A/N: Another chapter as promised! And no, I did NOT write this today, I actually had it written and...forgot about it. Hehe...sorry, so anyways LOADS of thanks to iRawrTera, spiffy1girl and SoapieLUV. You guys are AWESOME!
Now, I don't have anything to say except that Bleach belongs to the one and only Tite Kubo so if I said that anything but the OC's and the plot were mine, then I'd be a big fat liar.
Enjoy!
"C'mon Toushirou!" Raika urged, exasperated. In the midst of her desperation, she had accidentally called the annoyed Captain by his first name.
"That's Hitsugaya-taichou to you!" He said , glaring at her with full force.
Raika was currently pulling at the sleeve of Toushirou's Shihakusho while he struggled against her grip.
"But you've been working for hours without rest! Why not just take a day off?" She said, still trying to pull him off his seat in vain.
"Just because the Soutaichou gave you a day off doesn't mean I don't have the authority to put you back in training!" He threatened warningly.
"I," She gave a tug, "Don't," another tug, "Care!" She pulled him off his seat and fell backwards ending up in a sitting position in the ground with Toushirou right in front of her. For a second, they were both engaged in a glaring contest, the white haired Captain taking the lead.
A few minutes of silent dirty looks and flying sparks, and Raika could take no longer. She burst out in laughter while Hitsugaya sighed exasperatedly. She was almost as annoying as Rangiku.
"So, are you going for that walk?" She asked, the laughter still eminent in her eyes.
"I don't have any other option, do I?" Toushirou folded his arms once he got up. It was a clear sign of annoyance.
"Boo-yah!" Raika punched the air victoriously."C'mon then!" She ran out like an excited child, into the warm summer air. It had been approximately two weeks since she'd arrived in the Soul Society. Training and studying took up most of her days but she was given an occasional break by Yamamoto-soutaichou. And today was just one of those days.
Most days, it would be Rangiku that she would hang out with. Once, while out with Rangiku, in her drunken stupor, the lieutenant had engaged in a bet with Raika saying that she couldn't get Captain Hitsugaya take a day off. Raika had readily agreed and now, here she was.
"Hurry up, slowpoke!" She called out to him as he came out of the Squad 10 barracks with a nasty glare on his face.
"I never said, I was going to accompany you," He said dismissively, heading off in the opposite direction.
"Can I accompany you then?" She inquired running to catch up to him.
"No."
"Ple-ease?" She asked, dragging the word out.
"Can I? Can I? Can I?..." She continued saying it continuously.
"No, no, no," Toushirou answered each time she asked.
"Can I?"
"No."
"Can I?"
"No."
"Can't I?"
"No."
"Ah-hah!" She yelled victoriously, pointing at him, "I can!" She grinned.
The white haired Shinigami slapped his forehead exasperatedly and increased his pace wordlessly while Raika followed, grinning from ear to ear. That grin, however did not last long because they had arrived at their destination. Squad Four.
The destination itself was enough to tell her what was going on. She followed Toushirou wordlessly to a small empty room with a patient sleeping in the bed. Momo Hinamori. Hitsugaya went in slowly and stood before her, his teal eyes fixed on her pale face. Raika stood a little distance behind him, silently watching.
"Still want to accompany me?" He asked, a little sarcasm lining his voice.
The young girl stared at him for some time before answering, "….Yeah."
That was evidently not what the young Captain had been expecting since he turned around with the slightest hint of surprise on his face. Of course, it was gone as soon as it had come.
"You can take the seat," He said motioning towards the only seat in the room.
Raika nodded ever so lightly and sat down before the unconscious patient, bringing her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on her knee.
"It really wasn't your fault, y'know," She said quietly, knowing he could hear her.
"Yeah, of course it wasn't," Toushirou's reply was filled with black humor. It held all the symptom's of self loathing, which, to tell the truth, was scaring Raika more than seeing him angry.
She turned her glance to him wanting to comfort him, tell him that it was all Aizen's fault. But the words wouldn't come out. If she was being true to herself, she had to admit that she didn't have any words to say in the first place. Unlike her friends, she had always sucked at comforting people. She could never find the words, and, in truth, seeing people depressed frightened her more than anything else. She didn't know why, but if someone close to her was sad, it felt like her whole world was going to collapse somehow.
"Don't…bottle it up," She said with difficulty, after a long moment of silence.
Hitsugaya gave her an inquiring look.
"I mean, don't bottle up your emotions." She took a deep breath before continuing, "I…know I won't be able to convince you to….uh….accept the fact that you're not the one to be blamed, no matter how much I tried." At this point she turned to look at him, "But if there's anything you need to talk about….I just….uh…wanted you to know that I'll be there for you."
"I know I'm a stranger and all; I'm unreliable, impatient, irresponsible and basically useless, but…..I'll…I'll be there if you ever need to just talk, you know? I don't expect you to trust me or even take me up on the offer, but it's just that, you bottle up your emotions too much Hitsugaya-taichou. And trust me, it's better if you can open up to someone." She took another deep breath as Toushirou just stared at her blankly.
"Well, that was all the cheesy stuff I had to say," Raika grinned at him.
The teal eyed boy turned his glance back to Momo, thinking about what he had just heard. The two simply stayed in an awkward silence for a while before Toushirou spoke.
"Misaki?" He asked quietly, not shifting his gaze from his childhood friend as the brown eyed girl turned to look at him.
"Thank you," He said, his voice barely a whisper.
Raika heard him nevertheless, and smiled, "That's what friends are for."
So they were friends.
You like this feeling don't you, Master? Hyourinmaru's voice broke through his reverie.
Surprisingly….yes He replied.
Yes, the feeling of having a true friend….The dragon's voice faded away in his mind, leaving him to his thoughts once again.
"Why is it that you don't want to go back home?" Toushirou's voice was stable and denoted the feeling that he had only asked to make conversation instead of actual curiosity.
Raika was startled quite a bit. Of course, people had noticed by now that she didn't even have a single bout of home sickness but no one had dared to ask the question outright. She was silent for a second before she answered.
"Sometimes….it's good to be away from home," She answered quietly, her voice holding the slightest tenor of bitterness.
The Captain of the Tenth squad turned to face her. Her answer was cryptic, no doubt, but he didn't want to force her to talk and instead, remained silent.
Their comfortable silence, however, did not last long. A sudden rush of reiatsu very close to them and a shrill growl of a Hollow alerted them to the potential of danger. Both of them rushed out as fast as they could into the chaotic streets of the Seireitei. It seemed that everyone had felt it. A small black butterfly flew towards them and landed on Toushirou's finger. One second of silent communication and the Captain was ushering Raika towards the direction of the Hollow which was apparently in Rukongai district.
"Come on, we have to get there fast," The two had only run a short distance before they were in front of a Menos. It was, of course, a Gillion, however, it was shooting random Cero's in numerous directions so the Shinigami's were finding it difficult to get closer to it. And there were only a handful of Shinigamis there in the first place.
"Why, if it isn't the Princess!" A pleasant voice greeted them, which was definitely out of place in the chaotic situation they were currently in., "I see you were having some quality time with your boyfriend," He grinned.
Raika turned around at the same time that Toushirou drew his Zanpakutou. She stared into the sadistic green eyes of her previous kidnapper. This was not faring well for her. One second, he was just standing there, smirking, and the next he had attempted at an attack. A long whip appeared out of thin air and charged right for her. Raika closed her eyes waiting for the pain but the impact never came. She stared at Toushirou's back as his sword clashed with the enemy's.
"You wouldn't want to release your Shikai here, would you Hitsugaya-taichou?" He smirked, motioning towards the common terrified folk of Rukongai. Toushirou seemed to have recognized that possibility as well since he frowned angrily.
Within a second he had disappeared and Raika found herself flying through the air at an immense speed. The white haired boy was flash stepping to a more remote area and he was carrying her bridal style. A flash of crimson tinted her cheeks as she could literally feel his breath. But the moment the thought occurred to her, she felt like killing herself.
Even a MORON wouldn't be thinking like this in this situation. Guess that tells me so much about myself.. She continued to curse herself as the two of them entered a clearing in a forest- the same place where they had trained. Hitsugaya put her down and took out his Zanpakuto. But he could not release Hyourinmaru, because the sight that met him froze him on the spot.
An unconscious Momo Hinamori was lying in the arms of the enemy as he grinned sadistically.
"I'm not going to beat around the bush, Princess," He said to an equally astonished Raika, "The deal is simple. You come with me and she will live; along with all those poor souls in Rukongai." He smirked arrogantly.
"She has nothing to do with this!" Toushirou yelled, a look of pure loathing, crossed his features.
"Would you like to put them through so much pain for your sake…..Princess?" He ignored Hitsugaya and continued smirking at Raika, "Those poor…..sweet….innocent-"
"I'll go!" Raika yelled and stepped forward towards the sadisctic man.
"Atta girl," He said softly, putting an arm around her shoulder as she grimaced disgustedly.
"Now let her go," She said.
"As you wish," He lay Hinamori on the ground before a dark shadow surrounded them and within a minute…..they were gone.
A/N: :o A kidnapping...okay, that was lame xP But anyways, if you want to read more just...
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