"At ease, men." Hitsugaya commanded calmly, his tone even. He glanced over at his two human recruits, watching them out of the corner of his eye. Both were trembling from the effort it had taken to call out their reiryoku, but they were slowly getting stronger.
"Agent Pointe." he snapped suddenly, causing the woman to jump, her dark eyes wide. He watched her for a moment, his green gaze hard and calculating. Then he softened a bit, his scowl lightening into a neutral, flat line.
"You did very well today, Pointe-san." he asserted then, a pleased glint entering his keen glare. "Your Fullbring has developed nicely."
The agent started and saluted, the hint of a smile coming to her lips as she accepted her commander's dry praise. The gold bangles on her wrist jingled a bit. Hitsugaya glanced at them - the source of her Fullbring. Then he glanced at her companion, gaze lingering on the silver pistol in Callaghan's pocket.
"Callaghan, you also did well, though your aim still needs work." he said, and the brown-haired man straightened up, his shoulders rolling back. It was clear that both of the humans were pleased to hear his approval finally, after he'd spent the last few weeks critiquing them so terribly. He sighed then and made an executive decision.
"Therefore, as of this moment forward, I am declaring Pine Team ready for active duty." he said firmly, his words eliciting sharp grins from the six current members of Pine Team. They were still a skeleton crew, as the search for agents with viable reiatsu was still ongoing, but even a skeleton crew was better than nothing. Hitsugaya's brow creased as he remembered the headlines in the New York Times yesterday.
A Hollow had been sighted in New York. It had been walking the fringes of the city, chasing after a young Plus soul, but it had been seen by no less than four eyewitnesses.
Four.
Before the Battle of New York, there had been less than 8,000 people on the whole of planet Earth that had the ability to see Plus spirits - let alone Hollows, or shinigami, both of which required higher Spiritual Power to observe. Now there were four in one neighborhood. The shinigami hadn't been seen killing the beast, given the high quality of the reishi their bodies were comprised of, but the Hollow had been sighted. Therefore, the SRD needed to have an active team now, before people started asking questions that the shinigami couldn't answer. The shinigami needed to be able to pass themselves off as SRD members when the time came - needed to be able to act like living agents and not as non-humans. If they couldn't blend in...if the SRD couldn't take the credit...then the Soul Society might be exposed.
They couldn't afford for that to happen.
"Tachibana." he snapped, causing one of his Thirteenth Seats to snap to attention.
"Commander!" he responded, his voice strong, and Hitsugaya turned on his heel, executing a flawless pivot, and started towards the door.
"Equip all members of your team with a Modified Soul Phone." he ordered over his shoulder. "And give them their uniforms, trackers included. I want a lock on your locations at all times when you're on duty."
The shinigami man bowed to his captain and organized his five underlings - three unseated shinigami and the two humans - as Hitsugaya strode swiftly from the training room. He smirked a bit, the thunk of his tan combat boots on the concrete floor keeping time for his thoughts, which were swirling around his thoughts in slow circles.
It was the first time in several days that he'd been the only one of the Avengers present in the SRD's Canadian-soil complex, and oddly enough, he found himself missing the constant banter and and camaraderie that had surrounded the group he'd inexplicably found himself part of. The absence of Steve was an especially acute ache, but Fury had called the taller soldier up to raid a Hydra base not two days previous. And as per the Tri-World Alliance strict agreement...Steve was a human first. He had a duty to SHIELD before the SRD. Besides, he was due back late that night, so it wasn't as if the man wasn't coming back.
And anyhow, recently the Mind Stone had become restless, and he wasn't particularly keen on being subjected to a crapload of security and Steve-panic simply because Yellow was a hairsbreadth from maturity.
Hitsugaya raised his arms above his head and cracked his back. He'd been sitting stiffly in his office all week, or so it seemed, trying to complete the paperwork that Hinamori and Matsumoto kept piling on his desk. They had been running back and forth between Seireitei and the SRD for days, trying to keep up with the constant flow. He scowled. At least Matsumoto was doing her work now. Hinamori - thank god - had managed to bully the older woman into doing it.
Slowly, Toushiro swept back along the concrete hallway to the long hallway where all the officers had their personal rooms. The baby pink on Matsumoto and Hinamori's door had finally transmuted to an odd lavender-and-hot-pink gradient that personally disgusted him, but he wouldn't dare mention that to either lieutenant. With a roll of his eyes, he stepped past Steve's plain blue and Natasha's velvety maroon doors and arrived at his room. He'd somehow been sandwiched between Steve and Thor (whose door was gold, of course), and he wasn't entirely sure that was an accident. After all, they were the ones with access to the Bifrost Bridge, should he have another episode.
He pressed his palm to the scanner and waited a brief moment for his dark green door to slide open before stepping inside his quarters and kicking off the clunky boots. With a pneumatic hiss, the door sealed itself behind him, leaving him completely alone in the small box he called home now.
With a massive groan, he let himself pitch forward onto his bed, landing face first in the immaculately clean sheets. For a moment, he simply lay there, completely content to smother himself in the pillows, but eventually decided better of it and rolled on his side so he could breathe.
He sighed, closed his eyes and sank deep into his inner world with practiced ease, slipping through the cold ripples of gentle pressure on his face. For a moment, he did absolutely nothing, relishing the feeling of the spiritual snow falling on his face and clinging to his dark eyelashes, the soft breaths of freezing air on the side of his neck. All around him, the snow was soft and pillowlike. With a slight jolt of realization, the young shinigami realized that it had been several months since he'd gone to sleep inside his inner world - an oft-used mechanism for communion with the more powerful Zanpakutou spirits.
"Come now, Little One." Hyourinmaru scolded gently. "Open your eyes."
Toushiro groaned again, but a faint smirk lifted his lips and he complied. Hyourinmaru's massive scarlet eye loomed over him, as large across as he was tall, and cold mist puffed from the draconic nostrils about two and a half meters from where his legs were buried in the pure white snow. Hyourinmaru was massive, easily twice the size of a Boeing 747, and each of his wings sent snow flying hundreds of feet into the atmosphere at the slightest movement.
Soaring high in the dark, moonlit sky of his inner world, six multicolored, humanoid figures soared around, glowing like fireworks in the bitterly cold air. Toushiro gazed past the iced ridges of his Zanpakutou's gargantuan snout and smiled faintly, amused by the sight of the six frolicking in the star-studded black dome. Then he sighed and sat up, brushing the snow from his clothes. Hyourinmaru lay his head down by his master's side, puffing calmly, through there was concern in his eyes.
"Tessa!" Toushiro called suddenly, leaning back against the skein of silvered blue ice forming Hyourinmaru's massive coils. The blue figure in the sky started, the sound of his voice echoing endlessly within his inner world, and then, the other colors in tow, Tessa fell back to the glacial land beneath her. She crumpled into the snow, laughing, her glowing blue hair casting shadows on the snow about her, but then the other five followed suit, splaying out in their host's arctic wasteland with smiles on their multicolored faces.
"Tessa-chan, please." Hyourinmaru remonstrated gently, and with his thunderous rumble the six fell silent, though they were still smiling.
Tessa stood up, the glowing blue contours of her body flickering and warping, and scooped Orange up in her arms. As she and the other Stones were made entirely of energy, their humanoid forms were insubstantial. But they were very good at maintaining some semblance of form now. Across from her, Yellow mirrored her stance with Green balanced precariously on his hip. He was now also a young adult in appearance, and Toushiro could sense that he was getting ready to declare his identity.
"Animen." he said suddenly. Yellow glanced up at the others, smiling in his solemn way, a bright golden light spiraling over his luminous yellow skin. The infant Green whined.
"My name is Animen." Yellow declared. Toushiro quirked an eyebrow, but he'd felt the breakaway coming on for several weeks now. Tessa positively beamed at the Mind Stone.
"Animen." Hitsugaya said, rolling the word around on his tongue, tasting the Latin roots through the haze of gold. He nodded finally, jade gaze fixating on the yellow Stone.
"It's a good name." he approved, and Animen let a smile break out on his face.
"Then I suppose it's time for me to physically manifest." he said calmly. Toushiro blinked in surprise, but before he could say anything Purple, Red, and Tessa had tackled him. Orange and Green were set into snow and they babbled happily, watching. Animen stepped over the snow, still glowing brightly, then knelt before his white-headed host. Purple, ever the twitchy one, had already sat on the shinigami's stomach, smirking fiercely. Tessa and Red each had one of the young teenager's wrists in their hands, gripping as tightly as their pure-energy bodies would allow.
Hitsugaya sighed, a long-suffering sigh that almost sounded like the deep, calming breath that Steve often had to use whenever Tony was doing stupid crap. Then he stared lazily at the Mind Stone, jade gaze narrow. He hadn't bothered to struggle.
"Explain, if you please." he said sternly. As one, each of the six looked a bit guilty, especially Animen, who scuffed his glowing golden foot against the white snow.
"...I have to fuse my physical form with you." he said sheepishly. "And...well, considering that you have a flesh-and-blood body, it will probably hurt."
Toushiro shrugged.
"As long as you don't whiplash around erratically, I don't care." he said. He lifted his chin, exposing a bit more of the long, looping tattoo that curled down around his chest like an overly large necklace. "Hurry up already. I think Hinamori wants to see me. Her reiatsu is tingeing my sense of smell."
Animen nodded and touched the small patch of golden skin on Hitsugaya's chest, his face probing. Tessa blinked suddenly, then drew upon her spacetime warping skills and dragged the Mind Stone's tiny, rock-like form through the dimensions until Animen and his stone body overlapped for just a moment. Then the tiny yellow stone sunk down into his skin, taking its place on the tattoo linking the Stones together.
With an awful jolt, he was forced from his inner world, and though he could not see the Yellow Stone thanks to his gigai's concealing power, he could feel the searing sealing of his skin against the smooth gemstone. Hitsugaya bit his lower lip on the howl that tried to escape him. His chest was burning, the sudden influx of the Mind Stone's power wreaking havoc on his body as the reishi-made cells tried to adjust, and for the first time he was grateful that he'd been unconscious when he'd fused with Tessa.
But this fusion took place with startling alacrity, and suddenly the pain was gone, leaving only a subtle wash of soothing power flooding his every pore. The difference between Tessa's ebullient energy and Animen's calm surge was stunning, but the dichotomy left Toushiro feeling significantly more complete than he had previously. He sighed, and opened his eyes, trembling a little bit. He wasn't as weak as he had been after the Tesseract's power had melded with his soul, but movement was definitely an effort. He reached up, touched tattoo looping down over his collarbones, and flared his power a little bit.
Immediately, he felt both the Mind Stone and the Space Stone swell from the skin of his gigai, smooth and cool under his fingertips. Animen and Tessa twined their thoughts effortlessly with his, and after a bit of a stretch, the other four joined them.
"Onii-sama, are you well?" Animen asked softly. His tone was respectful and calm - a godsend, surely, Toushiro thought. He ground the heels of his hands against his eyes.
"Somehow." he replied. "I suppose Tessa's presence in my body has conditioned my cells to accept all of your powers?"
Animen's nod wasn't seen, but rather felt in the back of Toushiro's spiraling mind.
"Yes, Onii-sama." the Mind Stone said helpfully. "Tessa-nee's power was the catalyst to spark the change in you. Now that you are compatible, the merging is much quicker and less painful, though I'm afraid you will still be physically and mentally tender for a few hours."
Toushiro shrugged and sat up, glancing at the door. He could sense Hinamori on the other side, sense her hesitation and longing, and sighed deeply.
"I'll just have to deal with that, then." he decided firmly. "But thank you for the warning, Animen-bouzo."
With a swell of cautious affection, the six retreated from his mind, though Tessa and Animen now lingered permanently in his subconscious, humming veins of blue and yellow in his mind's eye. And Toushiro waved the door open.
Hinamori tiptoed hesitantly in, her sweet face a bit nervous, her dark eyes soulful as ever. She stood awkwardly in the entrance to her brother's room for a full minute before toeing off her flat shoes and stepping into the room, closing the door behind her. Hitsugaya watched her carefully, his expression neutral, his emotions firmly tamped down. Then he hunched his shoulders forward a bit and forced the hints of a smile to come to his face.
"Hinamori." he said, his voice gentle. "What is it?"
The pretty lieutenant blinked at him, then cross his room and tugged the chair from under his desk and sat in it, her legs folded in a crisscrossing manner beneath her. She put her chin on the back of the chair, folding her arms beneath her head and tried to return the forced smile.
"I wanted to see you, Hitsugaya-kun." she said, pouting a bit. "...I've missed you lately. You're always so busy."
The forced smile on Toushiro's pale face melted into something real then, and he reached out with his reiatsu, twining his icy power around his sister tense frame. She squealed a bit.
"H-Hitsugaya-kun! That's cold!" she protested, smiling now, the expression illuminating her face. His smirk didn't flag in the slightest, but he did retract his reiatsu, though the jade of his eyes still danced with mirth. Hinamori stuck out her tongue at him, her pout all the more pronounced.
"Mou, Shiro-chan, stop laughing at me!" she groused, and Toushiro stiffened, a flash of playful annoyance snapping like lightning across his face.
"Oi, I have a title! Use it, Bedwetter Momo!" he retorted, smirking again at the blush of embarrassment on his sister's face. She squawked in indignation.
"Hey, I don't wet the bed anymore!" she groused, sulking. For a moment the siblings glared at each other, and though the contest lacked the heat of anger it was still rather intense for a simple staring contest. Finally, Hinamori retracted her gaze, her moue lighthearted rather than sullen.
"Eh, you're as stubborn as ever." she commented lightly, and gradually Toushiro felt the icy barriers slide back over his heart. He just shrugged.
"I guess." he dismissed the matter carelessly. Then he flopped back against the headrest of his bed, leaning against the smooth wood with something like morbid curiosity in his eyes. "So, what do you need?"
Hinamori rolled her eyes and frowned at her brother.
"I don't need a reason to want to hang out with my little brother." she said decisively, conveniently missing the way Hitsugaya's brows knitted together in distaste at the mention of the taboo adjective 'little' and instead focusing on the packet of amanattou she held in her hands. "Besides, Obaa-san gave me some amanattou to share with you."
At the mention of the sweet, Hitsugaya tensed a bit, his jade gaze flitting to the package in his sister's hand. Momo giggled a bit at the almost childish look in his eyes. It was clear that if he hadn't had such self-control, then he'd probably be drooling. Taking pity on her brother, she tore open the top of the package and rattled the candied beans inside, holding the pouch out.
"Here you go, Shiro-chan!" Hinamori said, her brown eyes twinkling. "You first."
Hitsugaya treated his sister to a rare moment of gentleness, his jade gaze softening somewhat.
"Thanks, Momo."
The pair sat in relative silence for a while, demolishing the package of amanattou at a steady rate. Surprisingly, Toushiro was less subdued with the sweet candies than usual, and Hinamori tried not to stare as the young captain stuffed a small handful into his mouth, filling one of his cheeks to chipmunk-like proportions, but she couldn't help giggling at the image. Then the emerald stare shot onto Hinamori, looking like a deer-in-the-headlights. Too late, Hinamori realized her mistake, and as her brother stiffened and began to slowly chew she flinched.
"Wait, Shiro-chan..." she tried. "Don't be embarrassed - it was really cute."
The young man swallowed and shot his sister a dark look.
"I'm not cute, Hinamori." he said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest. Hinamori's face fell, and she bit her lower lip, trying hard to suppress the tears in the corners of her eyes.
"...what's wrong with being cute, Hitsugaya-kun?" she asked quietly. Toushiro refused to look at her, instead turning his face to the wall and sighing.
"Nothing's wrong with being cute, Hinamori." he said finally. "But cuteness doesn't win battles or protect people or solve problems, and as a captain that's what I have to do. I don't have time to be cute."
Hinamori's temper spiked, and she stood up, glaring at her brother.
"Fine." she said suddenly, her tone bitter. "Apparently cute people like me can't win battles or protect people or solve problems then."
Toushiro's head whipped around so fast that Hinamori was surprised that he neck didn't snap, his green eyes wide.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it." he argued, but Hinamori held up a hand to stop him midsentence.
"I just want us to be friends again, Hitsugaya-kun!" she said tearfully. "But every time I catch you acting like you're having fun, you clam up! And I don't understand why - don't you trust me?"
Hitsugaya was rigid, every muscle in his body taut with strain, and when he spoke again his words were fast and pained, like he'd chosen to get the explanation over with as quickly as possible.
"I do trust you, Hinamori. But a captain can't show weakness, and if I show that I'm 'having fun' then it will be seen as childishness. As a captain, especially considering my level of experience and my appearance, childishness will get me killed."
Hinamori shook her head.
"You don't know that, Shiro-chan!" she protested. Toushiro shot to his feet.
"I do know that!" his voice grew a bit louder, his gaze a bit more stern, and in that moment Hinamori lost sight of Hitsugaya Toushiro and saw only Hitsugaya-taicho. She quailed, feeling completely lost.
"Three days after I took the oath of captaincy, the Shihoin clan tried to assassinate me!" he snapped. "Three days after I put on my haori, two rogue members of the Onmitsukido tried to slit my throat! Don't tell me that having fun doesn't make me appear weak, because it does, Momo! I've almost paid with my life for making that mistake - I won't do it again!"
Hinamori froze, shaking. She fisted her hands in the soft fabric of her loose black pants, trying to keep her trembling to a minimum, then spoke, her voice cracking.
"...Hitsugaya-kun, why didn't you tell me?" she whispered, looking up at the ice-captain with pleading eyes. And he softened again, his cold exterior melting away to reveal her little brother again. He came over to her, set his hands on her shoulders and looked up into her eyes. Even for all his power, he still looked three years younger than she was, and was correspondingly shorter.
"I didn't want you to worry, Hinamori." he said tersely, his face so terribly solemn, yet he seemed like he'd been stretched thin, stressed to the point of cracking. "You had just become a lieutenant and you were so happy, so joyful...I didn't want to spoil all that with my problems. You deserved the joy you were feeling."
Hinamori's brown eyes widened in shock.
"But you'd just become a captain!" she argued back. "If anything, that deserves more happiness and praise than my appointment as a lieutenant!"
Hitsugaya just smiled, though the expression seemed strange on his face.
"Becoming captain didn't bring me joy the way becoming a lieutenant did for you, Hinamori." he said, his voice oddly strained. "Between spoiling your fun and relieving my own suffering, there was a lesser evil, and I chose it."
"But Hitsugaya-kun-"
"No buts, Hinamori." Hitsugaya cut in, his voice cool, his tone trembling just a bit. For the first time, Hinamori realized that her brother's hands were shaking slightly, and she flinched a bit at the sight, baffled by his tension. Toushiro smiled unsteadily.
"I made myself a promise, Hinamori." he told her. "I'm not letting you get hurt. Never again."
He said the last part so quietly that she almost didn't catch it, but she did manage to hear the brief phrase. For half a moment, she didn't understand, but by the time her eyes had rounded and her hand had flitted to the scar on her chest the white-haired preteen had turned away from her, hiding the green of his masklike glare from her sight.
"Hinamori...thank you for the amanattou." he continued softly. Momo felt the tears well in her eyes, but she knew a dismissal when she heard one.
"You're welcome...good-night, Hitsugaya-kun."
She turned and left.
He dreamed that night.
Review, please! :)
