A/N-I don't know what weirdness is going on with the formating, but I didn't do it.

X

"Hey, what's wrong with mommy?" the demon asked, looking at Ayumu with concern.

Hitsugaya turned to the demon. "Sit upon the frosted heavens... Hyourinmaru!" Hitsugaya leapt up, slashing towards the demon. He dodged, jumping clear over Hitsugaya, and ran over to Ayumu. "Mommy?" He asked, kneeling down and prodding her, sounding distressed.

Turning to look at him, Hitsugaya was disturbed to see that Ayumu was changing out of bankai. As much as he would really like to beat this kid... "She needs to go to the hospital. If you come quietly, I can get her there faster."

The demon stood up and looked at him. "F-fine. But let me see mommy soon, ok?" he asked. Hitsugaya nodded, and sucked him into the gourd.

Before he could replace it, there was a swishing noise. Akafumi stood before him, the only notable change in her appearance being that her sword was now sealed. "You can't purify a shinigami, idiot," she said, with a glance over her shoulder, and flash stepped away.

O

Hanataro was the first to approach them when Hitsugaya flash stepped into the fourth squad barracks. He took her pulse. He didn't say anything, but from his face Hitsugaya assumed that it was nothing good. The two moved her into a room, and then Hitsugaya soundlessly left, slamming the door behind him rather harder than was necessary.

It only took about 10 fruitless minutes looking up poisons in the library for Hitsugaya to get restless enough to go back to the hospital. When he returned, he found Ayumu still unconscious in an oxygen mask and Ururu and Emma sitting by her side. Hanataro was setting up some sort of machine to get readings of her spirit force, and Emma's mother was trying, apparently with no effect, to heal her. He paused by the door of her room and looked down, hesitating. "...you can blame me if you want," he finally said.

Emma looked at him out of the corner of her eye, then turned her gaze back to her friend. "e-It's not your fault,-e" she said quietly. There were a few more moments of silence.

Emma's father, who had been leaning against a nearby wall, walked over and glanced at the readings coming out of the machine by Ayumu's bedside. Suddenly seeming to spot something, he nudged Hanataro and the pair began speaking in hurried whispers. Seeming to come to some sort of conclusion, the pair turned to Emma's mother. "e-I'm going to see Unohana,-e" he said. Hanataro bowed, and the pair left.

Emma's mother looked at the door they had just left through for a moment. "e-Em, this isn't working. I'm going with them,-e" she said. Emma nodded slightly, and she left.

There was a solid minute of silence. Hitsugaya joined Emma and Ururu by Ayumu's bedside. There was some sort of hush over the moment, as though speaking too loudly would throw off some vital balance. "There's something wrong about this," Ururu finally said, almost in a whisper. Emma inclined her head in a way that might have been a nod of agreement if you really looked into it. Hitsugaya understood her point. There was something about Ayumu that made her seem untouchable, especially by something so quiet and insignificant seeming as this. He had always felt that way about her, even when he had first met her. To him, it seemed like even before they had met he had known that nothing could ever really hurt her. And he still felt that way. Even staring at her laying listless in a hospital bed, he still felt that it wasn't possible for her to be in this situation. There was something deeply disturbing about the fact that it was happening anyway. But he said nothing.

Emma's father and Hanataro re-entered the room. Hanataro checked the readings by Ayumu's bedside again, and shook his head at Emma's father. No change, thought Hitsugaya. Whatever had made them go talk to Unohana hadn't improved.

"e-...Em?-e"Emma's father said tentatively. "You know, sitting around here isn't going to do any good." Emma did not respond, but her hand tightened on Ayumu's. "e-Em, c'mon. Allie's making her a present for when she wakes up, I think she'd like it if you helped...-e" Emma said nothing, but with a final squeeze to Ayumu's hand stood up slowly and left the room. A few seconds worth of deliberation later, Ururu jumped up and ran out after them.

A few more silent moments passed. Hanataro cast a few sideways glances in Hitsugaya's direction, seemingly hesitating to say something. Finally Hitsugaya inclined his head slightly and looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "U-um! Captain Unohana wanted to talk to you..." he said, bowing, and hurriedly turned back to fiddling with the machine. Hitsugaya sighed, got up, and left the room.

...

"W-what!?" Hitsugaya asked, not even aware of his knuckles turning white as he gripped the fabric of his uniform.

"I understand this is hard for you, if there's anything I can do..."

Hitsugaya exhaled and slumped over in his chair, looking down at his hands. "...how long?"

"It's hard to make a real estimate, we don't have many readings and we only have her previous attacks to go by-"

"HOW LONG?!" a small, detached part of him was amazed at the amount of restraint it took to keep the level of violence down to slamming his fists down on the table.

"...she has until tomorrow afternoon, at the latest."

For a moment, it seemed as though Hitsugaya was watching the world crumble in slow motion. That soon? He wanted to say. Already? Ever? After several tries the shock wore off enough for him to let out a shaky breath, straighten up, and let his hands fall to his sides. He spent a few moments trying to figure out something to say, barely even aware of Unohana in the room.

"...I believe Mrs. Quasar is telling Emma and Ururu-" Unohana began, but was again cut off.

"There's nothing more you can do?" Hitsugaya asked, barely audibly.

"No treatment has had any effect. I'm sorry-"

But Hitsugaya was gone.

...

The sun was setting. Hitsugaya was sitting outside the squad barracks, palms pressed to his temples to hold his head up.

What can I do?

For a while had had sat, just like he was now, in the hospital waiting room, but eventually it became too much. He could feel people staring at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking, when even he didn't want to know what he was thinking. He just wanted to be alone.
What can I do?

No he didn't. He hated being alone. He always did. Maybe that's why he hated loosing people so much. Or maybe he was just that type of person. He didn't want anyone else to be alone either. Maybe that's why people feared death. Or feared loosing someone. They just didn't want to be alone. He didn't know. But his worst fear had always been loosing a friend.

What can I do?

But that wasn't all. That wasn't the only thing wrong here. There was the fact that he was just sitting here, useless, as his friend was dying, dying, and he had absolutely no say in the matter...

What can I do?

And then there was the fact that this was Ayumu. It didn't seem possible. It wasn't possible, and yet it was happening anyway, as though reality didn't care what made sense anymore. It wasn't just that they were friends, if this had happened the day that they had met he would still have known it was wrong. He rejected it with every fiber of his being, as though he alone could save her...

What can I do?

Maybe he could. He remembered how Ayumu had come to him during the fight with Kitsune, he was sure that he wouldn't have survived without her...

What can I do?

He could go back to the hospital. He could sit by her bed. And maybe if he held her hand tight enough, he could force his way into her dreams, and tell her to keep fighting, no matter what to keep fighting, and even if she was dead and buried it wouldn't matter of she just kept fighting...

Hitsugaya stood up.

It was only two flash steps to the entrance of the hospital. When he got there, however, he did not have a chance to set foot inside the building. "Captain Hitsugaya!" Hanataro said, frantically waving his arm to get the captain's attention from just off the stairs. U-um..." He braced himself, as though he had to say something very important that he would be severely punished for. "Have you seen Ayumu-chan?"

For a second, the sentence made it seem like the whole world had just been playing a little joke, and everything was ok now... then he processed in the context it was in. "...what?!"

"She's gone!"
"...GONE?!"

"S-she woke up for a second, and I told her what happened, and she asked for a glass of water, and I just turned around for a second to get it, and when I turned back she was gone, don't hurt me!" Hanataro said, much faster than he normally spoke.

Hitsugaya did not hurt him, though if he had not been too busy thinking he might've. He should have seen this coming. She had never liked being in the hospital. What had she said, that she didn't want to sit around and do nothing? Of course she didn't. Ayumu wouldn't be content to lay on her deathbed and wait for it to be over. And if the poison was taking some kind of break, of course she had run away. So where would she go? Where was she now?
Something clicked, and with a few flash steps Hanataro was left in the dust.

O

After leaving soul society, Ayumu had flash stepped for a little while just to get away from the gate. But then, upon realizing that she didn't have a real destination, she slowed down and eventually ended up sitting on a park bench. The last rays of sunlight disappeared and night descended. There was a swish behind her. A few seconds of silence passed.

"...There's no talking to you, is there?" Hitsugaya asked.

"I'm not going back to the hospital."

"I understand." There was nothing that they could do for her now. All there was left was to let her be happy. "Do you... want anything?"

Ayumu clenched her fist. "You sound like I'm dying." She said quietly.

Hitsugaya opened his mouth. You are! But he could not say it.

Suddenly, Ayumu stood up and turned to him. She had a fierce look in her eyes that he had never seen on her. "You should know better than that." Her voice was quiet. But not the common insignificant quiet used when saying something uncomfortable. She was quiet because she didn't have to be loud.

For a moment, Hitsugaya couldn't help but believe her. Looking at her, she had never looked more alive. Her expression was not that of someone about to die. It was that of someone about to fight. She was going to fight for her life, maybe forever if that's what it took. He should have known that he wouldn't have to tell her. She might not be ready, but it was coming, and she would give her all and then some. And she had been preparing. He remembered how she had been training so hard lately. She had known, maybe the whole time, that it would come to this.

And yet... there was no escaping it. Even if she fought, could she really win? Would there even be anyone to fight? He still wasn't sure if he had really come back from the dead that time with Kitsune, and if he hadn't, then there was no way, no way at all... no matter how much she fought, it simply wouldn't be up to her.

"Don't look at me like that!"

"Don't you think it's been enough of a break?"

"Damnit..."

"She's bound to have run away from the hospital by now."

"I don't want to die..."

"I suppose you're right, Kitsune."

"I don't want to die..."

"I suppose it is time to bring this to a close."

"I don't want to die!"

At first, the katana only made a dull thud as it hit the spot on the tan wall that seemed to have been dug out by a sword. Then, slowly, the wall began to crumble. The pieces broke off faster and faster, the wall disappearing into a bright, white light...

"I want to live!"

The gourd charm on Chitose's hilt shattered. It seemed to explode with a bright, white light. Blood splattered in every direction. Ayumu sunk to her knees. Silhouetted against the light were three demons. The body of the one in the middle seemed to have been ripped along her cheek, her torso, and her hands. Her skin seemed to be pealing off in those places, revealing something metallic and sharp underneath. The other two were Kagemi and Kitsune.

Hitsugaya knelt and caught Ayumu before she hit the ground. "How did you-" he began to ask, but suddenly his eyes narrowed on the middle demon. He knew the other two, but somehow... she must have had something to do with this. "You... who are you?"

"Who am I?" she said, speaking in a voice that was high and sharp, like a raptor's cry. "I suppose you could say I'm-" she raised a blade-like finger, ripping out from what looked like a torn flesh-colored glove, and pointed at Ayumu "-the one who killed that girl."