Intro: Another strange instalment of this equally strange fic! Yay! Recovery, bit of fluff, maybe a bit of OOC-ness, but then again, we've never had the chance to see Toushirou show his sibling love...

DIsclaimer: I am Kubo Tite. I own Bleach. Full stop. If you believed that... well, you're gullible... O.O

Kotetsu Isane looked through the doorway, and saw two people sitting on either side of a hospital bed, each holding one of the patient's hands. It had been a week since the invasion, and the 5th Division Captain's rampage had been made known to the entire Soul Society, through the grapevine. Although she hadn't been there, she and her captain had been told the truth by Hitsugaya Toushirou-taichou. Isane had found it strange when he told his tale. Out of the two Hitsugaya brothers, she had always thought that Toushirou was the more difficult one, the one most likely to snap some day, but as it turned out, she had been wrong. So much for 'Psychology for Dummies'. Her gaze drifted to the still form of Kumatsurou. When he had been delivered to the 4th Division, he had been encased in a block of ice. Now, after a week, he had completely thawed out, but something was wrong. For some unknown reason, even though his body temperature had been back to normal for a day or two, the boy still hadn't woken up.

Hinamori heard a sound and looked up to see the 4th Division vice-captain standing there. Releasing her captain's hand, she approached her fellow vice-captain, her eyes brimming with tears. "Isane-san, how long will it be until Taichou wakes up?"

Isane looked pityingly at the girl. This was the second time she had lost her captain, and although she wasn't as attached to her new one as she had been to Aizen, it was obvious she still cared deeply for the blue haired brother of her boyfriend. "I don't know, Hinamori-san. In any normal circumstance, Kumatsurou-taichou should have woken up by now, but for some strange reason, he hasn't. I'm afraid we can't do anything to help him, but just wait." Hinamori looked at the floor. What's wrong, taichou? Why won't you wake up?

Toushirou stared at the body in front of him. The electric blue hair, the torn captain robes it wore, the tightly shut eyelids, replacing the vivid emerald eyes that usually glowed with mischief and fun. Kumatsurou… come back to me… Although the tough 10th Division captain rarely admitted it to anyone, he adored his brother. The annoying brat who delighted in teasing him over his height. "Shirou-chan…" Hinamori's voice was soft, and choked with emotion. Toushirou didn't to look to know that she had been crying.

"Let's go, Hinamori, Kumatsurou doesn't look like he'll be going anywhere." The captain swept out of the room, with Hinamori in his wake. He stopped outside the door, barking at the nearest 4th Division member he could find. "Oi… you there, if Kumatsurou wakes up or shows any signs of improvement, you're to tell me at ONCE got it?" The Shinigami he addressed, who happened to be the loveable Yamada Hanatarou, shivered as he nodded.

"Y-yes… Hitsugaya-taichou… sir…"

-

There was a knock at the door. "Come in." It was Hanatarou. Toushirou raised his eyebrow at him. "Well? Any news?"

"Yes… I mean, no, I mean, yes there is, but I mean…" Toushirou was getting impatient, his eyebrow twitched.

"Just tell me dammit, forget the 'yes's', 'no's' and 'I mean's' already."

Hanatarou nodded, eager to stay on the captain's good side. "Um… the news which I have is good, but not exactly what you wanted to hear and-" He squeaked as Toushirou scowled at him, and ran through the rest of his report at top speed. "I've been told to come and tell you that Matsumoto-fukutaichou has woken up and is currently undergoing a check-up." Hanatarou turned and fled, while Toushirou stalked out of the room, heading for the 5th Division to pick up Hinamori.

"Oi! Hinamori! Matsumoto's woken up. I'm going to see her. Coming?" Hinamori had been practising her origami, but came out when she heard the news. The two of them rushed off to the 4th Division.

"Matsumoto!"

"Rangiku-san!" The two of them couldn't hide their surprise when they saw the strange mummy-like creature that was sitting in the bed, surrounded by a trio of 4th Division members. "R-r-rangiku-san?" She was staring at the piles of bandages that were surrounding the body of the vice-captain.

A few hours later, and several layers of bandages later, Matsumoto sat in her bed, with her arm in a sling, and a single layer of bandages around her upper body, but otherwise pretty much unbandaged. A lot less than the 6 layers all over the body before. "So… what happened to you, Matsumoto?"

"It isn't like you to be so concerned, Taichou." She teased, but when she saw the expression on his face, she knew he was being serious, dead serious. She scratched her head with her other arm, trying to remember. "Well, I remember, Hinamori and I were running along behind you and Kumatsu-kun, when I noticed a strange spirit pressure, and when I looked up, I saw Ichimaru…"

"That's what Hinamori told us… what happened after that?"

"Well, Hinamori ran off to get you, then me and Gin started talking. We talked for a while, but then, I don't really remember, but next thing I knew, I blacked out and woke up here. How long have I been sleeping?"

Toushirou could not resist the urge to speak his mind. "Long enough to never fall asleep in the office again." Hinamori smacked his arm, shaking her finger at him reproachfully.

"Don't be mean, Shirou-chan." Toushirou sighed, sometimes Hinamori didn't let him have any fun. Half his entertainment came from teasing his air-headed vice-captain. However, it was a serious occasion, and he focused on the task at hand.

Matsumoto looked around her, noticing that there seemed to be someone missing. "Where's Kumatsurou? I thought he'd be the first to come! He'd better not be goofing off somewhere." She pouted, her eyes indignant as she thought of the cute little boy she loved having fun elsewhere without her. Toushirou looked at the ground. He couldn't bring himself to tell her. It was hard enough to watch his still form, but to relive the incident to Matsumoto, even he couldn't do that. "Tai…chou?" She noticed that his eyes seemed misty. "Are you… crying?" Toushirou turned away, so that she wouldn't see.

"No… I'm not… baka!" With that, the white haired captain stormed from the room, leaving a bewildered Matsumoto and a quiet Hinamori.

"Hinamori… what's wrong with Taichou…?" The pretty vice-captain resisted the urge to make a joke about it, for she knew that something must be gravely wrong for the unemotional boy to be overwhelmed in such a way. "What… happened to Kumatsurou?"

Hinamori gulped. She didn't know if Toushirou wanted Matsumoto to know, yet she couldn't exactly lie about it, she was a terrible liar, and Matsumoto had an uncanny ability to detect lies, it just wouldn't work. She breathed in. I hope Shirou-chan doesn't get made at me for telling Rangiku-san. "Taichou was…"

Matsumoto listened in silence as Hinamori told her tale, her eyes widening as she heard what happened after she was attacked. "Kumatsu-kun… did that for me…?"

Hinamori nodded. "But then... something went wrong." Her face darkened as she struggled to continue.

"Hinamori… you can tell me…" It was more than that, she had to tell her. Matsumoto needed to know the ending. There was a dark and sinister reason behind Kumatsurou's absence, and she had to know it.

Toushirou came back to the room, after pulling himself together, and when he came to the door, he gave a shout. "Hinamori! What happened here!" Matsumoto was gone, a trail of blood on the floor, leading out of the door, while Hinamori sat on the ground, her hands covered in blood, sobbing loudly.

"Shirou-chan… gomen… I told Rangiku-san what… happened, and she insisted on going to see Taichou…" Toushirou's eyes widened. Baka… she's nowhere fit enough to move. "I… tried to stop her… but she was too strong for me, and she..." Toushirou looked worried.

"Come on Hinamori, we need to find Matsumoto, right away!" Putting her arm over his shoulders to help support her, he helped her walk off, following the trail of blood, which led straight out the door, down the corridor, and into a room at the far end. The couple peeped in, and saw Matsumoto by the bed, gasping, she had half-collapsed onto the floor, and the blood had soaked through her bandages completely. "Matsumoto! Baka! Why'd you come here?" He ran over to her, trying to help her up.

"Gomen Taichou… I… I… had to see Kumat…" She coughed again. Toushirou looked at Hinamori and motioned for her to come over.

"Hinamori, look after Matsumoto, I'll go get help." Hinamori nodded, Toushirou raced out of the room, looking urgently for the captain or the vice-captain. He returned a short time later, with a small group of 4th Division members, led by Captain Unohana. He stood by Hinamori and watched in silence as they carried an unconscious Matsumoto out of the room, her blood still dripping slowly as they did so.

After the small procession had left, Toushirou turned back to the still form of his brother. Wake up soon… Kumatsurou.

-

Clash! The saw-like segments of Zabimaru struck his sword. Toushirou jumped back as Renji pulled his sword back and launched it again in another attack. Why am I even doing this? He thought to himself. It hadn't even been his idea in the first place, but Hinamori had insisted on 'doing something to take his mind off things'. Sparring with Abarai Renji was the last thing he had thought he'd be doing. The spunky vice-captain wasn't even a challenge to the genius. So far he hadn't even found it necessary to release Hyourinmaru. Again and again Toushirou blocked the hits with ease. This was getting boring. As he deflected more thrusts single-handedly, he looked up and saw Hinamori sitting on a ledge, engaged in conversation with a messenger. When he had left, Toushirou raised an eyebrow at her, which translated to 'What did he say?' Hinamori pretended not to notice, merely smiling and pointing at Renji, who was still trying in vain to attack the captain.

Scowling, he turned his attention back to the redheaded vice-captain. Fine then, he'd force Hinamori to talk by finishing this quickly. In a few short seconds, Renji lay on the ground, Zabimaru several feet away, and Toushirou standing over him triumphantly. He leapt up to Hinamori and put on his sternest look. "So, what did he say Hinamori?" She giggled, and he frowned. He tried to glare even more sternly at her, but that only seemed to make her giggle even more. "Hinamori…" He said warningly.

"Hehe… don't worry Shirou-chan! Everything's fine!" She patted him on the head and he scowled even more deeply. "Seriously! In fact, it's better than fine!" Toushirou didn't exactly understand what she meant, so he stared at her, asking her to elaborate. "The news just came. Taichou just woke up!" Toushirou felt as if a weight had been lifted off of him.

"So he's… fine?" She nodded, smiling widely. Toushirou was off like a shot, Hinamori behind him, struggling to keep up. When he entered the room, Kumatsurou was sitting upright, looking just as energetic as before.

"Nii-san! Hey!" Toushirou didn't answer but hugged the surprised boy fiercely. "Nii…san?"

"I was so afraid I'd lose you Kumatsurou, I nearly did last time as well…"

"Last time? What are you talking about?" Kumatsurou looked confused, like Matsumoto, he had no recollection of that day's events.

"You… lost it… again. The thunder frenzy thing… you did it again, and wiped out the entire 9th Division complex." Both the Hitsugaya's stared uncomfortably at a spot on the floor.

"Gomen, Nii-san."

Toushirou couldn't believe his ears. "Baka. It's not your fault."

"It was, if I hadn't… I'd…" Toushirou clicked impatiently and silenced him.

"Stop being so stupid Kumatsurou! It wasn't your fault, end of story! Now if I were you, I'd get out of that bed, you've already recovered enough to be out and about, and go and see my idiotic vice-captain, she's still lying in a bed wrapped in bandages after the last time when she tried to come and see you." There was no reply. Hinamori looked around surprised, Kumatsurou had disappeared, and Kotetsu Isane, who was walking down the corridor, saw a streak of blue flash by, but told herself she must be mistaken.

"Rangiku!" Kumatsurou was a bit out of breath, but that was irrelevant.

"Kumatsu-kun!" Matsumoto's voice was filled with happiness as she saw a familiar face hover above hers. He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, and she smiled, knowing that her Kumatsu-kun was back.

Stuff: Well, I dunno. Not much to say, except its now holidays, so perhaps I can write a bit more? Although I seem to be updating quite frequently as it is.