"Dammit, how many of them are there?" The substitute just finished cutting down a hollow when about 5 more showed up around him. Everyone was scrambling to kill the hollows that just seemed to grow in numbers no matter how many they killed. He cut down three more before jumping when he felt a burst of wind behind him, and he turned to see a hollow just behind him that was blown to bits by a whirlwind coming from the girl above him.

"Thanks, Senna!" The girl grinned widely before taking care of the other hollows that were closing in on her.

"No problem, Ichigo!" Said boy grinned as well before turning to handle more of the enemies in front of him. He felt a slight shiver run through his body, however, as the temperature in the area was rapidly declining.

Ice was forming left and right from the two iced-type zanpakuto on the field, with captain and lieutenant working together to shatter the majority of the hollows into diamond dust. But it seemed that with one wave of hollows destroyed, yet another one would come to take their place, and it was beginning to take its toll on captain and lieutenant.

The woman collapsed to a knee as her spiritual pressure was coming to its limit, leaving her wide open for the hollows to attack her. Before they could get close, the lieutenant looked up to see the enemies get coated in ice before shattering, and she turned to look up at the boy prodigy, her breathing still a little labored

"Forgive me, Hitsugaya-taicho…" The boy turned to her before helping her up, shaking his head,

"It's fine, Lieutenant Kuchiki. Just concentrate on sword work, now that your spiritual pressure is running low." The woman nodded before turning and cutting through the hollows nearest to her.

They had no backup, no help, no medics, no sanctuary, nothing.

There was nothing to guarantee they'd live.

Suddenly a large pressure erupted around the area, and Rukia stumbled back as she stared up at the Menos Grande that began to appear, seeming to be an endless horde.

The young captain grit his teeth as he backed up. He was beginning to wonder if agreeing to this mission was a terrible mistake…

"Taicho…!" Toushiro whirled around before cursing harshly as they were surrounded by hollows of all kinds, almost all of them charging to fire ceros at them. After clicking his tongue, he turned to Rukia and Ichigo, both back to back, Rukia calling out

"We're surrounded!" Toushiro could hear the substitute curse, looking around at the lights gathering to spell their demise. And yet even with the hollows that were gathering energy for a cero, there were still hollows who were trying to do them in up close, as well, and none of them could move to help each other. Senna was going down fast, not used to being pressed like this in combat, and she was being forced back directly into the center of all the hollow's firing ranges.

Barely anyone could react when they saw this, and they all whirled around as she turned to stare at the ceros fired at her, frozen in fear like a deer caught in the headlights. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Ichigo and Rukia both called out to her. As if by instinct, the captain of ice lunged forward, calling his Bankai within seconds and getting in front of the girl. Within the next moment, the area was covered in dark clouds, and the hollows began to become encased in ice flowers, slowly being unable to move before they vanished into ice crystals.

The girl slowly looked up, not understanding how she was still alive, before her eyes widened when she saw the empty field around them, no hollow left to see. She swallowed thickly before turning and looking up at the boy in front of her, staring at his back as he swayed faintly before righting himself, his energy nearly spent.

"Toushiro…?" After a moment, he turned, a slight frown on his face.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho." Senna's face dropped a little as he glared at her, growling a little as he spoke, "Next time don't be so stupid as to get yourself caught in a situation like that when we're all surrounded. If none of us were able to get to you in time then you would be dead right now."

Senna stared at him with a look of hurt on her face before contorting to a look of anger, grumbling a little as she turned away slightly, crossing her arms stubbornly as she stood in a defensive pose, as if to protect herself from his words.

"You didn't have to rescue me, you know." Toushiro snorted, giving her what could be described as his patented icy glare. Ichigo and Rukia sighed after exchanging a look with each other. When Toushiro and Senna got like this, it usually did not end well.

"And you did not have to be on this mission. I didn't think that you would be so idiotic as to back yourself into the firing range of over 2 dozen hollows." Senna sputtered at this, about to argue with that previous statement, but she wasn't given the chance before Toushiro spoke again, "If you want to die so badly, then I'll do you in myself." With that, the captain turned and started walking away, heading back to the rendezvous point where they could head back to the soul society.

Rukia and Ichigo stared after Toushiro with wide eyes. That definitely wasn't something that should have been said. Ichigo turned to see Senna staring at the spot where Toushiro was, shock and hurt having completely overtaken her face. The wind-wielder seemed to have a hard time swallowing before she turned, heading the completely opposite direction.

After sharing a look with each other, Ichigo and Rukia both sighed in exasperation and headed after the other two, Rukia following after the younger girl she called sister, and Ichigo heading off after the captain.

"He was such a big jerk. Why save someone from getting killed, and the next moment just turn around and say you'll kill them instead?" Senna basically screamed, chucking rocks off the top of the highest cliff that was in the area. She was having a hard time controlling her emotions as tears tried to press forward. Never before had she heard such hateful, hurtful words come from someone's mouth… And it hurt to hear them from him especially. After a moment, she sighed and looked down, swallowing hard and biting her lip, "Why does he have to be such a freaking… ice block?"

"He didn't mean to be like that, Senna." She blinked and turned, seeing Rukia come over, kneeling down and picking up a decent sized rock, pulling her arm back before throwing it over the edge, ending up stumbling and sputtering from swinging her arm too hard and throwing off her balance. Senna giggled a bit as Rukia regained her balance. Rukia chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head before turning and looking out at the sky, which was just starting to clear of the clouds that were created from the fighting.

"Taicho is… really hard to figure out and get along with. I've been his lieutenant for quite some time now, and I know barely anything about him. But, I do know that," She turned and looked at Senna with a faint smile, "He tends to say really mean things to hide the fact that he's upset or scared."

Senna blinked and stared at Rukia with a slightly dumbfounded expression. Rukia looked at her before laughing a little, grinning a bit,

"Yes, even Hitsugaya-Taicho gets scared. Try not to let it get to you. He didn't mean anything by it."

Senna stared forward, eyes slightly wide as Rukia turned, walking back toward the rendezvous point, "Come on, let's head back."

"You do know she'll probably hate you for about a month or so for saying that, right?" Toushiro snorted, turning away as the Substitute walked up to stand beside him,

"Shut up, Kurosaki." Ichigo sputtered a bit, growling a little and turning to him, eye twitching,

"Would you drop the 'Kurosaki' already? We've known each other for forever now!" Toushiro snorted, closing his eyes and turning his head, crossing his arms in his sleeves. After a long moment, he looked up again and frowned a little,

"… I know she'll be upset, Kurosaki… but what in the world am I supposed to do? It's not exactly like I can just undo time and make it like it never happened…" The substitute turned to look at him before sighing and closing his eyes,

"No… But you could at least apologize, you know." A white eyebrow rose at this statement, eyes questioning,

"'Apologize'…?" Toushiro received a blank look for this, as if he were supposed to realize something so obvious.

"Yes, Toushiro; 'apologize'. Haven't you ever heard of it?" Toushiro growled at him in answer, "All you gotta do is just say you're sorry, and possibly throw in there that you don't really want her to die. I'm sure it'll help… it'll at least make her hate you for a lot shorter period of time." Toushiro snorted at this, almost in amusement.

Toushiro sighed, closing his eyes as he nodded. After a moment, he turned as Rukia and Senna both walked toward them, Senna looking away and frowning a little, though she didn't seem to be as upset as Toushiro and Ichigo expected. Toushiro looked at her for a moment before sighing and looking as a Senkaimon opened up to return them to the Soul Society.

For about a week after that, Senna didn't really speak with Toushiro… much less look at him.

It wasn't until he'd apologized that she started speaking with him again.

"… I don't understand why you'd say something so… cruel… I'll forgive you, but just this once. After that, I'm not speaking to you for an eternity."

Toushiro snorted faintly, but couldn't hide the faint smile on his face. He supposed he could live with that.

He turned as Senna looked over at him, a faint smile on her face which surprised him to see

"… Thank you, for saving me."