CHAPTER 3: MAJOR UNREST

Tayomi and the rest of the 4th Division waited patiently in their Division's barracks. That day, the 6th, 10th and 11th Division would all be out on missions, as there had been a serious disturbance in Rukongai. The 6th, 10th and 11th Divisions have left to fight hollows in different districts in Rukongai. There had been many incidents occurring recently, with a sudden increase in the number of hollows. It was guaranteed that there would be many injured after going on the mission. Tayomi sat at her desk in her office, writing medical reports.

She felt rather distracted though, knowing that Hitsugaya was the one leading a team of Shinigami from his Division to fight the hollows. She wondered what hollows they would encounter and hoped there would be as little casualties as possible. Staring blankly at her medical report, she thought briefly for a moment as she wrote about healing at the 11th Division. The 11th Division had instantly loved fighting more than ever and claimed to be more unified since the recent arrival of Captain Kenpachi. They were a rather strange bunch of people, but so far, she had not observed them bullying any of the members of her Division. She sighed and continued writing in her medical journal.

Looking at her communicator, she wondered if she should send Hitsugaya anything. The three divisions had just left their Division's barracks for Rukongai and should be out of the gates by now. She picked up her communicator and quickly texted Hitsugaya.

'Hi Hitsugaya-kun! Good luck on your first mission! Please don't get injured, I might refuse to heal you…'

Hitsugaya led his team out of the gates and headed towards Rukongai District 78, Inuzuri, the South Alley of Flowing Spirits. It would be a long and tiring walk to the District and Hitsugaya hoped his members would cooperate with him. He felt his communicator ring and immediately checked it, thinking that he had received further updates from his upperclass-men. Instead, it was a message from Tayomi. He read it and could not help but smile. He quickly texted her back, promising her that he would not get injured and that if he did, she could do whatever she wanted to him for breaking his promise. Hitsugaya gripped the sash she had made for him to carry his Zanpakutou and turned to his comrades, ordering them to continue walking for an hour more before they took a break.

An hour later, the team of members from the 10th Division and Hitsugaya relaxed on the grass, exhausted from all that travelling. His communicator had received another message from Tayomi. Tayomi had replied, with nothing but a smiley face. That alone was enough to make him smile. After a five minute break, he continued leading his team towards Inuzuri. As they got closer and closer to their destination, he could feel his heart beat faster, preparing to be ambushed by hollows. Before he knew it, they had arrived at their destination. Hitsugaya immediately ordered his team to search the area and kill all hollows on sight, before they harmed the inhabitants. He heard a roar from behind him and spotted a large hollow, green in colour and twice of his height. Unsheathing his Zanpakutou, he charged towards the hollow, which was preparing to fire a Cero. He dodged the Cero and slashed it with all his strength. However, he got careless and the hollow slashed his back, leaving a deep wound diagonally across his back. He could feel it bleed profusely and gritted his teeth, bearing with the pain as he released Hyourinmaru. He quickly sent an ice dragon towards the hollow, freezing it all over. Unexpectedly, the hollow managed to break out of the ice and charged at him, slashing his right arm. The hollow attempted to slash him again and using Shunpo, he avoided the hollow's attack and lunged towards it, aiming for its white mask. He slashed and broke the hollow's mask, causing the hollow to turn into ice.

Hitsugaya could feel blood rushing from his wound, down his back and sticking to his clothes. He had broken his promise on his first battle. Shoving thoughts out of his mind, he ran throughout the district, searching for hollows. The other hollows seemed much easier than the first one he fought, being much smaller in size and less powerful. He glanced at his much more experienced comrades, who were quickly killing off the hollows and protecting the inhabitants of Rukongai. By mid-afternoon, the hollows were all gone and they were ready to return to their Division's barracks.

"6th Seat Hitsugaya!" One of the members shouted. "You're injured!"

"Never mind, it's alright." Hitsugaya replied coldly. "Everyone, carry the injured back to the 4th Division's barracks for healing."

He carried one of his injured comrades using his left arm and started walking back to the Gotei 13 headquarters. His comrades stared at him in awe. For a small-sized boy who was new to this, he was really strong. They instantly respected him and followed his orders, bringing the injured back towards the 4th Division's barracks.

Tayomi had finally finished her report, when she heard footsteps. She knew that it was caused by members of the 10th Division streaming into her barracks. Members of the 4th Division immediately helped the injured to the beds and began healing them immediately. Placing her finished report on top of her stack of other finished reports, she was about to rush outside to see if there were other patients for her to heal when someone knocked on the door. Hitsugaya entered her office and smiled at her, appearing to be still in one piece. Tayomi giggled and walked over to close the door behind him, before hugging him from the back.

"OUCH!" Hitsugaya screamed in pain.

"Eh, Hitsugaya!" Tayomi gasped, before faking an angry face. "You're injured, aren't you?"

"You don't have to heal me, I broke my promise…" He muttered, sounding unexpectedly serious. "You can do whatever you want to me now."

"Ok then…" Tayomi smiled and pretended to think hard for a moment. "I want you to sit down and let me heal you."

Hitsugaya sat down on the floor and Tayomi knelt down before him.

"So, where is it?" She smiled. Hitsugaya pointed to his back. For a few moments, they stared blankly at each other before Tayomi broke the silence by asking an awkward question.

"Um… Then can you take off your…" Her face started to turn red.

"I would have done that, but my right arm is injured too. The hollow got mad when I froze him." Hitsugaya muttered, starting to blush as well. He used his left arm to lift up his right sleeve, revealing the deep gash on his right arm.

Tayomi blinked and she knew what she had to do. It's so awkward. She undid his hakama-himo and slowly took off his kosode and shitagi for him, such that it revealed his upper body and his injuries. She felt her face burn up as Hitsugaya continued staring at her. Here she was, staring at him without his shirt on. As rude as it was to stare, she could not help but stare at him, realising that he was growing muscles and turning into a man, while she seemed to have not grown at all. She began healing his arm first, since it was not too serious and quickly bandaged it. Then, she ran behind him and stared at the wound on his back. It was really serious and she had a feeling that bandaging it would be rather painful. Nevertheless, she began healing his injury, as Hitsugaya turned his head to look at her. After it was healed, she bandaged it, trying to make it as painless as possible. Hitsugaya seemed fine with it, but she knew that he was resisting the urge to scream in pain. Once she was done, she put his clothes back on for him, still feeling awkward. She quickly kissed him on the nose and smiled.

"It's been hard on you…" She sighed. "Um… Be careful when you take a bath, it's going to be really painful… And if it hurts really bad, just tell me… Please be more careful next time…"

Hitsugaya nodded and used his left arm to hold the back of her head, pushing it towards his and kissing her on the lips for a second. He left her office and returned to his Division's barracks, leaving Tayomi in her office. Tayomi blinked again, glad that no one saw how red her face was after that.

Author's note:
*NOSEBLEED* I hope you liked this chapter! I tried to make it longer than the usual 1000+ words and I managed to write about 1500 words :D In future the chapters will definitely be longer, so don't worry XD The story is just getting started and everything is still generally peaceful so there isn't much to write. Next chapter, we shall shoot forward by 10 years (writing about healing for 5 chapters isn't fun) and Unohana gives Tayomi a piece of good news! Stay tuned for it and please review! :D
I had 3 reviews for my first 2 chapters, 2 by sasusakufan2357 and 1 by Vampire Princess 987! :D Thank you for the reviews! ^.^ I'm super happy!