Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bleach in any way! All copyrights go to Tite Kubo.
Author's Note: Yes! I've finally come around to updating this story within a week's time! Now my next goal is...to write ahead of my updates. Anyway, thank you everyone for being so patient especially my reviewers: RebelAngel91210, applestoapples, Kaye. Shirogane, NeonCookies O.o, satomika, lil'sayuri-chan, chococat450, talkstoangels77, icyangel27, Samantha, Neko-cheung, KnowledgeandImagination, MoonLightView, serenity095. Without any further delay, here is chapter five. Enjoy!
LEGEND
"Talking." "Thinking."
The Next Greatest Treasure
Chapter Five: Thief Girl
"You're one amazing Captain of the Royal Guard," Hi no Tori said. "This is the second time that you're able to find me."
"Thanks for the compliment, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you go," Hitsugaya replied. "Besides, I did tell you that I'm not going to show any mercy the next time we meet."
The thief drew his straight bladed sword out, ready to strike at the white haired teenager. For a few moments, they were silent and testing each others patience. They were waiting for each other to make the first move.
Just when things were at its peak, Toshiro made the first move by throwing a few kunais in Hi no Tori's direction. However, he easily read the young captain's moves and dodged to the side, avoiding the assault. Just then, Hitsugaya charged at the thief with his long sword held up on one side. When he was about to stab Hi no Tori, his opponent defended against the attack with his sword.
For a while, the two fighters are trapped in a deadlock before Hi no Tori decided to take control of the battle. Feeling that he is being overpowered, Toshiro immediately retreated and retaliated back from the side. Once again, the blades clashed against one another. It went on like that for a few minutes. During that time, Hitsugaya was leading the thief towards the corner.
The sky blue eyed thief took a short glance back and noticed the young captain's intentions. At the right moment when he swung his sword at him, he leaped up high and did a midair flip over his head. Once he landed on the ground on his two feet, Hi no Tori immediately struck back. Instinctively, the fifteen year old ducked, evading the attack.
Planting his hands on the floor, he stuck a leg out and hit it against the thief's ankles in an attempt to make him lose his balance. Just as things are going well on his side, his opponent did a one handed handstand, shifted to the side, and jumped out of the window, breaking the glass along the way. "Why does everyone always like to get away through the window?" he wondered before jumping out as well.
Toshiro chased after her wherever she went. This time, he won't let her get away even if he hasn't taken any of Momo's family treasures just yet. He noticed Hi no Tori has ran up the tree trunk, jumped onto a thick branch, and leaped onto the nearby roof above. The young Captain of the Royal Guard followed her lead in a similar manner. He ran as fast as he could before jumping high in the air. Putting a foot onto the wall, he used it as a catapult to get him on higher ground. He did the same on the tree trunk with his other foot before landing on the roof safely.
Hi no Tori took a look back over his shoulder and noticed that Captain Hitsugaya is still chasing him. He narrowed his eyes and hissed between his teeth. "Damn, he's persistent. At this rate, I can't steal anything from here again."
The thief placed his hand in his pants pocket, took out three small spherical balls and threw them at him. When it almost came into contact with the white haired teenager, she expected several explosions occurring with her opponent caught in it. However, Hitsugaya retaliated by slicing them into pieces with his sword, run ahead of it, and thus escaping from being caught in the blast.
Using this opportunity, Toshiro struck back with his sword. Swinging from different angles, he tried to inflict damage on the thief. At the same time, he is pressuring him to step back. All Hi no Tori could do is step back one foot at a time dodging the attacks and defending against them with his sword. Luckily for him, things are finally going his way.
Just as Hitsugaya is about to stab him in the gut, he evaded away from the attack and forced the white haired captain to get his sword stuck in the wall. As he struggled to get it out, Hi no Tori swung his sword in an attempt to cut him.
Sensing danger, Toshiro let one of his hands go, turned his body around, and caught the attack with his bare hand. Hi no Tori's eyes widened with surprise at the bold move he has done. It didn't take long before his eyes narrowed once more.
The two fighters soon were engaged in another round of exchanging sword strikes against one another. As time continued to pass by, they went higher and higher, not knowing that they're about twenty feet above ground level. "He's definitely not any ordinary guard. His style of fighting is definitely not taught within the palace walls. What exactly is he?"
As Hi no Tori continued thinking about it, he did a misstep and lost his balance. Just as he is sliding down the roof, he took hold of a section of Toshiro's hakama (kimono pants). Just as he noticed, Hitsugaya dropped his long sword and got pulled down along with the thief. He instinctively took hold of something and hung on to it. He then closed his eyes and began to brace himself.
Just when he felt no further pain inflicted in his body, he realized something. Strangely, the thief's waist and hips are curvier than the average man's. "This person is..."
He opened his eyes and raised his head up to look at the Hi no Tori. His emerald-teal eyes narrowed.
"Hi no Tori is a girl."
All of a sudden, the discovered female thief took a glance down to see him still hang onto her. "Here's my chance."
With one hand let go of the edge of the roof, she dug her hand into the inside of her outfit and threw several shurikens in his direction.
Upon sensing danger, Hitsugaya immediately let go of her waist and began falling. During the process, Hitsugaya untied his dark green sword holding sash and tied one end with a kunai. Once he is done, he quickly threw it to the side. When he saw the kunai is draped over a nearby horizontal pole, he grabbed pointed weapon and hurriedly tied it to his sheath. Hanging onto it tightly, he swung toward the opposite wall. Just as he is about to crash, he used his feet to absorb the impact.
He let out a sigh of relief. "If I hadn't thought about this, I would have been a goner," Toshiro said.
Remembering about the thief girl, he turned his attention to where she was only to find no one there. He then hissed between his teeth.
"Damn it, I let her get away."
"Toshiro!" Hinamori exclaimed, running up to the white haired captain, who just entered her master bedroom. Just as she raised his left hand up with both of hers, Hitsugaya let out a small wince in pain. "You're injured!"
"I'm alright Mo-" The fifteen year old tried to tell her, but he was interrupted.
"You need to get treatment fast!"
"Oi oi, the injury is not that serious," Toshiro said as he, Kira, Captain Ichimaru, and Matsumoto watched the raven haired princess quickly went to her closet to get the first aid kit. "I won't die right away from a simple cut."
"There's no use saying that Hitsugaya-kun," Ichimaru said as Momo started bandaging her boyfriend's wound. "You should know by now how she is."
"Yes, she's such a Bed-Wetter."
"Mou, I heard that!" Hinamori said while giving him a pout face.
"How is Princess Ume?"
"Don't worry," Matsumoto replied. "Nagara, Hisagi, and Renji are looking after her from outside of her room."
"I see." When Hinamori finished giving him first aid, Toshiro took a moment to check the movement of his hand. He closed it into a fist for one moment before opening it out again. He gave her a nod of thanks. "Arigato Momo."
"You're welcome," she answered with a smile. "You must be hungry by now. I'll go get you something to eat, okay?"
"Alright."
With that said, turned her attention to Izuru. "Can you escort me there, Kira-kun?"
"Hai Hinamori-kun," he replied before leading her out of the room.
Once she is gone, the white haired captain closed his eyes and let out a sigh of defeat. "What's wrong, taicho?" Matsumoto asked.
"He must be depressed that he has failed to capture Hi no Tori," Ichimaru guessed.
Hitsugaya shot him a short glare and replied, "That's not quite the reason I'm thinking about. During my confrontation with the thief, I found out that she's a girl."
Rangiku blinked. "A girl? You're serious?"
"Oh my, Hitsugaya-kun turned out to be a pervert," Gin teased.
"Shut up Ichimaru, my life was on the line when I found out her gender," Toshiro retorted before folding his arms over his chest. "Go start going out with one another if you guys have so much free time to tease me like this."
It was when Matsumoto's face turned a little red. Pointing a finger at the older captain, she exclaimed, "Hey, if there is one thing I need to be clear with it is never in a million years I'm going to ever date this idiot! Who would have an interest in a guy who loves to kill and deceive people?"
"Now that's mean to say Ran-chan," Ichimaru said, grinning with delight. "I don't go around and do that for my own amusement. You know me well enough that I do it for a reason. Besides, even though you said that, you really do care about me deep inside."
"Shut up Gin."
As he is leaving the bedroom, Hitsugaya rolled his eyes over the fact that these two childhood friends can't just be normal people for once. Just by looking at the two of them together, he knows too well that they share a very close yet strange relationship.
Princess Ume opened the door and stepped out of her bedroom for her guard to see her presence. "Are you alright?" Koji asked.
"I'm fine," she replied. "However, I wasn't able to steal anything from here. As long as Captain Hitsugaya continues to get in my way, I won't be able to do anything productive here. We need to distract him away from the palace somehow."
"In that case, leave that matter to me. Please allow me to handle that part."
The violet haired princess then nodded with agreement. "Alright then."
"Hey Ume-hime," Hisagi said as he and Renji walked up to them with tray of food in their hands. "We got you some food for you to eat and Nagara, we have your share too."
She gave the two members of the Trio Knights a smile and a short bow. "Thank you."
"You should stay inside," Renji suggested. "The intruder might still be around."
"Don't worry about that Abarai," said a voice. "Hi no Tori has already escaped from the palace."
"Hitsugaya-taicho, you've returned," Shuhei said to the white haired captain.
When Ume took note of his bandaged left hand, she asked, "You're injured. Are you alright?"
"Don't worry about it too much," he replied. "It's only a minor injury."
"I see." She gave him a sweet smile. "That's great to hear."
As the princess is chatting with the others, Hitsugaya had his eyes on her. They narrowed with suspicion. There are so many questions flooding in his thoughts right now and one of them has to deal with the Princess of the Higashi Region and her guard, Nagara Koji. There has to be another reason why they suddenly decided to come here to Seireitei and Rukongai to meet Princess Hinamori Momo. Most of all, his gut feeling (that has been bothering him lately) is telling him that Ume just might be the thief girl that has been causing them trouble in the first place.
References
Hi no Tori - Fire Bird; the female thief's codename, Arigato - Thank You, Hai - Yes, Taicho - Captain, Hime - Princess
Author's Note: Hitsugaya is having suspicions now about them. What exactly is Koji and Princess Ume are planning to do next? Find out what happens next in chapter six! Please review! Thanks.