凍らさ天使パート2

Iced Angels part 2

"When he spoke, what tender words he used. So softly, that like flakes of feathered snow, they melted as they fell." ~John Dryded

"Your name is Hyourinmaru and I am Toshiro Hitsugaya. I am your master." Toshiro repeated. They stared eye to eye for a moment, their gazes as sharp as daggers. Hyourinmaru then chuckled softly with disbelief.

"Don't make me laugh. There's no way a mere child such as yourself could be my master." he denied. Toshiro gasped and clenched his fists tight. Fury grew like a fire. He was only a bit furious that his own Zanpakutō had regarded him as just a mere child, but that it appeared he forgot all about him.

"Are you serious? Have you really forgotten me?" he questioned.

"Child, did you truly think that I would believe you?" Hyourinmaru countered. The flames of rage got hotter inside him.

"What has Murumasa done to you?" Toshiro asked.

"Murumasa has no say in my actions. Everything that happened is a blur. When I was released from my master I lost all my memories." He clarified. His eyes grew wide with shock.

"You lost all of your memories…" Toshiro repeated under his breath.

"I've been working under Murumasa for the time but my real goal is to find my true master." Hyourinmaru said. "Because of my power I know that I must belong to a very powerful Soul Reaper, of captain level perhaps; which is why I'm certain that my master couldn't be a child like you."

He gritted his teeth and clenched both his fists tighter. It was bad enough that Hyourinmaru could not remember him but it was almost literally adding insult to injury with Hyourinmaru affronting him. His patience was wearing very thin.

"My powers may be immature at the moment, but that doesn't change the fact that I am your master!" Toshiro shouted with anger. He interrupted.

"If you keep insisting that you are my master then you should prove it to me." he said, raising his katana and then suddenly vanishing before his eyes. Toshiro didn't turn around it was too late for him. But, he managed to instinctively raise his blade and block his Zanpakutō's attack. He spun around only to be struck again and sent dragging his feet through the coarse ground, sending up puffs of dust. Toshiro tried forcing himself to stop but it didn't work. Soon he saw a large piercing shard of ice coming straight through the soil clouds. He sprang up, doing a flip and planting his feet on the façade of a flat stony surface. The rock collapsed as he pushed himself off it raising his sword to attack Hyourinmaru. He blocked his strike and sent Toshiro back into the air. He turned his head and saw his freed Zanpakutō standing idly. He seized his opportunity.

"Bakudo number 63. Sajo Sabaku!" Toshiro casted. A blindingly bright bolt shot down like lightning then coiled around Hyourinmaru to constrict him. He showed no signs of concern as he watched Toshiro land back on the ground.

"That won't work." He said as icy mist form ominously. The luminous chains turned into ice and inevitably fell apart in tiny shards like a broken glass.

"What the…!" was all Toshiro could say as he watched in disbelief and shock. The weather suddenly changed. Dark shadowy clouds swirled in the sky and soon obscured it. Harsh gales of bitter and unforgiving wintriness raged and bellowed furiously around them. Soon rose the ice dragon of Hyourinmaru, it's roar drowning out the sounds of booming thunder and shouting winds.

"Toshiro!" Ichigo yelled as the thick ice pillars from Sennen Hyoro continued lazily circling around him. With no warning at all they collided trapping him. Michiko could only watch in terror until she heard ice cracking. Her encasement was weaker now. She mustered her power. She was unable to perform shikai so she was forced to rely solely on her Burakkurōzu.

"Tenshi no Ikari: Burakkurōzu!" she shouted. Black shadowy flames sliced through the ice cleanly like a dagger.

"Please stop this Hyourinmaru!" she pleaded him. He ignored her and his spiritual pressure flared causing stinging ice to form around her sword wielding hand and the chilly gales to push her back.

"Stop it Hyourinmaru, I am your opponent!" Toshiro yelled. A red fire formed in his palm. "Hado number 31. Shakkahō!" he casted, firing the discharge at him. Hyourinmaru simply caught the flame in his hand and turned it into solid ice.

"Couldn't you hear me when I said that won't work?" he retorted as he crushed the crimson ice in his hand. The dragon continued to roar and then set its sights on Toshiro going after him. It caught the snow haired captain in its piercing ice jaws, forcing him to the ground, turning into water in mid splash, then returning to solid ice. Hyourinmaru cautiously approached. The ice cracked and a piece broke off revealing the wary captain. He panted.

"The Zanpakutō…" he said in an exhausted hushed voice. "I heard the Zanpakutō were released from their masters control to pursue their own desires. Tell me Hyourinmaru, what do you desire?"

"My desires?" he repeated.

"Yes. Your desires. What is it that your soul desires? Or have you even forgotten that!"

"I seek a place where I belong." He answered finally.

"Where you belong?"

"Yes I believe I desire a place where I truly belong." Hyourinmaru said. Toshiro remembered. He remembered that deep echoing voice he heard at night as a child. It resounded loudly and deeply like the claps of thunder, but he could never hear it clearly. No matter how hard Toshiro tried, the voice was never clear enough to make out. It felt as if he was being crushed by it, no more like being embraced tightly by it. It was him, Hyourinmaru who had been calling him repeatedly. Toshiro knew very well how his Zanpakutō felt. He was exactly like him. The cold, harsh, seemingly unfeeling personality. When Toshiro was a young boy, he thought that his appearance, his snowy, silvery white hair and resplendent teal eyes were odd and stood out in the Rukongai. But as he pondered more and more, he thought that his attitude of distance was a problem. All those reasons why many avoided him feared him and why he was dealing with solitude. His nerve finally cooled and steadied after that brief contemplation.

"Reign upon the frosted heavens." He said in a hushed calm voice raising his katana towards the sky. "Hyourinmaru!" he shouted up to the heavens. Bright light exploded and crackled in the shadowy skies. He stood there, wide eyed and astonished. The ice dragon slinked around Toshiro.

"Y-you can use my abilities? How your just a child…" Hyourinmaru said in shock.

"So you still don't believe me." Toshiro began. "I don't know what will happen if I use this in shikai form but…" he took his stance. "Ryusenka!" he shouted out as he dashed forward. Hyourinmaru didn't move an inch he stood paralyzed in shock allowing Toshiro to seize his chance. This brought a chance for Michiko and Ichigo. Both their ice incarcerations were weak enough to break. The two gathered power and released it.

"Getsuga Tensho!"

"Kosatsu Kage (1)!"

A ring of red lined blackness sliced through Ichigo's prison. Hand looking shadows arose from the ground and wrapped around the ice that hampered Michiko's movement. They carved it cleanly like piano wire on flesh.

"Ichigo do you see him?" she shouted to him. He looked. All there was a giant ice flower that had bloomed in the center of the battleground. Meanwhile the two combatants were inside completely still in midair, silent. All the light that managed to seep in through the copious frost came in as blue light. It really seemed like a frosted heaven.

"Remember!" Toshiro finally managed to say. "Remember who heard your voice!" he beseeched. Hyourinmaru started regaining his recollections tiny piece by piece. "Remember where it is you belong!" he demanded. More memories started flooding back. He saw himself in his dragon form in a dark void lighted dimly by small blue stars.

Child do you think you can wield me? he remembered calling out. He saw no one, he was alone. My name is… he continued to call out. From the center of the void he saw someone appear in bright light, a young boy. My name is… he repeated. The young boy uttered something incoherent to him. He repeated himself. That's when it hit him. It really was…

"You are… Hyourin-maruuu!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Master…" he whispered in realization. Ichigo and Michiko waited far away from the blue bloom when they saw it light up and bursted, shooting a rod of light to the dark sky, opening the eye of the storm. Light shined from the center like the beam of a flashlight. The two shielded their eyes from the radiant sight. The light faded slowly and tiny sparkling flakes drizzled down. The looked and saw Hyourinmaru in his dragon form and Toshiro with him. Michiko smiled. You've finally remember him Hyourinmaru. Thank goodness. She said in her head. He was wary and weak however. After much struggle he managed to make his Zanpakutō reminisce. His hand managed to twitch a bit, a sign he was conscious and alive. His eyes opened, his mouth formed a smile.

"So you finally remember me." he said with happiness, his white frosted breath showing as he spoke. "But I'm no mere child. My name is Toshiro Hitsugaya."

The fierce dragon roared and he transformed back to his human form, scooping up his small master in his arms, smiling. Toshiro was fast asleep, unconscious, looking peaceful. They floated softly back down, white light shining on them from the icy frozen heavens.

(1) Kosatsu Kage: Strangling shadows