To all who have reviewed so far: Thank you so much, it means a lot to me, really keeps the story going... And this pairing needs love

Wanderweiss worried. He really, really worried, for maybe the first time in his life. Not only that the girl he had picked up outside didn't seem to like him (yes, Hinamori had been right. The numero didn't understand her feelings. How could he? Pity and all other feelings of sympathy were totally alien to him. Hollows didn't have such naturally, and there was nobody he could possibly have learned it from. Everyone around him was a Hollow as well). And, much more, she became weaker and weaker every hour. He sat there, watching her asleep or awake, eventually untying her bun to find out how the hair beneath it felt like, and had to notice that she didn't recover at all. She didn't stop being mad at him, either.

This was the longest time he had been interested in the same thing ever. For normal, he would have been distracted after the first few hours, but this girl... She was different. Just... different.

The second day passed, and in the evening, he decided that something was wrong with her. Something he couldn't deal with by himself. Something he needed help to fix. Something Tousen would help him with.

He left the sleeping girl, hurrying down the corridors, towards the black male's room. He slipped in without a noise, shutting the door behind him, then knocking at the inside. It was something like a habit, nothing more; the taller man sensed his coming always long before he even entered the room. But it was also something he wouldn't miss. Never. It was the only constant in his life.

"Wanderweiss." He loved this voice, it was so caring and mild. "I heard you had a small encounter with some shinigami?"

The arrancar stepped forward, grabbing the man's left hand. "Aouuuuu!" He pulled the man towards the door. No time to talk! The brown haired girl needed their help!

"What is it?" Light bewilderment resonated in the words.

He pulled even more vehemently. No questions! They had to go!

"Don't worry. I'm coming..."

This was enough to the boy, and he used sonido to go back to the hidden room Hinamori was in. The former captain, flash-stepping directly after him, had trouble to keep track of his fast movements."Where are we going to?"

"Shi---rooou---chaa--n." Wanderweiss had listened to her carefully, trying to remember the few words she spoke, mostly while she was asleep. This one had been there about three times, so he considered it to be something very important to her; most likely her name, that was.

At least this was the boy's train of thoughts. Even if similar to Tousen's, it wasn't the same... Which in this case meant that they thought of different people in the end. "You're sure?" It sounded slightly shocked.

Which confused Wanderweiss. "Au! ... Ouuu?"

The taller man narrowed his eyes slightly. If it really was Hitsugaya, Tousen would have to tell Aizen about it. He didn't really want to, as the kid he sometimes thought of as a son seemed to be really concerned about the shinigami, much more seriously than he had seen it ever before. But if it was, there was no way...

Never before in his life the man had wished harder to be proven wrong.

She knew, knew with a clearness she had never ever experienced before, that she was about to die. As simple as this conclusion was, it had taken her a long time to come up with it, partly because she didn't want to accept it, partly because it seemed so ridiculous. She had met situations of mortal danger too many times during the winter war, she had survived the fatal wound her former captain had inflicted on her when he left for Hueco Mundo. And now, finally, she was to die before she even reached maturity, but not in battle. Not by a hollow's hands. Not by i anyone's /i hands.

The last person to touch her would, most likely, be that murderous blond arrancar. She couldn't hinder the curious touches of him anymore, even turning her face away when he reached out to let his fingers trail over her cheeks towards her lips or hair, was too hard to afford.

"He really seems to like my hair..." she thought bitterly when he once again playfully examined it, obviously trying to be as gentle as he was able to. Apparently, he didn't want to hurt her. So at least she was to starve to death in safety. How utterly comforting.

Hinamori hated him. She still didn't know his name, but she knew his face far too well by now. She hated everything about it, especially the seemingly innocent facial expression of his, this hypocritical childish attitude. This even more hypocritical worried concern in his eyes. These unbelievably soft fingers.

Every hour they spent in the white prison of hers this hatred grew. There was no way to get rid of it. In the beginning, she had tried to express it with words, actions. The words he hadn't understood, the actions he had simply dodged. When she had become too exhausted and weak to go on with this, she had still continued to glare at him with hateful eyes.

And now he had left.

Left her alone.

Alone in this world of white, pure white, of nothingness, this prison without any features she could cling to now there was nothing with her.

She would die alone.

Even if she wouldn't have admitted it, not to anyone else and least to herself, she had taken comfort in his presence, in the simple presence of this not actually living but alive being.

And now he was gone.