Author's Note; Whoo, we've reached 100 reviews! Thanks a lot, everyone who's still patient enough to keep reading this load of shit...Anyway, I'll start winding things up now, because I intend on ending the story at 20 chapters, and then I'm going to start on a new one, a conspiracy-adventure, sort of like this one, set during the Soul Society arc. Of course, it will be IchiHitsu, and there will be references to Kusaka, but he won't actually make an appearance. I'll give more details on that later!
It had seemed like a span of torturously long ages ago, but Hitsugaya was painfully aware of the fact that it had only been an hour or so since he had left the real world; since he had left Ichigo behind along with his heart. And now, as if absolutely nothing had happened, he found himself back in his office.
Just like the old days, just like the days before he had first met the strawberry. He was starting to regret ever having spoken to him in the first place. Then, there would be no need for him to feel as if someone had thrown his emotions into a blender, jumbled them all up, and tossed them back inside his mind.
He seated himself at his desk with a loud sigh. His office was completely deserted, except for himself, of course. Everything was exactly as he had left it, so he supposed it was safe to assume that the sotaichou had not appointed a subsitute to run the tenth division in his place.
Usually, he enjoyed his personal time alone in his office. He normally liked the silence. But, for some odd reason, he was beginning to feel that maybe this silence and absence of human life wasn't so great after all. There was no Matsumoto giggling loudly as she would flip through magazines. He was amazed at how strange it felt to have no one to yell at, and he actually found himself missing his fukutaichou's antics.
Worse yet, the office was cold.
Unbearably cold.
Was there something wrong with him? Was he coming down with an illness? Hitsugaya wasn't quite sure why he suddenly wanted to feel some warmth. Not just any warmth; unconditional warmth. Emotional warmth. The warmth he couldn't help but feel welling up inside his chest whenever he'd see Ichigo smile at him.
He tried to shake these thoughts out of his mind. He couldn't afford to be distracted now, of all times. There was paperwork to get finished and a captain's meeting would convene in less than three hours. The stack of papers waiting to be filled out had reinstated itself during his and Matsumoto's absence.
Heaving forth another sigh, he opened his desk.
Everything, down to the position of each pen, was exactly how he had left it before. Exactly how he had wanted everything to be perfectly organized.
But yet, it felt so wrong.
With a sweep of his hand, he sent the calligraphy brushes, papers, ink wells, and various other items scattering, jumbling themselves around inside the drawer. He had just made a complete mess of the inside of his desk, but for some odd reason, he was far from caring. Instead, he merely picked up a brush, retrieved an ink well, set them on his desk, and took the first sheet of paper from the stack, readying himself to begin.
And so be began to methodically and quickly fill out each form; some numbers and dates here, his signature there, a seal and a stamp over here.
As he worked in complete silence, the door opened, and Hitsugaya looked up to see one of his subordinates. He was surprised at the fact that he had nearly not recognized a member of his own division. He supposed that his absence and the things that had happened in Hueco Mundo had done damage to his mind.
"Yes?" he asked, not bothering to look up from his paperwork.
"Ah...Erm, welcome back, taichou," the shinigami answered meekly. "Is there...Is there anything you need right now?"
"It's rather chilly in here," Hitsugaya muttered as he moved on to the next form in need of being filled out. "Would you mind turning up the thermostat?"
"Y-Yes, sir." The fidgety subordinate scrambled for the thermostat, wondering what in the world his captain was thinking. Normally, the cold didn't bother him, but now, he was asking him to make it warmer inside?
Hitsugaya seemed to have read his mind.
"Don't ask me why. Just do it."
"Hai..."
There was a pregnant pause before the subordinate shuffled back to his former position in front of the prodigy's desk, asking, "Erm...Is there anything else? An assignment or a mission that needs to be carried out, perhaps?"
"No."
That, too, was strange, the shinigami thought. Usually, his strict captain always had something for his subordinates to do, whether it was replacing the tiles on the office's roof or repainting the kanji character for the number "10" on the division's gates. He liked to keep them occupied because it kept everything running smoothly and kept them out of trouble, but yet, now, he had suddenly decided that nothing needed to be done.
"Uh, Hitsugaya-taichou...We're short on shihakusho uniforms for the new members, would you like us to arrange order forms for more?"
"It's not neccesary. I will take care of it later."
"Er, the paint on the back wall of your office is chipping because of exposure to the sun...Would you like us to refurbish it?"
"You don't have to."
"Then, would you like us to-"
"That's enough," Hitsugaya snapped, looking up from his paperwork in irritation. "If I tell you there is nothing that needs to be done, then there is nothing that needs to be done. Do not question the orders I give to you and the rest of the tenth division, do you understand?"
"Yes, sir," the shinigami murmured in an ashamed fashion. "Then what do you want me to do?"
"I want you to get out of my office. Now."
"Hai..." The poor and somewhat frightened subordinate was only too hasty to comply as he hurried out of the office, muttering to himself, before exiting and closing the door tightly shut behind him.
It was silent again.
"Perhaps I was too harsh with him," Hitsugaya muttered to himself as he went on to the next document. "Maybe I shouldn't have used such a tone of voice with him..." After all he had looked a little bit afraid when his voice had started rising.
Choosing to ignore these thoughts for the time being, Hitsugaya went back to the paperwork, his eyes occasionaly flickering to the clock mounted on the wall to monitor the time, lest he be late to the captain's assembly that was to occur later on. Fortunately, he still had about two hours left until the time for convening in the first division office would arrive.
Five minutes had not even passed before his office door opened again.
"What is it now?" he grumbled in irritation, slamming his brush down onto his desk and looking up.
He blinked.
His eyes widened and then narrowed.
What the hell was going on?
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, glaring at the figure that had just entered the office.
"You didn't have to speak to me so rudely, did you, Hitsugaya-san? It's me. Sojiro. Kusaka Sojiro."
Hitsugaya had found himself staring into the eyes of his former fiancée. There was no mistakening it, but yet, it couldn't be...Something wasn't right. Highly suspicious, the young prodigy's hand slowly crept to Hyorinmaru.
"You're not going to bust out your sword on me, are you?" he asked with a frown, approaching Hitsugaya, before extending a hand towards him. "C'mon. Let's leave this crappy place called the Seireitei. Let's go back to Hueco Mundo, okay? We can do whatever we want there."
Hitsugaya didn't move. Instead, he plainly spoke a single word.
"No."
"Why not? Don't you want to get married and live a good life and all that?"
"No. Stay away from me."
"Why're you acting so mean to me all of a sudden? It's not because of that Ichigo kid, is it?"
"No."
"Is 'no' the only thing you know how to say?"
"No."
There was a long silence before the figure stepped closer still, becoming more insistent. "Let's go. I don't have all the time in the world...Oh, and in case you really are concerned about that Ichigo guy, don't worry about it. He's dead."
"You're lying," Hitsugaya answered in a voice barely above a whisper, his grip tightening around Hyorinmaru. "You're the one who's supposed to be dead."
"Am I?"
"Yes."
"I was never dead. It looked like Aizen had killed me, but he hadn't really. I was playing possum."
"I don't believe you."
"And why don't you?"
"Because," Hitsugaya growled, standing up abruptly. "Because you're not Kusaka!"
He unsheathed Hyorinmaru in a flash of steel, disappearing and reappearing before his visitor with the aid of shunpo. Before anything else could happen, he slammed the katana through the figure's stomach.
There was a pause.
Then, the image of Kusaka shattered.
Panting, Hitsugaya instantly backed away. He knew exactly what was going on, and there was no way he could let his guard down if he wanted to keep living.
"I'm impressed, Hitsugaya-kun. You were able to see through my zanpaku-to's illusion."
As soon as the words were spoken, Aizen stepped into the office, the usual smile on his face. "No less of what I'd expect from you, though according to my plan, you were actually supposed to fall for my little trick...But I'm interested to know, how could you tell it was all fake?"
"It was obvious," the white-haired boy hissed through gritted teeth, still clutching Hyorinmaru as if his life depended on it. "I knew from the very beginning. Kusaka wasn't an idiot who would prance around Soul Society without his identity hidden. If it were really him, he would be wearing his mask. Secondly, Kusaka would never address me by my first name. I've known him long enough to be sure of it. Thirdly, he wouldn't speak so disrespectfully of Kurosaki Ichigo. Fourth of all, Kusaka would never take me back to Hueco Mundo. Never. He knows that there would be no point, and the only thing waiting for me there would be you. And lastly, you neglected the fact that Kusaka isn't a coward who would pretend to be dead to save his own skin!"
"Ah, you really are a boy genius, aren't you?" Aizen chuckled, stepping closer. "That's precisely what I like about you."
"You...You bastard," Hitsugaya murmured, backing away. "How could you? How could you disrespect Kusaka like that? Impersonating him and making him look like a complete idiot...I can't believe you. Stay away from me, and the rest of Soul Society, for that matter...Or...Or I'll kill you."
"You're convinced that your darling fiancée was a perfect person, aren't you?"
"I never said that..."
"...And that he was a noble, good, kind person?"
"He was much more 'noble, good and kind' than you. You have no right to speak of him like that."
"...So tell me, Hitsugaya-kun...You say Sojiro-kun wasn't a coward, but who was it that has been hiding from Soul Society all this time?"
"He didn't have a choice-"
"And who was it that sat back and did nothing about it when you needed him most?"
"He...Kusaka..."
"You don't need to say anything more, Hitsugaya-kun," Aizen smiled, "The point is, your fiancée was a worthless excuse for a shinigami...The only thing that I needed him for was his zanpaku-to. Without it, he'd be nothing. It's a good thing he died, too. He was just a pawn of mine, and he got in my way, so I killed him."
"Shut the hell up!"
Completely losing self-control, blind with anger that Aizen would dare say such things about Kusaka, Hitsugaya lunged at him, throwing himself into a hopeless battle, with nothing to gain, nothing to achieve, and everything to lose.