THIS MARRIED LIFE
CHAPTER TEN: The Alternate Solution
Thanks to everyone who reviewed and thanks for being patient.
Author's Notes: As summer holidays have begun for me, I shall be able to update more rapidly and frequently. (At least once a week.) This chapter has not been read through again so please forgive any errors. My excuse is that it is two am in the morning. Oh, and it is Australian spelling. For those who don't know what 'cheeky' is, (I was told that it isn't used often in America), it's the equivalent of mischievious, sly, devious. The word is more positive then negative though.
-Hueco Mundo-: Hollow world
Refresh summary: Just to very briefly refresh your memory on what has happened in the last few chapters: Takahashi Kaemon is a Vastorode, he has challenged the ninth division captain for his seat, Hinamori lost her memory and can't remember anything after Aizen was defeated, and Hitsugaya and Hinamori are just married.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of Bleach, anime or manga.
Hinamori slowly drifted awake and shifted comfortably between the silky bed sheets. She rubbed her eyes and opened them to see Hitsugaya propped on one elbow looking down at her. A smile graced her lips as she looked up at him and gently rubbed her eyes.
"Finally awake, sleepyhead," greeted Hitsugaya.
"Good morning Shiro-chan," chirped Hinamori. Hitsugaya scowled at the use of his nickname. He crossed his arms and leaned against the headboard.
"You shouldn't address me like that; I'm a captain already," Hitsugaya reminded her. Hinamori's smile widened, "hai, hai, Hitsugaya-taichou." Hitsugaya beamed.
"It's okay," he assured her smugly, "I'll forgive you just this once, just because you're my wife." Just because you're my wife, Hinamori almost jumped as the realization dawned on her. As of yesterday, she became Hitsugaya's wife. And yesterday night, they had consummated their relationship.
She glanced quickly at Hitsugaya in a new found embarrassment and delved deeper into the security of the blankets. Judging from how hot she was feeling she was sure that the colour of her face was now a deep red. She pulled the covers up higher and refused to look at Hitsugaya.
Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow and observed his wife in amusement. What's going on? One moment she's fine and the next she's all flustered and shy. Then it occurred to him. A pink tinge coloured his cheeks but he did not look away. As much as he was embarrassed, Hitsugaya could not pass up the opportunity to tease her. A cheeky smile spread across his face as he leaned over Hinamori, his face straight again.
"Oi Momo," he called to her, "what's wrong?" His voice was serious and full of concern even though he was aware of what was wrong. Hinamori's face grew impossibly redder at the thought of explaining why she was so shy all of a sudden to him. She decided to change the topic.
"Um, ano…Toshiro," she began nervously, eyes bouncing off the walls of the room, "what are you doing today?" The question was a lame diversion, one that brought a smile to Hitsugaya's face and caused him to gently shake his head. He'll let her go just this once.
He thought about her question. A frown creased his face as he remembered today's events. Damn Takahashi.
"All captains and vice-captains have to attend Takahashi's tournament today, remember?" Hinamori's brows furrowed. She had forgotten all about the tournament.
"Takahashi-san's challenge to the ninth division captain?" she asked uncertainly.
"Yeah," he confirmed, unwilling to go any further into the topic. As far as he was concerned, Hinamori did not remember her friendship with Takahashi and he would do nothing to help her remember it either. To him, she was better off without him. The guy seemed somewhat off.
Hinamori noticed the hardened look in his eyes and sat up to look at him.
"Toshiro," she called gently to him as she tugged on a sleeve, "what are you thinking about?"
He shook his thoughts away and returned his attention to her again. His eyes softened when he noticed her curious expression. He shook his head.
"Nothing," he assured her. She smiled at him in return. Although she was curious about what had brought such a disturbed expression on her husband's face, she was also unwilling to press the matter further.
"Let's get ready," she said in a light and cheery manner.
She helped him put on his uniform and captain's robe, giving him a quick once over when she finished. Seeing that there were slight creases around the shoulder blade and right sleeve, she ran a palm over it to straighten it out. He caught her wrist and placed her palm on his chest, lowering his head to capture her lips. She let out a sound of surprise; the kiss was as impulsive as it was affectionate. Her knees gave way and he caught her, pulling her into a secure embrace. A smug but affectionate smile spread across his youthful face as he pressed his forehead against hers before helping her stand.
Hinamori drew a deep breath and looked down. She caught the sight of the kiss-induced creases on where she had grasped his robe. Letting out a deep sigh and shooting Hitsugaya a look of mock annoyance, she attempted to smooth the creases out with her hands.
They arrived at the tournament just a few minutes before it started. Hinamori rushed to Ichigo's side and bowed apologetically before sitting down.
Yamamoto-soutaichou formally began the tournament. The two combatants bowed at each other. At the beckoning of the captain-commander, the battle for the ninth division first seat began. The speed of combat was so fast that only the highly-skilled were able to comfortably follow their movements. To the others, only the clashing of swords could be heard.
It was obvious after the first few minutes that a mere sword combat would not determine the winner. No, swords would have to be released.
"Kashou," Takahashi bellowed, "faia fenikkusu!"
Everyone in the stadium gasped. Hitsugaya's eyes widened. Impossible, he combined with the phoenix! Takahashi stood embodied by the flames of his phoenix. His hand gripped his zanpakuto tightly as he lifted it up high and swung it down to point it at his opponent. A deafening shrill resonated throughout the entire stadium as the phoenix charged at its opponent. The ninth division captain prepared himself for defence and called out his shikai. A stream of yellow light streamed out of his zanpakuto and charged through the phoenix, causing it to dissipate. A smile curled on the captain's face as he aimed his next attack at Takahashi. He pointed his sword at him.
The captain's eyes widened as he felt what could have been described as a million knives passing through his body. Impossible! He didn't even sense the phoenix behind him. His sight dimmed and he fell to the ground, lifeless with his eyes still wide open. Faia Fenikkusu returned to Takahashi and the flames subsided.
The whole studio was motionless and deadly silent.
Takahashi bowed at the fallen form of the ninth division captain, and then he turned to bow at the other captains. Yamamoto cleared his throat and stood up.
"Takahashi Kaemon has defeated the ninth division captain, Miyamoto Yasunobu. I thereby announce him as the new captain of the ninth division in his place." The announcement was followed by a torrent of obligatory applause.
Hinamori's head felt heavy. There was something in Takahashi's actions that was making her head ache, as if there was something she was suppose to remembering. She screamed and clutched her head as images flashed rapidly through her mind. All she could make out from the images was that she was being chased, objects and furniture came crashing down with a tremendous thud, the fog, the sound of her hand snapping – these images relentlessly invaded her mind; bringing with it an unbearably sharp pain.
The thundering volume of the applauses drowned out her screams except to those nearest to her. Ichigo's head snapped around at the sound of her first bloodcurdling scream.
"Hinamori!" yelled Ichigo, he leapt off his chair and rushed to her aid, "what's wrong? Hinamori!" He looked at the nearest subordinate. "Go and get Unohana immediately!" he commanded.
The applause died down and the shinigamis sat back down.
Another flood of images rushed through her mind, causing Hinamori to let out another scream. The fifth division members were now crowding around her.
"Hinamori-fukutaichou!"
Hitsugaya's head whipped around in the direction of the fifth division. His eyes widened at the panicked state of the shinigamis around that area and quickly rushed over there with Matsumoto following suit.
Panic reached its height when he saw the state that Hinamori was in. She was clutching her head as if though it would explode if she let go. Hitsugaya quickly brushed the others aside and went to her side.
"Hinamori!"
"Everybody, please move away," ordered Unohana before kneeling down next to Hinamori. She placed a hand on Hinamori's forehead; a green glow radiated from her hand and disappeared a second later. She closed her eyes and shook her head gently. Hitsugaya looked at her eagerly.
"What's wrong with her?"
"We need to move her to someplace quieter and less crowded. Follow me to the fourth division health chambers please."
Hitsugaya scooped her up and followed Unohana with Ichigo and Matsumoto.
During the walk there, Hinamori had calmed down considerably. There were beads of sweat on her forehead and her bangs were stuck on her face, but she was no longer being tormented by the images. She opened her eyes slightly.
"Shiro-chan," she croaked weakly. She was exhausted from the event and her screams had made her voice shaky and her throat dry and sore. Her body was trembling slightly.
"Hinamori!" He let out a sigh of relief. "Are you okay? What happened?"
"The images have stopped," she responded weakly, "I'm so tired Shiro-chan." He tightened his hold around her and held her closer.
"Rest, nothing is going to happen now," he assured her even though fear gripped the whole of him; he wasn't quite sure how he was going to protect her from what she was experiencing.
Ichigo squeezed Hitsugaya's shoulder and gave him a nod of reassurance.
Hitsugaya, Ichigo and Matsumoto stood outside Hinamori's recuperation room and listened to Unohana's diagnosis.
"I cannot do much to help her as this is a conflict of the mind rather than of the body. My guess is that something triggered her to remember something she had forgotten. I cannot explain the immense pain but I may be able to make a better judgement once she wakes up."
"So, the immense pain she is feeling when she is remembering something is not normal?" asked Matsumoto.
"Not to that calibre, no," Unohana answered.
"What are we suppose to do?" asked Ichigo, "should she stay away from shinigami duties for now?" Unohana shook her head.
"Let her rest for today and tomorrow but it would be better for her if she resumed her normal duties as soon as possible. She may slowly regain her memories if she carried on with her normal duties. If you let her do nothing, I am afraid that she may have another episode."
"So we need to keep her distracted by letting her perform her normal duties," Hitsugaya looked to Unohana for confirmation.
"Just let her do what she did before today, you don't want to keep her distracted to the point that she can't regain her memory."
Keep her distracted to the point she can't regain her memory, huh. Takahashi eyed the group once more before slipping away. Then I guess I'll just have to keep her very distracted.
Takahashi stood looking out the window in his newly acquired captain's office in the ninth division headquarters. He clenched his fist as he remembered the events of today. Yes, he did defeat the captain and won his seat but he had also raised suspicion amongst the higher ranking officers.
After the failed attempt to kill Hinamori, an attempt that would have eliminated the host from his body forever if it had succeeded, he had pursued the second albeit harder method of ridding him of his host forever. That method was becoming an arrancar by removing his mask completely. In the past, he had to rely on his host to avoid suspicions as when he took over control of the body, the mask would appear. Since becoming an arrancar, he did not have to worry about his appearance. And unlike other arrancar, he did not have a visible hole through his chest because of the way he chose to become an arrancar – a technique not yet performed by any other. He was the first and thus he was the hope of Hueco Mundo.
Yet he had elicited too much suspicion at this point, the fighting style and zanpakuto release is what sets arrancar apart from shinigami. On top of that, if that Hinamori girl remembered what had happened-
He stopped short of his thought and clenched his fist. It was too risky to kill her; the higher officials were already too suspicious. And she is Hitsugaya's wife, he reminded himself. He had observed the tenth division captain for a very long time. The captain had an uncanny ability to make quick and accurate decisions even in the most unexpected events. This was all because he was highly observant. He possessed an ability of accurately interpreting observations. Combine this with his obsessive need to protect his wife and Takahashi could have no doubt that Hitsugaya would have no trouble connecting him to any of it if he stepped even a millimetre out of his line. This meant that keeping Hinamori at bay was harder then usual. That was, until he overheard the conversation between Unohana and the others. So, he needed to distract Hinamori to the point where she can't remember a thing about what she had forgotten.
Takahashi massaged his chin thoughtfully. Seeing as he wasn't able to come up with a plan yet, he decided to go for a walk. He was just walking around a corner when a conversation caught his interest. He quickly concealed his reiatsu.
"I wonder what happened to Hinamori-fukutaichou," gushed a girl to her friend, "and did you see how panicked Hitsugaya-taichou was! Gah, it was so romantic, rushing to her side." Her friend did not share her enthusiasm.
"Pft, it was not romantic Hitomi," protested her friend.
"Sei-chan, are you still in love with Hitsugaya-taichou?" The girl named Sei responded with silence.
"But he is married now!" exclaimed Hitomi. Sei whipped her head back to her friend.
"So," Sei argued forcefully, "So what if he is?" Hitomi sighed.
"I think you should give up Sei," advised her friend.
Takahashi thought this was the perfect time to intervene. He approached the girls causally. Their eyes widened when they noticed him and they quickly jumped to their feet and bowed politely.
"Good afternoon, Takahashi-taichou!"
"Ah, hello umm," he scratched his head and looked from one to another. The girls got the hint and quickly introduced themselves.
"My name is Hirayama Sei, sir," she gestured to her friend, "and this is Hitomi Sakiko. We are both in the ninth division, sir." Takahashi took in Sei's appearance: brunette, large eyes with fine features. She was incredibly pretty. He was pleased at what he saw.
The next day, he had her come to his office. He had expected her to be nervous but she had surprised him with her confidence.
"Excuse me for my rudeness but I accidentally overheard your conversation with your friend yesterday," he began. He took a sip of his tea and looked at her.
"Oh, not at all sir," she was as amused as she was shocked at his choice of topic.
"I understand that you are in love with the tenth division captain, Hitsugaya Toshiro, am I correct?"
"Yes, but it is a one-sided love sir," her initial shock was now taken over by amusement and curiosity.
"If I gave you a chance to pursue this love, will you take it?" He eyed her seriously.
"Excuse me sir?"
Takahashi's expression told her that he was not going to repeat himself. Sei collected her thoughts and speech before continuing with uncertainty in her voice.
"Why would you give me this chance, sir?" she asked curiously and suspiciously.
"I have my reasons." She could tell by the tone of his voice that he did not wish, and would not, go further.
"But there is no chance, sir," she began, "he is married and clearly loves her."
"I'll give you an advice as your captain," he leaned forward on his desk and rested his chin on his intertwined fingers, "relationships can change in different situations, even if these situations are misinterpretations. The key to this is intervention. You are an intelligent girl, I am sure you can figure out what I am saying."
She took a moment to process what he was saying. A devious smile captivated her lips and she felt a surge of determination surge through her; a determination that Takahashi had already sensed was there. He knew she was the type of person that will let nothing get in the way of her goal once the path was set and her determination aroused. Triumph shone through his eyes as he picked up his brush.
"That being said," He began, "would you have any objections if I transferred you to the tenth division?"
END OF CHAPTER TEN
Some details concerning Takahashi Kaemon is obviously not following the manga so details may differ.
Reviews will be great.