in between pieces are not nearly as lucky... so i have finally realized and admitted that i must go back and created a lovely outline for this story... likely, this will also delay the next update. but hopefully, it'll help the story in the long run, with consistency and quickness of updates (no guarantees.). next, i'd like to say that i've started a collab fic with gisela-chan!! we've created our own profile/penname called angst-sunshine and the story is hitsuhina, entitled the message. it's pretty awesome so far... a prologue (mostly me) and a first chapter, (mostly gisela)... basically, it's an awesome mystery story (au and all) centered around momo. where i get to write a lot of angst, which i enjoy. definitely worth checking out. smiles. and now, without further ado, welcome back to toushirou and enjoy! dances.
Hitsugaya Toushirou, tensai captain of the tenth division and the strongest wielder of an ice/water zanpakutou was currently poised on his knees, face right above the toilet bowl, retching into it. His whole body was shaking spasmodically, exhaustion pulling at every muscle while his system attempted to quiet down. Every last bit of him was either bruised, sore or cut in some manner.
And he just couldn't stop vomiting.
It was the constant exposure to the murderous intent that did it. Too much concentrated time enduring it that when it was finally absent, his whole body overloaded while reducing back to normal levels. It was so bad, he had actually considered ruining his pride by visiting Unohana. Only he had a feeling she would be less than pleased with his condition. He figured that particular punishment would be worse than his current predicament. As a result, he barely had the energy to remain upright.
Still, he couldn't help but feel distinctly successful. Not only had everything gone according to plan, it had surpassed his wildest imaginings.
Zaraki Kenpachi was a simple enough man to manipulate once one understood his interests.
Fighting. It didn't matter who, where or why, so long as the opponent was strong enough to make it interesting.
And Hitsugaya had that in spades.
All it took were some not so subtle insults tossed in Zaraki's general direction to give him rise to challenge Hitsugaya. A challenge Hitsugaya took up through sparring. The fight itself had been thoroughly invigorating. Though he had not quite been able to win, neither had Zaraki. In only swords, the two were so close, it positively roused the fighting spirit. Of course, with that kind of incentive before him, Zaraki was dying to take it yet another step farther. He wanted to go all out one on one.
It had been remarkably (or perhaps not, knowing Zaraki) difficult to negotiate him down, but in the end, Hitsugaya had obtained what he wanted.
Training sessions with Zaraki Kenpachi.
And now, here he was, recovering from just the sparring match. Somehow, he didn't think Zaraki was enduring quite the same pain, but then, he had always had a stomach of steel. And Hitsugaya was used to more finesse, less brute strength.
But how amazing had it been! There were no words to describe the pure joy of fighting with the psychotic fellow. It didn't hurt that Zaraki added at the end, right as Hitsugaya had finally escaped, "Well kid, guess you ain't no snowball after all?" Then the demonic light once again reaching his eyes….. "I look forward to beating each other senseless."
Hitsugaya had been seized with the uncontrollable desire to laugh wildly with the sheer exultation running through his veins, but he settled for, "So do I." He had too much self-control to do anything less.
It took him a couple hours to recover, followed by a relatively lengthy nap, after which he felt much, much better.
But only until Matsumoto flashstepped into his quarters, the look on her face illustrating that something grave must have happened.
"Taichou, the soutaichou has ordered an immediate debriefing for all captains, including you. Highly classified. Something has definitely happened, Taichou. I've never seen him quite so….. Well, so urgent."
Paling, Hitsugaya quickly shunpoed to the meeting hall. What could possible have happened? He couldn't imagine. But it must be bad if he needed to break cover.
Had Aizen already made his move? It was long before Hitsugaya would be ready for him. He definitely needed more time to train and recruit his future team members.
Hitsugaya slipped as unobtrusively as possible into the meeting house where the captains were assembling, his worry carefully masked by his traditionally emotionless exterior.
Yamamoto rapped onto the floor three times, indicating the beginning of the confidential meeting.
"Captains," his voice rasped, "we have an emergency crisis on our hands."
The remaining captains stiffened where they stood, coming to greater attention and listening closely.
"Aizen has already made his first move. It's impossible to know whether it's a strike or a continuing accruing of his necessary pieces."
Hitsugaya stared at the soutaichou. What could Aizen have wanted? What had he already done to further his nefarious ends? He knew Hinamori was still safe, so he didn't think it related to getting into heaven at least.
"What happened?," Ukitake-Taichou questioned, voice solemn, but hard as steel.
"One unknown hollow type arrived in Karakura village just 13 hours ago. Apparently employing the assistance of an unknown ghost child, it lured the ryoka boy to an isolated location. According to the information, the ghost child had stolen his badge, preventing him from shifting to his spirit self."
Mayuri was all eyes and ears to the conversation. There had never been records of humans working with hollows before. And certainly an unknown hollow type would provide new experimenting material.
Ukitake had sucked in a horrified gasp. He had been unaware that those other than select captains had known that he'd even given the badge to Kurosaki, let alone Aizen's cronies.
"Some of the other ryoka arrived in time to provide minimal assistance, but were stopped by the arrival of a second hollow, also of unknown type. The ghost boy and the two hollows retreated back to Hueco Mundo with the ryoka, Ichigo Kurosaki, in their grasp, apparently alive." The soutaichou took a moment to look at each of the captains in turn before continuing. "The most disturbing part of all was that the hollows left the other ryoka alive, though wounded heavily. Why?" His most piercing look settled on Hitsugaya, which Hitsugaya understood to mean that the blame for this incident would fall squarely on his shoulders, regardless of whether other captains understood it.
He squared his shoulders, determined that he could bear the burden of it and knowing he had earned it.
"We must know what the traitor wants with such a powerful human. And why he left the others alive. Was there no reason?"
"Are we gonna get him back?," Kenpachi's eyes lit with a fierce glow, clearly illustrating his desire for the fights, not rescue.
Hitsugaya resisted the urge to laugh grimly.
"At this point, I think that would be a very foolish idea. We do not know what awaits us or the boy. We also know very little about the new hollows Aizen has acquired. I think it would be wiser to capture one these hollows for Mayuri-Taichou to examine. I fear that Aizen has already begun trying to use the Hougyoku to alter the nature of a regular hollow."
The soutaichou then rapped the staff on the floor, signaling open forum of ideas from the captains.
Hitsugaya barely listened to the mindless bickering and squabbling. Most of it was simply posturing and he had no interest in it. No, his interest was centered around why the Kurosaki kid was important to Aizen? What did he have to do with any of Aizen's plans? He furrowed his brows, trying to concentrate.
There was, of course, the possibility that the whole thing was a red herring designed to distract from his actual goals. But Hitsugaya didn't particularly think that was an Aizen-type move. Even considering that he'd never really known Aizen at all. So how did Kurosaki figure in to his plans?
Bait?
If that was the case, then for whom?
Experimentation?
Possible, given that Kurosaki was the only shinigami he'd ever heard of who was both human and alive. Very strange combination. Not to mention the unbelievable increase and improvement the boy had demonstrated over only a month period. From zero powers to functional bankai defeating Kuchiki Byakuya. If the rumors were to be believed of course, and they weren't always reliable.
The soutaichou was suddenly rapping on the floor again, regaining control of the meeting. As it was rather unproductive so far. His voice was heavy as he once again dominated the gradually more raucous discussion.
"I am afraid that is not all the information I have to share."
A feeling distinctly like dread settled in firmly around Hitsugaya's shoulder and somewhere in the pit of his stomach.
"Kurosaki has displayed some unusual properties, especially during his battle with Kuchiki-Taichou."
All heads were now swiveled, focusing completely on the soutaichou. The whole of Rukongai could have been dying just outside the door and not a single soul would have noticed.
"He began changing into a hollow."
The bomb dropped.
Hitsugaya felt momentarily weightless, as though there was some bit of information he should be remembering. There was a clue hidden inside this new data that no one had yet put together. Of course, the shock was still flooding his system, so that might be what was stalling it.
"Why would you let Aizen get his hands on a shinigami/human/hollow hybrid? Why in name of Soul Society would you not tell the captains about this knowledge?!," was the angry outburst from Ukitake. He followed it abruptly with a bout of hacking, but Hitsugaya knew everyone was simply grateful he'd actually managed to show up for once.
And that's when the words sunk in, freezing his very blood. The cold of his reiatsu curled out swiftly in ever expanding tendrils as the obviousness of the truth set in.
Somehow, somehow, he had not considered or thought of factoring in the theft of Hougyoku into Aizen's plans!
Kurosaki had been taken for experimentation. Finding the boundary for perfect shinigami/hollow hybrids was his goal. And with the Hougyoku, there was no telling what the results would be. Would the boy's personality even remain, after such endured experiences?
All the captains were staring at him and he realized that ice was coating everything in a thick sheet for a three-yard circumference around him.
Apparently, his burst of reiatsu had interrupted Mayuri's musings on wishing he had known about the boy's strange problem before. Hitsugaya was not particularly sorry for that. Particularly in view of what he had realized.
"The Hougyoku," he managed to bite out. Several of the older captains paled, experience having adequately explained the rest. "Why, Yamamoto-soutaichou? Why would you not tell us such a key piece of information?!" Especially in view of the role he himself had been given.
"I did not think Aizen knew of this. It was a development no one could have anticipated and was only discovered shortly before his departure."
Hitsugaya could have sworn the cold feeling in the pit of his stomach exploded. He was positive that he was swaying on his feet.
"Hitsugaya-Taichou?," Unohana asked with concern. In fact, all the captains were giving him curious, if not worried gazes.
"No one could have anticipated it," he murmured.
They stared at him, not yet understanding.
"No one could have anticipated it," he repeated. "No one. Do you understand what that means?"
Ukitake made an odd strangled noise in his throat and the insane laughter of Mayuri could also be heard. Many pale faces and some confused.
"Aizen already knew about Kurosaki being part-hollow. But there was no way for him to know that and no way to anticipate it. There is only one other conclusion. He planned it. Somehow, everything's been going according to his plan since the very beginning!"
Soi fon was looking at him skeptically. "There's no guarantee of that. Perhaps he simply thought that a human/shinigami hybrid would give him good clues for a shinigami/hollow hybrid, since neither has been properly done before and might be similar."
Hitsugaya merely looked at her in polite disbelief.
"Oh come on, just because you were nearly killed by him doesn't make him psychic. And how could he have planned something he didn't even know how to do? Answer me that."
Hitsugaya looked past her without responding. His responsibility was towards discovering Aizen's plan. It would do no good to have possible spies (though unlikely), warned about him either tracking it down or his current progress. So he turned attention back to the soutaichou.
"The question still remains what we are to do about this problem? How great of an advantage does that give Aizen?"
And so it went around the circle, always questions without answers. By the end, nothing had been solved, excepting tighter patrols and stepped up training. Everyone needed to be ready.
And, though Hitsugaya was fairly certain no one wanted to admit it, they really needed Mayuri to establish breakthroughs with the new hollows. All of them guessed that Aizen's experiments had already begun and that these were results of Hougyoku induced hybrids. As such, there was no telling what gifts or possibilities they might have. Or even how many.
Despite the meeting having accomplished very little, Hitsugaya felt grateful for it. Valuable knowledge had been gained. Knowledge he should have had much sooner, it was true, but better now than never.
Now he just had another piece to fit into the puzzle.
How did the Hougyoku fit into the legend? Why did Aizen need it?
Why was Aizen so obsessed with the idea of hybrids?
Why Kurosaki? Why Hinamori?
And perhaps the most disturbing, why heaven?
Hitsugaya shook his head forcefully. Sleep, then training, then more questions. He only hoped they could wait.
