VIII. The Thin Bloodline

"Please accept my little present, Hitsugaya-taichou. I prepared it especially for you."

Hitsugaya was simply shocked. His jaw failed to move a single bit in its awestruck state. Ulquiorra raised the black cloth he was holding, as if showing Hitsugaya whatever he carried. Disheveled dark, brown hair flung from across the sleeve of the black garment, clinging to a bowed, seemingly lifeless head. Two limbs dropped from the shoulders, as if they were attached loosely. The clothing of the poor creature was torn in several parts, and there was evidence of dried blood on the shoulder and leg. Several bruises and light cuts were evident on the arms. The lifeless doll raised her head, and stared at Hitsugaya's deep blue-green orbs through the strands of hair rambled on her face with her own deep black-brown orbs. His teeth grit in fervent hatred, and his hand clutched on to his zanpakuto with the guidance of saint anger. Ulquiorra let go of his grip on the lady's sleeve, making her drop face first on the ground.

"I thought you might be lonely here, so I brought in a companion to keep you entertained." He stared down at the abused figure. "Certainly you wouldn't mind joining in, right, Hinamori-kun?"

Hitsugaya stood up, leaning on Hyourinmaru for support. His reiatsu blasted the equipment lying around them. "You bastard… I will kill you."

He tried to demolish Aizen's figure, and once again, his target pressed his magic button. Someone's scream tore the angry atmosphere of the experimentation room. Hitsugaya dropped in a split second, but he managed to look up to see from whom the cry came from. He saw the mangled form of Hinamori wailing in hell-mustered agony over the coursing of electricity in her frail body. At the exact same time, their punishment ceased. Hinamori fell silent, taking quick, shallow breaths, smoke still rising from her body.

"Let me explain, Hitsugaya-taichou. That little device I attached on your neck is my way of making you follow my command, and it serves as a punishing device if you ever disobey me. Another device similar to that is attached to your friend here," Ulquiorra grabbed on her hair and raised her by pulling it, revealing a black belt similar to his attached on her neck. "It does the exact same thing, electrocuting both of you with reiatsu-based electricity, though in her case, it deals twice the amount of it compared to yours. So, it basically means everytime I punish you, she fries under the amount of damage done to her body."

Gin commented. "Kinda like how ya stick meat in an open fire, right, Aizen-sama?"

Ulquiorra let go. Hitsugaya tried to move from his lying position. "L-Leave her out of this, A-Aizen… she doesn't have anything to do with this…"

"Nothing to do with this?" Aizen raised his brows slightly at the remark of his subject. "She has everything to do with it, Hitsugaya-taichou. I know how important she is to you, which is why I need her if I am to succeed in my experiments. If I didn't do that, then there would be no way of pursuing this experiment. Let me give you my special deal with you; every time you disobey my orders, I will punish you, and you know what that means. If by chance you get yourself killed during any mission I give you, I will kill her, but before she dies I will make sure she suffers every little bit of pain that we will let her endure. If you do something I don't like, you get punished as well. Now I'm going to ask you just once: Are you going to join my ranks or not?"

Hinamori raised her head a little, just enough for the boy to see her face. She tried to reach her hand out to him, and slowly she extended her hands out toward him. She called out to him in an almost whisper volume. "H-Hitsugaya-kun… d-don't – "

Ulquiorra cut her off by stepping on the hand she extended, and crushed every bone present in her fingers. She wailed, and next he removed his foot on her hand only to kick her side and step on her back. Hitsugaya's eyes widened, his orbs reflecting both fear and concern.

"Stop it!" Ulquiorra immediately paused. Aizen smiled lightly.

"I believe you've made you're decision, am I right?"

"I… will join your army, Aizen Sosuke."

"From now on, you will address me as Aizen-sama. Remember that, Hitsugaya-kun."

He bowed his head in defeat and gritted his teeth. "Hai, Aizen-sama."

"By the way, sorry for those bruises on your precious Hinamori-kun. It was hard convincing her to come by and keep you company, and I just did what had to be done so you wouldn't be lonely." He turned his back on the two. "I believe you have some catching up to do, so we'll be leaving you to that." They slowly walked out of the room, leaving a broken Hitsugaya and a tormented Hinamori behind.

"No matter how many times ya think of this kind'o things, it still surprises me, Aizen-sama."

"It's always a matter of taking advantage of one's weakness, Gin. It was very easy to find our little taichou's most treasured, as it is as easy to find a black spot against a background of white."

"Neh, what do ya plan to do with him now, Aizen-sama?"

"Let's put him through a test on how much his power has been augmented, and I know of a good idea on just how."

Hitsugaya ran over to the aid of the mauled girl, who was hardly moving. He took her in his arms, concentrated reiatsu and began healing her. Though his healing abilities were never above par, he thought of it as just enough to remove her from her present state. His eyes softened with concern and deep guilt. He spoke to her in a soft tone.

"Forgive me, Hinamori… it's all my fault… I just wish… this didn't happen."

She stared at him with soft eyes. "H-Hitsugaya-kun…" was all she managed to say before passing out. After some moments of healing, Hitsugaya carried her bridal style on to the bed in the room, laying her softly on its thin cushion. He looked at her with eyes filled with guilt, and turned his back at her. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and clutched his head. Without so much as to thinking, he flailed his hand sideways, brushing off the equipment near him and causing them to clang and shatter on the floor. He cursed himself inwardly, with each breath he hated everything more and more. After calming himself, he took the twin zanpakuto and walked out of the room, and continued walking the halls of Las Noches. Finding a place besides a window-like opening, he rested himself beside his two blades and started to ponder. His energy having been drained so quickly by the previous incident, his eyes started to grow heavy, and finally he went to slumberland.

He walked across a vast plain covered in ice. Just before the horizon, burning grassland lay in the center of the ice-covered terrain. He drew closer to it, and tried to see past smoke and distorted air due to the scorching fire. Soon the fire died down, and the smoke cleared. Hitsugaya dared venture forward as the heat perished. At the center of the parched surrounding sat a man with jet black hair, similar to that of Rukia's. He wore a long red coat, and a zanpakuto jutted out from the corner of the cloth. He stared at the approaching white-haired captain, and stared into Hitsugaya's blue-green orbs with his incinerating red pupils. When Hitsugaya came near him at no less than three steps away, he scoffed.

"It's 'bout time ya showed up," he said in an arrogant tone. "I thought I was gonna be waitin' 'ere f'rever."

Hitsugaya's brows furrowed in curiosity. He had never seen the man before, yet he seemed to be very familiar.

"What?! Ain't ya gonna say somethin' and jus' stand there, ya little punk?"

"Who do you think are you calling a punk?"

"Tch, don't be so cocky, shinigami captain boy. Ya ain't even know me yet."

He snapped his fingers, and before Hitsugaya knew it, a ring of fire surrounded them both. The person smiled cockily.

"Now, let's get to know each other."

You guys are so good at guessing things like knowing what the present was. Oh well, I was never good with those things anyway.

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