Author's Note: Okay, it's not THAT much longer, but it is longer.

I don't own Bleach. Not much else to say, really.

Chapter 2: Eternity

I dreamed I was asleep.

Then I heard my alarm clock go off, so I "woke up" and tried to make it shut up by throwing it against the wall, which was surprising, both because it didn't do a single thing to the annoyingly beeping clock (even though I'd just unplugged it by chucking it), and because I'm SO not that violent. My room was dark, just like it usually was in the morning, so it was weird when it suddenly got sunny and turned into a field of flowers.

Just as quickly, I found myself dressed in a blue t-shirt and a pair of red blue jeans. I know how weird that sounds, but the jeans were blue and red at exactly the same time; not purple, but both blue over red and red over blue. It was weird, but it's a dream. What can I say?

Hitsugaya appeared in front of me suddenly, in normal attire (for him anyway), including having Hyorinmaru on his back, but as tall as me, which meant five foot ten rather than four foot four. His haori waved in the cool, gentle breeze, and he was smiling, which is a rare sight. He gently grabbed my hand, and we proceeded to…

Skip through the flowers.

If you people have even the slightest inkling of what I am like, then you will know that I do not do skipping of any sort, especially through flowers. Why the hell I was doing this now, dream or not, is beyond me.

It only got weirder as Gin joined up too. He was holding Hitsugaya's hand, which was weird in and of itself, but his hair was Grimmjow's shade of blue, and he had also been stabbed in the chest with Shinso, right over his heart. The hilt was sticking out the front, the blade out the back, and there was blood pouring down both sides, but he was still smiling and skipping as if he was perfectly fine.

I could hear birdsong, and butterflies flew around the field, minding their own business.

Dream me wasn't freaked out by this at all for some reason, so I continued skipping along. We didn't stop, even when the field of flowers turned to a plain of gray ice, and then a river of blood.

Things got downright fucking scary then, and I don't swear that bad unless I mean it.

I turned to look at Hitsugaya and Gin, still smiling, and I watched with horrified eyes as their skin literally melted off their bones, leaving a pair of leering skeletons.

I think I screamed then, but I don't remember if it was right there or when the bloody skeletons grabbed my clothes and tried to pull me into the even bloodier river. I grabbed their bones – ew – and ripped them off, and kicked them in the ribcages to knock them down, but one detached arm (do not ask me who it belonged to) started to claw at my ankle, and I kicked it away, ignoring the stinging cuts it had inflicted.

I screamed out of sheer panic and terror and just started running, the dream having turned into a really fucked up nightmare. The skeletons behind me were laughing, and the sick part of it was that it now sounded like the younger Momo and Hitsugaya; the two of them from their Rukon days.

I didn't chance a look back. I just kept running. With my eyes closed, like an idiot, I might add.

I got the wind knocked out of me when I hit something thick and slightly softer than a concrete wall.

I opened my eyes to look up, and I saw that I had just run into Yammy's leg. He grinned widely and drew back a fist, and I shrank back, my eyes wide with fear.

"Don't worry, Orihime, I'll save you!" I heard Ichigo say from behind me.

But when I turned to look, I screamed again and backed up against Yammy's leg.

It was Hollow Ichigo, Shirosaki, with the skin and most of the muscle on the right half of his body missing. In the remaining muscle and sinew, I could see little writhing white specks. Maggots.

He was infested with maggots.

I blanched, trying but failing miserably to back up further, fighting the urge to vomit at both the image he presented and the putrid odor hanging around him and the river we stood in.

The rest of the skin on his face was white, peeling, and oozing blood, and his jaw was almost falling off, hanging on only by a few loose threads. His eyes were the only thing that remained the same; black and amber orbs gazed at me with a burning intensity, revealing both power and madness, and reveling in it.

He reached for me with a clawed, bloody hand that quickly wrapped itself around my throat.

I tried to pull his hand back, tried to get just one breath of air, and for one insane moment I realized that this is what Hiyori must have felt like when she had been strangled by him earlier, before the Vizards had accepted the real Ichigo into their ranks.

I kept waiting to pass out, kept wanting to pass out, but he just held me in midair, cutting my lungs off from much-needed oxygen. We stayed like that for what felt like forever, which was impossible; I should have passed out a long time ago.

His hand clenched, and I felt five sparks of fresh pain. Warm liquid began to crawl down my neck. My blood was being added to the river.

Hollow Ichigo smiled dangerously, revealing pointed teeth.

Suddenly he let go, and as I fell I instinctively inhaled, but choked and coughed when I found my mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood.

The world around me spun and became black. I saw a rapidly-approaching white speck, and in a heartbeat, Sosuke Aizen was standing before me, Kyoka Suigetsu plunged deep in his chest and covered in his own blood.

"You remember, don't you?" he asked, his brown eyes kind. The bastard looked just like he had in the Soul Society arc, damn him; the Aizen that had been Kyoka Suigetsu's illusion of him on the wall. "You remember what I told Hitsugaya, don't you, but he didn't believe me, I think. You believe me, don't you?"

He knelt down next to me, putting a deceptively comforting hand on my shoulder. His chest wound oozed glistening red liquid.

"Admiration is the feeling furthest away from understanding," he hissed in my ear, sending shivers of terror down my spine. Standing up, he ripped Kyoka Suigetsu from his chest, blood spraying from the newly opened wound, and pointed the blade at my heart.

I couldn't move.

In an instant, he brought the blade down, my skin burned, and everything went black.

I woke up screaming.

I sat up, my chest heaving, my eyes wide, both me and my sheets drenched in sweat.

What the hell was that? That felt entirely too real to be just a nightmare.

Trembling, I reached up to feel the side of my neck and breathed a sigh of relief when I found it unmarred by puncture wounds.

I sat in the dark for several minutes, trying to calm down. Thankfully, the irrational fear quickly left me, leaving only numb exhaustion. That dream must have taken a lot out of me…

I laid back down, moved to the least sweaty spot I could find, and drifted back into an uneasy sleep.

I was so tired, I hadn't even noticed…

What woke me up the next morning wasn't my alarm clock, but the sun.

Warm, hazy sunlight streamed in through the windows, making me unable to roll over and go back to sleep, even though I was somehow still utterly exhausted. I pulled the blanket over my head anyway. That nightmare must really have taken a lot out of me if I was too tired to even move.

I just laid there for a few minutes, staring at the back of my eyelids as I listened to birds tweeting outside (no, not Twitter tweeting, chirping tweeting). Interestingly, I didn't hear any of the annoying coo-COO-coo noises that the doves in my neighborhood usually make. But the birds I did hear sounded almost like music, with their flute-like calls, and I thought about getting up to go look out the window to see if I could spot them.

I sighed, opening my eyes. Trying to go back to sleep obviously wasn't doing much good. But I decided to stay there; I was comfy. When I'm comfy, I don't move, tired or not.

Unfortunately my comfort quickly ended, to be replaced by confusion.

The blanket I was under was white, a little thicker than a sheet. Not my blue comforter.

I pulled the blanket off my head and sat up to look around, and noticed something important.

This was not my room.

But then who the hell did it belong to?

Was I kidnapped somehow while I was asleep or something?

Heart racing and now completely awake, I slipped out of bed, walking over to a closet to find something to wear.

Huh. Nothing girl-specific, but it mostly looked like stuff I usually wore (pants and stuff). I say mostly, but there was really only maybe five sets of clothes in there. Few shirts, a pair of pants, and a weird black robeish thing. I opted for a sort of greenish tank top (not my usual choice, but it was that or the weird button-up shirt next to it) and a pair of simple black shorts. While I put them on, I kept an eye on the door (a sliding shoji door, I noted), but no one walked in. So, since I was now dressed, I decided to go out and sneak around (and hope to God and everything else out there that I wasn't kidnapped).

I grabbed the edge of the door and slowly slid it open, not making a sound.

I stepped out into the hallway, and, looking one way and trying to walk the other, I predictably ran into something. Or someone, rather, which ended with me getting knocked down on my rear.

"Ow… sorry," I said, out of pure habit.

"Oh, there you are, Captain!" I heard a weirdly familiar voice say, her tone amused. "It's not like you to sleep in this late, you know. I was getting worried." I stood up with wide eyes to see the incredible sight of a paperwork-toting Rangiku Matsumoto… and her boobs, which – disturbingly – had been the things I'd run into.

"Gah! Close your shirt!" I said, spinning around, cheeks flaming. God, doesn't that woman have any modesty?

Of course, now that was the least of my problems. What I had just said, I hadn't said in my voice. Instead, the voice that came out was so familiar, I'd have recognized it anywhere.

"What's the matter, Captain? You usually don't complain about the way I dress." Rangiku's voice had both amusement and that tone she used when she was teasing; I could practically feel her grinning at me.

Me, I wasn't so amused. While this situation might be amusing while I was watching it in anime form, being in a certain someone's shoes was different. Especially being as short as he was. Why hadn't I at least noticed the height difference earlier?

"This can't be happening," I whispered, again in that voice.

What the hell is going on?

I darted back into the room, ignoring the blond Lieutenant, looking for a mirror. A full body one rested against the far wall, opposite the side I had gotten out of bed, so it's no wonder I'd missed it.

I stood in front of it, then gripped the sides, as if willing it to change the picture it presented.

With wide eyes, messed-up hair, and wearing clothes from the world of the living, it wasn't him on one of his best days, but it was definitely him.

Somehow, I had gotten myself stuck in the body of Toshiro Hitsugaya.

I blacked out.

"…perfectly fine, Lieutenant. He just fainted."

"But why? He's never fainted. Passed out from lack of blood, yes, but never just outright fainted."

I kept my – his – my eyes closed as I listened to a somewhat distraught Rangiku and someone vaguely familiar talking. I could understand Rangiku's concern. No one would think that Hitsugaya, Mr. Stoic Ice Captain, would ever faint. It was just too out of character. Staying still, I slowly found that I was lying on a bed. Like one of those softish-firmish ones you lay on in the doctor's office. I must have been in one of Squad 4's treatment rooms, then. Rangiku must really have been freaked if she dragged me/him all the way down here.

God, this is so confusing.

"What was he doing before he fainted?" I heard the vaguely familiar voice ask.

"I think he'd just gotten out of bed by the time I got over there. He opened his bedroom door, looked around, and then ran right into me," Rangiku replied. "I don't think he even knew I was there. Then he turned red and told me to close my shirt, and then stood there looking away for a moment before running back into the bedroom to look in the mirror. That's when he fainted."

"Hmm… Well, only one person has the answer to this puzzle. Isn't that right, Captain Hitsugaya?"

Damnit.

Figures Captain Unohana would know I was awake.

Still, Rangiku hadn't noticed that fact, so I made a show of stretching and faked a small yawn before sitting up and opening bleary eyes.

"Captain, are you feeling all right?" Rangiku blurted as soon as I looked at her. Keeping eye contact, I noticed she still hadn't closed that damn shirt.

I realized she was waiting for an answer, and as I tried to keep Hitsugaya's usual mask of ice in place, I did my best to cough importantly and force out a grumpy-sounding "I'm fine." Short, sweet, and possibly what the real Hitsugaya would have said.

…I'm doomed.

"You haven't had any dizzy spells recently, have you?" Unohana asked in what I called her "doctor" tone, and I could tell that she was trying to pry information from me in that weird indirect way of hers. Not that it was exactly necessary right now, as I wasn't a stubborn mule like Hitsugaya. I just shook my head.

"No. Honestly, I'm fine. I'm just…" I paused for a moment, debating on whether or not I was staying in character, and then sighed, frowning. "…I'm just a bit tired."

A small, knowing smile graced Unohana's face, and Rangiku looked relieved. Hmm. If I'd said I was completely exhausted, like I actually was, they probably would've freaked out. Even at his worst, Hitsugaya will still put on a stubbornly brave face; unfortunately for me, that meant I now had to do it in his place, despite the "I'm not a stubborn mule" comment I said a moment ago.

"Well then, Captain Hitsugaya, I would suggest that you take the day off to rest and recuperate," Unohana said with a smile, patting my leg. Thing is, she used that particular tone that said she expected me to do it, and if I didn't do it, she'd find a way to make me.

I can understand why the Squad 11 guys are so afraid of her.

"What about the paperwork?" I asked gruffly, rather than give her an actual reply. Truth be told, it was more than just attempting to stay in character; I was worried I would end up doing it, and English dub or not, they still write in Japanese, which I can't even read much less fake Hitsugaya's handwriting!

Unohana looked at Rangiku, saying, "I'm sure your capable Lieutenant will be more than happy to take care of it for the day."

Rangiku's relieved smile now looked a little strained, I noted with some amusement, but she nodded. Thank God.

I sighed again, trying to keep up Hitsugaya's "I refuse to sleep until every scrap of paper has been signed" attitude. "All right. Matsumoto, I expect all of that paperwork to be completed and turned in today." Studiously ignoring her groan, I bowed to Unohana (trying to make the movement look as relaxed yet reserved as possible so it wouldn't seem like I'd never done it before, which I hadn't), then started to follow Rangiku out the door.

"Captain."

Something in Unohana's tone stopped me. I turned back to face her while Rangiku continued to the Squad 10 barracks.

"If something is troubling you, something you feel you can't share with your Lieutenant, you are welcome to stop by any time to talk," Unohana said, neither her voice nor her expression giving anything away.

They didn't need to.

She knows. I know she does. That's just the way she is; she can find out if something's off about someone faster than you can blink.

I stared uneasily at her for a moment before nodding jerkily, and then I followed Rangiku out the door, not looking back. Said Lieutenant was waiting for me down the hall, impatiently leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, and we started heading back to Squad 10 together.

I could freak out when we got there.

Author's Note: Wow, freaky dream. Came up with that while listening to a Bleach AMV I found on YouTube. It's called Hitsugaya's Death, done by the user HitsugayaToshiro93 (go figure), and it's got the song Already Over by Red. Pretty good song (and video). But be warned, there's some DiamondDust Rebellion spoilers included. Actually, I think the whole thing is DDR-centric. So if you don't want to spoil the movie, don't watch it. Just listen. X3

The next chapter is close to being finished, and is already a bit longer than this one, so it will probably be posted sometime within the next couple of days (by Monday, if I can help it).

So, what do you guys think? Good detail? Was the dream okay? Too creepy? Do you like the plot, or what little of it there is right now?

Tell me what you think! All comments, good or bad, are appreciated.