Finally I managed to update this story… T_T
Somehow I lost my writing mood lately, which made me hard to write something. OTL I hope I didn't make the characters OOC, because I haven't watch/read Bleach and Reborn! for a while.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach and Reborn!
Death, Memories, Mafia
Chapter 5: Lieutenant, Guilty, Shot
"Manager, are you sure it's okay to let him go?" Tessai asked while he was preparing tea for Urahara.
Tessai noticed that his boss looked satisfied after he had a talk with his 'special customer'. Tessai could see a complicated smile on his face—Tessai was not sure if Urahara was happy because of the discussion he had or successfully trick the customer during the talk, hear Urahara's cheerful whistle. In addition, he was waving his fan in easy.
"Don't worry, Tessai. Kurosaki-san can do it," Urahara replied as took his tea from Tessai.
But it did not stop the employer from asking more questions. "You give him the 'Materializer' and send him to Namimori, without telling Yoruichi-san. What are you planning to do with Kurosaki-san?" Tessai demanded.
Urahara did not answer immediately. Instead, he enjoyed his tea, as if he was trying to change the subject. Unfortunately it did not work well on Tessai. The employer stared at him with demanding eyes. Urahara finally answered, "…To let him do what he can do."
"Then, why did you tell him about 'that' plan to Kurosaki-san?" Tessai asked again, "You should have known that Kurosaki-san will definitely go after Hitsugaya-san if you tell him."
The merchant showed his tricky smile again. "If I didn't, it wouldn't change anything, Tessai."
'Why it wouldn't?' Tessai wondered. 'Can't you just call any other captain or lieutenants?'
"In fact, after Yoruichi-san went after Hitsugaya, I can't afford any other shinigami besides Kurosaki-san to go to Namimori." Urahara added.
"What?"
"Yes, I cannot afford that, Tessai," Urahara repeated. "Even if I can, no spiritual beings can stay in Namimori besides those three."
.::DMM::.
"Is there any news about captain's whereabouts?" A woman with wavy blonde hair and huge breast asked as she entered the lieutenants' meeting romm. The tenth's squad sign hung on her belt. When she entered, all people in the room looked at her. It was clearly shown that the woman had not eaten anything lately. Her eyes were baggy which might be caused by crying. No one dared to answer before Renji encouraged himself to do so.
"I'm sorry, Rangiku-san. Nothing, so far."
Matsumoto Rangiku, the lieutenant of tenth squad looked down and sighed. She lost her hope now. She had been a lieutenant under her prodigy captain, Hitsugaya Toushirou, for several years, but her captain had never gone for more than a week without any contact. The King's Seal incident had given enough trouble to Rangiku and her division, and now, their captain was missing once again, in a similar situation.
"How about Hinamori?" Rangiku asked as she reminded about her captain's childhood friend.
According to Rangiku, Hinamori's condition was much worse than hers. Her childhood friend was missing while she was at weak condition after the Winter War. She was supposed to be better right now if Hitsugaya was there.
All lieutenants turned to a blonde-hair man with some hair covered his left eye. Kira, the third squad lieutenant, was startled by the stares at first, but he regained his calm and answered, "Well, I've tried to talk with her, but she still doesn't want to go out from her room…"
"You haven't told her the current condition right?" Renji asked.
"Well… I… Uh…"
"You've told her, haven't you?" Hisagi, the ninth squad lieutenant with '69' tattoo, ensured.
"... Yes…" Kira muttered in low voice.
"I'VE TOLD YOU, YOU SHOULDN'T TELL ANYTHING TO HER!" Both Renji and Hisagi snapped at Kira, followed with Rangiku's gloomy face.
"I… I'm sorry… but… Hinamori insisted… so…"
"Eeee… emo kid has made a girl cry!" Yachiru chirped.
"No! I didn't mean it! I'm really sorry!" Kira nearly cried.
"It's okay, Kira-kun."
Everyone looked to gloomy-faced Rangiku in shock. "What?"
"It's okay, Kira-kun," Rangiku repeated.
"But… Rangiku-san, Hinamori will be…"
"I said, it's okay. I think she better knows about this…"
Rangiku took a deep breathe and recalled what her captain did before he was missing. She felt a great guilt to Hinamori. If Rangiku gave more effort to convince Hitsugaya, things might be better in Soul Society. If only she could on the last time she met her captain.
.::DMM::.
-Soul Society, one week ago-
It was a nice day in Soul Society. Rangiku was on the way home to her division, with lots of shopping bags. Another wonderful day for Rangiku to slack off and shop for goods. Though Hitsugaya nearly caught her ran away from her paperworks, she managed to escape and drunk some sake after shopping, and then returned to her division.
When the lieutenant arrived in front of Hitsugaya's office, Rangiku was surprised to find Kira and Hisagi was guarding the office door.
"What are you guys doing in front of my captain's office?" Rangiku asked.
"I'm sorry, Rangiku-san, we can't let you enter Hitsugaya-taichou's office now," Hisagi replied back.
Rangiku, crossed her arms and stared at them. "Why not?"
"Err… Soutaichou wants to have a talk with Hitsugaya-taichou for a while," Kira answered.
"With two lieutenants guarding the office?"
"Rangiku-san, it's…"
"Well, if you don't want to tell me…" Rangiku took out a brown paper pack from her shikakusou. The woman took out a few photographs from it and showed them to Kira and Hisagi. It did not take more than a second for them to realize what those photographs are, with widened eyes, pale face, and also, dropped jaws. "…I will make sure every single woman in Seireitei has these photographs!"
Those were the photographs of naked Kira and Hisagi that Rangiku took a long time ago.
"Rangiku-san, you can't do this!" Kira protested.
"Oh, yes, I can. I will persuade Nanao-san to publish these along with the Woman Shinigami Association's monthly bulletin!" Rangiku threatened.
"I don't recall such bulletin even exist…" Hisagi muttered lowly.
"If Nanao-san doesn't agree, I'll ask help from the other members to spread it throughout the Soul Society~"
"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" The men shouted.
"So tell me what's going on here!"
Both Hisagi and Rangiku gulped. They had no chance to protest at all.
.::DMM::.
That night, Rangiku took a peed into her captain's office. So far, Hitsugaya did not show any strange behaviour after the talk with Yamamoto. He was doing all his paperworks—including Rangiku's—as usual. That day he also often got pissed and scolded her for slacking off that day like his daily routine. As if he was not hiding something. "How could he not tell me about his mission?" Rangiku mumbled.
'Mission? For captain?'
"Yes, we heard briefly that Hitsugaya-taichou will be sent to the living world tomorrow, but there is not much details about the mission," Kira explained.
"Do you have any idea about the mission?" Rangiku inquired.
Hisagi shrugged. "Not at all. Maybe he is going to hunt for Huge Hollows?"
"Ah, I see…"
Rangiku tried to encourage herself to enter the office before Hitsugaya suddenly slid the door open, making her fell to the floor as she was leaning on the office's door.
"What are you doing there, Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya asked with his icy cold tone.
Rangiku looked up to her captain, a bit worried that her captain would be angry at her. "Eh… Taichou… How did you..?"
"Did you come to ask me about the talk I had with soutaichou earlier?"
Rangiku stunned. 'How did he know?'
"Thanks for your laziness; I have more than hundred ways to know where you are." Hitsugaya gave a sigh. "Besides, I can clearly hear Kira and Hisagi's shout during the talk, so I assumed that someone was threatening them to tell the reason I was having a talk with soutaichou."
Rangiku blushed in embarrassment. "I… I'm sorry, taichou…"
"You don't need to apologize, I was about to tell you just a moment ago."
This time Rangiku was sure that Hitsugaya was acting strangely out of his grumpy character. Hitsugaya unexpectedly replied calmly, even after Rangiku did what she though a big mistake.
"Well, I think you've known that I'm going to living world tomorrow, right?"
Rangiku nodded weakly. "Are you going to hunt for Hollows?"
Hitsugaya shook his head. Rangiku noticed a glint of sorrow in his emerald eyes. "Not really, but I will leave Soul Society for about three months."
'What are you doing during three months?' Rangiku thought. "Have you told Hinamori that you will leave tomorrow?"
"She doesn't need to know."
"But taichou, Hinamori's in her weak state right now! Shouldn't you stay and encourage her to recover?" Rangiku protested.
"Stay with her? Are you crazy, Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya suddenly snapped.
Rangiku became more and more confused. Why would her captain leave his precious friend? Being a protective friend, he should have refused and decide to stay with Hinamori instead. "Why?"
"After what I did to her? Don't you remember what happened in the Winter War? I was supposed to kill that damn bastard Aizen, but look what I've done to her. I stabbed her, I STABBED HER, MATSUMOTO! WHO AM I THAT I, THE ONE WHO HURT HER, SHOULD STAY WITH HER?"
Rangiku tried to convince him again, but she could not hear any voice from her mouth, shocked by Hitsugaya's sudden snap. It was the most furious Hitsugaya that Rangiku had ever seen.
"…I'm sorry… Matsumoto…" Hitsugaya breathed. "… I just… I shouldn't be in this place anymore…" He muttered before he turned himself from Rangiku and left the office.
"Taichou, wai-" But before Rangiku stopped him, Hitsugaya had went away from that place in a flash.
.::DMM::.
"Rangiku-san, are you okay?" Renji asked, taking Rangiku back to reality.
"I… I'm okay, Renji," she replied. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
Renji raised one of his eyebrows. "Are you sure? I think you should have a rest."
"But…"
"It's okay, Matsumoto-san, we'll take care the issues while you're having the rest," Hisagi added. "I'm sure Hitsugaya-taichou will be alright."
Rangiku sighed. Her friends were right; She should get a rest, but that would not stop her from hoping for her captain's safety.
.::DMM::.
Tsuna's face was really, really pale. His hands and legs won't move as he was stammering from every single strand of his hair to his toes. Beads of sweat kept dropping from her face. Reborn was standing in front of him, holding his Leon-gun, with Hitsugaya Toushirou lying on the ground, not moving a single bit. This time, Reborn had done too far.
"REBOOOOOOOORNNNN! YOU'VE KILLED HIIIIIIIM!"