Disclaimer- i don't own bleach (WHY GOD WHY?!)

Author Notes- i'm still alive as you can see, please don't kill for not updating in a long time. Is just that my finals exams(teachers are the spawns of the devil!!!!) were coming and i didn't have any time to write. But don't worry school already has finish and know i'm free to write more chapters. As my apology I make this chapter longer than usual. I hope you like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to my beta reader (Lindsay you ROCK!!!!!!!)

Stories of Vice-Captains part III

'Where are you captain?' she thought. Matsumoto was standing in front of a window. The window showed how a powerful storm was hitting Seireitei. People were already asleep, not noticing the storm. The only people awake were the poor shinigamis that needed to guard the gates. Who could be awake in such hour? Well Matsumoto was.

'It's almost three, where could he be?' she thought biting her lower lip. She tried to look for any signs of her captain, but the storm was making it impossible. She was so worried. In the course of the week she hadn't seen him at all. She wondered what could take so much of his time. A knock at the door awake her from her musings.

The knocking was getting louder by each second. When she opened the door she found a very wet Kira standing at the door. He was panting, like if he has run a marathon. His clothes were all muddy and his hair was sticking to his face.

"What are you doing here Kira? Shouldn't you be with your squad?" she said moving to give him space to go inside. "W-where is the c-captain?" he asked looking around the office. "I don't know. He just told me that he was going to train," she said walking outside. "I came here to inform him that captain Yamamoto, has requested a meeting now, because… where are you going?" Kira said. "Isn't it obvious? I'm going to look for my captain. By the way will you be nice and lock the door when you go, thanks" she said walking out. But before getting any farther a hand caught her wrist.

"Kira?" she asked looking at the hand that grabbed her wrist. "You shouldn't worry," the blond said. She looked up to see his face, but he was looking the other way. "You are worrying to much. I'm sure he will come back on his own," he said while letting go of her wrist, and walking to where the window was.

She looked one more time outside before going in and closing the door behind her. She walked to were Kira was and stood beside him. She crossed her arms in front of her and leaned her back against the window. She stood in silence besides him. "Why are you so worried about him?" he asked in a casual voice. Silence was his answer. 'Maybe I shouldn't have asked' he thought turning around to face her. "Sorry I shouldn't have asked," he said to her with a bow. "It's ok; you don't have to apologize," she said to him with a wave of her hand. When the silence was returning he decided to try to make a conversation, but she spoke first.

"He hasn't been himself. He has been acting colder than usual. Sure, he can be cold and everything, but it's just that I know something is wrong. I know that Hinamori's death affected him, but I can feel he is hiding something. At Hinamori's funeral he didn't cry or anything he just stood there as if nothing had happened. Not showing any sign of emotion. But this is different. I could see all the pain, but it wasn't just that; there was also guilt and something else, but I don't know what it could be.

"The next days he kept going to visit her tomb. I tried to follow him once, but he found my aura, and told me not to follow him ever again. So every time he left I waited for him to return and every time he returned an air of guilt surrounded him. His eyes showed emptiness, like if something was missing. I tried to fill the hole in his soul, but I couldn't. He kept pushing me away. I thought that maybe that Hinamori is dead, I could become his special person, but he just kept on pushing.

"I'm so pathetic, feeling jealous of someone that's dead. But I can't help it. I want to be the person to heal him; to make the pain go away; to clean his soul from guilt. But I know I won't be able to do anything for him, because to him the only person that could heal him is dead. And I can't do anything to help him."

She couldn't hold the tears anymore; they were running free from her eyes. Her hands were made into fists. Her whole body was shaking. She could feel pain coming from her heart. It was hurting so much. Breathing was becoming hard. She was going to apologize to Kira for annoying him with her stupid speech, but she felt a hand bringing her head up.

"You are wrong," he said in a calm voice. "You are not being pathetic, you are just being you. You care a lot for him; it's just natural for you to be worried about him. It's true that he has been acting colder than usual, but he can't help it. He is just the type of person that bottles his feelings. But also he values his friends. If he ever needs someone I'm sure that he will go to you. You are one of his most valuable friends," he said letting go of her face.

"You are just being stupid, for worrying. And besides if he is too blind to see that you care for him, he is just a stupid midget that has issues," he said to her with a smile. Her hand wiped away any trace of tears. "Thanks Kira," she said giving him a smile. "Don't mention it," he told her with a slight blush.

"You know that captain Hitsugaya is going to kill you," she said. "Why?" the blond asked. "For calling him a stupid midget," Matsumoto told him. "P-please Matsumoto don't tell him I said that. I don't want to die!" he said hugging her legs. "I don't know. Maybe if you tell me why captain Yamamot requested a meeting," she said in a play full tone.

Immediately Kira stopped hugging her legs, and stood. His face became paler than ever and he was sweating. "Kira is there something wrong?" she said. "I remember why it was so important to find captain Hitsugaya," Kira said very nervous.

"Why was it so important?" Matsumoto asked.

"Ha ha ha, well…you see……….."

Gray clouds adorned the sky, hiding the stars and the moon. Thunder could be heard in the distance. A cold and strong wind was making the cups of the trees shake. The rain drops could freeze anybody who was unlucky enough to be outside. But the two figures that stood in the middle of the clearing didn't seem to notice or simply didn't care. There was not a single part of them that wasn't soaked. But neither ice-typed zanpakuto user notice. They were lost in their little world.

Rukia's face was pressed to his chest; she could hear the beating of his heart. When he had said his name, she was surprised at the coldness of his voice. 'It's even colder than nii-sama's voice when he told me I was sentenced to die,' she thought. She had heard that Hitsugaya hated Aizen, but never knew why. She moved from him just enough to see his face.

What she saw broke her heart. His green eyes looked so empty. Rukia couldn't remember ever seeing his eyes like that. She couldn't find any trace of the warmth they held when ever they met. People said that the eyes are the door to the soul. If that was true, she could see that his soul was hallowed.

Rain was still pouring from the sky, when he spoke again. "She was able to reach her goal. She became his vice-captain. It didn't take me too much time to reach the captain level, since everybody called me a genius. I thought that once I became captain, she would look at me the way she looked at him. But I was wrong. She still had only eyes for him," he said. This time his voice sounded sad.

"Even if she only thought of him, I didn't stop caring for her. I still felt the need to protect her. Your probably don't know this, but when you were in the white tower Aizen faked his death. Hinamori was the one to find his body. She thought the Ichimaru was the one to kill him, so she tried to kill him. Kira out of loyalty to Ichimaru protected him and fought her. I stopped her before she could get harmed. She and Kira were sent to jail.

"Hinamori escaped from jail, after receiving a letter from Aizen. The letter said that I was the one who killed him. She found me when I was fighting Ichimaru, and tried to kill me. I didn't want to injure her so I knocked her out. I brought her to the 10th division headquarters. I made a barrier so nobody could enter, but she was an expert in kido and broke the barrier from the inside. She got to Chamber of 46, were she found Ichimaru and Aizen.

"When she went to embrace him he stabbed her. When I asked him why he did it he just said: "Aadmiration is the emotion furthest from understanding", he explained the she was just a puppet and that killing her was an act of kindness. I tried to kill to him, but I was fooled and I got myself almost killed. Captain Unohana saved Hinamori and me.

"Hinamori went into a coma. She stayed like that for weeks. When she finally opened her eyes she asked where Aizen was," Hitsugaya said. He took a deep breath before continuing. "She didn't believe me when I told her what Aizen have done. She thought that I was lying to her. She stopped eating, sleeping, she just wanted to see him one more time. I couldn't stand it anymore. I yelled at her. I told her that she was being stupid. That she was fool for loving that bastard." He closed his eyes and said "I told her that I loved her."

When he opened again they were full of emotion. "I was about to go to the human world, when Matsumoto came running to me and told me that Hinamori was dying. She tried to kill herself. When I got to her room captain Unohana told me that she couldn't save her. She was on her bed. She looked pail and thin. I went to her side; she opened her eyes, and looked at me apologetically. She said the she was sorry, but that she couldn't return my feelings, that she still loved Aizen, and that she whished things could have been different. I embraced her. That day she died in my arms."

Everything went silent. The wind stopped moving the trees. No more thunder could be heard. Just the cold rain kept coming. This time Rukia did feel the rain.

She didn't know what to say. She looked at his eyes. They were so expressive. She saw pain, sorrow, emptiness, loneliness, and guilt. She could understand his feelings but why did he felt guilt? She wanted to ask him, but before she could say anything he said. "I loved her more than anything. I wanted to protect her from everything, but I failed. She is dead, because I wasn't strong enough to protect her. For that I'm as guilty as Aizen for her death," he said in emotionless voice.

She hated it. She hated to see him like that. He looked defeated. She could feel the sadness of his soul. She wanted to erase it. She wanted to fill him again. She wanted to make him feel alive. "Do you understand now?" he asked. He didn't wait for an answer. Hitsugaya cupped her cheek and brought her face closer. "You said that you should be the one dead instead of Kein. You don't have any idea what it would be to lose you too. I wouldn't be able to stand your death.

"We both are broken. We both have lost a special person. You have been the only person that understood how I felt. Help me heal my soul, Rukia, and I will help you heal yours. Help me forget the loneliness, the pain, help me forget everything please." Hitsugaya said. She wasn't sure if the water coming from his eyes were the rain drops or tears. But either way it was heart breaking to see him like that. Seeing the great ice-dragon plead for help; she didn't like it.

He leaned his forehead with hers. Eyes half closed. She could smell him. He smelled fresh, like mint. "I want to help you, with your broken soul. Let me in." She could feel his lips brushing hers. Her hands were leaning on his chest. His arms were on her waist, bringing her closer to him. She could feel the warmth coming from him. It was comforting.

"Please Rukia" he whispered and closing his eyes completely "please…"

"Yes"

Soft lips touched his.

Too immersed in their world, they failed to notice a man with a fox like face. "Aizen-sama will find this very interesting" he said while disappearing in the night.

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