Grimmjow and Momo were using shunpo to travel through the forest of the Seireitei, already hearing the yells and piercing cries of all-out battle; Rudobon acted quickly on his part, creating mass hundreds of subordinates before they even opened the garganta.
Now they were traveling in silence as they acted oblivious to the obvious battles occurring not far from where they were.
Momo was following Grimmjow through the treetops, both of them leaping from branch to branch with ease. Even though Momo prefers ground travel much more, Grimmjow always preferred heights or pretty much anything he deemed in his taste.
Momo just heard another ushering sound of pain as one of the exequisas sliced a man's throat about 3 meters away "Grimmjow, where exactly are we going?"
Grimmjow answered with a grin "Toward squad 10. I imagine that will please you, the reason I'm going is because apparently, Zaraki is near the area!" he did a crazy chuckle that vocalized his intent "You can do whatever you want, Momo. Just don't interfere with my fight."
Hinamori's expression brightened and she continued following without a word, already contemplating the battle.
She then tensed slightly as a tiny bit cold moisture touched her cheek with a sudden blast of cold for a moment and then her eyes spotted tiny soft-looking tuffs of white drift by. By this time Grimmjow stopped too and was observing the sky where the white was originating; it was unmistakable, it was snow, only it was coming in the wrong season.
It was snowing in the summer.
There was no sun in Hueco mundo and the scene was never changing, everyone and everything there was cold due to the lack of the warm sun and only the cold moon that stared down like death. Her skin that once had a beautiful tan was now paler in complexion, and her once warm body would be as cold as ice it were not for her fiery spiritual pressure.
Momo raised one of her hands a bit as she held out her palm as more white tuffs gently landed on it, lingering for more than a few moments before melting.
She was so focused on the sudden arrival of the white that she never noticed Toushiro's spiritual pressure spiking up, signaling his zanpoktou release. Once she did notice, Grimmjow was already on the move again, adjusting course.
They traveled for a few minutes before Hinamori cursed under her breath; she noticed Zaraki's spiritual pressure moving away from Hitsugaya now and it would only be a matter of time before her superior noticed.
And just like that, Grimmjow took notice just as she thought it, this time not wasting time as he headed towards Kenpachi "You go on ahead Momo! Just don't get distracted and report back to me when you're done!"
Momo moved past him as he made a sudden turn the other way toward her right "Don't worry about that…There is only one thing I want in this invasion!" and she continued on without looking back.
She continued on foot, on the ground as she ran on in the darkness of night, adjusting course every time Hitsugaya moved as she let the snow fall on her skin.
She continued doing so until she sensed a sharp blade coming toward her from the front in a flash; she unsheathed her own sword to counter as the steel clanged together as she saw the last person she would ever suspect, to attack from the front.
Soi Fon.
She used sonido to gain some distance as Soi Fon stood where she was, not breaking eye contact with Hinamori.
The made Momo somewhat confused, as head of the executive force, she is to assassinate the enemy as soon as possible, she wasting many seconds just standing there!
They continued starring at each other, Momo trying to comprehend, and Soi Fon, just looking at her with an unreadable face as she waited for Hinamori to move.
"Mind if I ask, what's got you into such an unusual mood?" her voice was low.
Soi Fon looked unfazed by her appearance and spiritual pressure and she answered without hesitation "I am here to fight you, Hinamori Momo."
Hinamori looked questionably at her "Fight me? I thought the word you would use is 'execute' or 'assassinate'? A person of your position should say that."
"For someone who has committed various crimes, or as an enemy of the Seireitei, then yes, I would be obliged to execute you. But you're not either officially are you? You're after Hitsugaya." She said it with resolve.
This caused Momo to raise an eyebrow "Knowing you, I thought you would know that if someone threatens a captain, who hold absolute power in a squad and therefore the balance of the Seireitei, then that would make me a threat."
"Though that is true, not the central 46 or the head captain has officially labeled you an 'enemy' yet. But I'll be honest; if it was anyone else who was in the same circumstance as you, then I would go about my normal way of dealing with him."
"Why is that?"
"Because you were once a liutenate….one that cared for others, reassured soldiers-" her gaze seemed to harden slightly….or was it actually softening "And was betrayed by someone close to you."
This caused Momo's blood to boil; she actually had the nerve to include Hitsugaya in this!
As if reading her thoughts she added "I am not only referring to Captain Hitsugaya you know.", she said it with a stern voice, dead serious now.
Momo's eyes widened slightly for a moment and her grip around her zanpoktou hardened as her voice dropped menacingly "Be careful what you say Soi Fon, from you, those two names sounds like insults and taunts!"
Soi Fon looked like she never heard what she said "Though I was fortunate and Lady Youruichi came back, Aizen was bad from the beginning and did something to you that worse than anything that I have experienced." She gripped her zanpoktou and brought it upward, getting in her fighting stance "So, in order to preserve this place that you once held dear, and to show you the courtesy you deserve, I will fight you and bring an end to you…." Her muscles tensed, and then she charged in, with her blade coming downward toward Hinamori's torso.
Hinamori blocked it and aimed a punch straight for her face, which was blocked by Soi Fon's free hand. Then, Hinamori decided to try a kick, but that to, was blocked; with this, she gained distance "So tell me-" Hinamori said as she dodged a blow from her lethal sword "Are you saying that you won't release you zanpoktou?"
"Yes. That's exactly what it means." Soi Fon attacked again, adding more force into it.
Momo failed to realize this and countered with same force she always does, nearly succumbing to the short blade and was forced to her knees. Soi Fon took this chance and did a swift leg toward her stomach, which connected and sent her flying.
Momo wasted no time in recovering, knowing the captain was already trying to catch up and land another blow "Ku-rensa."
Soi Fon flinched as she felt the arrancars spiritual pressure beneath her and skirted to the left just in time to avoid the crimson chains that grabbed at nothing, constricting on the ground. "I should have known you would have a trick like this. You were always excellent in Kiddo." She used flash step to avoid another set of chains.
She did it for another six times before encountering Hinamori again, attacking before she could. But she was somewhat surprised when she grabbed the blade with her hands this time, the blade cutting her stainless skin.
Momo grinned at the wound "Kurenai chi hana."
Soi Fon had no time at all to react to the new kiddo spell that bound her, as well as harmed her, from the open wound on her hand.
She was now kneeling on the ground as five, diamond shaped petals of spiritual pressure pinned her on all sides, the five petals coming from the blood of the open wound. But she could still move her legs, she didn't hesitate, despite the awkward position, to attack Hinamori with one of them.
Momo grabbed that attack "Your new at this kind of battle so I'll teach you something." She pounded Soi Fon with her, still holding her leg as she continued pushing her toward the ground. Her back cracking as the force of her foot and the force of the kiddo that was now stuck in the ground as it stood bolt upright.
Momo continued "When we don't want to kill an opponent quickly, we do whatever we want to them until they break!" she pushed down harder, earning her painful screams from the famous Soi Fon of the stealth force.
Truth be told, Momo was originally never into torturing opponents like this, but after a few years with Grimmjow, his cruelty took ahold of her as he did a few episodes of abuse of his own to his direct subordinate on unstable days.
Soi Fon squirmed as much as the kiddo could allow, but to no avail. In the end, there was only one option "S-shunko."
The fragile kiddo that relied on subtle focused spiritual pressure was no match for the outraging force of her kiddo and hakkuda energy and it just simply dissipated.
Momo was pushed back from just the release and was considering releasing her zanpoktou to counter, but decided to save it for later.
For when I kill him.
Soi Fon charged at her once again, enveloping her blade in the shunko energy itself to give it extraordinary power.
The fight continued on for some time, the snow has become a thin delicate connected sheet over the world and it cracked from the simplest touch, and it was still snowing, a little harder now.
"I've had enough!" Momo focused energy in the tip of her blade, knowing well that its power surpassed her multiple cero which decimated most of the battle field, the snow slowly covering it up.
Soi Fon, still in shunko was more surprised than before as she saw the instantaneous flare from the blade, the next thing she saw was the inferno directly making contact with her, clashing with the energy of the shunko as it scorched a part of her arm and leg as she fell against a fallen tree.
She registered that new move in her mind in an instant as she got up and attacked again with Momo attacking in many versatile ways; cero, bala, ku-rensa from her hand, the kiddo blast from her blade tip, simple blast of fiery energy from her fists etc. She even added spiritual pressure in dense contents to he r limbs to counter her shunko with her own body, despite the difficulty and bruises.
Momo fired another cero, intending to follow it with a kiddo. But was instead impaled by Soi Fon's blade, the cold steel and spiritual pressure deepening the wound that was now in her gut.
Momo never saw it coming; Soi Fon slashed through cero, as she suspected, but then trusted her sword. A sword thrust is lethal if it hits an opponent, but it's incredibly easy to dodge, but it also makes the user gain speed slightly. Soi Fon came at her so fast and so unexpectedly that Momo did not register that she was even doing a sword thrust until it was too late.
Soi Fon's shunko was dissipating as Momo bled, knowing that she was close to the end of the battle. There were many things she could say, but just silently watched Hinamori for a moment as she pulled herself off the blade as she fell toward the ground, the thin snow giving way to her weight as it wet her uniform.
Soi Fon raised her sword once more, now holding it the way a normal shinigami would and calculated the next, final blow that would surely, painlessly, end her life and put her at rest.
The sword slashed downward and hissed as it made direct contact with flesh as it flew in many directions from the swift movement, landing on the snow around them.
Soi Fon's eyes widened more than they ever have when she saw who was in front of her, when she saw who took the blow instead of her intended target. Her heart beat nearly stopping as she saw those eyes of turquoise and that hair that was as white as the snow.
Hitsugaya was there, low to the ground as a deep gash would that started from his broad shoulder and ended near his thigh, continued bleeding as the two females looked at the scene before them with shock. His zanpoktou unsheathed as it uselessly lay on the ground.
Soi Fon did a quick intake of breath "H-Hitsugaya…" she started stepping backward, not believing what she's done.
Hitsugaya was getting paler by the second, he was just kneeling there as the wound bled nonstop. His eyes starting to get dull and lifeless, yet his mouth was trying to form words that came out in murmurs "Lea….Leave….Fon" her reeled forward before he caught himself, one arm supporting him as he tried to maintain his stance he groaned from the pain slightly and he looked at Soi Fon, his eyes heart wrenchingly sorrowful "please…"
Soi Fon just stood there with a horrified look before using flash step to follow his wish.
Once she left he allowed himself to fall to the ground, defeated.
Momo was surprised beyond belief and a sudden feeling came to her, it felt like it was gorging her chest out. It has been some time since she last felt it. Her face turned sober as she was bleeding from a wound just as deep. She loomed over to the man before her.
Toushiro rolled over on his back, looking at the face he treasured so much for all his life "I'm sorry…" it was faint, a whisper from a dying man.
One could actually see a tear form on one of his eyes as he spread his arms out wide.
Momo's eyes widened at the gesture "What are you doing!" she sounded angry at him, and she was.
"You can do whatever you want." He coughed and blood spilled out of his mouth. "Hit me. Stab me. Kill me. Cut me. Scratch me. Wound me…" he coughed and again "If it makes you happy…"
Momo was getting unstable from her own loss of blood that Hitsugaya was oblivious to. The moon illuminated the both of them as Hinamori herself collapsed onto the man's chest, with tears streaming from her eyes "Baka! How can you say things like that!" she was gripping his shihakkusho.
Hitsugaya was confused at this and he was being torn apart inside from seeing her honest tears, likewise, she was bring torn apart as she saw this man before dying with a wish of suffering.
Hitsugaya brought his hand up wiped the tears from her face "Why are you crying?"
Momo looked at him, her eyes soft, the way she used to look in those sweet memories "Be quiet! I came here to kill you! But not like this!" she sobbed into his chest, her voice was now gentle and pleading.
Hitsugaya has always, ever since that day…to see that Hinamori again, even if it was just once, even if he had to suffer or die to attain it. And here she was, his Hinamori was in front of him right now, sobbing into his chest telling him to be quiet.
He embraced her. Shutting his eyes as he breathed in her sweet scent.
She has grown quite a bit since the winter war. She was taller now, her figure was more womanly shaped, her breasts were slightly larger, her soft, silk hair longer than before, her eyes more beautiful in a shade of brown, her skin just as flawless and soft as before; she looked well with him in his more manly state.
"Shiro…chan…"
Despite his condition, he couldn't help but smile at the sound his nickname coming from those sweet lips.
"Shiro-chan…let me hear it once more….please, let me hear it….." it was coming out in between sobs. By this point, the snow was thick around them, their blood staining it in various areas.
Hitsugaya thought a moment before figuring out what she meant.
His Hinamori looked up at him, tears still flowing "Just….once more…"
Hitsugaya cupped her face in his two hands, a tear flowing from his eye, his voice was choked up from just the fact that she was here, yet found the strength to say those words that he longed to say, so much "I love you."
He then captured her in an passionate kiss that she returned without hesitation.
He was so overwhelmed with that feeling of bliss that he never noticed any pain that he should have had.
Momo's eyes dulled as the light slipped from them slowly.
It's not bad at all….
Dying at the hands of the one who holds your heart….