Author's Notes: The previous chapter didn't receive THAT many reviews, so I'm wondering if the storyline is getting too boring. :S Sincerely hope not. Anyway, here's the fourth chapter!
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Whiteout.
Losing It.
Part I
"You've never been to an amusement park before."
"No, I haven't. Stop sniggering. It's just a stupid place for kids. I belong to a family of people worse than the yak-" She stopped dead midway. Silence engulfed the both of them. Kurosaki Ichigo sighed. He hated these kind of moments, where Rukia would suddenly become very quiet because she'd come close to revealing some part of her oh-so-mysterious life. Fuck it; he didn't even want to know.
"Let's go," he said finally, after a few minutes of deafening silence.
"Where?" Violet eyes stared at him, and once again he saw the faint spark of child-like excitement present.
"The arcade. I'm not rich enough to bring you to an amusement park." Those violet eyes widened at this statement. Clearly, she had never been to an arcade either. What kind of cursed childhood did this kid have, he found himself wondering as they walked passed Wijnruit, the bar he worked in. Inside, Rangiku stood behind the counter, her stance rigid. A white-haired man strode towards her lazily, a wide grin plastered on his face.
"Gin," she whispered hoarsely before dropping the glass of champagne she was holding. His grin grew wider.
---
Ichigo never knew why he'd decided to bring Rukia to an arcade. Their expenses for the month (he noticed with a shock that she'd been staying with him for three weeks already) weren't that tight, since all she did was eat candy and waste bandages. But that was hardly a reason to squander his hard-earned money on some bloody game. Especially if the game required skills he'd never learnt before. After all, all the games he'd ever played involved cars, shooting or fighting.
Not a metal lever attempting to pick up stuffed toys. Embarrassing, really. Especially if there was a full-grown woman jabbing at the plastic screen and yelling at the top of her voice next to you.
"BUNNY," she chanted, over and over again, till every single person in the arcade was staring at the both of them. She was apparently unaware of that fact.
"I KNOW, I know. I'll get the fucking bunny. Just shut up, will you?" he growled, focusing on the metal lever. Rukia paid no heed and continued her jabbing and shouting, much to his exasperation. By that time, there were quite a few people waiting for their turn on the game. A girl with two pigtails tugged at her mother's skirt and started crying that she wanted a bunny as well, adding to the stressful atmosphere that surrounded Ichigo at the moment.
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He did manage to get a stuffed toy in the end, but it wasn't the pink bunny with red ribbons. The first thing Rukia said when he tossed it into her arms was that it was hideous. Now, glancing at the yellowish brown material and badly sewn mane, he had to admit, this lion was ugly.
"It looks just like you, with its orangey material," Rukia remarked, stretching the poor toy about.
"Ungrateful bitch," he muttered darkly. "If you hate it so much I'll throw it away." With that, he grabbed the stuffed lion and almost tossed it into a bin when she stopped him with a painfully strong death-grip.
"No, I'll take it. It's the only toy I've ever owned in a long time anyway," the dark-haired girl said, snatching the doll back. After which, she declared that she would name it Kon and hugged it tightly, in fear of Ichigo threatening to throw it away again. He could have killed her, there and then. Her swinging emotions were simply impossible to comprehend.
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Part II
Hitsugaya Toushirou was sitting on a cliff, his legs dangling dangerously over the edge, with his eyes closed, as he breathed in the salty sea breeze, when he felt someone approach and take a seat next to him. His eyelids flickered open; turquoise met brown. Both yelped and scooted to opposite ends of the cliff (not that it had much space anyway).
"Who the hell are you?" he yelled, glaring daggers at the culprit. She winced a little at the harshness of his voice but forced herself to walk bravely towards him.
"M-my name is Hinamori Momo, and I'm just here to help you," she mumbled, brown eyes staring at his feet. A social worker, he realized. In other words, pure bullshit. Waving his rusty gun a bit too obviously, he walked past her, as though she hadn't spoken, and was very much invisible.
And then, she exploded.
It was at these times that Hitsugaya hated the fact that he was vertically challenged and weighed less than a sack of potatoes. He hung, embarrassed, as she lifted him up by the collar, the expression on her face deadly.
"I said, I'm here to help you," she said clearly but quietly. Somehow, he found that extremely frightening (and Hitsugaya Toushirou is not easily scared), so much so that he had to bend his head and glance away. He did struggle, though, to save what little was left of his dignity.
But she didn't even flinch. As her untiring hand held him midair, the questions came flooding in, leaving Toushirou with not much choice but to answer quickly, or be mocked at by more passers-by.
And so, Hinamori found out that his full name was Hitsugaya Toushirou, he would turn sixteen this December, and his favorite food was watermelon. That was enough for her. Secretly, she was amazed that he was the same age as her, and liked watermelons too. This case wouldn't be so bad after all, despite what her senior Nanao-san had warned.
"Can you put me down now?" he asked, curt voice penetrating through her thoughts. A little startled, she dropped him onto the ground, right on his ass.
"Fuck."
She ignored his curse. "Toushirou… From now on, you shall be called Shiro-chan," declared Momo with a satisfied smile.
"FUCK," he repeated with more conviction. She smiled back, sickeningly sweetly on purpose.
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There was business tonight. But he wouldn't be able to do it with that bitch tagging along, with her chatter and flitting movements.
"Look, I know you want to help me and all that shit, but I actually have to work to live," he tried explaining, as they walked down the pavement. She nodded, ribbons in her hair vibrating.
"… And I can't have you by my side when I work," he continued, wondering why his tone was so gentle, considering that the person he was talking to had just ripped his self-esteem away. She nodded again, and spoke before he could carry on.
"I know. I won't call the police. I'm on your side."
Social workers always said that. Their charges almost always landed in jail. Toushirou really had no idea why he'd decided to trust her.
"You could get killed or jailed, you know," he tried dissuading her, although he knew it wouldn't work.
There was silence, then laughter. Damn it, she was smiling at him again.
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And so, she followed him past the bar Wijnruit, into a dark lane that night. Small deal this time – just a sample pack. It'll be over in a jiffy, if no obstacles crop up. And if he hadn't created so many enemies with his rude talk and swaggering attitude.
This, of course, proved to be a huge problem.
The minute he entered the lane, he noticed something was up. Too many shadows, too much breathing. Too much human. Next moment, he found himself surrounded by a group of grinning people. Hinamori tensed up, next to him. He sniffed the air. They were on drugs, without doubt. All of them kids, around his age.
But kids can be very scary at times, because they don't value life very much indeed.
BAM, a bullet whizzed past his head, hitting a metal can. That was all it took for the wild rampage to start. Before long, Hitsugaya and Hinamori were running for their lives. Literally.
It was a good thing that the kids were high on drugs. Their aims were rather off most of the time, hitting random things lying around, but never the targets themselves. But it was also a bad thing, because their minds were so fucked up that they just kept pressing the trigger and firing at any random thing that passed by.
BAM, BAM, BAM, and he heard a slight yelp that was silenced almost immediately. The gunshots stopped. He froze, turning around slowly to face the gang of ten or more. The leader (probably some guy whose self-esteem had been hit bad by our dear Hitsugaya in some point of his life) held the social worker in a tight grip, smirking. Momo smiled weakly and mouthed an apology. Her right calf was bleeding. It'd dirtied her white socks.
"Put her down," Hitsugaya said softly, his eyes still on her bleeding leg.
"Whatcha gonna do if I don't?" the leader drawled, as the other gang members laughed stupidly. Hitsugaya continued staring at her blood. Drip, drip, drip, in the silence. His turquoise eyes glanced at the group from under his black hood. A click of a gun, then a single shot that rang through the alley. The leader slumped down, bullet in his head, right through the middle with extreme accuracy. Hitsugaya walked over, almost sauntering, and stepped on the leader's face.
"I'll just fucking kill you," he said, as he lifted Momo (who'd fainted from an excessive loss of blood) up from the ground.
And then, all hell broke loose.
More random shooting, more anger over the death of their leader, more fuzziness in their brains. He felt a bullet graze past his face. Damn it, he'd started bleeding as well. More shots, some hurting his arms, some his abdomen; he couldn't tell. The blood got into his eyes, and everything turned red. But he hung on to the girl, and ran, like he always did.
Light came into sight. It was the most beautiful light he'd ever seen, at least at that moment. The blinking sign of a candy shop. Some crappy name like Urahara's Candy Shop or something like that, he recalled, before collapsing into a heap at the sliding doors.
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Part III
Byakuya sat in the hall, solitary. They'd failed too many times. Rukia had always been a smart girl, and she knew her way around the town. She'd probably found someone to keep her safe for the time being as well. He felt that it was a waste of resources, but orders were orders. He ran through the list again.
No more penguin men. Just that low-profiled Hisagi person and a close friend of his sister's, before she entered the Kuchiki family. His second-in-command, actually.
Abarai Renji.
To be continued.
To readers: This chapter was named Losing It, since Ichigo is losing it over a freaking bunny, Hitsugaya over a bleeding Hinamori, and Byakuya… well, he isn't exactly losing it, but he's getting a little impatient. Look out for smexy Shuuhei and Renji in the next chapter. Damn it, I keep bribing you guys. XD
AnimeObsessionFantasy: I highly doubt so too. Anime characters are always in good shape, unlike me. :(
disillusiond: There you have it, more Hitsugaya. Not so much connected to Ichigo yet, but it'll be coming soon, I promise.
Tank: I had to check out the dictionary for "fratricidal"! Hmmm, don't think he will. ;)
kurenoharu: You finally watched the show! Hope you like this chapter too!
Nadare-chan: Glad you liked the previous chapter! Hope this one's satisfactory.
XD: I THINK this chapter is a little longer than the others. Is it long enough? I hope so… (:
carzla: Oooh HI! Yes, Hitsugaya still seems rather striking. As for Rukia losing her memory, I didn't mean it to come out that way, but I guess that part is mainly up to the reader's own interpretation!
Starr: I like candy too! And I agree totally about AU fics. (:
Bakageta: Yay for Bleach the drug. I never saw it that way! (grins) Sorry about the confusion! Hope things get sorted out soon.
immortalrin: Rukia is indeed cute, and Renji is indeed smex. I promise that he'll appear next chapter. And I included Byakuya in this chapter! XDDD
jiaxi: Yeah, I really like making parallels to canon!Bleach. Hope you like this chapter too!
darkspryte: Ah yes, progress. Glad you liked Hitsugaya's appearance. (: Many have commented on the confusion, so I hope the next few chapters will clear things up a little bit!
Keep the reviews coming! They make me really really really x100 happy! XD