Author's Note: Eh, I kind of thought the last chapter was pretty cheesy. Tell me what you think and whether or not I really should continue working on this fic, please. This is also probably going to be my last fic, as unfortunately, I've realized that I'm slowly losing interest in Bleach, and anime in general.
Meanwhile, back in Soul Society, the captains were assembling for the daily meeting.
Ukitake was the first to notice that the two rows were uneven, and that one of the captains was not present. After a brief scan of the room, he could instantly conclude who it was that was not there to join them.
"Hitsugaya-taichou is always punctual," he commented aloud, "So why is he not…?"
"We discussed this the last time we assembled," was the sotaichou's quick answer. "You were not feeling well, so you were not present to hear about Hitsugaya-taichou's deployment to Hueco Mundo."
"By himself?"
"Rest assured, Ukitake-taichou, he was accompanied by two of his subordinates."
"That doesn't matter!" Ukitake protested, "Hitsugaya-taichou may be a captain-ranked officer, but he is still only a child. Sending him to Hueco Mundo like that…you may as well have him sentenced to death!"
"Don't worry, Ukitake-taichou," the old man replied calmly, "Hitsugaya-taichou is an extremely capable fighter. That was why I chose him for this mission. He'll be fine, I'm sure."
The irony of this statement was instantly apparent.
"S-Sotaichou!"
At that moment, the doors burst open, revealing the bloody and battered subordinate, who, only a few hours ago, had been by his captain's side in Hueco Mundo.
"What is the meaning of this, barging in on a captain's meeting?" Yamamoto demanded sternly, "You should know better than that. Speaking of which, your return is earlier than we projected it would be. Where are Hitsugaya-taichou and the others?"
Panting, the subordinate slowly raised Hitsugaya's sun-shaped pin into the air for the sotaichou to see, still attached to the tattered remnants of the green sash.
"Isn't that…?" the alarmed Ukitake began.
"I repeat," Yamamoto stated slowly, "Where are they?"
"D-Dead…"
"All of them?"
"No," was the quivering response, "H-Hitsugaya-taichou was…was…He was…"
"Yes?"
"…He was taken by Aizen."
The room was instantly filled with an uproar, before finally; the sotaichou raised his hand for silence.
"We are in a grave situation indeed," he spoke, "If we are to go to send another captain to Hueco Mundo to rescue Hitsugaya-taichou, it would be a dangerous job and we cannot afford to lose anymore captains during this war. If we are to leave the situation be, I suspect that Hitsugaya-taichou may be forced to tell Aizen of our plans, or even, to use Hyorinmaru against us."
"So what do we do?" Ukitake inquired.
"There's only one person we can turn to at this time to retrieve our missing captain," he answered calmly.
"Send a message to Urahara Kisuke in the real world to inform the substitute shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, that we, once again, are in imperative need of his aid."
Back in the real world, after receiving a call from Urahara, Ichigo had promptly made his way from the Kurosaki clinic to Urahara's shop.
Truth be told, he was feeling quite glum at the moment. Glum, in fact, was an understatement. He felt humiliated and just plain stupid to have so recklessly blurted out his feelings to the icy little captain of the tenth division, only to be promptly rejected.
He was just so fed up with everything that he didn't want to deal with shinigami anymore.
"What do you want, Urahara-san?" he demanded as he slid open the shop door, stepping inside. "Make it fast. My dad wants me to help him out at the clinic."
"I've been waiting for you for an hour, Kurosaki-san," the man spoke from behind his fan, "It's unlike you to be so late. Are you preoccupied, perhaps?"
"Not really," was the strawberry's answer, "I've just been thinking about some stuff."
"Your 'stuff' can wait," Urahara replied, "Soul Society gave me the word that they need your help right now, with the war and all."
There was a long silence.
"Tell them I'm busy," he muttered, "I don't want to go back to Soul Society, ever."
"And why not?"
"I don't want anything to do with soul reapers anymore."
"And why is that?"
"It's not any of your business," Ichigo snapped, "Look, Urahara-san, the more I think about all this shinigami stuff, the more it'll make me think of Toshi – I mean, something else. I don't want to have to anymore. I have a life, here, in the real world. This is where I belong. Not up there with those soul reapers. This life is the one I need to be living."
"It's a shame you feel that way," Urahara spoke, snapping the fan shut. "Soul Society is in a huge pickle right now, and you don't want to help them?"
"…No."
"You see, Kurosaki-san," Urahara continued, "They've been put in a tight spot, and either action they choose to take will cost them quite a lot. All this trouble's centered around an incident that happened two nights ago."
"What incident?" Ichigo demanded, curious. "What happened?"
"I thought you didn't want anything to do with the soul reapers anymore," he chuckled smugly, "But if you are that curious, I guess I will tell you."
"Well, what is it then?"
Urahara's usually nonchalant tone hardened, becoming more serious in a flash.
"Why, it's concerning the kidnapping in Hueco Mundo of the tenth division taichou…Hitsugaya Toshiro."
At these words, Ichigo's heart felt like it had just turned to ice.
"Wh-What did you say…?"
"No one told you?" Urahara answered in mock surprise, "Two nights ago, our little prodigy was sent off to Hueco Mundo to collect information. He disappeared shortly after, taken by Aizen. The last person to see him alive brought this back."
He held out his hand, extending the pin and torn green sash to the horrorstruck strawberry. Rigid with dread, Ichigo slowly reached out to take the recovered item in his hands, staring at it in dumbstruck silence.
"A captain of the opposite party during wartime is more valuable than you'd imagine," the shop owner continued, "They get let in on all sorts of little wartime secrets. Secrets that the enemy wants in on. Hitsugaya-taichou is a special little captain, though. A child prodigy, they call him. There's a legend in Soul Society a long time ago, there was a heavenly guardian of ice with peerless beauty and immense power. Anyhow, this guardian fell in love with a human from the real world. This of course, was forbidden, so the poor guardian was put to death. The laws have changed over time, of course, but supposedly, a new incarnation of him will return to Soul Society every few centuries to search for the form of his lost lover in their next lives."
"What are you telling me these stupid stories for!?" Ichigo shouted, "I want to know why they let this happen!"
"Listen to me first," Urahara demanded sternly. He cleared his throat, signifying that he intended to finish telling the story. "Like I mentioned before, it is said that this guardian possesses incredible power that could turn entire dimensions to ice and wipe them out in the blink of an eye. If you have this power on your side, think of how invincible you could become. All you need to know is how to get the guardian to use this power – that is, for the little guardian to receive a kiss on the lips from a so-called 'true love,' that is, the incarnation of his former lover…cheesy, I know, but true."
"So what? What does this have to do with anything?"
"Kurosaki-san…It is also said that the guardian will return in the form of a child with eyes like ice, hair like snow…and, obviously, of unsurpassable beauty. Does this sound like Hitsugaya-taichou to you?"
Slowly, Ichigo nodded.
"This is a secret that has been kept from little Hitsugaya-kun for fear he might figure out how to harness this power and unintentionally destroy the Soul Society," he continued, "I trust you know the story behind Hitsugaya-kun's first love…that Kusaka Sojiro guy?"
"Yeah, he told me all about it himself a while ago," Ichigo mused.
"Why do you think they had him killed?"
"Because it was the law," was the prompt reply. "Something about twin zanpakuto's not being allowed?"
"Yes and no," Urahara answered, "This little law was only to give them a reason to kill Kusaka Sojiro, because they were afraid that Hitsugaya-kun's power might accidentally become released in the process. Hitsugaya-kun didn't know about it, and neither did Kusaka Sojiro…"
He paused, before continuing again.
"But Aizen most definitely knows. He will undoubtedly do whatever it takes to force our little captain to release this power for him. And you know what kind of a man Aizen is…he will show no mercy to Hitsugaya-kun."
