Yay, one positive review. That's all I needed to get the inspiration to put this chapter up. See how much I can do with so little? But that doesn't mean you shouldn't review…

Anyhow, I'm not blatantly ignoring the deceased captains…read on and you'll see.

CH3: Mirror of the Mind

Hinamori Momo would not let another person die because of her. Never. Never again. She repeated this mantra to herself continuously, as if drawing inspiration and courage from it as she departed on her newest mission.

The 5th Division Lieutenant ran at top speed as she headed for her destination: a small park where Hisagi-fukutaichou was currently at. Jumping and flash stepping along the way, she finally reached the park to find a marvelous sight: columns after columns of mirrors spread out across a dark field. It seemed too surreal and beautiful to be possible. She snapped out of her admiration and switched to her mission mode. Recalling the mission reports, she blessed her luck to have been assigned a hollow that depended on long range attacks…she depended on long range attacks as well. She leapt up into the sky, far out of the hollow's view, but clearly within hers and eyed the hollow with a hawk's precision.
"Snap, Tobiume," commanded Hinamori as her zanpakutou started to grow prongs. She channeled her reiatsu into her sword and focused a glowing orb of energy at the base of her zanpakutou. She flowed more energy into it until it reached a considerable size and fired the orb like a cannon at the hollow.

Ichigo had several cuts on every inch of his body, some cuts overlapping others and some occurring on the same spot. Continuing like this was impossible and Ichigo knew it. He considered unleashing his bankai but remembered the restriction Soul Society had placed on him. He had no communicator with which to contact them, so he could not possibly request the limit to be lifted for him.
"Kuso…" he cursed as he struggled to stand straight. "Of all the luck…" he said as he collapsed back onto his knees as he spat out blood.
"Looks like you need help." Ichigo looked up to find out whose voice it was. There in the mirror was Zangetsu in human form.
"Heh, didn't think you'd come out at a time like this…" laughed Ichigo, glad to see the stern face.
"I wasn't talking to you," replied Zangetsu tersely. Ichigo's eyes widened in disbelief.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"He was talking to me, baka!" Ichigo turned around to come face to face with a face he only recognized too well. There in the mirror behind him stood his hollow self, as pale and maniacal as ever. "Yo! Long time no see, eh?" cackled his whiter self. "Seems like I can really kill ya now, eh?"

Shuuhei stumbled along, passing from one mirror to another, but finally fell to the ground as he coughed up a stream of blood. His reflexes had slowed down considerably after getting hit by the first blast of energy, so he was forced to try and block several blasts after that…only to see his wasted efforts. The top of his uniform was completely ripped off and a large gash trailed from his abdomen to the top of his right shoulder. He calmed his breath as he tried to muster enough energy to flash step out of the maze. His concentration was shattered when a voice called out from behind.
"I can see that you're weaker than ever." Shuuhei spun around quickly and saw who the voice belonged to: Tousen Kaname.
"S―Shut up. You're a damn blindman!" cursed Shuuhei, bitterness flowing freely.
"Then that shows how weak you really are. So weak that even a blind man can see it." The visored man suddenly disappeared from the mirror he was on and reappeared on a mirror next to Shuuhei. "Do you remember? Do you remember how I died? How you watched me with those beady eyes of yours…how you let me die? How you couldn't make me see 'true justice'?" Shuuhei tried to tune the voice of his former captain out, knowing the image to be a trick of the hollow. But the voice grew louder in volume as if to counter his efforts. "And Komamura…you couldn't help him either! He had to help you. You…who are weak. Tell me now, Hisagi, what can you possibly do in such a weakened state? Do you think you can really carry out what is commanded of you? Can you accomplish such an easy task?"
"Fuck you…" coughed Shuuhei as he started walking away. Tousen instantly reappeared in a mirror in front of Shuuhei.
"Perhaps you need to remember…remember how truly weak you are." Shuuhei couldn't control himself and found him staring straight into Tousen's eyes…those white, white eyes.

Hinamori fired another shot at the hollow now, blasting off the mirrors surrounding the mask.
"You bitch!" cried the hollow as it flew dangerously close to Hinamori. Not having enough time to step out of the way, Hinamori resorted to using the prongs of her shikai to fend off the spinning hollow.
"Snap!" she cried as she blasted another shot and made a direct hit, shattering more mirrors.
"How dare you…" growled the hollow, grimacing from underneath its cracked mask. "I'll just kill you like how I'm killing the others!" it yelled. Without warning, it rapidly spun and fired mirrors at Hinamori. This time, she was able to dodge with a well-paced flash step. But when she came to a stand still, she realized that she hadn't completely dodged the attack…she was trapped inside a mini mirror maze of her own. The mirror fragments extended and expanded until they stood several feet taller than her.
"Snap!" she cried and fired a shot at one of the mirrors, which to her horror, absorbed the shot. She felt a sudden influx of energy from behind her and was able to jump out of the way as the mirror behind her fired a shot at her, much like the shot she had just fired.
"W―What?" cried Hinamori incredulously.
"Momo…" groaned a soft voice. Hinamori spun around frantically. There in the mirror stood a bloodied Hitsugaya. His left arm had been blasted off and blood was pouring from every pore on his body, even from his normally ice-blue eyes. "Momo…why?" asked Hitsugaya as he knelt down and coughed up blood.
"T―Toushirou!" cried Momo. She ran at the mirror and clutched at its edges, not caring if the sharp frame cut at her hands. "You're still alive…" sobbed Hinamori, delirious with confusion yet sudden relief.
"Why…did you have to kill me?" Blood trickled down his forehead and down his nose.
"I…I didn't mean to…" sobbed Hinamori. "But…but you're not dead! You're right here, before me!" cried Hinamori frantically. She looked at Hitsugaya and couldn't say another word as the two made eye-contact. Slowly, Hinamori felt herself being ripped from the real world and being dragged back to that dark place, the place where so much of his blood was spilled, because of her.

"So, Ichigo, why don't you pull off that hollow transformation of yours? Or wait, don't tell me, Soul Society put a restriction on that too?" mocked Ichigo's other self. "But that don't matter, now does it Ichigo? It just means I can kill you quicker!" cackled the psychopath. He drew forth the inverted form of his zanpakutou and pointed it at Ichigo. "Ready to die? Cause I'm ready to kill!"
Ichigo didn't give his inner self a chance to react as he slashed through the mirror completely. "…Missed me!" laughed a voice behind. Ichigo turned around, only to get a heavy slash to his rib cage.
"Kuso…" muttered Ichigo, trying to get his breath. "Hey Zangetsu! Help me out here!" The stern man looked at him and laughed.
"Sure. I'll help you die faster." The man slipped his hands out of his pockets and made a quick snapping motion with them. The mirror he was in suddenly changed backgrounds. Behind him now was a barren and dry desert, similar to that of Urahara's underground facility. Swords were scattered all over and blades were lying strewn across the field. Zangetsu picked up a blade and stared Ichigo in the eyes with his sword drawn.
"But before I kill you, how about I kill another person…like say, your mother?" Ichigo's eyes flashed open as he suddenly saw Zangetsu holding a female by the hair. The female was none other than his mother.
"O―Okaa-san?"

Shuuhei was transported back to the dark room he had confronted Tousen in…the dark room that was Tousen's bankai. The room where nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard, but everything could be felt. Shuuhei screamed aloud as a sword slashed through his ribs.
"Weak…" muttered Tousen pitifully in the split second Shuuhei could hear him. Shuuhei swung his blade wildly around to where Tousen was standing, and struck darkness. "So utterly dependant on others…" Shuuhei spun around and was slashed across the chest. "Tell me Shuuhei…can you see your own blood?" Tousen had knocked him down to the ground now, blade tip on Shuuhei's chest. "Of course you can't…this is my justice, after all…the road of the least bloodshed." Shuuhei could not move. Pinned down by blade, strangled by an unbelievable reiatsu, and overcome by the impending fear of death, he felt himself give up. "You're weak. Weaker than a blind man. Justice serves only the strong, Hisagi." Tousen's face flinched momentarily after mentioning Shuuhei's name for the first time in months…but showed no resistance in lifting his blade to plunge it into Shuuhei's throat. Shuuhei would have died that day too, had Komamura-taichou not ripped through the darkness with his massive sword.

Hinamori trailed behind Hitsugaya as they made their way through corridor after corridor of darkness. Wielding her shikai, she tried her best to defend herself from the various Arrancar but ultimately had to depend on Hitsugaya and his bankai. So it stood to reason that by the time they reached Ichimaru Gin, Hitsugaya was considerably tired.
"My, oh my…" laughed Ichimaru from where he sat in the middle of a large room. "Two lovebirds coming here to fight with lil old me? Tch, love will conquer all, eh?" laughed Ichimaru from his seat. He stood up slowly yet deliberately, letting his reiatsu materialize around his body as if daring the two to make the first move. "I s'pose I should thank ya two for the honor…" continued Ichimaru as he drew his wazikashi from his within his robe. "So lemme show you my gratitude. That alrite? Eh?"
"Stay back" commanded Hitsugaya to Hinamori in a hoarse whisper.
"But…"
"Just…stay back. I don't want you to die…because of me."
"W―What are you talking about, Toushirou?" asked Hinamori, wide-eyed and panicking. But Hitsugaya made no attempt to answer. Another one of the petals of his flower crystals crumbled, leaving one full flower crystal left. Gauging how much time he had left, Hitsugaya decided that he had to defeat Ichimaru in at least 20 minutes or else…
"Oye, are we gonna fight or what?" asked Ichimaru impatiently. Hitsugaya didn't answer. He let Hyourinmaru answer with a deafening roar, spreading ice along the floor and freezing whatever it came upon and creating ice spires as it willed. Leaping forth, he flew straight at Ichimaru with an avalanche of ice following in pursuit.
"Tch…scary…" sighed Ichimaru as he leapt forward to meet Hitsugaya in mid-flight.

Ayasegawa Yumichika was on stand-by, watching the 3 other shinigami stand dumbly in spot, staring straight into mirrors.
"They're not that beautiful…" sighed Yumichika, secretly longing to be able to join the fight because 1) he needed a good fight and 2) he needed a good look in the mirror to reaffirm his 'beauty'. He snapped open his communicator.
"Have you started lifting the limit?"
"We have, as you have commanded Yumichika-fukutaichou" answered a voice on the other line amidst static.
"Good. Make sure Ichigo-kun gets priority."
"What about the other lieutenants?"
"You can lift Hinamori's after. As for Hisagi…" Yumichika gazed at Shuuhei with longing eyes, wondering what the muscular man was doing, staring dazedly at a mirror. "…do not lift the limit for Hisagi until I say so."
"Understood." Yumichika knew Shuuhei would never forgive him if he helped him in battle. He sighed as he leapt down from his perch and ran to find the hollow.

Ichigo yelled as he destroyed mirror after mirror, but never really being able to catch up to Zangetsu's speed. The cloaked man teleported from one mirror to another, dragging his mother in tow by her hair, making her scream in pain.
"LET HER GO!"
"Aww, you're a mama's boy?" taunted his paler inner self. Ichigo glared at the psychopathic figure, but ignored him. There was only one person he wanted to kill right now and that was Zangetsu. As he continued destroying mirrors, he never paid attention to how much stronger he felt as time passed by. And as he continued running, he never paid attention to how much lighter he felt as time passed by. It was by the time he had annihilated half of the mirrors on the field that he realized that Zangetsu was no where to be found.
"SHOW YOURSELF OLD MAN!" he yelled aloud.
"Right here." Ichigo spun around in time to block a sword that had somehow reached out of a mirror right behind him. Zangetsu was holding the blade in one hand, and in the other, he held his mother's decapitated head.
"Hey, hey! What should I do with this guy?" Ichigo turned around and saw his inner double grabbing Shuuhei by the hair. "Guess it's alright to kill him too, right?" asked his psychopathic inner self as it slit Shuuhei's throat, letting blood drain from his throat. He bent down and licked up some of the running blood and laughed hysterically. "He tastes damn good…I know you wanna taste him too!" he cackled. Ichigo's pupils dilated as he felt uncontrollable fury course through his veins. His reiatsu doubled, tripled, even quadrupled in strength and started to tear at the very ground beneath him.
"Ichigo! Use your bankai!" cried a distant voice. Ichigo's scowl deepened into a contorted face of rage. He didn't know whose voice it was, but the idea seemed damn good at the moment.
"Bankai!" he yelled aloud, letting energy explode from his body and destroying the earth, mirrors, and everything within a 50 ft radius.

While Hitsugaya and Ichimaru were fighting, Hinamori was desperately looking for a chance, a moment, any opening for which to catch Ichimaru off guard. Her chance finally came. Hitsugaya made a furious slash at Ichimaru, sending the man flying back several feet and onto his knees. This was her chance.
"Snap, Tobiume" she muttered as she flung not one, but four orbs of violent energy at the unsuspecting man.

She gasped at what she saw.
"Toushirou!" she sobbed aloud. The boy had blocked all of her orbs with his backside. She saw 3 distinct burn marks along his back, where they had completely burned through his icy wings, and trembled furiously when she realized where the fourth orb had struck. The fourth orb had completely disintegrated Hitsugaya's left arm.
"W―Why?" she cried, falling down to her knees.
"Love conquers all, alright" crooned Ichimaru. "Even conquered these two lovebirds." Hinamori ran to Hitsugaya's side and realized why he had blocked her attacks. From the front, she could see that Ichimaru had launched his shikai, aiming to kill Hinamori while pretending to let his guard down. But Hitsugaya had leapt in the way and blocked the blade with his own body, letting the sword sink deep into his chest, piercing his heart.
"You got your ass handed to ya, from both the back and the front" chuckled Ichimaru. Hitsugaya did not answer, letting blood spew from his chest area and dribble down from the corners of his mouth. Each breath he took pumped blood out of the holes in his back and sloshed gallons of blood out of where his left arm had been.
"Toushirou!" she cried frantically, clutching at his right hand. Hitsugaya let the ice on his right hand recede so that it showed his pure flesh. She grabbed at his hand and brought it to her face, letting her tears soak his skin. His hand was colder than ever, even colder than ice…it was like the coldness of death. She heard him mumble something as he caressed her face with his trembling fingers.
"What is it…Toushirou?" she said, trying to gain access to his eyes.
"I…love…" he gasped inbetween coughs of blood. He refused to look her in the eye as his hand left Hinamori's face and landed on Ichimaru's blade. He clutched it tightly as he mustered all the energy left in his body for one final assault. He roared aloud and Hyourinmaru echoed his scream, creating a loud, ear-splitting cry. His reiatsu congregated around his body and turned to solid ice as it traveled along Ichimaru's blade, freezing each and every inch of it in the blink of an eye. Ichimaru had no time to react and couldn't let go of his blade in time, getting his hand frozen to the handle of his zanpakutou. Ice traveled along the floor as well and wrapped around Ichimaru's feet and traveled up his leg and up to his waist, freezing the man to his spot.
"My, oh my…looks like I went and let my guard down again…" sighed Ichimaru lazily. Hitsugaya coughed blood in response, staining the pure ice crimson red.
"I love you, Momo…" Hinamori turned to face Hitsugaya. The ice had frozen his entire body and neck, making it difficult for him to face her directly, but she could see it…the love in his eyes. She cried freely now as she watched the love drain from his eyes and the life drain from his face. He smirked and almost smiled, and finally let his head fall limp.
"Toushirou…" she cried deliriously, sinking down to her knees. She felt so tired…so very tired. Her body wouldn't move and her head dropped over, letting her tears fall like a constant stream.

"Glad that's over with" laughed Ichimaru as he focused energy in his free hand. He moved the energy over his legs and cracked the ice off his legs. "It seems you're next to die, right Momo-chan? I won't mess up…like Aizen-sama did." he spoke coldly, lifting the slits of his eyes to reveal a reddish bloodlust."Growl, Haineko" muttered a trembling, but stern voice from behind them. Fine dust particles flew forward and started surrounding Ichimaru's frozen zanpakutou. In a flash, the entire ice-covered sword was broken into shards. Ichimaru sighed as he held his still frozen hand up. He let energy flow into it and cracked off the remaining ice, revealing only the handle of his zanpakutou in his hand. Even the hilt guard had been destroyed.
"Ran-chan, so you're here too? Couldn't get enough of me last time, eh?" he chuckled. Matsumoto stepped forward out of the darkness with a tear-streaked face. "Oye, you crying for me?" asked Ichimaru skeptically. Matsumoto didn't respond. She looked at her frozen captain tenderly and let out a silent sob, and turned back to Ichimaru.
"This is for you, captain…" she sighed heavily as her zanpakutou reformed out of thin air.
"…Y'know, I can still go bankai with this…" laughed Ichimaru heartily as the handle in his hand turned a bright glow. "…And we've never fought before…you sure you wanna do this?" asked Ichimaru, lifting an eyebrow in question.
"So can I…" whispered Matsumoto. Ichimaru's grin turned into a frown as he eyed Matsumoto suspiciously.
"You really wanna fight me, huh?"
"No…I want to kill you." The two stood silently, letting their reiatsu accumulate and flare up. After several minutes of silence, the two yelled "Bankai!" in unison.

"Hinamori!" yelled a familiar voice. She turned around and saw Yumichika fighting the hollow. "Hinamori! Are you alright?" he asked impatiently. Hinamori nodded as she realized that all that had happened were from her memories…it was like reliving it all over again. She could feel tears on her cheeks, blood on her hands, and a tiredness stretching over her entire body.
"Go clear out the remaining mirrors!" yelled Yumichika as he deflected the hollow's attack.
"…Alright." She turned her attention to the mirrors in the field and gasped. A black flash was zooming back and forth across the field, obliterating rows of mirrors at a time with a tremendous wave of black energy. 'That…that must be Kurosaki-kun…' she thought to herself. Realizing that it would be dangerous to go down and help him, she decided to help Yumichika fight the hollow instead. The least she could do was make sure that Yumichika didn't get hurt…she didn't want another person dying because of her.

Shuuhei trembled as he watched the two men fight intensely. Komamura roared as he leapt forward with zanpakutou in hand. Tousen dodged the initial blow but was slashed by Komamura's bankai version of himself, sending him flying several hundred feet.
"This is the end, Tousen. I'll show you the road of least bloodshed, where blind and nonblind are equal and the same…the road of death." Komamura roared the last word with a vengeful spite and motioned for his giant bankai to step forward and slash Tousen.
"Then we'll walk this road together!" yelled Tousen as he dodged the giant sword. "Cry out, Suzumushi." A deafening ring was emitted from the sword and seemed to shatter every bone within Shuuhei's body. Going limp, he fell down to his knees and eventually came to lie flat on the floor. As he looked up, he saw Komamura bent over, covering his ears and howling in agony. Shuuhei reached for his zanpakutou but saw that it had been shattered by the high-pitch sound waves. Suddenly, above the high-pitched chime, came a deafening crash. The chime stopped immediately after and Shuuhei looked to see what had happened. Komamura's bankai statue had collapsed on top of Tousen, crushing the little man underneath its immense weight. As the bankai slowly faded away, he saw Komamura's figure lying on the floor. Blood streamed out from the proud captain's body and he whined like an injured dog until he finally passed out from pain.

"Shuuhei!" a voiced called out. He blinked as the mirror before him was shattered.
"What the…"
"You alright?" Shuuhei turned around see Ichigo standing there in a black suit, holding a slim, black zanpakutou. He looked genuinely worried.
"Y―Yeah…" muttered Shuuhei with a shaky voice. He struggled to get back on his feet but fell over from exhaustion.
"Here, let me help you…" sighed Ichigo as he bent over to help him up…only to collapse on top Shuuhei.
"Tch…some help you are…" sighed Shuuhei.
"I…I can get up…" muttered Ichigo. After realizing that the mirrors were mere illusions, Ichigo had went about destroying each and every single one. But he wasn't taking chances. If this was the real Shuuhei, there was no way he was going to let what happened to the mirror Shuuhei happen to the real Shuuhei. He got up slowly and was almost back on his feet when he finally passed out from exhaustion. Shuuhei tried to push the other man off of him so that he himself could get up, but he was out of energy too.
"Eh…well…as long as it's warm, it's alright…" sighed Shuuhei as he drifted out of consciousness.

Hinamori and Yumichika found the two lying in a heap, bleeding all over each other.
"This…this expression of love between two men…it's beautiful" sighed Yumichika. "Blood…body contact…and deep slumber. Just…beautiful." Hinamori pretended to giggle in response as she wiped away a lone tear. She knelt down by the two and extended a hand over them and started to heal them. She repeated her mantra to herself. She would never let another person in front of her die again. Never again. She cried as she remembered Hitsugaya's smirk.

TBC

Hm…that was a bit longer than I intended it to be. But I hope it tied up loose ends about what happened to Hitsugaya at least. I did him some justice…

R&R please…please…please…please…