Loss to Love Chapter 6
Captain Hitsugaya and Captain Ukitake led the group of Shinigami with the substitute soul reaper Ichigo Kurosaki deeper into the forest in the Rukongai. Once they reached the section they would begin their search, they stopped using shunpo and jogged to their meeting point. Captain Hitsugaya turned around towards the seated officers and waited for them to catch their breaths before speaking.
"Okay from this point onward we will split into three groups of five, with the exception of Ukitake, Kurosaki and I in a three man squad," he ignored Kurosaki's scoff at referring him to his surname. "Kiyomi, you are squad leader for group A; Kyon group B; Shu team C. The arrancar and hollows are constantly moving but the are usually around sectors 10, 13, and 17. Everybody gather into you teams and give me reports on 30 minute intervals. Dismissed!"
After a quick "hai!" And "Roger that!" From the Shinigami they quickly shunpoed away from the area to start their missions. Toshiro turned to the taller young men once he couldn't hear the footsteps of the Shinigami anymore.
"Ready?" At the two men's confirmation they moved out.
An hour had passed since the mission started. The three man squad had encountered nothing but low class hollows, easy to deal with. Same with the other squad members with their minutely reports. Toshiro, Ichigo and Ukitake walked briskly through the dense forest, keeping their guard up for any arrancar even though there have get to be seen. As they walked they exited the forest that led them to the edge of a cliff looking over an even bigger and denser forest below. The men spread out on the edge and looked around, trying to sense any hollow or arrancar around. They could faintly feel the other Shinigami since they were a further distance away from them. Seeing as there was nothing abnormal in the area Ukitake turned to the carrot top and white head to address the two.
"Okay we've covered our area, we should head ba-TOSHIRO!" Ukitake's warning came too late as some tentacle like appendage shot out from behind the cliff and wrapped around Toshiro, lifting him into the air, his arms tied to his sides unable to reach for his sword.
"Damnit! I didn't even sense the damn hollow!" Ichigo thought springing into action. He quickly unsheathed his sword from his back and cut off the tentacle, releasing Toshiro who had fallen and Ichigo quickly caught him in his arms.
"You alright Toshiro?"
"Yeah I'm fine, just put me down already."
"A thanks would've been nice geez..."
Ichigo didn't see the flash of frustration on Toshiro's face as he turned away from him.
"I can't believe I didn't sense that damn hollow...I hate looking weak, especially in front of that damn strawberry!"
With that resolve, Toshiro leaped towards the hollow parrying against some other tentacles that dissolved once cut down. He dodged around the millions of tentacles that seem to come from the edge of the cliff cutting down several at the time, swinging his sword with a cry of "Sit across the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!"
After a while the tentacles that were left receded, the men exhausted let their guard down a little but to take a breather. As they faced towards the cliff, any sign for the hollow to reemerge again, they didn't notice the ground rising a bit, the hollow taking a surprise attack to finish of their opponents. Toshiro, having no reason as to why he decided to turn around at that moment, saw the tentacles shoot out of the ground, their edges sharpened to a point aimed at Ichigo's back. They way the projectiles were angled, the impact would fatally would the substitute Shinigami, possibly kill him within seconds. With no other thought in mind, Toshiro ran towards Ichigo dropping his sword, not caring for any other thing other than the word protect echoing in his mind.
Ichigo sharply turned his head when his name was cried from the white head's lips. Even though by the time he heard his name, he would've been impaled by the tentacles, too late to stop them. He didn't feel the expectant pain from being impaled which he was surprised about but it quickly shifted to horror as he saw what prevented him from feeling the pain. Toshiro had his back to him but he could clearly see the sharpened tentacles that pierced all the way through his body, soaked in the young shinigami's blood, but he slowly saw them start to freeze over, the ice crawling into the ground where the tentacles emerged from. He heard a ghastly scream of agony, probably the sneaky hollow not able to free its tentacles anymore. As he watched the hollow slowly freeze over he quickly caught Toshiro in his arms as he fell over from blood loss. Unfiltered rage filled Ichigo's entire seeing the young captain covered in blood, vulnerable, small gasps leaving his body. He didn't realize he was trembling till he felt a small but still warm hand cover his own.
"...it's alright...Ichigo..." Toshiro could see the guilt in Ichigo's eyes but he wouldn't allow him to beat himself over this. "...it's just a scratch..."
Ichigo scoffed. "Scratch my ass, you're still bleeding out."
"I've had far worse injuries..." This didn't make Ichigo any better.
As Ichigo kept talking with Toshiro, trying to keep him awake, he wasn't aware that captain Ukitake had finished off the hollow since most of it was frozen and had called Kyon's group for reinforcements so that they could give captain Hitsugaya first aid then take him back to fourth division to have him treated properly.
Time seemed to slow down drastically for Ichigo, nothing but the small white haired captain that laid small and frail in his Toshiro down on the ground gently, Ichigo slowly stood up as he sensed more hollow coming his way after catching the scent of Toshiro's blood. The hollows wailed and screeched towards the small group, but they didn't stand a chance against Ichigo's fury. Ichigo saw nothing but red mentally and physically as he slaughtered the hollows, Ichigo
letting out a battle cry through the hollow mask that manifested onto his face.
As Ichigo took his rage out on the unfortunate hollow, Toshiro was being tended to Kyon's group who had just arrived. Two of the members knew some healing kido, so they gave him first aid until it was safe enough for him to be transported to the fourth division for proper treatment. The other officers watched in slight horror and awe at Ichigo's ragged form tearing through the still growing group of hollows but was rapidly decreasing with Ichigo's wild swing of his Zanpakuto.
"Ichigo's really going at it...what made him mad this time?" Kyon asked with a nervous chuckle.
"Hitsugaya-kun covered an attack meant for Kurosaki-kun and that's what triggered Ichigo's wrath." Captain Ukitake said gravely as he came up to the group to oversee Toshiro. They watched Ichigo chop up the last of the hollow, a few tryin get away but were unfortunate. Everything was silence after that, Kyon's group watching the dark form covered in blood from head to toe walk towards them. They were all tense, thinking Ichigo was going to attack them too with the dark aura surrounding them, but they all relaxed when his hollow mask broke and exhaustion was etched all across his face. He came and kneeled down to Toshiro who was sleeping peacefully on the ground.
"Will he...be okay…?"
"Yes he should be good for now. Once he gets proper treatment he'll be able to be up and working again within a few weeks." One of the girls who helped heal Toshiro smiled reassuringly and in understanding to Ichigo's question answered.
"...o...kay…" was the last thing Ichigo barely managed to say for passing out from exhaustion.
The next time Toshiro woke up, he was staring up into a white ceiling, his body sated and relaxed for once in a really long time. Still didn't mean he liked the fourth division, especially the typical hospital smell like disinfectants and death that the nurses try so hard to cover up but still lingers. The drugs that blocked the pain helped, but made him sluggish so it also hindered his thought process so he was slow in realizing that Ichigo had been sitting next to him all this time, watching him with an amused expression. Toshiro was thinking about how the bandages on his chest felt heavy until he diverted his attention to the carrot top sitting next to him who had an amused smile on his face.
"What's so funny…?" Toshiro's tongue felt puffy and his throat felt dry as he said his first words since he woke up.
Ichigo chuckled. "You look like you're half drunk with all those drugs pumped in your body. I bet it took you forever to come up with those three words.
Toshiro tried to give Ichigo one of his icy glares but he was still groggy so it came out as a tired pout on his face. Ichigo laughed out loud at his expression, knowing what the young taichou was trying to do. Toshiro wanted to be annoyed with Ichigo laughing at his predicament but instead a warm feeling blossomed within his chest, mildly confusing the child but he brushed it off. He came back from his deep thinking when he heard Ichigo talking to him.
"...what I wanted to say was thank you, during the mission when the hollow almost attacked me. You didn't have to but thanks." Ichigo finished off with an awkward chuckle. He had a hand rubbing the back of his hand, he only did that when he's nervous or embarrassed, and a light dusting of pink covered his cheeks. Again a warm sensation spread through Toshiro's chest and that sensation reached to his cheeks, red blossoming on them. Nobody had ever really thanked him for doing anything properly, they would send a note or just say a quick thanks and leave him at that. He was grateful for Ichigo to actually thank him to his face and have the time to visit him. And when he directed one of his bright smiles his heart…fluttered?
'What?" Toshiro, was suddenly brought out of his musing when the door to his private room opened. Ukitake entered the room but he didn't notice the other person following after him since they were shorter than he was.
"Toshiro-kun I see you're doing well, and you too Ichigo-kun."
"Thank you Ukitake-san-"
Whatever Toshiro was about to say stopped in his throat as he saw Hinamori come out from behind Ukitake.
AN: I'm SSSSSOOOOOOO SORRY! I really have no excuses for the long delay. I actually lost my muse for this story but i didn't want to give it up. Literally for this story I just type it and go with the flow, there's no rough draft for this. Even though a lot of people didn't review this story it still makes me happy to know others are actually following this story because that shows they are interested in it. I'll be completely honest when it comes to updates: they are going to be sporadic since I come up with ideas on the spot. I'm also working on a IchiHitu One-shot, but my goal is to reach 10K words so that will take a while. But other than that I'm very sorry for being a horrible fanfic writer and thankyou to those that reviewed and followed/favorited favorited my stories.