Chapter 14. I Swear It

I still do not own Bleach deal with it LOL.

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Soon, Hitsugaya's eyes had gone from a calming aqua, to a supernatural blue, then a ghostlike purple, and now they melted into a frightening crimson, like a bloodstained ruby.

His fangs hardened and grew at least an inch in length, the tips as deadly as the blades of multiple swords combined. His wingtips re-formed again, as sharp and filed icicles; his claws become as lethal as those of a lion, tiger, and leopard all in one. His jaws were forced to part, as they could no longer fit all of his fangs in his mouth. His vision was entirely red; everything he saw was eerily scarlet.

His eyes locked onto Akuma, his penetrating gaze bore into the Arrancar, and his throat rumbled in a fierce growl.

His drove his Zanpakutou forward, but despite Akuma's rising fear, he still managed to dodge the blow. Blinded by fury, Hitsugaya coiled around and swept his powerful tail at the Arrancar, but he was so enraged that he did not aim and missed pitifully, almost striking Hinamori.

He cursed silently, but continued to keep focus on his target. He shot forward and stretched out his claws, but yet again, Akuma dodged. Then, the Vasto Lorde began to form a fiery cero.

Finally. Hitsugaya though to himself. He's going to put up a fight, and take this battle seriously.

The cero was released an instant later, but it flew past Hitsugaya, missing him by almost ten feet. He smirked with satisfaction at his enemy's poor aim.

"Where are you aiming?" He spat.

But Akuma seemed pleased with himself for his un-guided attack. He smiled demonically.

"I don't recall ever saying that I was aiming for you." He replied calmly.

At first, he was puzzled at the words, but then Hitsugaya's crimson eyes stretched wide in understanding. He whirled around and followed the cero's path with his eyes.

"Hinamori!" He called out.

The dying girl could hardly sit up anymore, and her half closed eyes began to dim and flicker. He did, however, see fear and a silent plea for help in her eyes as the red fire came closer.

As fast as he could, Hitsugaya stretched his tail out and let the attack brush off of the ice, miss-directing it ever so slightly and causing it to miss the girl by only a few inches. It disintegrated into the rocky wall behind her, leaving only a faint red glimmering residue. Hitsugaya winced as ice fell away from his tail and landed noisily one the ground.

Akuma smiled and began forming another devastating cero in his palms. Hitsugaya lashed his broken tail, irritated, and flew forwards once again. Akuma fired the cero at the last second, but it was not fully developed and evaporated when Hitsugaya shielded himself with his wing.

He raised his Zanpakutou above his head, and as fast as a raindrop, he brought down his arm. The Vasto Lorde just barely dodged this time, but Hitsugaya was not finished yet.

He shot out his left hand, and managed to effectively rake his cat-like claws across Akuma's rough flesh, blood lingered in the air for a moment before falling to the ground; his claws were stained with red.

Then, the Arrancar disappeared into the back of the cave, deeper into the unknown and awaiting shadows. Hitsugaya hesitated, now could be his chance to get Hinamori and himself out of there, but then he remembered that he could only save her from suffocation by killing the last Arrancar.

He looked to the sky; about twenty minutes had gone by since the spell was put on her, meaning that he only had about ten minutes to finish this, or else Hinamori was done for.

He glanced over at her; she was kneeling in a defenseless position, her eyes full of terror and pain. But the terror in her eyes was not of dying, it was of something else, but right now, Hitsugaya could not tell what.

He slowly made his way over to her, and then he knelt down to reach his hand over to her, and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. She winced from his touch, her eyes shivered and her shallow panting came in short breaths.

Then, Hitsugaya pulled back, shocked; she was afraid of him.

His sudden transformation had frightened her, he was not who she thought he was anymore. He gently placed his cold, clawed hand on hers and let it stay there for a moment.

"Hold on, Hinamori, I'll help you, I swear it."

A moment of silence floated by, only the sounds of her gasping breath were heard.

Then, gradually, the terror in her eyes faded into trust, and love. She smiled the best smile that she could possibly muster at the time, her mouth ajar and her body heaving as she attempted to inhale with her weak lungs. Her chestnut eyes still pleaded for help, and his crimson ones promised to bring it.

He slowly slipped his cold hand off of her smooth skin, and stood to his feet. Her eyes followed him, asking, wanting him to stay with her; she wanted him to be there with her in her final moments, he practically saw the plea written in her eyes.

But he swore that he was going to save her; and he was.

He gave her one last re-assuring glance, full of affection, warmth, and love.

She glanced up at him, she was shaking horribly, and asked him one last time with her eyes to stay with her, but with his eyes he declined.

Silently admitting defeat, Hinamori nodded to him, and with her fading chestnut eyes, told him to come back to her alive, and that she loved him.

He nodded back in understanding and turned away from her. He beat his wings and slowly rose into the cold air. Taking one last glance back at her, he flew off silently into the darkness after the final Arrancar.

This battle was going to end, and one of them was not coming back.

Senses alert, Hitsugaya disappeared into the shadows, knowing that he might never come out.

And as he disappeared into those shadows, he failed to notice that the girl he had left behind eyes closed, and she collapsed onto the cold, unforgiving ground, perhaps never to rise again.

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A/N: Once again really going all out on the vocabulary here. Please tell me what you thought and review!!