A/N :

I should have done this in the first chapter, bit totally forgot. Luckily The Awesome God Apolloreminded me about it. First, my story happens after the Bleach timeline, so all of them are older and taller (even Hitsugaya). Secondly Kurosaki and Orihime are in Seireitei because they kind of moved there. I do not know if it can happen, but here it can.

And I will put in an disclaimer as well. I do not own any of this characters or Bleach.

Thanks to all of you that have followed my story, and please review. It would make my cold winter heart melt a bit.

If anything still is unclear, please ask me.

Chapter 5 – I will win

The taicho took a chaste look at his sub-ordinates. Almost everybody was hurt in a way, some more than others. Some already dead from the wounds, some from the poison. The only three, except himself, was still as god as unharmed. Only a few cuts and bruises. It was his fuko-taicho, Hinamori and Kurosaki. What happened? How can this menos learn so fast? I need to figure it out, before anyone else gets harmed, or die. I will not have any more lives on my hands. Not today. "Matsumoto, Kurosaki, Hinamori! I want you to help all the wounded to your best ability. I also want you to take a little time to pay the respects for the fallen ones. After that I want you to rest. The menos is not going anywhere." After he said this, the tensai walked a bit away from the group and leaned against a tree. His right hand clenched tightly around his sword.

Flashback

His group and Group 2 bolted out from the woods in front of the menos, immediately catching its attention. Hitsugaya had decided to spare his bankai for later, no use straining himself yet. It seemed like that baka Kurosaki had made a smart decision for once. The menos walked forward as they sent kido at him and used shumpo to confuse it even more.

Then the others came, it was well so far. They manage to attack it, but sadly not with such vital blows as Histugaya had hoped. Still, it was better than nothing. The attackers withdraw first and the menos turned to them to counter attack. Hitsugaya gave a signal saying that the two other groups should attack it from behind again. Ones again they managed to cut the menos, just before they vanished into the trees.

It was the third time they were about to attack it went wrong. A normal menos would never manage to figure out what its opponent would do. However this one could. As all the 11 shinigami had shumpo out of the trees one of them had ended up too close. That was not the worst part though. The worst part was that the menos already knew what they had planned and had stretched out a hand. When it was flexed out it still was a distance to the closest shinigami. But then the menos moved its claw and twisted it. The nail cut all the way through the man, and he stooped to the ground, blood everywhere around him. Hitsugaya rushed to the fallen man to look at his wounds. It was quite clear that he would never rise again. Another thing the taicho noticed was the edges of the wound, and he soon realized that the claws could not only move on their own, but they were poisonous as well.

He turned so he faced to meadow. The menos was still positioned in the middle of it, its 9 arms swining everywhere trying to hit its victims. Its eyes, which were black and red, searched the area for something to kill. The whole atmosphere of the menos oozed death. The meadow itself, which would have been a beautiful place to rest when they first came, was turning in to a blood bath. The green grass, was stepped down, and covered in read. Some of the trees had been cut down, you could see trails of it claws in the stump.

Hitsugaya proceeded to looked at his men. The looks on their faces said it all. They were terrified, surprised and in awe, but most of all scared. Their eyes were wide open almost wild, and their movements were ragged. One after one were hit by the arms or the nails, some got badly hurt, others got smaller cuts and raised again to fight. Two more of his men died while he stood there. On got caught in one of the arms and tossed to the other side of the meadow hitting his head in a rock, the other got cut by the claw across his torso for then to be stepped on. The menos moved away again to fight Kurosaki and Hinamori. The tensai decided this had gone on for long enough and they needed a new plan by now.

It felt like he had stood and watched the fight for hours, but really it was a matter of mere seconds. In only mere seconds his whole plan had backfired at him and he had lost three of his men. In mere seconds he understood just how hard this would be. And in mere seconds he made a decision. "Matsumoto! Get all the wounded out of here. "Everybody, go to the woods where the wounded are, we need a new tactic."

He stared at the field. Kurosaki and Hinamori had just managed to dodge one of the arms and had now shumpo over to him. Kurosaki had a few scratches, but the tensai took little notice of it. His eyes lingered on the bleeding cut on her right arm; it went from her shoulder and down to her wrist. He looked at it for a while and when he looked up she smiled at him. That smile faded quickly as she locked eyes with him and understood what was going on in his mind. She got a very sad and concerned look on her face.

End of flashback – Hinamori POV:

Shiro-chan stood by the tree with his back to Hinamori, but still he had already picked up that she was there. "Was it anything you wanted to ask me, Hinamori?" He did not turn. HInamori walked forward until she was right behind him, her hands clutched at her chest. "Please don't do it, Shiro-chan…" she whispered. He turned to answer her, but as he did he noticed her arm. "You haven't healed yourself yet." He stated while staring at the wound, still bleeding. "N..no. All the others were hurt, and…" Toshiro reached out slightly for her hand as he signaled for her to sit. "You need to take care of yourself. You deserve it, Hinamori." He cut her off. "Well… The others were badly hurt, and this is just a slight wound, Shiro-chan!" The raven haired girl pouted slightly at him, and he smirked a little back. "Baka, it's still bleeding fresh, and now you are too tired to heal yourself" She opened her mouth to argue, but he held up a hand. "I can see it in your eyes. Just sit still and let me heal it." She sat still for a while, looking at her arm as her childhood friend healed it. It is so nice to have Shiro-chan, but I wish he wasn't so determined. She looked up at him slightly before she spoke. "A…ano, Shiro-chan, d-do you have t-to go?" he froze for only just å second, but the raven haired girl noticed. "Why do you feel like you need to do everything on your own? Y-you have m-me, Shiro-chan. You have all your other fr…" Toshiro stopped her there. "I am the only one who still isn't wounded; I am the one with the most power left." I feel like I have to do this to protect my friend. He finished the healing, but she took hold of his hand. "Please, don't go Shiro-chan, at least not alone. Let somebody go with you." He shook his head, and she understood that he knew what she meant. "You will not come with me HInamori. I won't allow it." He stared sternly at her while she stood up from the ground, not letting go. "Please let me come. You have healed my arm so…" "No!" They stared at each other, none of them backing down for a little while before Hinamori looked down. "We have talked about this before Shiro-chan. Didn't we agree that I would come with you?"

"We agreed that you would come with me on the mission, but not on the battlefield if it ended with me going alone. We never discussed that." They were silent for a moment. I am not going to let him go on his own. I just hope he won't look right through me.. she walked away.

Hitsugaya Toshiro's POV

I should keep an eye on her. I know that look, I have seen it before. Last time I didn't know it, and could not foresee what she had planned, but this time it is no way I am going to let it pass unnoticed. He walked back to the rest of the shinigami to tell them his plan.

He reached the camp, if it could be called that. Everywhere the tensai turned he saw someone wounded, and three dead bodies. "I am going back to fight the menos. The rest of you stay here." He waited to fell Hinamori's eyes bore right through him, or here her silent protest, but it came nothing. "Where is Hinamori?" The ones awake looked at each other before Matsumoto answered him. "She said she would go and keep you company, taicho. I thought she would come back with you." The tensai's eyes flew open in shock, horror and fear. "Ksou!" Then he was gone.

Ichigo's POV

What? Going on his own? No way I am going to allow that. "She said she would go and keep you company, taicho. I thought she would come back with you." As the busty woman said this, Toshiro seemed afraid. To say that he was surprised over the other boy's action would not cover it. Then the next second Toshiro was gone. Wh-what the heck? I thought he never rushed in to things like this. Isn't he supposed to be collected and all that? The orang haired boy looked down on Matsumoto. "Yo! What was that all about?" She looked up from the man she had bandaged as she answered. "I know you're a bit slow. Orihime told me. But seriously? You haven't noticed that they are in love?" Ichigo was even more shocked. "That guy, that ice cold guy, fell in love? And now he is going in to battle because he thinks she is there?" Matsumoto had moved to another wounded shinigami. "That right. Would be interesting to see, ehhh?" A little evil, but playful, glint shone in her eye. He turned around and started sprinting back to where the menos was. "H-hey.. HEY!" He did not answer, he just kept on running. Hell! I don't care. I will be a part of this fight. Besides it is no way he can fight this thing on his own.

Hitsugaya Toshiro's POV

It took him a few seconds before he reached the clearing where they had just fought. There he saw her. Still unharmed, but she had got the menos attention. No! This is not supposed to happen; I was supposed to protect her. For a second he just stood there and watched the whole scene. His childhood friend stood there, her hands clenched around Tobiyme. The one of the menos arms swung down at her, but she managed to avoid getting hit. One thing she hadn't thought about, I don't blame her. This menos is hard to figure out, was its speed. As she landed from her jump and turned around, a claw shot through the air.

It did not take Toshiro long to lung himself forward, as fast as he could. He felt the need to reaching out to her, but knew it would be no use. He closed his eyes praing. As he opened them again, the only thing he saw was red.