Chapter 2
If I were the rain. . . that binds together the Earth and the sky, whom in all eternity will never mingle. . . Would I be able to bind two hearts together?
"W…what? What are you talking about?" Ichigo spluttered as he glared at Byakuya with eyes as wide as saucers. Renji simply stood stock still next to the stricken strawberry. "Why can't we go and save Toshiro?" Ichigo nearly shouted. Byakuya simply stared back at him with his unfeeling gray eyes. "The Soutaichou has deemed that not only will the rescue loose more captains and shinigami's, the chances of the mission succeeding is less than 15%. It will be a fruitless attempt". Though the cold voice remained as monotone as ever, Renji was able to sense the cracks in his Captain's composure. Byakuya looked away from Ichigo's stricken face and, with the art of shunpo, he left the hallway, leaving the substitute shinigami alone with Renji in the cold and large hallways.
The world seemed to be spinning for Ichigo. He would have fallen flat onto the ground, without Renji's steadying hand. "Hey, Ichigo, steady there." Renji looked at his best friend with concern, only to find wide brown eyes looking back at him. "Renji? Was he serious?" Ichigo's voice croaked. "They can't be, can they? We're talking about Shiro-chan here". Renji simply could not bring himself to reply back to his friend, instead opting to look away after steadying Ichigo. Ichigo saw the look on his best friend's face. It was enough. "Look, Ichigo…" Renji began, however, when he looked up, he was neither surprised nor happy to have found out that the substitute shinigami had disappeared.
It was winter, and the air was crisp and cold. Even the light which fell in between the ice crusted leaves had a whitish hue. It was almost a magical feeling as Ichigo sat on the freezing bench, his chocolate brown eyes staring out onto the glassy lake. This garden held special memories for him. It was in this garden that Ichigo had professed his love for the icy, little, tenth division captain. The garden was named by many as the garden of dreams. An ironic and fitting name, really. Ichigo smiled softly to himself as he gazed out at the wintry landscape. "Hey, King". The loud resonating voice from Ichigo's inner hollow echoed within his brain, amidst his cluttered thoughts. He was too depressed to even answer back to the obnoxious and taunting voice. "Been really, really bad in here lately. It doesn't even rain anymore. It snows instead. It's been a blizzard!" His inner hollow, Hichigo, complained loudly. Ichigo sighed, he was just about to reply back scathingly when a flutter of black wings caught his attention.
Aizen smiled as he lounged on his throne. "Wha' you so happy about, Aizen-sama?" Aizen's graceful smile grew wider. "Soul Society should have received that sweet little video by now", Aizen laughed aloud in the throne room, his voice resonating in the large and long hallway. "Plus Szayel has gotten positive results from his experiment". His smile was replaced by a smirk. "I wonder how our dear Kurosaki Ichigo and the other captain's will react after seeing the video." Gin's amused, ever plastered grin grew larger. "Yes, Aizen-sama. Won't our resident substitute shinigami be pleased that his dear Shiro-chan, will be the star of this video…"
Ichigo burst into the Captain's Meeting room, breathless and panting. "Soutaichou! I received a hell butterfly from you saying that you received a video from Aizen, regarding Toshiro!" The Soutaichou looked at Ichigo for a moment, before nodding slowly. "I called you here today, along with Matsumoto fukutaichou"- Ichigo noticed the busty strawberry head lieutenant, Matsumoto Rangiku standing next to Ukitake, looking just as stricken as he was—" as we received an message video from the traitor Aizen in Hueco Mundo, regarding the juuban taichou, Hitsugaya Toshiro." The Soutaichou paused for a moment, as he waited for his words to register within Ichigo. Ichigo's face was quickly loosing the little color it had in the beginning. "We will now play the video for us to see what indeed does Aizen want". The Soutaichou gestured towards the large screen in front of him as he motioned for his fukutaichou, Sasakibe, to play the video. Everyone stared at the screen, their many different feelings running amok, ranging from anxiety, sadness, to even anticipation, however, all Ichigo could feel was a a certaing sense of trepidation which for lurking at the bottom of his stomach like a sleeping lion about to awake. Steeling himself, he squeezed his eyes tightly before opening them once more.
Hey guys! Thanks for sticking through the story with me and for bearing with my sub standard English. I hope you all will enjoy reading the story as it progresses, and once again, thanks for everything!
~Lai