Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters, i only own my OCs.
LAST CHAPTER!!!!!!
Chapter 4
Kuma paced the corridor outside the emergency room where Unohana was trying to save Haruki's life. Running had almost killed him; the hollow that he had killed had more protection than just the foxes, and one of the hollow's tentacles had struck him sharply in the ribs. He had been spitting up blood by the time he reached the Seireitei.
Shinji was the first one that he had come across, the first one that he had gone to for help. Shinji had left immediately, leaving his Lieutenant to fetch Unohana. The squad three Captain, who had been nearby, heard the news from Aizen and quickly followed Shinji Kuma had been frantic when the rescue squad had carried Kyoko and Haruki into the hospital, he thought that they were dead, and the squad members binding his broken ribs hadn't helped as they panicked like headless chickens when he started roaring. In the end Captain Unohana knocked him unconscious herself just to calm him down.
Deciding that he wasn't really doing much except taking up space he turned and trotted back to the room where Kyoko was sleeping. At least he knew that she was definitely going to be alright. He stopped short outside the door and sniffed the air, a low growl rumbled from his throat as he recognised the scent. He was about to storm into the room when he heard Kyoko talking.
"Where's Haruki?" She asked weakly, her voice barely audible; Kuma pressed his ear against the door so that he could hear better.
"He is in surgery now, but he looked pretty bad when I saw him. The other squad members are all dead."
"All of them?"
"Yes, if more had been known about the hollow they might have survived, they were terribly outnumbered, as were you Captain. It is impressive that even a Captain survived against that many enemies."
"He's tryin' ta make her feel guilty!" Kuma snarled as he darted into the room, he jumped over the bed and landed right beside Kyoko, his white teeth gleaming in the silver moon light streaming in through the window. Aizen backed up immediately, hands held in front of him to ward off an attack.
"Easy Kuma," he heard Kyoko say as she placed a hand on his back," I think you'd better leave now Aizen."
"Of course Captain" Kuma was pleased to see that if the Lieutenant had fled the room any faster he would have been sprinting.
"Kuma! You're hurt to?!" Kyoko sounded panicked as she felt the bandages around his ribs.
"It's nothin'" the wolf replied as he turned to look at her, satisfied that Aizen would run as far as possible, at least for that night. Her head was wrapped in bandages, as well as her arms, more heavily on her left, and her stomach underneath the loose shirt that she wore. "Ya look much worse off than me, get some rest."
"I can't" kyoko whispered as she lay back and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes, "Aizen's right, if I had gotten there sooner the others wouldn't be dead and Haruki..."
"Don't ya dare listen to that bastard! He was just tryin' ta get to ya!" Kuma turned sharply and made to storm out of the room.
"Kuma! Where're ya goin'?"
"Ta find Shinji."
"No Kuma don't bother him with this! It's nothin'... It's..." Kyoko coughed as she tried to climb out of the bed, Kuma whined and rushed back, pushing her back down with his muzzle.
"Go to sleep." Kuma rested his head next to her, he felt her relax and fall asleep. He padded quietly out of the room, casting a quick glance behind him before trotting out of the barracks.
OOO
"Are they ok?" Shinji opened his eyes and sat up as Rose joined him on the roof of the fourth squad's barracks.
"Kyoko's goin' ta be fine, I don't know about Haruki, ta tell ya the truth, I thought that he was dead when we found them." Shinji looked up at the moon and sighed, he remember the images that Kuma had sent him telepathically and clenched his fists angrily.
"Don't go blaming yourself Shinji" Rose said as he sat down, "there isn't anything that you could have done to prevent this."
"I could have gone myself."
"What? And have Kyoko sitting here blaming herself because you were almost killed? You know I never thought that I would have to be helping you through all of this guilt crap."
Shinji laughed and stood up, deciding that it was time to go and see if Kyoko was awake yet.
"Shinji!"
"What the..." Shinji tumbled backwards off of the roof as Kuma practically jumped onto him. "What the hell are ya doin' ya maniac?!"
"Shut it!" Kuma quickly started telling the Captain about the conversation that he had overheard. Shinji's face turned white with rage as Kuma finished his story, he stormed back to his feet and stalked away.
"Shinji! Where are you going?!" Rose called after him.
"To kill that Lieutenant of mine!"
"Don't you think that Kyoko need you more right now?" Shinji stopped, torn between his anger and his concern for her. "I don't know what's happened, but Aizen will still be there tomorrow, from Kuma's behaviour I'd say that Kyoko needs you right now." Rose's words made perfect sense to him.
"Hey Rose, could ya make sure that Kuma doesn't eat the bastard before I get ta him?" Shinji said as he changed direction and walked towards the hospital.
"Sure." An answering growl told Shinji that Rose's peaceful day off was now completely over.
OOO
He found her standing by the window, the silver light of the moon making her skin glow. She raised both hands above her head and smashed her fists into the wall, her body shivered from the pain but she stayed there, her head pressed against the cool glass of the window.
"It's my fault" she said as he wrapped his arms around her.
"No it's not" Shinji whispered back to her, "you avenged them all, that counts for a lot if ya ask me."
"They trusted me and I sent them to die."
"You can't have known what was goin' ta happen" he noticed a tear crawling down Kyoko's cheek but he didn't say anything. She didn't like crying in front of others. "Kuma told me about Aizen."
"Kuma told you?!"
"Yeah, you didn't know that he sometimes talks to me as well? Huh, anyway, I talked to Captain Unohana before I came here" he told her, "she said that he's gunna have a really nasty scar but otherwise Haruki's gunna be fine."
Shinji nearly fell over as Kyoko through herself into him; she was shaking as she sobbed into his shoulder. He hugged her tight to him, reassuring her that he wasn't going anywhere. He led her back to the bed and sat down with her, she started to calm down after a couple of minutes, her arms loosened from around him as she began to fall unconscious.
"Thanks Shinji" she said just before she closed her eyes and finally got some sleep.
And there you have it.
I've decided that I'm gunna try and have two stories going at once, the new arrancar story and a story with Kyoko in it with a combination of past and present timelines.
I'm doing this cause the voting thing ended in a tie ( thanks a lot Maxine *shakes fist angrily*)
Anyway, i hope you enjoyed this story and i will get the next ones up as soon as possible.
Plz review.