Chapter III – The Chapter That Comes Third
Hitsugaya slowly opened his eyes. He felt the cold stone wall behind his back, and from his position, slumped on the ground, he saw shinigami running here and there amongst the wet rubble of the street. There was no sign of Hinamori or Aizen.
'Damn,' he breathed as his vision slipped. The last thing he saw at that scene was Unohana bending over him.
------------------------------
The next time Hitsugaya opened his eyes he was under a blanket in the fourth division house. Sitting in the corner was his lieutenant, a worried expression plastering her face.
'Taichou!' she started when he tried to sit up.
Hitsugaya analysed his wounds. A few bandages around his head with patches here and there, but he assumed that it was nothing too serious since he was still, well, dead.
Just as Matsumoto started to get up, Unohana came in through the rice paper door.
'Ah, Hitsugaya, you're awake. I was starting to get a bit worried there.'
'No need Unohana, I'm fine,' he said, brushing some dust off his sleeves.
'Well in that case,' Unohana said, smiling, 'you must be hungry. Yamamoto is curious as to what happened, as we all are. Would you care to enlighten us over lunch?'
'I suppose, if we can't do anything else,' he agreed.
A few moments later, Hitsugaya, his lieutenant and Unohana were seated around a small table. Hitsugaya then confirmed soul society's fears.
'So it was Aizen?' gasped Matsumoto in shock. 'He was in Seireitei?'
'It would seem that way,' said Unohana, taking another sip from her cup.
Hitsugaya nodded, 'I didn't see much or find out much but I know that…' he took in a deep breath, coming to terms with what he had seen. 'He had Hinamori.'
It was Unohana's turn to nod this time. 'We were going to tell you, she was missing from the role call after the incident. Can you tell us anything else that happened?'
Hitsugaya stared at the food infront of him. 'I called out Hyourinmaru, but I had let my guard down. He defeated me easily.'
Unohana understood. She made to stand, 'I'll report this to Yamamoto-sama so that you can get some rest. Shitsurei shimasu.' And she left Matsumoto with her captain.
Matsumoto looked at the boy's hand to see that it was now a fist, trembling on the table. 'What if I had gotten there earlier? If I hadn't let my guard down? I couldn't protect her–'
'Hush now,' Matsumoto interrupted, 'you did what you could.'
Nevertheless, Hitsugaya's mind was still beating himself up.
--------------------------------
Hinamori looked about her. Where was she? The room was dark. Was it nightfall already?
'Have a good sleep, Hinamori-kun?' a voice came from the corner.
She looked around, 'Aizen-taichou!'
He was sitting at a table at the far end of the room with his back to her and it seemed like he was writing something.
Ah, memories…
But now that she thought about it, it was the first decent night's sleep that she had in a long while.
That dream wasn't there.
However, something twigged in the back of her mind.
I tried to attack him. I almost cut Aizen-taichou! That had never happened in my dream.
'Aizen…taichou?'
'Don't worry, Hinamori-kun. You're safe here.' He turned to face her.
'No! NO, I was safe before! Where am I? Where have you taken me?' she yelled.
'You didn't belong there,' he raised his voice, but only in the slightest, to make her listen.
She shook her head, 'No! That was my home! My friends–'
'Didn't care,' he finished. 'None of them noticed your reiatsu when you unsheathed Tobiume. None of them came to your aid when you were in distress.'
'No!' she yelled again. 'No, they're my friends!'
'You looked so alone when I found you.'
Hinamori's eyes widened. No, I'm not alone. I can't be. Tears started to form under her eyelids until a solitary tear rolled down her cheek, wet and warm. After that, they increased in number, spilling from her eyes and falling to the blanket that she was under. Aizen remained silent until she eventually fell asleep once again.
-------------------------------
Matsumoto was recounting the events before the incident and Hitsugaya, for the most part, listened, but there was a tiny part of his brain that kept chiding himself.
If only you hadn't hesitated.
'Well, I was almost completely sober and with Kira. He was telling me what you had told him you see,'
Hitsugaya nodded.
'–and then we felt this enormous reiatsu. Of course, I knew it had to be you, but Kira stayed behind, just in case the intruder happened to be in that sector. So I was running in your direction. Actually, half of Seireitei was running in your direction, it was such a sudden bust, but Kuchiki-taichou got there first with his shunpo since he was the closest. I think he wanted to get revenge if it was Aizen, well, if someone tried to kill my li'l sister like that–'
'Ahem,' Hitsugaya interrupted.
'Oh yes, well, when we got there, the place looked like a cyclone had hit it! Really, taichou, you should keep your battles cleaner. There was water and rubble everywhere. Anyway, we saw you slumped against a wall unconscious, so we sent for Unohana-taichou right away! It looked like you had been slammed up against the wall. It was horrible, there was so much blood coming from under your hair, poor Nanao-chan was almost sick. E, to… that's pretty much it, taichou. They started cleaning the place up and took you here so that you could tell us what had happened, and Yamamoto is going to open an inquiry lead by Soi Fon,' the orange-haired lieutenant explained.
-----------------------------
Hinamori woke up in that same room under the same blankets, the only difference being that it was now daytime and light made its way into the room. She rubbed her bleary eyes and looked about. Aizen was nearby with a plate of food.
'Hungry?' he asked.
It was then Hinamori realised how long it had been since she had ate, especially since she had been giving off so much reiatsu. She had been using so much reiatsu at that time…why didn't anybody sense it?
'Shirou-chan would have been able to sense it, ne Aizen-taichou? My reiatsu, I mean.'
'Of course, Hitsugaya is of captain status after all,' he replied.
Then why didn't he come for me?
'Shirou-chan… seemed annoyed that morning… he told me to watch my back…'
Maybe he just figured someone else could save me? Or that I should be more independent? Should I have relied on him so much?
'Maybe that's it.'
I didn't mean to annoy him…
'I'm going to become more independent, Aizen-taichou.'
That way I won't bother him.
Aizen flashed the girl a look of understanding. Sitting beside her and offering her an onigiri he said, 'You do whatever you think is right, Hinamori-kun.'
She looked resolute. 'Then I will. Please help me Aizen-taichou.'
Hinamori didn't see the slight smile on his face. 'I will Hinamori-kun. I would always try to help you…'
To be continued
-----------------------------
I enjoyed writing that. I hope you liked reading it just as much : ) Please tell me if you do, it makes my day a little happier. Also, if there's anyway I can improve, or something you don't like, I'll be as equally happy hearing that too! Poor Hitsugaya. Isn't Aizen so evil? Mwahahaha…
Oh! Today I saw episode 1 of the anime with English dubs. XD It's so weird! Kon sounds strange in the preview and is it just me or does Rukia's speech seem a little…lethargic?
Anyway, thank you very much for reading!