Welcome to the final chapter of Strength of Pain! This turned out to be a lot more successful than I thought it would be, viewer wise, mostly because it's my first multiple chapter story. Once again, thank you to everyone who's been supportive to me and the story. And without any further adieu, let the finale begin!

Disclaimer: I own Bleach! Muhahaha! gets hit on the head with Zangetsu Ok, so I don't own it…but you didn't have to hit me Ichigo! -starts throwing random objects-


Hitsugaya remembered.

All his memories came flooding back to him at Hinamori's words. You always said you would protect me. Now it's my turn…to protect you. Those simple words penetrated his heart, bringing back a wave of memories and emotions. He remembered the events that had led up to their current situation: the microchip that had been implanted in the small vice-captain's brain and caused her to attack him; him losing control and attacking her himself; the ritual he performed to bring her back; him waking up in this strange realm, and slowly losing a sense of who he was; using his last amount of energy to contact Hinamori one last time. The only thing he didn't know was why the girl was in the realm in the first place.

The answer would have to come later, however, seeing as now wasn't the time to be daydreaming. Hitsugaya stood facing the Kazumi, clutching the blood-soaked Hinamori tightly with one hand and gripping the bloodthirsty demon's sword with the other. The blade dug into his bare hand, causing blood to drip to the ground, but the captain didn't seem to care. The only thing that mattered to him was keeping his precious Hinamori safe, no matter what the cost.

"How is this possible?" Kazumi hissed, his anger seeping through his tough exterior and revealing itself on the madman's face. "My hypnosis has never been broken before. Never! I refuse to believe it!" He was extremely close to losing control of his emotions as he yanked his sword away from the two in front of him.

"Yeah? Well, shut the hell up and believe it," Hitsugaya said, his eyes cold with anger of his own. "Cause we're not playing by your rules anymore." The temperature surrounding them greatly dropped, icicles forming on the ground and the nearby trees. No, the ice master of the Tenth Division was way beyond playing around. He muttered a spell under his breath before saying, "Binding spell number thirty-four: Constricting Art of Pale Lightning!" Instantly, the demented lord was bound in place, though Hitsugaya knew it wouldn't last very long. He took the opportunity to gaze at the small girl in his arms.

"Hinamori," he whispered, reaching down and brushing a stray hair from her face. "I'm sorry it took me so long to remember. You got hurt because of me again. But I'll make that bastard pay. I swear."

Hinamori smiled. "I don't blame you, Shirou-chan. It wasn't your fault. What matters is that you're back to normal now." She was crying again, but this time, the tears streaming down the face were tears of happiness. Hitsugaya returned her smile and gently set her on the ground, promising to heal her as soon as he was done.

"Don't get too cocky, brat!" Kazumi said, his body slowly returning to normal. Indeed, the effects of Hitsugaya's kidou spell hadn't lasted long at all. Hitsugaya glared at him, one eyebrow twitching uncontrollably. "What did you just call me?" Even now, about to kick some serious ass, the small captain hated to be called a brat. Or anything that implied that he was a kid based on his appearance, for that matter.

Kazumi let out an insane laugh. "I called you a brat. What are you going to do about it, brat?" At this, Hitsugaya placed a hand on his Zanpakuto's hilt. "You're going to regret that," he said, releasing the sword from its sheath. "Descend upon the frozen sky, Hyourinmaru!" Instantly, his Zanpakuto changed into a large dragon, made entirely of ice and water. Hyourinmaru was now in its Shi Kai form; Hitsugaya didn't want to unleash his Ban Kai until he could see and judge his opponent's strength.

Hyourinmaru sped towards Kazumi, turning the grass and trees it touched into ice. Anyone hit with the attack head-on would turn into a human ice cube. Or, in this case, a demented demon lord ice cube. Kazumi quickly put his sword back into its sheath, held both hands out in front of him, and muttered a short spell under his breath. Right as Hyourinmaru was about to hit, a kind if shield formed at the tips of his outstretched hands. He struggled to keep the barrier up as the Zanpakuto hammered into it, causing him to flinch each time it hit the shield. After a moment, it retreated back to Hitsugaya and turned back into its normal appearance of a regular sword.

"Not bad, brat," Kazumi said, panting slightly. Due to the suddenness of the attack, he hadn't had the time to put up a proper shield; the one he had managed to make had almost collapsed under the pressure of Hyourinmaru. He smiled. "But if that's the best you can do, then you're as good as dead."

Hitsugaya smirked. "I'm already dead, dumbass," he said, holding Hyourinmaru at his side. "And that's my line. If all your little shields are as flimsy as that one, then this will be a piece of cake."

"I told you not to get cocky, kid," Kazumi said, once again taking out his sword. Twitch. "If you think that's the extent of my abilities, then you really are just a naïve little boy." Twitch. Twitch. "Just stand there and watch as I kick your ass, brat!" Twitch. Twitch. Twitch.

Hitsugaya snapped. Once or twice he could take, but being insulted like that three times in a row was too much. His grip on Hyourinmaru tightened as he shouted, "Ban Kai!" As he said this, Hyourinmaru began to change again, only this time into something different. Bright blue wings made of ice shot from Hitsugaya's back, making the air that much colder. The actual sword stayed pretty much the same, with only a few minor changes. This was Ban Kai, the final and most powerful stage of a Zanpakuto.

Behind him, Hinamori shakily stood up as she watched the battle. When was the last time she had seen his Ban Kai? Had she even seen it before at all? Her memory was blurred as she focused only on her beloved Shirou-chan. She felt Tobiume pulse at her side, wanting to join the battle. Hinamori wanted to help fight too, but she didn't know if she would actually help or only get in the way due to her current condition. Her wounds were still bleeding, though she had cast a small healing spell with some of her remaining energy so she wouldn't die of blood loss before the fight was over; as a result, the blood came out in small drops instead of gushing out all at once. No, she decided, she would only be a burden if she tried to fight. At the moment, all she could do was watch and hope for the best. "Shirou-chan…"

Hitsugaya charged at Kazumi, holding his sword in an outstretched hand. His speed is incredible! The demon thought as he barely dodged the attack. Hitsugaya landed nimbly on the ground, then took off towards Kazumi again, who cursed silently to himself as he once again created a shield. This one was even weaker than the last, and easily shattered beneath the force of Hyourinmaru. The devil was flung backwards, sailing through the air until he came to a halt against one of the ice-covered trees. Hitsugaya stood in front of him, panting slightly, his Zanpakuto pointed at Kazumi's throat.

"You're annoying," the captain said, glaring at the demon in front of him. "And you hurt Hinamori. I can never forgive you for that." He was about to deliver the final blow when, to his surprise, Kazumi smiled.

"Do you actually think you've won?" he laughed. "You're even dumber than I thought." He brought out his hand, which he had been hiding behind his back. In it, he held a bright purple ball of swirling energy that was about the size of a grapefruit. Before Hitsugaya had a chance to analyze the situation, the ball was thrust into his stomach, sending him flying backwards this time. He landed with a loud THUD on the frozen ground, Hyourinmaru clattering on the ice beside him.

"Shirou-chan!" Hinamori cried, rushing over to him. Hitsugaya sat up, a hand on the wound in his stomach. It was bleeding, but it wasn't cause for worry. Still, try telling Hinamori that. "Shirou-chan, are you alright? Does it hurt? Can I help? Does it-?"

"Hinamori, calm down!" Hitsugaya said, standing back up. "I'm fine. You're hurt worse than I am; I should be the one who's worried." He smiled, placing a hand on her head, just like she used to do to him when they were younger. "Relax, ok? I'll beat this guy, and then we can go home." Of course, he didn't know for sure if he could go home, but he figured the psychotic man in front of him wouldn't be trying so hard to stop them if he couldn't even leave at all.

He turned back to Kazumi, who had pulled himself out of the tree he had been blown into and was standing with his sword outstretched, ready to continue the fight. The wounds he had received earlier didn't seem to bother him much, though they were still bleeding. The disturbing thing about the blood was that it was black instead of red. Pure Black. It stood out greatly on the icy ground, contrasting with the dried blood on his sword.

"You're a persistent bastard, aren't you?" Hitsugaya said, holding out Hyourinmaru. When he had been hit with Kazumi's attack, it had unwillingly returned back to its normal form; the brilliant blue wings on his back had disappeared as well. Still, he was feeling somewhat confident. The wound he had received had nearly stopped bleeding without the need of a healing spell after just a few minutes, and it hadn't even hurt much to begin with. He had been thrown to the ground more because of the surprise of the attack rather than the actual pain.

"You're pretty annoying yourself," Kazumi replied. He had decided not to call the deadly captain 'brat' anymore. Or kid. Or any of the other insults that he had shouted before. Although he hated to admit it, the attack from his Ban Kai had hurt. A lot. No, making the Shinigami angry was not a good idea. Well, angrier than he already was, anyway. The reddish glint in Hitsugaya's eye proved that he was still mad, most likely about the injuries he had given Hinamori. That may not have been such a good idea either, he thought. Though her blood was tasty…

Hitsugaya made the first move, and round two began. He charged towards Kazumi, once again releasing his Zanpakuto's Shi Kai. The giant water-ice dragon sped towards the crazed devil for the second time that day, making the frigid air so cold that Hinamori increased the power of her small Kidou spell so it gave off more heat. Kazumi, not trusting his shield, attempted to dodge it; Hyourinmaru brushed against his arm, causing it to instantly become covered in ice. Luckily for him, it wasn't the arm that held his sword.

"Attack spell number fourty-seven: Strike of Violet Wind!"

Kazumi looked up just in time to be pummeled by a gust of swirling violet light; it was like a tornado of color, shimmering in the dim light of Hinamori's flame. He slid backward on the icy ground, digging his frozen arm into the ice to stop his violent slide. The ice surrounding his arm shattered as he skidded to a stop, the jagged pieces flying in different directions; many of them sliced his arm, and soon his black blood was dripping from the many cuts that covered it. "Damn…" he muttered, as Hitsugaya charged towards him again, Hyourinmaru back to normal, prepared to thrust it through for the final blow…

And stopped.

Hitsugaya fell to one knee, gasping; beads of sweat rolled down his face as he clutched the wound he had received earlier. He looked down and saw that the dried blood had turned black and was bubbling violently. His hand began to hurt, and he removed it from the wound only to find various burn marks covering it. The bubbling blood was like acid in the way it had burned some of the skin off his hand. There was only one thing it could be.

"Ah, I see my poison had begun to take effect," Kazumi said. He had returned to his feet and walked over, stopping when he stood towering over the small captain. "I'm sure you were marveling at the fact that you felt little pain after my earlier attack, even though it hit you directly, correct? That's because it wasn't supposed to hurt. The purpose of the attack was not to necessarily harm you at the time, but you inject a poison into your blood that would start working later. It seems that 'later' would be now." He smirked, kicking Hitsugaya and knocking him over onto the hard ground.

"Shirou-chan!" Hinamori cried as she began running over to him. She stopped, however, when he gave her a sharp look.

"Stay there, Hinamori!" Hitsugaya shouted, shakily standing up to face the demon in front of him. "I don't want to risk you getting hurt." He gave her a small smile. "Besides, this is nothing. I've been in worse situations." One of the situations he was referring to was his battle with Aizen, when he had nearly been killed after just one strike of the traitorous Shinigami's Zanpakuto. He gritted his teeth at the memory. Everything that's happened has been because of that bastard, he thought. And I know he'll come back eventually. This guy is nothing compared to him. If I can't beat this demented idiot, then what chance will I have at beating Aizen when that time comes? He shot another glance at Hinamori, who was clutching one hand tightly in front of her in worry. I couldn't protect you then, Hinamori. But next time I will. I swear.

"You should pay attention, brat!" Kazumi said, angry at the fact that his opponent had looked away from him. He raised his hand in a fist and brought it down, deciding to punch some sense into the small captain. Hitsugaya, however, had other plans. He ducked, dodging the blow, and raised his knee up into Kazumi's gut. The evil lord doubled over in pain, the wind temporarily knocked out of him. The Shinigami then brought his knee down, only to raise the entire leg to kick him in the exact same spot. Powered by anger and promise, the kick was strong enough to send Kazumi staggering backwards.

"You really think a little poison will take care of me that easily?" Hitsugaya said, picking up Hyourinmaru, which he had dropped when he had fallen from the poison. "You obviously don't know anything; about Shinigami, or about me. Shinigami, Death Gods, Soul Reapers…call us what you will. We were trained to fight Hollows, or whatever other bastards come our way. A captain is the highest rank in all of the thirteen squads, meaning that they're the strongest in all of Soul Society. I'm a captain, which means I'm a hell of a lot stronger than you. But you know what?" Hitsugaya paused, kicking Kazumi again as he tried to stand up. "That's not why I'm fighting you. I'm not fighting to prove who's strongest; it's because I'm strong that I'm fighting. Because I'm strong, it's my job to protect those that are important to me. You happened to hurt the person that I care about the most. For that, you will pay. Ban Kai!"

Once again, the icy wings appeared as Hyourinmaru transformed for the final time. Hitsugaya's eyes gleamed with anger as he thrust his Zanpakuto forward. A cloud of dust surrounded the two as the energy released from the young captain caused the ice covering the ground to crack and explode. When the debris cleared, only Hitsugaya remained. "Damn," he muttered. "He ran away."

You hurt the person that I care about the most. Hitsugaya's words repeated over and over inside Hinamori's head. A slight blush appeared on her face as she thought about them. Did he really mean that? She wondered. Does he really care about me that much?

Hitsugaya calmly walked over, the blood on his stomach gradually returning to normal. The effects of the poison may have been fairly strong, but they didn't appear to last long. He was soon standing directly in front of the small vice-captain. The two stood staring at each other for a moment, each looking deeply into the other's eyes. It was Hitsugaya who broke the silence.

"Thank you, Hinamori," he said, embracing her. Hinamori was startled by the sudden display of emotion. "F-for what?" she managed to mutter as her blush deepened.

"For coming all this way for me," the captain replied, slowly unwrapping his arms from around the small girl's body. "Even after what I did to you…"

Hinamori vigorously shook her head. "Don't say that!" she said. It was her turn to surprise Hitsugaya. Rarely did he see her so worked up. "It wasn't your fault! Unohana-taichou told me everything that happened. If it was anyone's fault, it was mine for trusting Aizen-taichou…I mean, Aizen in the first place. It was my fault for being so vulnerable to the chip he implanted inside me." She once again pressed herself into Hitsugaya's chest. "And after all that, you still gave your life for me. How could I not do everything I could to bring you back?" Hitsugaya was silent for a moment before once again wrapping her arms around her. And there they stood, neither one wanting to break the embrace.

It was then that Hinamori felt it. It started as a small tingling sensation, then gradually grew stronger and spread throughout her body. At first she was confused; then she remembered Urahara's words.

"We're out of time!" she cried, pulling away from Hitsugaya. "We have to go!" She grabbed his hand and began running in what she hoped was the right direction, dragging the confused captain behind her. Along the way, she explained about how she had gotten there, and that the time they had left must have been reaching its limit.

Hinamori was actually happy when she saw the river of blood. It meant that they had indeed gone in the right direction and were nearing the exit. She began to panic, however, when they arrived at what she thought was the place that she had entered and saw that there was nothing there: no sign of an exit that would lead them back to the real world.

Suddenly, a small light appeared; tiny at first, then it began to grow larger. Hinamori sighed with relief when she realized that the gate between the two worlds must have been opening. She looked at Hitsugaya, whose hand she was still clutching tightly. To her delight, he didn't try to pull away; instead, he looked very content to be holding the small girl's hand.

"Shirou-chan?" she said, looking down slightly as the blush returned to her face. "D-did you mean what you said? That I was the person you cared about the most?" She felt embarrassed for asking, but she had to know if he had really meant what he said. When she looked back up, Hitsugaya was smiling.

"Silly Momo," he said, squeezing her hand tightly. "Of course I meant it. You're very important to me. Why do you think I became a Shinigami in the first place? I wanted to protect you. When we were growing up, you would always look after me because you were older. So I vowed that I would become strong enough to do the same for you." He reached out and embraced her, hugging her much more tightly than before. "Hinamori. I love you."

Hinamori's eyes opened wide as she heard those words. Her eyes filled with tears once again, but these were tears of joy. Never in her life had she felt as happy as she did then. She wrapped her own arms around him and returned the hug. "Shirou-chan…" she sniffed, the tears pouring out like never before. "I love you too." She pressed herself deep into his chest as he stroked her hair, smiling. She looked up, quickly wiping her tears, and leaned forward.

In the growing light, the two kissed. It was a sweet and blissful moment that neither wanted to end. Then they were enveloped in the bright glow, and were soon on their way home, where they could spend an eternity together.

The End.