Chapter 13: Into the Mountains

For probably the first time in her life, Kirara found herself starting to regret not wearing a warmer uniform. She had finally relented and accepted a pair of shoes similar to what Yoruichi wore to stop her feet freezing, but beyond that she refused.

The snow was dense under their feet, growing thicker the farther up the mountain the group got. It swallowed sound, leaving behind an eerie quite broken only by the crunching of snow underfoot. Even Kirara's startled yelp was strangely muffled as she sank farther into the snow than she liked, leaving her submerged past her knees.

"Watch your step, Lieutenant Yamada," a pair of strong, but gentle hands gripped under her arms and hoisted her back out of the snow. "The snow can be quite treacherous," Aizen smiled as he released her. Kirara's face was flushed, and not just from the cold.

"So I've come to realise. Thanks," she smiled at the man, and they kept walking. In front of them, Yoruichi and Shinji led their small group, and bringing up the rear were a group from both Squads keeping an eye out. They kept away from one another as the Squad 2 Shinigami were viewed warily, as if they were just as likely to attack as the Hollows.

They hadn't wasted much time after the scouting party had reported back with multiple casualties on their side. Making their way towards the coordinates given by the scouts, everyone was on alert as they used all their senses to keep watch for Hollows. If they really were capable of masking their Reiatsu, then they couldn't rely on those senses entirely.

Kirara moved carefully through the snow, trying to fight the impatience that tried to drive her to move faster. If she had been alone, the snow wouldn't have been a problem. But moving with a group forced her to slow down, and she was already making mental notes to increase Shunpo practice for both the Patrol Corps and the rest of her Squad.

As if sensing their own impending doom, the Squad 2 Shinigami watched their Lieutenant warily, trying to move in similar fashions so they didn't sink too far into the snow too.

As Kirara jumped from one spot to where she noticed an uncovered rock, she heard Aizen chuckle lightly. She glanced to him as he passed her. "What?" she tilted her head.

"I do not believe I've ever witnessed you moving so…delicately," he commented with his usual gentle smile.

"Unless you want to keep fishing me out of the snow, I think I'll keep it up," Kirara muttered, but was embarrassed by his amusement. She stepped carefully off the rock, and her feet sank a little into the snow again.

"It is unusual for us to work together," Aizen considered as they kept walking. Kirara hummed her agreement. "Though I suppose it is unusual for the 2nd Division to work with others very often," he added. Kirara didn't respond at that, and he watched her with a careful gaze.

"We don't usually have reason to," she replied.

"So it would seem," Aizen's words were so quiet, they risked being swallowed up by the snow. Kirara heard them, but barely.

"If you two keep gossiping, you're going to fall behind," Shinji fired over his shoulder. The first thing he'd said in a while. Anger rose in Kirara's chest, and she almost forgot to be careful of how she walked. When her foot sank a little further than she liked, her eyes widened and she bit back any angry retort.

"My apologies, Captain," Aizen merely apologised, but hadn't missed the movement beside him. Or Kirara's clenched jaw. He extended a hand to touch Kirara's elbow and support her, and she blinked, seeming to snap out of her anger.

"There's nothing around here at all," Shinji complained, shivering as a cold wind began to blow. "Maybe the Hollows ran off after dealing with the scouting party?" he suggested, sounding bored.

"Perhaps," Yoruichi shrugged, but her gaze was on the sky. "Or perhaps they're already seeking shelter," she considered, and Shinji frowned.

"Shelter from what?" he asked. Yoruichi pointed up, and they all looked up. Small specks of white were starting to float down from the murky grey sky, and one landed on the tip of Kirara's nose.

"That's not a good sign," Kirara murmured as she wiped the snowflake away as it quickly melted. However, more just took its place as the snowfall grew heavier within moments. "Maybe we should find shelter ourselves before the weather gets worse," she suggested. They had already been walking for a few hours - no way they could get off the mountain without some serious Shunpo.

"We need to be careful. Taking shelter here risks us being open to ambush from Hollows," Yoruichi said as snowflakes clung to her. It somehow made her look even prettier, as the snow stood out against her dark eyelashes.

"Then let's-" as Aizen stopped abruptly, Shinji was the first to react. Drawing his sword, he launched up and cut through the arm of the Hollow that was lunging at them silently amongst the falling snow.

The roar echoed through the eerie quiet as the Hollow landed in the snow and leapt backwards. As if that roar was a go-ahead, all hell broke loose. Shinigami prepared to fight, only for more Hollows to appear. With the snowfall growing heavier by the second, it was hard to see where they were coming from.

"The bastards are using it as a cover!" Kirara realised as she heard yells coming from behind her. No longer grounded, she leapt up into the air and kicked the Hollow that had tried to get close to her. As it spun through the air, trying to bite at her, Aizen was suddenly there and cutting through its mask with his Zanpakuto.

Before it had even vanished, two more seemed to take its place. Kirara danced around them, kicking one so that it slammed into the other and left them open to retaliation from the Shinigami they had tried to ambush.

Without waiting to see if they were taken care of, Kirara kept moving. She tried to count how many Hollows there were, but it was impossible. The snowfall had already become a blizzard, half-blinding her. There could have been 5 or 50 and she would still be clueless.

Cursing under her breath, Kirara moved to kick one of the Hollows away from the Shinigami that it had managed to creep up on. There was a loud crash as the monster hit the side of the mountain, and she followed with the intention of finishing it off before it could recover.

"Kirara!" Yoruichi's voice barely reached Kirara, and she felt the rumble before she heard it. She looked up just in time to see the snow tumble down from the rocks above, and her eyes went wide before it swallowed both her and the Hollow up.

In that instant, the sounds of the fighting seemed to vanish, and Kirara struggled to move. When she opened her eyes, she saw nothing but white. Her entire body was encased in snow that had compacted from the force it had dropped at. When she tried to open her mouth, snow just slipped in and made her cough.

Panic seized Kirara in that moment. She was going to die, completely helpless because of some snow? That was a bullshit way to go.

'No way. I ain't going out because of some frozen water,' the thought snarled through her, yet she couldn't find a way to free herself. For all her training, all her abilities, she couldn't push past the thick snow. And even if she did, she was so disorientated that she couldn't even tell which way was up anymore.

Then she felt something move in the snow, disturbing it just slightly, before grabbing hold of the back of her collar. Kirara cried out, startled as she was suddenly yanked upwards.

The sounds of fighting returned in a rush of roaring and yells as Kirara gasped for breath, spitting out snow and coughing violently.

"I found the idiot!" Shinji's shout echoed, and Kirara realised who was holding her by the scruff. Who had pulled her from the snow. She coughed once more, before managing to find her footing.

"Let me go!" she managed to pull herself free of his grasp, but as she did, the snow under their feet rumbled, before the Hollow who had been buried with her exploded out. Both were tossed away, carried by its momentum as it burst free. "Damn you-" Kirara stopped as she noticed Shinji falling forwards, away from the rocks where he'd slammed against. "You've got to be kidding me!" she hissed, launching herself over and catching him.

The Captain slumped against her shoulder, out cold as she found him surprisingly light to balance.

"Kirara!" she heard Yoruichi's yell through the blizzard that was swirling around them. "Get to shelter! We'll regroup once this blizzard settles!" the Captain yelled.

"But the Hollows!" Kirara yelled, but she knew she couldn't balance the unconscious man slumped over her shoulder and fight at the same time. And she knew she couldn't just follow Yoruichi's voice. She'd end up completely lost.

"They're retreating, we need to do the same! Find somewhere to hide until this storm settles!" Yoruichi's words were an order, even if Kirara couldn't actually see where she was.

"Shit," Kirara just hissed, using Shunpo to move as best she could. With the extra weight and being half-blinded from the storm, she barely got away from the Hollow that was still pulling itself out of the snow pile. "How the hell am I meant to find shelter when I can't even see-" Kirara stopped as the small cave beside her caught her attention. "I don't know what the Fates are doing to me today…" she muttered under her breath, dragging Shinji in with her before setting him down none-too-carefully.

Blinking away the snow that was still in her face, Kirara was relieved when she could finally see a short distance in front of her, and she had a quick glance around the cave. Nobody else was there - either they'd found other shelter, or they were still out in the blizzard.

Kirara cursed, wanting to go back out to help, but she knew it was impossible. Instead, she turned her focus to Shinji, hauling him into a sitting position as she checked the injury on the back of his head. "Dammit…I have no choice…" she hissed.

The last few minutes were a blur to Shinji as he slowly regained consciousness. He remembered digging Kirara out of the snow, but past that…he didn't know. But he was very aware of the person right beside him; one hand on his shoulder and the other pressed to where his head was aching.

"Hey, what are you-"

"Stop moving, asshole," he finally realised just who it was, and stopped.

"What are you doing?" Shinji asked Kirara. For once, he did as she said, but took a glance at her out of the corner of his eye. She was kneeling beside him, holding him steady. They were in some form of small cave, and he could hear the storm howling behind him still, and none of their unit was with them.

"What do you think?" Kirara growled. Green light had lit up the cave in an eerie glow, and he could feel the pain in his head lessening as he stayed still.

"You're using Kaido?" there was surprise in Shinji's voice that made Kirara grow even more defensive as she healed the injury.

"Of course I am. Where do you think the Squad 4 Lieutenant learned it from?" her words were rough even as her touch was gentle. Shinji didn't respond, instead letting her continue her work. Even in her defensive anger, Kirara was surprised by his response, but she kept working until finally she was satisfied. "Yoruichi had everyone go for cover. Whatever Hollows were still around had backed off for now," she said. He just hummed in response.

Kirara let go and leaned back, looking worn out as she shook out her hand. "Don't touch," Shinji let out a startled yelp when she slapped his hand away before he could touch it.

"Why you-"

"Consider it a repayment for digging me out of the snow," Kirara cut him off, refusing to look at him as she instead looked out to where the blizzard was raging. "Just don't tell anyone about it," she said quietly.

"Idiot," she scowled at the mutter. "Why? Don't want people knowing that you helped me?" now that his head wasn't in agony, Shinji couldn't resist in poking the angry bear beside him.

"And you call me an idiot?" Kirara snapped as she turned to him. Her blue eyes were heated as she glared up at him. "I couldn't care less about that. I just don't like people knowing about my capabilities with Kaido," she growled, refusing to go into more detail than that.

"Of course. Would be too embarrassing for the Princess to be talented in such a low thing as Kaido," Shinji was mocking in his words, and Kirara was tempted to punch him in the face. The only reason she didn't, was because she didn't want to undo the hard work she'd just put in.

"You don't know a single thing about me, so just-" Kirara stopped as a violent shiver ran through her. "Shit," she cursed quietly, pulling her legs in close as the shivers just kept coming. Now that the adrenaline of the fight was starting to die down, the cold was sinking in, and only made worse from her having been buried in the snow. She closed her eyes tightly as she tried to will herself to stop shaking.

"Idiot," Shinji sighed again, but she couldn't bring herself to snap back. She jumped, eyes opening quickly when something draped around her, and when she looked, she found his Haori around her. "If I let you freeze to death, Yoruichi would never let me hear the end of it," he muttered, sitting close to her so they were pressed against one another. "Believe me, I hate it as much as you do," Shinji said. Kirara fought the part of her that wanted to pull away, to throw his Haori back at him. She didn't need his pity.

Instead, she stayed where she was, head lowered as she kept her arms wrapped around her legs. It wasn't much heat, but it was enough to stop her from shivering. So she endured, praying that the storm would subside soon so she could find Yoruichi and get the hell back to their warm barracks.

"Thanks," the whisper slipped out before she could stop it. Shinji's quiet grunt told her that he'd heard her, choosing not to mock her for once.

Instead, they fell into an awkward quiet, listening to the blizzard outside and keeping watch for both Hollows and other Shinigami. After a while, Kirara wondered if Shinji had fallen asleep beside her, with how still he was beside her.

It was strange, to be in that kind of limbo with him. It had been a long time since she had last been around the man without arguing with one another, and sitting there with him was bringing those memories to the surface. Memories she wanted nothing more than to bury.

"I'm sorry," deep in thought, Kirara almost missed the words. For a moment, she was confused, not understanding his reasoning for an apology. He'd been the one to save her ass, as much as she hated to admit it.

Then the real reason dawned on her, and she went impossibly still. "For what happened…back then. I'm sorry," Shinji repeated. Kirara didn't speak, and Shinji would have thought that she'd fallen asleep, if he hadn't felt just how rigid she'd gone.

"You dumbass," he was surprised by the whisper in response. "I never blamed you. I never needed an apology," Kirara told him, tired. Shinji turned slightly to stare down at her.

"Then why…" he trailed off, leaving it unspoken. Why she had treated him with such animosity and pissed him off to the point where they couldn't stand to be around one another?

"Because when I finally got out of that damn medical bay, you avoided me," Kirara looked up at him, suddenly seeming so much smaller than him. His haori dwarfed her. In that moment, Shinji recalled it well. Kirara plummeting from the sky, blood streaming behind her as a Hollow stood over her, all while he stood frozen. "It felt like you didn't care," she shrugged, but didn't look away.

Shinji was the one to break first, looking away to stare at the blizzard outside swirling. He gave a tired sigh, his expression schooled into a neutral one.

"I guess we're both idiots then," he said, and Kirara snorted.

"I could have told you that," she replied.

Shinji hadn't even realised he'd fallen asleep until he woke with a snort that was amplified by the stone walls that surrounded him. Instantly his eyes shot open as he realised what was going on. His head still hurt, but nowhere near as badly.

"I think the blizzard is dying down," Kirara's voice was quiet, and he angled his head to where she stood in the entrance. Her arms were folded and her back was to him as she leaned against the wall, staring out. "About damn time," she sighed, relieved that it had only lasted a few hours. The weather in the mountains was treacherous and unpredictable - hence getting caught in the blizzard - and she was glad it didn't decide to keep up for days on end.

"Back to work then, I guess," Shinji stood, and groaned as his body protested after falling asleep sitting up.

"Not used to staying still for so long?" Kirara guessed as she angled her head to look at him.

"I'm not that much of a slacker," Shinji shot back, eyes narrowing as he saw the smirk on her face. It seemed their truce had only been temporary, then.

"Well then, stop dragging your feet and let's get moving. We have to find the rest of them," Kirara pointed out, still watching him. Shinji bit back a comment about her bossing him around when he was a higher rank than her.

"Hey…" when that thought crossed his mind, Shinji remembered his haori. Kirara was no longer wearing it as she stood in the entrance to the small cave. "Where's my-" he stopped when he realised it was folded neatly beside him.

Kirara still looked amused as she watched him lift it and shrug it back on over the rest of his uniform. As he did, he caught a whiff of her apple-tinted scent clinging to it, and his irritation returned. Just what he needed. "That was oddly polite for someone like you," Shinji fired at her, expecting a snarky comment.

Instead, Kirara just snorted a laugh, turning away.

"Shut up, idiot," she said, but there was no real malicious tone to her words. The corner of Shinji's mouth tugged up.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked as he walked past her out into the snow. "We should go find the others," Shinji cast a look at her over his shoulder. Kirara's eyes glittered from the fresh snow around them.

"Prick," she fired back, hurrying to follow him as Shinji smirked. Maybe the truce wasn't temporary after all.

It didn't take them too long to find the others, picking up stray Shinigami as they moved before finally coming across Yoruichi and Aizen.

"Ah, there you are," Yoruichi grinned widely, looking delighted as she saw the two walking together. Kirara was back to stepping carefully, watching the snow with a wary look in case it tried to swallow her up again. "Glad to see you didn't freeze to death!" she was far too cheery in what she was saying.

"Same goes for you. We picked up a few stragglers," Kirara answered, indicating with her thumb over her shoulder to the half-frozen, exhausted Shinigami with them.

"We'll need to send a scouting party to find the rest," Yoruichi considered, and her eyes darted to Shinji before she grinned widely. "Would you consider trading Lieutenants? Yours is so much more polite," she glanced to Aizen, who blinked rapidly at suddenly being dragged into the conversation.

"No thanks," Shinji sounded bored, but something defensive flashed in his eyes at the offer. Kirara put her hands on her hips.

"Excuse me? I'm right here," Kirara complained as she scowled up at her Captain. Yoruichi laughed, and reached out to pat her head. "No appreciation whatsoever," she huffed.

"What about the rest of the Hollows?" Aizen spoke up cautiously as he looked around, as if he half expected the Hollows to try to ambush them again. "We managed to take most of them out, but there are still some that escaped during the blizzard," he reminded them.

"Then we track them down and finish them off before another damn blizzard hits," Shinji shrugged. Yoruichi nodded, and Kirara nodded as she looked down at the snow under her feet.

"Guess we're not getting away from this damn snow for a little while," she complained quietly.

As the group continued their search for the nest of Hollows, determined to eradicate the monsters with strange control over their Reiryoku, Yoruichi sneaked glances at both Kirara and Shinji, sensing something had shifted. The air between them wasn't as tense and ready to snap any second as it had been before the blizzard.

She almost snorted. Trust her pain of a Lieutenant to go and make things interesting when Yoruichi wasn't looking.

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