Cold Waters Run Deep Chapter 5: Scene 5, a bleach fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Whatever you read here is a work of my twisted, sadistic imagination and too many dot-to-dots.

A.C.: Ehh haven't seen Hitsugaya in a while (manga) dammit! Give us Hitsugaya!! This is more of a filler chapter... again... I didn't mean to write it this long... the rating? If you skip the italicized parts... I don't think it's even enough to make a T most of the time... well maybe... so yeah, I'm making it a T, not like the citric parts will last much longer anyways (sad)

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, you guys rock x3

Warnings: possible spoilers, oocness, breach of grammar security rule number something, something, something, mature themes, implied rape, noncon and general BL-ness that you can ignore by skipping the italicized parts in the beginning.

His outraged roar was muffled by a pale hand as a searing heat thrust into him in one swift stroke. He bit into the warm flesh viciously; eyes flashing brilliantly green as he drew blood. He stared into Gin's crimson eyes, coppery tang of blood flooding mouth with its foul flavor. He felt the pale haired captain rock inside him once, twice, before starting on a steady rhythm that began to beat pained grunts out of his blood-smeared lips.

Gin didn't seem to mind at all that Hitsugaya was biting; it would keep him silent throughout their little business. He nearly moaned in ecstasy as Hitsugaya finally let go of his hands to release a strangled sob. The body beginning to struggle weakly as Gin reveled in the pleasure of claiming 10th division's captain as his own. Trail of kisses traced his eyelid, perhaps it was just the wicked tongue that had just reached the adjoining point of his ear and his head. Hitsugaya began to bite again and this time Gin didn't let it go unpunished. He nipped sharply at his shoulders and neck, thoroughly enjoying the pained flinches that jerked through the small body.

Hitsugaya didn't remember anything after that point, if there was an after. He remembered Gin's darker hair mixing with his lighter ones as the older captain slumped over satiably watching Hitsugaya's reddened face through his half-lidded eyes. At one point Gin's hand brushed his hair away and whispered something against his cheeks. Then he met the cold floor and pain made itself known to him as Gin began to dress, gleefully smiling while watching his prone form through the corner of his red eyes.

Hitsugaya quickly followed suit, pain claiming his all-too young body as he fumbled with his clothing. Gin helped him with his obi, an action too intimate for Hitsugaya to have partaken without getting angry. There were voices outside, Kira's slightly anxious high ones next to monotonous ones of the 6th division's captain. Gin sat down on his chair with a satisfied smile, Hitsugaya retreated to the corner and the door slowly opened...

He felt his stomach fall when he saw the last of the metal melt into the cold air. The glacial presence in his mind was also gone, replaced by an aching emptiness he could not dispel. He couldn't help but feel a sense of abandonment as he walked through the empty landscape, calling out for his best friend. Swallowing, he turned towards the two lieutenants with a shudder, the diamond patterned hilt of Hyourinmaru still clenched tightly in his hands. Unable to find anything to say, Hisagi spoke up quietly

"Captain?"

It was like a bucket of cold water being poured down his collar. Just because Hyourinmaru was gone couldn't mean that he could just abandon his duties as a captain. If the gentle blue glow had been anything to go by, Hyourinmaru would come back within time. Slightly reassured, Hitsugaya breathed deeply and looked imperiously at the fidgeting lieutenants.

"An adjuchas-level hollow..." Hitsugaya pronounced slowly, looking over the brass colored guard at the end of the hilt. "What's it doing this far in Soul Society?" Kira could have nearly fainted in relief seeing that the white-haired captain was not about to go to pieces. Still, worried that the 10th division's captain was taking this all too well, Kira answered submissively not meeting Hitsugaya's eyes.

"19th seat Nakada Saburo reported strange energy patterns in this area this evening. He thought it was a hollow but we weren't sure since there had been no confirmed sightings. We came to check it out but as you saw..." the blonde gestured helplessly at the frozen waterfall.

Hitsugaya nodded, cutting Kira short. The hollow had cleverly disguised itself as a large boulder, giving off enough energy to put a shinigami on edge but not enough to be detected. But it had made so far in to the heart of Soul Society. Adjuchas-level or not, Hitsugaya didn't think that the hollow would have been either smart or strong enough to make it this far without additional help. He snapped his head up, did that mean there were others laying low in wait?

"Are there any more?" a stupid question, especially since the two lieutenants hadn't known about the hollow's presence any more than he had. Hitsugaya frowned, eyebrows furrowing into the middle. He should have been able to feel the two lieutenant's reiatsu no matter how beaten down and tired he had been. But that meant that the hollow had some device of disrupting their senses. Kira looked edgy as he looked around, hand on hilt in case another decided to attack. The white haired captain closed his eyes and held his breath; he could feel the two lieutenants radiating worry. If he extended himself further, he could feel the life force of Rukongai citizens going about their daily businesses. He opened his eyes.

"If there are, I don't think it will attack us Hitsugaya-taichou." Hisagi looked confident –though the confidence waned as he continued- in his explanation as he sought Hitsugaya's eyes. "The hollow could have easily taken us by surprise but it didn't. Only when you went deeper into the water did it attack. It wasn't looking for just anyone captain, it was looking for you." The thought was disturbing on so many levels. If Kira's grip tightened anymore, he would break the hilt of his zanpakuto.

"I think we should get out of here Hitsugaya-taichou," said Kira nervously. "You are... disarmed right now; if there are more than two or three we won't be able to protect you." Hitsugaya nodded in agreement, he knew it would be foolish for them to stay and attempt to exterminate any hollows by themselves. He gathered up the rest of his ruined clothing, hastily putting them on as best as he could when the lieutenants' backs were turned. When he was ready, he said

"Let's go."

"Captain!" Matsumoto exclaimed in surprise when Kira and Hisagi accompanied the young captain into the 10th division building. Here and there, heads popped out into the hallway curious of all the commotion at the door. When Hitsugaya swept his cold gaze over them all, they turned tail and slammed their doors. Of course, it had no effect on his lieutenant as she began to drag him into the office talking rapidly. "I thought something went wrong when it began snowing again but the couch was sooo comfortable...!" Hitsugaya scowled at this blatant disrespect for his orders, "I thought you went outside for a walk!" to this Rangiku threw a quick, accusing glare at her coworkers before throwing the doors open. The two lieutenants sheepishly followed their raging colleague, wincing as Hitsugaya was pushed in the shower room with a spare black kimono.

"Matsumoto...!" an ominous yell came from the other side of the bathroom door.

"I cleaned it up just like you said captain," said Matusmoto blithely as she held the door closed from the outside. "You just have a good soak and I'll let you out when I'm ready." And she did just that, locking the door with a foreboding click as she rounded on to the two males in front of her.

The two immediately fell to their knees under the hostile kill-aura Rangiku was producing. Kira began to repeatedly bow in apology while Hisagi kept his forehead pressed to the wooden floor and prayed to whatever deity that was listening to deliver them out of this hell.

"Now," Matsumoto tossed her hair as she leaned on the door behind her. This time they couldn't even appreciate the effects of looking up at her enormous assets. "What happened?"

In the bathroom, Hitsugaya sat in the tub –still clothed- as he gloomily looked at Hyourinmaru's pale blue hilt. The emptiness was still there but the aching had subsided somewhat when new ice began to form across the stretch of tundra. The young captain sighed heavily, pressing his temple against cool tiled wall as his eyes closed halfway. He began to meditate, searching for the last strings of the bond when the contact between him and Hyourinmaru was severed.

Rangiku was upset and Kira had a pretty good idea why. His captain had been too smug today for comfort and the blonde lieutenant had not even bothered to press the slacker for paperwork. Kira winced as he remembered the earlier episode; it would have entirely been his fault if Captain Hitsugaya had been maimed out there by the hollow. He could have gone against his captain somehow, even if the green eyed captain had done it willingly.

"Well?" the strawberry blonde arched her eyebrows threateningly. While other red-blooded male might have thought 'sexy' Kira and Hisagi were thinking 'doom', 'death' and 'torture'. The feeling only intensified when Matsumoto repeated, "What happened out there?"

"Che, his zanpakuto broke, that's what happened."

"Renji?!"

Abarai Renji walked in, taking note of the door behind the buxom blonde as he did so. His zanpakuto was in his hands, in its sealed form but out and ready just in case he needed it. Matsumoto frowned at the redhead lieutenant, her eyes slowly darkening with comprehension.

"Hyourinmaru's broken."

"Shattered," Renji confirmed, the four lieutenants exchanging matching grim expressions. "I was watching him like you told me to and you know how... err..." he suddenly blushed, sensing that this was not the time or place, and began to hurry through the last part as Matsumoto's face began to darken angrily. "Ah err... suddenly the boulder beside Kira and Hisagi-sempai turned into this hollow that began to attack shorty."

"You said it was beside Kira and Hisagi,"

Renji shrugged and turned towards the two other lieutenants for information.

"A kido move that disguises your reiatsu? I've never been good at kido."

Hisagi shook his head,

"It was the hollow; it disrupted our senses creating a ripple in which it could hide in."

"But it didn't attack you." Matsumoto pressed,

"No, it was looking for Hitsugaya-taichou."

"But why?"

It was cold and beautiful in its serene fatality. The snow coated the landscape much like how nitrogen comprised almost seventy percent of the air he breathed in. It was beautiful in its cruelty, a world of white offering no protection for the weak that dared to venture there.

"Hyourinmaru..." Hitsugaya pressed his hand against the dragon's muzzle, feeling the chill pass through his fingers. He brought his other hand over the magnificently sculpted head, gently caressing the enormous jaw. Hyourinmaru lifted his ridged spines, shaking off layers of half-formed ice as he pressed his great head against Hitsugaya's torso. The boy ran his hand over the frozen scales uncertainly, kneeling down when Hyorinmaru lifted one of his enormous coils to wrap protectively around Toushiro's lean form. Hitsugaya breathed in contentment, resting his forehead against the dragon's face.

::I apologize, I have worried you.::

He smiled shakily as the dragon breathed into his hair, icy tongue tasting his scent as he sat still. One of the talons had curled around him in a half circle; Hitsugaya leaned against the frozen appendage silently looking into the dragon's enormous eyes.

"Yeah, care to tell me what's going on?"

::...I have not been called upon in a long time and I had not been ready... you have grown strong Toushiro, much stronger than I had initially expected.::

Hitsugaya somehow didn't believe that. Hyourinmaru was the strongest of the ice and water families, powers almost parallel to that of 1st division's Ryuujin Jakka. But he accepted the explanation without giving it much thought, the euphoria of being reunited with his zanpakuto numbing his frazzled senses.

"And this from the zanpakuto that had been railing at me to let him out the entire day..." Hyorinmaru woofed lightly, a flurry of snow peppering Hitsugaya's face as he continued "I thought..." Hitsugaya started hesitantly, "I thought you left me. It felt so... empty." Was it just his imagination? Or had the ring of ice really tightened around him? He felt Hyourinmaru's mind bubble around his protectively just like when they were about to go into battle. The dragon let out a low humming noise at the back of his throat,

::I would never leave you. I chose you Toushiro and I will stand by my choices.::

Hitsugaya laughed sadly,

"I wish I could..."

::You should have called upon me, I would have helped you. I cannot help you if you do not call my name Toushiro.::

"I don't need your help in those things." And he didn't, really. He shouldn't have to drag others into his private life. He didn't want fingers pointed at him for being the youngest; he wanted to be acknowledged as a captain. He didn't need help, really.

If only Hyourinmaru wasn't always right.

::You are a mere babe compared to all others. You cannot expect to do what others can.::

"I'm not a child,"

::Worse, you are a fool.:: When Hitsugaya didn't reply Hyourinmaru continued steadily ::I have chosen you Toushiro, I have chosen you for a reason. I cannot tell you what that reason is unless you call on me. Call my name if you need me Toushiro, I will always be there for you.::

Hitsugaya blushed, burying his face against the frosted curves of the dragon's head.

"You're an idiot, don't make promises you can't keep."

One last embrace before parting,

::Do you doubt my strength Toushiro?::

"Never."

The dragon's rumbling laughter was lost to the winds as snow swept across the landscape. Everything disintegrated under the blizzard, lands parting with the ice and sky falling in a steely rainbow. He woke up from his self-imposed stupor, slightly stunned with the barest whispers of the fading mist echoing in his ears.

::I will return to you soon... You'll know when the time comes... be careful Toushiro... even dragons have enemies...::

Dumbly he turned off the freezing showerhead –wondering when he turned it on- his skin pale and stretched tightly over his slim frame. He climbed out of the ceramic tub –shedding and leaving the torn kimono in there- and looked at himself in the mirror, so wide-eyed, innocent white and not really him.

An odd memory surfaced in his mind; of a man in black kimono, a dark haired woman, a girl... love, death, honor, fear, blood, and pain, pain, pain, pain, pain...

He scowled, instantly erasing the image of the ghostly child that had been his reflection only moments before. The mirror mimicked his move, creases appearing on his forehead as he put on the spare kimono and tied the obi around his waist.

It was quiet on the other side of the door, it wasn't likely that Rangiku was still there but he figured it wouldn't hurt to get her to open the door. Of course he could always break the doorknob but he didn't quite like the idea of writing up on another report on how various items in his division managed to get vandalized.

"Taichou?" a quiet knock came from the other end.

"I'm dressed." His voice split and he could hear a small giggle from the other end. He scowled, blushing furiously as the doorknob turned to reveal his smug-faced lieutenant. "Not a word." He hissed grabbing his zanpakuto sheath and walking past her.

"Aww captain..."

"You can have the next two days off." Matsumoto nodded gleefully –too gleefully, and somehow Hitsugaya managed not to grit his teeth as he walked into his office.

"Captain," the three lieutenants waiting for him –he did a double take at the sight of Abarai Renji- stood up to attention and greeted him. One looked apprehensive, one looked speculative, and the last had an unreadable expression on his face. With a demure murmur of thanks he sent them all away, turning to perhaps the only stable constant in his life.

The paperwork he had assigned to Matsumoto earlier in the day.

"Captain," Rangiku held his right hand, her fingers already prying the worn brush out his palms. "You're tired, paperwork can wait."

"Not with you it can't." Hitsugaya replied and immediately winced at how scathing that had sounded. He didn't mean to be so rude but Matsumoto had already brushed it off in a way only Matsumoto could.

"Oh I'm sure since Hinamori's going to return soon the fifth division can do without us."

Hinamori...

If Gin... No he will... kept his end of the deal; she would be free of all blames.

Holding onto that thought like a lifeline he said quietly,

"Matsumoto... Hyourinmaru shattered..."

The blonde nodded, as if she had been waiting for him to say that. Of course, Kira and Hisagi must have spilled their guts once she had that look about her. At the risk of being cliché –hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"I know captain, but you're going to bring him back aren't you?"

Hitsugaya looked at her in surprise, then smiled slowly.

"Thanks Matsumoto,"

The lieutenant grinned,

"My pleasure captain."

He pulled Hyourinmaru's hilt out of the sheath, Matsumoto's blue eyes growing wide in amazement. At the end of the four-pointed guard was a translucent blade made of ice. It didn't melt when Hitsugaya checked its balance in his hands or when he gently stroked the flat-side of the sword before sheathing it.

It wasn't Hyourinmaru but it was a promise.

A promise that everything would be alright

And it had been done. Gin had done his part artlessly in between shooting Hitsugaya leery grins. The evidences had been more than enough to clear Hinamori of all blame. It was enough to let her go without additional guards assigned to her to monitor her behavior for the following weeks.

As Hitsugaya breathed in relief Captain Yammamoto spoke up suddenly,

"And why... Ichimaru Gin, would you speak up for Hinamori-kun?" everyone looked at the bearded captain in surprise. "What do you have to gain from this?" if Ichimaru had felt any surprise to the questions he never showed it. He merely grinned impudently, eyes unreadable under the fluttering lids. "I see..." Yammamoto spoke softly, "very well then, Hinamori is cleared of all accusations, she is free to go." He gave one knowing nod in Hitsugaya's direction "congratulations Hitsugaya-kun."

"Dun see why yer so particular on savin' her." Gin said lightly as he appeared beside Gotei 13's youngest captain. Hitsugaya hurried away that much faster towards the holding cells but he was no match for Ichimaru Gin's longer strides.

"Hinamori's my friend, I care for her."

"But does she care fer ya 'Gaya?" Hitsugaya stiffened and bit his lips to stop an angry retort. If he answered, he would only be confirming Gin's question-statement and fostering the blacker seed in his heart. Grinning knowingly, Gin patted the snowy hair in almost a paternal fashion, ruined by the fingernail leaving a faint red streak down the side of Hitsugaya's neck.

Almost as if telling him a secret Gin held a cupped hand to his mouth and whispered loudly,

"She cares fer ya 'Gaya, but she cares fer him more."

The temperature dropped by several degrees. Gin shivered, his teeth showing more than usual as he waved his hands in an attempt to mollify the shorter captain.

"Maa maa, it wasn' my intention to anger ya 'Gaya." As the 10th division's captain walked away Gin opened his eyes, the bloody rubies shining brightly in the midday sun. "Be careful, I'm not the one ya have to watch out fer." Hitsugaya's eyes widened and turned around. But Gin had already disappeared, seemingly into thin air. He hissed slowly as his mind processed the cryptic message the 3rd division's captain had left for him. It was true that he was weak now, but who would dare try to threaten him? Wishing he had Hyourinmaru back, he walked on, never noticing his reflection in the water... changed... as he turned past a corner.

But someone else did.

"Hinamori," Hitsugaya breathed, relieved at the sight of his sister-friend as she was released from the influence of the binding kido spell. Her eyes were puffy and sunken with the nights of endless tears. She attempted to hide her face as she was brought up to the blinding sun, hanging her head in shame as Hitsugaya came forward to touch her face. "Let's go Hinamori." The brown eyed girl sniffled but nodded. Finally looking up to smile shakily at those around her, she wiped her tears with the back of her hands. Hitsugaya took her hand into his own, his fierce expression softening. "Come on, I'll take you back."

The snow had melted away giving a sense of renewal to the world around them. It was as if the endless summer of Soul Society had ended and had reversed back into spring. It was a beautiful day out and the sky had never seemed so clear. The flora all around them were fresh with droplets of water, seeming to have transformed into something magnificent since the day before.

It would be the last time in a long time that Hitsugaya was truly happy.

A.C.: I've been meaning to ask... what do you think of Hinamori? Do you like her? Hate her? Wish she'd just fall of a seventy story building and die? She has a bigger part later in the story but I'm wondering what most of you think since... well she tends to be at the extreme ends of everyone's favorite's list.

And does anyone know a good timeline for Bleach? --''

I know in the manga Gin has... almost neon green eyes, but I like the anime red ones better so I'm going with that

-Winces- I don't like the transitions in this chapter and I'm not quite sure I got everyone right. Oh well, I guess it's called fanfic for a reason...