Author's Note: Well, I don't have much to say today for this chapter's AN, but I do have one question for readers. After I finish this one, I'm considering picking up off an another one of my dead fics. As of now, I'm thinking A Royal Pain in the Ass, but what do you guys think? Which one would you like to see finished? No guarantees, though! Anyway, keep reading and reviewing!
Hitsugaya watched quietly from the side as Ichigo released his bankai.
Then came the stifling energy of the hollow.
It was a little scary, he had to admit. This was his first time seeing Ichigo like this; with the hollow mask covering his face entirely. This power radiating outwards felt raw and unstable. It didn't seem like a safe idea to him. And the way Ichigo almost seemed like an entirely different person once the mask had appeared made him extremely uncomfortable.
"Kurosaki, you don't need to go that far," Hitsugaya protested, "It's alright. You shouldn't..."
"It's fine, Hitsugaya-kun," Aizen cut him off, "We wouldn't want me getting too bored here, would we?" There was a pause before the traitor reached into the folds of his robes, pulling something out and tossing it to Hitsugaya. "Here. You might want this back."
Hitsugaya stared into his hands. It was Hyorinmaru.
"Of course, I used a special technique to seal your zanpaku-to," Aizen continued on, "So you will be unable to perform shikai - or bankai for that matter - until the power of the heavenly guardian is released for me. That should be more than enough to break the seal."
He then turned to Ichigo, a smile on his face. "Don't waste my time, substitute shinigami," he sneered in a taunting voice, "I have other things to do today, so shall we begin and get this out of the way?"
"Toshiro, stand back," Ichigo stated suddenly, "You might get hurt if you're too close."
"But-"
Before he could finish the sentence, Ichigo shot forward again, slamming Zangetsu against Aizen's blade. This comforted the child prodigy somewhat. At least he was sure that the strawberry knew what he was doing.
Even Aizen looked alarmed for a moment at the substitute shinigami's sudden increase in both speed and power. However, he didn't seem to be having too much trouble keeping up with him and parrying all the blows aimed at him.
Aizen was getting driven back now, and Hitsugaya couldn't help but wonder if Ichigo actually had a chance against him after all.
"Getsuga Tenshou!"
With a swing of the blade, Ichigo sent a black-and-crimson burst of spiritual energy flying off the tip of his katana and towards Aizen, and the sheer volume of the spiritual pressure in the air was enough to force Hitsugaya to cover his face with his sleeve, lest he get hit by the attack, too.
Aizen dodged easily, the attack missing him by a few inches.
"That's an interesting technique, Ichigo-kun," Aizen mused, "But it's very lacking in control. Your spiritual energy is far from being refined, in fact, it's very wild, and untamed and by the looks of it, not even you are sure yourself whether or not you can control it all the way."
"So what?"
There was a smile on the ex-captain of the fifth division's face.
"And it's because of that hollow, isn't it?"
As much as Hitsugaya wanted to help Ichigo at the moment, he knew it would be a foolish decision to. With something as powerful and unstable as the getsuga tenshou, it would be difficult to even get near the strawberry.
Ichigo seemed to read his thoughts entirely.
"Toshiro, go help your subordinates," he said in what almost seemed like an order, although his tone of voice was more concerned than authoritative. "They need you. And the further away you are from here, the safer you'll be."
Hitsugaya nodded briefly, clutching Hyorinmaru to his chest as he turned to go.
"Be careful, Kurosaki."
"I know."
The only thing Hitsugaya could do right now to help Ichigo was to do as he said and get as far away as possible. That way, the strawberry wouldn't have to worry about accidentally hurting him, and he wouldn't have to hold back while fighting Aizen. Besides, he was right - his division probably didneed him at the moment. They had been without his leadership for quite some time now, and he wasn't sure if it was alright to trust Matsumoto to take charge in his place.
He hurried towards where he could see some members of his division fighting some Arrancar. Others were dealing with some lower-level hollows.
The delighted cries of his subordinates surrounded him almost immediately. Their captain had returned to fight with them.
Hitsugaya unsheathed Hyorinmaru, feeling a small amount of relief as he did so. It had been so long since he had last held the sword in his hands, and even though it was sealed and he could not feel the ice dragon's immense power, it still felt nice to be able to fight again, instead of the useless state he had been in back in Hueco Mundo.
Thankfully, his swordsmanship skills had not dulled during that time.
The prodigy was on his feet in an instant, fighting Arrancar blade-to-blade and cutting down hollows at the same time.
It was sad thing, though, killing these Arrancar.
He wasn't stupid. He knew why Aizen didn't mind giving Hyorinmaru back to him so early on.
The Arrancar didn't matter to the man. They were merely his pawns, and they were just here to cut down as many shinigami as possible. He knew that for this invasion of Soul Society, the Arrancar were not the key to it. He knew, unfortunately, that Aizen was beyond confident that the guardian's power alone would be more than enough to finish the job.
But Hitsugaya, by this point, was determined to keep this power sealed tightly away - if he even did possess such a thing.
He wasn't exactly sure how, but he knew that he could not, under any condition, let Aizen have it.
The Arrancar were not attacking him, and he assumed this was on Aizen's orders. After all, if he died, then there would be no power to release. This didn't stop him from continuing to fight, however, as these Arrancar did not show any such mercy to his subordinates, and he knew that he needed to protect them now, of all times, after having been gone for so long.
Soul Society was doing fairly well in the fight, which was a good sign.
Nearby, Matsumoto seemed to be doing a good job taking down several hollows in one go thanks to Haineko, and the sotaichou was easily burning some Arrancar to ashes. Every now and then, however, he would hear the agonized scream of a helpless shinigami being ripped apart, and he was reminded that this was very real, and very serious.
Then, all of a sudden, just as Hitsugaya thought that Soul Society might actually be on the winning side, there was the sound of something splintering into pieces.
He wasn't sure how he had heard it.
In the midst of the battlefield, it was so noisy that you could hardly even hear yourself think through the clang of swords against swords, the shouts of the shinigami, the laughter of the Arrancar, and the sound of buildings crumbling.
But this noise, more than any other, stood out to Hitsugaya.
And he knew, with dread slowly filling his chest, that this noise was a bad sign.
He looked upwards into the sky, his eyes searching frantically for Ichigo and Aizen.
Briefly, his eyes finally locked on the pair - but they were no longer fighting. Aizen seemed relatively unscathed, and his clothes still seemed to be in almost mint condition. Ichigo, on the other hand, looked to be exhausted, and he was bleeding - not heavily, thankfully, but he was still injured nonetheless.
Hitsugaya's heart turned to ice as he realized what Aizen was doing.
His eyes widened to the size of saucers, and he opened his mouth as if to call out to the substitute shinigami, but no sound came out. His grip around Hyorinmaru tightened. Somewhere behind him, one of his subordinates was beheaded, and his blood splattered messily on the prodigy's garments, but he hardly took notice.
With his bare hands and a smile wide enough to rival even Ichimaru's, Aizen was tearing the hollow mask straight off of Ichigo's shocked and bloodstained face.
"Kurosaki!"
Horrified, Hitsugaya glanced backwards at his subordinates. He wasn't sure what to do.
Either he stayed with his subordinates, or he went to help Ichigo.
If he stayed, he didn't know what would become of Ichigo. Aizen was a cruel man, and at this rate, he didn't know if Ichigo would be able to fight back without the help of his hollow powers. If he left, then his subordinates might be in trouble.
"Go on, Hitsugaya-taichou!" he heard someone shout.
"Go ahead!" came another voice, then another, and another.
"We'll be fine, taichou!"
"It's alright! We'll take care of things here!"
"Hitsugaya-taichou! Please leave this to us!"
Hitsugaya turned to look at his subordinates, many of which were still fighting with Arrancar and others that were still taking care of hollows. He winced as one of the men that had just spoken was cleaved into two pieces by what seemed to possibly be an Espada.
Reluctantly, he turned back towards Ichigo, looking upwards. Pieces of the mask were falling to earth now, landing softly by his feet.
"I trust that you can all hold out by yourselves for just a little bit," Hitsugaya murmured to the group of subordinates behind him. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised.
Then, with Hyorinmaru held tightly in his hands, he hurried off towards Aizen and Ichigo.
