It was cold.

That was the only thing he knew. It was cold. Too cold.

"Mommy!" he cried, wishing she would come find him and make the cold go away. Why was it so cold? What was this white stuff that stuck to his skin? How come they were here? Where was Mommy? Where was Daddy? Why didn't they make the cold go away?

"Mommy! Daddy!"

He crawled over the white stuff, looking around, trying to find them, wondering why they wouldn't answer him. Couldn't they hear him? Had they gone deaf, like Grandpa? Did the cold make them deaf? Would he go deaf, too?

The wind blew suddenly, and the scarf Mommy had made special for him flew away. He tried to catch it, but he couldn't. It was too far away. Like Mommy and Daddy...it was gone. It went away. And now he was even colder.

"Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!"

Hitsugaya suddenly snapped his head up from his desk, breathing harshly. He reached up and felt his face, feeling the remnants of the phantom snow, and the wetness of the tears flowing from his eyes. Shuddering, he lowered his head to the desk again, trying to gain control of himself.

He was a captain. He couldn't let some nightmare get the better of him. He had to be strong. That's what captains were...if nothing else, they were strong. None of the other captains would have let such a frivolous thing affect them so much. He wasn't a child. He'd given up his childhood when he'd donned his captain's cloak. He was strong. He was.

...But no matter how many times he told himself that, he couldn't hold the tears back this time. It was the first time in months he'd had that nightmare, but that had done nothing to its poignancy.

Remembering his own death always affected him.

Once again he was a helpless child, crawling around in a blizzard in the middle of nowhere. Once again he was lost, searching for his parents, frantically crawling in circles as he began to panic.

Silent sobs wracked his thin frame as he clenched his fists, his heart aching with loneliness, with fear and desperation and confusion. He strained to keep it inside, but every once in a while a moan would wrestle its way from his lips as he shook uncontrollably.

"Taichou?"

He couldn't speak.

"Hitsugaya-taichou? Hey!"

He couldn't breathe.

"Oh, my God! Taichou! Taichou, what's wrong?"

A long, agonizing cry tore out of his throat.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and without thinking he latched onto the owner, arms wrapping desperately around his vice-captain's waist as he continued to cry.

Matsumoto's arms embraced him gently, stroking back his hair. "Shhh...okay, okay...come on, Hitsugaya-taichou, it's all right...shhh..."

He buried his face in the soft folds of her uniform. "M...Matsumoto..." he sobbed.

"Shhh...it's okay, Taichou...go ahead and cry...I'm here..."

Hitsugaya had never been happier to have her by his side. She never asked questions. She never berated him for his moments of weakness. She was special...someone who as always there, always beside him...someone who would never let him go.

He wasn't alone.

And he was warm.

So, so warm...

After so much humor, I decided to go in a different direction. A bit of HitsuMatsu...sort of. Of course, if you asked him, she was just being a good vice-captain, calming him down after a nightmare. But...we know better, don't we? Anyway, as angst-ish as this one was, I hope you enjoyed it. Ja ne.