Hello Again (I plan to change the greeting into something else as soon as I think of something) Anyways, if it doesn't make sense then refer to the chapter where i said I was a coffee addict
Hitsuguya woke up as soon as he heard a loud clack in the dead of the night. His hand accidentally went over to the futon over him and he only felt cloth, nothing else. Toshiro got up immediately, lit a candle and took it over to the futons, dismayed to find nothing but an empty futon and shards of what looked like chains.
Hinamoto's black parasol was still here, so the girl couldn't be far without her zanpaktou. But she was somewhere in the Seireitei, in her cat form without the seki seki handcuffs. Toshiro grabbed his Hyorinmaru and ran straight for the door, slamming the wooden frame and cracking it. Damn it, Hinamoto, he thought.
I almost laughed out loud when Hitsuguya woke Matsumoto and dispatched dozens of search teams. I had no clue that I was this important to the Soul Society and yet I had no regrets when I gave it my all to cause chaos and disorder in the Seireitei.
Rangiku watched as Kurohime fell to the ground, bleeding and wounded. The girl's face was distorted, but she managed to put out a wicked grin before she dissolved back into the shadows. "Fooled you," she whispered. That was the sixth illusion that night and frankly, Rangiku could see the frustration and anger threatening to explode from her taicho's small form . . .
No outstanding traces of reiatsu could be detected anywhere, so how was Kurohime pulling this off. The answer to this was obvious. The devastating power of the shadows that the girl wielded was unrivaled. She sent most off his search teams off to Unohana-taicho, screaming about a ghost or a huge monster.
Toshiro could hear the pleas for mercy over his hell butterfly and it always ended with same message. "Come and find me, Hitsuguya-taicho," followed by a unnerving laughter. "Taicho, that was last of our search team. What do we do now," Matsumoto asked behind him. "We wait for her to come to us, Matsumoto. She was picking of the teams by the strength of the group's reiatsu and we're next."
A tree rustled behind the pair, startling them. Another Kurohime leaped out in front of them, but it was different this time. A silvery haze surrounded her and Toshiro could tell that this one was protected by a kido barrier. "Greetings from my mistress, Hitsuguya-taicho. Hinamoto-sama says she is willing to end this game if you go back to your barracks."
That grin that had resurfaced from Hitsuguya's memories was starting to haunt him. "What game is she trying to play, doll?" Kurohime's shadow doll tsked. "You should be more polite to your familiars, Hitsuguya-taicho."
She started to fade, the fiery violet eyes becoming a glassy wine color. The moment the illusion faded, a silver tower rose far up into the sky, announcing the position of Hinamoto. Matsumoto was already ahead of him by the time he shunpoed off. He just hoped that he'll be on time.
They came as I knew they would. The moment they stepped through the Squad 10 barrack doors, the kido barrier that I set up alerted me that they were here and to them I was somewhere in the barracks.
It didn't take them that long to find me and I made it easy for them both by standing right in front of Toshiro's room. Matsumoto was the one who spotted me first, surprisingly, but it was Hitsuguya who first confronted me. "What were you thinking, Hinamoto-chan? Have you gone insane?"
I have never heard this side of Toshiro Hitsuguya before, but I handled the situation as if I've been expecting this for years. "I have, perhaps gone insane from the boredom that you've made me endure. So I decided to have some fun with you two . . ."
Matsumoto glared daggers at me and I could see the wave of rage she was radiating. "How could you, Hime-chan. I thought you wer-" I tapped the strawberry blond woman's forehead, her body going limp and she fell to the floor with a dull thump. "Sleep, Rangiku-san."
"What did you do to her, Hinamoto?" I sighed exasperatedly. "Did you think I'd have the heart to kill her, Hitsuguya-taicho? You make me sound like a heartless bastard for someone of my caliber."
Matsumoto was lying in a heap on the ground while Toshiro listened to those words. "Did you think I'd have the heart to kill her, Hitsuguya-taicho? You make me sound like a heartless bastard for someone of my caliber."
Toshiro honestly had no clue how to respond to this, so instead he let Kurohime continue. "I'm envious of you, Hitsuguya-taicho. You can roam free around anyone. You do not possess that cursed power that I have. You can walk in the sun while I cannot even stand the very mention of it."
"Hime-chan, what are you talking about," he asked. Kurohime scoffed and replied, "I should have died a long time ago, Hitsuguya-taicho. There are times that I wished Aizen had finished me off. I would have been free then, to rejoin my family again and laugh, to never weep again in sorrow but in joy."
Hitsuguya couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I never wanted all of this to happen, Hitsuguya-taicho." Her voice cracked slightly and tears threaten to spill from her eyes. "I want to die, but my heart won't let me."
What emotion flickered through Hitsuguya's eyes? Was it remorse, pity, anger, regret, or hate? Out of impulse, Hitsuguya lunged forwards and caught Hinamoto by the throat. "You don't know what you're talking about, Hinamoto-chan," he whispered ominously. The violet orbs flared with a renewed passion. "It is you who does not know what he is talking about," she hissed.
Without knowing it, Toshiro's hand tightened around Kurohime's neck, slightly crushing her windpipe. "Stop thinking like this! The Kurohime I knew would have said 'suck it up,' and went on," he exclaimed. "W-what choice do I h-h-have? I am n-nothing more t-than j-just one c-c-consciousness," she gasped.
It would have been so easy to end this madness by suffocating her, but Toshiro released the crushing grip on her neck before she went in a coma. "Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance, Hitsuguya-taicho?" Toshiro looked at her, "I don't want to kill you, Hinamoto-chan, I can't bear it if I did," he whispered intimately. "Why," she asked. "I can't and won't because you're someone who's precious to me. His hand went from her neck to the side of her face, but he could still see the mistrust in the girl's eyes.
"I nearly broke into pieces when I saw you die, I tried to stifle the pain by burying myself in paperwork. And when you first came back, I . . ." Toshiro stopped there to prevent himself from revealing more, but he could see that her eyes have softened quite a bit. "Hitsuguya-taicho . . ."
"Just come back, Hime-chan. No one is going to hurt you, especially me . . ." For one moment, something that looked very much like longing flickered through the depths of those violet eyes only to be drowned out by a furious wave of rage. "Your mouth spews lies, Hitsuguya-taicho and they aren't going to work on me," she declared dryly.
The compassion from Hitsuguya's features melted away into a cold hard mask. "If reasoning won't work, than I'm afraid I'll have to use force," he said. Kurohime didn't respond, but she stretched her hand out towards the door handle, a silvery reiatsu enveloping her palm. An audible crash could be heard as a black parasol crashed through the rice paper screen door.
"I do not intend to use my zanpaktou, but I'll take my leave as soon as I defeat you," she hissed. Toshiro shunpoed away from her before a black parasol came crashing down onto the wooden floor. "I was just going to put Shirobara down and hoping to rid myself of another pest, but I failed."
"Soten Ni Zase, Hyorinmaru!" Kurohime watched as a large icy blue dragon hovered above her head and shunpoed away. "So naïve, Hisuguya-taicho. You'll need more than just brute strength to defeat me." Hitsuguya turned around and faced a cherry tree. Standing on the top branches was Kurohime herself, with two shadows kneeling on smaller branches.
Then ice dragon flew towards the girl, but it shattered before it made contact with the tree. Shards of ice flew around them like crystals, the moonlight enhancing the already beautiful scene into a somewhat romantic setting. A kido barrier surrounded the tree, but it was different from any other barrier he'd ever known.
"This is one of Hachigen Ushoda's own inventions. A convenient kido that is activated through one simple hand gesture, although it drains your reiatsu at an astonishing rate." Hitsuguya saw that the castor was not Kurohime, but her two shadow dolls. She gave them a tap and the latter dissolved into oblivion.
Hitsuguya gripped his katana as hard as he could as Kurohime leaped off the branch and shunpoed in the corner of his eyes, he could see four ankens flying towards him from the right and four more from the left. The speed that they were thrown at had surprised him, it usually fast, but this time it barely past the average soul reaper's shunpoe.
"Instead of looking around for an escape, shouldn't you be concentrating at the situation at hand, Hitsuguya-taicho?" Indeed it was a situation, Toshiro was caught in the middle of a weave, the ankens being the anchor that kept the metal threads from relinquishing their prisoner.
Toshiro had enough of Hinamoto mocking him with her parlor tricks. He swung his sword, emitting another ice dragon that froze everything around him. "So you want to get serious, Hitsuguya-taicho? Well then, I will comply. Shunko!" The ankens retracted, in the process, freeing Toshiro.
Hinamoto was in front of him, her large reiatsu like lightening. She looked fearsome and beautiful, her curls escaped from the Lolita hairstyle that she kept, the black blouse she worn was torn to pieces, revealing her bare shoulders, that aristocratic yet polite appearance was replaced by an emotionless expression, betraying no emotion. The petite girl charged at him, dodging all the ice dragons that he had created.
His katana collided with a pale fist, the impact almost as strong as regular sword. She drew back and stood far away from him as another dragon flew towards her. The ghostly silhouette held out her hand as the dragon came faster, a silver glow radiating from her palm. "This is a shame, Hitsuguya-taicho. A lone girl who defeated a captain using only Hoho and Kido. I fear this is the end of our small conflict, Hitsuguya-taicho. I doubt I would ever see you again."
Hinamoto disappeared and reappeared behind him, her hand blazing with reiatsu. She slammed the palm onto the back of his neck, effectively knocking him unconscious. His eyes closed before he could see the bitter tears the small girl wept.
I lowered the barrier that I used around the squad barracks and hastily grabbed Shirobarakaze. I cursed at my own foolishness for dragging the battle on, but it couldn't be helped. Even after I entered the Senkaimon gate, my tears never stopped flowing.
It like someone had jammed a rusted blade into my heart and twisted it. I had just renounced my friendship with the last person who still cared about me, but I never expected it to be this way. I just wished that I could stop my tears because I needed to be strong for everyone, especially for him . . .
Hinamoto blushed as she felt Hitsuguya caress her small frame. Her face was turned away from him as he teased her lips. She backed up further against wall, but Toshiro pulled her close to him. "I don't want you to leave, Hime-chan," he whispered into her ears.
She flushed and tried to struggle out of his grasp, but she was trapped like a frightened animal. Hitsuguya tilted her face upwards to face his and teal and violet met again. Hinamoto blushed and pursed her lips. "Why do you have to make this so hard, Hime-chan?"
He trailed kisses down her face until he reached her lips. The girl tensed when their lips connected, but responded with a passionate kiss of her own
Hitsuguya woke up in cold sweat in a white room. It looked like it was midnight or past midnight. His little dream about Kurohime sickened him. How could he think something like about his friend. But deep inside he wished that dream was true, that it was how he said goodbye to Kurohime instead of choking her.
An image of a flustered Kurohime filled his mind and he cursed his overactive imagination. But every time he tried to think of something else that image kept coming back every time. Why do I keep thinking about her and that . . .that image, he thought.
He decided to dismiss it as nothing more than one of the lewd fantasies that Matsumoto kept planting in his mind, but was it usually this painful? It wasn't like one of those stupid stories that Matsumoto would rant on and on about, it was more along the lines of a hollow feeling. Like if he had been craving for something, but he had no idea what he wanted.
What did I want anyways, he asked himself. He saw himself 93 years ago walking side by side with Kurohime, who positively beaming at him and Kurohime now who looked like she had lost the will to live and is teetering on the edge of despair. So is that what drove him to act the way he did, to hurt her just to get a point across? A memory of earlier that night flashed across his mind, the moment where he had lunged forward and caught her by the throat. Something stirred inside him, guilt, regret, and pity and something else. A more uncontrollable emotion . . .
I had to get to Urahara and Yoruichi before its too late. I just hope I'll be on time. . .
God, I suck with cliffhangers. Anyways if you have any suggestions for the next chapter than just tell me otherwise it going to take a lot longer to get this story going. Reviews :)
