I can't believe I forget to write this
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.
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When Toushiro returned he refused to talk about what happened, but Matsumoto knew everything hadn't been good between him and Karin. She didn't know what it was, but she knew it was big enough to cause major changes in his personality; his mood swing and out of control behavior. She had been trying to talk to him about it, but he brushed her off every time she started. Her worries started to grow when she found her young captain became more and more reckless about the war.
They were fighting the last battle; all captains and lietenants of the Gotei 13 had come to Karakura town to protect Aizen from advancing furthur. She, of course, fought side by side with her captain as they kept looking out for each other. However, she lost sight of him as she was fighting her own battle and he was chasing an espada somewhere else.
"Where is that kid?" Ichigo asked her as they were fighting next to each other in the battle. Both of them had already defeated their opponents, and started to panic when they couldn't find Touhsiro anywhere. She immediately scanned the area around her and looked for her captain's reiatsu. He was fighting, she knew it.
"There!" She said, pointing at the building behind them. Toushiro was using his bankai to fight against the 3rd espada, but they could tell that he wasn't doing very well, even from the distance. His ice wing started to crack and he was bleading from several wounds.
"TAICHO!!"She yelled at the top of her lungs when she saw her captain falling from the sky.
...
It was raining softly in the soul Society as Matusumoto and Ichigo were approaching the 4th squad.
"He is too big for me to carry, I wish he was just a boy like before." Matusumoto muttered as they moved. She knew the truth; the reason why her captain was growing so fast. Many wondered how he got taller within five years when the spirit particles in the Soul Society slow down the aging process of its residents that their ages were almost held constant. Luckily, almost everyone she knew thought that his aging process sped up because of his rigorous training and stress he had during the preparation of the war. But she knew better. Her young captain had a problem with his bankai. She knew he was truly a boy genius and powerful but he was too young to gain bankai. He didn't have enough reiatsu to control its complete form, and that was why it was limited by twelve petals. It woudn't be a big problem if all they had to do was to fight against normal hollows, but they were fighting against arrancars which were generally more powerful. The day that Karin found him unconscious in the park was the day that he decided to go to Urahara and ask for help. She didn't know much after that, but she suspected that Urahara was responsible for his growth and his complete bankai form.
She sighed deeply looking at her captain; he had grown so much and that was not a good thing because now he was a dead weight for them as he was hanging limply. Ichigo glanced at her and shifted himself so that Matsumoto had to carry less of Toushiro's weight and made them walk faster to the 4th squad.
"Is Unohana taicho here? We need her," Matsumoto said. "Taicho is injured."
Hanatarou who came and greeted them at the entrance of the 4th squad looked utterly shocked. He could hardly remembered three shinigamis who were standing right in front of him. They were soaking; Matsumoto and Ichigo also looked extremely tired, and they were holding the 10th squad captain who looked pale and helpless as he was bleeding profusely.
"Is someone hurt?" They heard the voice of the 4th squad captain from behind.
"Ah, Toushiro, he fell." Ichigo answered awkwardly.
"He fell!! Ichigo, seriously is that the best story you're sticking with?" Matsumoto snapped. She didn't act like this towards him normally (that was Rukia's job) and she knew he was the person who saved her captain's life, but at that point, she couldn't stand his stupidity. Captain Unohana needed to know exactly what happened.
"We were fighting an espada, he was injured, and fell from the sky. Can you help him Unohana taicho?" She said while Unohana was examing Toushiro carefully.
"I will do my best," Unohana said, but she certainly didn't look so optimistic about his condition. "Both of you need to be taken care of too, please go to Isane, she will help you with your wounds."
"Don't worry Rangiku, that kid will be fine." Ichigo said as he was rubbing Matsumoto's back, trying to sooth her as they were walking to a different room.
...
A few days later Toushiro woke up in a bed. He tried to sit up but pain shot through him and he began to groan, letting his head fall back on a pillow. He soon felt a hand on his shoulder and forced his eyes to open only to see his childhood best friend looking back at him, her face full of concern.
"Shiro-chan," Hinamori said softly. "I'm so sorry."
"Hinamori!"
He had never experienced this many emotions before; Hinamori, his best friend, was there right in front of him. He didn't know what to feel anymore after everything that happened between them; the pain of her betrayal still rang loud in his mind, but he was glad that she finally woke up. The girl who stood right in front of him used to be everything in his life, and it hurt him so much when he knew that she believed the lies from her former captain, whose cruelty finally led her to sleep in the coma.
"Just lie back Shiro-chan. Your condition is stable now but you need to rest and I will get Unohana taicho for you." Hinamori smiled at him, then left the room.
He wanted to tell her to stay there with him but he didn't know what to say, he couldn't find a word. However he soon faded into darkness as weariness overcame once again.
After he woke up, Hinamori continued to look after him; she felt guilty that she blamed him for Aizen's death and tried to kill him. At first he was kind of rude to her, he didn't trust her and he was too consumed by his own misery to care about her feeling, but no matter how he acted, she didn't leave his side. She would talk to him and sit with him until she wore him down. And slowly he began to feel save with his childhood best friend again.
Hinamori had been fascinated with him the moment she had seen him. She couldn't believe that this was her childhood best friend. He had changed so much. She was happy to see that he survived after the war, especially when he was one of shinigamis who went to the real world to fight her former captain. Looking at him now, she just realized how much she missed him and their time together. And she just couldn't believe she failed to notice his sadness to her happiness with Aizen before. Toushiro was her best friend and he was the first thing she thought when she woke up; and this time she would make sure he was happy.
They were inseperable, even when Toushiro was strong enough to leave the 4th squad, it was still common to see them walking around together or stayed near each other. Sometimes he would just sit in the office doing his paper work, while she would just sit there watching him quietly. Both of them fell back to the way they were before everything came between them.
Matsumoto saw the effect Hinamori had on her young captain and her ability to clam him down. She was thankful for it. She liked Karin, but she thought this was better for both of them; her captain was a shinigami and Karin was a human, there was no way they could be together, and they should move on. Each time she returned to the 10th squad to from her drinking party or from her mission to check on him, she found him and Hinamori sitting together quietly, talking or reading. She saw them grow closer as the weeks went by, and it didn't surprise her when one day she walked in on them while they were kissing. She had known for awhile that they were together, though they didn't talk about it.
One day Hinamori found Toushiro sitting by himself looking at the sky. She approached him slowly. He looked up at her and she saw him quickly hid the sadness in his face.
"Hey" He said with a forced cheer as she sat next to him.
"What's wrong Shiro-chan?"
"Nothing" He replied, avoiding her eyes.
"You know you can't lie to me, tell me what's wrong?"
He look at her briefly before looked down at his hand.
"It's stupid, there is nothing you should worry about." He said softly.
"It's not stupid if you are worried about it."
"Well, It's just that...I know today is her birthday, you know." He replied. He didn's say Karin's name anymore, but Hinamori always knew who he meant. She knew he rarely talked about this human girl. To be honest, she couldn't say that it hurt her to find that Toushiro was not really over his ex girlfriend. She just felt that she didn't like the girl who had hurt him. How could that girl do this to him?
"You know it's normal. You loved her and she hurt you, you are going to have a moment like this. This is like what I feel towards Aizen taicho," She smiled at him sadly. "I never forget that he almost killed me Shiro-chan, but we cannot go back and change things. All we can do is moving on. We are lucky that we still have people who care about us."
He didn't say anything as he kept staring at her.
"I guess you are right."
...
The meeting of Gotei 13 was held every month. However this time it lasted longer. There were many things that needed to be changed in the Soul Society after they won the war. Aizen was finally defeated by Ichigo, Tousen was killed by Kenpachi, but Gin was still at large as he disappeared before the final battle even started and no one knew where he went. The Gotei 13 also lost many; Sasakibe and Omaeda were killed, Kira and Ise were badly wounded and still in the 4th squad. They were trying to figure out who fit to run the 5th and 9th squad. And everything went as usual; they couldn't get anything from the meeting because it had to end abruptly when Kenpachi and Mayuri started childish argument. Toushiro was about to leave the meeting room in the 1st squad following Ukitake, when he was asked to stay and talk to Yamamoto soutaicho privately.
"Hitsugaya taicho, I assumed that you are familiar with the human world. Am I correct?" Yamamoto began to speak. "I have a mission for you in the human world. There is a report on growing reiatsu in Karakura town, it probably attracts many hallows to that town. I want you and your lieutenant to go there and help our shinigami representative. You may take the fifth squad lieutenant with you if you want to. I know she is your friend. Her condition is not stable yet, but I think it will be a good idea if she goes to the real world with you. You can help her take her mind off her former captain's death."
Touhsiro bowed respectively, then turned his back to leave the room.
"And, Hitsugaya Taicho, I believe you know who does this reiatsu belongs to."
At this statement, Toushiro stopped and turned his head back to Yamamoto immediately.
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Tite kubo never made it clear about Hitsugaya's bankai. So I'm sticking with the theory that he gains his bankai at such young age and cannot control it every well. But if anyone know anything about his bankai, feel free to tell me, I'm willing to change that part of the story. And I'm sorry to kill Sasakibe and Omaeda, I just feel like they do nothing to the plot.
yonne1104: I'm sorry I already made him leave Karakura town. But don't worry, he will go back next chapter and they will meet again
ShikallllTema: I have a feeling that you're not going to like this chapter... But it's like what I tell you, I'm not a big fan of HitsuHina myself. And I hope you notice that something is wrong with them this chapter.
Gin will be back soon. And please review!
