02
As an experienced Chunin of Konohagakure, she felt rather embarrassed for being caught off guard by the shout. To be fair, it was a very loud one! Her ears were ringing for a brief moment before she could steadily regained her senses. As if in a daze, she then slowly turned her attention toward the source of the voice, and got caught by surprise once again.
There standing in the air around five feet from the ground not far to her left was the most adorable thing she had ever seen. It was a little girl with long black hair with a similar black traditional outfit like the one the rude boy in front of her wore. But the one thing that made her mind not even register the abnormality of someone standing in the air was the sheer cuteness of her supposedly mortified look, especially her big glossy green eyes. Looking at her, she just wanted to hug her, kiss her, dress her up, or - or maybe adopt her?
Finally realizing how silly her thought had turned into, she looked back at the boy for answers.
"Captain... Hitsu... gaya?" Hmm, it felt so good to say it somehow.
"That's me. So... Does it mean you're the prostitute?"
After witnessing how the probably flower shop owner who spoke as if she was a ninja carried herself so far, the Captain wouldn't be surprised if her real profession was just what his little partner suspected. Unfortunately, he failed to realize how unbelievably insensitive he was becoming. So a loud slap right to the face was a fair retribution then.
"How dare you?!" Her lips trembled just as her hand still did.
It was one hell of a slap, but pretty much laughable for a battle hardened warrior like him. Still, he was left speechless for a second. It was just no one had ever dared to slap the mighty Toushiro Hitsugaya. He still thought it wasn't necessary, however.
"Calm down, will you? I just want to make sure you understand that I'm not interested in your service if you're really one. I'm not that desperate. My sex life is more than fine. Thank you very much." Seriously, he could effortlessly get any women he wanted anytime back home.
"Just shut up, you jerk! I'm a girl who's always so proud to show off my breathtaking figure. I know I'm not innocent in every sense of the word. But I am not and will never be a prostitute!" Somehow, it hurt her deeply being looked down by him.
And her distress was so apparent. A middle-aged woman worriedly approached the angry girl, fearing that maybe the recent disaster had caused her to lose her mind. It was non other than her mother.
"Ino dear... Who are you talking to? Why are you so angry? No one called you such a thing..."
The girl angrily jabbed her finger at the boy's broad chest, unintentionally feeling the solid muscles there... Wait a sec. It was not the time for this!
"Mom! This meanie thought I was a prostitute. Even that adorable little girl over there suspected me as one."
Once again, the mother took a careful look around. But there was really no one in the surrounding vicinity beside the two of them. It made her so worried seeing the girl behaving so strangely. Maybe her husband could figure out what's happening with their daughter...
"No one's here but us, Ino. Everyone else is going to the infirmary. I'm glad you're okay physically, but still maybe you should go there with me? You know... we also need some check ups on our mental state too after all that happened. Don't worry. Your dad should be there."
"But, mom! They're right there..." She then shook her head. "Uh no, sorry. Mom, you go on ahead. Please, I need to uh do something first."
Finally, Ino began to accept that there was something seriously wrong with her predicament. She would need to have a private talk with the self-proclaimed Shinigami. But of course, her mother had no clue about any of this so she could only comply to her plea.
"Alright then, but please seek your father as soon as you're finished." Reluctantly she left her daughter alone, trusting that she could take care of herself.
"Yeah yeah. Later, mom!"
Without further ado, she once again glared hotly at the boy in front of her. But to her surprise, he didn't seem that much cold anymore. In actuality, the boy genuinely felt bad for her after watching her interaction with her mother. He finally realized how unfair he had been to her.
"I am sorry. You didn't deserve such treatment. It was demeaning, and I apologize for that. You too, Hachigo. Apologize to this young lady."
Immediately, the little girl moved down to the ground before bowing down respectfully just as how her father taught (or maybe programed) her to. And as usual, she automatically keep her voice meek in her favorite person's presence.
"I'm sorry, Miss Pros- Oops! I am sorry, Miss Ino..."
Aww... How adorable! Ino tried hard not to squeal.
"It's alright uh Hachigo-chan, right? No worries!" She smiled warmly before returning her attention to the boy. "But I won't go easy on you, mister! First, answer this. My mom couldn't see you, why?"
She briefly considered reading his mind, but then it would most likely cost her life if she attempted such a thing. It would be best to just listen, for once. And it seemed like she made the right decision. The young Captain nodded appreciatively before he began.
"Is it not a common knowledge that most people are incapable of seeing spirits, Shinigami included?" He wasn't so sure though, considering this was a whole new different world of the living.
"Well, I hate being called a weirdo, you know. So all my life I've been keeping a secret that sometimes I can see somethings that normal people can't. They're usually lost-looking people with chains of various lengths attached to their chests... In rare occasions, I've even seen them being ruthlessly eliminated by Shinigami, the ones that looked like in the tales of course! They're so scary, unlike you wannabe Shinigami. Seriously, you're too pretty to be a Shinigami..."
Her gaze couldn't help but wander to ogle his body again. She still believed a death god is supposed to be scary, though she didn't mind at all the presence of this really hot one in front of her. The pretty Shinigami in question began to feel annoyed by this, however. He tried to ignore it as best as he could. It would be unproductive to antagonize her, he realized that.
"In my knowledge, those are called Ancient Shinigami. Their role has been replaced by my kind in the other world of the living for thousands of years. As for the people you mentioned, they are called Pluses, the spirits of dead humans. In the beginning, they were all able to pass on to Soul Society naturally shortly after their deaths. However, human kind's emotions grew more and more complex as time went by. And often times, very strong emotions could make souls become too attached with their past and unable to move on before their Chain of Fate fully corroded themselves."
To be honest, that was all mostly his personal theory about history, considering that the official history was being kept by Kuchiki Clan. Not that it would matter to the girl. She was just glad that she could finally get some explanation after all these years.
"I've never seen the chains completely gone, though... What would happen if they're gone? And why did the scary Shinigami get replaced?"
"They would lose their heart, and in its pace, a hole that pierced trough their chest would appear, along with a white skeletal mask that covers their face. They would then be called Hollows, monstrosity that could evolve in various sizes, forms, and powers beyond your understanding."
"The Ancient Ones completely destroy Hollows and every soul that has the potential to become a Hollow. That's relatively okay if it's only being done in small numbers. But in large scales, it would disturb the balance between multiple realms, and might lead into a calamity. We the wannabe Shinigami on the other hand have developed the ability to send those troubled souls into Soul Society, and purify the corrupted ones. That's why as time went by, our presence had become vital to maintain the balance."
But then a question appeared in his mind as to how this particular world had not collided with the other worlds if so many souls had been eliminated already. This made him lost in thought for a moment. However, the girl mistook his sober silence for some kind of brooding.
"Geez, fine. I'm sorry about the wannabe part, okay? But hey, since you're a captain and all, have you seen those Hollow things?"
Really, she doubted he had ever seen one. Seeing how good looking he was, she even suspected that he was just a poster boy or something. Oh how couldn't be more wrong she was... And it seemed like her thoughtless question managed to trigger his temper.
"What kind of question is that? I've been fighting Hollows since I was a child, long before you were even born. I've fought and defeated the strongest of their types, the ones that could kill you just by releasing their spiritual pressure. I swear you're the dumbest blonde I've ever met after that Sarugaki."
"No need for insults, you jerk! Look, your story is hard to believe, okay? Before I was born? Really? You look only a couple of years older than me!"
She just couldn't understand this boy. First, he was simply a jerk, suddenly became a gentleman before going back to be a jerk again not long after that. Luckily for her, the boy also seemed to realize this. And he couldn't help but be ashamed of himself.
"Once again, I'm sorry. I've been in a lot of pressure lately. I speak the truth, however. I'm far older than you are. Even Hachigo is older than you, I believe."
The little Shinigami perked up at that, losing control of her voice.
"THAT'S RIGHT! Oops, sorry... Shinigami, or souls in general, age differently than normal humans. Generally, we age far slower. In some cases, some of us even live for centuries without getting older at all."
"Gawd, I've never thought I would ever want to die sooner... You guys dead people are lucky being able to stay young for so long."
This girl was strange, and shallow, unbelievably shallow... It was such a shame, but Toushiro quickly shook off such an irrelevant thought from his mind.
"Well for your information, we and most other Shinigami in Gotei 13 were born as souls. So excuse me if I can't understand your desire to die sooner."
"So they can procreate too? What about souls and humans? Let's say hypothetically you hook up with me, not that I'd ever want it to happen of course! Would the hypothetical you and me be able to have kids together?" For some reason, it made her awfully excited despite the embarrassment.
"No. I would've murdered the hypothetical me before he could disgrace Hitsugaya name. What a filthy pedophile."
"It was only hypothetical, you dummy! And what do you mean with pedophile? I am a legal adult, you jerk!"
And the jerk even had the audacity to look unimpressed by her claim. It was so frustrating. She just wanted a simple answer to satisfy her innocent curiosity. Was that asking too much? Well luckily for her, there was one other Shinigami around to provide her with the answer she needed.
"Don't be sad, Miss Ino! A union between a Shinigami and a human is forbidden, but still technically possible. And I think the possible child born from you and Captain Hitsugaya would be very beautiful."
Soon later, the girl cursed her imagination for suddenly showing her vivid images of adorable white-haired toddlers calling her 'mama'. What the hell was wrong with her? Seriously, she had never ever thought of having a child before. She quickly shook her head.
"Uh thanks, Hachigo-chan? For the explanation, of course. Like hell I would ever want to have his child!"
"And I'm not here to sire a child." He sighed. "Enough with this nonsense."
"Then why did you seek me out in the first place? Wait a sec. That flower you stole from my shop earlier... You wanted to give it to me, didn't you? Ha! Admit it! You were trying to hit on me! You're so lame, you know that? Don't you know daffodil is not a good one to give to a lady?"
"That's simply absurd. You're too full of yourself, girl. You might be pretty, but there's nothing noteworthy about that. I've never been short on pretty girls each time I need the service of one, or two, or three, sometimes."
The teenager stood agape for a moment. It had not crossed her mind that this stoic jerk could possibly be a player. And seeing how cute a child Shinigami like Hachigo could be, she didn't dare to imagine how attractive the grown-up ones were. She then looked at the child for some kind of confirmation.
The little girl didn't disappoint.
"That's right, Miss Ino. Captain Hitsugaya has THE BIGGEST FANBASE in Seireitei, consisting of not only the prettiest Shinigami girls, but also a good number of beautiful ladies from the noble houses of Soul Society too! They are the Frozen Blooms, Captain Hitsugaya's EXCLUSIVE FANGIRLS!"
"No way... exclusive fangirls? Really? This pretty boy is really a player." It made her feel so dejected for some reason...
The young Captain didn't get why she looked so shocked. None of his colleagues and subordinates ever questioned him about this. It was only natural since his body was at its most sexually active point in life. And it was only convenient for him that his fangirls gathered together in one organization. Why did he waste his time talking about it anyway?
"Listen. I didn't mean to seek you out. However, considering that you're one of the few people here who can see us, I will give you a once in a lifetime offer to take part in this honorable crusade of Gotei 13 to protect the worlds. We only require you to give up a considerable space of your residence to us for our temporary base of operation."
"... Let me get this straight... You a high-ranking Shinigami... want to freeload in my apartment... Well, I would love to help Hachigo-chan! But you? Go ahead and rot in a dumpster for all I care, you cheapskate!"
The nerves! She just couldn't believe this guy. Though she couldn't help fantasizing if hypothetically she accepted his ridiculous offer, he would silently creep into her room at night... to do indecent things with her body... Ooh, how tempting!
"I'm afraid you misunderstood. It's not that I'm dirt poor or -" He tensed all of sudden.
There, several miles away to the east of his location, he felt a very strong Reiatsu. It was stronger than average captains, at least on par with the infamous freeloader Renji Abarai. He fell silent to analyze it further.
Then again, the teenage girl mistook his contemplative silence for an entirely different thing.
"What? Ooh I'm so sorry, honey! Is this your first time being rejected by a girl?" She laughed gleefully.
The Captain ignored her completely. He was coming to a conclusion. The threat was strong. But in full power, he was certain he wouldn't have a problem to defeat it without the need for Bankai. So he decided.
"Hachigo, request a Gentei Kaijo for me."
"YES, SIR!" In a second, her mobile communication device was at the ready.
Seeing this, Ino couldn't help feeling panicked. Clearly, something had gone horribly wrong to make him stop arguing with her so abruptly.
"What's happening? Hey, don't ignore me! I'm coming with you." She wrapped her arms tightly around his left arm so he wouldn't leave her behind.
"Let go, girl!"
He soon realized how futile it was to get rid of her without hurting her. So he just pressed her body to his chest before flash-stepping away. Too shocked to even scream, the girl instinctively buried fer face in the crook of his neck. Her hold over his arm had loosen unconsciously, and she trusted her life to him holding her close to his body.
Everything around them became a blur, no, not even a blur. It was simply too fast. In the few seconds of the travel before being dropped unceremoniously to the ground, Ino began to regret all her previous behavior. Then as she regained her bearing and looked up at his silhouette jumping high to the darkening sky, all of her doubt to his words disappeared entirely.
This pretty Shinigami was the real deal.
"Soten ni zase, Hyourinmaru!" An immense icy power overflowed from the tip of his sword to form the shape of a majestic beast.
It was a great ice dragon. It sailed briefly in the air before brutally charging at a towering white figure that appeared to be about to execute a helpless red-haired stranger. The attack sent both the beast and its prey crashing hard into a cliff a distance away.
A tremor shook the earth briefly, but it didn't faze the Shinigami Captain in the slightest as he prepared a Kido spell.
"And stay down. Bakudo #62. Hyapporankan." Numerous glowing bluish white energy rods manifested around him before he propelled them to rain down rapidly upon the crash site with a simple hand gesture.
Once things settled down, the stranger got up tentatively from his crunched position, revealing a pair of strange pale eyes with a ripple pattern spread over each eyeballs. Those eyes immediately settled on his youthful-looking savior. Then he bowed humbly.
"Thank you for your help, whoever you are. Somehow, I couldn't even make a scratch on that creature even with the power of these eyes..."
It was at this moment that the teenage girl finally caught up to her new Shinigami pal. She was honestly amazed. But before she could voice her amazement, she got surprised at seeing the stranger wearing the infamous black and red robe. And her surprise turned into shock as her gaze found a rather familiar-looking chain attached to the stranger's chest.
"Y- You! You're an Akatsuki! A dead Akatsuki!"
No one paid her outburst any mind, most definitely not the Shinigami Captain. He had a job to do. Technically, he could've just performed a Konso already, and the strange Plus wouldn't be able to resist, but he had manners too. He supposed this Plus at least deserved an explanation for his politeness.
"See the short chain on your chest that keeps getting shorter? After it's completely gone, you will turn into a monster. That creature from earlier intended to eliminate you before the transformation could happen. I am a Shinigami. Please trust me so I can send you properly to the afterlife."
"Please do. I don't want to turn into a monster and make even more sins. I have too many of those already. It really is the time for me to let go of the past and move on. Once again, thank you, Shinigami-sama."
With a tired smile full of acceptance for whatever punishment he might receive in the afterlife, the once Akatsuki's leader closed his eyes, allowing his forehead to be touched with the hilt of a Zanpakutou. Then his form began to disappear. Toushiro watched over this silently as he contemplated the fact that terrible sins couldn't be redeemed with just regrets.
"He was actually a good man. Alas, he's still going to hell..." It was such a shame.
"Serves him right."
The Captain ignored the girl's snide remark, however, as he sensed a building up of Reiatsu coming from his pinned down opponent.
"The real fight is just about to begin. You'd better leave, girl."
"I thought you had finished it?! And my name is not girl, you jerk! It's Ino Yamanaka!"
Despite her annoyance of being ignored, she didn't dare to disobey his warning. It was the right thing to do. She managed to hide herself behind a boulder just before a sudden heavy pressure in the atmosphere made her fall to her knees with a gasp.
Toushiro decided to not use his Bankai even as he watched a huge burst of Reiatsu exploded from the Ancient Shinigami.
With the release of its true power its appearance also changed a bit. Somehow it became smaller, more or less around Kenpachi Zaraki's size and built. The pair of red horns on its head grew longer just as how the tanto in its hand from before turned into a large katana. However, those changes were overshadowed by the appearance of a large pair of ghastly wings on its back. Then without warning, a powerful flap of those wings propelled the creature toward its new prey, sword raised and ready to kill.
The powerful strike left a large and deep scar on the ground, right where the Captain stood a split second ago.
His mastery of Shunpo proved to be invaluable as he reappeared above the creature. Not wasting the slim window of opportunity before his opponent fully recovered from the after-cast of its executionary move, he threw down the chain of his Shikai. It easily wrapped around those large wings before freezing them completely. Then with a simple tug on the chain, they shattered into a shower of diamond dust.
One of the top priority in a fight, restricting the enemy's mobility, was fulfilled.
The creature staggered forward as it let out an animistic scream that reverberated throughout the clearing. Pain-induced adrenaline sharpened its reflexes, however, resulting in its ability to instinctively block a downward slash that would've split it in half. Still, it didn't anticipate a sudden kick at the back of its head that followed immediately after.
The Captain already prepared another attack as he watched the creature crashing down into the ground.
"Guncho Tsurara." Sharp icicle daggers floated around him in formation before he swung his Zanpakutou in an arc, launching them at his target.
Even though he was not from a noble family, Toushiro Hitsugaya was honorable enough to not beat up an incapacitated opponent. He was certain his previous kick had at least cracked its skull and the ice projectiles was definitely able to pierced its flesh. It slightly surprised him, however, to notice that his opponent was actually tougher than he thought.
The creature suddenly launched itself back at him for another clash, but with far slower speed than before. Calmly, he stood his ground before skillfully parrying the incoming blade aside right as it was about to cut his head. The small opening that soon followed allowed him to execute Ikkotsu with his free hand. The powerful punch destroyed a large part of its abdomen before sending it crashing back into the cliffside. And another tremor shook the small clearing.
This time, the Captain decided to end the fight since it wasn't even his main objective in the first place.
"Hitotsume: Nadegiri." The very swift but extremely forceful slash of his sword didn't seem to result in anything for a second.
Another second passed, and the Ancient Shinigami along with the whole cliff it had crashed into all of sudden split cleanly in half.
Ino could only stand agape for a moment after witnessing the whole thing. The pretty boy was definitely far stronger than she could even imagine, she finally realized. With this thought, she carefully approached him, kinda worried that he might consider to take a revenge on her for annoying him earlier.
"Don't get me wrong. I knew you are strong, but this... Seriously, I literally couldn't even stand in that creepy Shinigami's presence!"
"To be fair, you can do nothing against someone far superior than you in spiritual power. That's a fact. Just like that Plus earlier, regardless how strong he was in human standard, he couldn't even scratch the creature."
He stiffened suddenly as he sensed that said creature was still alive, albeit barely. But it was nothing compared to his surprise as he heard the following whisper coming from its still form.
"Ito... Kasou..." No one would've expect such a spell coming from an Ancient Shinigami, let alone a dying one.
The great shockwave that followed after filled the young Captain with dread. In a flash, he took the girl into his arms as he used the fastest Shunpo he could manage to get the both of them away. Still, it wasn't enough. They were briefly caught within the massive pillar of red fire erupting from the ground in the shape of a gigantic katana's tip before the following extreme blast of the pillar blew them away. He wrapped his arms tightly around her body in a desperate attempt to shield her from the lethal energy.
It was for naught, he knew.
As they crashed down a far distance away outside the blast radius, Toushiro regretted his earlier decision to not use his Bankai. His resolution to not be overly dependent on it after the Sternritter stole it a long time ago could possibly cost this girl's life. He felt so bad at the moment that he didn't even register the burns and deep scratches all over his body, much less his torn Shihakuso.
His gaze was focused on the girl as he laid her motionless form on the grassy field. Save for her face and chest that had been safely pressed to him, the rest of her body was in a much worse state than his.
"Yamanaka..." He didn't expect a response, seeing how weak her heartbeat was.
Without further ado, he began to treat her injuries with his Kaido. And he had never been this glad that he had decided to learn more about this art of healing a few years back. As a result, all of her physical wounds were healed in a relatively short time. But he knew it wasn't enough to save her.
Hado #96 Ito Kasou did not only deal damage physically. The crimson blast also damaged the essential particles that compose every beings, mortal or spiritual. If not for his extraordinarily strong Reiatsu, he would have been dying as well. A top level Hado of that magnitude could breach the Reiatsu barrier around the body of even someone of his caliber, and disturb their Reishi. If only he were just by himself, he would've simply released his Bankai and rendered the Hado's effect useless against him with the Daiguren Hyourinmaru's power of negation.
But he wasn't. It was too late already.
This girl's time was running out, and there was only one way to save her. He would need to use something as strong as his Reishi to repair and substitute her damaged mortal particles, or Kishi. The process would also require him to transfer a sliver of his power to her, and thus he'd break one of the main laws. This realization did absolutely nothing to deter his desire to save her, though.
That evening under the light of a crescent moon, he tore off the crescent blade of his Shikai, an object composed of the solid extension of his Reishi. A brilliant white glow surrounded the weapon then as he focused his Reiatsu into it until the whole blade appeared translucent. Finally after taking a moment to look at her beautiful sleeping face, he drove a part of his Zanpakutou - a part of him - into her chest.
He would get himself killed for tampering with a mortal's life, but at that moment, he couldn't bring himself to care.
Toushiro wouldn't be using his Bankai that much in the future, if at all. It's because I think the completed Daiguren Hyourinmaru's ability that can negate the functions and abilities of anything he freezes is simply overpowered. This combines with his Shikai Hyouketsu that allows him to freeze all matter in front of him and the fact that anyone who touches him will be flash-frozen potentially make him invincible.