/
/
Gripping Hyourinmaru tightly in his right fist, he took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. This was going to be interesting...
He couldn't remember ever seeing such a concentration of hollows before. They were practically crawling over each other, as if the abandoned mansion were a huge, mutated beehive. He couldn't even count them all.
Thankfully, they were lowly creatures, about as difficult to defeat as cockroaches...still, he wasn't exactly looking forward to it. He wished Matsumoto were here, not because he needed backup but because he wanted to get this over with quickly.
Sighing, Hitsugaya started forward.
"Hey, kid."
Stopping again, the young captain scowled and turned his head over his shoulder. The man was walking toward him with the casual yet cocky stride that reminded him rather forcefully of Ichimaru...
...Although the sense of wrongness wasn't there.
He even looked a bit like the former Third Division captain, with silver hair covering his forehead and a smirk on his face. His eyes danced with amusement, but they were open and much easier to read.
"You can...see me?"
The man raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I can see ya. Other people can't?"
"Not when I'm like this, no. You shouldn't, either."
"Guess I'm special."
He looked past Hitsugaya at the hollow-infested building and the smirk left his face. He flipped a pistol from the holster at his right hip into his hand with the ease and flourish of long practice.
"Tch...havin' a regular party over there, and they didn't even invite me."
"I wouldn't want to join one of their parties..."
"Yeah, guys like them're generally bad news...but any company's good company with enough alcohol."
"If you say so..." Hitsugaya muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Sounds like ya don't believe me. Never had a drink before, kiddo?"
"No. And don't call me 'kiddo.'"
"Fair enough. Well, I dunno what you're doin' here, but, uh...stand back, huh? I'm gonna crash this party."
"I don't stand back. This is my responsibility."
"How d'ya figure?"
"...It's my job to deal with hollows."
"Hollows? That what you call those? Hm. Your job, huh? You don't look old enough to have a work permit."
"Ha. Very funny."
"So you're gonna take those guys down, huh?"
"Just watch me."
Drawing his zanpakutou, the Tenth Division captain smirked at the Ichimaru look-alike and sprang forward.
His blade flashed in the moonlight, leaving an endless trail of blood in its wake. Hyourinmaru's cry sent ice in every direction, shattering arms and legs, claws and masks.
He was a fool to want Matsumoto to help him...this was stupid.
After facing Aizen and his arrancar minions, normal hollows were a joke. They dropped like flies, literally. He'd always thought that phrase to be ridiculously hyperbolic, but...it was the only way he could describe it.
He really felt like a god.
The chaos ended in less than a minute.
He whirled on his heel and smirked at his audience. "Still look like a kiddo to you?"
The silver-haired man smirked...
...Then lifted his gun.
Hitsugaya froze.
The weapon crashed.
A bullet whizzed past his ear, and a hollow he hadn't noticed was pitched backward, a neat, smoldering hole in its mask, and drifted into the air like scattered ashes.
"...Yep. You do. Don't look away 'til they all stop twitchin'."
The man's smirk widened.
Hitsugaya scowled. "I'm not glass. I won't shatter from one miserable little peon sneaking up on me."
"Don't be an idiot. Get into the habit 'n you'll end up wit' yer back turned when a real problem shows up...then what? Yer fucked."
The scowl vanished.
"...You've...got a point."
"Still...you're good. Finished my job for me 'n I barely did anything. S'pose I should give ya a cut for that."
"Don't bother. I don't need money."
"Huh? Everybody needs money, dude. You rich or something?"
"...Something like that."
"Hm. Well...how 'bout I at least getcha some food or something? You helped me out...I know a place with killer sundaes. Best you'll ever have."
"...I'm not a kid, you know. I'm nearly two centuries old."
"So? Never too old for a sundae. C'mon."
The lopsided smile on the man's face was strangely disarming...and Hitsugaya felt that, somehow, he could trust this stranger who could see him.
Besides...if worse came to worst, he wasn't a captain for nothing.
"...Fine. I guess. But...what's your name? I don't associate with strangers."
"My name? Ain't too polite to ask a name without givin' yer own, is it?"
"Fair enough...I'm Hitsugaya Toushirou."
The man smirked. "Nice t' meetcha, Hitsu. Name's Redgrave. Tony Redgrave."
Hitsugaya shook the man's gloved hand when it was offered. "Hello, Mister Redgrave."
"Just Tony, man. Tony. Now c'mon. I'm cravin' a fix. Need me some ice cream."
"Uh...I should change."
"Eh? Why? Robes're cool."
"I can't eat in this form. I'm a spirit."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "...Oh. I get it. So what? You got a body hangin' around someplace?"
"Yes."
He walked away. When he came back in his gigai, Tony frowned thoughtfully. "Hm. Don't look like ya changed nuttin' but yer clothes, man. Well, whatever. C'mon."
"Sure."
After walking for a few minutes, Hitsugaya frowned. "Tony...what's your job?"
"Mercenary."
"...Oh."
"What's yers?"
"Death god."
"...Oh."
They looked at each other.
They kept walking.
/
/
For those of you who don't know who Tony is, he's Dante Sparda from Capcom's Devil May Cry series. Tony Redgrave is his alias from the novel published by Tokyopop. I couldn't banish the thought of these two interacting with each other...maybe because Hitsugaya looks quite similar to Dante's twin brother, Vergil...I dunno. Anyway, I'll be looking into the various requests I received last chapter and trying to write them. I just had to write this one...it wouldn't go away. I may bring Tony back in later chapters...he's a fun character. I don't know yet. Hope you liked it.
I don't know why FF won't let me put in the page breaks...but it won't. Hence, the slashes. I don't like how it looks, but...oh, well.