Disclaimer; I don't own Bleach. Nuff said.
It seemed like minutes of comforting blankness, but it had clearly been longer than that. The ground was solid, dry, the trees were gone but new saplings were sprouting, the grass was soft and green, and there were flowers here and there.
Hinamori could almost believe she'd gone back in time, to when she'd first noticed her reiatsu growing. This place would have started to show around then. This place could have looked like this then.
But there were still signs that it wasn't right, that this place had seen too much. Burnt twigs littered the ground. The flowers looked sickly. The grass was unevenly spread. This place wasn't whole yet.
Tobiume's gaze was painful, staring through her. "I..."
She stopped, trying to force herself to look into her eyes. Brown, mirroring her own. Her eyes slid back to the ground. Pitiful. Weak. Useless. "I don't think I can do this." The ground shuddered.
You know the words. Say them.
"I can't-"
Hinamori Momo! If you will not believe in yourself I can do nothing for you. But do not abandon me as easily as you will abandon your life, your friends, your subordinates. Say the words, little one!
She blinked, irritation clear. "Just who do you keep calling little, sprite?"
Release your anger. It will only hurt you more.
"Stop acting like you're smarter than me!"
Your frustration will only give you pause and your enemies' openings.
"I can't! I'm not like Hitsugaya-kun!"
You don't have to be like the ice wielder. You only have to be yourself, Momo.
She paused, sniffled, wiped at her eyes.
Say it.
I can-
Say it.
I will-
Say it!
"Hajike! Tobiume!"
There was laughter and while it reminded her of the wind chimes and summer breeze it seemed different somehow, filled with want and need just like the zanpakutos voice. She watched, slightly scared of the way those crimson gold wings spread wide, seemed to grow, and then her hands were full of cold steel and warm flame, the jitte-like shikai form held tight in her grasp once more.
Hours passed like that, Hinamori going through the motions, every stroke, every slice, the sword answering every beck and call, the slightest movement of her wrist, the smallest turn of her body. Every blast of energy dissipated before it could do damage to the growing trees, but every blast was stronger, fiercer, burning. All of her frustration, anger, guilt, sorrow, pain, all of it went into her attacks until there was nothing left and even in this place exhaustion set it.
You are at the stage you had reached before. Will you go further?
She smiled, a small, grim thing on her face. There was no other way. "I can't back down. I will become fire." Her body screamed, her lungs were filled with ash and flame, but she pushed on. She knew the words. She just had to say them.
Her body was burning. Nothing they could do brought her fever down and Unohana watched in silence as the girls body shuddered from the strain. "We can't do anything, Captain. This is an internal battle. To force her out of it would most likely do lasting damage to her mind."
"What part of her mind isn't damaged already?"
"You should know better than that." She sighed, glancing over at him with weary eyes that mirrored concern and understanding at his stubborn tone. She had always been able to see through people better than most. "She is fighting herself for control, trying to come to grips with the events in her own way. If we don't let her do this, it is possible we will never get her back."
"Her fever won't come down?"
"We have done all we can. We can only wait. But if you ask me-" she paused, staring at him, through him, past him, beyond him but still at him "-Hinamori-fukutaichou will make it. She is still strong, and this is proof of that strength. Her zanpakuto would not ask this of her if there was no chance she would make it through."
"If she's fine, and she wakes, will she still cry for him?"
She sighed again, watching his eyes slide shut in exhaustion and irritation. "Perhaps. But he is not the only one that has left a lasting mark on her, Captain. Tobiume is doing what she can to help Hinamori-fukutaichou recover physically and mentally, but she cannot and will not erase the past. The only choice Hinamori-fukutaichou has is to give in or move on."
"Give in?"
"She will most likely die." The shock was evident on his face at her simple response and she knew he couldn't understand how quickly she'd reasoned that. She glanced over at the whimpering girl, not to avoid the gaze but to allow him to look as pained as he wanted. "If she cannot let go of the events surrounding his betrayal, if she cannot realize that he is not who she thought he was, then the fire she is currently fighting against will consume her soul. That is my honest belief."
"I see. Thank you, Unohana-taichou."
"You're welcome, Hitsugaya-taichou." The briefest of nods, a small growl in the back of his throat that she pretended not to hear, a swish of white fabric and the young shinigami was gone. The healer turned her attention back to the small girl with a smile. "Did you see that? There are people waiting for you, Hinamori-kun."
Why are you doing this?
She must grow.
You are killing her.
You didn't do the same to assume your form as you are now? Do you expect me to believe that the boy who holds you saw you like that from the very first moment?
He saw nothing but me and my ice and the future. It is not my fault you chose a child who sought to hold herself back.
I thought you would be the most likely to understand.
You are my opposite, Tobiume.
But we are still drawn to each other. Will you still question me?
He questions you.
He questions her. He does not see her as I do. No one does. I have seen her soul, Hyorinmaru, and it is a beautiful thing.
Your true form?
She will find it.
I still believe you are hurting her for nothing other than your own gain.
Did you not see his pain, then? Do you not see the pain of everyone around her as she continues as she was before? If fire cannot cleanse her, nothing will.
His soul is at rest. I have no need to see what others want.
You are blinded, Hyorinmaru. Your ice boy craves her flame.
He needs only me.
She needs him.
He is mine.
And I?
You are your own, Tobiume.
No. I am hers, and she is mine. I will not share her with someone like the traitor, but I cannot deny your ice boy his place in her heart. So why do you deny hers in his?
His heart is ice.
And hers flame.
Opposites.
Drawn to each other. Like us. She will make her way through this, and she will need him.
If that is true, then she will not have grown at all.
No. She will have grown more than you can realize. Reliance on others is not a weakness. Rather, their feelings can be used as fuel.
You are true to your element, Tobiume.
Regretfully, you are true to yours as well. I have missed it, Hyorinmaru.
This banter does nothing but tire me. You will stand by your assertions, and I mine.
Then I shall prove you wrong with this girl, and we will melt your carefully guarded ice. We will burn that which stands in our way. She will realize, and we will grow.
If she does not, I hope it is not too long before we are reunited again.
There is no fear of that. We shall see each other again soon.
A/N: If it's not obvious (and I fear it isn't because I tend to fail) the last section is zanpakuto banter, in this case between Hyorinmaru and Tobiume. There's a few more planned, so hopefully it's not too irritating for people to read. --; The centered text will always be the other zanpakuto, while the left aligned text will be Tobiume. And um, about the zanpakuto's? I know they're supposed to take after their users personalities and everything, but I honestly don't see some of them that way so apologies in advance for any ooc-ness that occurs with them. I also don't fall into the belief that a zanpakuto has one wielder and one wielder only, hence Hyorinmaru's comment about being reuinited even if Hinamori fails.
Last zanpakuto note, about Tobiume. I both love and hate the theory that she's a pheonix-type spirit. I'll accept fire based, although I tend more towards kidou in general, but hopefully no one's going to string me up by having her as a sprite creature. (For now, anyway!) I'm going with fire based here just because it lends itself to element talk better, and I love having Hinamori and Hitsugaya as opposites that way. I also say Tobiume is a girl, if you hadn't picked up on that. --; According to one of the omake chapters, you can have a female zanpakuto, so I just always assumed she was.