I had to change the rating because of the inner hollow's language, as well as some mature themes.
XII. When Day and Dream Unite
Trouble was brewing back in Seiretei. To them, Hitsugaya and Hinamori have been missing for nearly a week, without any news as to what has happened. But that was what the rest of Seiretei knew to their extent. Deep in Matsumoto's mind, she knew a lot better that she felt like she never wanted to know anything about it at all. She just shouldn't have known.
She sat there on their division office's couch, the same couch that she used to sleep on after drinking sake or just goofing around and spending the rest of the day napping. But that was before everything came as it is. She sat there, without any scent of alcohol on her. She hadn't taken in the substance for the whole time that the two had gone missing. Or were made missing, to be exact. Her thoughts revolved on her last requested meeting with the captain commander and the other captains scheduled back during a captain's meeting.
The old figure of the captain commander stood at the center of the two lines of captains, standing to his left and right sides respectively. There was an eerie silence between them, as if there was some sort of gravity in the situation. Finally the figure of authority spoke to break the silence in the atmosphere.
"As you may know, tenth division captain Hitsugaya Toushiro and fifth division lieutenant Hinamori Momo have gone missing, and their locations are unknown. I've already requested the twelfth division to trace them by their reiatsu traces, but could not identify the location to where they have gone. For other details, twelfth division captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri will explain."
"We've taken samples of Hitsugaya Toushiro and Hinamori Momo's respective reiatsu, and using some devices that I developed, we were able to follow the nature of their reiatsu and terminated at some location. In Hitsugaya Toushiro's case, we've followed his reiatsu to a certain location in a forest near the twentieth district in Rukongai, where it seemed to terminate at that point. After that, it seems that he just vanished into thin air. The same goes for Hinamori Momo, whose reiatsu was last traced just outside the northern gate of Seiretei. We've also tried looking for their reiatsu in the living world, but the tests show negative results. I have already made a theory that if they have just disappeared like that, then maybe they are trapped in another dimension not quite familiar to us. The most possible case is that they may have been in their last locations when they have been taken into this alternate dimension I am speaking about," the scientist spoke in detail, holding a piece of paper in his left hand, scribbled with wavy lines and diagrams that none understood but him. The captain commander nodded, and he fell back in line with his fellow captains.
"The other thing to be discussed is upon request of tenth division lieutenant Matsumoto Rangiku. This is in relation with this issue that we have just brought to light. Here she is and she will continue about its details."
She stepped out of the shadow at the corner of the room, and nodded in agreement. Her face and eyes agreed with the seriousness of the topic at hand.
"As they have discussed, the two of them have disappeared lately. I am going to report the incident I encountered upon following Hitsugaya-taichou when he went on his way to the twentieth district. He was with Hinamori Momo that day. Using the binoculars with a featured reiatsu tracer I borrowed from the twelfth division, I followed them that day and monitored their movements just because I thought of it as a mere joke for them. When we reached the woods near the twentieth, I noticed a strange signal from the device, and I immediately sensed danger and tried to follow them there, but the defected captain Ichimaru Gin blocked my way. The rest of the time I had been fighting him, so I wasn't able to follow the taichou to where he went. After some time, Aizen appeared, as well as the fourth Espada Ulquiorra Schiffer. The arrancar was dragging taichou behind him, and I knew that there was evidence of blood from the taichou. I tried to follow them, but Aizen managed to incapacitate me with his reiatsu. They kidnapped him. What was strange is that I didn't see Hinamori with them when they left."
The scientist spoke up. "I didn't think your brain was too small not to realize what has happened, Matsumoto-fukutaichou. It was last indicated that Hinamori Momo's reiatsu was traced just near the northern gate. The tests also indicated that it was at a time about two days before Hitsugaya Toushiro went missing. Time-wise, she had already been missing beforehand, so there's no way she could have been with him. Either you're just a complete nuthead, or you just didn't think of Aizen's capability with his zanpakuto Kyoka Suigetsu, complete hypnosis. That would explain why she was there, it's all because Aizen cast Kyoka Suigetsu to make it look like that she was there. It just means that your captain's brain is just too pathetic to realize that Aizen planned it all along."
Matsumoto's brows furrowed deep with the scientist-captain's remarks, but tried to ignore his insults squeezed between his statements. After the captain has finished his chat, she faced the captain commander once again.
"In view of this matter, I would like to request permission to conduct a search-and-rescue operation in Hueco Mundo for the retrieval of tenth division captain Hitsugaya Toushiro and fifth division lieutenant Hinamori Momo."
The old man closed his eyes, and sighed. He opened them once more to look at the determined figure of the buxom lieutenant.
"Much as that seems to be the right thing to do, I'm afraid I cannot allow it."
"But soutaichou – "
"I know what goes on in your head, Matsumoto-fukutaichou. But the risk of sending even the most elite of shinigami and getting them killed is too high. The current strength of the arrancar army Aizen Sosuke has is at a level that is very alarming. We must prepare ourselves for the war before we could muster the strength to defeat them."
She bowed her head in defeat. The other captains eyed her in their own view of the matter. Ukitake furrowed his brows, feeling sorry for her; Kyoraku tipped his straw hat down; Komamura closed his eyes, sighing; Unohana looked at her in a pitiful manner; while the others remained indifferent of the situation. Silence crept upon them, and again Yamamoto broke it.
"With no other regards at hand, this meeting is dismissed."
The other captains left, leaving the defeated lieutenant behind. She clutched her hands tightly and bit her lower lip. After a few more moments, she also left the room.
Her brows were furrowed deep in thought. She was trying to think of what would ever happen next.
Hitsugaya walked into Aizen's throne room, the leader sitting idly on his throne, playing with the Hougyoku on his hand. The defected captain looked up to the boy after sensing his presence. He looked calmly upon him, though the person seemed to be quite uncomfortable about the meeting. He noted that he had changed his clothes completely to that of the standard clothing used by the arrancar, Hyourinmaru still slung on his back, while the new zanpakuto Gogyou Enjin strapped on his waist.
"You called for me, Aizen-sama?"
"Yes… I've been assessing your capabilities for the past few days, and I've made up my mind to send you on your first mission. I'm going to send you to Soul Society to see how much your power has grown."
The boy's eyes widened. "Soul… Society?"
"Yes… Soul Society… wouldn't it be nice if you paid them a little visit?"
"…"
"I'm going to have to assess your capabilities against other shinigami, which is why I have chosen that place. Given enough hollow reiatsu, a high-level breach will be alarmed, and they're going to send in the most elite of Seiretei. That is where you come in."
"You – " He grit his teeth in anger. The thought of having to harm shinigami made him hate the man even more.
"Remember our deal, Hitsugaya-kun. If you don't do this, then she's dead. Don't get yourself killed, too, or you know what happens."
He bowed his head and clenched his fists. The situation was harder than he thought. He had only a little time to make his choice.
Matsumoto finally reached a wide grassland just outside of Junrinan, Rukongai's first district. According to the hell butterfly, that was where the arrancar's reiatsu was detected. So far, she was the only shinigami present there, though she wasn't really alarmed by it, considering that it may just be an incomplete arrancar that she could handle by herself. She had her hand on Haineko, considering the situation to change into a more serious one in a split second. She waited for any signs of activity, and soon a Garganta opened in front of her. She drew her zanpakuto ready, sensing some danger to be at hand. Finally the figure of a very powerful arrancar froze her on her spot.
Ulquiorra emerged from the opening he made. Leaving the Garganta open, he eyed the shinigami from head to toe, his melancholic appearance remaining the same. She furrowed her brows, having failed to gauge the situation and now standing there in front of one of the elites in Aizen's army. Her forehead was covered in sweat. She did not expect things to turn out that way.
"Trash. I expected at least a captain to show up here to conduct this trial. Come out there, boy. Aizen-sama ordered your skills to be studied and assessed, and I will make sure that it be done."
She prepared herself for a heated battle, expecting things to be very messy. She hoped in all means that backup arrive quickly, since she knew that there was no way in hell that she could ever hope of defeating the extremely powerful enemy, let alone him with an ally. Another entity stepped out of the black opening, and upon gazing at it, left her speechless, mouth gaping open. She could not believe her eyes when she saw the very familiar figure step out of the portal.
"Hitsugaya-taichou…"
His brows were furrowed in retaliation. He had a very notable change of style, though; his shinigami robes have already been replaced by the arrancar's uniform. He still slung his zanpakuto on his back as always, but what was very puzzling was the other zanpakuto strapped on his waist which looked very much like Hyourinmaru.
"Taichou… what is going on here?"
Ulquiorra turned his back on the two. "I'll be watching you, Hitsugaya. Choose your actions wisely."
The newest member of Aizen's army heaved a deep sigh. He looked at his lieutenant in the eye, and expressed the gravest of moods he could ever have. "Matsumoto…" he started. "I and Hinamori are – " he stopped and looked back at Ulquiorra, who was watching them from a distance. He faced her again, and only uttered a few more words.
"Forgive me, Matsumoto."
He drew forth his red zanpakuto from its sheath, and started raising his reiatsu slowly. His chest felt heavy, and he found it hard to swallow. He felt it hard to muster the will to fight the lieutenant, that even though Hinamori's life depended on it, it was hard to do what he felt was wrong.
"Taichou…" she said softly, her eyes gleaming in another light. With those few words, she understood what must be done, and started raising her reiatsu as well. She quickly shunpoed behind him, hacked at him in an attempt to cut him from behind. He blocked it bare-handed, and she quickly shunpoed once again, this time in front of the captain, and hacked him again. He intercepted it with Gogyou Enjin, matching her two-handed swing with a mere one-handed grip. They repeated their attack-and-block procedures, with her attacking him relentlessly and him blocking every attack with either his bare hand or with his zanpakuto. Though he did have every little chance to kill her instantly, he did not. Seeing that the bout was going nowhere, she moved away from him, and started raising her reiatsu even more.
"Growl, Haineko!"
The blade crumbled into specks of dust, and charged towards Hitsugaya. He twirled the blade in front of him, spinning it and forming some sort of a barrier between him and the particles of Haineko. He just maintained that when he heard something from the back of his head.
Oh please, Toushiro! What the hell do you think you're doing?! Get on with it and kill her already! Don't you want to keep Hinamori from harm? Then go on and finish her! She's trash to begin with, and all the while expendable. If you can't get this job done, then you leave me no choice…
That was the last thing he heard in his mind before everything went black.
Matsumoto maintained her sharp control over Haineko. She couldn't get through her captain's technique. After another moment, he bowed his head down and stopped spinning the blade. He quickly connected it with a swing from his blade, and a large wave of fire erupted from it, forcing her to be pushed back with her zanpakuto. After finding a safe place to move back, she looked at the young lad who had seemed to have ceased his movements, and stood still like a statue. After a few more moments, he heard laughter that seemed to come from him, though the voice was quite unlike her taichou's voice.
"T-Taichou…?"
He placed his zanpakuto back in its sheath, lifted his face up, and revealed the face of the monster within him.
"DIE, YOU BITCH!!!"
Without perceivably moving, he disappeared from his previous location and reappeared in front of her, landing a fist on her face. She flew a good distance from the captain, and crashed there. She tried to stand up, and touched her cheek with one hand. She eyed the boy, now with a mask forming on half of his face, the whites of his eyes changed to black and the blue-green irises to gold. He was walking slowly towards her, his reiatsu starting to rise slowly.
"Toushiro can't even manage to kill you even though he knew it had to be done. He's such a pathetic little bastard to begin with, anyway, so I'll just have to finish this myself."
She readied herself with her zanpakuto once more.
"Growl, Haineko!"
The dust specks once again raged towards him, there to cut him by the time they reach their target. He pointed two fingers at her, and quickly gathered energy the level of her maximum reiatsu. He fired it at her, canceling the attack and forcing her to get out of its way. She shunpoed quickly to move out of its path, and before she knew it, he was already standing before her, and landed another punch now at her gut. She coughed up blood before he connected his attack with a kick to her face. She was thrown away again by the sheer impact it made. She clutched her stomach upon landing while standing up shakily, leaning on Haineko for support. He was laughing maniacally while she gathered the strength to continue fighting. As with what he has done, he instantly appeared in front of her, though this time she was able to anticipate it, and quickly slashed him. Her efforts failed, though, as he caught her hand that held Haineko by the wrist, and with a quick rotation of his hand, he broke her arm. She howled in pain after the crunch that her bones sounded. She dropped her zanpakuto, and he hit her stomach with his knee. She coughed up blood once more, leaning forward due to the force he applied. Her position now as it is, he landed his knee now on her face, and thus made her fall backwards. She lay flatly on the ground. He started stepping on her injured arm repeatedly, with each time she screamed in agony, while all the while he was laughing like a lunatic, and after some time he landed his final step on her arm and moved his foot as if crushing it. He moved on and shifted this pattern with her stomach as his target. He started off with a very powerful step on her stomach, which made her cough up more of the crimson liquid, and afterwards stepping on it repeatedly. He quickly halted this when he felt the presence of other people around them.
"Howl, Zabimaru!"
"Feeding time."
Grimmjow entered Hinamori's cell once again, with the usual tray of food with the exact same contents as he always brought her. He placed them before her, as usual. She did her usual expression of her gratitude and slowly moved towards the food, though not bothering to stand up from her bed. He eyed her once more, and his eyes narrowed with intention. She did not seem to pay him attention, though, and proceeded with checking what was before her. He grinned maniacally as he did before, and licked his lips again. She quickly noticed that he was still standing before her, and was puzzled, so she looked up to him to see his eyes fixed on her with a wide grin on his face. Oddly enough, she felt as if something was not right.
"G-Grimmjow-san?"
He slowly walked towards her with the same look on his eyes, and now she was quite terrified, and slowly started moving away from him.
"… don't worry, shinigami… I'm not going to hurt you…"
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